Ranked #1907

Kanokon

If you're not into ecchi shows, steer away. If you like them, maybe you'll enjoy Kanokon. If you like wolf/fox girls as well, Kanokon is a show you probably want to watch.

The premise is basic, and not really original. The "hot" girl (Chizuru), who also happens to be a fox spirit, is totally in love with the most lady-shy boy (Kouta) around. Then another one comes (Nozomu), she is a wolf spirit at that, and guess what? She happens to love him too. They both fight for his attention with a lot of ecchi antics, and the rest I'll leave to your imagination...

The story itself is pretty much an episode-by-episode story; there's not a lot of stuff that binds the episodes together. The ecchi-ness isn't lacking; Chizuru and Nozomu's ecchi-filled attempts at winning Kouta's affection comes out of nowhere sometimes, and if you're a fan of it, you'll more than likely enjoy it..

The animation wasn't all that; everyone looked much younger than they actually are - Kouta looks like he's an elementary school student when he's actually a high school student. That has its impact on the overall feel of the show (ecchi + people who looks like elementary school students = bad combination), but you'll probably get used to it. At least I did. Aside that, the animation quality is fair enough.

The soundtrack is average, nothing spectacular, but nothing out of place either. The OP and ED themes are fair too, but not something I'd listen to aside when watching the show. Voice acting is okay too, though Kouta sounds like he's an elementary school student too >_<

The characters are nothing really special. No character development, and no original characters can drag down the enjoyment factor if you're picky when it comes to that.

Overall, this was a fair show, but nothing exceptional.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =) read more

If you like breasts and aren't particularly demanding about anything else in this world, you'll probably love Kanokon. It's got a predictable, ultimately inconsequential harem-lite (as in a harem of two) premise and characters all lifted from a handbook of anime clichés. Put simply, Kanokon is the sort of show that exists solely to inspire its own rule #34. Now, I suppose that after becoming acquainted with the priorities and shortcomings of such a show, the most respectable course of action would have been to either stop watching it or to finish it with a lousy score. (It's only twelve episodes, after all; might as well, you know?) However, there was some aspect of Kanokon that I couldn't quite put my finger on as it drew me in; I finished it in only two days, which is fairly admirable progress for me, and the time seemed to fly by. Toward the end I came to realize what it was: the show's thinly-to-unveiled reliance on titilation happens to be its greatest strength, because it does it better than just about every ever other ecchi or even HENTAI title I've ever seen. This has brought me to some mixed feelings and a higher-than-credible score.

As television, Kanokon is bad and forgettable. As porn it would have been an instant classic.

If you can imagine Yurika Misimaru from Nadesico as a shotacon with a tail whose apparent calling in life is to bully the world's most sexually-repressed late-bloomer (seriously, this kid wins a Yellow Shinji Award for insufferable wussery) into banging her, then throw in one of those alarmingly underused [/sarcasm] Rei clones--loli variety, of course, and also with a tail--you'll have the premise of Kanokon in palm of your lotion-greased hand. There are other characters, too--a few of whom, while unoriginal, are mildly amusing when they actually get screen time--but mostly it's about Human Piglet (a.k.a. Kouta Oyamada) and his pair of aggressively horny pursuers. There is an afterthought of plot sprinkled through Kanokon involving different animal families and what is evidently some kind of mafia-like animosity as represented by a little girl with a powerful bodyguard... or something like that. It was never fleshed out, explained, or even sustained long enough for me to even describe it. The only thing I feel I was meant to remember was... boobies.

Yes, Kanokon is thoroughly obsessed with sex, and normally I would roll my eyes at it walk away. I've never been an animated hentai fan for the same reason I've never been a horror fan--stuff just doesn't do anything for or to me (for reasons I won't go into here but are probably commonly cited). To me, ecchi is even worse for its clumsy and pointless pussyfooting around the subject; I don't need or want "fan service" that is all conspicuous, insulting, demeaning, and--worst of all--no service. Unlike most ecchi anime, though, Kanokon steps way beyond blue gags, panty shots, impossible-to-idiotic character designs and innocuous suggestiveness and dives right into the deep end of the pool with a force so great it barely stops short of cracking its skull and becoming full-fledged hardcore porn. This is a series that so shamelessly beats you upside the head with its characters' throbbing sexual urges that it seems to knock you through the cieling of mediocrity and leave you staring at a beautiful blue sky before falling back down. I said "Oh F***" out loud during this series more times than I care to count, and I'm not even clear about what prompted me to--a strange mix of shock, amusement, and genuine excitement, perhaps? Whatever the case, I feel I can refine my earlier statement by saying that if Kanokon is good in any respect, it's a good example of what hentai should be. The naughtiest parts of this show are executed with an uncommon degree of panache and atmosphere that they actually seemed refreshing, which is a bold statement considering nothing else about this show* can be described that way. The reason I've given it a score of "6" as opposed to the "4" or "5" that it--in spite of its ecchiness--deserved is because I would be a liar if I didn't admit I enjoyed it, in all of its baldly sexploitative and narrative charlatanical glory.

*On the subject of "nothing else about this show," one thought I had in retrospect just after topping it off was the fact that, as a good chunk of the student body featured in this show happen to be mythologically significant animals in human form, it's disappointing that more wasn't done with them. Imagine an X-Men movie whose plot was all about Storm and Rogue trying to molest that kid who can change the channels with his eyes (okay, kind of a gross idea). But imagine that that was your first glimpse of X-Men and you began thinking, "Hey, all those people in the background have mutant powers, huh? What's the deal with that? Hey, they can fight!" I'm wondering if the upcoming "Kanokon R" will have more to do with this aspect of the show, and less to do with, you know, tits. read more