Futakoi

[THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]

Person A [sighing]: Man, that show was underwhelming.

(Person B had just walked into the room, when he heard his complaint and asked.)

Person B: Hm? What do you mean? What show is underwhelming?

Person A: I mean…Futakoi is…boring and unoriginal. Well, not really, but it kinda is.

Person B [confused]: I don’t understand. Could you elaborate?

Person A [shrugging his shoulders]: Sure. The story is about a young boy named Futami Nozomu, who returns to his old town and attends a local high school, and while attending school, many girls begin to fall in love with the protagonist. But, here’s the catch, each girl that falls in love with the protagonist has a twin, so technically there are 12 girls (i.e. 6 pairs) going after the protagonist!

Person B: Well, I guess that’s original. I mean, adding twins should spice up the story. Right?

Person A [shaking his head]: Not really, because each girl doesn’t really have much of a personality and the same goes for our ‘lucky, happy protagonist. Basically, in this show, nobody has a really developed personality.

Person B: The more I listen, the more it sounds like your typical harem.

Person A [nodding]: Precisely. And I can name some of the cliches from this show:

– Overly nice and ‘lucky’ protagonist with no redeeming qualities
– Overprotective and badass butler
– Jealous bullies and his associates who pick on the protagonist
– Childhood Marriage Promise
– Childhood friends (twins) in love with protagonist
– Rich Ojou-sama (twins) in love with protagonist
– Homeroom teacher and nurse in love with protagonist
– Daughters of your friend’s mother declaring the protagonist as their future husband
– Tsundere and well-natured girl in love with protagonist
– Unexpected rival (with better qualities) appears
– Home Economics Event (i.e. prepare food of protagonist)
– Beach Episode
– Cultural Festival
– New Year’s Eve Episode
– Christmas Eve Episode
– Valentines Day Episode
– Melodrama at the end
– No Romantic Resolution

Person B [surprised]: Wow. That is a lot of cliches. But, could you be more elaborate?

Person A: Certainly. Futami Nozomu is a forgettable character, besides him smiling constantly and helping people, he's weak and a coward when it comes to confronting his bullies and his mortal enemy the 'badass goat'. He's 'lucky' because he runs into different types of girls by random coincidences and they all fall in love with the protagonist by his good deeds. Moreover, he gets jealous whenever a rival makes a move on his 'harem', making him appear possessive.

Person B [shocked]: Wow! That's pretty bad.

Person A: That's not the worse of it. The ending is terrible. There's this whole melodrama about the Sakurazuki twins being transferred away because the butler believes the twins are getting hurt due to Nozomu's indecisiveness and his inability to speak his true feelings. But, once Nozomu hears about the transfer, he suddenly becomes a 'man' and speaks his true feelings, thus preventing the whole transfer. In the end, all the girls becomes rivals with one another, as they fight for Nozomu's love. Funny thing is, Nozomu thinks in his mind, how great it was to return back to his home town. Pretty selfish to me.

Person B [nodding]: I see. A typical harem ending, then. But, hey, if it’s a harem series, then there must be fanservice with lots of panty and boob shots, right?

Person A: Actually, no. There is no blatant fanservice. No panty or boob shots. No ‘lucky pervert’ situation. Nothing. This series is just a bunch of happy girls going after the protagonist with some forced drama.

Person B: That sounds…boring.

Person A: I know it is.

The End

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Futakoi (twin love) is about a guy (the protagonist/harem lead) who returns back to his hometown after some significant period of time of which I don't remember the exact number of years. But that's not important. What is important is that he was "proposed' to by a pair of twins before he left. He comes back to them, and they still like him/he likes them. As the story goes on, five other sets of twins make their introductions (his harem), and he has to decide who to love.

Story (7/10)

A little unoriginal, with male harem lead coming back to girls he left behind (ai yori aoshi), but you could make the argument that more shows with this storyline aired after futakoi (kanon, myself; yourself). I'm sure I missed some. The story was enjoyable. There was plenty of romantic tension, which is a must for harem shows to do well, in my opinion. Although the show is 13 episodes long, the show is nicely paced and doesn't seem rushed.

Art (8/10)

I don't have anything to complain about here. The characters look their age, the background art is well done, and the animation is fluid. It gets an 8 because it isn't overwhelmingly superb, like say, 5 centimeters/second was, but it gets the job done and leaves you satisfied.

Sound (8/10)

The OP was a good choice for the show; it set up the right mood to watch the show in. It was done by eufonius (they did the OP for the clannad series, which are some of the most musically beautiful OPs out there). It is really hard to fail with the main twins voiced by Yui Horie (Naru, Minori) and Ami Koshimizu (Kallen, Tenma). Nozomu is voiced by Claymore's Raki. I hated his voice in Claymore, but it works in this show quite nicely.

Character (8/10)

With six sets of twins, character development for all of them was impossible to do adequately in 13 episodes, and the show knew that. The show didn't take away from the development of the main characters by wasting time on minor characters. If it did, it was done to further develop the main characters. There is delicious tension between some characters, and plenty of love is thrown around too.

Enjoyment (9/10)

The show was very enjoyable for me. Very rarely was I so bored that I conscientiously wanted to fast forward to move the story along. It has its moments of comedy, drama, and romance, all of which are done to your satisfaction.

Overall (8/10)

My scores averaged out to exactly an 8/10. Futakoi is one of the better harem shows out there in my opinion. It offers a deeper kind love in a sense, because to love one identical twin over another (yes, all six sets of twins are identical) means you truly love them for who they are, not for their looks. If you're looking for a pretty good comedy/romance show that isn't all that time consuming yet leaves you satisfied, give Futakoi a try. It's a show that's not as well known as say, Love Hina, or Shuffle. It also doesn't have as much fanservice as either show. What it does have is a pretty good story that'll have you asking yourself some interesting questions, and leave you in a good mood when you've finished episode 13.

Note: This was my first review. If this review wasn't helpful, please spend the time to write me a quick personal message on what I did badly. Constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Thanks for reading~

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Futakoi! Well, this is a story about a boy who is surrounded by twins and is haunted by the ancient myth of the small town that he moved to (wont go any further coz it'd be a spoiler =P)

[Story]
The story is very good, but not awesomely amazing. It follows the story of a boy called Nozomu and his two childhood friends: Sumireko and Kauruko. He develops a very deep relationship with Yura and Kira, the daughters of a rich person, with a stingy butler who dislikes Nozomu. There are A LOT of twins in this anime. They all seem to have feelings towards Nozomu. Which one will he pick in the end? Thats the question that pops up in your head around the middle of the anime. It builds up the tension by ... oh nearly spoiled it for you there.

Its a good plot and storyline that will leave you wanting just a little bit extra at the end

[Art/Animation]
The art/animation feels like a toddler walking around in your dad's shirt and pants. It feels like they were running on a tight schedule and a low budget. The smoothness of the animation is great. Its just that the artwork feels somewhat childish and incomplete.

[Sound]
The sound is great period. You wont be disappointed by the characters sounding sarcastic at critical moments (*Glares at dubbed versions of Elfen Lied and Chobits*).

[Character]
This was kind of disappointing. They didnt go all the way with the Ichijou sisters or in fact any of the twins. They were trying to add color to too many characters in the short amount of time they had (13 eps). Ill give it a 7 because they havent completely failed in making the characters believeable.

[Enjoyment]
Even though this anime has its bad points, you dont realize the bad points until you actually sit down and think about it (like me writing this review). The anime is an 'on the spur of the moment' thing and can get really heart pounding and enjoyable at times. Im heart broken i have to give it an 8 because when you think about it, after you've calmned down, its not that awesome after all.

[Overall]
A modest attempt at a romance/harem anime with a little splash of humour. Character development and Art are let downs, but this anime is a sound achiever and you will not be disappointed.

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Story
Well, I must say that the story is little original, but it could be so much better if they wouldn't make the legend such a side-story!

Art
Bad. There was a lots of mistakes, and it really ruined.

Sound
Very bad OST. the opening song was boring, the ending song was horrible!

Character
The most awaful thing in this anime. Nozomu is so wannabe perverted. ad he super annoying. all the other characters are also annoying! the voices we're awaful, and the Sakurazuki twins are the worst.

Enjoyment
I hate this.