Upotte!!

Kiss kiss, bang bang! The arms race takes on a startling new development when the arms come with heads, legs and very feminine bodies attached!

Yes, at Seishou Academy every girl is literally a lethal weapon, and they're all gunning for the top shot at getting their own personal serviceman! Needless to say, it's going to be difficult for newly recruited human instructor Genkoku to adjust to working with a living arsenal of high caliber cuties with tricky names like FNC (Funko) M 16A4 (Ichiroku) L85A1 (Eru) and SG 550 (Shigu). Especially since many have hair triggers and there's no bulletproof vest that can stop a really determined coed! He'll have to rewrite the operator's manual on student/teacher relationships, and pray that his job description won't include having to field strip and reassemble one of his cadets in the dark. But unfortunately (for him) FNC's already thinking about becoming HIS personal weapon, and she usually gets what she aims for!

(Source: Sentai Filmworks)

FNC Main

Nomizu, Iori Japanese

L85A1 Main

Misato Japanese

M16A4 Main

Togashi, Misuzu Japanese

SG550 Main

Sadohara, Kaori Japanese

Galil AR Supporting

Honda, Mariko Japanese

SAKO RK95 Supporting

Yamanaka, Madoka Japanese

G3A3 Supporting

Kosuge, Mami Japanese

M14 Supporting

Zougou, Saeko Japanese

FAL L1A1 Supporting

Mina Japanese

AUGA1 Supporting

Furuya, Shizuka Japanese

Tamura, Junichirou Producer

Gomi, Kenjirou Producer

Kato, Takao Director

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Reviews

Jun 11, 2020

TMC3b

Recommended

Im tired of all the pretentious reviews. Something doesn’t have to be meaningful to be enjoyable. People go into shows like K-On, which is well-made anyway, and immediately dismiss them as ‘cute girls doing cute things’. You see, cute, enjoyable, and aesthetically pleasing aren’t good qualities to have because you can’t just enjoy a show, you have to taste it. Anime reviews are like equally pretentious middle aged people that think different wine tastes different.

Upotte is one of my all-time favorite anime. Not because it’s meaningful or groundbreaking, though I also enjoy shows like that; it was just really fun to watch. I enjoyed every ... second of the cheesy gun jokes, moe/slice of life tropes and their spin of them, epic and intense fight scenes, jokes on the character’s’ nationalities, et cetera.

The characters are actually relatively well-written. Most reviewers just immediately assume that the characters are generic in these kinds of shows and add that to their review, even if it isn’t true because that’s just another part of their missing-the-point arsenal. Each character has many dynamic traits based on their traits as the firearms they’re based off of. The attention to detail and love put into the bits of soul each character has is amazing.

If you come into a show like this to find deep philosophical meaning or some grandiose meaning, you’re missing the point really hard. A large chunk of the people that have watched this show did so specifically to shit on it. It doesn’t make you have better taste if you pretend not to like shows that are enjoyable, you just come off as someone who is insecure about their intellect. My two favorite anime are Fate Zero and the Monogatari Series. Don’t get me wrong, I like something that you can actually think about and appreciate on a deeper level. However, these shows are in almost no way enjoyable in the same way as something that revolves around cute girls doing cute things.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Oct 23, 2022

c---5

Mixed Feelings

The premise of sentient guns going to gun school where they learn how to be better guns is certainly unique. The show is almost an edutainment in places rattling off various historical tidbits about the guns and the reason for their production, along with informing the characters personalities and various gags. If you stop to google every now and then you WILL learn something about gun history and I always like a bit of the old tangential learning.

As far as how well the show actually *uses* that premise, it's a mixed bag. There are really only three big shootouts in the series, and each of ... them is a highlight, but I expected a show about sentient guns to have a bit more action. Strip away the gun premise and it's kind of a basic slice-of-life schoolgirl series where someone whips out an assault rifle every now and then.

The comedy is also mixed, some of the scenes and gags are very funny, but the show has a weird horny streak that usually comes out of left field and doesn't fit the otherwise generally wholesome tone, and this is made worse by the fact the characters are supposed to be middle schoolers. Other gags work well though, from the bizarre school festivities to the various historical in-jokes. I certainly did grow to like the various characters as things went on and you do get a feel for how their various quirks relate to the real life gun they're based on

Artistically, the show doesn't look bad, but it also doesn't wow aside from the lovingly drawn gun details and one or two character designs. None of the music really stands out either and I usually just skipped the intro after a few episodes, which is something I generally don't do.

Overall the show is alright, it does have its entertainment and even educational value, but I think a bit more action, a bit more consistency, and a bit more artistry could have pushed this concept further. It's really not bad, but there are better girls-with-guns shows out there.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 18, 2017

ktulu007

Not Recommended

Continuing on with girls with guns month, Upotte is an ongoing manga that started in '09. Written by Tennouji Kitsune. In 2012, Xebec, the studio behind Bakuretsu Hunters, Bottle Fairy, Mnemosyne & Rinne no Lagrange, to name a few, released a ten episode ONA based on the manga. I have no idea what to expect from it. So let's just take a look and see how it compares to their other works. At the very least, it's probably better than Mnemosyne but that isn't saying much.

Story:

Our tale takes place in Seishou Academy, a school where all the students are guns who can wield their more ... literal forms. Our protagonists are FNC (nicknamed Funko,) L85A1 (Eru,) SG550 (Shigu,) & M16A4 (Ichiroku.) Things get strange for them when they get a human teacher who doesn't know much about guns or what to expect. Shenanigans ensue.

Let's start with the big flaw with the series. It comes across as someone's fetish project. There's a lot of heavily sexualised stuff based around the girls being guns. And by a lot, I mean that this anime is almost on the level of Strike Witches. Which is odd both because the girls are guns and because the main cast is in middle school. I'd kind of like to converse with Tennouji to hear them try to justify themselves. But I also don't because I get the feeling they're the type who breathes heavily and drools for no discernible reason. Another issue with the series is that there are a bunch of segments that just talk about gun specs. Which is going to be boring unless you happen to have a major gun fetish like Tennouji. The humour itself is pretty lacklustre. While it has some funny moments, they're over-shadowed by a lot of dumb, predictable jokes. Like FNC shooting at her teacher because he mentions her undergarments. Which he kind of deserves since no teacher should be fixated on that to any degree.

About the best I can say about the series is that it has its aforementioned funny moments. It also has some nice, cute moments here and there. Usually involving Shigu and her feelings towards Funko.

Characters:

There's not much to say about the cast. In spite of the “twist” of them being guns, they're a blatantly bog-standard batch for a slice of life series. The interactions with the teacher do get annoying quickly, and the interactions in general aren't as good for comedic purposes as certain better written slice of life works though.

Art:

To its credit, the character designs are pretty distinct and there's a lot of detail put into the guns. Unfortunately, it also suffers from a lot of excessive, tasteless shots of the girls in a state of undress and shots that put the focus firmly on their bums and bosoms. Learn how to have class, Xebec. The backgrounds also gravitate towards lazy.

Sound:

The voice acting is pretty average. They aren't brilliant, but they aren't bad either. Which may be more the result of the characters being archetypes without much to them than the actresses themselves. The music was handled by Hashimoto Yukari, who also worked on the composition of Yuri Kuma Arashi, Mawaru Penguindrum & Strike Witches. All in all, it's decent enough.

Ho-yay:

There is quite a bit. Shigu is heavily implied to have romantic feelings for Funko, Ichiroku gropes other girls. There are several other girls who are shown to have romantic interest in other girls including Galil AR towards AR18 & both AUGA1 and SAKO RK95 towards Funko.

Final Thoughts:

So, how does Upotte ultimately hold up? Not particularly well. It suffers from a lot of tasteless, sleazy moments. The comedy is pretty weak. The characters are stock. Ultimately, there's just not much to recommend it. My final rating is going to be a 3/10. Next week I'll finish girls with guns month with a look at El Cazador de la Bruja.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Upotte!! Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) OrochiPL - Jun 9, 2012	95 replies	by Dripz2012 »» Apr 17, 4:29 PM
	Poll: Upotte!! Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) OrochiPL - May 5, 2012	103 replies	by Dripz2012 »» Apr 13, 10:50 PM
	Poll: Upotte!! Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Dr_Funkadelic - Apr 14, 2012	70 replies	by Dripz2012 »» Apr 10, 6:59 PM
	Poll: Upotte!! Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Mirorin - Apr 7, 2012	149 replies	by Jonas-K »» Oct 16, 2023 5:13 PM
	Poll: Upotte!! Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) OrochiPL - Jun 2, 2012	65 replies	by korsarz »» Sep 29, 2021 4:02 PM

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