Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo!

killermouze Jan 4, 2010

5

“Takasu Ayako can handle anything; duels with foreign powers and assassination attempts don’t faze her. But can she handle falling in love? Fellow students at the prestigious school for Beatrice users are shocked to hear that their "Angel of Death" Ayako, who has never even shown a smile before, has fallen in love at first sight with the diminutive freshman Yoshimura Mamoru. Mamoru must decide how to respond to the sudden confession of love, the resulting fascination of his fellow students, and the dangers of being near Ayako. Will his own powers ever measure up?” In a nutshell: Besides being notable for having a ridiculously long name, Mamoru-kun ni megami no Shukufuku wo! is a poor anime that has just enough going for it in the way of side characters to keep it from getting completely pawned by my review. Story: 2/10 You want a storyline that doesn’t make sense? How about one that has absolutely no sense of pacing? With plot holes big enough to stick President Nixon’s ego in, this anime’s story is awful. You know it’s an ominous sign when you have one of the hottest girls in school confess her undying love to this sorry excuse of a man within 10 minutes of first sight. At this point, I took it in stride thinking “it’s an anime, this stuff isn’t as uncommon as it should be.” However, it doesn’t get any better from there. While it started out with a little bit of potential, they completely ruined it by 23 episodes of filler crap. You know those super common filler episodes that seem to be in every anime in the genre? They ALL make an appearance in this anime. Let me list the cliché filler episodes used in Mamoru-kun ni megami no Shukufuku wo! so you know just how much time you will waste. Beach School festival Christmas Valantine’s Day Hot Springs New Years Supposedly, all the characters can use this spell power called “Beatrice”. I still don’t get what the hell it is. Anyways, these kids use it at some random special school for Beatrice users. Sounds a little like Harry Potter in my opinion. The entire story of this anime is literally crammed into the last 4 episodes. It is crappy and cheesy enough to make you gag on your own vomit. Here is a line from the last episode that exemplifies exactly what you are getting yourself into: “[We can win] With the invisible power of love!” The story gets a 2 over a 0 because the antics of the student council are actually pretty funny. More on that later. Animation: 6/10 The animation was average for what I would expect from modern anime. Characters were passable, with vibrant hair styles and hideous clothes. Backgrounds were sufficiently detailed. The best part was definitely some of the action sequences with bright colors shooting all over the place. I have no idea why or how, but it still looked cool. Sound: 5/10 Mamoru-kun ni megami no Shukufuku wo! offers nothing special in the sound department. Voice acting is average, and the ending and closing songs are forgettable. In-show sound effects and music wasn’t bad however. Characters: 7/10 I completely lost it when I took a second to study Yoshimura Mamoru, the male protagonist. No joke, he looks like he is 10. There is no way in hell this boy’s balls have dropped. So you end up with this well endowed chick, dating this 10 year old kid. When he stands up next to her, his height puts him somewhere in between her em… waist and titties. Now I know the Japanese are more liberal on getting frisky with underage youths, but this is ridiculous. Every time they swear undying love to each other, I throw up in my mouth and instinctively reach for the phone to call child services. Anyways, he is quiet enough to not be annoying, but he is also quiet enough to not be interesting. Don’t expect much character development outside of swearing undying loyalty to his well endowed woman. The female protagonist Takasu Ayako, was good, not great. I like it when the main girl has a backbone, and boy, does she have it! Though she never seems to seriously hurt her friends, she has no problems beating the crap out of them when they piss her off. The bad guys are pretty mundane. No one really seems to be bad; everyone has an ulterior motive in one way or another. By now you are probably wondering why I gave a 7. The reason lies with the hilarious antics of the student council. To put it frankly, they are funny. The student council president was a favorite of mine, especially when he was interacting with his sister. I know it sounds stupid, but one of the members of the student council was this big muscle guy who loved to get naked and spout cheesy English lines. I have no idea why, but I just found him really amusing and laughed out loud a few times. Overall: 5/10If you like the idea of a 10 year old boy getting some ass, or are willing to watch a crap anime to enjoy a few laughs from some half naked musclely guy, this anime is for you. For everyone else, there are other animes that you could and should be spending your time on.

ThatAnimeSnob Aug 7, 2012

3.5

This is a romantic comedy which somewhat tries a bit harder than the usual. You see, the main couple is established from the first episode and thus there is no 50-episodes-stall-until-he-admits-he-loves-her. With that in mind the show proceeds with having the couple doing everything a normal couple would do… apart from sex. Going on dates, making chocolates, going on vacation together. All of the above are originally playing out as a stereotypical romance but just for kicks various weird stuff are standing in the way. For example, Ayako, the main girl, is an edgy superhuman who constantly beats everybody who stands in her way or just irritates her. One would expect for her prime victim to be her boyfriend but no, he isn’t. She hardly slaps him; most of the times she is very protective and caring around him. She unleashes all her epic anger to those who bully him or try to spy on them. The boy in question, Mamoru, is your average harem lead with the difference he looks like he is still 10 years old and everybody is out to help him. Usually in such shows the entire universe is set to keep them apart and to torment the boy. Jealous schoolmates, rival girls, monsters, whatever, they are all there to constantly hurt the male and make him give up. Not in this show though; most of them actually want to help him or just test how strong his love for her really is. The thing is they do it in such an annoying way that they actually stand in the way despite their good intensions. To the most part they will feel like perverts, stalkers, annoying nose-butters, and that results to Ayako constantly causing mass destruction all around her. All that basically make this show a parody of a genre which is already a parody of romances and thus may attract you to keep watching further. The thing is, there isn’t much of a story in the show and it actually lasts 24 episodes, which will probably tire most who expect developments and plot twists. The plot is just small arcs with the couple in a different romantic situation and various people around them standing in the way… with usually good intentions that go wrong along the way. The whole thing plays out too light as there is nothing overly serious to ever make you worried. The lack of excitement and the simple storylines have a high probability to make most lose interest. Production values are average for their age. This anime was made at the same time as the first Haruhi and the difference is painfully huge. Most who like good visuals and great soundtracks will be disappointed to the almost simplistic character figures, the blunt backgrounds and the forgettable pop songs. But hey, what can you expect from a studio such as Zexcs? All their shows look run down regardless of their age.On the other hand the cast is very colorful and almost different than the average romantic comedy, as the roles are different for the reasons I stated above. None is given great development or is special enough to remember but they are all quite distinctive in whatever they are doing and most of the times quite funny. The period of which they will start to feel repetitive and tiresome is questionable and highly personal. I for example lost my interest half way through. A thing to notice is that there is fan service in it but it is kept at reasonable levels for its time and most of it is censored, so it never turns to substitute for porn. That allows for the characters to retain most of their dignity towards you.It is not a bad comedy but the lack of an overall story or progress, as well as the rather long duration and average production values for its time make it hard to be appreciated for its merits. Recommended to fans of the genre only.And now for some excused scorings. ART SECTION: 5/10 Analysis: General Artwork 1/2, Character Figures 1/2, Backgrounds 1/2, Animation 1/2, Visual Effects 1/2 SOUND SECTION: 6/10 Analysis: Voice Acting 2/3, Music Themes 2/4, Sound Effects 2/3 STORY SECTION: 3/10 Analysis: Premise 1/2, Pacing 0/2, Complexity 1/2, Plausibility 0/2, Conclusion 1/2 CHARACTER SECTION: 4/10 Analysis: Presence 1/2, Personality 2/2, Backdrop 1/2, Development 0/2, Catharsis 0/2 VALUE SECTION: 2/10 Analysis: Historical Value 0/3, Rewatchability 0/3, Memorability 2/4 ENJOYMENT SECTION: 1/10 Analysis: Art 0/1, Sound 0/2, Story 0/3, Characters 1/4 VERDICT: 3.5/10

iamanimelover2 Jun 18, 2011

5

Well this anime is one of those that is now in the pile of failed animes. The only reason why I watched this thing through to the end was because of my perfectionist nature which I can not leve something half done. In other words if you dont mind not finishing something or if you do mind dont even begin to watch the series. Story The story took way too long to get to the point. The main plot was established and solved within the last 4 episodes of the series ( I say series because I pray that they do not come out with a second season ). Most of the series was only made up of filler scenes and pointless stuff like the main character's need for a towel to go to sleep. Another thing that made no sense was the magic that they used it was never explained and what does the world do when the feel that someone is out of control with this power what else but launch nukes at it. That is how the series finally gave it the story rating that it deserves. Animation Well the animation varied from character to character. The main male character Mamoru had his hair in such a way that made it look like it was made out of waxed rubber not to mention that he looks like he is only 10 years old. One of the henchmen of this little girl looks like one of the guys from Yu Yu Hakisho he even had the same hair style but for some reason they decide to give this guy huge buck teeth. The only reason that I gave it a 7 out of 10 is because the background fights and some other characters were colorful and done properly. Sound Sound was good not great but just good enough to save itself from failure. Characters Mamoru was the most underdevoloped character of this series he was basically there just to be an amplierfier to those that had the ability to use magic. Ayako was ok but why, why would she choose the most useless waste of space. The reason that i didnt just give this anything other than a 5 was all due to the other minor characters such as the student council that actually made this series watchable.