Futoku no Guild

Despite having a good reputation as one of the most seasoned guards in the local guild of Mebuki, Kikuru Madan believes he has been wasting his youth and hopes to spend the rest of it like any other person. However, his conscience prevents him from retiring at present, as he worries about the guild's future without him.

Coincidentally—as if to help him find his successor—the guild's receptionist, Enome, assigns Kikuru four fresh recruits: the energetic beastwoman Hitamu "Hitamuki" Kyan, the prodigy Maidena Ange, the laid-back Toxico Dannar, and the stalwart Hanabata Nohkins. Although each of them possesses significant talents, they also display characteristics that detract from their potential—including Hitamu's extreme clumsiness and Hanabata's unintentional perverseness.

As if there was not enough to deal with, the monsters outside Mebuki's walls start exhibiting odd behavior by targeting women salaciously, causing the party endless problems in more ways than one. Nevertheless, Kikuru is committed to retiring early; to achieve his goal, the guidance he gives the trainees will be absolutely essential.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Dannar, Toxico Main

Taichi, You Japanese

Kyan, Hitamu Main

Isobe, Karin Japanese

Ange, Maidena Main

Shibuya, Ayano Japanese

Madan, Kikuru Main

Fukuhara, Katsumi Japanese

Nohkins, Hanabata Main

Kamakura, Yuna Japanese

Enome Supporting

Ookubo, Rumi Japanese

Rune, Noma Supporting

Shirasu, Saho Japanese

Esyne Supporting

Shouji, Yuyu Japanese

Care, Resumisu Supporting

Yuuki, Kozue Japanese

Woodman, Lani Supporting

Ono, Tomohiro Japanese

Motonaga, Satoshi Producer

Yoshie, Terushige Producer

Isogai, Noritomo Producer

Komatsu, Shouta Producer

Reviews

Jul 5, 2023

ExemplarCayman

Recommended

Well-written

“I've always thought about this, but she's way too sensitive! ...I've never been this close to her before. She smells so damn nice! She feels so soft too! And what thick thighs she has. It smells of flowers, fruits, and sun from her which is different from soap... A calming scent and warmth, as if I were surrounded by nature... Wait, that's not it! I'm surrounded by natural flesh, not nature itself! This is bad! I'm starting to feel funny! Is this her mana's doing too?!”
- the protagonist’s inner monologue during the classic To LOVE-Ru gag of a girl tripping and landing with her crotch ... onto his face.

Futoku no Guild is that one scene from Konosuba where Aqua and Megumin get molested by giant frogs stretched out into an entire series. What’s amazing is that it actually works, thanks to absolutely top-notch writing.

First, let's get the elephant out of the room and into an ivory processing factory. This show is very lewd. Being lewd, however, is not the same as being vulgar (here’s a quick guide on how to tell that two words mean different things - they’re two different fucking words). A lewd show still can be classy and/or wholesome, while vulgarity is the opposite of those things. See the epigraph, this is about as classy as you can be in response to a faceful of vagina. In contrast, something like a panty shot is comparatively less lewd, yet much more vulgar because of the non-consensual peeping aspect. And while one’s personal tolerance for how lewd a show can be without turning vulgar is entirely subjective, the actual level of a show’s vulgarity is entirely objective, it can be objectively quantified by comparison with other shows. Redo of Healer, Futoku no Guild, and Bakemonogatari are three examples of lewd anime, and if asked to sort them by their vulgarity, you'd need to have some sort of brain damage to give an answer that wasn’t Redo of Healer - the most vulgar, Bakemonogatari - the least, and Futoku no Guild - in-between. Furthermore, lewdness and vulgarity aren’t even directly connected, it’s a matter of how you handle the subject matter. From recent examples, Uzaki-chan and My Dress-Up Darling are two shows that are much less superficially lewd than Futoku no Guild, yet much more vulgar because of how they handle their lewdness - as a source of fap bait, they’re pretentious censored hentai. Futoku no Guild is the polar opposite, it’s very lewd on the surface but uses that lewdness as a source of comedy, which naturally leads to a higher degree of writing quality and integrity, as making your audience laugh is a much more intellectually demanding task than making your audience masturbate. So, here’s what makes Futoku no Guild’s writing highly intelligent:

The protagonist.
Given how lewd the show is, it would’ve been so easy to make the protagonist a faceless cumbrain so that the coomer audience could self-insert into him (like Highschool DxD’s protagonist). Kikuru is so much better than that. He’s the straightest man that ever straighted (in the tsukkomi sense, not in the not-gay sense). He’s entirely unamused by all the lewd bullshit happening around him, and his unexpectedly classy and sensible responses are a major part of the show’s comedy. He is also a refreshing sight as far as fantasy anime protagonists are concerned, being a highly competent professional that relies on his wits, training, and experience. Kikuru shares more in common with Goblin Slayer than with your average Kirito clone. This matters because the series follows Konosuba’s formula of being a light-hearted sitcom most of the time, but switching into action hype mode for major boss battles - and the action scenes here are better than in the majority of “serious” action titles. We even get genuine character growth with occasional emotional moments on top of everything else.

The girls.
Futoku no Guild unambiguously belongs to the “Konosuba’s bandwagon” genre like pretty much every single isekai/fantasy comedy made in the last seven or so years. Seriously, try to name three titles of this kind that do not include a ditzy Aqua-like goddess. Again, Futoku no Guild is far above just copying Konosuba, it builds something of its own on top of the existing foundation. For example, the ensemble includes two “Megumins” (haughty nerd mage) and two “Darknesses” (bubbly warrior bimbo), yet each of them has a distinct and well-developed personality. Since the principal cast is so big and varied, the show can allow itself to swap the characters in and out, focusing on just a few at a time, exploring their unique chemistry and the unique sort of situational comedy their interactions bring.

The worldbuilding.
There is a reason why the world of Konosuba is colloquially referred to as Fantasy Australia, but 90% of isekai titles get bashed for being generic. Good worldbuilding is absolutely crucial for a show of this genre to feel fresh. When the protagonist enters the adventurers’ guild and you see the receptionist behind a desktop PC, while a pair of chipmunks in overalls are nonchalantly vacuuming the floor, you know this isn’t your average isekai.

The story.
The main premise of the series is that the local JRPG monsters that the characters are supposed to be slaying are suddenly focused on molesting female adventurers instead of killing them. And the story acknowledges that this is, in fact, what is happening. The MC questions why the monsters are behaving in such a bizarre way and tasks himself with investigating it. He also wants to quit his job but feels obliged to train his replacements - also a goal that he meaningfully works to achieve over the course of the series. Unlike many similar ecchi shows (such as Ishuzoku Reviewers), this one has an actual story and a sense of progression, which saves it from getting stale after a couple of episodes.

The comedy.
Genuinely clever and imaginative, not limited to just “haha, boobs,” and absolutely nailing the comedic timing. I can’t repeat this enough, it’s both in the style of Konosuba, and, more importantly, on almost the same level of wit.

The ecchi.
Just to make it clear, you absolutely can turn your brains off and watch this series just for the THICC art. The THICC here is beautifully drawn and the ecchi scenes are hot. The show is a ton of pure fun.

9/10 for a high-quality erotic comedy.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 10, 2023

i-like-this

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Well-written

Immoral.

Look, Immoral Guild is trash. It’s another almost hentai that fell off a back of a transportation truck from studio Poro, urinated on by a homeless person and later picked up off the street by an employee of studio TNK… but to be honest, I’ve poisoned my brain with some of the worst anime imaginable, and compared to shit like Redo of Healer, Eiken and Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World, it contains no rape, grooming or main protagonist’s buying and owning slaves which by default makes this anime look remarkable in comparison. That’s how low of a bar we’re dealing with here, just ... to be clear.

Whilst it’s true there is no rape or sexual assault by revenge healers or isekai slave owners, there is… err… molestation by rpg monsters… yeah, that’s a new one. For you see the big joke Immoral Guild weaves into nearly every episode is that the RPG adventure party made up of four girls that the main protagonist Kikuru has to train so he can retire as a town guard, are all completely useless, and almost all quests will end with them being molested by a monster to Kikuru’s dismay, and the audiences (supposed) pleasure, especially if not always, Hitamu, the adorable dog girl with a heart of gold, a smile like a sun and a tank top full of anime titty. If you’ve ever watched Konosuba and thought to yourself “I wish Aquas and Megumi’s clothes would melt off when the big frog eats them and then starts licking their nipples with its tongue.”, then this is your alternative… Also, seek help.

Despite the sometimes err… questionable ways the show tries to expose breasts for our pleasure, the Konosuba comparison isn’t completely too far off. Immoral Guild has a quirky cast of loud-mouthed, big breaste- big-hearted, over(and under)-the-top characters who make excellent foils to Kikuru’s straight-man personality. This show is surprisingly funny at times with surprisingly excellent voice acting and comedic timing. It leverages its lewd moments and integrates them into like, actual jokes, something many ecchi anime don’t execute well. Toxico and Kikuru have some excellent back and forth, and the misunderstandings between Kikuru, the hot blonde mom guild receptionist Enome, and her daughter Esyne are legitimately funny. You can pair up most of the cast with each other and they’ll create some comedy gold until they get molested by slimes and tentacle crows (yes, I’m not kidding).

The animation isn’t too bad either. Though it’s a more cartoony style than TNK’s last work of fart Redo of Healer, it moves a lot better than that show and has some genuinely good action scenes when it’s not displaying another type of action which would probably get you arrested.

Look, it’s not a good show, but fuck it, I like it. Granted the world-building makes no sense, the main cast are all tweaked rip-offs of the cast from Konosuba and some of the scenes meant for titillation range from awkward to just plain what the fuck(?), but sometimes you’ve just got to accept that you’ve found yourself a new anime guilty pleasure and tell no one about it. Especially your parents. They’ll tell you they still love you, but they’ll be disappointed deep down.

6/10 It’s Okay *Thumbs Up*

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 21, 2022

TheAsterNaut

Not Recommended

For an ecchi anime to be good, the "plot" needs to be supplemented by either an interesting story or some comedy. The problem with Futoku No Guild is that there is no real story to it and it's barely funny at it's best.
The biggest issue that comes with this show is that the one main gag is "How did you mess up this bad?/How did you end up in this situation?" and it might work the first time, but after trying to repeat the same joke almost every episode, that just makes it the norm; and therefore it isn't funny. And that isn't going into ... the beasts' reactions and how unappealing those scenes are.
The only actual good scenes in the show is the group NOT hunting monsters and either training or doing slice-of-life things. These tend to be slightly more humorous, but are still rather generic. The only parts that really made me chuckle was the parts with the mom and daughter combo, which you see the least in the show, sadly.
Overall, the anime is sometimes off-putting and sometimes passable as a comedy. 2/10; I can't think of anyone I would recommend this to.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Futoku no Guild Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Oct 19, 2022	70 replies	by Kyle_Whiteman »» 12 hours ago
	Poll: Futoku no Guild Episode 11 Discussion KANLen09 - Dec 14, 2022	33 replies	by Hitamu-kyan »» Nov 6, 2:06 AM
	season 2 leak! ryoko6 - May 5	18 replies	by Hitamu-kyan »» Nov 2, 3:59 AM
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	Poll: Futoku no Guild Episode 10 Discussion KANLen09 - Dec 7, 2022	28 replies	by cableguyjay »» Jun 19, 6:09 PM