Ranked #4710

Love Pheromone

This review should be read in conjunction with the review of Soreyuke! Gedou Otome Tai as both shows are part of Akahori Gedou Hour Rabuge

It's fairly well known by now that I'm a fan of oddball comedies and shows that parody existing stereotypes. Zettai Seigi Love Pheromone (or Love Pheromone as it's more commonly known), meets both criteria, as does it's sister show Gedou Otome Tai. The title of the show translates to something like Absolute Justice Love Pheromone (who comes up with these names?), and to be honest it put me off (and made me laugh ), purely because of the name. Thankfully I eventually got around to watching the show, and I have to admit that it is actually a decent show overall.

The story in Love Pheromone is very straightforward. Yoshizumi Aimi and Sasajima Kaoruko are up and coming (and really bad), stand-up comedians who's real job is as inspectors for the Delta Galaxy Council's Police Federation. Their job is to combat the various criminals and evil organisations that plague the world, which they do in a very Power Rangers/Bubblegum Crisis style.

The art and animation in the show are nothing unique. The animation quality is generally good throughout the show (with some noticeable glitches), and the character designs focus on humour rather than realism. The character transformations parody shows like Sailor moon and Power Rangers, and are over fairly quickly (thankfully).

The sound and music in the show is again quite reasonable. The OP and ED are okay at best, but the usage can become repetitive over the course of the show. The various "heroic" action sequences tend to use the same music over and over again in the style of shows like Power Rangers, and this can become annoying if you're not prepared for it.

The characters in the show are actually okay, given that this is supposed to be a parody. Both Aimi and Kaoruko have various quirks to their characters that are very individual, and the supporting characters generally follow the standard pattern of being funny but not having any development. I should also point out that both Aimi and Kaoruko get virtually no development during the show as well, but that is mainly due to the type of show it is.

As I said previously, I actually found that I enjoyed the show as a whole. The characters weren't overly annoying, and the fact that the entire show consists of one half Love Pheromone and the other Gedou Otome Tai meant there was enough variation during the half hour to keep me interested. To further compound matters both Love Pheromone and Gedou Otome Tai live in the same town, and Kaoruko works at a part time job with Otone Hokke, the eldest sister of Gedou Otome Tai.

The best thing about the show is that it is effectively a role reversal for both Love Pheromone and Gedou Otome Tai. Love Pheromone are supposed to be allies of justice but because of Aimi's temper they are more often responsible for immense property damage and destruction, and are thus considered evil by the general populace.

Akahori Gedou Hour Rabuge is a good show to watch if you have half an hour to waste and fancy something odd. The stories of Love Pheromone and Gedou Otome Tai eventually intertwine with each other at the end of the show, which gives it a nice sense of closure, and the fact that it is a parody of the masked hero genre (with a twist) means that many people will actually understand the humour.

Okay, now that you're done with this half of the review, check out the other half for Soreyuke! Gedou Otome Tai. read more