Ojou to Banken-kun

This show finally made me realize something, I am no longer the target audience for seishun romances.

I hate the miscommunication, I hate the blatant and stupid misunderstandings, I get so bored whenever the two shallow main leads stare at eachother for a ridiculously long time while a slow piano piece plays in the background and I cannot for the life of me stand what massive dumbasses all the side characters are.

So I guess it's good that this series finally made me admit to that, but besides that it has little no other positives.

I was really hyped to finally get another romance that deals with age ... gaps, awaiting the kind of drama that could occur from the inherent immoral aspect, but NAAAAAAAAAAAH of course it doesn't bother dealing with anything ACTUALLY interesting and instead for the most part it is just a basic awkward school romance with very few instances of Isaku thinking "Hm kinda weird that I wanna fuck my guardian figure" which just as quickly gets brushed off around the same time as you are finishing reading this.

Isaku is so boring, she's #adorkable and a goodie two shoes with dead parents, if you've ever read or seen any shoujo media you'll have seen this type of character done better...Or maybe done worse, a lot of characters with this personality tend to be annoying in general but hey that's just muh opinyot.

This makes Keiya's obsession with her rather hard to understand as Isaku has little to nothing that makes her stand out, the only logical explanation is that he is a legitimate lolicon #based and #uoh pilled.

Overall it's just not really made for me sadly, it's very clearly aimed at teens or even preteens who don't really have much romantic experiences themselves and just want to imagine what it would be like to have a handsome older man be obsessed with them.

I can't really get into the cheesiness, so unless you are the target audience I wouldn't reccomend.

I think the anime would even be decent if it didn't constantly make us think that a 26 year old man likes a 14/15 year old teenager and emphasized so strongly the fact that he sees her as a woman,I don't like that keiya is his only figure paternal because is disgusting to think about a non-paternal love relationship between father and daughter, if you like this incest vibe I think it's the right anime for you, if not, I think it will make you a little sick.

I liked the characters and really the personalities of the characters are even okay, otherwise the animation ... is AWFUL and I think it gets lower with each chapter.

I had to stop watching the anime because the animation was so horrible that my 6-year-old cousin draws better than that. The manga is not like that; I had to check because it really scared me that the work was done so poorly.

Grooming and Pedophilia! I thought Japan was trying to get rid of this shit but we get an anime about this in 2023? Are they just turning every garbage manga into an anime? Girl in her first year of High School with her 26 year old guardian following her around cause he's fallen in love with her? Also the people that say it's not grooming probably don't understand what grooming is. He raised her to be his ideal woman after her parents died in a car accident (emotional vulnerability go!) and when she meets him he tell her now he'll be her Dad, Mom and ... Brother. I'm not gonna lie I hope this anime gets canceled cause it never should have been made.

Usually I avoid writing negative reviews because I feel like if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all. Exceptions are either 1.) If I’m interested in the fandom/concept enough 2.) to give constructive criticism and help indecisive anime fans to discern if it’s for them or not. This is none of these cases but if it would most likely be the latter. Also I kind of feel the need to justify why I dropped this anime and why I think it’s so bad that it’s not simply worth not watching, it’s appalling.

Story 0.5/10
First of all I want to ... emphasize that I’m not generally against a huge age-gap in a work of fiction if it’s portrayed in the right manner, without se*ualazing it and if it maybe even approaches the conflict in the right way. In fact, I’ve watched, read and even written content containing age-gap in the past and while it is a very sensitive and even problematic issue if it’s done in a dignified way and presented to the audience as what it is; fiction - I don’t mind. What I do mind, however, is bad writing and this story isn’t even like it was written by a 13 years-old, because they could do better.

But let me start with the story… Wait… Because there is not really a story? Just a bunch of either bland or horrible characters, interacting with each other, there’s yakuza-stuff going on but not really (even though the yakuza don’t know how to yakuza – now I try to imagine how yakuza would rate this. Or maybe they would poke fun at it). And it’s a love story in a school setting but in the most boring way possible while at the same time nothing makes sense and every character acts in the worst possible way and how nobody would act in real life (or well written fiction). How to tick off so many boxes in what not to do when writing a romance story is beyond me. Yes, the “romance” aspect... Like I said, the age-gap isn’t the worst. Not even the fact that the male main character practically raised the MC. That’s where it gets problematic because he knew her since she was a little child and was like her brother, father figure (basically raising her) and all of a sudden it’s romance (while at the same time he’s still the mentioned above in a way, it’s creepy). Sure, because that’s a good idea, message and beautiful love story every girl dreams of. I’m not sensitive but even to me he gives predator vibes. This is not okay! Parents sometimes even warn their kids about people like that (and to even be careful around relatives or close family friends). But there’s more. Because Keiya is not just creepy but he has every red flag you could ever look for in a man (and hopefully run away upon seeing them). Look up “red flags” in a dictionary and there will be a picture of his face. You’ll also find him under the category “toxic love interest”.

Let me get back to the yakuza theme. I have not the slightest idea what yakuza do or how they act. Neither has the writer of this work which is clear even to me. It just serves as a… not even setting or background but excuse for some things to happen. If I think of yakuza without any knowledge I don’t think of grown up men acting so obviously suspicious, not being able to handle things more discreetly. not covering their traces or even strategically plan an ambush. I’d think of intelligent people doing everything within their power not to draw attention to themselves while at the same time maintaining their status and business. I’m well aware it’s not the main focus of this anime but I’m mentioning this because I once started to write a romance book where the male main character was a high ranking member of the mafia. And let’s just say he wouldn’t run around with a neon-sign saying he needs to be arrested ASAP (or taken to therapy). They could have at least tried to make it seem like they were competent. So the lack of research that must have been put into this was basically shorter than the first sentence of my review.

All the events happening within the anime are easily forgettable and not investing at all. For a long time nothing really happens, then something happens and then there is nothing again because it’s resolved somehow. So even without all the other issues aside it’s not very memorable. Rather the story seems pointless and without any other purpose than this toxic relationship which isn’t worth it either. No character growth, not even getting to know them better – they only exist for one purpose and it’s as pointless…

Characters -100/10
In the beginning I really liked Isaku. She seemed sweet, kind and genuine – wanting to experience High School life like a normal girl. Her design was nice too and not your common MC especially considering her background. But quickly all her potential went down the drain. Although I don’t want to be too hard on her since she’s the victim of this scenario, story and even writing. As for falling for Keiya… He was the first male (outside her relatives) she got close to, during a time her parents died and she suddenly had to live with her grandfather who’s the head of a criminal organization. So of course she was vulnerable and this dragged until her teenage years. One could even argue she tried to get away from it and even experience a normal life but thanks to Keiya’s possessiveness that didn’t work out. But I mainly dislike her for what happened in episode 9 or rather her reaction to it. I want to spare you the horrible details but I feel it is in insult to anyone who went through something similar and there’s absolutely NO WAY, not even if she was a yakuza herself, she would react in that way and focus on something so trivial it made me feel bad for every woman who watches this and is sensitive to this topic. I’m not easily triggered by something like this if it’s approached in the right manner but it isn’t even possible to overlook. And other characters react like it’s good and brave she reacted like that. Very unrealistic and insulting representation. If a fictional work gets into territories like this it should handle it with care. That didn’t happen here. Instead it was twisted for a “romance aspect”. I’m sorry but that’s not romantic it’s simply disgusting!

What should I say about Keiya? He’s a child in the body of a grown man. Which makes me wonder if that could be used for his legal defense. He doesn’t act his age and is so oblivious to the most common human behavior it made me wonder how he became a high ranking yakuza to begin with. Especially since he was in charge of taking care of Isaku. Actually, I don’t really want to talk about him since it would be easier to tell you what is nice about him because he hasn’t even one redeeming quality. There’s also no shift when it comes to his feelings for Isaku… He might be denying it but it’s not the same as seeing a person in a certain way until you don’t. Because while he is unaware of his own feelings (kind of?) there’s also no development from him being her father figure to suddenly seeing her in a romantic way or as “his woman” - Ewwwww! For Isaku it makes more sense since she grew up sheltered, with him being the only male psychological parent she had and of course girls have crushes on older men sometimes (that’s perfectly normal, especially during puberty). But to him nothing changed. Not even the fact that he’s her guardian. And that makes it even more troublesome. If there was some (inner)-conflict about this, some given moment when it shifted maybe it would have been slightly better to take in and accept. But no. Immediately it’s this romanticized possessive behavior that’s nothing but repulsive.

The supporting characters are mainly one-dimensional and are only there to fill spaces so this world doesn’t look so empty (to be honest, even Isaku’s grandfather seems to be like this). They don’t have anything that drives and moves them. They are just there. Simply to help the two main characters get together… No, not even that. They just exist so that this world doesn’t seem like an empty universe only written for Isaku and Keiya. Wait… There’s another character Mikio… who is bored and because of that does horrible stuff or attempts to. To be fair… He is born into the yakuza as well so he doesn’t have a moral compass but then they didn’t even use that as an “excuse” but only the fact he’s so bored he doesn’t even know if he’s alive or not (makes me wonder if the writer was bored as well writing/drawing this). He was there to bring in some action but just left this awful taste. Nothing justified his actions but then he wants to act as a matchmaker all of a sudden? I have a lot of questions to the person who thought of this…

Animation 1/10
In the beginning the animation seemed fine. Actually the teaser trailer even made me want to give it a try. Maybe the studio put most of their budget into the teaser because with every episode it gets worse. Sometimes the faces seem so misplaced its worse than a video game glitch. There are many other animation issues but I already wrote enough so let me just say it doesn’t hold up to the expectations.

Enjoyment/Overall 0/10
I’m really wondering why I stayed so long for this anime because I dislike hate-watching shows for the sake of making fun of it. Guess I simply wanted to see what low point they would reach and let me tell you… It’s so deep below the earth if you dig any further you’ll come out at the other side of the globe. There’s no story, the characters are horrible, the writing is insanely bad and worst of all: the message is terrible too. I really enjoy watching romance animes and I’m obsessed with cliches if they are done right. I’ve watched anime with toxic relationships but there was also something redeeming either the characters or the story or simply because it’s a guilty pleasure. This is just “guilty” for me because the pleasure was entirely missing. Horrible writing, pacing, transitions, animation but you can just tell there weren’t any emotions involved creating this – neither from the writer, nor from the studio that adapted it. Simply some half-baked fantasies. There might be some people who still enjoy it regardless… I couldn’t say I understand but to each their own. What I really don’t get or can even grasp is how someone could write this. Even with this kind of relationship the two protagonists had in the past it could have worked out if written properly. I’m saying this because there’s an example of a work of fiction that did it right. It’s an otome game called “Radiant Tale” where one of the (later) love interests also knows MC since she’s a child, there’s a huge age-gap but it still works out in the end because it’s written in a way it makes it less creepy and even tackles the problem coming along with this trope (if you don’t believe me I’d recommend playing it). I don’t mind writers challenging themselves if they could pull off something like this because I’m like that too. Unfortunately the only reason I could give this horrible anime a 10/10 is if it was for the worst anime of all time. I’m even considering removing it from my watch list entirely because I don’t even want it on my “dropped”-list. So no, I definitely would NEVER recommend this anime to anyone and I hope my review was helpful (although you might be thinking I had too much to say. I apologize. Bad writing always makes me want to express my POV as a writer). And I highly doubt this is getting any better so I’m out here…

A Girl & Her Guard Dog - a case of deja vu from an author who struggles to stand out amongst many similar contemporaries, such that it forces his/her hand to create a derivative that, ironically, becomes so derided from its small community. And don't get me started on the appalling production values just yet.

Meet a mangaka who goes by the pseudonym name Hatsuharu. The context in which the author's works since 2013 have been growing from oneshots to small manga series serving the Shoujo market in the romance genre. But as you know, the romance genre is one of the most popular yet oversaturated ... genres to stand out from, much less the works that only cater to the Shoujo market, which have been far and few in between. And the author, having suffered under a rut of creating short stories, 2016 would be the year that he/she come out with a manga series titled "Mainichi Kiss shite Ii desu ka?" a.k.a "Can I Kiss You Every Day?" That manga exploring childhood friends who force themselves upon one another in a rather pushy relationship would serve as the antithesis to grow into the author's latest manga that has been consistently firing shots of unpleasantry: 2018's Ojou to Banken-kun, which, for better or for worse, is twice the force and quadruple the frustrations, thinking that forced relationships will make for a rather spicy story. If that was the intent of the author, he/she succeeded, but the story itself is quite the dumpster fire of a garbage mess that it is.

Do you remember age-gap relationships, like, say, Summer 2022's Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari a.k.a The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting? That was a show that had a Yakuza family as the setting, between a normal Yakuza right-hand man and the boss's precious child daughter as a means to teach him how to live life the right way (that's not child grooming, by the way). In the context of Ojou no Banken-kun, take that premise and push the age button into high school territory, while incorporating the things that would rile up the Shoujo market: a Yakuza Ikemen with the normal boss's daughter, who just wants to be a typical commoner girl. That's the story of Isaku Senagaki, having been taken care of by her gangster grandfather when her parents died in an accident and, even worse, being shunned by the people around her for being the daughter of a Yakuza boss. Fast forward to high school, and the 15-year-old wants to be free of her Yakuza familial constraints, to live a normal life and bond natural love...except that would have been the case, if not for the Senagakis' young leading subordinate: 26-year-old Keiya Utou, who acts as her overprotective guardian, who sneaks by the way to infiltrate her school to look after her. Talk about forceful melodrama.

Initially, I wanted to cheer on Isaku because she has been pretty shielded for much of her life as the daughter of a Yakuza corporation, barring which her high school life was to be the result of going back to life as per normal, to befriend her classmates, have fun, and find the love of her life outside of the heavy Yazuka doors, even though she doesn't have any friends and is bad at socializing with her serious but shy personality. But Keiya, as the Ikemen guardian, if this kind of Otome Game function (not the Isekai video game kind, but like pure mobage dating games) had existed, say before the turn of the 2020s, it would've garnered the same attention, though not as much of a critical AniManga community like now, especially when the author has developed crude ideas of the relationship, from cheating to pure rape, because Yazuka can do anything within their powers to bend people to their will, women included. Such is the case with Keiya's other Yazuka family rival, Mikio Tanuki, who acts literally like a cunning tanuki a.k.a raccoon, targeting Isaku by playing the bad guy in the rather unkempt relationship between a Yakuza associate and his direct boss's daughter, whom Isaku slowly warms up to but still controls due to Keiya not understanding the fine details of what it means to be in a relationship. It takes two hands to clap, and this is a relationship that will take MORE than two hands to do the same.

Of course, you do not need to tell me the series' Achilles heel, or, should I say, Achilles' HELL. Project No. 9 is a studio that has recently gotten a lot of attention due to its most recent success: this Winter's Otonari no Tenshi-sama a.k.a The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. But in the process of trying to capitalize on said reputation, the studio has gone and done the near-impossible: produce 3 shows in a season, which is relatively unheard of, the last of which was Liden Films attempting this with Saiyuki Reload: Zeroin, Tribe Nine, and Ryman's Club way back in Winter 2022. Most studios are always limited to a maximum of 2 shows per season, simply due to the fact that production circumstances could break down easily in this day and age, and while I feel that Liden Films is the exception to the rule, Project No. 9 is not the case here. This show, Hikikomari Kyūketsuki no Monmon a.k.a The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess (which is clearly the studio's best effort this season), and Buta no Liver wa Kanetsu Shiro a.k.a Butareba: The Story of a Man Who Turned into a Pig, suffered from production issues. The sum of the worst production values belongs to this show, as you can tell from the facial figures to the animation, which is objectively worse than subpar garbage. It's so unpleasant to watch because it just looks like ass.

Out of all the complaints I have for this show, the music is the only forgivable outlier to this contraption. Honestly, both Masayoshi Ooishi and Isaku's VA Akari Kitou's OP and ED songs are just TOO good for what the show is worth, and I quite like both songs. If only the same could be said about the rest of the anime...

Objectively, this is undoubtedly one of the worst shows this season; you can throw it into a garbage bin and it doesn't even mind it. From appalling production values to a mangaka's persistence who really wants to push the envelope (and I have no reason to criticize him/her since it's their own work), Ojou to Banken-kun is no mere Shoujo Ikemen romance show; it's just a glorified sum of fantastical ideas made into fiction that does not represent the genre for what it is, even if it does go into uncomfortable nether areas that are boldly addressed.

Just watch some other romance show and wash your eyes off this "Killing Me Softly" gangster-buckling roast fest.

Ojou to Banken-Kun is one of the most disappointing anime I’ve seen in a long time. Not because of its “problematic” subject matter, but because of its execution and horrendous production quality. What I initially listed as one of my top 10 most anticipated shows of the season, ended up as one of the worst. What went wrong?

I’ll start by saying I have zero issue with the controversial subject matter of this story. I’m able to separate fiction from reality and enjoy stories for why they are, entertainment. In fact, I love a good taboo love story. The issue with Ojou to Banken-Kun is ... that it has that forbidden love story, and never really goes full throttle with it. The consequences of the inappropriate relationship between Isaku and Keiya never really get explored. If you have someone that basically helped raise you from the time you were a little kid until high school, and then makes romantic advances on you, you’d expect family, friends, literally anyone in your life that cares about you to try and intervene and drama would ensue. There’s none of that in here, and because Keiya’s whole gimmick is attending school with Isaku pretending to be a high schooler, her friends don’t know about this either.

I think the author dropped the ball on creating stakes and tension in the story. Instead, you basically have a generic romcom set up where nothing happens for the vast majority of the story. Now, that’s not to say that slice of life romances are bad, but that’s not what I’m in this one for. I wanted something spicy and exciting. Something like Domekano, after the rain, Fruits Basket Prelude, Violet Evergarden etc. A relationship that you wouldn’t support IRL, but in the context of escapist fantasy is fun to consume. I mean the guy’s in the yakuza for crying out loud! So many directions you could take this story in. Sadly, they didn’t.

That’s not the worst part though. While I realised around episode 4-5 that things were kind of mediocre at best in this one, I was able to still enjoy it because it is shoujo, there are cute moments, Isaku is adorable, etc. But there’s a character introduced towards the end of the story that’s involved in a sexual assault, and it’s just completely brushed off. No repercussions or consequences. In fact, the situation is basically made into a joke. In fact, this isn’t the only near SA in the show. There’s one other one that’s also basically turned into a meme, no serious consequences for it. I was extremely shocked to see a Shoujo mangaka and woman depict it this way. These two really were negative marks on the show’s record and it was hard to take anything seriously after that.

Perhaps the most egregious thing though is the production quality of the show. This legitimately gives Gibiate a run for its money as some of the worst animation I’ve ever seen. Project No.9 clearly spread themselves far too thin with shows this season. 3 shows was a bit too much for them and it shows. Many scenes in here look like they were made on clip art by a 15 year old. The art does no justice to the manga’s art, and the character models are so bad that sometimes mouths disappear, characters say things without moving, etc. Oh yea, and we can’t forget those awkward pauses where the camera focuses on a character’s face for like 20 seconds with no purpose. I don’t know who the director was on this one, but it was bad. It would be one thing if the story was subpar and carried by nice art and animation ala Horimiya, but when you have a weak story and awful animation, it makes for a really bad viewing experience in this medium.

So what’re my overall thoughts on Ojou to Banken-Kun? I like the concept of the forbidden love between Keiya and Isaku. Not only is he a Yakuza member, but he’s an older guardian figure to Isaku. It’s taboo and not something I’d root for IRL, but in fiction, I’m cool with it. It’s just a shame the author didn’t do much more with it, at least until the point in the story where the anime ends. The animation is awful, making the story hard to enjoy. There’s not enough consequences for characters’ actions either. That said, I still like the story enough to read the manga and I’ve bought most of them since the show started airing. I think this is one of those stories that will get better past where the anime ended. I definitely see a longer running story with this one and with only 12 episodes, it was always going to struggle. I also think Isaku is absolutely adorable and enjoyed some of her moments with Keiya. But I can’t recommend it simply on the basis of its production being among some of the worst I’ve ever seen. This one of those ones you just read folks. I got it wrong in my top 10 anime of Fall video, sorry folks.

Ojou to Banken-Kun gets a very unfortunate 6 out of 10.

The plot might be interesting, but the age gap is weird, overall this anime is a bit boring and not very exciting. All the misunderstanding between two characters is a common thing in each anime on the theme of romance, but here it is poorly executed and boring.

Honestly, if you want to watch a little anime with a few episodes, maybe go watch something else. This is clearly forgettable and a waste of time.

At least the art style is kinda cute and the guy is quite handsome but that's it.
I'm kinda tired of naive anime girls in shoujo genre. And the guy looks ... so apathetic it's irritating, it just seems like he is very possessive but that's it. Seriously don't waste your time with this.

Story - 2/10
Art - started as a 8, ended with a 3/10
Voice/music - 5/10
Personal enjoyment - as in the words of Tyra Banks "It was so bad, I want to give you a zero, but that's not possible, so I give you a one." 1/10

I usually finish whatever I'm watching, however bad it is.
I just don't really drop anime's in general.
But this one might be both the first and only. So congrats on that I guess.

I don't have anything against age-gap animes, I even like age-gap stories quite a lot and was pretty excited about this one when I heard about it. BUT when ... the characters have a brother/sister relationship, that even goes really close to a father/daughter relationship, it's hard to defend it. It's just disgusting.
I thought it was weird from the first episode but still wanted to give it a chance because it seemed pretty well-made and I liked the art. But after 5 episodes I realized there is no way they can save this, it just got worse with each episode. I have never had a show make me so uncomfortable and cringe so hard.

Also for some reason the art kept getting worse, it was like they spent 80% of the budget on the first few episodes and then hired the janitor for the rest.

I tried and I hoped, I really did. It's just not worth wasting the time.

the art style is pretty. but that's it, nothing special about this anime. the animation is so bad, sometimes the mouths of the characters are not moving while they talk. also the guy is a big red flag, p*do and groomer. very disgusting of him to lay an eye on someone he raised as "his child". also there is a scene where he is touching her very inappropriately when she was a child. But if we completely ignore this age gap, the anime is still very lame. Flashbacks that we already saw are repeated so much is worse than in Naruto! I did not enjoy ... the anime.

A Girl & Her Paedophile.

I ask you to imagine a Shoujo scene with a tall, dark, brooding, debatably handsome twenty-six-year-old man telling his fourteen-year-old, barely starting high-school, pubescent yakuza mistress whom he raised like family, almost like a daughter, that he's been thinking about kissing her romantically for realsies behind a template of that famous scene from Smiling Friends where Charlie says “Look Pim, I know it's our job to help this guy and everything, but I think this guy’s a lost cause. He’s obviously made up his mind, why don’t we just cut our losses and get out of here?”
That's all I could ... think after finishing the third episode of A Girl & Her Guard Dog.

Isaku was raised by her Yakuza grandfather and family servant Keiya after her parents died. At the start of high school, she hopes to find friends who aren’t terrified of her yakuza heritage and a normal high school romance so she can finally get over her secret childhood crush on Keiya. Unfortunately for Isaku, her classmates and us the viewers, overprotective chain-smoking and grossly overaged guardian Keiya decides to attend school with her so he can guard her from any miscreants.

A Girl & Her Guard Dog is the most basic of high school romance stories but with the slight caveat of the main love interest breaking the law. Accusations of paedophilia are thrown around a lot by Western anime fans without much consideration for a story, characters, its themes or whether or not one of them is an immortal vampire or a weird skeleton fairy thing and even though I understand why this is the case, this is Japan we’re talking about and I do believe westerns wither need to grow thicker skins to enjoy horny eastern cartoons or go full Karen and fly to Japan to give the government a piece of your mind and see how that turns out.
However, A Girl & Her Guard Dog has scenes of just straight-up grooming of an underaged girl depicted through a Shoujo lens and it's pretty gross.

I even gave the story the benefit of the doubt, believing the narrative would explore the difficulties of moving on from your first puppy love for someone vastly older than you. It's not like it doesn’t happen in real life. Anyone who had a hot babysitter or a teacher can confess to feeling the need to hump his/her leg when they were children. There are even real-world long studies covering younger siblings falling in puppy love with their elder siblings or cousins which they normally grow out of when they start to develop an understanding of relationships, romance and sex. However, by the end of episode two, it became very clear this story had no interest in telling anything as nuanced and by episode three it had entered nonce territory.

Isaku plays your typical shy girl who finds it difficult to communicate with others barring those close to her and she can be likeable and interesting to follow. On the other hand, Keiya is more of a child in a man's body. Yes, he's loyal to the family, but he's possessive, violent and kind of a moron outside of yakuza matters. If not for the parasocial situation Isaku finds herself in I would find her feelings for Keiya hard to believe.

Whilst the art style is fine in manga form, it looks shoddy in motion. Project No.9 has never been a particularly good animation studio, but they can squeeze out a decent-looking light novel adaptation where the character designs are simple because light novel characters all look the same. But you just need to watch the trailer to understand how flawed the animation is. The ED has a more appealing art and animation style than the actual show and that's a problem.

Taking the paedophilia baiting into account A Girl & Her Guard Dog is an uncomfortable show to watch. Without taking the paedophilia baiting into account A Girl & Her Guard Dog is just another high school romance anime. It’s hard for a gun-slinging, chain-smoking twenty-six-year-old groomer to be seen taking the moral high ground after bashing a teenage delinquent skull into a table and telling his teenage mistress he wants to kiss her.

1/10 The Worst.

-- Preamble --
This is a preliminary review. The series is still airing, and when I have finished watching, this review will be updated.

-- Story --
It's the love story between an innocent high-schooler and her older... what, exactly? Brother? Father figure? Family, friend. The relationship is hard to label, because he was looking after her when they were both young, and now as an adult he is still looking out for her. There is no blood relation, but the series doesn't really clearly define it besides having romantic feelings abound.

In any case, the pacing is very gentle and slow, especially regarding the relationship development. Now, a ... slowburn romance can be quite enjoyable, but this isn't even that. It feels like they get close to doing *something* and then BOOM. NOPE, no way and then go back 3 steps in the other direction. Instead of being a teasing story of miscommunications and pining, instead the viewer is simply left with frustrations at the lack of development to begin with.

Adding to that, the story is filled with pretty bog-standard tropes. But when something happens, it's pretty much forgotten a few episodes later, never to be referenced again.

Story: 4/10

-- Art --
Ah... The art. Where to begin? The good, the bad, or the oh my god what the hell did I just look at?

Okay, so maybe it isn't all that bad. However, the first 8 episodes have been riddled with the kind of animation issues that are indicative of a rushed, issue riddled production that has has a bad time™. Things like duplicated eyes, missing outlines, and what even seems to be the first draft of some scenes fill the episodes. Anatomy issues, lack of consistency in character heights and builds are also see throughout the show.

However, we can reasonably expect at least SOME of these issues to be fixed with the Blu-ray release in January 2024, so stay tuned.

Onto the good. The OP and the ED theme. They are animated really well and are the standouts in animation for the series. The art rating is purely for the OP and ED.

Art: 4/10

-- Sound --
The opening theme by Masayoshi Ooishi is a nice smooth bop, and the ending by Akari Kito (who voices Isaku) offers a light, peppy send-off at the end of the episode. Though, I couldn't help but think that the OP and ED could've been swapped and work even better. A bright and buzzy pop to get you in the mood, and a relaxing ED to chill out with after.

As for the BGM music and sound effects, I wouldn't really write home about it. There wasn't a very strong impression either way, which is neither good nor bad. There wasn't anything overly jarring or ear grating.

Sound: 7/10


-- Characters --
I believe I mentioned a lack of development causing frustration for viewers above? Well, here we can lay the blame mostly on Keiya. His thoughts are entirely hidden, and he barely gets more than a handful of lines. It's as if he's there for Isaku to drool over and occasionally swoon for but is otherwise a totally flat cardboard cutout.

When he does speak, his lines vary from overly possessive to saying certain things that are actually somewhat creepy or strange.

As for Isaku, could she be any more of a flower vase? Pretty looks and an empty head do not make for a good protagonist, especially not one we're supposed to be relating to. Kiss him, don't kiss him, kiss him, YES, NO, YES no-- Make up your mind, girl! Also, everything that is bad that can happen seems to happen to her, so that Keiya can swoop in and save her.

Additionally, when things happen, they never seem to affect the characters for more than a single episode. Keiya can use it as a reason to scold Isaku, and she can then dither about whether or not she can kiss Keiya. Win-win, right?

Unfortunately, as the episodes have continued on the characters have not really developed much at all. They are still flat and bland.

Characters: 3/10

-- Overall --
It's at a 'so bad it's good' level, currently. You may find the same enjoyment watching a train start to derail. Of course, there are some nice fanservice scenes (such at the roof scene) which are spread out like little crumbs to keep you coming back, like a stray cat.

Would I recommend this? Currently, no. This may change depending on how the story finishes. After it finished airing, I would still suggest waiting for the Blu-ray release instead. Simply to save your eyeballs.

Final Rating: 5/10

Talking only about the anime (not including the manga cuz i havent read it), it was a s**t show.
I hurt my eyes!
The animation was so terrible on some episodes that I was setting my eyes on fire. The plot predictable and the story was so much lacking. I missed a good shojo anime that could give a litlle "Sukkite II na yo" vibe back. But this was terible.
I am a fan of age gap cuz i cant stand the all the same age and vibe of all anime characters and their innocent high school day lifes interaction. But this one was just an excuse to ... add an old age character to a high school life just to ruin him.
I dont know what i was expecting to see at least in the final episodes but was soooo predictable that it was a wash way.

The spectrum of anime inevitably has some problems presented with age gaps which create a wide variety of portrayals of romance from what can be a healthy relationship to downright disgusting, A Girl and Her Guard Dog represents the single worst romance portrayal on that spectrum I've ever seen.

It's impossible to review this anime without pointing just how uncomfortable the clear difference in the two main character's lives is brought up throughout multiple points in the show. Moments ranging from talking about her growing into her body or posing nude for a 6 year old seem insane when the author could have very easily created ... the same story with two characters around the same age.

Besides that main glaring flaw there are also problems with bad animation, characters that are annoying, and an attempted rape that gets written off for seemingly no reason?

I could not recommend an anime to NOT watch more than this mess. Avoid at all costs.

Final Ranking : Maroon
Cheltome’s Ranking Tier System:
Gold (Legendary- 10 Stars) - Reserved only for the most incredible animes of all time. Animes that reach this rank expand the boundaries of their genre and are a must-watch.

Purple (Great- 8-9 Stars) – Great anime did everything it needed to.

Blue (Good- 6-7 Stars) – Enjoyable anime but had some minor issues worth noting.

Green (Mixed Review-4-5 Stars) – This Anime had some positives, but also a lot of negatives.

Red (Bad-2-3 Stars) – Anime was plain/bad/unenjoyable.

Maroon (Terrible-1 Star) – Not only was this Anime bad, but it managed to move its genre backwards in some way.

This anime was a fever dream. It’s full of red flags and honestly not even I know why I kept watching. Like every romantic interaction between the leads made me extremely uncomfortable. It would have been cute if he was like 18 or something but the age gap of 10 years plus him being her parental figure just makes me gag. Honestly even if the has 18 his actions would still be weird.

Don’t waste your time on this not just the story is trash but also the animation was low budget. Sometimes they don’t open their mouths to speak or don’t close them after. ... Everything look like it was made with 60 frames per second. If they even move

This anime had some cute moments but the graphics are horrible. I don't normally mind them, but it was worse than 90's anime. I don't know if this was a smaller project or what but the expressions weren't there and the proportions were odd. I was so distracted by the art I ignored the story. The story was okay until the age gap. It's very odd and leaves mixed feelings. Since her raised her it feels more like grooming than romance. It leaves an icky feeling. Had they grown up together with the grandpa raising her it would have been fine. The age gap would ... be odd since he is trying to be "in high school" but it would have just been funny. I don't recommend this anime. If you want a romance between a girl and a childhood friend with some action I really like Hanasakeru Seishounen. An anime with romance and a weird bodyguard, Full Metal panic!

It’s not the age gap that’s problematic about this story, but the grooming. The author must have thought putting those scenes about baby Isaku in are cute, but damn, it was just adding to the disgusting feeling. If they have met at high school, oh well, she at least has a conscious by then, but no, this guy decided that that little girl is his alone the day they met, and made sure she never had a chance to get to know anyone else.
But this was never put into a problem in this story. No other characters were present, this story was all made ... up by Isaku’s thoughts. Everything is about her cheap teenager problems regarding Keiya. I watched it till the end to see if the moral aspect would be even a little bit questioned but no. So yeah, this is a very cheap love story and nothing more.
The art is also bad in my opinion, but if you like this style maybe not.

This could have been sooooooo good…the set up of a girl falling for her yakuza bodyguard could have been sooooo good… and this just failed miserably.

The show centers around Isaku, who is the granddaughter of a yakuza boss, and her goal of wanting to live a normal life. She enters high school with the hope of achieving that, but to her surprise, Keiya, one of her grandfathers underlings, enters high school with her (disguised as a student) “to protect her.” Needless to say, things don’t go entirely to plan.

As I already stated, the concept could’ve been executed wonderfully, giving us a really great romance ... anime. And yet… no.

So what happened?

Well, how about the fact that when Isaku is brought to live with her grandfather, she is five. This is also when she first meets Keiya. At this time, he is 15, and immediately declares himself as her guardian/brother, and promises to protect her from now. Yes, I said that right! He tells her to look at him in a parental role.

So, by the time she enters high school, at which point Keiya is 26 by the way, Isaku already loves him. To be fair, she never saw him in that way, she has always loved him in a romantic setting. But…The problem is that she doesn’t know if Keiya sees her as his child or lover!!!!!! What!?!?! Truly, she doesn’t know if his love is in the form of a guardian or not. WHY WHY WHY!!!!!! By doing this, it felt incredibly incestuous!

In order to have made this show really great, All they had to do was have Keiya assigned as her bodyguard from the beginning. And to VERY SIMPLY never have him in the position of being her “guardian.” Further, it would’ve made things a lot better if he was only a few years older than her when they first met. More specifically, if he was 10 when she was five, and again being automatically established as her bodyguard. Then the show could’ve dealt with how he was struggling to commit to his duties as her bodyguard, while also wanting to commit to her romantically. This would have been much more appealing!!

To add to what went wrong, I also didn’t understand, if he has all these appropriately aged attractive women seeking a relationship with him, then why would he want one with someone who’s only 16? It’s incredibly creepy to look at it from his perspective. There were a lot of scenes where Isaku looked very young next to him, and just made it more apparent how inappropriate this love pairing is.

Even further, to how really creepy he was sometimes, when he said, “you grew into the body type I like.” Like WTF?!? That’s really disturbing and just makes the fact that he watched her grow up since she WAS FIVE even worse.

This show is one of the most disappointing I’ve watched in a while because it truly had the potential to be really great. I definitely do not recommend unless you’re into this kind of thing.

Usagi Drop got a sequel.
Usagi Drop Vibes. More pedophilic


High school girl tries to disassociate herself from her father figure who she fell in love with it is a decent premise for a series, but not when the series itself wants them to fuck...

don’t read the manga and watch it .


I'm curious how the F this got green-lit into an anime , the story barely progresses , and is disturbing
...
Not only age gap , He isolates her. Victim blames her. Gaslights her. Manipulates her. Abuses his position as her guardian to get the result he wants and abuses FL's naivete - He could be the same age and I would still find all of those behaviors problematic, triggering, and uncomfortable
Its not the age gap - its the manipulation and isolating control of toxic attachments being played as if its cute and wholesome, coming from the manipulations of a family trusted figure that gives her purposely controlling advice

it’s pedophilia. she’s 15, he’s 27. AND he’s known her since she was like 5 years old while he was in highschool or college ....He raised her ..
In manga , our ML said, "I am your dad, mom, brother, and lover too..."



The anime was awful. I had to stop after the first few episodes itself. I watched very horrible animes completely ..

I was grossed out too much by how rinse repeat stale the toxic and uncomfortable grooming was already becoming,

even blaming her for being a SA victim and blamed it on her going out at night and being naive...

In manga he gets too touchy with her

No development , no any actual development or enjoyment of the characters would come in manga

In manga , our ML said, "I am your dad, mom, brother, and lover too..."

None of the anime so far has ever allowed me to get past the problematic behavior... Its uncomfortable to watch. Its classic/textbook grooming ..


. .
He was the one in charge of taking care of her when she was around five, maybe 6; he would have been 16 or 17, he would have probably helped her bathe, she would have still been using a booster seat, and he would have seen so many life goals and would have acted as a parental figure, it's weird and messed up that they dated.


Even if you decide to ignore their age gap and weird dynamic between them, he's just insufferable as a character and as a person, he really just ruins her hs experience 'just because' .

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

Tbh I knew what to kinda expect going into this nightmare of an anime! Child grooming aside for just a minute. The ups and downs of this anime was giving me whiplash and we get to the damn ending. I’m not spoiling it but give me a f#cking break!!!! Tbh honest I was thinking of dropping it a while ago but it’s on my damn fyp on other social media platforms I thought let me finish this car wreck. I already started watching before, if the FBI came knocking on my door I was ready to explain myself. I need bleach!

Now back to the ... child grooming, you’ve got to be f#cking kidding me. Now in other anime we see inappropriate age gaps all the time, it’s not a new concept and because Japanese laws only changed recently, we don’t think about it too much, mainly because most of the time we don’t know the characters’ real age differences or because the story doesn’t focus on that. In this one the age gap is all we see plus this creep practically raised her. Let’s say Japanese laws did not change, this would still be an uncomfortable watch because the whole narrative of this mess was focused on how HE RAISED HER and HOW THERE IS A 10+ YEARS AGE GAP BETWEEN THEM, also SHE’S STILL A MINOR! If this wasn’t the focus of the anime I don’t think people would have been so disgusted with this watch! Let’s be real!

I'm not going to waste your time and simply say that I do not recommend this show.

First of all, the animation/art is terrible. It starts fine, but eventually, you can tell that the studio either ran out of budget or is not prioritizing this show. The faces of the characters by the end of the show are distorted, pixelated, or drawn like blobs. The art in the opening and ending songs is so much cuter than the actual show.

Secondly, the sound/audio is ass. There's nothing wrong with the opening and ending songs, and there are no OSTs within the episodes so there's nothing to ... judge for that, but you can tell from the voice actor of Mikio that he, and probably everyone else on this show, is not taking their roles seriously. Every line that comes out of his mouth sounds like mockery to the show.

Last but not least, this isn't even a decent shoujo/romance. It's about a 28-year-old who wants to have sex with a 16-year-old. There's implied rape and cheating. Sounds like the plot for a shitty h**tai, but it's not even.