Saint☆Oniisan

I really wanted to like this anime, but sadly, the comedy mostly fell flat and the VAs didn’t do a great job. There’s not much to write about an anime with just 2 short episodes, so I’ll keep my review brief.

The reason I gave it a 6 (and nothing lower) is because even though I didn’t like the anime, I didn’t dislike it either – it was pretty average. The setting is quite unique, of course, and more power to animators who can go through concepts on anime without involving high school children, nudity or violence. It’s a nice and sweet comedy, suitable even for ... children, although if I’m being honest, a lot of jokes went over my head. I mean, I’m someone who has a fair amount of knowledge about Christianity, and unlike most other people, I know quite a lot about Buddhism (seeing how Gautam Buddh was born in my country) so I was surprised at how many references I didn’t understand. And if I didn’t get them, then how is it those people who gave this anime such a high rating, get them? Did they study Buddhism in college or something?
Elitists. SMH.

Speaking of, Buddhism was all about peace and ahinsa, so the concept of wearing silk shirts (leave alone decorating them) would have been out of the question for Buddh, so the animators fuked up there. Same for the negative stereotype “the water is dirty” comment for India – it wasn’t really funny, it was outright offensive, something that would *never* be uttered by Buddh for his motherland. And before you tell me to “laugh it off”, let me know how you’d feel if, for example, you’re a religious American who sees Jesus calling all Americans fat, ugly and stupid?

The art, animation and sounds - everything is average. Anyway, give it a watch. Who knows? You might enjoy it more than I did!

PS. Just for kicks, just *imagine* the uproar that this anime would have been created if it where Mohammed in place of Buddh!

English Version
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OBS: English is not my native language. this review may have grammatical errors.
OBS 2: This review has two versions, one in English and the other in Portuguese (BR), which is my native language.

My evaluation:
Plot: Scale from 0 to 3 points.
Characters: Scale from 0 to 2 points.
Animation: Scale from 0 to 2 points.
OST: Scale from 0 to 2 points.
... Personal Taste: Scale from 0 to 1 point.

Since the plot is irrelevant because it is totally a comedy, this criterion will be changed by comedy and how it is performed based on the premise.

This Review will have some spoilers:

Comedy (1 of 3): The premise is two religious icons living a normal life on Earth, it seems fun, but it's meh. The references to the two religions are difficult to pick up, the series instead of trying to win over all audiences and make everyone understand the references just makes their jokes and nothing more, the comedy and the series in general it's for a specific audience, that makes it difficult for people like me who do not understand much of Buddhist religion to find something funny or fun, the fault is not in the series, is mine, but if they try to focus on the general public and still do their references in a way for everyone could understand would be better.

Characters (1 of 2): Jesus and Buddha are entertaining characters who can bring the comedy to life, but they do not add much in the series besides who they are, most comedies use their characters in different ways for different situations, few times on Saint Oniisan this happens, the characteristics of the characters are badly used, in most situations it's just: "It's cool because he's Jesus" or "It's cool because he's Buddha" this could be more than that and the characters could use it more of them divine powers.

Art / Animation (1 of 2): The character design is very different and very characteristic, I like these different designs, but the background is strange and sometimes a bit poorly done, the direction is averrage, with exception of the scene with Buddha's dream playing there was nothing interesting about it.

OST (1 of 2): Hmmm ... there were some tracks that I liked, but it's pretty average too.

Personal Taste (1 of 1): The comedy is fun some times, but is nothing really funny, could be a little better, but it still entertained me.

Final Verdict: 5/10. It's not a series for everyone, but it's funny and fun, if production was a little better ... a bad anime, unfortunately.

Portuguese (BR) Version:
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Meus critérios de avaliação:
Enredo: Escala de 0 à 3 pontos
Personagens: Escala de 0 à 2 pontos
Animação: Escala de 0 à 2 pontos
OST: Escala de 0 à 2 pontos
Gosto Pessoal: Escala de 0 à 1 ponto

Como o Enredo é irrelevante por ser totalmente uma comédia, esse critério será troca pela comédia e como ela é executada com base na premissa.

Esse Review terá spoilers:

Comédia (1 de 3): A premissa é de dois icones religioso vivendo uma vida normal na Terra, parece divertido, mas é bem meh. As referências as duas religiões são difíceis de pegar, a obra ao invés de tentar conquistar todos os públicos e fazer todos entenderem as referências apenas faz as suas piadas e nada mais, a comédia e a obra no geral é bem para um público específico, o que dificulta pessoas como eu que não entendo muito de religião budista achar algo engraçado ou divertido, a culpa não é da obra e sim minha mesmo, porém se eles tentassem focar no público geral e ainda sim jogar suas referências de uma maneira para que todos entendessem seria bem melhor.

Personagens (1 de 2): Jesus e Buda são personagens divertidos e que conseguem dar vida a comédia da obra, mas eles não acrescentam muita coisa apesar de serem quem são, as obras de comédia utilizam de seus personagens de maneiras diferentes para situações diferentes, já nessa poucas vezes isso acontece, as características dos personagens são pouco utilizadas, na maioria das situações é apenas: "É legal pq ele é Jesus" ou "É legal pq ele é Buda", poderia ser bem mais que isso e os personagens poderiam utilizar bem mais seus poderes divinos.

Arte/Animação (1 de 2): O character design é bem diferente e muito característico, eu gosto desses designs diferentes, mas o background é estranho e as vezes um pouco mal feito, a direção é mediana, tirando a cena do sonho do Buda não teve mais nada de interessante.

OST (1 de 2): Hmmm... teve algumas músicas que eu gostei, mas é bem mediana tbm.

Gosto Pessoal (1 de 1):
A comédia é divertida algumas vezes, mas não é nada muito engraçado, poderia ser um pouco melhor, mas eu me diverti.

Veredito Final: 5/10. Não é uma obra para todo mundo, mas é engraçado e divertido, se a produção fosse um pouquinho melhor... um animê ruim, infelizmente.

An anime about Buddha and Jesus living together.. who would've thought of that? When I first heard about this, I was really excited but I put it aside to watch JoJo's.. And now I'm really glad that I did...

I really liked the concept. It had a lot of potential, it really did. My problems are with the execution. Mainly the fact that most of the jokes weren't very.. funny.

The jokes about Buddha and Jesus' powers were amusing and all, but there wasn't anything special done with them. In addition to being that being pretty much all this show had to offer in terms of ... comedy, most of the punchlines got stale and predictable halfway through the first episode.
Oh yeah, there were a few jabs at the main characters for their easygoing personalities and some misunderstandings about the way Earth works, but those were half-baked, minimal effort, and not a lot was done with them.
All in all, the jokes in this show did not feel well thought out.

I'll speedrun through the other categories since there isn't much to say about them.

The art is nothing special, but I felt like it suited the show so I gave it a 6. It's fair.
The sound is.. there. I felt like the voice actors could've done some more at some points. Like Asahi from Haikyuu has a very similar personality to Jesus, but with help from his VA, his character felt a lot more vibrant.
I felt that the characters were too similar to one another and maybe that's another reason the comedy fell a little flat. If one of them were more hot headed, I feel like there would be more of their dynamic to joke about, and their interactions would be more lively and interesting overall.

I still liked watching it since it was only two episodes and it kept me entertained while i ate dinner, so it's a 6 in terms of enjoyment. Nothing special, but it's fine.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a slice of Supernatural beings living in the modern world in your life, I would highly recommend Sore Dake Ga Neck or All Saints Street.

But if you've had your eye on this one, don't let my review discourage you; it's only two episodes after all.