Oct 9, 2015
I'll kick this review off by saying my final verdict of this show, if you happen to be intrigued as to why I wrote what I did, you can read further below to see my first, short analysis of an anime.
Etotama can be judged and brushed off as a regular harem series with very few intellectually advanced points, and to be honest, that is not very far from the truth. However, it is not often that we see a harem with such drive for its story (instead of dismissing it for fan service), as well as original elements like the 3D battles given in
...
this anime.
Story (7/10):
The story was good, nothing ground-breaking or even great, but just satisfying. Each episode was certainly somewhat entertaining, even for a battle-of-the-day type of anime. Those types can get boring, but Etotama does it by sprinkling some comedy and downtime here and there. The battles themselves were great. Even though the outcome for each one is obvious, the variety of 'em is refreshing, going from standard brawls to shogi to races.
For the cons, the comedy is not for everyone: most people won't laugh out loud, a chuckle from time to time perhaps. It's not horrible, but it's not nearly good as it should be for a show qualified as a comedy above all else. Another thing, this one robbing the story some points, is the transition between comedy and the more serious moments. The show is ridiculous, it's meant to be that way... but it is hard to take the moments of conflict and hardships seriously with the atmosphere Etotama builds.
Art (8/10):
The strong point of Etotama. The regular art used in 80% of the episodes is fine, good I might add, not "knock-your-socks-out-10-feet" fantastic however. What does make the art an 8/10 is its use of CG battles. The animation during these is great, but more importantly, is something we rarely do see be this well done.
Sound (6/10):
Generic comedy show soundtrack. It sets the mood just fine, but no memorable tracks who could boost the score higher than the average.
Characters (5/10):
This can go one way or the other for anyone, and can turn your opinion of Etotama from: "Eh, alright" to "I want a season 2 soon". Here's why:
Main Characters: You have your female protagonist, whose personality is hit or miss. You will either love her or dismiss her as the standard hyper loli who-loves-her-friends stock character. The male protagonist is not much different, he doesn't offer anything new to the anime table, and in all honestly is just a standard wasahii-onii-chan-archetype character.
Supporting Cast: It's a harem, what do you expect? You'll have most personalities types you see in anime covered: twins, submissive, athletic, idiot, loli, glasses, pervert, crybaby, and many more.
The problem here is whether or not you will judged the characters as "already seen this before" or just take them for what they are and enjoy the show. As mentioned before, this will most likely be what sells it for you or makes it a "no no".
Personal Enjoyment (6/10):
I didn't enjoy Etotama, I didn't dislike it either. The original battles scenes intrigued me, and I think I may have had fun here and there, but that isn't enough for me to qualify it as good. I am, however, highly biased, as I entered the show with a mindset of "this is a wish-fulfillment anime for people who want to wake up one day and find a group of cute girls in their room".
Overall (6/10) and Verdict:
If you like the cast after the first couple of episodes, hey, you'll probably enjoy this one. To the others, you may want to turn tails, or just watch the "eh", with a dozen "ahhhh", for 12 episodes. In both cases -and this is my opinion- there are ALOT of better things out there to watch, and unless you're just trying to relax and unwind after whatever you might be doing, you should probably search for something with more enjoyability (is that even a word?).
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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