HenSemi (TV)

All I can say is Wow. if you thought Hen Zemi was just about fart jokes and perverted comedy, you were wrong. Somewhere within the comedy lies some insight to the human psyche that really blows one away if you sit and think about it.

The review is after going through 9 of the episodes plus one of the OVA's. Originally, I picked this show up not knowing what I was getting myself into. All I knew is that it featured Hanazawa Kana as one of the main characters and that it was a comedy. When I saw some of the content the show had to ... deal with, I had to cover up my 5 year old niece's eyes and wait until later to further view this show.

The story is, of course, about a girl who takes a strange college course in human psychology. This deals with the less conformist views of the world and dives deep into what many consider taboo. The story is told in a humorous way, but at the same time words what the subject is in a very mature manner. This could vary from the way men are visual animals and how their imagination could shatter a romantic relationship if the reality of their partner's physical appearance does not meet their expectations, to the destructive tendencies codependent couples have stemming from fear of being alone. The experiments the students are put through have much to do with the way they view society and likewise how society views them.

The artwork is fairly good, considering the character design is thicker than most anime is used to. There will be some viewers who will see the artwork as more toonish than anime, but that's subjective. The animation itself flows nicely and the production value seems above average given the 12 minute format.

Sound is always a major factor in a good show. This show doesn't spend much in the background music department, but it makes up for it with their cast of characters and other small details some people seem to overlook. The cast does a great job in delivering their lines and in some (limited) censored scenes, the sound effects make a world of difference between a mediocre and hilarious audio visual joke.

As I mentioned earlier, the cast is one of the reasons I picked up this show. Hearing Hanazawa Kana portraying the somewhat timid Matsutaka Nanako in some embarrassing situations makes my day every week. I seriously never pictured Kana talking about her nipples, but Nanako does. Another great role is done by Kawaragi Shiho, who also played Sekai in one of my personal favorite roles, Sekai in School Days. Seeing her play Makiko is confusing to say the least, as she is almost the polar opposite of Sekai. Very monotone and seldom talks, but her one liners are a real kicker. Each character in the show brings something different to the table and I would write something about each character, but that would make this too long a read.

I have to say that if you enjoy dirty jokes (think Seitokai Yakuindomo or Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san) I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this one. It's got some quirky toilet humor and sexual innuendos that are sure to make people ask themselves "What the fuck am I watching???" on more than one occasion.

Overall, this show is not for everyone, but for those who can take talk about human sexuality, bodily functions and general abnormal behavior, I'd say this is a good addition to your list. It definitely is not something you want to watch near children... or anyone else for that matter. It goes against any and everything considered normal, but it's a nice little guilty pleasure in my opinion.

And for those worried about my niece, she really wasn't watching this with me. She was watching Shinryaku Ika Musume.

Time to get out of the kitty pool of hentai and the vast world of fetishes! The subtly of this anime in its innuendo makes me smile and its strange approaches to what we normally see in common anime brings me in closer. I feel though this anime is definitely wasted on any younger audience that views it.

~Terry

If you have seen Nazo no Kanojo X you have probably seen the debate of whether to taste someone's dribble is disgusting or not. Well Hen Zemi takes this not just a step further but A TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT FURTHER!

The story involves Matsutaka Nanako, a nice and somewhat innocent university student, who joins an Abnormal Physiology Seminar, run by a creepy professor, which is cover for anyone interested in sexual deviancy to use their sexual deviancy for educational purposes. Can Nanako stay "normal" or become a sexual deviant or is she abnormal because she is the only one not interested in sexual deviancy, or is she?

I ... will admit this isn't for everybody. In fact the writers seem to be enjoying how far they can go with some of the comedy which to be fair is pretty disgusting especially when it comes to bodily fluids. A fact which is shown when an event causes some of the characters to vomit.

At first Hen Zemi appears to be nothing more than a gross out comedy but scratch the surface and it is clear it asks psychological questions. For example it investigates what actually causes people to become sexual deviants, what happens if you put people in uncomfortable situations, the affect of childhood experiences on a persons personality, observations on pleasure, are people who enjoy consensual sexual deviancy in private bad people and should you find the comedy funny and why.

With the exception of Nanako the characters are odd and downright creepy. We have the masochist Miwako, Anna who has a split personality disorder, the mummy's boy Ichikawa, half British Makiko who has experienced a trauma before she was 17 which means she has subconsciously blocked out any memory before then and doesn't seem to have much of a personality, manga artist Taguchi, the disturbingly perverted Mushashi who has a fetish for women's bodily fluids and the creepy Professor Kenji. However, it is the characters weirdness that makes the series work and despite their weirdness and somewhat questionable shenanigans they are actually decent people.

The art and music are nice yet unspectacular but that this doesn't really matter as it is about the psychological questions above and the characters and what they get up to.

Considering each episode is only about 12 minutes long I have written a long review but this is because Hen Zemi actually fits a lot into a short space of time.

I short once you get past the gross comedy Hen Zemi is actually an intelligent anime.

Watching Hen Zemi is a bit like catching your friend trying to stick a carrot in their ass. It's awkward and repulsive but you just can't turn away. This series literally opens up the pandora box of human sexuality. NTR, masochism, humiliation, voyeurism, watersports... jesus fucking christ. This series is downright creepy.

The story and premise are simple. A couple of university students join forces together on their quest for ultimate perversion as they drink piss and shove stuff into each other. That's the whole series in a sentence. Yeah, they do also eloquently talk about the philosophy of their perverted quirts but in the ... end you can shorten in down to "I'd like to jerk off over your sleeping body".

Hen Zemi will definitely change your outlook on perversion. Knowledge is power my friend. This series will help you to spot a watersports enthusiast from a mile away. It will also help you to understand euphemisms better and realise that sometimes a seemingly innocent conversation is actually downright dirty (set up his tent on the other side of the river - jesus, that's a good one) .

Hen Zemi is for everyone obsessed with sex, perversion... sexual perversion and everything in between. One hell of a fucking ride... now excuse me while I take a few hits and find the nearest bar wench.

8/10 points.

Welcome to Hen Zemi where all that is socially unacceptable and downright disgusting or odd can be used for educational purposes. These students are tasked with coming up with reports on these subjects and experiencing them firsthand. For the most part raunchy humor, Zemi doesn't provide much else. However, if this is your cup of tea then there is bound to be one or two laughs in these 10 minute episodes.

If there is one thing that makes this a weird show it would be the characters. The projects they pick out can only be as messed up as the professor and the students doing them. ... The point of view is usually told from either Matsutaka's point of view, Ichikawa's, or Anna's. Why? Well these three are the most normal. That only says so much though when your group of friends are in this seminar. The others consist of Mizukoshi the lustful beast just short of a slut, and Komugi the calm collected one who isn't afraid to pull of the most ridiculous projects. There is also a mangaka foreigner couple enrolled too. The characters are very well done for the type of target audience. As the characters make the show in a comedy, these suit the roles very well.

The activities range from Body Tables to Yaminabe. Farting in the elevator and telling everyone you did it? Getting into the mindset of a underwear theif? Developed a weird mental complex as a child? Those are the types of things Hen Seminar does. Now these are mostly the general ones, as there are plenty of times the members test out the responses of their classmates. This is especially true with the female lead Matsutaka, whom has somehow developed a crush on Komugi. As he most likely knows this, he teases her to no end by including her in many of his projects.

I'm not particularly one for raunchy humor, but I pride myself for being very open to all genres. Hen Zemi definitely could have been slightly more entertaining, but the shorter episodes prevented me from every getting actually bored. There are quite a few nice tidbits such as Anna's story that are much cleaner, but sometimes there were scenes that were so far on the other end that I gave it a 'surprise factor' entertainment. Overall Hen Zemi was pretty good although you may need time to adjust to the setting of the story. If your looking for raunchy humor I would recommend this for sure.


Questions and feedback on my review are welcome! I hope my review was helpful and happy watching!

This anime may seem like just another gross gag anime with fan service slapped on to draw in the soft core fanboys, but looking at it again, wow. This really does take an interesting look at fetishes and abnormal sexual psychology, while the humor is great and can be enjoyed on a no brainer level by all, the real treat is the insight into perversions and the subculture surrounding them. Sadly it's all a bit rushed and crammed together being a short series, lightly touching on as many different fetish subjects as it can in the time given. Going to a light covering of a ... broad spectrum of them rather than in depth analysis of a few specifics. Really worth watching in my opinion.

Story: 6
While it's an awesome idea, the execution felt rushed and bounced around far to much.

Art: 7
Quality is consistent and decent

Sound: 8
While the music was less than memorable, the sound effects, especially those related to perverted acts, were excellent and detailed, unlike the canned squishing noises most hentai use.

Characters: 8
While I wish they had more time to develop and play out their interactions, the characters were all interesting, multi layered, and very appealing in their distinct differences from each other

Enjoyment: 7.
Would have scored higher if it had gone on longer, letting all the interesting interactions between the characters play out to conclusions, I'm left feeling like this was a first season setting up for a 2nd or 3rd to play it all out rather than a finished product.

Overall: 7
Better than expected, worth watching, but you might want to be careful who you invite to enjoy it with you!

Hen Zemi is a comedy anime by studio Xebec, of Outlaw Star and harem/shounen fame. The story follows Matsutaka, an ordinary girl who enrolls in an abnormal psychology class, and her adventures with her salacious and deviant classmates. It’s not often you get an anime in a university setting, and it’s refreshing to see adult characters who actually have sex and talk about cultivating their own feces. It’s also interesting to see how the others’ bizarreness rubs off on Matsutaka, and how she changes through the show.

As you might have guessed, this show has some pretty weird jokes, and it’s definitely not for the faint ... of mind, or those who mostly keep to more generic comedy. If you liked Panty & Stocking (with Garterbelt), it’s a little like that, but more straight faced. Without hesitation, the characters seek out all vile perversions in the world, from indirect kissing to walking around in public in a diaper or with a phone-activated vibrator. The characters are varied, and feel fresh and original. There’s of course a lot of focus on the main character, and as such, more interesting characters sometimes get left behind, but everyone gets their share, one way or another.

The art is simplistic, and while it may seem a little bland at first, it fits the show very well, and never feels unsatisfactory. The characters either have over-the-top reactions to most things, or remain calm and collected, which varies things, and gives each character their own identity. The animation is really nothing special, but it doesn’t need to be. It looks and feels very much like the original manga.

The soundtrack is pretty unimpressive, but fits the tone of the show, especially a piece of music introduced near the end. The voice acting, on the other hand, is wonderful. The voice actors give it their all, and they each do a smashing job, my favourites perhaps being Norihisa Mori (Ichikawa) and Shiraishi Minoru (Taguchi). The ending, song by Hanazawa Kana, is catchy and light hearted. It’s certainly a notch above average, but not quite up there with the great.

I’d recommend this to anyone who wants a comedy out of the ordinary, those who like the abnormal, and deviants in general. It might not be for those new to anime or those a little pretentious, but I had a lot of fun with it, and you should watch it.

I'll start by saying that I've been researching fetishes online since I was twelve, and I've watched this anime after seven years of experience in said field.
When I heard about an anime focused on fetishes I expected two results: I could've learn from it or it could've been one of the most painful anime in my otaku career, but I was curious and took the bet; I'm so glad I did it.
HenSemi presents fetishes in an almost innocent way, it doesn't downright shock the viewer but if you're into what they're talking about, which happened to me quite a bit of times, it can easily ... make your fantasies run wild.
The art is very soft, almost moe, and it helps in making a light atmosphere even with uncomfortable subjects, and that is one of the main strong points of the whole series.
The character are really well done, with different but clear personality and perversions allowing any type of viewer to identify with at least one of them.
I recommend this series to fetish expert that want to test their knowledge and enjoy a pervy humor impossible to find anywhere else and to newcomers in the field, or "normal" people, that want to expand their view on human sexuality in a not so shocking way.
This series may not be enjoyed by close-minded people, anyone who find explicit talking about sexual abnormalities unsettling and/or disgusting

Summary is a bit misleading. Rather than an physiology seminar, this seminar is more about educating each other on sexual deviancy.

Now normally, a "pervert" in anime just means they like sex a lot or think about it a lot, or want it really badly. Not so in this one, these people are real perverts. They eat insects, trick one another into consuming semen, pee in public, break into one another's houses and do weird stuff to them while they're asleep. If this was the real world, these people would probably be in prison.

I was gonna rate this a 6, but the anime does have some ... interesting episodes that talk about human psychology and why people end up having these odd sexual desires.

Overall a decent anime, but be forewarned, some of these characters' fetishes are quite revolting.

Hen Zemi was an awesome anime. They somehow managed to make a cute college kid anime mixed with the most perverted stuff I have ever seen in a non-hentai anime.

The idea is the characters are taking an abnormal psychology seminar, about extreme fetishes, but they get all sorts of perverted assignments. They also talk about and sometimes do all sorts of fetishy things. Most of the people (boys and girls) are there because they have an abnormal sexual side; the exception is the main girl who is very innocent and gets dragged into situations and discussion she is unprepared for...

Its very interesting because it ... is both disturbing, funny, and sexy all at the same time. I can't think of another anime quite like this one; the closest I can come up with is FLCL, but Hen Zemi is rated 17+.

Further on that note, it is definitively not for minors; they talk about sex and all sorts of perverted things. Occasionally there is a medium-explicit sexual scene.

In conclusion, if you have a perverted side, and like funny animes too, this might be for you... but its probably not for you if you don't have a perverted side.