Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Jul 11, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Wittgenstein (All reviews)

554 people found this review helpful

I don’t make it a point to write reviews, but I particularly enjoyed Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, and, upon seeing its subpar ratings, felt somewhat obligated to defend it, so, here goes:

Art:

Wonderful, wonderful artwork. I’m a stickler for art, having dropped numerous series simply because I couldn’t stand the way they were drawn, and Denpa Onna definitely wins in this category. Shaft has outdone itself – colorful, lively scenery, vibrant, multi-toned characters, and, in general, great color schemes, compositions, and dynamism in each frame. It’s not quite 5 cm/s, but I daresay it’s approaching that level.

Soundtrack:

I usually neglect this category, as I find it to be a relatively minor component to my viewing experience. However, Denpa Onna does provide some melancholic piano keys and nice ambience music that complement the pacing well. Can’t say I’m a fan of the OP or ED, but, then again, I was never into the high-pitched squeals that permeate much of anime JPop.

Characters:

As many reviewers iterated before me, eccentricities abound in this motley crew of a cast. Honestly, it’s refreshing to see a show invent new personalities instead of rehashing the standard anime prototypes. (I especially enjoyed how Erio Touwa [E.T.] sat in Makoto’s bicycle basket as he pedaled her into the sky). Development is admittedly slow, but it’s definitely there. This is something I feel many reviewers don’t emphasize enough. Denpa Onna is a show about the gentle adolescence of our halcyon days, and, to that end, I think it’s nice that events and developments aren’t explosive or convoluted. The subtleties and gradual changes are meant to mirror the normalcy of our teenage years and, thus, offer a stark but welcome contrast to the eccentric personalities – that is, while the characters are themselves bizarre, their growth is relatable and meaningful.

Story:

Denpa Onna opened with an explosive start. Bracketing the rest of the show, I think the first 3 episodes could operate as a short, standalone OVA series. Really, I was hooked after watching a prologue so rife with meaning and mystery. Erio’s personality is fully emphasized here, and here, too, is where the show probes most philosophically at the deeper themes of life. Makoto’s rejection of Erio’s delusions is a deeper rejection of ontological relativism as a legitimate means to happiness – his actions nuance his convictions well, and we really get a sense of Makoto’s take on what it means to be human.

Sadly, I feel many casual viewers gloss over this last point and take Denpa Onna to be yet another mindless harem. Let me emphasize that it is not. Its insight is subtle, but present, and acutely profound.

So, what about the rest of the show, you ask? Well I can say that the first three episodes are somewhat anomalous when compared to the slow pace and slice-of-life themed events of the last 9 episodes. Critics charge that Denpa Onna lacks plot or hooks to keep viewers interested, and I’m not unsympathetic to this criticism. However, as mentioned above, I think the slow pacing works well with what this show takes itself to be: a chronicle of a boy’s adolescence. I find it far more realistic that schoolgirl crushes don’t blow up into soap operas and baseball games don’t become matters of life and death. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not like the series never scratches below the surface – it really does, but, often, it does so almost imperceptibly. Take episode 8 (Tsiolkovsky’s Prayer), for example. It centers around Meme’s daily routine over a week, but the conclusion of the episode is nothing short of powerful, poignant, and profound, letting us really glimpse the depth beneath her skin. People are unique, change slowly, and offer interesting and poignant stories. This, I think Denpa Onna emphasizes very profoundly.

Moreover, among these events of every day life are the rare gemstones that move boys closer to manhood, and Denpa Onna doesn’t forget this. Conversations with characters often revolve around mundane occurrences like deep sea fish or basketball games, but are artfully and subtly infused with lessons on the importance of curiosity or the rate of human progress. It’s important, when watching, to pay attention to these moments – as they offer enlightening insight into the human experience.

So, what’s the final verdict on Denpa Onna?

If you’re looking for something explosive, convoluted, and plot-driven, then I advise you to turn away. If, however, you’re looking for something light-hearted yet penetrating, then I urge you to pick this up. By the end of it, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, with its subtle but philosophical messages, really offers you a novel and reflective outlook on that awkward phase between puberty and responsibility. And, after all, that’s how life is: subtle but profound.

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Jun 30, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

8thSin (All reviews)

242 people found this review helpful

This review exists within the internet, authored by a SHAFT fanboi.
It functions only as a test ground for me. It is also a spoiler zone in this page.

Under the current assessment of the series, it is a "9/10".
This was determined by my reaction to audio-visual investigation of the SHAFT seishun anime.
Patience is the closest thing viewers have to salvation.
However, accelerated exposure could amplify the viewing experience of a class-2 audience.

A collective of readers that has forgotten it is a collective of voters... That is you.
Members of the self-unaware, clueless MAL users under aliases are not permitted to vote "Not Helpful" on this review.
Injection of corrective read more

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Jun 20, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

DangoSage (All reviews)

102 people found this review helpful

Let's say you have a drinking problem. Instead of admitting that you have a problem, you blame your drinking because your wife nags at you, or because the devil told you to do it, or some other excuse I could not think of because I do not have drinking problem. (No, I'm not in denial here, I seriously don't have a drinking problem)

Reality distortion

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko deals with characters who distorts reality to their own convenience to escape facing the inconceivable truth. As normal human beings, we usually believe our perception of the worlds within and around us is "true."

The story revolves around read more

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Oct 8, 2013

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

DreamyGhost (All reviews)

88 people found this review helpful

A really casual one, it was a totally random choice, but I don't regret it though. So what's it about? It may not have an incredible climax and everything... Instead, this anime focuses more upon reflection. It's simple: just take a teenager who wants to enjoy his high school years to the max and add an odd girl to whom he begins devoting his time, in order to get her back to real life.

Makoto's first time in a big city made him create big expectations about how his life would be from now on. He wanted to meet girls, spend time with them and read more

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Jul 5, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

NeverKnowsBest26 (All reviews)

61 people found this review helpful

A problem that a show with interesting premise or quirks can run into is getting far too wrapped up in itself. A show can become contrived, focusing on playing around with its quirkiness; forgetting that there is a story to be told. Such is the case with Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, a charmingly eccentric show that ultimately gets deflated by the eccentricities that made it appealing to begin with.

Denpa Onna is a bizarre show, to say the very least. It centers around Makoto Niwa, a somewhat sarcastic young man who goes to live with his aunt Meme; having certain expectations of his new life. Expectations that are shattered after meeting his impishly flirtatious aunt and beyond bizarre cousin Erio,who claims to be an alien and wraps herself in a futon. He later meets a cheerful and clumsy girl named Ryuko (or better known as Ryushi, to her irritation), and the resident cosplay character, Maekawa. While this sounds like your standard cast for a slice-of-life anime, rest assured, the cast is eccentric enough to stand out from the crowd. Every character has their weird quirks and talk in a way no normal person would. Erio in particular is a winsome odd-ball, a hikikomori who uses the guise of being an alien as a shield from her insecurities; and Maekawa existence seems to be poking fun at use of pun humor in anime. The off-beat way these characters behave and interact with one another is what gives the show its unique flavor.

The show puts its eccentric characters and rambling dialogue to good use. Pretty much every conversation between characters has an entirely different meaning than its face value. A conversation about aliens can actually be an exchange of worldviews; one about ESP can actually be about peoples' hidden potential. This makes the exceedingly strange exchanges between characters meaningful, rather than just nonsensical ramblings. Just as interesting is seeing our dysfunctional recluse of a female lead, Erio, slowly warm up to her cousin. We see her change from being insanely introverted to a slightly more stable, though still fairly unsociable, weirdo. She even has a part-time job and joins an amateur baseball team by the shows finale, all the while retaining the charming weirdness that grabbed our attention in the beginning.

So why does this show fall short, well... it doesn't really go anywhere. Sure, Erio progressively becomes more active in the world around her, but as for everyone else progress is near non-existent. Even as Makoto gets to know Maekawa and his aunt Meme better, their relationships remain static through the entire series.This is even true for Ryuko, who has a big crush on Makoto. You think with all the talking in the show these relationships would develop nicely, but instead the characters spend most of the time talking around each other and dodging pressing matters. When they aren't in convoluted conversation or monologue, the characters are usually engaged with some trivial activity that is entertaining enough to watch but pointless in the grand scheme of things. Not to say these aspects of the show are not enjoyable, but they do get tedious to watch as the show continues on its merry way to nowhere.

The show's visuals are pretty solid, though nothing to write home about, really. The scenery is pretty much what you would expect from a slice-of-life, nothing breathtaking, but it gets the job done. As for the character designs, most attention goes to the female cast (of course), which is the visual highlight of the show. Erio is gorgeous, likely the best looking leading lady of 2011, and mother Meme; rival for Makoto's attention, Ryuko; cosplaying Maekawa; and late arrival Yashiro are just as pretty. The rest of the cast is more average looking, but pleasant on the eyes nonetheless. The music is also pretty typical of slice-of-life (except for the bizarre opening and oddly cute ending themes). It pleasantly floats around supporting the shows atmosphere, though can also build up excitement when called to do so, like in the "I can't fly" scene, which is the the shows most striking moment.

In the end, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko is a generally pleasant experience. Its strange, off-kilter tone and characters definitely sets it apart from regular slice-of-life anime. Plus, Erio is the cutest basket-case you are likely to find. It is a shame the story doesn't really progress, getting caught up in a web of convoluted dialogue and all too quaint events. This is actually not a bad show, just a disappointing one.

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Jul 26, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

Wilio (All reviews)

32 people found this review helpful

I hate Shaft, I really hate this studio. For every good show they make, there must be some 5 mediocre ones in between. However, I still love their artsy touch and the way they handle most dialogues that is much present in Denpa Onna. Yet, there’s something lacking in Denpa Onna to make it good and that is a focus. It’s a shame really, because this anime had such a great start. I find it sad that they had to ruin it in the second half.

Based on a light novel, the story shares some similiraties with the Haruhi Suzumiya. Most notably, the two main characters, which both have the same personality, are emerged in a world of bizarre situations. The difference is that Denpa Onna is completely voided of any supernatural element, even though it brings aliens and espers in the foreplay. Though the story could be considered as some sort of coming of age, it is never clear what it is really about. The big problem with Denpa Onna is how well it handles the many elements that it is given, for I must say, not well at all. While it does begin as a simple story of “saving the broken girl”, it doesn’t take time before the series loses its initial charm. For the second half, the anime turns around in a midst of pointless moments that can range from enjoyable to plain boring. Though, these pointless moments, are for the best, emotional. The results here shouldn’t be surprising. Denpa Onna concludes in a unsatisfying and completely out of place way that leaves you a bitter taste in the end. In other word, what it needs is a satisfying sequel with a much, much better direction.

Knowing Shaft, it is not surprising that Denpa Onna shares a good amount of mentally ill characters. For new comers, this might be a refreshing outcome since they act mostly in an extravagant way. For the Shaft followers or other anime connoisseurs, it is nothing that you haven’t seen before and might even annoy you. Though, while the characters’ traits aren’t problematic, there is a big lack of character development that would have helped this anime greatly. If Denpa Onna would truly have been a coming of age, some actual development for the characters would have been great. However, everything stays static in this series. There is also an issue of not enough screen time for the female characters in this series. The series is mostly in the point of view Makoto and we mostly see him jump from a girl to another many times in the anime and this only ends up in some sort of unassuming harem between two friends and his cousin.

Shaft, as always, delivers in the production value. Erio might have been an uninteresting character after all, but her character design is probably the most interesting of the season. Sadly, the same could not be said about the other characters. For the visual, Denpa Onna has its fair share of eye candies and sparkles moments that will please any fans of the sort. I have to admit that some of these scenes were actually beautiful. Shaft is also more lay back in this one, and Denpa Onna doesn’t have too much quick and weird angle shots. The music is also top notch in Denpa Onna. The anime opens with a tad annoying, but very catchy song. The score in the actual series doesn’t have anything impressive, but it does the job well done. As for the voice actors, well they were great, no doubt about that.

To kill the mockingbird, Denpa Onna is actually a very forgettable show. The anime did have an interesting and original premise, but it soon falls into something that has been done million times before. Still, if someone is looking for moe characters, this anime is definitely for them. There are some rumours about a possible second season. If this happens, let’s just hope Shaft does it right this time.

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Sep 13, 2013

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

Simonian (All reviews)

24 people found this review helpful

The central problem with 'Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko' is the way it treats the supernatural. It attributes normal, everyday occurrences to aliens, espers, clairvoyance etc. Had a bad day at school? Must be god's fault. Achieved something you've never even dreamed of achieving? Must be your esp abilities. Amnesia? Aliens. Cute girl smiles at you? Fate.

You can pretty much see that this kind of storytelling is going to get ridiculous after a few episodes and sure enough that's exactly what happens in this anime. Despite the "Sci-fi" tag, there's no attempt at any scientific explanation either. Things that have no basis in reality and read more

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Feb 26, 2014

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

teanut (All reviews)

22 people found this review helpful

In one of the opening scenes of this anime, a certain character welcomes the main character (along with the viewers) by saying "Welcome to the city watched over by aliens." After watching this I have come to realize one thing: how horribly distasteful these aliens are.

Seasoned anime fans will take notice of the fact that this show is directed by Shinbou Akiyuki. You might recognize him for directing great shows such as Bakemonomgatari, Arakawa Under the Bridge, and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, which all have a similar formula going on: a male character surrounded by a harem of weird quirky females. Considering how much of this type of show he has done, and the valuable attribute of the human mind to gain experience, one might expect him to have garnered enough knowledge to create enjoyable shows with absolutely no effort at all. Well, apparently, no. Either his brain has become too dense with all the success and praise from his previous works, or he just suffered a nervous breakdown to which he responded by making the most incoherent, dumb, and most boring anime he could possibly conjure. And that is Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko (Electromagnetic Wave Woman and Adolescent Man).

The story is the same old "Guy moves into a city" "New home has cute girls in it" "New school has cute girls in it" and so on. Oh, and the girls garner an inexplicable affection towards the main character. In the case of Denpa, a regular country bumpkin Niwa Makoto moves into the city to live at his aunt's house. Upon entering the house he notices a girl wrapped in a mattress lying near the doorway. This is how we are introduced to the show's main attraction, Touwa Erio, an amnesiac girl who believes she is an alien put on earth for observational purposes. The story then resolves around Makoto as he tries to help Erio overcome the barrier she has put up between herself and society. Of course, this is not a story-driven anime. You get the vibe that the makers didn't have any idea what they were doing and the story goes down the drain pretty quickly, as this is apparent half way into the show when all the characters are just loitering around trying awkwardly hard to get a giggle out of you. I'd gladly pay you if you find anything groundbreaking about this anime's plot.

The comedy in this show really throws everything at you, which at the base level boils down to a 'hit or miss' game where the chance of a hit is that of winning in a million dollar lottery. The so-called witty conversations between characters that SHAFT does so well literally falls apart here. There are tons of dialogue but they just go into one ear and come out of the other, rarely triggering anything along the way. How could anyone rely on a cast of such uninteresting characters to deliver good jokes is beyond me.

Animation is generally quite colorful and neat, but there's just something about the character designs that make them look overly childish, to the point that it's hard to call them "high schoolers". From an objective point, it felt to me like most of the work done in this department went into Erio's appearance and elaborate schemes to make her more cute, as she glaringly stands out among all the other bland characters that occupy this show. One of the few redeeming features of Denpa Onna is it's OP and ED. The OP sung by Erio's voice actor in an epic karaoke voice is quite fun and almost makes the rest of the show worthwhile. Maybe the unimpressive dialogue mentioned earlier might have been the cause of poor chemistry among voice actors because the voice acting here is decent at best.

Overall, I have to say that Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko fails in soaring through the sky, not to mention space. The first few episodes might keep you occupied with a false sense of more to come but what's to come is mind-numbing stupidity and a whole load of wasted of time.

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Jan 19, 2013

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Perisher (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko (English: Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl) is an excellent series that can be counted as a unique and hidden gem among more popular titles. The story follows the daily life of high schooler Niwa Makoto who has recently transferred to a new school and a new neighbourhood. Makoto is a fairly normal guy, but the characters that soon surround him are an eccentric bunch to say the least. He quickly finds out he is one of the few people in this new town who does not belive in aliens, is a fan of dressing up as an eggplant (among other ridiculous things) or openly declares themself as an otherwordly being. Its hard not to empathise with Makoto’s confusion, and its an extremely fun ride to watch as he discovers more about his new friends and family. In particular – the most intriguing cast member has to be his cousin Erio – a young girl almost as gorgeous as she is mysterious who has a penchant for wrapping herself in a futon and not coming out.

Makoto’s new home belongs to his Aunt (Meme), who lives alone with the enigmatic and bizarre Erio. The dynamic of the 3 works to great success. Meme loves nothing less than to tease Makoto in particularly hilarious, manipulative and inventive ways which makes for a number of great moments. Throw Erio into the mix and the show presents a highly entertaining and unpredictable household as we watch Makoto struggle to live a normal life amidst all the weirdness. We soon discover that Erio has a fascination with aliens and the supernatural – she’s incredibly shy so it’s very rewarding to find out more about her personality as the story unfolds. But the strangness does not end at home. At school Makoto befriends the bright and bubbly Ryuuko, along with the very tall, mysterious Maekawa. This pair also have distinctly odd characteristics and stand up as interesting and well fleshed-out characters by the conclusion of the series. To summarize, the underlying plot comes as a secondary device to the character comedy but toward the last few episodes the sci-fi theme kicks in a little more and the many mysteries of the show get a closer look. The balance of narrative and comedy is well paced and works to great effect.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko’s clever writing and character design are matched with equally brilliant visuals and a charming OST. The background tracks are dreamy yet catchy. Both the OP + ED are top quality and the latter comes with some great lyrics in reference to Erio -”I’ll catch a cold, I’ll catch a cold, It’s cold without my futon”. Art and sound combine to make Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko a unique viewing experience.

I can guarantee that you will not once get bored watching this show, and that you will miss Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko by the time it wraps up. You will miss the hilarity, the atmosphere, and most of all the bizarre characters that call it’s equally bizarre universe home. Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko is fresh, inventive, smart and often hilarious. I strongly urge you to pick it up and find out for yourself.

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Apr 9, 2012

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

Erina-chan (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

An anime with a normal, ordinary boy couldn’t be anything but an ordinary slice-of-life comedy right? Well, hate to break it to you, but it’s not. It’s much more complex, intricate, and amazing than a run-of-the-mill standard anime. Even though the plot may seem a bit bewildering at first, the series proves itself worthy of an amazingly high score.

The basics? A high school boy named Niws Makoto recently moves to his Aunt’s house and becomes a Transfer Student. There he meets his mysterious cousin, Touwa Erio. She walks around every day wrapped around a futon and believes that there are aliens and tries to stop read more

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Jul 9, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

Nasty001 (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

A few weeks ago, as I’ve watch the last episode of this anime, I kinda felt a bit disgusted with the genre of this anime, but the weird slice of life and mystery does made up for it, so my rating for this anime are the following:

Story – good 7.

So, this anime is not exactly sci-fi even thought there mentioned of extraterrestrial aliens and espers in it, but the story is not focus on Erio, rather it is Makoto who is the story here, co’z every episode is on him and his struggle to cope up within the weird world of the people around him. read more

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Jul 4, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

WildNeptune (All reviews)

14 people found this review helpful

Denpa Onna is a slow paced, light hearted anime. Quite the contrast from Shaft's Madoka Magica which aired the previous season. The show benefits from strong and likable characters, good art, and a feel good type atmosphere.

There is less of a plot and more of a tale personal growth and change for each character, especially our protagonists, Niwa and Erio. Not only how they grow, but how their actions, beliefs, and personalities effect those around them.

As stated above, Denpa does not have a super deep plot, or a really anything out of the ordinary as far as the genre goes, but the charm the show read more

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Apr 4, 2013

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

KaiserLos24 (All reviews)

14 people found this review helpful

I just had to write a review for this because I really enjoyed this anime.

And for a change of pace, I'll break down this review to its components: Story, Art and animation, Sound and Overall enjoyment. (I don't do this normally and wanted to try it out)

Story= 8

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko deals on the mysterious and the unexplained. We have Touwa, Erio who has been missing for half a year and claims to have been abducted by aliens. But really, what actually happened while she was missing? What caused her to have amnesia? And then there's Niwa, Makoto, whose line of thinking depends on read more

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Jan 6, 2012

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

BasicallyTNG (All reviews)

12 people found this review helpful

First, before I jump right into the review of Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, there are some things to be said. Let me level with you for a sec:

Characters in the anime:

Niwa Makoto: A dumbass going through puberty, but is probably the most normal person around.

Touwa Erio: As intelligent as a puppy.

Mifune Ryuuko: As smart as a six year old.

Maekawa: Wear cosplay to work and evening walks.

Touwa Meme: Mentality of a sixth-grader despite being 40 years old.

Hoshimiya Yashiro: Dresses up as an astronaut to play baseball.

Tamura (the old coot): Pretty senile. Obsessed with cattle mutilation.

And they are involved in a comedy.

When read more

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Jul 27, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

helur (All reviews)

10 people found this review helpful

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko manages to slowly drag you into the story only to give up on you by the end. Providing a constant stream of comedy each episode is enjoyable, but after soaring to great heights the plot falls into a river. No, literally. I never questioned dropping it, but I felt like the focus switched from a comedy of a young girl who thinks she is an alien and the events conspiring around that to a slice of life.

Niwa Makoto, our male lead, moves into his aunt's house who was apparently living alone. To his surprise he finds a girl his age read more

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Aug 8, 2014

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

Red_Tuesday (All reviews)

10 people found this review helpful

I'll be the first to admit that the only reason I watched this anime is Buriki, the original character designer. Ever since watching Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai and the sequel, I've been a huge fan of his.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko unfortunately has quite a few ingredients that I hate. First, the protagonist is the 'hobby psychologist' type, who thinks his viewpoint on others is absolutely correct, and won't back down from his arrogance unless punted in the head with absolute proof. Granted, we are talking about a girl who thinks she's an alien here, but the whole 'I am going to fix you' read more

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Feb 17, 2018

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

KingHarkinian (All reviews)

3 people found this review helpful

I'm still not really quite sure what to think of Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko.

On the one hand, you have a generally thoughtful and depth-seeking piece that tries to provide meaning to one's adolescent life through alien and superpower metaphors.

On the other, you have a not particularly interesting, if weird, harem anime comprised of 1 guy, 3 girls + 1 annoying perverse aunt.

The thing with Denpa Onna is that it managed to keep my interest, but provided nearly no fun. It had a lot of attitude and style to its characters, but I didn't really like any of them much. It is, overall, an interesting read more

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Nov 13, 2013

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

nspireing (All reviews)

9 people found this review helpful

I have really come to love and appreciate the work that SHAFT does when it comes to anime and this show really continues to win me over!

I think that hidden in this cutesy show about a a small town boy learning to find his voice in the big city is a deeper story about mental health and how it effects a family and in this case the community. Something happened to Erio something so bad she lost half a year of her life and can only find solace in hiding wrapped in a futon. She is shown in flash backs lashing out at her read more

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Feb 29, 2012

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

TofuZz (All reviews)

9 people found this review helpful

Note: This is one of my works from Sekijitsu

Art

What pulled me into this series was the art. There was something about it that appealed to me and I don’t regret being pulled in because Denpa Onna has some great art. Sure Erio might sparkle a bit too often but those sparkles add effect and I really don’t mind it. There were times when Shaft decided to degrade the art during those not-so-special scenes which was fine by me. Although, during a certain episode, the art was so deformed it looked half-assed. Overall Shaft sure does some good close up shots and we’re talking about the guys who did Bakemonogatari here!

Music

Talk about the most dreaded OP I’ve EVER heard! Maybe I’m exaggerating a little but I really didn’t like that opening at all. The notes in the singer were going everywhere and being a music student, I couldn’t really take it. I will admit it was catchy but it’s just not my type of music. The ED was nice to listen to, but it doesn’t fall under the ‘like’ category. This also goes for the BGM in the series which also didn’t fall under the ‘like’ category. With the use of BGM’s, you want to try and add more emphasis to the certain scene. At times Denpa did execute it well but most of the times it wasn’t anything special.

Story

I don’t think Denpa was originally supposed to have a strong story line to its slice-of-life feeling and because of that I was lead to disappointment. With all the alien references, I had hoped for the series to take a deeper dive into the sci-fi but considering I haven’t seen Arakawa Under the Bridge, I didn’t really know what to expect from Shaft. I still enjoyed the series for what it was.

Bouncing off each character and giving each character individual episodes did help in character development but at times it felt as though some characters should of appeared in certain scenes but just didn’t.

The flow of the series seemed on par with the story. There were plot holes and some characters just disappeared after a nice build-up of events leaving a very blended flow going up and down. There were times I liked some episodes and there were times I didn’t. An example of this was Shaft leaving the proclaimed esper near the end made me wish she was introduced earlier.

Another example included the cow tag man being spoken of but was left till an episode or two later for him to actually get introduced and Elliot was never heard of after we saw a child version of him. Of course, it’s not all so bad.

Overall

Other than being filled with heaps of moe moments and maybe some fan-service, it wasn’t as interesting and enjoyable to watch as I thought it would’ve been. Erio deciding to take on star gazing and a part-time job wasn’t what I expected for her social comeback towards society and the other characters had some lack of importance too in certain scenes. As I’ve said, the music wasn’t that great, the art was nice to see but there wasn’t an actual solid story to this series.

Should you watch it?

You might be hesitant to watch it after a score of 6 out of 10 but this is to appeal towards a wider audience. If you enjoy moe, sparkles, slice-of-life or nice occasional art then I’d recommend this show to you.

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Aug 17, 2015

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

fades (All reviews)

8 people found this review helpful

"Why are you chasing me!!"
"Because you're running away!"
"I'm not running away, I'm on a journey to find my true self!"

I'd like to view ET: the moe version as an experiment in storytelling.
However, there is not much of a story to speak of.
Guy meets girls and his life changes.
Ok, so what is done differently this time around?

1. Characters

There's the eccentric 40 year old mum who is seemingly happy and carefree. In reality though, she has no idea how to approach her daughter who seems to have some loose screws in her head and is unable to tie her shoe or cut a paper read more

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Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

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Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

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