Okay, so this one will be blogged, mostly based on how many people were looking forward to it. I’m going to take your word for it that this is supposed to be a parody, rather than something that doesn’t know it’s using its cliches. Overall, this series has some similarities to Togainu no Chi: both are series based on very popular franchises. Both weren’t the best at adaptations and both have rather bad directors. In TWGOK’s case, it’s been saddled with Shigehito Takayanagi, the guy behind Hime-Sama Goyoujin, a series whose entire premise was nothing but stupidity. You can really see those influences in Elcea, or was she also such a moe blob in the manga?
Still, the reason why I chose this series over Togainu no Chi is that it does have some decent characterizations. The main character is far from your average lead character and I’m expecting that this will continue on for the entire series. I especially want to see this series pulling off its female characters correctly, instead of making this into yet another series in which the lead characters makes a bunch of stereotypes fall for him. The twist at the end of this episode was a good start, but far from enough. A big problem is that there’s also no continuity: one moment there’s a hole in the house, the next moment that hole is gone. That stands out especially after a series like Squid Girl did this right.
Parodies are my favourite genre in anime comedies. To me, what constitutes a great parody is a series whose entire premise is made around making fun its subject material, and exploiting its flaws. With its premise, TWGOK made a good start, but at the same time I feel like it plays too many things straight, again, especially with Elcea. I really hope that her stupidity will be used to prove a point in the near future, because the cooking scenes, the scenes in which the classmates act like a bunch of dogs over the hot girl near the lead character, and the scenes in which Elcea immediately believes that sisters and brothers should bathe together: those aren’t parodies, they’re overused cliches and stereotypes that plague the moe genre. Obviously, if this series keeps that going on for too long, I’m going to switch over to Togainu no Chi or even Index if that too turns out to be a disaster.
Rating: (Enjoyable)
Um i suppose this is probably a spoiler though i doubt it would have much of an impact to know this early on, either way potential readers have been warned.
The reason why the house was fixed is because hell fixed it, kinda like divine intervention, except from hell. At least that’s how I explained it to myself. I mean, take for example how the girls’ with evil spirits lose their memories of Keima after it’s been expelled, it can’t be natural.
Don’t expect too much continuity apart from the general narrative, what do you want a contractor coming looking for the bill to fix the house?
This early on the story is a parody of the entire gal story and Keima helping the girls get over their problems. Ayumi’s self doubt and twintails issues with her fathers death.
Oh Elcea is a moeblob
Somehow it feels as if they’re emphazising the completely wrong scenes in this adaption…
They go much too much for the “romance” and “silly comedy” parts and ignore the “Keima is an arrogant, selfish bastard who doesn’t care about anything in the real world” part.
But that character trait made for a lot of the fun in the manga, so I’m really feeling that the anime-adaption is missing something.
I really hope they will do something about that in the next episodes or this series will go from an awesome parody to a bad version of the series it wants to parody….
You should never blog anything because it is popular or because of hype. Your tastes are not mainstream. You tried that with Kimi ni Todoke and look how well that turned out.
lester1020: good point. I think the reason for TWGOK is that for once, this hype has me intrigued, more than anything. Comments like the one from Moonhawk worry me a lot, though, and I’m ready to drop this show if as soon as it becomes clear that it doesn’t understand the things it’s trying to parody.
Elsee being cliched is the whole point. Even Keima points out that he knows the food is going to be terrible, before seeing it, because that’s how those sort of things go. That’s why he freaked out when she was in the bath with him as well because normally that doesn’t happen, but Elsee thought it did likely because of misguided information. Pointing out the traits a tsundere would have is again supposed to be making fun of it.
But I do agree with Moonhawk. Keima doesn’t seem to be as much of an over top larger than life character in the anime, as much as he is in the manga. Hopefully things change next week.
@lesterf1020:
I think psgel wasn’t speaking about general popularity but about that quite some readers of this blog expressed their hopes that he would blog this show.
And as it seems like he was anyway uncertain which show to choose between this and Togainu no Chi he decided to go for the show that more people wanted him to blog.
(While still leaving the option open to switch if it turns out to not keep his interest)
Alright, alright. Just ignore my comment, lesterf1020 ^^°
(Really… for once I take my time to check for the right spelling and whooosh, there are two new comments…)
@ The hole: It´s infernal intervention and more importantly the hole serves no purpose other than “Elce is clumsy”. In Ika Musume it´s the reason the squid girl has to keep working at the restaurant.
Elce is a moeblob but she also is a device for highlighting Keimas (titlegiving) worldview. She doesn´t understand the human world and trusts Keima completely.
The series isn´t entirely parody. The “gap in the hearth” is more than just not being in love, the Girls have real issues and forcing out the evil spirit is more about getting the girls to deal with their issues than scoring a kiss.
If it were a pure parody there would be no point in making the tsundere ojosama poor. Or have the atletic girl lie about her injuries.
I definitely would not recommend dropping this series unless they stray away from it completely…especially in the latter episode 😀
well I don’t see this series as a parody, is more like a deconstruction of the dating sim adaptations. Why? because even if the girls Keima has to capture are stereotypes they are broken because of fitting or trying to fit these stereotypes. Keima, as the male lead, knows how to react and when to manipulate the girls as you would be doing to a dating sim girl knowing she doesn’t exist and so he is also a reversed player of dating sim games and a lead of dating sim games.
Sadly, the adaptation is not that good, the director is going for a fluffy comedy instead of showing the antics and troubles of the lead characters. The manga was comedic but much more deep.
Sorry for the broken english, I’m Mexican.
I agree with Alx… But after watching the episode I still can see the parody elements. Besides Keima keeps basically screaming the cliches… The thing is to notice the things that make the characters different. Although I have to agree that the direction is losing focus on what make the manga interesting… Not the girls but Keima xD
Thanks for blogging this, I’m also looking forward to your reviews of this Comedy! 🙂
The hole fixing of Keima’s house isn’t explained really in the manga but later on the destruction of the neighbourhood house is used for explaining another character moving besides Keima’s home. I suppose Elsee made a quick fix with her hagoromo. And she’s just that way with her hell tasty meals xD.
The very instant you will sell your soul blogging what’s popular this star crossed will stop shining.
I’m pretty sad you prefer a show like this or Ika over Index. You’re even comparing it with Boy Love stuff and choose what will turn out best. Just forget it, you clearly are biased towards those shows. UFGH!! I hate that, but, i know your standards are not mine, so i can live with it. Given that i request you to avoid blogging any of those show unless you are really impressed. This is not a job, so just blog up to your own expectation, Psgels.
I throw it like this: Instead of choosing among doubtful series, why don’t you chose an older serie instead?
Solaris: I actually don’t prefer this series over Ika: I find Ika a lot funnier. Also, Index and Tobainu no Chi both are very popular, and with all of them I had to take into account the things everyone has been saying about what their stories would grow into.
Also, I tried to blog an older series earlier this year, with Crest of the Stars, and I failed. Unfortunately, I do not have the discipline to blog such a series weekly.
@Solaris – Thats a pretty nasty comment. Psgels is merely giving it a try. Afterall, some shows start slow, unintentionally or intentionally. Evangelion infamy partly came from the direction the show went, which is unpredictable if you just watch the first few episodes.
Sorry if i sounded mean. It wasn’t really my intention.
I just wanted to remind Psgels’ good point has always been indipendence of blogging up to his own taste and intuition. Hopefully it will continue being like that forever despite all of the suggestion and pushing we user could ever make out.
Therefore, unless his own intuition says oterwise he can always drop any show he found out not appropriate to blog us liking it or not.
If a serie turns out good, one could just start blogging it late, or just writing a review when i’s finished.
I don’t really think Psgels should start blogging something he’s not sure on how it will turn out just not to miss a chance. I mean, there are plenty of series to blog out there, it’s not a drama if some change for the good unexpectedly or the opposite way around and he didn’t blog them cause of a wrong first impression.
I’m fine with you blogging this, but I’m just surprised. The manga starts having an actual plot (as opposed to him collecting girls) at chapter one hundred or so, though.
I’ve been trying to catch up with the manga since the anime started last week,and I’ve gotta say,this is no parody and more like a quite well written manga with lots of deconstruction.Currently I’m at 40ish chapter and surprisingly the characters are quite well written. However I really don’t think this will be your cup of tea though.I’m pretty sure you are gonna hate the dojo girl arc since it’s so cliched to the max and not quite as well written as the others..
IMO, you shouldn’t watch this series now, because it will leave you a bad impression of the overall series. Maybe you should marathon it later after reading some comments of someone who have watched the series.
This season will probably end at Hakua’s arc. The girls before her are really stereotypes (that doesn’t mean they are badly written character) and Keima’s plans generally go as planned.
In latter arcs, Keima starts to have more problems with the captures and it introduces some plot elements other than “the girl of the week”.
@c160
Dojo girl arc won’t even be covered this season anyway…
@Vangui
The first captures work as a parody good enough, if you want to go beyond the “I don’t like cliches” thing… For the look of things psgels might not find this season too likeable. I agree that if you don’t want to blog it you can marathon it and start from the second season xD. I’ll read you no matter what because I like your comments and the contrast between you and a certain other blogger, you guys are my favorites 😀
I gave this a big meh after seeing it too… Just like you said, the anime is making use of the very cliches its supposed to make fun of, what the hell?
And dont tell me thats the whole point, because when this is well done, you can tell the difference immediately… At this point I am enjoying Ore Imouto more than this lol just because its funnier if anything
Overall though, as usual, most 2nd episodes were disappointing compared to the 1st ones, and this is no exception
thanks Ransom…
i was really wondering…
why i couldn’t enjoy the anime as much as i did with the manga…
and that’s because they are enphasizing too much in the girls…instead of Keima…
i knew something was off… but couldn’t tell what… until now…