Reviews

Dec 20, 2023
The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses has a lot of surprises and one non-secret you kind of have to ignore are the ecchi parts. Do that, and I think you might have a good time with this one.

Story & Characters: The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses takes place in Tokyo where Hayato Kasukabe has inherited a café, Café Familia, that his grandmother, Sachiko, once owned. With no real ambition to use it as a project, Hayato decides to return to check the place out to demolish it in place of a parking lot that he wants to earn some money off of. The problem? His grandmother took in five girls to live on the premises that connects the café. While away, Hayato realizes that these girls loved his grandmother like his own, and they want the café to remain in place. Our story shows us how these five girls, Ouka, Akane, Riho, Shiragaku and Ami, attempt to work with Hayato to make sure the café remains in place!

Right away, audiences may notice the intense similarities that this series has with another popular Harem, The Quintessential Quintuplets. Fives girls, all looking for the attention of a single dude? Check. Each girl here seemingly being very similar to each of the quintuplets? Check. Subtle hints that he'll eventually go out with one of them? Check. Now, the whole thing isn't entirely a repeat, but the things that sets this apart from the others are those differences. They matter here.

For starters, Hayato's not a complete bonehead like many male protagonists in Harem anime have. I'm not sure why that archetype is so common, but it really doesn't take much to create a decent main character, even if they're surrounded by five females. After Hayato reluctantly takes on this café as his own little project, he actually puts his heart into trying to make it successful. He's a solid lead, with decent ideals, even if some of the random bits that try and make the series funny don't always land. Plenty is shown of Grandma Sachiko, and she's shown to be a very devoted grandmother who puts her grandson first, even if he wasn't the nicest person in his younger years. What's easily apparent is that it isn't just how she treated her grandson, but most everyone that had a friendly face. That includes all five of these girls, many of which don't exactly have the happiest of pasts.

Ouka comes off as someone who has quite a temper, but after a few episodes, she really does mellow out. She has an ambition to eventually create cloths with her fashion sense, and I love that they connected this to the café's needs. Some of Ouka's complicated past is revealed to have been in relation to her twin sister, Kikka, and while it isn't the deepest of stories, it was a fun episode where we can see some resolution. Akane, in contrast, is likely the calmest of the bunch. Her calling card is that she's in a band, though if she plans to make this her life's goal was never revealed. Still, Akane's skill is that she's likely the best at brewing coffee, something a good café obviously needs. Riho is the oldest of the bunch, and specializes in more-so the business side of things such as advertisements and supervising. She's quite mature at certain times, and basically tries to play it cute at others, but that's part of her charm. Shiragiku wants to eventually be a chef like Sachiko, and is the best of the five girls and making food. Her charm? If she smells a whiff of alcohol, she turns into, what I can only describe, as the trampiest girl that I've seen in a Harem anime - which says a lot. It's definitely overkill, but her past and the connection it has with Hayato was easily the best part of the series. Ami is probably the blandest of the character in this series, while also being the one with the most energy. How? She's the same character day in and day out - obsessed with exercise and basically no skills to match the café. Her past was never revealed, but she does have a strong sense of loyalty to her fellow co-workers, something that shouldn't be overlooked.

One of the minor problems with this series is that it starts off very strong in the Harem-Ecchi direction right off the hop. There is a LOT of fan-service in the early going, most of which feel like an attempt to grab audiences, when this series really isn't about that at all. Once you get past that and pay attention to the story and characters, this series is wonderfully written. Our six characters stick together through a lot and the series takes sizable chunks of time to try and make their chemistry apparent. Who gets along with who, who doesn't, why don't they and how to they stick together? These are all questions that are constantly asked and answered, and I loved it. There are a lot of strong plot points and, unlike a lot of other anime, they're answered right away.

We've talked about the Harem and Ecchi aspects. How about the Romance aspects. Are they really strong here? To that, I answer with "somewhat". It's no real secret that some of the girls will start to get a crush on our somewhat oblivious protagonist, but I feel like they didn't want to push too much of that in this season, with another one on its way. It's pretty common in romance series to slow burn it a little bit, but they definitely give you hints of who likes Hayato and why. "Why" is important here because it's not uncommon for characters to just... like each other. They literally say it out here, and I like that. Time will tell if this series goes until the very end.

Apart from our characters' pasts that I mentioned above, the current day story plays out in a somewhat predictable fashion, but is still well executed. Many problems that they run into relate to how the café can become either more profitable, or well-known, and our characters need to think of a way to get past some obstacle. My minor worry with all of this is that the next season will be a lot of the same. What other problems can a café have? I'm anxious to find out. (Story: 8/10, Characters: 9/10)

Art: I gotta hand it to Tezuka Productions, they really delivered a solid looking series here. They don't do a lot of popular works, but they certainly helped themselves here after putting out series like the first season of Quintessential Quintuplets, Dororo and How Not to Summon a Demon Lord. Everything looks incredibly crisp with colours that absolutely pop off the screen. Yeah, fan service is a little overwhelming in the early going, but that was just going to happen with an Ecchi series. Less than subtle is the censoring going on here - it looks terrible. (9/10)

Sound: I could take or leave basically every audio aspect of this series. I didn't have much to say other than it was solid all around. (7/10)

Overall: Every time I decide to watch an Ecchi series, I'm not really sure what to expect - maybe unfairly. But The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses really impressed me with the storylines it put into the series. Especially with how much fan service can turn audiences away. The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses needs to continue with these strong character relations going into the next season in order to see itself as a contender as one of the best Harem series on the market. If they improve upon what they have here? It'll make a strong case. (9/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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