At the start of the summer-season, I remember predicting that the title of best comedy of the season would go to either go to Sayonara Zetsumou-Sensei or Potemayo. Well, Sayonara Setzubou-sensei ended up winning it. That’s not to say Potemayo isn’t funny, but a in terms of comedies, there are better choices.
The comedy in Potemayo is basically based on timing. You’ll never know when something funny happens. This would have been perfect if the jokes were awesome, but it turns out that they’re hit-or-miss. You’ll never know when a joke lands, and you’ll never know when it’ll deliver. There are enough cute moments, but I’m afraid to say that the best jokes were in the first two episodes.
Basically, the story is about a strange chibi-girl who comes out of the main character’s fridge and starts living with him, and the anime basically follows their everyday activities along with the main character’s classmates. Again, the characters are a mixed bag. The ideas behind their characters are nice, but some of them just don’t get anywhere and keep repeating the same jokes over and over (Mutan and the ones around him come to mind). Other characters were quite interesting though. My favourites were Yasumi and Guchiko, who seemed to be behind some of the best jokes of the series and had the least amount of misfired ones.
Potemayo also has a few serious scenes, as an attempt to get some sympathy with the viewers, but for me at least, it didn’t work well. Most of the drama is annoying and rather lacklustre, and only the final episode ends up somewhat touching, until the ending turns out to be a disney-ending, at least. Potemayo also seems to think it’s a mystery-series by revealing the major part of the main character’s past in the final episode. I think it would have been better for this to have been revealed in one of the first episodes, so that he could have actually used this bit of much-needed development instead.
I may have been a bit too negative with this review, because I enjoyed watching it. Potemaho has got quite a few cute and genuinely funny moments; though don’t expect a masterful comedy here.]]>
Potemayo Review – 73/100
Hey, this is kind of off-topic, and I don’t know if I ever actually recommended it to you before, but have you ever seen the anime “Mahoujin Guruguru”? Your description of Potemayo somehow reminded me of it, though I’m not sure why (and it was more in an “oh, it sounds like he was hoping Potemayo would be more like Mahoujin Guruguru” way than anything else). It’s one of my favorite comedy anime, and is just an absolutely brilliant show that pretty much no one has ever heard of. It’s 45 episodes long, and was made back in 1994… and it is, for all intents and purposes, an RPG parody, specifically satirizing elements of the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series. But unlike a lot of RPG parodies (since this can hardly be called the first!), Mahoujin Guruguru also manages to tell a really decent and surprisingly original story all its own, with likeable and quirky characters throughout.
Some examples of its more original characters/concepts include the wind spirit, Gipple, who can extend his robe to the ground and form a tent with it, in which the heroes sleep. The problem is, if they should ever look up while inside, they’ll be staring right at the thin strip of sumo underwear covering his crotch, which is generally not a pleasant sight. (:
There’s also a very devout priestess character named Juju, who carries an altar strapped to her back, and fights either by plopping it on the ground and praying that God smite her enemies, or by forming swords out of holy water and slicing them up herself. (:
It’s also just ludicrously awesome in other ways. The characters all have levels, HP, MP, etc., for example, and there’s a narrator throughout who tells you whenever they take damage or what-not… and some of the locales they visit and side-quests they accept are just ridiculous. I mean, what other anime has its main characters going on a quest to ruin a mermaid’s wedding? (:
The whole 45-episode run of the show is available in a batch torrent from animesuki.com, and is worth checking out. There’s also a 30-minute movie that acts almost like a 46th episode, called “The Pickle of Happiness,” and there’s a second series called “Mahoujin Guruguru Doki Doki Densetsu” that comprises an alternate retelling of the second half of the first series (though it’s nowhere NEAR as good!).
Definitely one to check out sometime. Though if you do, be sure to give it a fighting chance: while the first few episodes are good, there’s a dungeon arc early on that lasts 4 or 5 episodes, and really isn’t all that great… but the show gets WORLDS better afterward!
-Tom
I kept watching the series mostly because of Guchuko and Potemayo’s rage when she mets her. Really good to watch when you are tired of thinking.
Wyrdwad: I recall seeing that title on your top-10, but I admit that reading that piece of text has made me curious. If I can find time somewhere, I might check it out. 🙂
I completely agree with your reasoning that the flashback in the last episode should have been done much earlier. It would have gave us a lot more insight into Sunao, especially concerning his relationship with his dad.
>> though don’t expect a masterful comedy here
I thought it came pretty close =(
It was almost a masterpiece comedy. Imho it was the best comedy of last season and one of the bestest of the year.