Boskov's Anime Recommendations 7

And now for the month of April 2018, it’s Boskov’s Anime Recommendations…

As usual all of the anime on this list can be watched on Watch Cartoons Online (https://www.watchcartoononline.com/).

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Starting the list off is an Ecchi/NSFW anime…shocker right?

Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai

Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai feels like a strange pervy mix of Bleach, High School DxD, and Trinity Seven. The series follows Ryosuke Kaga, a self-proclaimed pervert of sorts who, although he does have some boundaries, one day encounters a girl passed out in the rain outside his house. The girl identifies herself as Lisara Restole, a Grim Reaper/Death God/Shinigami and is in search of “The One” who will help her family in its service to the Royal Family of Grimwald, the home of the Grim Reapers (I might be wrong in this explanation). In order to maintain her powers and survive in the human world, Lisara must regularly leach some of Ryosuke’s energy. What kind of energy? Well specifically it’s the energy that drives whoever she made a pact with (which she did with Ryosuke at the start of the series). So what energy drives Ryosuke? You guessed it, eroticism. Ryosuke proves to be a plentiful source of energy for Lisara so she’ll leach some of his energy at critical moments (you can tell when she’s running out of power because her clothes start dissolving).

This series is NSFW due to uncensored boobage with some groping involved. No sex so far as I’ve seen, the leaching process being a mere physical contact of any kind. The series seems to be trying to put a different spin on High School DxD as Lisara looks like a semi-flat-chested Rias Grimorie with less of a tolerance for pervy situations.

The series is 13 episodes long.

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A Centaur’s Life

This is an unusual slice-of-life anime where humanity took a different evolutionary track. Instead of humans as we know them, humans evolved into the more mythical beings such as angels, devils, bipedal snakes, mermaids, and of course centaurs. The series focuses on Himeno, the centaur in question, and her daily life in school as well as the daily lives of her friends and their family.

Now, this series has a lot of good characters including Hime, such as Manami the Angel girl who tends to be the class leader and looks after her four younger sisters (who are three neko girls and a younger neko/angel girl). But sadly this is the first anime I’ve found that gets outright preachy when it comes to social issues. A Centaur’s Life could probably be the gateway anime for SJWs as there’s an annoying amount of preachiness on equality and democracy. There’s a few scenes early on which illustrate my frustration with this. I at first, assumed, that perhaps this was Funimation’s translation team getting political again but sadly, when I switched to the subs, it turns out that the translators were spot on accurate in their translations.

One scene shows Hime and her two friends (a devil girl and a half-satyr girl) on a two kilometer run. The satyr girl, Kyouko, is clearly exhausted and braces herself against Hime for some measure of support to rest a little, earning no objection from Hime (she has a kind of motherly attitude sometimes). The devil girl, Nozomi, suggests she simply ride on Hime’s back, and, while Hime states she doesn’t mind, Kyouko remarks that she’d be arrested for doing so on a discrimination charge and sent to a reeducation camp (Hime explains why that’s problematic, as in the past, Centaurs would be captured and forced into being war mounts for non-centaur warriors in ancient times). The fact that such a penalty, sent to a reeducation camp for so minor an offence, even exists in this world smacks me the wrong way. They state it like it’s an actual thing which sounds like this world would be an SJW’s dream, where people who committed something perceived as racist or discriminatory would be sent to an indoctrination center as punishment.

Another scene is where Hime is reading a story to her younger cousin (a kindergarten age centaur girl) and it’s clear from the ending of the children’s story book that it’s a “Politically Correct” story where the prince and the princess live and rule democratically over their kingdom.

Finally, the series has a pair of minor characters that are openly lesbian and even normalizes their behavior. In the same episode where Hime was reading to her cousin, the two go out and run into Manami and her younger siblings on a grocery outing. The conversation turns into girls kissing girls (innocently as Manami gives her siblings a kiss on the forehead or cheek in the morning, when she goes to school, gets home from school, and when putting them to bed, similarly, Hime’s cousin kisses Hime on the cheek when greeting her) and the statement is made that girls don’t kiss girls when they get older. Right on cue, the lesbian couple show up and when asked about the topic proceed to make out in front of the younger kids. They get a disciplinary whack on the back of the head with a leek by Manami but still, it’s an attempt to normalize it to little kids.

I’m rather disappointed with this series for the aforementioned preachy SJWness to it and I actually stopped watching it halfway through the third episode. I had seen a few clips of the series beforehand and it seemed like a charming series. But then I realized, as I actually watched the series, that the clips I’d seen had cut out all the SJW parts. If you can stomach the SJW preachiness, then more power to you. Personally, I won’t be finishing it.

There are 12 episodes in total.

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Watamote

Watamote is a slice of life comedy with a twist. The series follows Tomoko Kuroki, the most socially awkward girl in Japan, in her first year of High School. She had assumed that, when she entered High School, her long experience with otome games (dating sims for girls) would prove beneficial. Fast forward two months into High School, and Tomoko is not only a loner but completely unsociable. Internally she’s as confident and assertive as possible but in public she’s a timid and meek loner that no one notices. She then strives to try and become more sociable and assertive.

Tomoko also seems to have a perverted streak to her as she plays otome games with a clear adult theme to them, fantasizes about losing her virginity in fantasy settings, and listens to recordings of tsundere guys talking down to the listener. Tomoko’s appearance and behavior gives off the implication that she could snap and off herself or others at any moment but fortunately it doesn’t happen.

The series is 12 episodes long with 1 OVA. The English Dub features Monika Rial as Tomoko and she does a marvelous job I will say, to the point that I forget it’s her on occasion.

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Restaurant to Another World

An unusual but strangely interesting anime. Restaurant to Another World focuses on a quiet little Western Restaurant (the name is a misnomer as the restaurant also serves traditional Japanese fare) that runs like normal every day except on Saturdays. On Saturdays, the restaurant door opens to a fantasy world of elves, dragons, wizards, and warriors. The door seems to appear in various places, almost like a Monsters Inc closet door, the patrons always entering and exiting from the specific door they used as multiple doors appear across the world. The owner, a nameless chef referred to as Master, always treats his guests with respect and politeness but won’t hesitate to threaten banishment from his restaurant if the patrons cause trouble. Luckily the otherworldly patrons consider the food so exceptional that they’re not willing to risk banishment. The patrons range from powerful dragons, sickly princesses, valiant explorers, wizened sages, tribal lizardmen, and even the odd demon. Many of the patrons in the fantasy world consider the restaurant to be a great treasure and many anxiously await the “Day of Satur” when the door appears and they’re able to return to the restaurant.

The series revolves around the different patrons, new and old, who visit the restaurant for the first time or rediscover it after a long time, each patron earning a nickname connected to their favorite or regular dish. Each episode also focuses on two specific patrons. Each episode being a part A and a part B, designated by the patron’s regular order. For instance one patron regularly orders a pork cutlet bowl and thus is referred to as such. Another patron orders a chocolate parfait and thus is referred to as chocolate parfait.

One piece of advice…don’t watch this show on an empty stomach. I learned that the hard way. I find this is a great relaxing anime as there’s really no pressing overarching plot to it to speak of. There’s really no danger to speak of, just a series of quaint little stories surrounding the patrons of the restaurant.

The series is 12 episodes long. Aside from a scene early on where one of the patrons, a red dragoness, changes inter human form, leaving her as a voluptuous yet naked human woman with horns for a brief period (no nipples are shown thanks to some convenient hair placement but her brief nudity might be an issue), this series is very safe for work.

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Mitsuboshi Colors

This is a rather cute slice-of-life anime. The series focuses on three elementary school aged girls, the timid Yui, the energetic Sat-chan, and the relaxed but video game obsessed Kotoha. Together the trio form an organization called Colors and liken themselves to vigilante protectors of the town. They usually butt heads with Saito, a local policeman stationed at a small outpost not far from the Colors’ hideout. The girls are usually supported by Pops, the owner of the Whale Factory general store who helps (cough enables cough) the Colors in their various missions and even provides them with various toys and equipment to help them out. For example he sells the girls a toy shoulder fired missile launcher, brings them a locked safe with a riddle for the girls to find a combination to (he set it up for them), or gives them a fake bomb to defuse with a riddle on how to defuse it. Another supporter (cough enabler cough) of the Colors is Sat-chan’s mother who runs a fruit store. However Sat’s mom generally tricks the Colors into doing simple tasks such as peddle some bananas she’s not been able to sell on her own.

The series is quite cute and the girls are adorable. There will be a total of 12 episodes when the run is finished and the series is quite charming. Each episode is a collection of semi-intertwined stories focused on the girls.

Great for a casual watch.

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And that’s it for this month.

Boskov.