Ranked #1411

Sumomomo Momomo: Chijou Saikyou no Yome

Sumomomo Momomo.. an anime that for 21 and 9/10 episodes I liked... and was prepared to put this into my list of one of my more favorite romantic comedies. But I was horribly let down. And I am pissed off about it! Why!? Well I guess you'll have to read on!

The premise is pretty simple and in typical anime fair, ridiculous but cute in its own way. Momoko's father having told her that she will never be able to master her families martial arts clan signature move, must go seek out the strongest man and make strong offspring! To which Momoko replies, "Hai!" I found this pretty humorous at the start of each episode. Though this is a bit of a falsehood since we learn shortly that Momoko's father and Koushi's have made a prearrange marriage for the two of them to unite the martial arts world and keep peace. While this seems to be an interesting premise on the surface the story never really develops this concept, beyond different factions sending assassins to kill Koushi. There is even a scene towards the middle of the series where several female martial artists unknown to the story up to then make comments about making him their husband but then we never hear from them again. Other characters also appear seemingly having more to offer the story and then just as quickly vanish without any explanation. I do give the story a good rating though solely on a couple of arcs that are pretty interesting and funny.

With the exception of Koushi (more on him later) I give Sumomomo's characters a very good rating. Momoko , Iroha, and Sanae are great. The series does a great job in developing their personalities and backgrounds, though Momoko's back story is surprisingly weak compared to the other two female leads. The show does a good job at keeping the cast at a minimum for the most part, which is a good thing. A lot of shows allow themselves to be bogged down with huge numbers of characters that take away from the development of the mains. I fell in love with all three of the girls, especially Momoko (who couldn’t love her!). Hanzo was also very funny as was the appearances by the old landlady who provided a lot of laughs in her search for rent money or her bizarre training of Sanae.

Now on to the bad of the characters.. Koushi. Momoko’s love, she devotes herself totally to him, unselfishly protecting him from assassins, cooking and cleaning for him, unconditional love.. like a puppy. Regardless of how cruelly she is treated in return. Koushi's reject on her is pretty funny, especially of her more outlandish behavior (like pulling a futon out of nowhere to make babies), at first. But the show beats this over and over and over again until it starts to become unfunny and starts to just be mean. Koushi comes off, well like an asshole. While sometimes he seems to have feelings for her, it is completely forgotten 5 minutes later and was back to where we started. So for a show that is supposed to be a romance as well as comedy there is really zero development on this plot point. He also is wimpy, hides behind girls the entire show, and seems to be selfish and the only time he seems to have any genuine concern about someone else is when his own skin is in danger and not having that person around means he’s getting his butt kicked. Why Momoko, Iroha, or Sanae want to protect him or even like him baffles me at times. By the end of the show I find myself thinking that Momoko should have just let the jerk die.

The art is pretty good, the show uses "chibi" style animation a lot, which is a favorite of mine and it does it well enhancing the comedy in a number of places. Though the non-chibi models of Momoko and Iroha are a bit too small for their supposed ages and them come off a little too loli like and is a bit creepy sometimes. I am a big Aya Hirano fan and her voice for Sanae is great, the other acting is good too, though I think Momoko's voice sometimes doesn’t fit all of the time. The songs are a mixed bag too, the first opening song is pretty good but the rest are fairly mediocre.

Overall I did like this show for the most part, and I was going to give it a rating of 8. But did I mention that ending? Yeah, it was that bad IMO. If you thought all of Momoko's hard work and feelings was going to be accepted and end in a satisfying emotional reward, well um not really. Just when you think you’re about to get the payoff, your let down. It’s like going to a cake shop and seeing this wonderful looking cake and buying it and then when you taste it finding out that it doesn’t taste as good as it looked. The show has a lot of funny things in it and maybe for a lot of people you will probably not mind the end as much as I did. But if you in any way like to see a show wrap up with real endings that show something did change from episode 1 to the final, then you will probably be disappointed in it as well.
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The thing about Sumomo mo Momo mo is that for the first few episodes you're convinced that it's all just loli fan service and hilarious chibi jokes. In fact, even up to episode 14, that's still fairly accurate. But saying just that doesn't really cover everything that the series is.

STORY: 8 out of 10

The plot is basically that Inuzuka Koushi and Kuzuryuu Momoko, the respective heirs to their martial arts family bloodlines, are arranged to be married in order to maintain peace among the Zodiac families. Momoko, heir to the Dragon line and an awesome martial artist, is seriously excited about marrying Koushi, but Koushi, heir to the Dog line and a terrible fighter who just wants to be a lawyer, isn't exactly thrilled. Assassin's that oppose the marriage try to kill Koushi, noting that he's the weak link of the two. Simple, silly plot line. However, the story develops in such a way that we learn more about each of the characters involved without really losing relevance to the overall story that often. Filler episodes aren't common (though they do exist), but when they crop up, they are at least funny.


ANIMATION: 7 out of 10

This series isn't the prettiest to look at, both in matters of animation and style (that's without mentioning the fantastically ridiculous cg). However, the character designs are cute, and the animation is at least utilized in an effective manner. One thing in particular I like is that they didn't cut animation costs by making the characters talk out of the sides of their mouths when they're in profile --- their mouths and jaw's actually open! Kudos for that, at least.


SOUND: 8 out of 10

The first OP and ED are both catchy as hell once you get used to how cracked out they are, and the background music serves it's purpose in mood setting. I have yet to decide whether I like the new OP and ED, though, because I was so attached to the first ones.


CHARACTER: 10 out of 10

Yes, I know the series has tons of fan service. But underneath that, you see that the characters are more than just fan service/comedy machines. Despite thier ridiculousness, their storylines manage to make you care deeply for thier troubles, and wish the best for them. For example: Though Hanzo has every chance to take advantage of Iroha (who he is obviously attracted to), he doesn't. He's older, larger, and lives alone with her, and yet he respects, fears, and adores her for who she is. Even though you need to peel back the layer of anime humor to see this, it's still there.


ENJOYMENT: 10 out of 10

Definitely one of the most fun series I'm currently watching. Not only is it hilarious, it can also be surprisingly touching. A good, lighthearted series. In my book, a show needs only to achieve it's goals to be successful, and in that, Sumomo definitely passes.

OVERALL: 9 out of 10

Definitely recommended for anyone who can get past the fan service long enough to see this series worth. read more