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"Every man wants to be like him and women named their vibrators after him"

In a world riddled with cringe humor, Sakamoto Desuga? is here to bless us with an alternative, yet rarely utilized type of comedy;
Suave humor. Known also by it's street name "Swag humor" this sort of comedy depicts the complete opposite of social awkwardness where the main character is the embodiment of social perfection.

The show is completely contrarian in nature. Perfect characters are often frown upon but now and then, someone would find someway to challenge such sentiments. Sakamoto, the complete opposite of a certain popular cringe character named Bean (even with ... a slightly elevated mole position), revolves around the story. I mean the story revolves around Sakamoto and his interaction with daily life and the people whom just so happened to be sharing the world with him.

Due to his character already being flawless in nature, the show's premise relies on the development of other character that directly interacts with him. Almost every episodic segment promotes an obvious "moral of the story", Sakamoto "kakoi-ness" inspires his fellow students to strive to be better, in somewhat roundabout comedic way.

The opening song of the anime serves as a fitting "bard's song" singing heroic praises, commemorating Sakamoto's existence. The jazzy tune played at every instance of "Sugoi-ness" amplifies Sakamoto's position as a cult of personality in his own show. I sincerely wished there were more varieties for this composition (musical instrument wise) otherwise I would have given it a "Sakamoto" rating (That's a perfect score).

A major risk with the show's premise is that it constantly needs to redefine it's "Kuru-ness" as it needs to persistently impress viewers so that the humor does not run dry. Being constantly bombarded by his "sugoi" antics, viewers may sense a feeling of repetition and familiarness. Thus, an unimpressive side character was eventually introduced as Sakamoto's comrade in order the contrast the blatant difference between them. The show is capable of inducing a few chuckles here and there but it's short of being anything revolutionary. Whether you are impressed or just find his roundabout ways amusing, Sakamoto does capture our imagination of an almost perfect human being (Clearly because he has to wear glasses, his eyesight isn't that perfect).

PS: Apologies for all the wapanese terms, just an afterthought of how cringey it is when non-Japanese speakers use Japanese word but it is somewhat "cool" for Japanese people to use English terms. Such is life. But not for Sakamoto.. Stay Cool Kids. Don't do Anime, not even once.

So somewhere, someone finally got the message that the harem genre is getting stale and is in dire need of a new twist. So why not instead of girls going after a male harem lead, we make the entire cast go after something else instead?

Oh I don't know, maybe a cheap apartment unit filled with PLOT DEVICES?

New Meta.

No one has ever done that before in the history of harem animes.

Why make an anime to pander to a certain audience when you can pander to every single harem fan? The anime is a culmination of genres from all across the harem spectrum. ... It has magic, supernatural, science fiction, all fit into one convenient dorm room at the price of 5000 yen a month.

However, while at first glance "Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?" may seem like an innocent entry to our beloved genre but as I dig deeper it seems the anime depicts important aspects that resonates within our modern societies.

The series begins with Kotaro Satomi, another independent spirit high schooler whom went out of his way to live on his own. He found a really cheap room in a dorm where he could call a home and made haste to secure his newly found independence. But little did he know with his new independence lies foreign interests, with an invasion in mind for their personal gain. Right of the bat we could see that the road to a secure and peaceful life is not an easy one. Despite already acquiring the dorm unit legally, Kotaro Satomi is challenged by foreign invaders whom claim their right to the room and do not acknowledge this process simply because they had personal interest at stake. These girls have a common motivation.

They all wanted the D. The Dorm room to be exact.

So let's take a look at all these interests at stake here.

We begin with Sanae Higashihongan, a ghost girl. She depicts claims that historical rights precedes any other form of contract. Being the longest "unliving" tenant, her claim to the dorm room was because "she was there first." A simple claim many would be familiar with in our modern society when discussing land settlements. Nevertheless, she has proven that she could integrate with her new host, both benefiting from a mutually beneficial partnership.

Yurika Nijino is a magical girl. Often confused for a cosplayer, she represent the unfavourable view some hobbies are observed by certain part of society. Despite being made the comic relief and joke amongst the cast, she is undoubtedly one of the strongest, being able to avert crisis many times in the series. With this power she sees the responsibility of securing the dorm room which is a good source of PLOT DEVICE. Being a clutz, Yurika projects an image that even a powerful entity is not immune from ridicule and mistakes.

Kiriha Kurano is a descendant of the Earth People. Her story depicts a civilization that at one point was blessed with great accomplishment but was forced to move underground for unknown reasons. Her people wanting to once again regain their glory days was split between two camps. Kiriha was a moderate aiming for a peaceful integration of their societies whereas the other significant following was leaning more towards terrorism. Nothing less than a violent invasion would satisfy them even at the cost of innocent lives.

Theiamillis Gre Fortorthe is an intergalactic alien princess. She depicts a spoiled generation blessed with the technological advances her predecessors passed down. She has little regard to moderation and often risk blowing thing out of proportion. The lack of an adult figure present in her life could be a contributing factor as she was left in the care of her babysitter, Ruth, who is her voice of reason. Theia symbolises adult negligence and her moral code was shaped by media she observed for example the Blue Knight fairytale that she is engrossed with. Her need to conquer the dorm room was established by her predecessor as a test and her relentlessness was a symbol of a generation that needs to constantly proof themselves.

Ruthkhania Nye Pardomshiha is Theia's certified babysitter. She depicts my irrational fear of beetles. Yeap that's pretty much it.

Then there's also other characters whom have no interest in the dorm room.

Harumi Sakuraba is a senior and president of the knitting club whom Kotaro Satomi is a part of. She depicts the sweeping craze that is plaguing our young minds in this era known as "Senpai Please Notice Me" Kotaro Satomi is constantly trying to win her affection but unwitting created a distance between them as her acts very reserved around her, comparatively with the other girls.

Shizuka Kasagi, the landlady whom is the driving force behind the establishment of the Corona Convention. The convention of course is merely for show as such with many treaties in history. Despite being a strong figure established for peaceful resolutions, her indecisiveness to actually solve who owns the dorm room had subsequently caused many other proxy wars to take place, much to the despair of her own self. (Much like a certain world organization)

While initially leading me to believe that this anime was going to be about the tenants fighting it out in games and political manoeuvring to gain ownership of the dorm as shown in the second episode. Eventually it just became a slice of not your usual life where the girls try to curry favour with Kotaro because they all knew he was the rightful owner of the room and because screw metas, we're going back to male harem lead.

I take no issue with the art style as I did enjoy the variety of special effects each associated with the specific theme. Animation was done up to the current industry standards so I have no problem with that as well. Music wise to be fair, I know how the anime industry love recycling their soundtracks but I was expecting with the different themes involved, each female character would actually get some kind of distinctive character soundtrack. The opening song is somewhat catchy but not one that would stick in your head for a while.

While I did enjoy the series, I was expecting more from a title that was ambitious enough to combined a huge diversity of themes as their female cast. Each girl was given about two episodes for their arc which of course fell short to actually provide a real insight into their personality, probably just a tease for viewers to actually pick up the light novel. But then again, I might be expecting too much out of the harem genre. Overall, the diversity is a nice change in pace. The lack of harem cast overbearingness is a step in the right direction. The little twist at the end was a gentle slap to my face for forgetting something happened in the first episode which I cast aside due to the escalation of female invaders. So give it a try, draw your own conclusions on what this anime is about or take it at face value for what it is.

Every now and then when I go out of my way to look for a new romance anime to watch, I can't seem to help but to come across the whole anime "3 in one 1" genre package where romance comes bundle up with comedy and slice of life/school life like it's one of those 3 in 1 instant coffee packets. I mean it's not like I have anything against the two other genres but sometimes I just want to watch something purely romance just like how sometimes I just enjoy drinking coffee without sugar and creamer. But I digress, this genre bundle seems to ... be more common with animes targeted towards male audiences, rehashing cliches over and over again, building an impression that male targeted romance would not likely subsist without being comical, as to "being in love" is in the eyes of others, that pitiful?

Enter Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou literally translated as "We Are All From Dormitory Kawai" or serves as a double entendre for "We are all Pitiful" a foreshadowing for all the word plays to come. Truly the main gimmick of the series revolves around the pitiful love endeavors of the Kawai Dormitory’s claimed abnormal inhabitants, a place oozing of RomComs juices, focusing on the main protagonist Usa Kazunari and his love-on-first-sight heroine, Kawai Ritsu. Now, I'll admit that it doesn't take much for me to set eyes and commit to an anime. Despite alarms going off saying this would be another generic RomCom just based off its synopsis, if the main heroine is short haired, well that's basically my Kryptonite. Make it a short haired girl with a dandere attitude combo, well then you might as well just bury me already. So I lunge towards the series just like how I lunge towards old ladies giving out free samples at the local supermarket. Giving the anime a shot, I thought I could at least go down with a good eye candy but in the end what I got did not disappoint me.

The story while does not bring much new or innovative addition to the RomCom genre did caught my attention for having the right balance of comedy, romance and slice of life. The comedy aspect was not too overbearing as it does not take itself seriously nor try to capitalize much on the pitiful love ideals of its characters until it becomes irritating as many RomCom had done before. It had enough just enough romantic elements which in my opinion does not alienate its audiences by giving us someone like Usa, to constantly cheer for instead of the common plot-line of directly implying from the start that they could both very likely hit it off perfectly. Every now and then, interference from the other cast does not annoy me as some other RomCom does but serves only to heighten the sweet release should the two ever hit it off. The slice of life aspect of the story is executed somewhat interestingly enough even though there were scenes which are mundane due to the slow progress of the plot and/or character development.

The art style pretty much within my tastes, character design had hard colours reminiscent of animation style from a couple years back but with slightly more realistic body and face proportions. Soft tones and shades for the background design compliments well with the character design giving enough contrast enabling it to stand out. The occasional anthropomorphism of characters into their chibi forms goes well with the comedic scenes, not over-employing it too much until it loses its original aesthetics. I had sound and music on a positive note as well, with an mellow opening and an upbeat ending, whereas voice actors did approvingly well with their character portrayals.

The cast of characters had the most impact on me granted the bulk of my score, ranging from a variety of different personalities, each somehow related to their somewhat pitiful love endeavors. Though considered abnormal by societal standards, to me are not we more accustomed to weird characters in the anime scene which makes completely normal people like Usa seem to be the weird one for not fitting in. While the story occasionally revolves around Usa and Kawai, the other tenants do have their fair share appearance and contribution to the series.

Usa Kazunari, the protagonist, the ring leader of the handful of claimed weirdos in his life, is pretty normal you can get and this is speaking on the real world perspective, not those anime definitions of normal. He is as plain as you can get. He does things what a normal boy would do to gain attention of his love interest, which includes but not limited to, trying to get her to open up to him, picking up common interest to initiate topics for conversation and having sexual fantasies. In his position, being a junior going after a senior is pretty uncommon as far as the handful of animes I had picked up. He has trouble conveying his feelings but this is not entirely his fault when he has to deal with such a dysfunctional personality that is of his love interest. He’s the nice guy type however girls do not just fall head over heels for him. He has a predictable personality but what else can you expect from a guy who gets elated over simply seeing a different expression from Kawai. Actually scratch that, I would too, that's the perk of liking a dandere, and the net gain from the emotional difference is truly staggering. Though, Usa often pushes his luck too far, overestimating his boundaries with Kawai, taking far subtle hints and exaggerating it causing for more discomfort towards her than benefits towards him.

Kawai Ritsu, the main heroine, on the other hand is very reserved with her feelings though when she gets engrossed with a book she really likes, her emotions starts leaking out. A bookworm and loner in personality, she does not mind being alone as the thought of maintaining social etiquettes with friends and acquaintances could be overbearing. Putting on a friendly persona for the benefit of her friends is emotional taxing for her as such a typical response from an introvert. Though she eventually opens up more towards her dorm-mates or "tenants" since her parent technically owns the dorm, particularly towards Usa but this was squandered of course by his own insecurity or interference by third parties. She may appear stoic at times but she does have her fair share of emotional distress at times as she is unable to cope with sudden social expectations.

Shirosaki, the pervert of the dorm with his overly masochistic personality, would not be crossed out as the comic relief of the show initially. However he is caring in nature and good at tying all sorts of knots but his sexual disposition makes him hard or seemingly incapable to requite feelings of love due to the constant mocking and physical abuse of his dorm-mates. Despite this, he always comes up with entertaining ideas to kill boredom at the dorm. Often his partner in crime, Mayumi, the mature adult woman, has trouble reeling in a keeper due to implicitly implied by the other tenants as being too "loose" or easily swayed or charmed. She is unstable in nature, always drinking to soothe her sadness and also has a weak tolerance to other people being happy or having fun without her. Not being one to be left out, she constantly tries to top Usa by foiling his attempt at youthful love with Kawai. Though it seems sometimes she genuine does not want Usa at his chance with Kawai, Mayumi’s actions makes it all the more worthwhile by making sure he actually puts in more effort and not simply resorting to cheap tricks to get on Kawai’s good side. I would take this sort of interference any day rather than the "best friend whom never get laid" or "harem girls" interference. Sayaka, on the other hand, with her mischievous and sadistic attitudes may appear to be most favourable among the other tenants in terms of relationship. However she herself has trouble actually committing to one and prefers to ditch them like used tampons. Similar to Kawai, Sayaka has to constantly put up a likeable persona with her male acquaintances which could also be seen literally with the amount of make-up she puts on. Surprisingly she is still a good person at heart, never abandoning her old friends even after moving to the city from the countryside. As much as she toys with Usa, she does help him out on certain occasions, though the former proved to be much more. Last but not least the caretaker of the dorm, Sumiko, who is also Kawai’s grand aunt. Kind but knowing when to get strict and threatening at times, she make sure abuses from Mayumi and Sayaka towards Usa is kept moderately. She has a special rule where she cooks the favourite meal of the tenant for the evening if the specific tenant is depressed. Even though she is elder figure, she can be playful and optimistic at times but ensures that the strict dorm rules are complied by its tenants. Now I did assume everyone in the dorm had some kind of love related issues. Sumiko may be unmarried given she kept onto her family’s name but I could be wrong. But if this stands true I guess she has a few problems of her own when it comes to her love life.

This series was thoroughly enjoyable despite initially thinking that the mundane slice of life aspect with eclipse any redeeming comical factor the anime have to promise. In the right amount of doses with well-placed timing, I had a good laugh at their antics just like how I laugh with my real friends. They are not obligated to get to know each other in the dorm but they do so knowing they would be much more entertained putting up with each other than locking themselves in their room (though maybe Shiro would be fond the whole locking idea) Watching this series makes me feel like I too am part of Kawai Dormitory and all its weirdness. Usa despite having a very associable personality does not want to make me embody his character but merely cheer him in his often botched attempts at getting closer with Kawai. Running gags and world play galore, this show is kept going by its cast, ensuring that even a dull moment could quickly be turned into a slapstick gag. While the slow pace of the show might be unappealing to some audiences, the relationship between Usa and Kawai shows how two people with polarizing personalities should not be rush. The series may be trying to portray that it is not their weirdness that is used as common grounds that keeps them together as a unit but their ability to tolerate and overcome each other’s abnormal behaviours. This is depicted as Usa, being the epitome of weird tolerance though he at times thinks it is better to just avoid these circumstances, always seems to be drawn towards it. Pitiful as it is, seeing Usa constantly trying to run away from his fate only to return it is somewhat entertaining to me.

So in a nutshell, Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou may not be ground breaking in the RomCom + SOL genre, it certainly shows that the formula is still entertaining and engaging when executed properly. I may not have gotten my pure romance experience but it does instil in me the desire to continue observing the progresses of the tenants of Kawai Dormitory. I came for the short haired girl but left with a bunch of weirdos lingering in my mind. So the questions are, “Should I recommend this anime?” “Was I satisfied with the ending?” “Am I barred from my local supermarket?”

The answer is “Yes”.

Rule 34.....
Generally accepted fearsome internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable subject.

At first I was like....
"Oh yeah, I bet that rule can't be applied to a freakin CUBE!"

........And thus C3 is born.......

Normally I don't review animes on first episodes but I have to give my first impressions on this one as a clarify with those who wants to pick up this series. Will update as the anime progresses.

Here we go! Another school battle royale! But this time with tools and objects transforming in gorgeous girls. Yachi Haruaki is a normal high school boy with a travelling parent whom ... sends him backs souvenirs in the form of girls (oh god I wish my parents did that) but here's a twist. They're all cursed tools! So nne day, Haruaki receives a black cube from his old man. During the night, he encounters a NAKED (yea because that's how we normally encounter girls for the first time right guys?) silver haired girl stealing rice crackers. She is the human-form of the black cube, an instrument of torture called "Fear in Cube". So thus began their newfound companionship in a battle royale against other cursed instruments in the form of girls. Sound familiar?

The art and animation! Blindingly colourful and obviously similar to series such as Baka To Test? That's because the same director Oonuma Shin is in charge of both series. He was also the episode director of Bakemonogatari which is why C3 seem to have a bit of the "SHAFT" aspect to aspect approach.
Character designs are pretty average but the high luminosity design managed to grab my somewhat short attention span. I have nothing much to add about sound. Seiyuus portrayal of their characters are just average as well. However I do enjoy the BGM. It manage to expresses the torn conflict between peace and chaos in the anime.

I will update character review as soon as the plot advances. For now we have our typical hero, Yachi Haruaki, whom is somewhat special ability of not being able to be cursed. What prove do I have?
"Hey Yachi! You're a mother f*****!"
See? I can't curse him. Yeah I know that was lame. But you've read it anyways.
Joining him is Kubrick Fear a typical tsundere whom now have to cope with life as an average girl.
Not much of an innovation to the whole anime scene but this is expected since the themes are comedy and ecchi. I can't complain if authors are to afraid to venture out and try new character development techniques. The easy way out to show character developments is of course employing the "dere" character cards.
And last but not least a childhood friend with no redeeming qualities whatsoever (yet) except accelerated specific regional body growth.

I can't really say I enjoyed watching the first episode. But I don't hate it as well. It is somewhat confusing. Is it trying to be funny? Is it trying to be dramatic? Philosophical? Moe-blob?
Definitely trying to be a Moe-blob anime. So if you enjoy those and you''ve got spare time why not pick up this anime and be the judge for yourself? Or you could think outside of the box and apply rule 34 to other everyday objects.

Haremu Kingu,
Signing off

"I have lots of friends!"
"No you don't"
"My hair is blonde. Your arguments are invalid."

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai literal translation "I don't have many friends" light novel Japanese written by Hirasaka Yomi and illustrated by Buriki. What lead me here was my nose for seeking up potential Harem animes. And the Harem God smiled upon me for thy wish came true. However I would suggest the author change the title of this anime to "I Have Lots of Potential Candidates for my Harem" instead.

Insert cliched harem anime story! An unpopular guy Kodak Hasegawa (as everyone know, harem law #69 states that every unpopular male lead ... have a 75% chance of forming a harem) starts a club for unpopular people like himself in his Catholic School. Let's refer this as the "Forever Alone" Club. I remember forming one of these back in my high school days. Unfortunately for me, only male members joined (Because my school was full with weird guys not girls. God, we even play Monster Hunter on our PSPs all day) Luckily for Kodak Hasegawa, weird and eccentric female members started joining his club thus begin directing his path towards "The Way of the Harem" But MAL refuses to acknowledge this in the "genre" database.. RAGE.

Produced by AIC Build, the same people who brought you Oreimo and choco banana (ok I was kidding about the choco banana). Thus explains the similarity in their animation style. Character designs are exceptional. Knowing Watanabe Yoshihiro was in charge. He was responsible for character designs and animation for notable animes such as Minami-ke and my other all time favourite harem anime, Sora no Otoshimono. I can't comment much on sound yet because I have yet to hear other BGM and OSTs but the ending theme is about friendship! Thats what this anime is about? Friendzoning all the girls? I hope not.. I already have my full dose of "friendship" theme from the "My little Pony" show.

Not much had been introduced about the characters but nevertheless I shall try my best to assumely review them.

Kodak Hasegawa
The protagonist, Mr-so-called-unpopular. He is the product of you know those "videos" you watch in your room... alone... where a japanese girl have unprotected copulation with an American. Yep. Not that I watch those things I just know about it... *whistles*. He has blond hair thus japanese culture always associate them with delinquents.

Yozora Mikazuki
From the tone of her voice, we can expect her to be an egoistic lady with a sadistic nature. Can't get along with Kashiwazaki Sena and forms a huge rivalry with her. I shall note her down as Tsundere.

Kashiwazaki Sena
Nicknamed "Meat" by Yozora Mikazuki. She comes from a rich family. (Ahh every harem need a rich spoiled brat) She joined the club because she hate ordinary-ness. (Reminds you of another female lead doesn't it?) Perhaps another Tsundere here...

Kobato Hasegawa
Younger sister in the harem?! I thought whats-his-name already outlawed incest? Ah well, no skin off my back. Not much is revealed about her but she seems to have a dark persona

Yukimura Kusunoki
A maid! Now we're back on track! Apparent she wants to be more muscular and more manly. Thus she became a disciple of Kodak since he has an image of a deliquent. Trust me. Only Kogarashi from Kamen no Maid Guy is able to pull of the whole "Manly even in Maid outfit" routine. Bless his soul wherever he is.

Shiguma Rika
Glasses girl and Mad Scientist. Yep, nuff said.

Takayama Maria
The loli of the harem! Apparently she is only 10 but is a professor and the club advisor. Oh Japan, you never cease to amaze me.

Overall, this OVA left me a significant impact on me. Yep I was expecting a cliched harem opening and I got that at first. But then it all changed. You know what they say, "Nothing is too good to be true." Comedy wise this is more of the "guy gets tortured by female cast" which became really popular recently. Potential of being a harem anime? Yes most definitely. Potential of deviating from the typical RomXCom scenario. Perhaps not.

And remember, "My hair is blonde. Your arguments are invalid."

Haremu Kingu,
Singing off!

"Why are girls more susceptible to same sex or bi-sexual orientation? Who knows, but it sure does make a good source of comedy material in the anime world"

Yuru Yuri (literal translation Easy-Going or Slow Yuri) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Namori about three schoolgirls... wait am I missing someone? Guess not. They took over the former room of the tea ceremony club (may I add how manly tea is?) to form their own "amusement club" Yea because in Japanese highschools it isn't illegal to just take over another club room for your own amusement. I know I used to make the ... boy's toilet my secret base. (It's ok, guys doesn't even like to use our toilets) Cause seriously which guy hadn't secretly used the girls toilet because he can't stand the odor in the guy's toilet. That is until they see the huge pool of blood and get traumatize for life.

Yuru Yuri is a generic "moe-slice-of-life" anime with those moments of dialogue and acting that could be interpreted as overly homoerotic, but not as much if you know the real context. As funny as it is, the whole "X girls just hanging out and having fun" where X denotes the number of the main cast (which is normally the Four Girl Ensemble), is nothing new to the anime scene. But some people, even myself, enjoy this moment or repetitiveness.

So as the story progresses more girls join the main casts to form the ultimate Lesbian Full Cast in their hilarious mishaps. You can never have enough middle school girls in one story right? I hope I don't sound like a pedo here...
Worry not as eventhough with the introduction of new characters, the 3 main girls are still the stars of the plot. (Seriously, I feel like I'm forgetting someone)

Art wise, on a scale of 1 to 10 on the moe-art-meter, this anime scored an 11. Seriously, if you do not even smile or give a faint grin on your face when you see their big beady, glowing eyes then you sir, HAVE NO SOUL! The character were filled of emotions. Heck, I wish I could understand Japanese so I wouldn't have to read the subs and miss all those visual cues. Overall, the character designs makes you go Uguuuuuu~ even if you're not a pedophile.

As for sound, definitely hands down, my favorite opening and ending theme for this season. No. Possibly for this year so far. It's catchy, it's upbeat, and it never gets old for me for some reason. If you get on a public bus or you're taking the subway train and you see a guy with headphones on bobbing his head, that would probably be me listening to the opening and ending theme song. Eventhough most of the seiyuus are new or haven't been given sufficient roles, they were able to execute their characters personalities quite well.

Characters! Because the whole selling point of Yuru Yuri is their characters!

TOSHINO KYOUKO!
It's a universal rule that if you want to mention her name you must shout her name in a harsh tone. This lovable girl is the center of all the comedy that is happening in Yuru Yuri. Smart, talented, manipulative and downright annoying but in an amusing way. Her sexual orientation is still questionable though. She's supposedly the main character but I keep forgetting there was someone there in the spotlight before her.

Funami Yui
She plays the older sister role within the whole cast. Indepent, reliable, you know the type that end up being the "Yuri Target" by the female cast. She's very vulnerable to jokes involving word play. On a plus point she's a bit like a kuudere with her monotonous voice and attitude over her friends.

Yoshikawa, Chinatsu
Cute at first sight but holds a deeper alter ego who is actually very intolerant. She's in the centre for the love triangle between Yui and TOSHINO KYOUKO!
Well I wouldn't put it as a triangle because it's more like a straight line.
TOSHINO KYOUKO! ---> Chinatsu --->Yui
Her sexual orientation, though, is confirmed to be lenient towards yuri.

Other casts includes
Sugiura Ayano who is the student council president and fierce rival of TOSHINO KYOUKO! eventhough the latter doesn't really acknowledge it.
Though, she herself might be falling in love with TOSHINO KYOUKO!

Ikeda Chitose
This woman single handedly taught me the power that bestowed upon people with low vision. The ability to fantasize in real time using your other senses as your vision sense is low, your other senses such as hearing is magnified. Her fantasies and nose bleed had become a running gag in the series involving Ayano and TOSHINO KYOUKO!

Himawari Furutani and Sakurako Ohmuro
Guess what's more annoying than a tsundere girl? Two tsundere girls! Seriously, this two childhood friends forms the tsundere couple which is funny but a sight for sore eyes as well. Oh and both of them revolves around the whole "Boob Gag" which is the whole Big breast vs Flat Chest.

Overall, from what I first expected from the season preview, this anime beats beyond my expectation. I'm no fan of yuri, I've never even watched any yuri anime before this. So it' safe to say that even if you're homophobic, you would still enjoy this anime to the fullest. The comedy aspect is great as it covers a huge range of variety from Comedic Sociopathy to breaking the fourth wall with the audience. Not to mention the entertaining 10 seconds running cycle between every intermission is somewhat entertaining. As the title suggest it, Slow Yuri because on a yuri scale of 1 to 10, this anime would probably score a 4 as the yuri theme is only as suggestive as the audience would imply it to be.

Haremu Kingu,
Signing out...

Seriously, I still have a feeling I left someone out. Can someone please tell me who it is?

Mayonnaise Chicken is a simple dish which requires you to cover parts of the chicken which you want to consume with butter and mayonnaise (crumbs are optional) baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.. It is better if you.....
Oh wait a minute, this isn't the Cook's Review! My bad folks... It's just that mayonnaise is my most favorite condiment and it goes well with any food. Heck I'm watching this anime while eating mayo out of a jar!
(For those who does not know what Mayo is, I can assure you, it's not an musical instrument.)
Anyways, onward with the review!

Mayo Chiki! is a abbreviation of Mayoeru ... Shitsuji to Chikin na Ore to. Mayo Chiki (the anime) is not to be confused with Mayo Chiki (the food) Only God knows who's idiotic enough to mix them both up.. Heh.. heh...
Translation: The Wavering Butler and Myself the Chicken

Produced by TBS and Feel, yes you heard me right... "Feel" people responsible for making popular fan service titles such as "Kiss X Sis" and "Yosuga no Sora" so is it wrong to presume equivalent amount of needless fan-service in this anime? BOING!

The story is about a youthful boy named SakamaCHI KINjiro (see what I did there?) who discovered Subaru Konoe, a fellow classmate, secret of being a TRAP! Subaru must presume the role of a male because guys are just so awesome that every girl wants to be guys... Ehmm.. I mean it's a tradition of her family for every male family member to be the butler to the [Insert rich generic family who probably gained their wealth by stepping on us poor peasants] What will happen to our hero? Now of course if you know the genre an anime is the "comedy and romance combo" then there's a good chance our hero will get ABUSED physically and mentally by practically everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. Yes, even by his mom. Poor lad..

As the Chief Animation Director, Kawamura Kousuke was entasked with character design, which he executed exceptionally well. Though I never did read the light novel, I'm assuming fans had no qualms about his depiction of what the author of the light novel was trying to portray.

I was expecting this anime to be nonsensical and hilarious, revolving around pervertic shenanigans, so I was assuming the music to be upbeat and mischievousness just like the cast. Well, you can't go wrong with Kitamura Eri right? The OP is a perfect example how the author is trying to tell is that unlike the usual Romcom genre, the crossdressing Subaru is the main player, not the Chicken, Kinjiro. It shows how everyone loves Subaru, and doesn't give a damn about Kinjiro. I feel your pain Kinjiro... Your mum hates you, now everyone else ignores you. We are so alike.. (yes, I too am in love with a cross dresser)
Kudos to the selection of cast for seiyuus as well. They are able to use their voice to portray the character's personality quite well.

So lets move on to characters...

[Sakamachi, Kinjirou]
The target of everyone's abuse. Currently living with his sister and his mum. His dad passed away when he was a young boy. Did I mention that his mum is a professional wrestler?
So I think this is how it went down.
Kinjirou's Dad: Honey, make me a sandwich!
Kinjirou's Mum: ...........
[THE NEXT DAY KINJIROU'S DAD IS HOSPITALIZED]

I guess you could say he got....
*puts on sunglasses*
A Knuckle Sandwich...
YEEEEAAAAAAH!!! [Cue CSI Miami OP song]

Ehmm... Ok enough with the lame jokes...
My condolences to Kinjiro, his dad was a good man, just with the wrong women. Anyways, due to his father escaping his miserable fate, Kinjiro gets abused by his mother and sister instead. (Now kiddos this is an anime, if you know a child being abused by his parents in real life, please tell social service. Thank you) This causes him to develop Gynophobia (fear of women) and his body reacts to this phobia by secreting blood from his nose. Which is weird because, I don't know, don't normally main male lead in RomCom gets punched by a girl after his nose starts bleeding? So doesn't these nosebleeds makes it worse? So in a nutshell, he doesn't want to be touched by girls. So is it a sign for him to turn to the gay side?
Kinjiro is reliable, when time comes, and he is depended heavily on Subaru. Which is good because he is the one responsible most of the time for bringing the "dere" side out of her.

[Konoe Subaru]
The generic trap in every anime who makes fun of flat chested girls. Though she looks nothing like a flat chest girl! This is blasphemy! Now even girls with B cup sizes can look like a guy in 5 easy steps? She is also the main source of Yaoi and Yuri jokes in the anime. (How is that even possible?) As the butler to the Suzutsuki family, she serves the current heir Kanade Suzutsuki. She has the best of both worlds. Wanted both by males and females. She is an interesting character to me. She has her own harem (a tsundere with a harem? Even more blasphemy!), however her harem consists of the same gender. So do I label it as a harem or as a reverse harem? Plus, if she likes Kinjiro and Kinjiro himself gets a harem, so wouldn't that be a harem within a harem?
HAREMCEPTION!

[Kanade Suzutsuki]
Bishojo and a sadist. Deadly combo, but a dream come true to every masochists. She plays as the childhood friend in Subaru's harem... Or reverse harem.. Or whatever, I don't know anymore. She acts as the mediator between Kinjiro and Subaru's relationship, though she preferably likes torturing them more. However, she honestly do want to help cure Kinjiro of his phobia (probably by draining all his blood so he can't get nosebleeds anymore)

[Other Cast]
-Includes Kinjiro's sister who wants to be a wrestler as well. Also part of Subaru's harem.
-Other maid belonging to the Suzutsuki family. Also part of Subaru's harem.
-Some parody of the KKK cult who loves Subaru, also part of.... Ok, this is getting repetitive. I'll just say this once, every other cast is in Subaru's Harem. Capiche?
-The Yaoi group who supports Subaru-Kinjiro relationship.

Though having an interesting title with a slightly promising premise, Mayo Chiki! does lack a source of innovation, story and character wise perhaps. I mean even the 4 main cast have the same initials, K.S. (That does not come from abbreviation Kill steal, mind you)
It needs a greater impact on the audiences so that they'll be able to differentiate this anime from every other RomCom there is. (I'm sorry but there are already a couple of cross dressing RomCom in the anime world and I'm sure this is not the end of it) Putting lots of fan-service may pique my interest for a moment, though it will last as long as my attention span (which is actually really short) Though, I must admit even if the story is not so original, the humor is entertaining. It doesn't take much for me to chuckle to even generic yaoi or yuri jokes. Perhaps more development in the future would lead to a more memorable cast.

Conclusion, in recent months, introduction of crossdressing characters have been rapidly increasing, so I'm not sure if that's a new fetish or something you people have? Maybe it's a bisexual thing? But I don't think that's a good idea since you're opening yourself up to be rejected by both sexes? Anyways, Mayo Chiki! is a decent RomCom to kill time with. Hilarity plus it doesn't dwell too deep in logic but it gets your mind blown with question once in a while like,"IF SHE IS AFRAID OF KNIVES, HOW IS SHE GOING TO STAY IN THE KITCHEN?" or something like that.
You will laugh, you will cry, you will do plenty of face palm, but most importantly, you will remember that no matter how tempting being the opposite sex must feel like, be grateful of how you were intended to be created...... And be thankful that you're not allergic to the opposite sex, cause that's just SUCKS dude.... If you know what I mean ;)

Haremu Kingu,
Singing Off!

"INCESTUOUS HOMOSEXUALS!"
T'Was my first impression on this anime but fortunately it has none of that.
Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi or in English, A Bridge to the Starry Skies, or in the French, Un pont vers le ciel étoilé (everything sound sexier in French) is based on a visual novel made by Feng whom I'm not familiar with any other works. (Known for making the visual novel Akane Iro, which was then adapted into an anime, that was a disaster) Having finished this galge using a lousy translator program that killed every emotional scene that the eroge had to offer (Yes, you know I'm talking about you ... ATLAS and AGTH!) I've decided to watch the anime to displace that horrible, horrible visual novel translations with better subs.

So if you're a hardcore follower of "Way of the Harem" you should know by now that every typical Harem lead must somehow "dispose" of his parents. This statement stands true for Hoshino Kazuma, our Harem lead. But unlike other harem animes, his parents absence is actually feasible. They're not on a world tour or fighting aliens or working overseas... Kazuma and his younger brother were sent to the countryside because of his younger brother's health condition and it was mention in the anime that his parents "will join them eventually.." Sounds plausible.

In this new town, he met a girl, fell on top of a girl, kissed a girl, called a pervert, caught naked, got teased for a small d*ck and the list goes on. A cliche harem story you say? NOT SO FAST! (Feng apparently have a fetish for accidental kiss. Nothing wrong about it. That's as close as you can get to non-jail-able sexual harassment)

I've decided not to review this anime based on the visual novel. In defense of harem animes being critized by it's cliche-ness and never ending quest to satisfy our "fan-service" needs, I shall judge a harem anime as a class of it's own, not to be compared with other types of genres. Thus I present to you, "The Harem Deviation Calculator"

Using the following formula
H= 3/(n-2) x (N!/n) x (Y)^1/2 - TKρ

Where..
H represents the Harem Score
n represents the number of girls in the harem
N represents the number of different type of girls
Y represents the dependency of the male harem lead
K represents the magnitude of “cockblockers”
Ρ represents the dense-ness of the male harem lead
T represents the cohesion of the fellow female members

Let's begin shall we?

Number of girls in the harem:
A total of six main girls and two subs. And one little brother.

Types of girls: [This will be a simplified version]

Nakatsugawa Ui
Airhead[✓], Big Appetite[✓], Older brother complexity[✓], First Kiss[✓]
First Girl Rule[✓]

Hinata Ibuki
Archer girl[✓], Possessive[✓], Anti-Pervert[✓], Tsundere[✓]

Koumoto Madoka
Miko[✓], Androphobic[✓], Shy[✓], Childhood friend[✓], BOING![✓]
Friendzoned[✓]

Sakai Hina
Yuri-able[✓], Elegent[✓], Soft toy fetish[✓], Enjoys talking to in-animated objects[✓], self-conscious[✓]

Toudou Tsumugi
Older Sister[✓], School Idol[✓], Clumsy[✓] , hard working[✓]

Toudou Koyori
Strong will[✓], energetic[✓], kind[✓], tomboy[✓], Innocent[✓]

Hoshino Ayumu
Wait hold it... Oh thank god. I almost mistaken his younger brother into his harem..
Well as you can see the characters are greatly varied however I am shocked that a glasses girl isn't present. It's a great loss for glasses fan everywhere...

Dependency:
Well Kazuma is reliable enough to take care of his younger brother, thus gives him a significant amount of credit for this. Although he does not have any super power or super human abilities, he is athletic so I guess that counts in a way towards his dependency score.

Cockblockers: Low
Yorozu Senka, the lady in charge of the inn where the Hoshi brothers are staying. Probably the first non-blood relative to have saw Kazuma's other little brother (You know what I'm talking about) Although she supports Kazuma having healthy relationships with other girls, her positive attitude might just instill more awkwardness between the Kazuma and his "choosen" girl. Other than that, he does not have a younger sister which would mean less "caught in the act" events. (Though I rarely see a younger brother in harem genre before)

Dense-ness: Moderate
Moderately dense. He is aware of some of the girls' feelings for him. (But not all of them)

Cohesion: High
All the girls are on friendly terms with each other. Well yeah, this is quite common in a harem. But the plus point is that if one of them got into a relationship with the main harem lead, I can assure you, yanderes won't be present. (Which means no severed heads and boat rides) nor would he have to cut ties with any of them.

So overall, what is the verdict?
[HAREM EXPECTATION INDEX METER]
-HOSHINO KAZUMA- HAPPY HAPPY FUN TIME
Positive but still a cliched harem (low deviation score)

So there you have it. Fairly nothing exceptionally interesting ever happened in the anime. Art and sound wise is just slightly above the average line. Characters do not really have a noticeable impact on the audience. There's also a lacking amount of fan-service thus reducing the enjoyment score for those who actually was hoping for it. But if you find yourself wanting to contribute to the research of harem genres, then go ahead and watch this.

Thanks for reading,
Haremu Kingu,
Signing off!

Let's say you have a drinking problem. Instead of admitting that you have a problem, you blame your drinking because your wife nags at you, or because the devil told you to do it, or some other excuse I could not think of because I do not have drinking problem. (No, I'm not in denial here, I seriously don't have a drinking problem)

Reality distortion

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko deals with characters who distorts reality to their own convenience to escape facing the inconceivable truth. As normal human beings, we usually believe our perception of the worlds within and around us is "true."

The story revolves around ... Niwa Makoto (who is playing as the youthful man) and his cousin, Touwa Erio (who is playing as the electromagnetic wave woman) living with his aunt Touwa Meme (horny old woman with a 20 year old body. Yes in Japan it is possible without cosmetic surgery) in a small city famous for alien encounters.
Now if you all know me (which I doubt you do) you probably think I picked up this title because it has youthful scent all over it which means a harem is soon to follow.

YES. I wont deny that. Other reasons would be due to Erio hot legs. (No I do not have a leg fetish)

So we follow the journey of Makoto collecting youthful points for god knows what reason (as if you can measure youth) and along the way he meets (as expected) more girls to add to his circle of harem... I mean circle of friends.

Art wise, it's very obvious that you can tell that this is one of SHAFT's handiwork. The dramatic zoom into background objects, character faces, (especially the eyes) I've read a couple of chapters from the light novel and it is clear that the portrayal of the story using the artwork is nicely executed.
The voice cast chosen are befitting for their characters.

Now I can't go into detail about all the characters as I want to avoid spoilers as much as possible. But I would like to stress something on Niwa Makoto.
[REASONS WHY MAKOTO SHOULD HAVE A HAREM]
1) He is a nice guy (Main characteristic a harem male lead)
2) He is a transfer student (Research shows that 4/5 of anime transfer students gets a harem)
3) He doesn't live with his parents (He is independent which means less cockblock)
4) He is not ugly (Have you ever seen an Ugly harem male lead?)
5 His name is Makoto (Reference To the Makoto from SchoolDays. I just hope his balls is still intact when everything is over)

Basically, Makoto here is a personification of everything that is adolescent in anime terms.

His cousin on the other hand (Touwa Erio) plays the fumbling yet lovable character (well I find her lovable because I love girls with blue hair. No I do not have a blue hair fetish) She plays the electromagnetic wave woman in this series (electromagnetic wave woman here means weird, crazy or someone who has an obsessive behavior on an perception) She provides the story for the first arc in the series, Makoto helping her cope from her transition from an 'extraterrestrial being' back to a 'normal' human being.
She is also the main example of a person who is clearly distorting her own reality.
But she may not be in denial? Perhaps it was misinformation?
For example have you ever experience sleep paralysis? People who don't know the term sleep paralysis may think that when this occurred to them, aliens are actually probing them. This is just the way it is when you do not have information on your current circumstance.

Do I find this amusing in any way?
- I find adolescence amusing
-I find eccentric characters amusing
-I find futon wrapped Erio amusing
-I find getting a million youth points for seeing a girl naked wrapped with a bath towel amusing

What I do not find amusing?
- I find incest not amusing
-I find cradle robbers not amusing
-I find cattle mutilation not amusing
-I find no harem in a supposedly capable harem producing anime not amusing

Overall if you're a fan of SHAFT like works (and no I'm not referring to Madoka, damn Madoka fanboys...) then I see no reason why you should not watch this.
I have learn from this anime that sometimes blaming aliens is all what it takes to escape reality. (For those of you who had sleep paralysis, blaming alien is very common)
Examples:
"The crime rate had risen over the past few years"
-I blame Aliens
"Baby dumping has increased from a decade ago"
-I blame Aliens
"Our job opportunity has been falling recently"
-I blame Aliens
Case in point.

Oh by the way, "Aliens" here DO NOT mean Mexicans. Racist pricks.

Hysteria Mode... It's like 'Pervergy' (pervert energy) but doesn't make your hair spike up in such ridiculous proportions.

Joining me for today's review and providing commentary is none other than Master Yoda. Great to have you with me here today Master Yoda.

"To pleasure with you, it is my work"

Umm.. I think you mean "It is my pleasure to work with you" but somehow that came out wrong... Anyways, onwards to the review!

Hidan no Aria, or by it's English title Aria the Scarlet Ammo was one of the many anticipated anime this year. Heck, even some fanboy/girl even created a page for the series on facebook ... even before it started airing, while other fan claim it as "One of the Best Anime of all Time"
Even Master Yoda took the liberty of contributing by subbing a few of the episodes for the series.

"Subbing the anime, enjoy I have..."

Well I'm sure you do. But I can't say much for the audience though...

The concept of the series is quite popular among some factions of the audience in this modern era. An academy for training Butei (mercenaries but with a code of honor). Girls falling from the sky. Strong heroines. Absurd gun fights and explosions. And last but not least, HAREM! Everything an average youthful men wants but fail to achieve due to our constricting ties to reality. The premise itself made an interesting core for the story. But the question is, did it live up to the light novel's expectations?

Art wise, it is far from being perfect but nevertheless is sufficient to provide detail on the author's perspective of what a world that is run by secret organizations, mercenaries and assassins. I have no problem with the sound as well as the BGM composed was befitting of an action genre anime with a tint of comedy.

"Not if anything to say about it, I have! Seen better animation for action I have"

For the last time Yoda, you can't compare your movie animation to an anime animation. That's like comparing a light saber to a banana. But gives you heartburn but a different kind.

List of Characters

Aria H Kanzaki..
Contrary to popular beliefs, the H in Aria's name is Holmes NOT "H" for ECCHI! I'm saying this for the first and last time. I mean, what parent would give their daughter the name, 'Aria Ecchi Kanzaki"? And Holmes is spelled H-O-L-M-E-S not `Olmes. She's not a gangsta. You hear me Yoda?

"Your mother, word to.."

You know when you mix gangsta talk and Yoda talk, it just makes no sense..

Aria is supposedly the 4th generation descendant of Sherlock Holmes. A generic Tsundere (of course will come with an iron board chest) I find nothing particular interesting about her character in the anime. She's as generic as it gets when it comes to Tsundere female lead. Ok, so that covers the Tsundere Flat Chested Girl Fetish audiences. Treating the male lead as a slave, calling him 'idiot' for no apparent reason and of course being such a huge cock blocker. But she is, not, without some positive values. She is portrayed as strong willed and independent. She goes out of her way to prove her mother's innocence as well as following her advice on finding her "Watson" or in other words a partner.

And thus we have Kinji Tooyama, the Watson to Aria's Holmes.
Kinji Tooyama is conditionally weak and a coward. Oh no. Well this isn't really new. If you're a proud owner of a harem you should be prepared to be stripped of all your dignity and strength. That's the basic foundation of a "Class II Harem" But I said "conditionally weak because he has Hysteria Mode! His urge to protect women causes him to awaken to his the manly and elegant side. He chooses to escape from the Butei world after his elder brother was killed performing his duty but was badmouth by the community. Thus it would take a bomb on a bike, a bomb on a bus and a bomb on a airplane to change his mind and decide to serve as Aria's partner as a Butei.

And what Harem wouldn't be completed without a neglected childhood friend. Shirayuki Hotogi, she's sort of like a miko so yeah I guess that covers the audience with a miko fetish. She is one of the very few characters that possess psychic abilities.

"Within this young one, force is strong..."

Right... So Shirayuki is of course portrayed as the one who showers her unconditional love to our male harem lead. Which could only mean one thing. YANDERE!!! It's been a long time since I've seen a Yandere in a harem. Yanderes serves as an important mechanism in a harem.
It is indeed refreshing to see someone who could do the job for me, killing the main harem lead if he becomes such a nuisance.

So that's it for some of the main characters in the series. Wait, I know what you're thinking..

"THIS ISN'T TORADORA SEASON 3???!!!"
What gave you the slightest idea that it was, Mr.CAPSLOCK Warrior?

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THIS WAS HAREM ANIME! THERE'S ONLY TWO GIRLS. YOU LIED TO ME! YOU SUCK AS A HAREM KING! STOP TRYING TO BE FUNNY! IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT!!"
Well, I wouldn't want to spoil the best moments in the novel and anime so I guess you have to figure out which other girls are in his harem. But I'm telling you it's not that hard to figure out... Basically any girl who had more than 3 conversation with the male harem lead in a harem genre anime will be automatically (and magically) fall in love with him.

So did the anime live up to it's expectation and hype? I would probably say no. However, it doesn't mean it was a failure. The novel had great aspect and content that if utilized in the anime would make it worth while to watch. Even though the whole youths in combat, mercs and assassins, ability users concept is pretty used many times.

Another interesting aspect about the series is that it follows a common trend in animes is to cameo famous historical figures names as characters. Well I won't spoil to you who appears and not.
But I will tell you who doesn't
-Georgia WashMyThongs
-Christy CallMahBust
-Napoleoni Bonerpart
And other ideas names on historial figures being girly-fied? Feel free to comment on my profile.

"Girl version of my name, Yodarina, it would be..."
I wouldn't be interested in a girl version of you anyways yoda

If you like gun duels, explosions, destruction and of course a follower of the Way of the Harem, all sandwich in supposedly labelled school life type genre? then you might find Hidan no Aria worthwhile. And if you like Yoda's fansub you could also request him to sub other animes.
Thanks for reading!

Haremu Kingu,
Singing Off!