Orenchi no Furo Jijou

Orenchi no Furo Jijou is a 4-minute-per-episode anime about a guy who finds a merman, and their completely heterosexual adventures that all take place in a bathtub.

Story: 5/10
As minimal as it gets. Each episode has some central problem or event and it's always something very light. Nothing special, but this setup is pretty normal for shorts. You can watch it all in under an hour!

Art: 7/10
Decent but never astounding, not too much to talk about. Although, they did a good job animating and drawing the merman's muscles, those stand out as quality parts of the show.

Sound: 6/10
There was background music? I hate to keep playing the nothing-special card, but this really applies to the sound. The OP sounds nice but feels completely out of place.

Characters: 8/10
Now we're talking! The main character looks like a yellow eyed messy hair edgelord, but is actually a pretty nice guy, just not very talkative. His merman buddy is far more outgoing and flamboyent, creating a classic comedy duo. The merman's also got some monsterboy buddies that show up in a few of the episodes, they're all diverse and enjoyable for the brief times they appear. The one character I dislike is the MC's sister. She fits every annoying little sister trope imaginable, has a gross onii-chan fetish, and just adds loli to a show that doesn't need loli at all. She's only around for 2 episodes, so it's tolerable.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Sometimes the show is funny. More often then not the attempts at humor fall flat or just don't seem to exist, but the show always ends up being absolutely adorable, and it's never a chore to get through episodes (partially because they're so short).

Overall: 7/10
Orenchi no Furo Jijou ends up being an absolute fluff-fest starring some extremely straight characters. It's not groundbreaking, but hey, there's nothing wrong with cute boys doing cute things together.
You can get through the show in less than an hour, so it's a pretty low-risk investment even if you're not the biggest fan.


Did I mention how heterosexual this show is? read more

(Not an in-depth review here) "Short and sweet." Sums this series up very well.

The story is bizarre with little backstory but since no story goes very deep, it is not an issue.
Each episode has a stand alone issue which Wakasa (Free loading Merman) and Tatsumi (Teen whose bathtub has been taken over) both overcome usually in a pretty adorable way.

I love the voice actors chosen, they are absolutely perfect for the characters, especially Maki, his voice made me giggle at times XD

The artwork is not super detailed but personally I think it is fantastic, it suits the light-hearted theme and the chibi forms of each character are adorable.

To me, this is short episodes done right, I cannot say I have extensive experience of shorts like this, but a few of the ones I did encounter cut corners with the artwork, some things had a lot of detail but the backgrounds were just dragging the whole thing down and then the story seemed rushed, but with this, nothing seemed rushed.

If you like light-hearted comedy and adorable characters, then I will be surprised if you do not enjoy it. I recommend giving it a try since the episodes are so short, no time wasted even if you find it is not for you.

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For what it is, Orefuro is pretty good. It's short, sweet, and to the point. Quite fitting that an anime of a 4 panel comic has 4 minute episodes.

Story: 5
Basically nonexistant. Each episode contains its own small plot. Due to the rather unnatural circumstances of a merman living in the bathtub, though, the episodes generally don't fall into boring, overused slice of life story tropes. However, the premise is almost overly simplistic, and rarely are the practicalities of the situation brought into question.

Art: 8
This is definitely a part that benefited from short episodes. The art is smooth and vibrant, often seamlessly flipping between its normal style, a more "bishoujo" sparkly style, and a simple chibi style. The way characters are shown adds a lot to the feel of a scene. There isn't much variation in backgrounds, as the majority of the show takes place in the bathroom. I really couldn't think of a way to score the art higher--it's not particularly outstanding, because it didn't try to be. It did what it needed to do, very effectively.

Sound: 7
While there were no particularly memorable themes, music was another large factor to the mood of the show. Of course, due to the length of the episodes, any kind of recurring musical themes would more likely become tiring rather than adding anything. All the songs were appropriately placed. ...except for the somewhat strange opening theme, which is a lot more intense than the show itself. Voice acting was also great. Every character was distinct in their tone and manner of speaking, with their voices fitting their characters quite well. Sound is similar to art in the fact that it does exactly what it needs to do.

Character: 8
Due to the brevity of the series and relatively simplistic situations, character depth isn't explored much except for one episode. Despite that, the characters are all very distinct and enjoyable. It was cute to see how each character had adopted some of the characteristics of the animal they were based off of. My one critique would have to be the protagonist's sister. Her attachment to her brother seemed a bit beyond sibling love. Nothing is explicitly stated though, so it may just be my cynicism reading into it too much.

Enjoyment: 9
Normally, I'm not a fan of slice of life animes. Orefuro is different in that it kept things fresh with its short episodes and simple yet cute stories. It's light, easy to watch, and a very good feel-good anime. I was skeptical at first, but after watching it, I was pleasantly surprised. My major issue is that there isn't more of it! It works quite well with shorter episodes, but I almost wonder if it would handle a 10 minute episode length. It would keep the brisk pace of shorter episodes, while also allowing for a little more depth of story. Either way, 13 episodes just didn't feel like enough.

The short episode lengths definitely make this an anime worth trying. Just ten minutes of your time means two whole episodes! read more

If you're looking for a short, light-hearted anime with jokes poking fun at hentai/BL - you've come to the right place.

Orefuro is a short 4-min per episode anime which features a boy and a merman who lives in his bathtub.

Story: 5/10
Story is very simple and most of it is just poke-fun at usual anime cliches.
There's not a lot of story at all to be honest, the time limit makes sure of that.

Art: 6/10
Not bad, but not amazing either. The art style for the opening is like-wise to a painting, which is amazing other than the fact that it is the most misleading opening to any anime, ever.
For a most part, art is consistent throughout the series.

Character: 9/10
This is where Orefuro shines, the characters (and the seiyuus that give them life), are amazing.
Each of the characters are quirky in their own way and their antics make you laugh just for the sake of laughing, and they join together to do the wackiest things.

Although to be honest, I loved the characters because knowing the seiyuus have Daiya/Free!/Boueibu history. The similarities/differences/parallels just make everything funny.

Enjoyment: 8/10
A LOT OF FUN. I love the jokes in this series, a lot of slice-of-life jokes fall flat but Orefuro didn't run flat for me at all. It gave me a good laugh!

Overall: 8/10
If you're looking for no-drama, no-stress, and a good laugh. (And if you're a sports anime fujoshi) - this is an anime for you.

It's a real good brether from a lot of heavier toned animes and well, I do highly recommend it. Especially if you're interested in the seiyuus of this work, they did a really wacky and fantastic job in Orefuro.
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