「猫と少女とアレルギー」 (Neko to Shoujo to Arerugii)
“Cats, Girls, and Allergies”

What do you get when you put Holo from Spice and Wolf, Makoto from School Days, and Junpei’s cat allergies from Nyan Koi, all in a mystic setting? Omamori Himari… apparently!

This post is long overdue, so if you’ve already seen the episode and aren’t interested in anything I have to say, feel free to move along. I figured it’d be beneficial to the more casual viewers out there though, so here we go.

The story here follows a high school boy named Amakawa Yuuto (Hirakawa Daisuke), who’s been taken care of by his childhood friend Kuzaki Rinko (Nozomi Iori, Nymph in SoraOto) since losing his parents seven years ago. The twist is that the Yuuto comes under the protection of a cat Ayakashi (spirit/demon) named Noihara Himari (Koshimizu Ami) when his grandmother’s charm starts to wear off. Unbeknownst to Yuuto, he actually comes from a line of demon slayers, and the only thing keeping them from attacking him thus far is the charm he carries around his neck. Despite being an Ayakashi herself, Himari swears to protect Yuuto from harm, in accordance to a vow her ancestor made with the Amakawas for showing mercy.

That of course, is when she’s not busy seducing him with her oversized breasts. Yes, there’s decent dose of fan-service here, which is oddly intriguing because Himari speaks in archaic Japanese just like Holo. With Koshimizu Ami voicing her as well, it’s almost impossible not to hear the similarities between the two. The difference though is that Himari doesn’t come off as refined as Holo at times, primarily because she’s a big part of the service here. As for how much they plan to play up the service, the opening sequence (shown as an ED here) might be an indication of what ZEXCS has in store. In addition to the service, I should probably mention that the tail end of this first episode gave off a harem-esque feel too, with Rinko trying to out-stage Himari in sports.

While the story involves demons and demon slayers, the series still comes down to a romance comedy (harem?) at heart. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but noteworthy for keeping expectations in line. I don’t expect a lot of depth here, but maybe they’ll surprise me amidst the humor and cleavage/panty shots. Speaking of humor, I wasn’t overly amused by this premiere, outside of hearing Rinko sound just like Nymph from Sora no Otoshimono and acting all jealous. I couldn’t help but picture a blue-haired strategic-type Angeloid every time she spoke, so obviously your entertainment mileage will vary there.

For now, I’m interested enough to see some more of Ami and Iori in these roles. The fan-service is somewhat prevalent, but by no means overly perverted. Not yet anyway.

* Omamori Himari is one of Crunchyroll‘s simulcasts this season. Also, I found the preview unique enough to include for a first episode.

 

OP Sequence

OP: 「押しちゃうぞ!!」 (Oshichau zo!!) by AyaRuka
Watch the OP!: Download, Streaming ▼

Preview

33 Comments

  1. whenever u put a main characters silhouette in the title I’m usually in. “don’t know why”..well gotta have a harem anime, and this will do just fine! i see the loli coming and we already got the childhood friend/sister. but does everybody else gotta have giant boobs?
    thanks fo blogging.

    BROOKLYN otaku
  2. The manga just went through like most of the fanservice/fetish stuff you can cram in like 30 chapters yet still manage to add some fight sequence here and there. Definitly going to watch this and hoping it won’t go down the mindless fanservice route and stick to the manga.

    uui
  3. Better a late post on Omamori Himari than never…

    “Who’s the Suigintou look-a-like?”

    @ithekro: Her name is Kuesu Jinguji (at least, that’s how it’s spelled/romanized in the manga). I won’t be surprised if it can also be romanized as Quess (similar to a certain newtype loli from Char’s Counterattack).

    I’m not gonna spoil Kuesu’s role in this series (read the manga for that), but I love the early bird cameos of Lizlet and Kuesu. Hell yes.

    Incognito
  4. Well the anime hasn’t grabbed my attention as other animes would, and I haven’t read the manga either. Since it hasn’t got that appeal, think I won’t continue following it, but interesting beginning the relationships I have to say. Maybe alittle poor to action content….demons….where have I heard that before lol?

    Ryoko Lam

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