Onigiri

Out of the 5ish really short anime that I am watching this season, this one is at least pretty funny.

It has a few good moments throughout the fanservice scenes. The fanservice is a good or bad point. If u even started this you probably expected fanservice so whatever.

Although one thing to point out is there are only girl voice actors (except for the narrator), but there is this one guy and his dialogue is text on the screen. That might be my favorite part.

There is almost no story, but even the show knows that.

the sound and animation are both ok, nothing memorable

The characters ... were fine, but had a few exceptions like Jin (the only guy) and Gako

I enjoyed some episodes more than others, some I laughed out lout, others were boring. All of the girls are super cute so if you like cute girls you will like them.

In the end, if you wanna watch some funny little anime with cute girls this is pretty good so far.

I'm pretty hardcore about anime, especially ones based on video games. Because of this, I try to give just about every anime I find a chance, including this. I've never played the game, so perhaps I'm not being entirely fair with this review, but these are just my honest opinions with the anime which may or may not change over time.

First thing you need to know is that these episodes are only about 3-4 minutes long, so you can knock all of the episodes out in about an hour. May or may not be for the best in this case.

The art style and characters were ... actually pretty charming, though due to the shortness of each episode, they can't and don't use much time to flesh the character development out, instead just adding more characters we know even less about. In turn, we know very little about them and leave us constantly wondering "who are these characters and why should we care?" For all those pervs out there, they DO label the girl's measurements, so that's something, but don't expect much fanservice if you're here for that. You'll have to look elsewhere.

Ultimately, this is where things start to fall apart. Also a consequence of the episodes being so short, they always move from one plot point, almost rush it, then move on to the next. At the very least, they make up for it by being somewhat humorous, and the comedy can be pretty charming too.

All in all however, the lack of character development, plot points, and run time makes it seem like one thing to me: an advertisement. Essentially, it's just one big advertisement for the video game. At the very least, it does succeed in grabbing interest in the game, but the anime however I felt could've been better, especially since other anime adaptions of video games have proved to be more enjoyable while still grabbing interest for the game.

The ultimate question though is "Should you watch it?" Well, it's not terrible, it's at the very least decent. If you're a veteran of the Onigiri game or if you just love that genre, it would be worth your time, but if you're looking for something considered a masterpiece, this isn't what you're looking for.

An anime short being meta about it being an anime adaptation from an Online MMO?

Onigiri really follows a meta comedy with the main cast of Onigiri and changes genre alot at the same time.

The comedy being meta is taken as either repetitive or funny for the most part, the repetitiveness comes from the character gags but where it is funny is when the comedy takes focus on the typical MMO gameplay and then brings in a punchline and those episodes were the best part of the comedy.

Onigiri has a habit of changing genres from time to time, from typical romance, idols, tragic romance turned ... shounen and heck MECHA!!!, the comedy with all these genre-changing actually does work albeit the comedy incorporates meta-gamplay.

The characters however are stereotypical with just the one trait/running gag that they have. Besides the very bland character traits, if there was any characters LA liked was Shizuka Gozen voiced by Aina Suzuki, ONLY because she had the most screentime overall along with Ibaraki-douji voiced by Suzuko Mimori because of her distinct character design, on the other hand, Kijimuna voiced by Nozomi Kishita was just plain annoying.

The animation done by Pierrot Plus, well LA kinda thought the animation was decent at best, from the bright character designs blending well rampantly chaotic battles to the 8bit animation style at times to some of the more quirkier moments, the animation is decent.

LA was hoping that Onigiri would have been a full-fledge 23 minute anime instead of being an anime short as LA heard the MMO has a storyline over gameplay, however for what it Onigiri is as an anime short for what it is as a comedy anime short trying to advertise the MMO to us, it kinda did it's job.

Rate a 5
English Dubbed

Story
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, that anime came to mind while watching this show. Mostly because of its use of comedy in odd fashions with the additional feature of narrator input on current character and time functions. For those that haven't seen that anime that kind of narrator is quite funny. For not only does one see a scripted play to some regard but the idea of narrative interaction kind of feels like the play has been change midway. Making what seems predictable to slightly unpredictable. I am not saying that for example a bungee trip will magically turn into a man hunt but may ... turn into a scuba diving adventure. In other words not a radical change but a minor one.

Given how short each episode was and how each episode presented itself made me think that this wasn't an anime but more of a series of specials. For while the plot is somewhat lined up it is constantly focused on the wow factor. I know what you may be thinking how can something that is constantly shocking be not a show? Well, let me put it to you this way. Spinach if seasoned and boiled can be an enjoyable snack. Although, faced with the alternative choice of icecream that is know for its 'sweet' taste it is clear which one will be the most popular. However, while one is more popular having anything in too high of portions can be sickening. Having something that shows a good balance of the wow factors and calming moments makes for a good show. In addition, not only is this more of a special but the question you may have is what type of special?

Many types of specials exist... such as extra plot question based, alternative perspectives but this is an ecchi special. I am not saying panty shots make up a majority of the show but plays off the factor that is cuteness. So, don't be expecting clothing to be littering the ground but more like glitter and makeup. I am not saying that is bad. Personally to an extent i find ecchi more sexual arousing but the cuteness factor portrayed is like a slow exchange of sultry words. It is a little spicy but still rewarding. And before one can even bring up the counter argument of the ecchi like nature of the final episode if you really pay attention to what is shown during those moments and what else lies in that episode you will see which element portrays the heaviest.

Art
Like i stated in the plot the art was beautifully drawn.

Character
This was the only element that frustrated me. To name a few examples: main male character, some if not most minor characters. All of which was portrayed in a half a**ed function. For the dialogue wasn't vocal like the rest and either communicated in bizarre sound effects or written words. Sure, that made the anime kind of unique but come on... it ruins the show.

Not big stuff, each episode is about 4 minutes long with about 1 minute being the opening, but I did laugh at some points.

-The story is almost non-existent, there's the universe (based on the game, which I enjoy a lot may I say), and not much more than that. One thing that I didn't like about it was the lack of direction, because it seems like the story could go somewhere, but they shoot it to random places, so you feel lost and just "what is happening and why?". Other bad thing is that is TOO rushed, but I won't judge that since it's an ... 3 minutes long anime.

-Characters have their charm, but don't develop or show much personality in the anime, so here they're kinda forgettable. Though they're pretty cool in the game, the anime doesn't explore even a bit of them. Thing that I hate is that the male protagonists of the game were basically cut, only appearing as background characters used for a joke.

-Art was fine, but sometimes it felt like it was "lacking" something, I think they could do something better, specially 'cause there's not much episode time to animate.

-Sound had nothing to complain, but nothing to praise as well. I liked the narrator though, that deserve some mention. Male characters doesn't have voice, that's kinda bad but at least they joked about this.

-As of enjoyment, there was time I just wanted the episode to be over, but there is some entertainment as well, such as some comedy parts and even that Gargoyle part (I liked that, but I hated how that part ended).

Overall is not a BAD anime, but is a skipable one. Since it's so short, if you want watch something and have some laughs and kill some time, or maybe if you like the game that it's based on, that's a good choice to try. (Specially if you like the game, since you know the characters and the universe)