In Dog Days there is a magical world named Flonyard, where there are countries made up of different types of animal people. These animal people are not really animals, instead they just have animal ears and tails much like typical anime catgirls. The world has a magical barrier which allows residents to have military battles without physically being harmed. The different countries pool money together and use these fun mock-battles to entertain their people and keep their economies booming.
One particular country named the Biscotti Republic (most of the characters and places are named after culinary terms), a country made up of dog people, is having a bad losing streak. The dog-like pink princess of the Biscotti Republic, named Millihiore, decides to summon a strong hero from another world to have him fight so they can break their losing streak. She ends up summoning Shinku Izumi from Earth, who is well-versed in physical activity from his involvement in Iron Athletics (think Ninja Warrior). Together, Shinku and a group of colorful and interesting characters work together to fight off cat people named the Galette Lion Army, and overall just have fun together.
This sounds like the premise for any other typical “guy goes to another world to be a hero” anime, but Dog Days is unique in the way that it presents itself. The colors are incredibly vibrant, and the landscapes come alive when characters are riding around on their giant birds which look much like chocobos from Final Fantasy. The animation is all very crisp and fighting scenes involving characters using either physical weapons or magical attacks are all done with this wacky over-the-top fashion that makes it hard not to think it just plain looks exciting and cool. The characters are all perky and fun and have incredibly cute and expressive designs. It is very hard to hate any of the characters, and there is a favorite character for anyone regardless of their tastes.
Dog Days has something for everyone, but is hard to describe what exact genre it is. If you take a fighting shounen anime, make it super cute, give it tons of budget, toss out all elements of modern anime where it tries to be deep and make you think, add in a bunch of A-list voice actors, sprinkle in some Nanoha and Touhou, add in a tiny bit of harem and fanservice, add in a whole bunch of catgirls and doggirls and bunnygirls, all while keeping it unoffensive and allowing it to appeal to anyone who just wants to have fun and isn't stuck-up enough to think that anime should be some life-changing religious experience...you get Dog Days.
Dog Days is just like watching a Saturday morning cartoon show, back when Saturday mornings actually had good cartoons on.
Do you like lots of action and adventure? Do you like martial arts and special moves that require the attack name to be yelled out before executing it? Do you enjoy cute characters, cute animals, great art, magical girls, magical boys, a great soundtrack, romance, and great voices? Above all, do you just want to have fun and smile the entire time you are watching a show? You owe it to yourself to watch a couple episodes at least.
Dog Days will not make you think, and it's story is just good enough to tie everything together. It is a series you turn on, turn off your brain, get an adrenaline rush and have a heart attack from all the cuteness. The single word to describe Dog Days is “fun”, and when you think about it, isn't “fun” really the reason to watch Japanese cartoons in the first place?
