So, I actually came upon this anime by actually buying it. Yes, you heard that right, I legally purchased this DVD, although I was probably enticed by the hot girls on the cover in Christmas cosplay. It's not as bad as some of the reviews say it is, although it's not amazing either.
[STORY]
The story, in short, tells us of a guy called Santa who was born on Christmas and is pissed all his life because he doesn't get any presents or a separate birthday and his parents never come home. Although I would be pissed too if my parents named me Santa. He then meets Mai, a "Santa Claus in training" (??) who proceeds to demonstrate some oogly-boogly magic on him, and it takes like a whole episode for the twat to realise that she's trying to make him happy and have a decent party and life for once, at which point she turns into a huge-boobed blonde who can do more than she could before because of the legendary Power of the Kiss (TM). And in Episode 2, we meets a tsunderbitch childhood friend of Mai's, a loli version of a loli (this is literally baby porn of some sort, there is nudity in this) and we have to say goodbye to Mai as she goes back to Santa School. I kinda wish there was a 3rd episode to explain what happened after she went back, but this anime came out when I first learnt to write my name properly, so it doesn't matter now.
[ART]
Your typical 2005 generic "just draw something" art. The DVD I bought this on (with dub) had some sort of scan-line issue which really irritated me, but that's not the actual anime itself as much as the shitty format it was rebranded as in the UK, so I'm not counting that issue. Art is similar to that of Love Hina, although it's not what I would call "high-calibre animation".
[SOUND]
Well, it's in it. The sub's seiyuu aren't the worst thing in the universe, they're pretty bearable and do a good job, with the best one being Mai's, I reckon. I don't even remember the OP or ED songs, and (as of writing this review), I finished watching this series 4 hours ago.
[CHARACTER]
Generic shite to be honest, but executed in a way which could've been worse, so rated a 4 instead of a 3. The tsunderbitch Shelly is the only real one I don't like, even if she did do some nice things for Mai.
[ENJOYMENT]
Worth the money I paid for it (£2.50/$3.28), considering it wasn't "the most terrible thing to happen this decade" or "the greatest thing since the wheel", I think that if you want to view this anime then do, but if you're not interested, then don't bother. It's only rated a R+ for a reason - no, not to show some tits - but to market the anime and compensate for it's lack of a captivating story or the needed "oomph" for it to work.
[OVERALL]
A cross between a 4 and a 5 for me, so a 4.5 at best. Not horrible as people say it is, but definitely nothing I would recommend to someone wanting to watch anime.
Rated "S" for "Shithead Santa girl with nice boobs that can only summon things that start with an S for some strange reason".
