Anime Spotlight: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Hello, reader.  I have spent the past week examining this week’s specimen, and all I can say is that this is indeed an odd duck in a genre I’ve explored too much recently.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Episodes: 12

Originally aired: 15 April 2011 – 1 July 2011

Production: SHAFT

Director: Akiyuki Shinbo

Genres: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Seinen

Unlicensed

 Synopsis:

Niwa Makoto is an ordinary high-school-second-year snarkbucket.   His parents suddenly are called overseas to work, and he is sent to live with his aunt in the city, moving from his otherwise slow, country bumpkin lifestyle.  After being told that he would basically be living alone, Makoto realizes he is about to live his youthful life to the fullest, collecting as many adolescence points as possible.  However, once he arrives at his aunt’s abode, he finds a girl wrapped up in a futon.  She turns out to be his cousin, Touwa Erio, a self-proclaimed alien.  She believes she has been sent to Earth to examine the intermingling of humans and aliens in Earth society.  Niwa must now try to live out his adolescence to its fullest in a new town while dealing with his lunatic cousin and her babbling about aliens.

Review:

Denpa Onna, as previously mentioned, is an odd show; it’s a somewhat fresh take on one of the most played-out concepts in anime.  In general, the concept of being transferred to a new town because of parents being away on business in America is trite and overdone.  It sets up the character as a newcomer in a different area, thus allowing more exposition to be commonplace and proper to practice.  In most shows that utilize this, you also get a set-up for a potential harem, and Denpa Onna definitely does this.  However, it refuses to fall into standard harem tropes and finds its own identity with style while occasionally picking at your brain.

Because I’m reviewing Not-Another-Anime-Drama, the focus of this show is definitely not on an overall linear plot, but on character interactions that develop each member of the cast as a person.  Niwa Makoto, our leading man, is a snarky yet wholeheartedly nice guy with a backbone, and is definitely a refreshing take on lead characters in this sort of genre.  Whenever he has a rebuttal for the weird things that the lunatics who surround him say, it ends up being absolutely hilarious.  His adolescent development is even focused on in scoring events that transpire during the show after the end credits.  Despite the hilarity, or maybe even because of the hilarity associated with Makoto, the events that transpire during the development of his character.

Some might call that something else, but sure, let's go with that.

The other major focus of this story, Erio, is what helps this series stand out among others.  Initially believing she is an alien definitely adds to the quirk factor, if not seeming like another Shaft/Shinbo (which will now be referred to as Shaftbo) character (Nino from Arakawa Under the Bridge), but the reasons behind these beliefs are tragic and her development is much more rewarding due to it.  For the sake of spoilers, I will not mention her true circumstances or her development, but she becomes not just likable, but adorable.  It makes me understand the appeal behind moe, and for that to happen is certainly commendable.

Well, if the main two cast members are this great, how does everyone else fare?  I found myself being middle-of-the-road on half of them, entirely 0n board with another, and wishing nothing but bad things on the last.  Meme, Niwa’s aunt/Erio’s mother, is a forty-year-old woman who focuses entirely too much on flirting with Makoto, which rubbed me the wrong way.  She also certainly would not win Mother of the Year award, but she ends up developing as a mother.  Ryuushi, who prefers to be called Ryuuko (Wordplay?  In my anime?  WHODATHUNKIT) started off as endearing but proved to be one of the main sources of Erio-related conflict.  Despite this, I still found her sympathetic if not a little rude.  Maekawa, on the other hand, started off as rather average, quiet character, but as soon as she is discovered cosplaying I thought she was a riot.  She ends up developing only slightly, but ends up being a reliable source of humor and sanity.  Yashiro, by contrast, was entirely unnecessary.  She shows up well over halfway through the series and ends up being a failed attempt at tension involving Erio.  Not to mention the fact that she is an annoying, pretentious loli.  She was unnecessary and was a horrible addition to this cast.

"Just take off your shoes and put them next to this thing that's totally not my daughter!"

You may have noticed that I did not mention any males sans Makoto.   That’s right, this is the classic setup for a harem anime.  Despite this and the fact that Ryuushi obviously has something for Makoto (and later on, Maekawa), the series does not fall into the standard harem trend of sexualizing these girls.  The focus of the series is building adolescent connections, and Makoto is essentially just friends with all of these girls.  The idea of them being more is played around with, but only in a joking manner via the adolescence points at the end of each episode.

The overall story of Denpa Onna is both linear and non-linear, with some plot points necessary to each episode taking place in the past before the opening and  then the plot continuing in the present after the opening.  The actual content of each episode could be seen as some standard slice-of-life fare, with the characters going to school, chatting about nothing on occasion, celebrating birthdays, playing baseball…you get the gist.  However, each event has an appeal towards it, possibly because we are getting closer to each of the strange characters through these events.  It is definitely more of the same most of the time, but there are times where it differs and it offers a bit more thought on the subject matter.

Yep, definitely a Shinbo show.

The art in this show is simply gorgeous.  I personally thought each character design was done very well, even with the big moe eyes that I am not too fond of in general.  One small touch that I poke fun at quite often but find rather nice is the glittering hair Erio and Meme possess, which makes them even more stunning to look at when implemented.  Another appealingly different touch on all of the female characters is the small bit of lip colour.  That little touch can make character designs stand out in a genre filled with big eyes and strange hair.  Background designs are pretty simple in terms of actual content, but the detail put into them is deserving of praise.  The cinematography in this show is also commendable, as it is in all of Shinbo’s titles that I’ve seen.  There is always an impressive variety of angles in which the show is displayed, and they’re all used to greater artistic effect.  Of course there are close-up shots at points to compensate for the just-good-but-not-great animation.  As I just mentioned, the animation is good most of the time, but when the show goes off-model, it is hideously painful, with episode 4 being almost entirely off-model (Please note that I am reviewing the show through the TV rips, not through the BD/DVD fixes, if any were made, as this studio is notorious for doing).  There are times where the super-deformed look is used, but it is still decently animated, to my own personal surprise.  The opening and ending are especially commendable on being well-animated,  even with the ending having some still shots in poses I would rather not see Erio in.

The sound is more of a mixed bag.  Some of the voice acting is a bit standard, but standout roles of quality include Irino Miyu as Makoto and Oogame Asuka as Erio.  The voice acting in general did not annoy me, with the great exception of Iguchi Yuka as Yashiro.  It does not help the fact that she is an annoying character.  There is overacting here and there, but to be honest, it did not annoy me in the context it was used for (mostly comedy).  The music, on the other hand, is fairly decent.  It’s a repetitive but decently put-together score with a few standout tracks here and there.  The opening is, to be fairly nice, absolutely terrible to listen to.  Oogame is not a great vocalist, with the track being off-key to the point of making my ears bleed.  Despite this, it grew on me eventually.  I’d like to imagine it as musical Stockholm Syndrome.  The ending is sung by Yakushimaru Etsuko, who pulls it off with such charm, enough to have me never skip it.  It’s a unique, poppy song featuring a heavy usage of woodwinds, with the bassoon having a prominent line.  That is always nice to hear.

I mentioned earlier in the review that this show is thought-provoking.  Well, to clarify that, it does not delve very deep into the topics it tackles, but it provokes thoughts in the viewer of these various subjects if they take the time to actually focus on them.  Erio herself is, to try as hard as I can to refrain from spoilers, is an image of PTSD projected onto the viewer and someone who was even previously seen as weird by society trying to reincorporate herself.  The thoughts of whether someone’s past actions can be ignored, how best to deal with a traumatized child, and social anxiety are also brought up.  Are they explored deeply?  As previously explained, no, but it gets the viewer thinking.  I feel like this is something that happened to me after watching Denpa Onna, but I tend to focus on things like this when viewing a piece of media.  The work is still perfectly enjoyable on its own, without thinking such things.

In the end, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko is not a show I would recommend to everyone, just like every other drama I have viewed in recent memory.  If the quirkiness of the show does not click with the viewer, they might end up finding this show to be boring.  The moe might turn some people off (it admittedly turned me off slightly), or it might bring you that much more into the show.  The ending of the show itself is another negative point, with the thirteenth episode being released as a special next month.  I, for one, am not willing to accept the last episode as a proper ending, with it ending on such a note that made me just sit there and ask, “Is that it?  Really?  Do they want me to act as though the story is over?” Overall, though, the charming points of the series are enough to recommend that you just try this show out.  It is not a show trying to change the world, it is just good at what it does.

Verdict: Try 

+Pros: Quirky, adorable, and potentially touching; mostly endearing cast; gorgeous art; mostly decent animation; brings up some intertesting issues; does not fall into standard harem trends

-Cons: Non-ending; Yashiro; occasionally off-model animation (by extension, all of episode 4 in this aspect); quirkiness might not work for some people; painful opening song

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