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Asu no Yoichi is an anime that embodies the harem genre in so many ways. The art and sound are done well while so much lacks in the series for the sake of just selling a few fanservice scenes.

Story - 6
It starts off with a decent premise. Teen guy has lived and trained in the mountains his entire life as a samurai. He goes to the city to continue his training and stays with a family of 4 girls. While it is sort of a harem, there are only 2 real love interests and there was pretty much zero romantic development in the series. The ... overarching plot was started earlier on than in many ecchi/harem shows, even of this length, but they left any real development until very late and in the end just failed to change anything from the first episode. The ending was disappointing. Really disappointing. Many anime choose to go with an open end, but few do it this badly.

Art - 9
No complaints here. I liked most of the art. They clearly put more effort into the art than in the story. I liked most of the character designs, though some of the backgrounds were a bit bland.

Sound - 9
I enjoyed the voice acting and the OP and ED. I thought they all did very well. It isn't their fault some of the lines they had to read were laughably bad and most of the voices matched their characters well.

Character - 6
This one is tough for me. I liked most of the characters. Yoichi and the sisters are all good characters, if a bit cliched. I really dislike many harem leads, but I liked Yoichi even if he was a bit bland and Ibuki was fine, even though they developed her character much less than almost everyone else in the show. Wa-san and his friend, Tsubame and Angela, and some of the other characters were all interesting enough. But there is zero development. One girl is the clear lead from the first episode, but most of the episodes concentrate their energy on other characters. Even with that, there is little to no development in their characters either. Add in one of the more loathsome antagonists and I just can't give the characters too high a score.

Enjoyment - 5
Up until the last few episodes I may have given this a 7 or higher. I enjoy romances. And I enjoy ecchi comedies. This show has its moments. Most of them were pretty early on. But eventually, one would expect there to be some development. And when there isn't any by the 7-8 episode mark, I have to start to worry about the direction of the show. They kept doing the same jokes over and over again, so after the first few episodes, it started to lose its comedic edge as well. When they started the plot movement in the last few episodes, I was glad that something was finally going to happen. But then they just reverted everything back to the way it was. Absolutely nothing came from it other than introducing the world to an asshole. No romantic development, even with the somewhat complicated web of characters. No feeling of satisfaction from a concluded plot. And no real ending. I guess the last few moments of the show are just about right. Was that perhaps the script he was blowing his nose on?

Overall, I have to give the show a 6. The art and sound were good and the idea of the show was not too bad. A naive kid coming to the city should make for some interesting moments, and it does, but the flaws of the show are just too big to ignore. I would say it is probably worth a watch for most anime aficionados, but many will be bored with it quickly. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you look at it, there are only 12 episodes. Perhaps there would be more development with more episodes, but at least it wont cost you too much time if you don't enjoy it.

If this doesn't prove that story has nothing to do with making a good ecchi anime, then I don't know what does.

At it's best, it is great art, cliched characters, great sound, and very funny. At it's worst, it is iffy animation, cliched characters, mammoth sized plot holes, and is coated in a yellowish tinted world. All in all, I enjoyed this anime immensely, probably as much as any ecchi based show.

The story.

Well, as I said there are massive plot holes. And the story was kind of like a bunch of hero anime plots thrown in a blender to make a somewhat promising, but eventually ... failing plot. It really just blew it's load too early, seemed to skip some parts that seemed important early on, and kind of fizzled out at the end. I hear this was based on the visual novels not the manga, so I may give those a read and see how the manga is. But, more importantly, as it is an ecchi comedy anime, I think we have to give the story less weight in general because there's just no sense in expecting a grand plot to go with all that fanservice. I give the story a 4.

The art.

The art was very good. I really liked that the main girl was not another girl with stupidly large boobs. They weren't tiny really, but a decent size. Only, I guess in ecchi show standards they are supposed to be considered very small. The other main characters are done well. The bad guy is a pretty lame effort, but I think that has more to do with him being a guy and also not actually having that much real screen time. Anyway, overall the art is good. The focus is on fanservice and battle scenes, and they do very well with both. In other scenes, especially after the first few episodes, it seems like some of the battle animations are reused a bit and the animation for regular scenes that are neither battles or heavy on fanservice are often poorly done. For these reasons I give the art a solid 7.

Sound.

The sound was great. From the OP, ED, effects, general songs used here and there, and the voice actors. Everything was really good. I can't find much fault in it so I give it a full 10.

Characters.

Meh, I'm iffy on this category. The characters were mostly cliched harem types. The guy wasn't a total loser, even if he is incredibly perverted. He is the usual kind guy that shows his power when his girls are in trouble. He also makes a choice based on honesty and love in the end, which is kind of refreshing in the end, even if the last few episodes felt a bit out of place. The girls, well, if you've seen harem/ecchi animes before, you probably know the types by heart already. They are all here, and offer little to no variation to the norm. The thing that I like here is that the main girl is neither loli or super annoying. She is the kind of girl I usually pull for in animes, though more often than not, that isn't the type that is chosen in the end. I'll give the characters a 6 because I like the main girl so much.

Enjoyment.

This is the standout factor for me. Ecchi comedies are supposed to be about enjoyment more than anything else, so instead of giving a heavy handed grade because the story didn't bring you to your knees, I feel like people should grade this type of show primarily on how much they enjoyed it. And I really enjoyed this one. It had me laughing right from the beginning. The comedy is great, and it keeps a fun edge on things even through the dramatic parts. Of course, I wouldn't have watched if I didn't like ecchi and this show doesn't disappoint on that front either. The fact that the main girl has good proportions that I prefer to the super skinny, super big boobed girls normally seen in these kinds of shows is icing on the cake. I have to admit that I was disappointed it took a few episodes for the show to just fizzle out, not to mention threw out most of the plot points completely in favor of a happy-go-lucky ending. Glad for the happy ending, but it just could have been better. Because I truly enjoyed the show despite it's flaws in the storyline, I still give a 10 for enjoyment.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show, and as I said, I feel like this type of show needs to focus on enjoyment rather than being caught up in a thought provoking storyline. Of course, I'm still waiting for a show with this level of ecchiness and a great story, but I'm not holding my breath. I have to give an 8, because the issues with the story and the disappointing ending can't be translated into a better score. I'm really glad to see a heroine that I truly enjoy in all respects, love the comedy, sound, and of course the fanservice. And, as Eroske said, "Ero is justice."

This isn't going to be a real review. I'm still stunned from what I just watched. I don't think I can give the attention a full review would warrant. And I don't think I could ever do justice to the show. I'm sure I will end up with a few spoilers, so just don't read if you don't want to know. And trust me, it's probably better for you to try and figure out the twists yourself.

Steins;Gate just blew my mind. I mean really. Imagine Lelouch Lamperouge waking up in a hospital and marrying Kallen after the events in Code Geass. Also imagine that there ... were no major plot holes, no feeling of the anime dragging on for far too long, and no feeling that the character designs are just too ridiculous for real life.

That's right, real life. An interesting phrase because science fiction requires a certain suspension of belief in the first place. I feel like the major difference here is that in most cases either it's very difficult to gain a full suspension of belief for the story, or the characters are unbelievable themselves. It's almost always the latter for me. What story can be complete without characters that you can imagine meeting yourself?

Okarin is an absolutely amazing and deep character. From the very start you think he is insane, and then just a strange sc-fi aficionado, and then you realize that there is a lot more to him than you think. And honestly it is only a good bit through the show where you can be completely sure that he isn't really the mad scientist he tries to portray.

Honestly, this show has to be the masterpiece of masterpieces among anime created thus far. It immediately goes on the very top of my list of favorite shows. I don't believe in perfection, but this is as close as I have seen an anime come. It takes the hope I had for Death Note before L died, and through the first season of Geass, and it finishes it like neither of those shows could. And let me just add some more superlatives to it so I can finish gushing and go watch something else for a bit: amazing, incredible, stellar, superior, ultimate, etc.

"Hey Mister! I am mad scientist, its cool!!! Sonuvabitch."

I can see now that any anime coming from this studio is going to be exactly the same. From the people who brought us OreImo comes Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sakunai, or I Don't Have Many Friends.

Kodaka comes to a new school and immediately is typecast as the delinquent by his classmates thanks to his hair. He shortly thereafter has a run-in with the other outcast of the class, Yozora, who is talking to her "air friend." They end up starting a club to make friends, and so Sena immediately joins. Sena and Yozora clearly are meant to be foils of each other, although Yozora ... tries to be a foil to pretty much every character besides Kodaka throughout the series. Add in some very odd characters otherwise and it becomes a full harem cast. The perverted scientist, the loli nun club supervisor, the super feminine boy whom everyone mistakes as a girl and Kodaka's goth-loli little sister, who clearly has a thing for her brother. Not exactly generic at first, but don't worry, the characters all become one stereotype or another very quickly.

The story is not too horrible. It is clearly meant to be about the three main characters as Kodaka finds out about his long lost friend from the past. Unfortunately, just as OreImo did, this one suffers from some brain damage thanks to a studio that would rather drag the story out to a second season and pour in a crap load of fanservice rather than accomplish anything that might turn into a good series.

Having not read the manga, I don't know if the characters are meant to be so over the top or not. But as it is, this studio has taken an otherwise decent romantic plot and turned it into fanservice in the extreme. I really just don't know what to say. Story...7 I guess, since I think it would be decent without the studio's "help."

The art here is pretty decent. Of course again it is fanservice/ecchi a lot of times so you pretty much know how that goes. Can't say much good or bad so I'll just give it a 7 and walk away.

The sound is largely forgotten I think. Standard J-Pop OP and ED but I've already forgotten both so I'm handing out a 6 for that.

The characters. Oh where to begin. Kodaka makes for a decent straight man early on. Other than his hair, he is actually quite normal and wants to get along with people, and seems to be the standard "great guy" in harem anime. Really, I enjoy this guy, and I think there is plenty more depth to him than this series is letting on, but unlike the others in this series, I don't think he's as brain-damaged and unserviceable. Yozora pretty much makes this series hard to watch at times. She has no friends, and it's easy to see why. She looks gloomy, and treats everyone whose name isn't Kodaka like trash. She actually has some depth to her as well, as they finally "reveal" in the last episode, but of course there is no real time for them to do anything and it just makes for a cliffhanger for -hopefully- another season.

Sena is the big-boobed daughter of the school chairman. She has boys following her around for her looks and her status but apparently has no friends as well so she joins. Straight away when the club starts playing games she finds herself being addicted to eroge, and spends the rest of the series acting like a perverted otaku. Really though, this is so much like other characters it isn't funny.

And enter rest of cast. Maria, ten year old nun that is easily fooled by Yozora into doing all kinds of stupid things. Yukimura, a boy (supposedly) that looks like a girl and follows Kodaka around everywhere like he's the leader of a gang. He follows Yozora's advice and wears maid uniforms and girl's swimsuits because that will "help" his femininity problem. Rika, a genius scientist and inventor who is allowed to not be in any class so she can experiment at school. She quickly shows that she's nothing if not a gigantic, and I mean humogoloid, pervert. She continually tries to get Kodaka to sleep with her (whether playfully or not), and brings up perverted ideas for all the club members. And lastly, Kobato, Kodaka's sister. She dresses in a goth-loli manner after her favorite character on her favorite show about vampires. She tries to act exactly like this character, speaking in an old fashioned manner and avoiding sunlight (like the rest of the characters here don't?). She clearly has a brother complex and doesn't like Maria calling Kodaka "onii-san."

Like I said, not -exactly- the stereotypical harem cast, but they all end up filling in some kind of stereotypical character role. Really the three main characters may have some depth to them, but eventually it doesn't matter because the studio has put much effort into making this more about fanservice than story. So, I give the characters a 5, even if I do like the main character.

Well, I actually enjoyed the show a lot for the most part. If there was a decent ending there I would score this better than OreImo, however there really was no ending at all. In fact the last episode was pretty much the opposite of and ending. It's something you would expect to happen in episode 5 or 6 in a normal 12 episode series. There really isn't a lot that I found funny in this show. I know it is billed as a comedy mostly, but I thought most of it was too over the top or otherwise just stupid to be really funny. I'm giving an 8 for enjoyment, but I really don't know why I enjoyed it that much.

Overall, this series has some serious flaws. I probably enjoyed most of it more than OreImo, but they at least tried to cap it off with a "Good Ending" in case there is no season 2. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no real end here which I feel takes too much away from the show. Honestly I feel like this show is a love child of Haruhi Suzumiya, Genshiken, and....well just pick a good harem show. People sitting around not having friends, standard harem characters, and they follow a crazy chick who does nothing but insult everyone. I hope there will be another season because I really did enjoy most of it, but trying to be objective, I can't score this above a 7 overall. Now time will tell if the TV gods will grant either this or OreImo another season.

Alright so I'll try to keep from bashing this anime as much as some of the other reviews have done. It may be hard to do, but I'll give it a shot.

Maken-Ki is not quite the standard harem ecchi show. It kind of wavers between having great potential to trying to blow it's whole load on fanservice and saying "screw the plot." In the end it rather tends to lean toward the latter, which is a shame for the potential it had early on.

Story: Surprising to see ecchi anime with a good plot. Takeru is your usual perverted kid that wants to spend his days ... around beautiful girls. So he enters a high school that has been converted to coed from and all girls school. All well and good until he learns that this is a special school where the students control elements and use Maken, weapons that use their element, to fight battles. Add to that the usual harem surrounding Takeru almost immediately upon entering the school, and you have what seems to be the beginning of an interesting plot, even if it would likely be done in a cliche haremesque way as they all tend to be.

The whole idea behind the story is pretty interesting, but the directors/producers seemed too interested in providing awkward fanservice with horrible timing rather than developing what could have been a good story with occasional flashes of ecchiness. I'll be a bit generous and give the story a 5 for its potential. Maybe there will be a second season, but as bad as this one was I doubt it.

Art: The art was OK I guess. The girls had stupidly large breasts. This would make more of a turn off for me if I wasn't just plain used to it from this genre. I mean really if you watch enough ecchi anime you have to stop caring about breast size and just try to enjoy other parts of the show (unless of course you happen to like overly large boobs on skinny girls that just defies gravity). Otherwise, the character designs were alright, decent amount of detail for most of the characters, though strangely not as much detail for most of the main cast. However, the art style wasn't really my kind of style. The animation was poor at times. The fighting was kinda sketchy and used an annoying amount of unnecessary fanservice scenes. I may be generous giving this a 4.

Sound: Um...I think there was sound. Actually both the OP/ED seemed fairly well done. The main characters seemed to have decent voice actors, although Himigami and the Akaza kinda got on my nerves. Some of the side characters (and those who seemed to have big roles to play later on but never did) had mediocre to poor actors. So I'll give this a solid 7.

Characters: Well, stereotypical harem characters. Completely unoriginal and completely undeveloped. The characters came into the show and ended the show exactly the same. I'm giving it a 3.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed the first 3-4 episodes. Then I started to realize that the plot hadn't started to move, and that's a bit of a problem for a 12 episode show. I was expecting it to be packed into a few episodes a la Demon King Daimao (which I felt could've been 40 episodes with the plot it had, mostly squeezed into the last 4 of 12 episodes). But no such luck. In fact, the story starts to move in the last few minutes of episode 11, continues into 12, and then just kinda sputters out.

To be honest, watching this type of show before, I also expected the fanservice to be tuned down severely and the story to begin to flourish. But whoever wrote the checks here obviously thought that was unnecessary and instead opted to continue the ecchiness at the expense of the plot. Because of all of this, the show ended up being horrible and pointless fanservice with lost potential. And because the director chose this rout, he also probably ruined a chance at another season.

A final note, waaaaay too much censorship going on. Certain things that were censored must have been a lot more detailed than in most anime, since there were white splashes in strange areas that are usually shown in most anime that I've seen. It would probably be slightly more enjoyable without those censors, but I wont have the patience to re-watch it when that comes out, so whatever. In the end I give enjoyment a 4 for effort. And a poor one at that.

Overall I will be grading this as lost potential. The story was a nice one, and I've seen ecchi shows done the right way where at first there is a fanservice overload that slowly peters out as the "plot" thickens. This was more like watching a porno. And a censored one at that. And since porn has no and needs no plot, I have to think that this is almost more a tame hentai rather than an ecchi anime. Horrible direction/production took a promising ecchi anime and turned it into a poorly done hentai. My final score is a 5. And that is only because of the potential it showed.

To quote Simon in the last episode, "You are more transparent than you think."

I think this sums up the story pretty well. While it seems to be complicated at first, the plot isn't nearly as strange as people seem to think it is. It's more that the show seems to draw people in to being as naive or at least nearly as much as most of the characters seem to be. I'm not really going to talk about the show so much as just tell why I am giving the ratings. There are enough other reviews to say the rest.

Story - 6 I just ... have to give it a lower score. It isn't finished. Too many of the main plot lines from the first half of this season were left hanging at the end of the show. It made me think of Kare Kano in this respect, but at least they did try to bring together some kind of ending to satisfy people. It didn't make me feel all "warm and fuzzy," but rather confused about where the rest of the show was. Even then, it could've been worse. They could've just plowed on and after the last fight just closed up shop like the other anime I mentioned did. If there is another season coming I will come back and reevaluate my scores, but for now I think this is fair.

Art/Sound - 9/9 Both the art and sound are just great. The unique art style really shines throughout the entirety of the show. And the sound was also wonderful. One of the very few times that I actually didn't mind watching the OP/ED in every episode. The voices also seemed to do a great job, helping to make the characters come to life and filling out their personalities well.

Character - 8 I liked most of the characters very much. All of the main characters had their good points. Yes, Mikado could be boring at times, but I still liked him ok as well. Everyone from Celty to Sonohara to Kida to Shizuo had their good points. I think they would have fleshed out a bit more in a second season so I will have to hope for more here as well, but I thought most of the characters were very good. Mikado could definitely use some more development. And then there's Izaya. He's the human scum that pretty much makes the whole thing happen. Without him there is no show. I think most people will probably have a love/hate relationship with him.

Now what I said about the naivete of the characters in the beginning. Well, if you watched it you can see that right? Everyone, especially Mikado is very naive and it's only at the end that they start to finally get more of the picture.

Enjoyment - 7 I enjoyed the show from the beginning to about the 18th episode. From there it built up tension toward the end of the show, and then never really delivered. Sure there's an end, but it feels more like a cookie-cutter ending that Mikado himself would dream up. I can't really explain it very well, I just feel like the ending ruined both my overall enjoyment of and ultimately my overall rating of the show.

Overall - 8 I'm probably being generous for everything I just said above, but I am finding it hard to rate even that low given how much I enjoyed the first half of the show. Between the 20th and 24th episodes my overall rating went from about a 12 to an 8. Again, this all may change if there is a second season, but as it is, an 8 is the best rating it can get from me, and even then I fell like I'm being too generous.

I like this anime. And I really wish I could give it a better score, but it just doesn't feel complete enough to me to earn a better score. The story(especially about Celty's head), and many of the characters themselves (and again, this is especially concerning Mikado), really just don't feel complete. I will recommend this series to everyone, as I think it is one that should be seen by most anime lovers, but I really hope there will be a second season to finish all those story arcs that were left unfinished.

To be honest I'm writing this review because, among the several reviews I read, I really didn't find any truly balanced reviews. Either people have a sort of blind love for the show or have a lengthy scathing rant based mostly on Kirino. Not that she doesn't deserve it, but still, I'd like to see a bit more balance from the reviews so I will try one.

The story is pretty easy to pick up. On the surface it is about a secret otaku whose brother goes out of his way to cater to her needs even though he really can't stand her. It also deals ... with how an otaku deals with things like friendship among normal people and otakus. Yes it is pretty predictable, but there isn't anything really wrong with that, especially not for this type of show. The story itself is rather shallow, as it is mostly about the characters and the dialogue. It isn't exactly about incest, but that is something that is discussed and even flirted with at times in the show. I understand that the original ending to the show was not really straight from the manga, but without having read that, I felt like the "good ending" fit pretty well unless they have already decided to continue the show. I'll not say much more for fear of spoilers. I give the story an unspectacular 6.5.

The art is pretty well done. The characters are all proportional unlike many series these days, and in my opinion they are all pleasing to the eye. Kyousuke is rather bland himself, and his childhood friend Manami is even more so. I think this is intended, but it feels rather odd with all of the colorful imoutos that are shown throughout the series. I noticed that they really wanted Kirino's nails to stand out. She frequently had different colored fingernails, and they were in bright colors that were easy to spot. The opening and ending animations were also pretty well done but not spectacular in my opinion. I give the art a good 8.5.

The sound was decent. The voice actors seemed to do a good job with the characters. I have no real complaints there. The cutesy anime music drove into my nerves at times, but that's to be expected with this kind of show, and I don't really feel like it was overdone or anything. The music for the opening and endings was also well done but unspectacular. Overall I score sound as a solid 7.

Ok the characters is the part where I really have some trouble with this series. Kirino is as most people have said, mostly a bitch. Actually, no, she is a total bitch. She really steps all over Kyousuke, but then continually asks for his help with ever matter. Not to mention that aside from her personality, she is pretty much perfect. An honor roll middle schooler who is a model, a top athlete, a successful author, and soon to be anime creator. But she is completely horrible to the one person who supports her wholeheartedly. Even if she is shy and stubborn about showing her feelings, until the very end she never changes her "Kyousuke is a dormat" policy

Kyousuke himself is as I said earlier, pretty bland. This seems intentional, but still feels off. Ever other main character in the story has a lot going for them. Even Manami, who seems forcibly bland herself, is a cute girl and an excellent cook. But Kyousuke is your generic "normal guy in a harem" so he has to be overly....normal. He is obviously very kind and means well with everyone around him, but that just makes it worse to watch him continually apologize to Kirino for going out of his way to be there for her no matter how bad she treats him. The relationship between them is odd and tense too often because of this. Yes the show flirts with the incest theme, and it even implies that there is some attraction from Kirino and possibly Kyousuke as well. But overall, it mostly portrays Kyousuke as the dutiful brother who really makes the extra effort to help out his little sister.

Kuroneko and Saori are by far and away the best characters in the show. They are given stereotypical otaku girl looks, and do not try to hide their hobbies like Kirino does. Saori ends up playing the older sister type. She's there for counseling mostly, as well as some comic relief. She and Kyousuke end up marshaling the fights between Kuroneko and Kirino. Kuroneko is a more interesting character. She is stubborn like Kirino, and can be rude, but she has a softer side. She very rarely shows this side toward Kirino, but it's there for people to see. If you like her character, you should check out the OVA's or the "true ending" of the show. She is featured in it and she manages to do something that no other character in the show ever does: Develop.

Ayase is Kirino's best friend. She goes pretty psycho when she fiinds out about Kirino's hobby, but after having everything fixed up by Kyousuke, she tries to understand her friend's obsession. Again, this is another time where Kirino shows her colors. She never tries to change anything about how she approaches the situation, and it's fixed by Kyousuke in the end anyway. After that series of events Ayase pretty much fades into the shadows though.

The other characters are mostly stereotypical and/or extras. While I have no real problem with most of the characters, putting Kirino alongside so many good and decent people just doesn't feel right sometimes. I know the series wouldn't work without that, but I feel like she's over the top as far as her rudeness goes, particularly toward her brother, who has done nothing but selflessly throw himself on the tracks for her sake time after time. I'm giving the characters a 6.5. Kuroneko's awesomeness, and the likeable Saori and Kyousuke don't make up for Kirino in this case.

I am rating the enjoyment of the series an 8 because despite the issues I've laid out above, it is funny at times and generally pretty fun to watch. I am frustrated with Kirino's character, but mainly because she really is needed to tie everything together. I like Kuroneko and Saori, but without Kirino, it just wouldn't be as enjoyable to watch. I'm sure I will watch more if another season comes out, but I'm not sure I'll really remember this show in a few months time. If Kyousuke has to end up with one of the girls eventually, I hope it isn't his sister. Pretty much any of the other characters would be better.

Overall I'm going to give this a 7.5 or an 8, mostly because it is pretty enjoyable. Whatever issues there are with the plot and the characters, the show itself is pretty fun.

This really should've been good. It really should have been. But it wasn't. I have a soft spot for romantic comedies, and this is one I'd heard about for years, so I thought I'd give it a shot. But after an incredible start to the show, I was just left disappointed in the end.

I'm not going into the story much, because the synopsis sums it up pretty well and going further into it would be too much spoiler so I'll just tell you to read the synopsis on here. If you've read any of the other reviews or seen the ... anime yourself, you know how incomplete the show is. Not just the lack of an ending either. It felt like the story was kept to a shallow point for a long time, and then when it was supposed to start getting serious, it wafted around like "I dunno, should we be serious or not?" There are some serious overtones thrown in sometimes, but it stops short of revealing much of anything, and just when you feel like it's all about to happen.....the show ends. Pack up, go home, and let's just pretend we did a good job. Honestly, this could've been so much better. I plan to go read the manga at some point to find out what happens.

In the first half of the show, there's a wonderful romantic comedy going on. There are usually some review at the beginning of each episode. I'm not a fan of this in most anime, and that includes this one. But it wasn't too bad. There was plenty of comedy, and it was really cute at times. It wasn't really serious about anything for the first half though.

The second half though was just not good. It started to do more reviews. One episode dedicated to reviews at the midpoint is fine, but it felt like half of the last 13 episodes was dedicated to stating what had already happened, with little to no new animation. It's kind of like "the voice actors are still being paid, the animators are not" or something. The budget had to have been seriously cut or something. The second half of the show was about 3/4 frame by frame manga style with some voiceovers. Even if they knew that the story was going to be cut short, there were better ways to end it. First of all, they could have actually deviated from the main story a bit to ensure that there is actually an ending, or had the oft-used open ending feel that kinda goes "we love each other, we don't know what'll happen from now on, but we'll keep trying." That kind of thing would've been fine IMO. Instead, they go off on tangents. Most of the 2nd half actually has its focus away from the main 2 characters. And then when it starts to drift back toward them, the show just ends.

Well, enough ranting. Some scores and explanations on them:

I'll give the story a 4 for all the stuff I said up above. It seemed to be a good story with some pretty deep points, but it just showed flashes of those deep parts, never fully revealing any of it, and then ended abruptly. I get the feeling that if it was finished, it would have been a very good and deep plot. But it wasn't, so I have to give it a lower score.

The art was nice at times. It seemed to try to hod the manga's style. It isn't my favorite style to begin with, but I thought in the first half it was pretty well done at least. The second half, as I said above, seemed to have major budget cuts and at least half the time was pictures thrown up with voices talking about something. Plus, the abundant reviewing where previous scenes were chopped up and handed to you a second, third, fourth, and so on, time. With the good stuff in the first half, I'll be nice and give it a 5.

The sound is where I felt the show was awesome. Yeah, the opening and endings were nothing special. They were good, and fit the show, but nothing special. But the voice actors were great. Yukino was great. Spectacular. Especially early in the show switching from the graceful girl, to the true girl, the evil girl trying to win everyone over. Eventually, it's kind of a mix between the two, but the voice actress portrays it really well. Also, the two sisters are a riot, and their voice actresses are likewise spectacular. One of my favorite parts was watching these two do the episode previews at the end of the show(another thing that was done much less the 2nd half of the show). Because of these three, and the generally good quality of the rest of the voice actors, I'm giving the sound department a 9.

The characters is hard to rate because it's inherently tied to the story. Yukino was just a great character. Her dual personality is hilarious, and is a lot of fun to watch. With Arima, he gets a bit boring, but I got the feeling that part of that was because they were reluctant to start the deeper, more dramatic parts of the show that ought to reveal more of his personality. And indeed, the show ended before much of it was revealed. Shibahime was annoying to me, and they eventually turned her into a caricature of what she was to begin with. The story arc that she got in the middle of the anime seemed to be the last part that was fully budgeted, and it felt out of place with the rest of the story, and because I couldn't stand Shibahime, I almost stopped watching because of it. The rest of the group that Yukino hangs out with has their moments, but most of them seems like it's "yet to come," and once again, the show ends before anything can happen. Yukino's family is hilarious, and it felt like they were setting up to be the comic relief once the show turned more serious. The sisters, as I said above, were spectacular. I'm giving the characters a 7, because I really liked Yukino as well as most of the characters, but felt like they were all a bit incomplete, as was the whole show.

Overall, this show could have been something spectacular. But because the show is so incomplete, and parts of it seem to be terribly produced, I have to rate this overall as a 6. I really wish I could give it more, because Yukino's character is something that really shines among heroines in romantic comedies, but the show was just hopelessly lacking in most ways, especially in the second half after the budget seemed to have been cut. It's really a shame, because I feel like the story was going to be really good. Also, as a side note, I can't help but wonder why this show has gotten so many high ratings. Yes, it shows tons of potential, and the characters are very interesting, and the voice acting is well done, but how can any show that wasn't even completed earn more than a 6 or a 7?

Well, I have to say this one was pretty hard to rate. I really want to give this anime an 8 or maybe even a 9, but I'll have to settle on something lower because there are some flaws that are just too big to ignore.

Let's start with the story. This is why it's so hard to rate. It actually has a good story. But the pacing is pretty hard to cope with. The first 7 or 8 episodes are mostly character development with little bearing over the overall plot. This guy comes to a magic school wanting to ... become a high priest and help mankind as much as possible. So then there's his physical when he enters his new school that also acts to predict the future occupation of students. And our here gets to be.....that's right a Demon Lord. King of all the demons in the world and somewhat opposing to his "I'll do my best to help everyone" mentality. That's all well and good until the main plot begins to move somewhere around episode 7. Then you get this massive, somewhat complicated plot that other anime 24+ episodes long would have trouble fitting in. And this one is only 12.

It seems like this one tries to be the anti-Bleach/One Piece/Naruto and just does its best to not be longer than 12 episodes. No. Matter. What. And so the last 4 episodes generally leaves you a little unsatisfied because it moves so fast and leaves out any explanations of the situation that would serve to either make the anime longer or make the plotline comprehensible. I just finished watching this series today, and I've spent quite a lot of time just trying to figure out how I should rate it all. The story is actually quite decent if you can grasp most of what's going on in the last few episodes, but it feels so rushed I've thought about rating it anywhere from a 4 to a 9 because of it. So, for putting 97% of a massive, complex, and pretty decent story into a blender and serving it all in just a few episodes, I'm giving the story a 6. I'm going to touch on more of the story later in the enjoyment section, like the harem and ecchi points, so stay tuned.

Moving on, I think I'll combine the art and sound. Both are good but not spectacular, fairly generic at times, and that's about it. They don't take anything away from the show and don't make the show stand out either. So the art and sound departments get a solid 7 from me.

Next I'll go into the characters. The main character is Sai Akuto. Like I said before he wants to help people as much as possible and has high aims to reach that goal. The first episode makes sure to show him as being one to help as much as he can, even if the situation he has fallen into seems to have made it impossible to really help people. He's not your standard magical harem kind of main character though. He's one of the more likable, yet misunderstood characters I've seen in a main character role. So, enter harem of girls. Hattori, Korone, Etou sempai, and Soga are the girls. They all have unique points, but are overall mostly generic. If you watch, you'll see what I mean. And Hiroshi is the obligatory male friend who worships the future Devil Lord. He's quite funny early on but later, his character changes completely and I don't know if I like it or not. I give the characters an 7 because I really liked the characters early on, but in the onrush of the plot, some of the characters' personalities changed quite a bit with no explanation or really any warning of a change.

Now for the enjoyment part. I really enjoyed the show early on. In the first 5 or so episodes the humor was incredibly lewd and just plain fun. There was a whole lot of ecchiness in the show. Really the front half of the show was bursting at the seams with ecchiness. But it was hilarious and super enjoyable as well. Around the midpoint of the show though, all that is turned down to a just somewhat ecchi show, and in the last few episodes is the action of the plot with no room for humor or hardly any ecchiness at all. That coupled with the unreal expectation of fitting that plot into 4 episodes dropped my enjoyment from a 10, but I still give it a 9.

I would reccomend this show to most people, but I would also warn everyone to pay attention carefully in the last 5 episodes cause if you miss anything, you really might not understand the plot at all. So, because of the extreme rushed feel to the last half of the anime, I have to give the show as 7, no higher.

First of all I want to say, I have watched the whole thing. Twice. I put it under dropped at 12 or so episodes because I finally finished watching this show after 7 tries, and the 10-14 episode range was the part where I usually dropped off and said, I give up. I also put it there, because it is seen so much as a "holy grail" of anime, that I keep going over it to try to see what so many people love about it. And for the people out there who believe that those who rate the show low ... don't get it, you're wrong. I get it. I still don't like it. I feel like I'm being generous giving this a 5.

I'm not going to say much about the story. You've got dozens of reviews to tell you about the story that'll give you a basic idea of it. I give the story a 2 or 3 because it really is trying to be a thoughtful piece that invokes thought. And it does invoke thought, believe me it does. But the story is pretty shallow, and could've been done in less than half the episodes without trying to be so artistic. It is an interesting premise for a show and I really love religious discussions, I just feel like the story was too shallow and too badly done to deserve a good score.

I won't say much about the art and sound, because they were done pretty well. The art could've been better, but as I said with the story, it was trying to be "artistic," and kept sending you on these acid trips that were a little underdone in many ways, though they were used too often. The art and sound wont be impressive by today's standards, but for the time they were done, I think they were pretty impressive.

The characters were really the part of the show that made me quit every single time I tried to watch it. Shinji is so horribly annoying that he makes my list of least favorite characters in the top 5. The only character I'm sure I hate more is that guy I keep trying to forget from School Days. Rei and Asakura I felt were interesting characters for the most part, though by the end it felt like they were almost caricatures of themselves, as really the entire cast is. I just mention those two because I really liked them at some point in the show.

I have to say the enjoyment is a one or a two, because any higher would just be a lie. I didn't enjoy the show, and watched it through twice to make sure I really got it, and wasn't just "missing the point." Perhaps its as some say, that the biggest problem was the lack of budget. I can see what people mean by that, but I think the problem lies elsewhere. The characters were just ridiculous. The story had serious brain damage that tried and tried to work, but just didn't. And the biggest problem with me is that I just didn't enjoy it. By the time I finally finished it I was basically just forcing myself to watch it (and rewatch it) because it's such a big deal to anime enthusiasts, that I felt I had to see it through to the end.

To conclude, I would like to say before you crucify me on this, for those people putting this on their favorite list or even as their favorite anime: Find something better. There are hundreds of anime out there that are so much better than this in every way. If you want to watch something psychological and thought provoking, go watch Ergo Proxy. It is both, but it suffers from none of the psychological damage this one does and actually presents itself as a complete product by the end of the show. The characters aren't all completely self loathing and completely annoying to watch, and like this show, the art is unique and itself part of the story. Its true that there are not many shows out there that make you think like Evangelion does, but there are a few, and I think pretty much all of them are better than this one. And if you aren't looking for something thought provoking, there are probably thousands of anime out there that have a decent story, are completely coherent, have more likable characters, and are just so much more well done.