Nagasarete Airantou

The purpose of this whacky romantic comedy is portraying every straight guy's fantasy. Ikuto is a teenage boy who happened to get stranded on an island paradise but that's not the whole of it as this strange island is inhabited with girls, all desperate for a man.

This provides the setting of the ideal harem, romantic, comedy because nothing really has to make sense. From the very beginning Ikuto has his pick of any of the gorgeous girls and no matter how cute or crazy for him they are, it is inevitable that he will end up with ****. To my knowledge, only two harem Rom/Coms ... have been able to produce an unpredictable outcome, full of speculation: "Shuffle (anime)" and "Ichigo 100% (manga)". Nagasarete Airantou is just one of the tonnes of predictable harems being churned out. The other girls are barely a part of the story and only appear for comic relief. After first couple of episodes the story doesn't really develop at all with only minor romantic developments throughout.

This really isn't a bad thing as the comedy is hilarious throughout the series. On the other hand there's one joke that gets old fast and it's the overuse of the classic ecchi = nosebleed one that will make you wonder; shouldn't Ikuto be dead yet from severe blood loss? Like most of the guys watching this anime, I'm always thinking that he should just plug up his nose and wash Suzu's back once in a while XD.

The animation quality is pretty decent for a romantic comedy, with plenty of rich colours to suit the "island paradise" concept. The characters are decently designed, without having bodies out of proportion, but a lot of the character looks do make you question their age or maybe the animators just have a Lolita-complex. The music is catchy but extremely repetitive and it easily gets boring after a couple episodes.

Overall this is another one of those enjoyable romantic comedies that you don't watch for the romantic developments but for the stupid comedy and pointless mini stories. There's really no development at all during most of the show which is why it can get boring after a while however the comedy and cheesy moments do help pick it up all the time, until the inevitable end. So comedy fans should check this out.
^_^

A boy runs away from home, falls off a ship, and washes ashore an island filled with females. It sounds like a guy's fantasy, but Nagasarete Airantou is much more than that.

Story
For the genre, Nagasarete Airantou is a slice-of-life that combines comedy, some drama, some romance, and bits of ecchi.

Airantou, the island that the protagonist Ikuto washes up on, is not a normal island. The village, including the people's clothing and lifestyle, are based on rural Japan. But before that, Airantou is an island where whirlpools prevent anyone from leaving, a mountaintop collects snow in the middle of summer, forests are inhabited by bizarre-looking animals ... and carnivorous plants and fungi, humans and animals talk to eachother, and a once-every-hundred-years tsunami washes away all the men in the village during a fishing contest.

It's practically another world for Ikuto, who is from modern-day Japan, and that does an excellent job in driving the story forward. With each episode, you get to know Airantou better, as Ikuto himself adapts to a totally new lifestyle. The story's not as deep and compelling as a full-fledged action or drama, but for a comedy/slice-of-life, the setting definitely adds some spice.

Characters
There's a variety of characters on Airantou, including Ikuto, -the only boy in the cast- a whole slew of girls, -as expected of a harem- and -something more or less new to harems- talking animals.

Ikuto may not seem like much, but he is actually an admirable character. The two most notable things about him would be that he refuses to believe anything is impossible, and that his squeamish self suffers a nosebleed in pretty much every ecchi moment.(That doesn't count as an admirable quality) The girls come in distinct personalities, ranging from the innocently cute Suzu to the sadistic voodoo-user Machi. As for the talking animals, they're often just supporting characters, and you won't even hear them talk until Ikuto learns to speak to them. But you can't forget about them; at one point, you will find that a few of them will play a huge role in the show.(side note: there are actually male animals)

Art
Leaning towards the cartoony side, the art style might not suit your tastes, but it's done really well, from the character designs to the backgrounds. Best of all, it somehow feels like it matches the nature of the show.

Music
The BGM is also a bit on the cartoony side, but just like the art, it goes very well with the show. But you are definitely more likely to enjoy the opening theme, a wonderful song performed by voice actress Horie Yui, who also sings the two ending themes and voices Suzu, the lead female character. Both fans of Horie Yui and those who never heard her should check them out.

Enjoyment
Nagasarete Airantou is definitely a comedy. In the first few episodes, just as you and Ikuto are getting used to the island and the village, Airantou will throw out a couple surprises and the characters will pull off some crazy actions, and it will keep on going throughout the whole series! There are very few episodes that you might think as far-fetched, but they're still funny, and may well be the episodes at which you laugh the hardest.

Overall
If there is one point I want to re-state, it would be the one I started with:
Nagasarete Airantou is much more than just a guy's fantasy.

Having said that, I'll close this review with one last opinion:
I wouldn't mind living on Airantou.

(even if the men came back, mind you)

What do you get when you combine a teenage guy with an island full of young women (except for one) and creatures that look like pokemon? You get Nagasarete Airantou, an extremely hilarious show. To show you just how much I'm impressed with this anime I'll tell you this - if the island of Airantou was real, I'd swim across all the oceans of the world to get to it... or I'd die trying.

Yes ladies and gents, Airantou is a paradise like no other. However, before I describe the epic scenery of that island let me start with the story. It's very banal, in ... fact anyone with half a brain could come up with it. We have a teenage dude Ikuto, who one day has an argument with his father and decides to run away from home. He boards a ship which cruises around the Pacific. One day however there's a terrible storm and our hero is thrown overboard and the ship's staff doesn't really do much to save him. The following day Ikuto is fished out (literally) of the water by an exotic girl and finds himself stranded on an isolated island (escape is not possible) in the middle of the pacific. Much to his suprise, he finds out that the island is only populated by women. Young women.

So it's just an another average boring Harem anime, right? No. The girls on the island are not your average boring harem girls who just stand there waiting to be scooped up by the male lead and Ikuto is not an average teenage guy who'd take every oportunity around him so you can pretty much see who's chasing who in this anime. Also the island of Airantou is not exacly normal... not only does it have a huge ass mount everest in the middle but there are also "pokemon" living on it. From weird and exotic creatures that glow at night (and I'm not talking about fireflies) to huge dragons capable of creating whirpools. Hence, I'm calling them pokemon.

Anyway, Ikuto soon finds out that being the only male on the island is not easy as most of the girls never had any contact with a boy before however they're eager to experiment (hmmmmmm). And so the wacky adventures of our hero start. In order to get use to the way of living on the island, Ikuto must go through a lot of challenges and every episode is filled with "WTF did I just watch" moments which never make the viewer bored.

Nagasarete Airantou consists of only 26 episodes though. I say only because this anime has such a good and strong plot that it could have been at least twice as long. This anime has a lot if innovative ideas and there are no loopholes in it. Everything's thoroughly explained as the story progresses, inculding the reason why the island is only populated by women (and why the hell there are pokemon living on it).

The art is very good and high quality imho. Whoever came up with the idea of Airantou is a genius. The island is beautiful, huge mountain in the middle with lush forests around it and then we have vast grasslands on the outskirts which go all the way around the island. It's as if you took Honshu and pulled it on itself, making it into a circle. Not sure why but I think that explanation sucks... anway, the scenery is breathtaking and the island's tropical weather makes it even better. My hats off to the studio who did a fantastic job.

The sound is very good although it's not anything special. Standard comedy tunes and there's some serious music too (usually for serious moments, though there aren't many of those in this anime). The music is perhaps the weakest aspect of Nagasarete Airantou, but who cares anyway? The story and art makes up for it tenfold!

The characters are amazing and they all have an interesting story to tell. Let me see, we have a sourcerer, a ninja, a carpenter, a psychotic genius (all of those are girls btw) we have a girl who's mother looks younger than her and... many many more! Phew, it's a crazy mix for sure and that's also what makes Airantou special. All the girls have depth and their lines are not limited to "Hi" and "goodbye" as in most Harem animes. Again, my hats off to the studio and the author for making the characters so entertaining.

All in all, Airantou is an island where crazy adventures never cease. Be it Ikuto being chased by a horde of curious girls to awesome ninja like fights between giant tigers and pandas. The series never ceases to amaze you, there's always some kind of a crazy twist waiting behind the corner. Also the ending itself is a one huge twist but at the same time it perfectly completes the anime. It's what I like to call "explanatory twist". Now, if you've read this far then that means you're either interested in watching this anime... or you just like my sarcastic way of describing things.

Whatever the reason, I strongly encourage you to take a look at this anime, shows like this should not be missed and Nagasarete Airantou is a true gem. It deserves a full score and it gets a full score from me.