Onipan!

Onipan! is a show about 3 oni girls joining the human world to improve the general opinion of how onis are viewed. The main gimmick of the show is that when they need help, their sidekick, Kuma, will give them the Oni tiger-striped pantsu (hence the name OniPan!) and they will transform magical girl style into the outfit needed.

If 60 episodes seems too daunting to pick up, allow me to explain that each "episode" is very short. Each episode aired at different time over a week and were compiled into a full 12-13 minute episode later. With 5 mini-episode in each full episode, that makes ... the show clock in at only a little over 2 hours.

Another thing to make mention of, this show is a very Japan-styled comedic show. You need to understand the basics of what oni are in Japanese folklore, like the story of Momotaro. This show also does a lot of references to other media which include: Dragon Quest, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Food Wars, The Phantom Menace(?), Sailor Moon, and other things I may have missed. The comedy will be a hit or miss depending on whether you can enjoy the subtlety of the humor and the fact that the show doesn't take itself seriously.

My honest opinion is just let your brain relax and enjoy the goofy antics and 4th wall breaks. This show does a really good job of what it set out to do and the shorter episodes help keep the simple plots from going on too long.
All in all, it gets an 8. It's not a masterpiece, but it's good enough to binge in an afternoon and relax on the couch watching.

I can't believe it's not Doga Kobo! (TM)

I've always been a fan of director Ohta and his crew. They make some of the best comedies out there from Mitsudomoe to the legendary Sabagebu. But the team is most well known for their work on Doga Kobo's comedies such as Yuru Yuri and Uzamaid. While recently we haven't seen much output from them apart from the dreadful Abilities Average show, imagine my surprise when they're doing a kids show (like an actual kids show with the time shown on the top left and such) with stunt cast idols as the MCs. So how does this fare ... compared to the team's other works?

First off, the MCs don't sound particularly well. As it usually goes for characters not voiced by regular seiyuu, everyone sounds off. This is especially jarring since they are surrounded by a plethora of professional seiyuu, making their amateur performances all the more glaring and noticeable. But, I have to admit, after several episodes of being with them, you get used to them and actually start to like them well enough. Yellow's is still off after all is said and done though.

Secondly, since this is a kids show, a lot of the raunchy humor or more crude stuff has been totally sand down. What you get is a very sanitized Ohta show. This does have the side effect of erasing some of the humor, but good direction and writing still sees the show having some good laughs here and there. Plus its 12 minute run time ensures nothing gets dragged on for too long.

Even animation-wise this show is more reminiscent of Doga Kobo's comedies than Wit Studio. Very bright vivid colors (but not too bright) and relatively simple, but appropriate and pleasant to look at. Seems to be a recurring theme this season, shows by different studios resembling shows from other studios. And the EDs are just amazing, quite possibly some of my favorites this whole season.

All in all, the show is pretty funny for the most part and does not become too repetitive with its jokes. Some segments do feel like its trying too hard to be funny to kids, and the show often references material kids won't even know, but it's still a very enjoyable show throughout, even if it isn't as strong of Ohta's previous works.

7/10