OP Sequence

OP: 「天使のCLOVER」 (Tenshi no CLOVER) by Aimi
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「ガール・ミーツ・ボーイ」 (Gāru Mītsu Bōi)
“Girl Meets Boy”

On paper, Astarotte no Omocha! sounds like the premise for an oddly detailed hentai, and if you chance upon any of its images, looks like it was targeted towards lolicons. In actuality…

I don’t really know. Based on the first episode, it’s obviously not porn. I haven’t read the manga, nor do I intend to, but I am curious as to how the story will deal with the premise it has given. It doesn’t look like a boobs in your face show, besides that most of the characters are flat anyhow, but nor would I really consider that entertaining in the first place. However, sexual situations wherein comedy may possibly lie (aka adult humor), could very well be entertaining, and this show seems to be heading right in that direction. There’s actually little to none of it so far, and could stay that way for the rest of the series, so it’s hard to tell right now who exactly the series is trying to reel in, but there’s a definite focus on lolis, no doubt.

Brought to you by the same people that did Ika Musume two seasons ago, Astarotte no Omocha! is a great looking show. That’s also one of its positives, the animation, and for me in particular, the character designs. I’m almost never into meganekkos, but Snorrevik Judith (Nabatame Hitomi) somehow captures me. Then again, when the main character, Ygvar Astarotte, isn’t as attractive with a disappointingly same-voice Kugumiya Rie, I’m at a loss for alternatives. As for the other characters, Reginhard Griselda (Fujimura Ayumi) is rather cool because her name was translated as Zelda, big boobed “Elffie” (Mirjasdottir Elfreda – Horie Yui) is not my style, but the tan maid (Cuthfleda – Suzuki Misaki) I could get used to.

So far, this show is all about cognitive dissonance. They happily talk about sucking out the semen from a penis, hopefully you weren’t too innocent/dense to gather that, and inform the viewer that it’s a rite of passage for a succubus. Now, I’m not usually used to cutesy and happiness when seeing succubus used in anime, so this was a bit weird. When you don’t take out the sexual parts about being a succubus (which is ironic, because that’s what they practically embody), especially one as raunchy as mentioned, it’s just odd hearing that come out of cutesy character designs. Then again, this is the “hook” to the show, so I suppose I’m not part of the possible target audience…

Ignoring that, is the show good with a normal critique? Currently, it’s a “not yet.” The “loli-childish-clumsy” humor wasn’t that funny, which is a huge deal because it seems to try so hard at it, and the plot is a “generic” set-up for what feels like a predictable series of following episodes where the shy Astarotte who doesn’t like men tries to deal with her innate need for semen to survive by tsundere-ing it up to the human pulled through a portal, Touhara Naoya (Satou Rina). By portal I mean there’s a human world and a succubus world, and it seems most of the time will be spent in the succubus world, which is one of the cooler things about the show, a fantasy land… which happens to inhabit underage looking girls and one old man (voiced by none other than motherfucking Cho, a boss in my books). As aforementioned, the main draw for me will be Astarotte’s forced sexual relationship with Naoya, which should make up the majority of the humor in the show, or hell, the show itself. There’s a possibility it could start churning out moral lessons using lolis, or go into serious drama, but it’s been done before, and it’s called Kodomo no Jikan. Which this studio also did (Diomedea). What a tweest!

condensed persuasion:
Pros: Good animation | Decent storyline with potential | Char designs are to my liking | Kugimiya Rie being cute with stutters | Chou | Tan maid | Judith | cool fantasy world | (yes separate characters can be an entire reason)

Cons: Can’t let anyone see you watch this without some serious splainin’ to do | Kugimiya Rie being annoying with stutters | May end up mediocre in the plot department | Loli/naive humor wasn’t really funny

But do enlighten me with your varying mature opinions on this mature show. I shall go brew tea, play some rainymood with some jazz, and bust out the monocle.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「真夏のフォトグラフ」 (Manatsu no Photograph) by azusa
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Preview

57 Comments

  1. I’m seeing that this episode might have some potential(i hope). I heard that this anime has adult humor into it therefor this means that it might be deep. I still going to give this 3-4 more episode before I destroy this into my recycle bin.

  2. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into a mediocre plot and that there is progression of Astarotte love. I hope that there is especially from this ep where she is smitten already so we don’t have to see her act like an arrogant bitchy princess.

    Shadiic
  3. I was kinda hoping that she would move to the man realm instead of the guy coming to their realm. I get some Zero no Tsukaima vibes from the preview. I didn’t really like the first episode but I have good hopes for this show. I’m in it for the adult humor 😛

    dxb_blackwolf
  4. I looked up the manga and I really liked it. I definitely do not enjoy anything just for boobs nor am I lolicon…or interested in girls…since I’m a girl…anyway, you hit it spot-on. It focuses on adult humor more 😛

    Tan-Tan
  5. “Cons: Can’t let anyone see you watch this without some serious splainin’ to do”…heh! story of my life man, ANIME my “secret” hobbie..eh, nothing to different so far with this show,it’s Definitely loli, the succubi angle puts the nail in that coffin while at the same time the succubi element will prob keep it interesting.. Adult Humor?? Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san was pretty fun,,,and Hen Zemi…now there’s a thinking man’s pervert show!!! yay!

    BROOKLYN otaku
  6. So far I like it. I will keep watching to see where the series goes. If it strays too far into creepy stuff (loli) then I will give it up. I really like Kugimiya Rie so thats a major drawing point for me.

    Karmafan
  7. As a manga reader this first episode is quite different from the manga but not so bad as introduction. The creator is the woman that made Disgaea and Phantom Brave and i like his artstyle. If the series stay in line with the manga i will follow.

    Mika-chan
    1. Yes, the plot kicks in after the mother shows up, and that’s where all the juicy character development happens. I don’t want to spoil anything but there is a plot revelation that affects the relationships, and probably the final pairing. That is of course if they follow the manga.

      jz
  8. Maybe it’s because I had just finished watching Hanasaku Iroha right before it, but I wasn’t all that impressed with the animation in this one. All the bloom and fuzzy filters sure don’t help.

    baltar
  9. Blue haired loli is main male character’s daughter, and she has a bad habbit of NOT wearing her panties.

    Read the manga and you’ll get just how awesome this anime will be.

    Mad_Dog
  10. “Can’t let anyone see you watch this without some serious splainin’ to do”

    Pretty sure having the witnesses ‘disappear’ would be way easier to implement…

    Kit-A-Ron-Ron-Kat
  11. this is one of those shows one shouldn’t think too deeply about. Cause the author most certainly didn’t. It just is. It’s basically just twenty minutes each episode filled with plenty of sexual innuendo. It’s watch and forget.

    b3arz3rg3r
  12. After watching the first episode, this show didn’t feel like anything special for me. Maybe at the end of the season when there’s a week or so of downtime before summer shows start, then I might just plow through the series out of curiosity, but for now I’m not hugely compelled to stick with the series. A little to generic for my tastes.

    1. Yea the story is actually very nice and not much fan service as most expected, more of a slice of life and drama in some way.
      I really enjoy it and trust me it almost have nothing to do with loli-pedo once u past the first few chapters.
      Is more of a Father-daughter relationship as far as I see it.

      mike
  13. This tries way, way too hard to avoid calling out this show’s ridiculous and perverted starting premise. It’s okay to just call it what it is. It’s okay to say it sucks. Just saying.

    GWOtaku
  14. This first episode’s pacing was a little too slow for me. It would appear to have promise, but at the same time I don’t know if I would have the patience to give it the four episodes that I normally give to a new series. Plus, I am not so sure if I want to just hear cutesy character designs using raunchy analogies. This might be off the spring viewing list next week

    Yuri Rocks
  15. As someone who really dislikes a show made for the purposes of fanservice, I was gladly surprised to see so little in the manga.

    Good to see the anime’s doing the same. For the moment, anyway; things can change for the worse.

    Phosphatide
  16. The anime starts off different from the manga. In the manga, Naoya gets acquainted with all of this magical stuff and becomes a member of her harem all in the first chapter, and there is none of this shenanigan with them playing around the tree.

    Suppa Tenko
    1. also, kagura from gintama,louise from znt, taiga from toradora, rose from dragon crisis, shana from shakugan no shana,Mizore from Rosario+Vamp, Happy from Fairy Tail and tons more….
      ~honestly if you watch a few anime you ll notice her voice stand out a lot.

      Rasone0104
  17. Well I have read the manga and they made a lot of changes to the beginning then it was in manga. My thoughts of the first episode was it was interesting and this anime isn’t all that perverted that it seems.

    Pera
  18. i really like this anime much better than i first thought will watch

    also not sure how some people can tell who voices who in every anime ive ever seen in japanese their voices start to all blend and sound the same for me which is a real shame on my end but oh well

    anyways love your post and i really like the cons and pros keep it up XD

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