First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

「侵略開始!?」 (Shinryaku Kaishi!?)
“The Invasion Starts!?”

Hello, Zanibas here with a quick intro into one of the various weird shows airing this season–Rokujouma no Shinryakusha! Here, we get a comedy-invasion flavor similar to what Shinryaku! Ika Musume provided, with the blend of supernatural factions that the Suzumiya Haruhi universe portrayed. The basic premise is simple–student Satomi Koutarou (Nakamura Yuuichi) must hold his 5000 yen/month apartment at all costs against the supernatural forces that would dare take it. Examples of such are the resident ghost, Higashihongan Sanae (Suzuki Eri), representative of an underground clan Kurano Kiriha (Tazawa Masumi), space princess Theiamillia Gre Fortorthe (Naganawa Maria) with her assistant (Hayami Saori), and magical girl Nijino Yurika (Oomori Nichika). Despite most of their powerful abilities, they cannot hope to stand against the wrath of the landlady, Kasagi Shizuka (Suzaki Aya). In this harem-type anime, will anyone be satisfied with such conflicting interests?

Rokujouma certainly has that Silver Link comedy vibe to it, both in its strengths and weaknesses. It certainly is a crazy premise that leaves you going ‘wtf?’ throughout the episode, making leaps and bounds of logic and assumptions that may leave anyone’s head spinning. In spite of that, there are just enough threads and hints placed throughout the visual background that hint at a much more sensible picture ready to pop out. Of particular interest is perhaps the male protagonist, whose soft yet not pathetic nature shows some capability and potential for future characterization. His reasons for joining a knitting club and being self-reliant are so far an enigma, but should serve as the overarching emotional thread that’ll connect what will be a chaotic story.

On the other hand, there certainly is a good amount of fanservice that aims to please its audience, touching every base from the flat-chested tsundere, the childish spirit, the incompetent moe character, the calm and endowed, and of course the capable yet plain character that serves as the foil to all of these. There certainly is a good amount of fanservice shots to please the eye, in addition to the moderate visual effects that keep the action alive within the show. The animation as a whole is a bit plain–perhaps I’m just wishing for Silver Link to update their art–but it certainly does the job it sets out to do.

As you can probably tell already, my response to the first episode is a moderate one. In theory, the show did nothing wrong, but it just didn’t do enough things spectacularly. In a season where there are amazingly strong offerings in comedy, such as Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, Barakamon, and Sabagebu!, any sort of average effort will feel even more so. Although the potential to be a really crazy show certainly exists here, there just wasn’t enough visual ‘oomph’, not enough attitude from the seiyuu, and certainly not enough refreshingly funny jokes to really capitalize on the premise. I’m sure that some people will get a kick out of this for the nature of the harem and its character appeal, but as a comedy show itself, there is much to be desired. There were some good potential jokes here–the mockery of cosplaying mahou shoujos, the ridiculous gold bars, but all the other comedic moments were stale enough to only bring slight amusement to the show.

I sure hope things pick up from here, because I certainly know that Silver Link and Oonuma Shin can certainly do better, with Baka to Test as great evidence of a many-girls-some-guys anime done right.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「好感Win-Win無条件」 (Koukan Win-Win Mujouken) by ハート♡インベーダー (Heart♡Invader)

Preview

45 Comments

  4. Kore wa Zombie Desu ka is that you? That is almost what Rokujouma screams at me, we have the vampire ninja magical girl, the other vampire ninja underground girl, the necromancer alien princess, the Magiclad girl ghost, and the professor landlord.

    Even if it’s a common setup, I laughed a good deal with this opening episode, these types of shows are good to sit down and turn off the brain for half an hour. The key will be the following episodes and how well Rokujouma functions as a comedy. There will be nothing but harem shenanigans of course, but as long as it can keep the humour up I have no complaints. It’s only real competition at this moment is Sabagebu anyways, and that already is turning into an awesome ride 😛

    Pancakes
    Reply

    1. Talk about a mix of animes and ideas xD To Love-Ru with the space princess, Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin with the ghost girl, Mahou Shoujo animes with the cosplayer(?), a novelty with the underground clan girl, an aura of romance/drama with the underground sanctuary girl who seems to be a case of fated lovers who just can´t get together; and of course the strong girl to control this madness. I laughed, and it was because of the fact that the girls just kept on appearing and increasing the ridiculousness of the situation :v

      Jim Dean
      Reply

  5. Ah, this show. I…uh…well, let me just take a leaf from Roger Ebert’s book…

    I hated it. Hated, hated, hated, hated this show. Hated it.

    I can usually enjoy these harem-type shows, and premise-wise this reminded me of Kore wa Zombie desu ka. Now that show was enjoyable but far from flawless, but it would’ve been fine if this show was kinda the same. Except it wasn’t. Because every character wandering into that room annoyed me more than the last. The jokes were not funny, the execution in general was terrible and I had urges to throw certain characters into the Dip, Roger Rabbit-style. Especially that magical girl. It’s not helped by the fact that the show felt so noisy to me, nobody would ever shut up. Partially the point of the big scene, I know, but they went so over the top I was literally yelling at the tv because I couldn’t take it anymore.

    Silver Link and Oonuma Shin are always all over the place quality-wise, capable of making some of my favourite shows of the year (Watamote) as well as gurgling out complete stinkers. This, sadly, is one that falls into the second category. I wouldn’t watch another episode of this even if you paid me. Agh.

    Dvalinn
    Reply

  6. Koutarou looks normal but what I like about him is he’s nice but still tough when the situation calls for it, like when he picked up Sanae without a second thought and threw her out of the apartment. Speaking of Sanae, she reminded me a lot of Kore wa Zombie desu ka’s Haruna, especially because of the long ahoge. But then I also noticed all the other girls sport the same ahoge, even the knitting club president (the girl in that underground cavern looks like the exception so far). It might just be the author’s preference. I also found Yurika endearing rather than annoying. Really felt sorry for her when she was thrown out and she was crying to be let back in. Aside from Nakamura Yuuichi, Hayami Saori and Suzaki Aya, I never heard of the other seiyuus, so it’ll be interesting to see what they can do. My current favorites would have to be landlady-san and the knitting club president.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

    1. @Zhinvu: “I also found Yurika endearing rather than annoying. Really felt sorry for her when she was thrown out and she was crying to be let back in.”

      I also found Yurika’s kind, earnest, but inept baka nature endearing rather than annoying. Felt a little bad for laughing at what happened to her throughout the episode, but she did provide a lot of the comedy (IMO) – especially the bit a about how everyone kept referring to her as “the cosplayer”. LOL, everyone else’s story is readily believed, but not hers. Poor thing. However, I did find her voice kind of grating TBH. Hope that changes for the better.

      daikama
      Reply

      1. Yeah, I can’t deny that Yurika’s voice can be a little grating, but I guess I don’t mind since I personally found her endearing. It reminded me of the apartment scene in Hataraku Maou-sama. I also get the feeling Yurika will probably be the usual butt of jokes in the series. I mean, Landlady Shizuka-san can accept ghosts and aliens, but not a Magical Girl. This anime’s universe must really like to pick on Yurika. Kinda like Akkarin in Yuru Yuri.

        Zhinvu
        Reply

  7. Underground girl, huh, that’s a new one. One of these days there should be an Elvis-girl show.
    Goes to show if an apartment is unbelievably cheap, you should think twice before moving in.

    Mekem
    Reply

  8. TBH, I LOL’d at Rokujouma no Shinryakusha EP 01 more than I thought I would – probably as much as Sabagebu! EP 01. The basic harem set up isn’t all that original and some of the jokes are recyced (e.g. the scary landlandy), but that’s fine as long as it delivers on the comedy front (which is highly subjective). Given the show’s description, I never had a “WTF” feeling since I expected wacky comedy hijinks from the outset.

    Outside of the comedy, “moderate”/”OK” is a good way to describe EP 01 IMO. I thought the pacing was a bit uneven. The first half kind of dragged while the second half went by pretty fast as the female cast assembled. That being said, I thought the second half was much better and funnier so maybe a quick pace works for the show. There is some fanservice, but nothing all that extraordinary if you watch enough ecchi shows. Certainly nothing on the HS DxD, Freezing, etc. levels. Again, “moderate” though that’s fine with me since I’m in this for the comedy first and foremost.

    Based on EP 01, I think there’s definitely comedy potential here, but whether that potential is realized remains to be seen. I certainly hope so, since frankly I found Sabagebu! EP 02 a let down. Definitely in for another two episodes -> “3 EP Rule” in effect.

    daikama
    Reply

  10. this was what I sort of thought Nanana was going to be like, so I’m going to refer to this as Not Nanana. and the end got all batshit crazy in a fun way. let’s see where they go with this next week.

    a box like hippo
    Reply

  11. They spent way too much of this episode parodying Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha what with the space princess and her space bureaucracy behind her. If the parody is as close as I’m pretty sure it is: the assistant? That’s a boss. I about died laughing, but I’ve seen the aforementioned show and without it you have no idea what’s going on. Here, have a quick youtube link to world-destroying power.

    This is also why they kept calling the other magical girl a cosplayer.

    I feel old, imparting that information. And like I’ve watched way too much anime.

    Jean
    Reply

    1. With her frills, hairdecs, floating orbs and energy attacks, she looks like a Touhou character to me.

      Honestly all of the harem girls look like parodies of other anime or games to me, although I’m not sure what exactly the underground girl and the mahou shoujo cosplayer parody.

      Zannafar
      Reply

  13. The fact that they rushed all the appearance/entrance of the girls in a go makes me afraid that they might be shortening many stories to many arcs… Not a good thing if I must say

    echo
    Reply

  15. Were they trying to pull a Kotoura-san? Because the discord between the serious part and the comedic part later didn’t produce the expected ‘whoa’ results for me. Plus throwing in all those character intros into one segment isn’t exactly a good way to go about it. I get a Haruna vibe from the ghost girl, which is a bad thing because being compared to Korewa Zombie ISN’T what this show should set out to be. Oh well, it was still watchable, so it gets the usual 3-episodes litmus test treatment.

    Dangerism
    Reply

    1. I think rather than trying the same as Kotoura-san they simply had to rush because the material they covered was too much for one episode. The first half is basically introducing the main character, the friends he already had and why he can see the ghost girl/attracts weird people, while the second half introduced his harem.

      Zannafar
      Reply

  17. And I thought Souta’s harem was formed fast, Satomi-kun beat him on that front easily.

    I liked how the main character isn’t one of those blank slate protagonists who don’t have a life outside their harem. It would have been easy way out, and wouldn’t have affected the comedy, but I’m glad they took time to show who he is.

    Depending on which way the show goes, it might turn out to be pretty good. It does have strong competitors on the comedy front though.

    Anonymosity
    Reply

  18. It’s funny you mention a similarity to Haruhi because I got a Mikuru vibe from Yurika. She even cries the same way lol. This was a very eclectic intro episode. It was very serious in the beginning, then went all out with the comedy in the end. It was so unexpected that even I was surprised to find myself laughing out loud during some moments. The wide raging cast is probably what helped the absurdity.

    I’ll keep it on my watch list for now. Sometimes having an absurd comedy like this is exactly what I need to unwind. (As long as it doesn’t start to take itself too seriously.)

    Annyms
    Reply

  19. I thought it was pretty damn funny. Though I tend to really like this sort of zany, fast-paced comedy. I loved the way the harem managed to assemble so quickly!

    Side note: Magical girl? You mean Cosplayer right?

    whemleh
    Reply

  21. Anime cut ins usually seen in anime fighting games and rpgs, ghost girl, infinite stratos, the legend of zelda, AT Fields, metal baseball bat, mahou shoujo, gold bars, overpowered landlady, loli space princess, big boobs cavewoman, knitting, one of the best sons of anime looking out for his dad even encouraging him to go find a new woman, one best friend……trope machine has reached critical mass!

    No glasses girl?! THIS IS BLASPHEMY!

    magoiichi
    Reply

  23. Note that I haven’t read any of the source material so I’m only basing this off the first episode, it seems to me this show is blatant ripoff of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka, except with a more plain generic main character.

    PyroShield
    Reply

  25. Yea, i thought it was kind of interesting at first, but as it went on it just became J.J. Abrams anime, Anime by the numbers.
    More is rarely better and this is a case of more is just pandering.

    Mike
    Reply

  26. This Show if funny, too. But perhaps to much Girls on one spot. That can suffocate the MC, and make him a bystander…

    Well perhaps this is the intension

    Lets see the other ones

    Germanguy
    Reply

  28. Funny you make the connection to Ika-musume, because Shizuka (the landlady) is clearly the Chizuru of this universe: seemingly normal on the outside, but turns out to be the last person you want to piss off, no matter how supernaturally-blessed you are.

    stardf29
    Reply

    1. She is this Goddess statute, he found in the cave?
      And because of her Powers, he can see these Ghost and other magical beings, or made them visual for normal peoples… The Landlord could see them, too

      Germanguy
      Reply

  30. I have high regards for the LN. It’s funny most of the time, but things do get serious from time to time, and there are plenty of warm and touching moments. The male MC is one of the few that I actually like in these kind of “semi-harem” animes.

    All in all, if SILVER LINK doesn’t mess this up, we shall expect this series getting better and better.

    passerby
    Reply

  33. Comparing these “factions” to the factions in Haruhi seems like comparing the “alien menace” in Ika Musume to the alien menace in Muv-Luv Alternative.

    Rokujouma is a fanservice-y comedy featuring these sorts of character types, and the girls are certainly cute in a sense (and the fanservice is decent), but the writing just seems poor. The dialogue/character interactions didn’t contain a single phrase/behavior which surprised or impressed me. The KoreZon comparison seems apt, but the difference between this and KoreZon is that KoreZon has really excellent dialogue and plot developments, while this has formulaic characterization and probably also won’t have as good serious stuff (plot) later on.

    Watcher
    Reply

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