Kanokon

Kanokon never gave me a boring moment to think about why I am watching this. First off, this is a "love it, or hate it" anime. Those who can withstand the ecchiness will love it, else they'll find it very annoying or to some extend even disgusting (repulsive is the word I am getting at...). It is plainly obvious that the anime is targeting the MALE audience. Yes girls, this anime is NOT FOR YOU! With that in mind, we'll proceed with the review.

This is perhaps THE closest anime to hentai you can ever find (well, lets just say it is at least on par ... to the well know fan service friendly Ikkitousen series). The ecchiness of Kanokon is beyond imagination! Though the rating states "Mild Nudity", I think it is more appropriate for it to say "Heavy Nudity" (especially after watching episode 7).

Story:
For a 12 episode long anime, the story is bit on the slow side at the beginning. Though I understand that some episodes were needed for character development. It is nice on one hand that the producer managed to wrap things up with various couples in the show, but there were still mysteries left unresolved. The most notable one is the mystery behind the young girl with the teddy bear. Perhaps they will cover that in the manga (if it’s not already been covered), or perhaps there’ll be a 2nd season for Kanokon, we’ll wait and see.

Artwork:
The artwork was a bit weird for me at first (mainly the eyes and the cheeks…they look really “cartoon-ish”), but after getting used to it, the animation quality is actually quite nice.

Others:
Nothing particular to comment on regarding the sound (though the opening is quite good for the show). Characters are all very lively (though not always in a believable way).

Overall:
Overall, the anime is very very enjoyable if you are planning on watching ecchi anime to begin with. But for those who are in fact intending to watch hentai, then you might be disappointed (well perhaps you can try the DVD specials, those are known for intense fan service).
Lastly, I would like to praise the director for doing a job well done. He has so cleverly made an anime just bordering the 17+/18+ line. I can’t imagine watching this on prime time anime channels here in my country.

Oh god, When I first heard of this show, I thought that it would be different. Why did I even think it was going to be different? The characters are perverted, and act strangely odd.

The story goes way to fast, bringing up more questions then answers. All the story is becomes a love triangle with a short little kid in the middle of it. This is pretty much Hentai without the sex. It’s messed up and would be much better if they just used the sex in order to have a more interesting story line. AND THERE IS NO ENDING! It gives us a ‘read ... the manga’ ending that always pisses me off. If I wanted to read the manga, I would of done so already or read it instead of watching the anime.

Chizuru is a really interesting girl who is really hangs onto Kouta all the time. She is extremely pushy and keeps wanting him to go out with her. All this teasing really pushes him from her all the time. It also seems that all the time, she ends up trying to sleep with him. When she shows that she’s a fox, he actually for some reason doesn’t care much. Then we have the problem with him falling in love with her slightly. There is also the fact that he and her end up becoming one whenever they kiss and she wants to be with him. Nozomu doesn’t seem to have much personality in the beginning but and always seems to act like a love rival.

Characters rarely have any personality out of just a standard archy types with not much of a story behind how they act. The characters are all 2 Dimensional.

Now, the show actually got better as it went on, and around the 4th episode, it actually got a lot better artwork and the voices weren’t as stale. It feels like they got into the show more. Not only that but I believe it was the 5th episode where my favorite character was introduced. To bad he only stayed for one episode though. I really liked Saku Ezomori.

The music in the beginning is pretty standard as well as the animation. It pretty much has a loneliness walking style to it and showing the characters. And then somehow, the main character turning into a ‘fox boy’ for some strange reason. The animation is really butt ugly in many aspects for the background characters, making them lose much detail. The main characters may be detailed in a sense but the personality is really bland.

The voices… dear god the voices… They messed them all up. Chizuru is really high voiced and can probably hurt my ears. Kouta sounds like a little child, not like he would be in the same grade as all the other characters. The script is a bit choppy and again really doesn’t explain much. Sometimes the script is delivered without much feeling. Also some of the lip sinks are bad, they don’t work right.

I really feel like I need a shower and a delousing after watching this show. Kanokon manages to be one of the most perverted and in many ways disturbing things I have ever watched. It’s fortunate that it was short, because I doubt that I could have finished it had it been any longer.

Kanokon basically doesn’t have a story. A weak an uninteresting boy starts his year at a new high school where he is inexplicably besieged by hot girls. Standard echii anime fare here. The problem is nothing interesting ever happens. Kouta tries to avoid the affections of ... all the girls throwing themselves at him and the girls just keep trying, getting more and more outrageous as the series unfolds. There is some comedy to be found though. Kanokon does have its moments, if you can suspend your disbelief over Kouta and his lack of manliness. The interactions between Chizuru and all her rivals for his affections are pretty funny. Though after a while even this becomes less funny after you see the same joke for the tenth time.

The thing that bothered me the most however was the characters. Well one in particular.. Kouta. Why are all these girls throwing themselves at a weak, boring, underdeveloped boy who looks like he should be entering the 3rd grade instead of being in High School. High School? Really? Seeing this boy get molested episode after episode made me want to call the police more than it made me laugh. Chizuru and Nozomu are really the only highlights of the show from a character aspect. They are the only ones who are genuinely funny or even slightly interesting. However the fox/wolf spirit aspect of the pair are never properly developed and seem to have been added solely to bridge the time in between Kouta's next molestation.

Visually Kanokon looks great. Despite Chizuru's gravity defying measurements she is still pretty adorable as are the other girls. Again Kouta takes points away because of the way he looks. The voice acting is really good and it does save the series in some respects. Though not even one of my favorites Mamiko Noto could make me like Kouta. The music is also very strong.

If you are a diehard harem fan and love fan service, loli's, fox-spirits, hentai, and huge breasts smothering small children this is your show! Anyone else should preserve the IQ points you will lose watching it.