Jun 18, 2014
Your first two questions when considering this anime might be “Is it actually cute?” and “Does it have much substance?”
For the answer to the former question, I invite you to take a look at the picture of Tsumiki Miniwa on her character page. Look at that face! Can you…deny…that face? And look at the top of her head; even though she’s a normal human, the show puts cat ears on her all the time without any explanation, just to boost her moe points. Truly terrifying. Not to mention she’s shy but tries to show her feelings. Moe. Soft-spoken and thoughtful. Moe. Super short but
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has a huge weird hair curl thing. Moe. And, of course, she’s got a little girl crush on our male main character, Io Otonashi. Moe. Moe. Moe. Moe. Moe.
Speaking of Io, if it’s even remotely tenable to describe a male character as moe, then I would have to assert that Io is moe to the max. He’s tall, smart, soft-spoken like Tsumiki, and is very self-reliant in a way that reminded me of Ryuuji from Toradora. Plus, despite seeming rather oblivious to Tsumiki’s adoration, he doesn’t actually get fazed much by girls at all. He’s not afraid of physical contact, and when he wants to, he can perform embarrassing romantic lines with enough smoothness to give girls nosebleeds (e.g. the light from these fireworks pales in comparison to the light I see when I gaze into your eyes). This becomes a reoccurring joke too, which somehow never gets too old.
Now, usually, it turns me off when I see nosebleeds used as a joke in comedies, such as in Yuru Yuri. Aside from the obvious fact that people don’t generally get nosebleeds from sexual arousal, it just never appealed to me aesthetically. However, in this case, it was okay, and I’m not sure why. Maybe it was because the way it was animated here looks so childish that my unconscious aversion to the blood was not even triggered.
Another pet peeve of mine is when a male character is so dense that it becomes an impenetrable wall against character and plot development. Even though Io sort of fits this bill at times, yet again, the show manages to win me over. In this case, their friends, particularly Mayoi, alleviates all possible frustration by being acutely aware of what’s happening and pushing the pair at each with well-intentioned (or maybe not so well-intentioned) teasing (or just physically pushing them at each other :P).
Really, this show is so self-aware and the timing of its jokes so precise that everything feels like a giant pillow fight. The voices and sounds in the opening theme are ridiculously adorable. The ending theme, while slower, follows the same fundamental principles of cuteness. The slapstick humor in this show, which has annoyed me in numerous other shows in the past, seems cute here for some reason. Then, Mayoi and Sakaki’s mischievous moe presents a nice contrast to Tsumiki and Io’s quiet moe. And Hime…I don’t even know…she’s like a personification of this show’s punchline, materialized. (even the title of this show is cute! Acchi Kocchi?)
So, my answer to, “Is it cute?” would have to be, “I almost got diabetes.”
Does it have substance though? That’s a much tougher question to answer. This is first and foremost a comedy rather than, say, a romance or drama, so most of its runtime is dedicated to the giant pillow fight. If I start with the assumption that the pillow fight does not create substance, then I suppose there wasn’t that much substance? Yet, when the show did become a little more serious, I was pleasantly surprised by how sweetly it was handled, such that I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get more of it. Nevertheless, by the end of the season, there was enough good feeling here to wake up the slice of life lover in me and warm my heart.
And just for that, this review comes with a solid recommendation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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