Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san

i'll say this much - it was a pretty unique story. but it still was an overall "fine" anime for me. i really enjoyed some of the asmr-like episodes where there won't be any dialogues and it was v soothing to watch. some episodes are also v heart & will definitely have u awww. I think the strong point of this anike was definitely the very vibrant & colourful animation. it was really aesthetic and pleasing to the eyes. of course I checked this out for Umehara Yuuichirou - no cookie points for that. he's not the main character's VA but it was still a ... likely character that I liked a lot.

The show is basically what the title says it is: it's about the villain, but on his day off. We never even learn his actual name, he's just Mr. Villain or The General just to show you that this guy really is the top tier baddest of the bad, head of his evil organization (which itself is called "The Evil Organization), except he's actually a pretty nice guy who doesn't seem to get worked up about much of anything, unless you break his cardinal rule... never interrupt his day off. The fact that this came out in the same season as [i]Time for Torture, Princess[/i] ... could have easily made one show or the other feel redundant, since they both have a similar premise of "the villains are actually pretty chill", but the fact that this has such a different approach makes the two shows feel like an excellent complement to each other. Where [i]Time for Torture[/i] is very wacky and slapsticky, this show is more gently relaxing. The basic premise is very funny, sure, and there's a lot of good-natured humor, but the tone is more slow elegiac bliss, occasionally dipping into a bit of melancholy.

The usual episode sees Mr. Villain just going about his day, finding some aspect of earth culture that he ends up enjoying, and the message always seems to be the importance of finding joy in the little things. There aren't any huge driving questions or big plot twists, it's more like checking in with him each week and seeing what he's up to. While it's not quite as ensemble-focused as some Slice of Life type shows (in the sense that there's only one episode not specifically focused on Mr. Villain, whereas some shows usually bounce around their cast), the characters around him are all fun additions to the mix and they all generally have something deeper going on under the surface. They really know how to get you to care and of all the characters who aren't the protagonist a pair of trees ended up being the ones I got the most invested in, which should be a testament to how good the characterization is.

The animation is perhaps a bit stiffer and cheaper than some of the other SoL shows that I like, but the art style is still very pleasant and it's definitely helped along by good character designs. What it might lack in the technical departments, it definitely makes up for in terms of sheer relaxing appeal and the music and voice acting both contribute to that comfortable vibe. They've definitely hit on something good here, so hopefully it gets renewed for a second season.

The main issue with this show is the lack of character development or meaningful interaction with the characters. Rather than say that the characters in this show have any sort of personality, they are more like mere plot points in order to progress with the story; a convenient way to pivot the focus of the main character.

If the cast of side characters on both the side of the heroes and on the evil faction were more developed and had more screen time, then this show would actually be pretty good. The problem is that it's mainly Warumono carrying the show with rarely any meaningful interaction ... with the rest of the cast, and the fairly simple, boring, and predictable setups for a lot of these scenes don't carry the show enough for it to be this simple.