Hello and welcome to G-Views, where SoL reigns supreme, moe is respected and Dokuro-chan sucks poopie. You know, the origin of why I decided to watch these shows is quite amusing. Basically, I saw “Yosuga no Sora”. That show traumatized me so much in the 1st 4 episodes that I instantly labeled it as one of the worst anime this year. It was so bad, it made me rethink my whole “evil loli” concept. So, I decided to swallow my pride and marathon both these shows. What are the results? Hit and Miss. Join me as you’ll see what I mean in my 6th Double Slammy. Let’s begin with the good: Hanamaru Kindergarten.
Alternative title:
Hanamaru Yōchien (Japanese)
Genres: comedy, slice of life
Themes: Workplace
Number of episodes: 12
G-Rating: 12/10
Plot Summary:
Anzu goes to a preschool with her friends, the shy Koume and the eccentric Hiiragi. Together they try to attract attention from their caretaker Tsuchida. However, he is clearly more interested in the pretty Yamamoto who supervises the class next door.
Anzu, Hiiragi, and Koume are three girls who attend the lively Hanamaru Kindergarten. There they have lots of adventures with their classmates and with Naozomi Tsuchida, their teacher who has just started working fresh out of school.
This show is an innocent victim of my foolishness. I was wrong, I was so wrong to misjudge it. It was unfairly treated by my dislike of lolicons. I feel ashamed for ignoring this great show for so long.
The music: awesome and adorable at the same time to fit the theme.
Animation: It rivals Bincho-tan in terms of utter cuteness. Plus provides minor delicious breast moments. Nothing disturbing mind you. So I have no complaints here.
Characters: Before I discuss the adults, I’ll briefly describe the 3 leading cuties.
-Anzu is the leader of the group. she’s spunky, energetic, a daredevil and quite cunning for her age.
-Koume: She’s the cute one. Shy, timid, kind and sensitive. Basically, I want a Koume as my future daughter. She overthrew Bincho-tan as the kawaii champion in 2010.
-Hiinagi: Hii for short, is the smart one of the team, yet blushes easily. She’s the daughter of an astrologist so has read a lot of books. She also dresses up in many cute costumes each episode.
As for the male lead in this show, Tsuchida, I…have absolutely no problems with him. Why? Because he reminds me of myself. I think that if there were an anime character that I’d be similar to in terms of personality and behavior, it would have to be this guy. I’m almost 90% like Tsuchida.
He’s given me hope that I can become a great teacher in the future as well, while still maintaining my hobbies.
The main dish of the story, besides the adventures that our 3 leading ladies go through is a love story involving Tsuchida’s quest to earn the heart of one of his fellow teachers. Oh, and Anzu falls for Tsuchida. Now hear me out on this. You see, although you might think this is lolicon material, IT ISN’T! I guarantee that it’s harmless. The only ecchi here involves the adult women.
Besides the main plot, other cool things are explored as we learn more about each character and come to like them. Again, another show that’s both funny and has lovable characters, none of whom suck. I like shows where none of the characters annoy me. The show flows quite smoothly, even though the ending is a slight downer. Not for a bad reason mind you, it’s umm…you’ll have to see for yourself in order to find out.
In conclusion, this show is a MUST watch for any lighthearted comedy fan. It might seem weird because it involves a minor falling in love with their teacher, but believe me that unlike Kodomo no Jikan and its EVILNESS, this show is very harmless in this aspect and handles it quite well in my opinion. WATCH THIS SHOW! Of course if you’re allergic to cuteness, then I guess you already what not to watch.[/COLOR]
And now for the 2nd show…which might be another controversial review. Mitsudomoe.
Genres: comedy, slice of life
Themes: school-life, slapstick, troublesome kids
Objectionable content: Significant (bloody violence and/or swearing and/or nudity)
Number of episodes:
Season 1: 13
Season 2: 8.
G-Rating: 7/10
Plot Summary:
Newly hired elementary school teacher Satoshi Yabe is assigned to class 6-3, room of the extremely problematic Marui triplets: Futaba, Mitsuba, and Hitoha.
Newly hired teacher Satoshi Yabe is terrorized by his new students the Marui triplets.
Satoshi Yabe alias Yabe-cchi is just starting his new life as an elementary school teacher. On his first day of work he falls in love immediately with the natural airhead School Nurse, little does he know that in his assigned class the law is made by the Marui triplets. Can Yabe-cchi survive this ordeal or will the three sisters get the best of him …
So they are completely relying on misunderstandings to provide laughs. NOTHING BUT MISUNDERSTANDINGS…that’s it? That’s why this show’s funny? Misunderstandings are funny if done right and used sparingly but when a show depends entirely on misunderstandings to succeed in being humorous, there’s something wrong with the world. I tried very hard to understand why this show is so popular and funny, but I couldn’t find the answer, I just couldn’t. I’m serious, rarely do they actually try some other form of plot to provide laughter. Most of the time, the humor is provided in the form of a misunderstanding and slapstick jokes.
Music and animation are average. Nothing special. It’s decent.
Characters: I’ll get this out of the way and say that the ONLY two characters that I actually like are Hitoha, the youngest sister and “Dad”. That’s it. The others range from meh to strangle victims by my hand. Mitsuba, I would strangle that brat, but I always smile when she gets locked in the shed because that’s exactly where she belongs. Futaba starts off annoying, but grows on you eventually. Hitoha is cool most of the time. “Dad” is pitiful, but entertaining. As for the other characters, they can all rot for all I care.
Mitsuba Marui
The eldest of the Marui triplets, enjoys causing mischief and is aptly described as a “precocious sadist”. She is easily embarrassed and quick to deny her feelings toward someone, when she really does care. A running gag in the anime is that her desk always gets destroyed by Futaba as well as getting injured by her too. She is pretty conscious about her weight. She appears to have a superiority complex, always wanting her classmates to address her as Mitsuba-sama and servant her. Her name means “three-leaf.”
Futaba Marui
The middle of the Marui triplets, she’s energetic and airheaded but also can speak and act lecherously. She is mostly seen in barefeet. It’s explained that while Futaba is goofy, she does have dedication when the topic is about breasts; she has a strange boob obsession. She is also very artistic. Futaba always thinks of others before herself but her common sense is a bit twisted. She is also the strongest out of the sisters and often ends her sentences in “ssu”, a contraction for “desu”. Out of the Marui sisters, she seems to be the only one close to their father. Her name means “two-leaf.”
Hitoha Marui
The youngest of the Marui triplets, she tends to be quiet and mysterious. She always seems to be reading a book in class which has shown to be very erotic. She also shows a death glare at anyone who tries to take it away from her. She may not intend this glare to be so vicious, as it also appears when she’s particularly nervous, embarrassed or uncertain, such as when giving in to her teacher and asking a few of her classmates to walk home together. She has a soft side for Nipples (the class hamster) and gets jealous when other people play with him. She shows to be crueler than Mitsuba when she is disturbed. Out of the two sisters, Hitoha is kinder to Futaba as the little sister and always pull pranks on Mitsuba. She appears to be deathly afraid of heights. She happens to be a fan of Gachi Rangers (a parody of Super Sentai/Power Rangers), yet she doesn’t say it out loud, even though she wants to. Her name means “one-leaf.”
Now, despite my negative comments, this show isn’t bad. It’s not funny, but it’s not bad either. There are a FEW funny moments like the time where Hitoha goes to the teacher’s apartment to visit the hamster. That part was pure genius in my opinion. If only the rest of the show had this much effort placed into it, but no, it’s one misunderstanding after another. Sure School Rumble also thrived on misunderstandings, but they AT LEAST went into different directions and didn’t heavily rely on misunderstandings. I would rank this show in the same league as MM!, meaning that it’s decent, but not funny to me.
In conclusion, I still fail to understand why this show is a smash hit. I think it’s overrated to be honest, but that’s just me. I suppose all of you praise this show. For those of you who haven’t seen this one yet, be my guest.
Who knows? Maybe they’ll try to improve in the upcoming 2nd season, though I highly doubt it.
I haven’t seen Mitsudomoe, but based on the review, I don’t think I’d want to. I probably won’t find it very funny. Plus, that character design creeps me out.
To this day I still can’t understand why so many otakus find this show funny. The amount of actual funny moments in Mitsudomoe are far and few.
The character designs creeps me out as well… therefore I won’t be watching Mitsudomoe…
Good man Subarashi. You won’t be missing much since I truly believe the humor is too juvenile even for you.