Inma Youjo

Imma Youjo is certainly more than meets the eye.

As anime gets more criticism so does hentai, and when I say criticism I don't mean it as negative, far from it. It's a nuanced term, but I should say that it means that it's being taken more seriously and that's a good thing!

But hentai.. . is the pink elephant in the room when it comes to serious discussions about anime. Mostly since pornography is not universally accepted as an artform, and animated pornography less to. That has to do with exposure and the blurred transnational cultural lines that aren't easily deciphered for a western audience.
Inma ... Youjo is one of the more controversial and interesting among a huge variety of shows since the sexual violent aspect is very much in the forefront with an ulterior subversive motive. Many who dislike erotic anime because of this reason alone might want to watch this series to give it some thought since this show wants you to think about how such violence is used and for what reasons they exists.

Imma Youjo's protagonist Maya is more a force of nature than just a simple human, she changes gender, role and power positions within these five episodes, which deals with a lot of different genres and stories. From cyberpunk, folklore, pre-world war 2 and the witch hunts in the middle ages. A common thread is that the she's largely unaware to her curse of being a mere woman, the invitation of the desires of men and other women. More so she is representative of that alone.

This is a series that has a lot to say in regards to how the patriarchy works, it's ideals and unpacking it would definitely take a while, however as pure entertainment Inma Youjo is very enjoyable. From it's lush visuals, smooth animation, exotic settings, gorgeous character design, interesting villains and plot lines which stretches far and beyond from what one would expect simply by judging it by its cover.

Viewers not interested in watching sexual violence should be informed, since it's a lot of it in these five episodes. Also there's queer content is this show, so queer viewers should take notice. The fourth episode alone has her as trans man and it's a hauntingly dark but thoughtful presentation. This is one of the darkest anime's out there that's quite subversive with it's sexual content and not well known. Mainly since hentai has a unfair reputation here in the west, thanks to Judaeo-christian values regarding sex, and the notion that pornography is simply just a tool to ease one's libido, but it can be a lot more than just that.

If transgressive content doesn't make your stomach turn then this is comes highly recommended.

It is a deconstruction of hentai that I found to be genuinely sad. The OVA is broken up into episodes while having the same main character but with a different background.

One of the best things about this anime is the way it takes the basic premise of any hentai "all women are there to have sex with" and deconstructing it to hell and back.


Scale of best to worst for each episode; 2, 4, 1, 5, and 3. Episode 2 was the best overall with episode 4 close behind. You could completely skip over episode 3.

Overall, Inma Youjo is one of the best examples ... of plot-heavy hentai you are likely to find.