ecchi

Now what is a “Gal” exactly???

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 Hajimete no Gal

(My First Girlfriend Is a Gal)

 

I can’t really remembered what prompted me to watch this show. I am, in general, not a big consumer of the “ecchi” humor styles of shows (despite the Monotogari series being on of my favorites), but I watched nonetheless. Usually a friend of mine watches these more often and I think I figured: “What the hell, I’ll see if I like it and tell him if I think it’s any good. And I came away liking it more than I thought I would, which surprised me.

“Gal” (Gyaru)seems to be a Japanese pop culture term that reflecting a certain fashion aesthetic. Dark tans, bleached or dyed hair, lots of make up, fancy nails, and non-traditional fashion. The (Gyraru) term seems to have originated out of a 1970s brand of jeans. However, while being a term for a fashion subculture, meanings have a way of changing and being warped depending on the observer. “Gal”, while referring to a general way of dress, has also taken on (at least in this show) to imply that the wearer has looser morals than other girls.

And we come to the show’s premise: A “loser” type of guy ( Junichi) ends up dating a “Gal” (Yukana). Junichi actually asks Yukana out after his friends set him up by putting a note in Yukana’s locker to meet him after school on his behalf. In the thought that Junichi might not remain a virgin if he dates a girl like Yukana, he asks her out. She accepts.

And that’s where the show starts out. It is ecchi…there are boobs…lots of un-naturally chesty high schoolers.

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These are definitely on the ridiculous side.

The overall story follows the development of Junichi and Yukana’s relationship. It is going from the surface to something deeper. What Junichi finds, and I am happy that he does, is that Yukana is a person. Someone with greater depth and kindness who is actually a bit conservative with her affections (despite teasing him every so often). Yukana is very self possessed and isn’t going to even kiss someone who isn’t serious about her.

So what we get with this show is somewhat less ecchi comedy, but more of a high school rom-com. There are the ecchi elements that are to be exploited to be sure, but I felt the point of the anime ended up the development of a more mature relationship between the two protagonists.

This does lead to some confusion I guess…What did this show want to be? An ecchi comedy, fan-service-a-thon, a harem, a rom-com? It kind of attempted to be all things and so never became as good as it could have been I suppose.

The big issue I have with this show was oddly not the ecchi fan service….

It was with this fucker.

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While Junichi’s friends were kind of annoying, this character was repulsive. He likes little girls…he is very vocal about how he likes little girls…the joke is that he’s a future sex offender. That shit isn’t funny. Normalizing pedophiles is not funny or good. Sure, everyone around him in the show comments that he’s not right, but he’s there to be some bit of comedy. It’s not funny.

Attention Parents: This show is ecchi. Heavy fan service. Lots of skin (although no nudity). There are many sexual jokes. There is also a sex predator. You have been warned: do as you will.

This show wasn’t spectacular, and not my usual style of show to watch, but despite this I still enjoyed it. I liked seeing the development of a real relationship between Junichi and Yukana and seeing Junichi’s vision of Yukana evolve over time. The fan service is just kind of there…the supporting characters are just kind of there…the art is decent. It was the relationship for me. Give it a look.

Until next time: Happy viewing!

 

30 Day Anime Challenge- Day 5

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Anime You’re Ashamed You Enjoyed.

Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

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I’m usually not one for “ecchi” anime, but this one got me.
I can’t even remember what got me to watch it…I think I may have just been bored one day and just started watching it.
It is so over the top…

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It is so immature…

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And so inappropriate for younger viewers…

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But, yes… it cracked me up…I’m not proud…it amused the hell out of me.

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Until next time: Happy viewing…Maybe not as happy as these people, you might get arrested for public indecency.

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The Man Likes His Marshmallows…

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Ojisan To Marshmallow

Ojisan To Marshmallow is a short form anime following  Iori Wakabayashi as she tries to get the romantic attention of her coworker, Habahiro Hige. Hige, being older, doesn’t think of Wakabayashi this way. He mostly thinks of marshmallows. The man is obsessed with his marshmallows.

The show is cute, sometimes kind of ecchi, and short with each episode being around 3 minutes long.

I found the show enjoyable. It was, in fact, one of my favorites of the winter season along with Erased.

The show overall is high on the sweet and cute factor, but could stray into ecchi territory at times.

And even though I let my younger son watch it, there were times I was cringing, wondering whether I’d made the wrong choice… Though much of the time many things seemed to go over his head.

Attention Parents: The show is sweet  and cute, but it does get racy at times and has some adult humor thrown in. Is it really bad? No. Is it completely innocent? Absolutely not.

I liked the show. The animation is good, but nothing out of the ordinary. I just found it cute and amusing.

This Season’s Let Down

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Utawarerumono: The False Faces
 Based off a visual novel for the Playstation platforms, Utawarerumono is the biggest disappointment for me this season. Sure, I dropped a few others (Comet Lucifer, Attack on Titan: Junior High, and Mr Osomatsu) due to a lack of interest, but for some reason I had higher hopes for Utawarerumono.

I think I had placed my expectations higher for mostly 2 reasons. One, I thought (based off the first couple of episodes) that the world it was set in looked interesting. It has a kind of mixing of Chinese and Japanese aesthetic in a fantasy setting which I found appealing. Two, the animation was really pretty good. Some beautiful scenes are featured, especially in the OP.

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And the show keeps good animation throughout. The story however is another matter.

The pacing of the story is slow. It starts with potential and kind of fizzles out. You get an idea that something interesting may be happening in the background, but this doesn’t get fleshed out. Instead we get:

 

Fan service. Animal-eared and tailed girls acting pointlessly “cutesy” and multiple bathing scenes. You also have the main character ending each sentence she utters with: “I think”. It is annoying. I can forgive some fan service here and there if the story is good and going somewhere, but this just feels like it is exploiting it for it’s own sake.

Now maybe if I had watched the other associated anime or played the visual novel I would appreciate this show more, but I didn’t and I don’t.

Attention Parents: Overall the show doesn’t have a lot wrong with it, but there is nudity and some ecchi situations that may not be appropriate for younger viewers.

Go ahead and give it a try. Just because it wasn’t my thing doesn’t mean it won’t be yours.

Until next time. Happy viewing!

 

Sometimes It’s Just An Immediate: Nope!

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As I’ve stated in postings past I often screen various animes to see whether my younger (now 12 year old) son can watch them. Some I’m watching because I wanted to watch the show and others are just a brief screening for to red or green light a show for him to see. I often don’t get around to every request he has since I don’t have all the time in the world to screen eveerything he comes across.

Sometimes it’s just a: “Nope.”

First episode. First 5 minutes. First impression. All screaming: “This is not appropriate for him” or “If I let him watch this his mother will kill me”.

This season had a few “nopes”.

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Gangsta

A gritty, bloody, crime ridden show. It’s got killing, blood, abuse, prostitution, and all other manners of organized crime. I like the show (even though the plot seems a bit convoluted at times). The animation is good. The main characters are interesting and likable in their own ways. There is an interesting story going on (although it does seem a bit muddled in it’s presentation). But given all that I stated in the first two sentences it is not appropriate for my 12 year old. Hell, I could tell it was a “no go” from the OP sequence.

A good song though….

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Monster Masume

AKA: Everyday Life With Monster Girls. I was pretty suspicious about this one when I clicked on it to watch it. Aaand within the first 5 minutes: “Nope!!!”

It is basically about a guy who has various “Monster Girls” foisted upon him to live in his home as part of a Inter-species Cultural Exchange Program of which he never volunteered for. It is a harem show, except they are monster girls instead of just girls.

It is ridiculously ecchi and, admittedly, it made me crack up a few times at is juvenile sense of humor. That being said: it’s all body part and sex related jokes (and some of the resulting embarrassment along with it). It’s not a bad show I guess. I haven’t felt compelled to keep up with it though. So, it a “Nooo…you can’t watch that…just no.”

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My Wife Is The Student Council President

Okay. I only found out about this show the other day. I didn’t know about Crunchyroll’s Mature settings. I was talking to a coworker and he told me about this show (he likes more ecchi comedies than I do). I told him I hadn’t seen it available and he mentioned the Mature content filter. It comes defaulted to being “on”, so I switched it off and there this show was.

So, I know ahead of time that my son cannot watch this. But curiosity gets the better of me and I watch the first episode. It’s about two high school students who have just found out that their parents arranged for them to be married when they were younger. The girl (the student council president), is taking this arrangement to heart and has shown up at her betrothed’s door step ready to live with him. He tries to scare her off the idea by acting like a “pervert”, but she doesn’t back down from her commitment. And by the end of the episode there is exposed nipples being licked.

Nope. Can’t give the go ahead with that one either.

It’s funny. There is nothing inherently wrong with these shows. Ecchi humor is just that: humor. As a parent, however, I have to decide not what is necessarily “wrong”, but what I will advocate for him to watch. I think my hesitance comes in not with the jokes themselves, but with his maturity to understand the jokes and to take that information into his brain (and out into the world) in a mature fashion. So that is why I will censor these things out. Not because they are bad, but more because I want him to be able to process mature subject matter in a better way than he is able to now. This is not the same for all kids, some can handle it earlier, some later. Just food for thought…

Food Porn! I mean… Wars!

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If there were two standouts from the spring season for me it would be Ore Monogatari and Shokugeki no Soma (Food Wars).

If you follow my blog you know that I, and my boys, love Ore Monongatari and often watch it together. That, however, is not the case with Shokugeki no Soma. My 11 year old keeps asking to watch it and I keep saying: “No!”. I am a mean dad who never lets his kids watch anything, but I am comfortable with this fact (please read as sarcasm). But I do have my reasons.

Shokugeki no Soma follows Soma Yukihira, a boy who grew up cooking along side his dad (Joichiro) in his dad’s small restaurant. He wants to surpass his dad’s skills and take over the restaurant one day. As Soma is about to start high school, Joichiro shuts down the restaurant to work overseas and enrolls Soma in an elite,and highly competitive culinary school where only a small percentage of the students graduate.

While shocked, Soma adapts and decides to do his best. Of course making enemies of the first day of school by telling everyone that he’ll be better than them.

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I am a bit of a “foodie”. I love to cook. I have worked in the food industry for a long time, so this show hits the spot for me. It is really, in my mind, a cross between a school anime and Iron Chef with a bit of shounen posturing and ecchi-ness thrown in for good measure.

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I wish I had these kinds of knife skills!

The show is often focused around a cooking challenge of some sort designed to test student’s technical skills or creativity under pressure.

Besides being entertaining I find Soma’s determination and confidence while having some humility as an appealing aspect to the show. He likes when he has satisfied a person eating his food and is supportive of his classmates while still striving to be the best he can be.

If that was all there was to it, I’d let my 11 year old watch it. But then there are scenes like these:

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Which perhaps wouldn’t be so bad, but it resulted in this:

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While I find this hilariously absurd, it is something he probably should wait on. The kid is in puberty for god’s sake: How might this mess with his budding development? (I’m kidding).

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Scenes like these aren’t going to help either (especially if I have to explain to his mother what I let him watch).

So I tell him:

“No.”

“Stop asking.” 

“No.”

“You already know the answer. Why are you still asking?”

Attention Parents: This show is ecchi at times. Most of the the show is actually pretty tame, but then they eat and you get scenes like the above and below.

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That being said. I love the show and am glad it was running on into the summer as well!

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Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!

-I do not own any of the images in this post.

Spring 2015 Season Watch List

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A new season is upon us and after sampling a few shows this is what I’ll be checking out this season.

In no particular order:

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Food Wars: A cooking show where an aspiring middle school cook gets accepted to an elite culinary academy for high school. Looks to be fun to watch, but on the ecchi side. I won’t be letting the 11 year old watch this one.

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Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon?: Adventuring, dungeons, warriors, girls, gods…Will it be good? Not sure yet, but has potential. Also somewhat on the ecchi side. Another I won’t let the 11 year old watch.

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My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu Too: I loved the first season of this, hopefully the second will be as good. I am fine with the animation studio change thus far.

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Kinmoza: English exchange students in Japan. A cute show. Pretty harmless. I think my son has watched at least half of the first season of this already.

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Nisekoi: Raku, Chitoge, Onadera,and Tachibana are back! 2nd season of this harem comedy by Shaft. I really enjoyed the first season and have read a bunch of the manga. We’ll see how much they cover in this season and how much filler they ditch.

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Plastic Memories: This looks like an interesting offering about a world where androids (or something like that) have synthetic souls that only have a life span of 9 years before they deteriorate. The show centers around the squad that is going to retrieve the androids at the end of their life span. It has got a good premise. Hopefully it will be a good show.

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Punchline: A guy wakes up after a terrorist attack that happened on a bus back in his apartment building to find that another spirit is occupying his body and he can’t return to it. Now he has to find a book with a ritual to get himself back to his body. But there is a twist. In the building where the book is lives several girls. Fine…Right? No, this is anime. Here’s the twist: If he happens to see a girl’s panties, or gets excited, he has such an extreme reaction that he attracts an asteroid to the planet that destroys the earth. This happens…he turns back time and keeps trying to get his body back. Well obviously I won’t let the younger one watch this. I am not sure if I’ll continue or not.

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Re-Kan! : A girl who can see and befriends ghosts. The others around her can’t see them for the most part, but accept her for the most part, except for one classmate who refuses to believe in spirits. It is a goofy comedy. The jury is still out about how appropriate it is….there is a perverted cat.

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Sound! Euphonium: About a girl who played in the brass band in middle school who decides to join the band club in high school. It looks like a harmless school anime. My largest worry would be whether it will be able to maintain my interest.

Well, That’s it for now. What are you watching?

And the award for the best use of cabbages goes to…..

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The Pet Girl of Sakurasou

I watched this little gem a while back and loved it. It is a school based romantic comedy. The story mostly revolves around Sorata Kanda who is wishing to change his life by first getting out of Sakurasou Hall, a dormitory for the outcasts at his school. Sorata landed there when he refused to give up a stray cat he had adopted.

His life ends up more complicated when a new student, Mashiro Shiina, starts living at Sakurasou. Mashiro, while a brilliant artist, is largely helpless and disconnected from reality from being sheltered her whole life. Sorata ends up on “Mashiro duty”. Caring for her and making sure she navigates through the world.

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Even getting all her clothes on can be a challenge.

The supporting cast of other residents make the the show a pleasure to watch. The shut in computer programmer, the seemingly irresponsible teacher, and the insanely gregarious anime artist all made it a fun show.

The animation is decent, so no complaints there. The pacing is a little slow in the second season, but I forgave that over all.

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Attention Parents: There is sexual humor, bra and underwear shots, and general sexual innuendo. Do what you will.

Overall the show is a sweet rom-com with a good sense of humor. I liked it and hope you enjoy it as well.

It also has a bizarrely addictive OP.

And the full version (because I LOVE IT).

And the award for the best use of cabbages goes to….Kamiigusa Misaki!

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Dad’s Bias Against Lesbian Bears

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As a parent and a viewer of anime I will occasionally run into something that challenges my perception of myself and comfort level. This season’s Yuri Kuma Arashi did this for me.

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The story is: A planet exploded long ago resulting in a meteor shower that hit the earth. This meteor shower caused the bears of earth to rise up and start eating humans. To protect itself humanity erects a giant wall named “The Wall of Severance” to keep bears and humans separate.

The opening follows two classmates who are lovers tending to their garden on school grounds and professing their love for each other. I watched this. I thought: “Fine. They’re a couple of girls in love. So what?”

And then I watched the OP.

“That’s it! I’m done. I am not going to be the dirty old man watching this!”

Or so I thought. That is the value of connecting oneself to a larger community of viewers: perhaps your bias may be exposed to yourself. A few days after I dismissed Yuri Kuma Arashi I happened across a review of episode 3 on “RABUJOI – An Anime Blog” by Oigakkosan. It made me think that perhaps I dismissed it too soon.

I commented:

“Hmmm. The opening made pause and wonder if the show was just exploiting Yuri themes for the sake of it. I’ll have to give it a fair look based off of your review.”

Oigakkosan gave a thoughtful reply:

“no no it is, to a degree. In the same way Kill La Kill exploited flesh and violence to make it’s over the top revenge story grab our attention. Yurikuma really nails it (this week) with the visuals: Pattern making, repetition of patterns, and the use of physical objects that could actually be symbols or hold symbolism for more things. It’s visually quite stunning, bizarre, and even has an element of retroness that is envogue these days. I’m not sure the series is for everyone, but you owe it to yourself to watch up to this one and see if it fit as perfectly together as it did for me.”

So I did. I was pleasantly surprised.  The symbolism and basic off beat of the nature of the show reminded me of one of my favorites Mawaru Penguindrum and there was a reason for this, the same director Kunihiko Ikuhara.

Now the show is off beat and I would not let my 11 year old watch it due to the sexual content and adult symbolism going on.

download (6) You see? Yes? If I let my son watch this, my wife would ban anime in hour house forever.

My bias come is not being offended by lesbian content. I don’t really care about that. My son is gay, so there is no moral objection. It came in the notion of perception of oneself. I am a 44 year old dad watching sexually suggestive yuri. I dismissed a show because I was censoring myself and I thought this is how “man of my age” should behave. That is where my bias lay: in my own ego.

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I am glad I read the review and got the feedback. It challenged my original perception and I am now enjoying a new show.
Attention Parents: Nudity, adult themes, and sexual content. You have been warned.

and that is the sexy way. Shaba-da-doo

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Bondage and My Favorite Drunk Woman

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Kawai

The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior was definitely one of my favorite shows of the last year. A low brow, slice of life comedy with heart is my best way of describing this gem.

The show follows  Kazunari Usa, a freshman starting high school. He is happy to be getting the chance to live on his own in a boarding house away from his family. He soon finds out that the place where he will be living in populated by strange characters much to his dismay. The only thing keeping him there (aside from his parents being unwilling to pay more money) is his discovery that his senpai (Ritsu Kawai), who he has a crush on, also lives there.

The Characters make the show. While not particularly deep, they are thoroughly enjoyable.

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Ritsu is mostly off inn her own world reading a book.

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There is Shirosaki, Usa’s mildly perverted masochist roommate.

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Sayaka. A manipulative college student who likes to sexually harass another of the residents.

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Mayumi Nishikino. A foul mouthed, sometimes drunk, working woman who has bad luck with men (also my favorite).

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And Sumiko. The manager of The Kawai Complex. A sweet woman with a bit of a devious side. She is also Ritsu’s great Aunt.

All these characters make for good comedy. That alone didn’t sell it for me. They gave the comedy and the characters depth and a heart. While Shirosaki is a pervert, he has standards (which seems funny to write, but true). He also has a big heart. There is an episode where he sends his days building a Pythagoras with an elementary school girl who seemed to not be getting along with her friends and he (along with other residents) helps her repair her friendships. So while there is silly comedy there is a heart as well.

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The art is also well done.

Attention Parents:

The show has Drunkenness, Jokes about bondage, and adult humor. You have been informed, what you do with this is now up to you.

Please watch this show. You won’t regret it. It is fun and that is what entertainment should be.

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