Ranked #1056

Acchi Kocchi

“Um, m-marriage is where your life goes to drink.”
When I first saw this anime while browsing for brand new anime releases, this anime came into view. My first thoughts… Probably just one of those cliché anime comedy romances. Well I got the comedy romance part right, but the cliché part I couldn’t have been any more wrong. Forgive me Otaku God for calling this anime cliché *goes on hands and knees* The jokes are quite fresh and new, and the romance is so adorable your most likely going to die from potential blood loss coming out of your nose.

Plot:
The plot is quite simple beyond beliefs; there is no complexity about it in anyway. Even a five year old can understand it. The anime is about the love between two high schoolers, and what fate awaits them. Well to put it simply all you’re watching is Io and Tsumiki’s relationship grow each and every episode, while at the same time, watching the other characters bug the heck out the both of them, mostly Tsumiki though. Even though this anime requires no extreme thought into understanding what the fudge it’s about, this anime is probably the only anime of its kind that has a perfect way of displaying plot development. Each and every episode, it shows a subtle amount of growth in a relationship from grabbing onto a coat to feeding your lover a spoonful of delicious goodness. This anime just isn’t about romance though; it also does a heck of a good job of making me choke from the amount of laughter produced. Sure not every part of this anime is so funny that it’s enough to make Grumpy from Snow White laugh, but hey I betcha a quarter that he would sniffle a giggle. Which means, whether you’re a Happy or a Grumpy you’re definitely going to laugh, giggle, snort, or even nose bleed when watching this comedy romance filled Heaven!

Characters:
Soon to be lovers, Io and Tsumiki are the ideal anime couple of 2012 with their excellent way of showing character development! Each and every episode, one way or another, shows some tiny sign of character development which is definitely one of Acchi Kocchi’s proud strong points. Their budding relationship is so cute that it even puts Kamichama Karin’s Kazune and Karin’s adorable relationship to shambles! Now why don’t we highlight the extraordinary features of these soon to be lovers? Tsumiki is not your average tsundere, unlike most tsunderes she has that cool and collective attitude that boys go crazy for, however that’s not all; she has her cute side too which proves it with those kawaii cat ears that pop up now and again. Tsumiki is also a fantastic cook, adorable singer, and a super strong woman. There’s no doubt that she’s the ideal woman for most men! Now last but not least let us introduce the one the only, Io Otanoshi! Io may be quite oblivious to many things, but he makes up for it with those devilish good looks and charm that the Gods and Goddesses of Anime had blessed him with. Io like Tsumiki, is also a fantastic cook, but that’s not all, he’s also got the skills of a ninja! He’s every woman’s dream man! But that’s not at all, Acchi Kocchi also has Hime Haruno our nose bleeding princess, Sakaki the awesome pevert who is strangely similar to Yohei Sunohara, and Mayoi Katose the strange girl with a knack for technology.

Art:
If there is one thing I have learned from watching countless anime shows with a variety of different and yet unique art styles, I have come to the conclusion that the art style used in an anime should somehow fit the plot and genre of the anime. For example, in a horror anime, you need a somewhat mysterious and dark feel which will cause the hearts of its viewer a feel of slight uneasiness. In this case, however, you have a romance comedy anime with its goal being to somehow cause the hearts and souls of its viewers a feeling of relaxation, happiness, laughter, and adoration. To successfully put all these wonderful feelings together the animators had used an art style similar to that of Lucky Star’s. However, that is not all; the animators had also used graphics, effects, and the hearts and souls of those who love cute things too not only woo their viewers into a zombie like state in which people will stare adoringly at their computer screen, but also a near death experience where the viewer’s soul have somehow died and gone to a world of pure bliss.

Music:
“I don’t know anything about the meaning of love; I just want to look at you all the time.” That my anime friends are a small part of the cutesy lyrics to the anime’s opening “Acchi de Kocchi de.” Like most openings to animes the lyrics somehow in some way relate to the anime’s plot, cutesy and romantic for this one. The voice actors used in this anime are in no doubt, specialists. These seiyuus had successfully and utterly pulled down the red carpet and walked dazzlingly across it smilingly handsomely at all those other rejected seiyuus and said, “Tough luck kids, maybe next time.” Very unbelievable if I do say so myself that a few voice actors could be as so professional as to pull off the stupidity, cuteness, embarrassment, and all those other fanciful adjectives I type randomly just to make this paragraph longer. “If I grin and nyaa, I’ll know you’ll scratch my back.” And that was just extremely adorable lyrics to the anime’s ending song "Te wo Gyu Shite ne” which is just as adorable and pleasant as Tsumiki with her cat ears which I know most people are as so tempted to pull.

Enjoyment:
If there is one thing I wanted to do after watching episode one of this anime, it was to dance around in my underwear like a strange lunatic while smiling and listening to anime music. If you are wondering if I have problems than yes, yes I do. But that does not change the fact that this anime is so wonderful that every Otaku will get up and scream of joy, while watching Tsumiki go moe on them! I also got into the strange habit of saying cat like things; I have the strange urge to do so. But yes if you want me to get right into the point than yes, yes I 100% did enjoy watching this anime, so much that I want to dance happily in my own little world where my crush will someday pat me in the head lovingly and feed me a spoonful of food. My gosh, I’m sure every girl wants their crush to do that to them! Don’t worry ladies, I’m sure someday your prince will come.

read more

Normally someone wouldn't even bother to look at an anime that admits to have cliched characters in its synopsis. Nowadays, I normally wouldn't even touch an anime that looks like it could turn into a harem. However, the cover of Acchi Kocchi just attracted my attention so much that I just couldn't resist its cuteness. No one can. Thus, I started to watch the first episode, having low expectation and knowing it could turn into a horrible school harem. After completing it, as one of my fellow friends had said, "Fridays have a new meaning in my life now ."

The plot starts off with the main male character Io meeting up with his female friend, Tsumiki, who waited for him near a subway. They then walk to school together, meeting up with friends on the way while having some mischiefs throughout the episode. However, what's different about this first episode than most school dramas is that the setting changes I would say consistently, which makes it more interesting to watch. Also, the characters may be archetypes, but they're hilarious. 

Tsumiki is perhaps the coolest main character ever; she can beat guys at video games, has a feminine side, and  cat ears. Tsumiki definitely reminds me of lucky star as well as Toradora, she almost seems like shy version of Taiga with cat ears. Then there's Io, who I'm not going to go into details about since there's not much known about him, but he's definitely a very kind person and Tsumiki obviously likes him. 

All the side characters are archetypes: the Pervy male sidekick, "single" teacher, air headed females, nose-bleeding characters, etc. But wait, all of them in a single series? Yep, all the archetypes are included in one single series. So now you can have deja vu about almost every cliched characters every time you watch this series! But don't get me wrong, instead of being annoying, I'd say most of the side characters are pretty funny. If taken out of contexts, their actions just seem like a bunch of teenagers' rebellious acts, but within the context, it's almost like a well-scripted stand up comedy show. 

The art was definitely cute and that's all there really is to say about it. It's got beautiful designs, and the characters all have something special about them. What more could you ask for in the first episode? And like I said before some of the characters looked really similar to those in lucky star, so if you liked lucky star, do look into this series. Also, good thing there was music in the series and that it flowed pretty well with the fluent voice acting.

Overall, with all these elements combined together, this show illustrates a good start. The characters were so entertaining that I barely saw the 20 minutes pass and I'm sure each episode will continue to do so for the rest of this series. If you watch this show while looking for a serious drama of some sort, then you'll be disappointed. If you watch this series open-mindedly while looking for perhaps a light-hearted school drama, you'd be impressed at the results. This series definitely appealed to its audience in this first episode and I'm happy to announce that "Fridays have a new meaning in my life now." read more