Rbastid

Seven companions? Jeesh I’d be happy to get one person who will help me move a bod…..errr couch, a couch rolled up in a rug, yeah that’s it!

Story - 6/10

Okami-San is essentially a one for one parody of shows in both the anime world as well as famous fairy tales. Most episodes, as well as the over arching storyline, are making fun of the overused cliches that pollute a vast majority of romance, action and young teen type shows.

Ryoko Okami is the enforcer and principal task handler for “The Bank” a group at Otogi High School that does favors for students, with the idea that they’ll one day be asked to repay in kind. Unbeknownst to her, she is being followed by a boy who is in love with her, and predictably he one day comes to her aid, well I guess that part would still be unbeknownst to her, as he did so while hiding behind a dumpster. Not long after the mysterious boy, Ryoshi, confesses his love to her, and although he was rejected, this bought him into view of the bank, who subsequently recruited him as a new member.

Most of the episodes deal with one off jobs by the bank, while focusing more on the members themselves and less on the jobs at hand. Towards the back half they put a few episodes together, really digging in deep on the overused Anime stories of high school delinquents kidnapping and assaulting other students, along with the Otogi team having to run a gauntlet of fights reminiscent of Game of Death. 

While there is a decent story to be told by the series, the episodes are made for pure comedy, mostly at the expense of the entire anime world. Is it as funny as something like FLCL, GTO or Excel Saga? Not even close, but in the world of what makes up today’s comedy anime, it’s up towards the top.

Animation - 7/10

The visuals for this series are par for the course when it comes to animation of this time period. The characters look good, though understandably unoriginal. Likewise the backgrounds and locations all come across as high quality, though again a small joke in the show is how there are only a few locations used over and over again, as that’s commonplace in anime.  The only problems I saw were during some of the fight scenes things got a bit sloppy, and there was no indication that the bad animation was also a tie in to their mockery of other shows.

Sound - 6/10

Our main character is voiced by Brina Palencia in the English version, someone I know best from voicing Maho in Beck. While she was great in Beck, as a VO Artist and Singer, her mopey teen style just doesn’t work for Okami, sure she too is kind of a mopey teen, but this exaggerated reality demands a much different tone than what we got.

The other characters all pretty good, but nothing really to rave about. They run the gamut of typical anime voices, squeaky little girl, soft spoken girl that sounds as if she’s taken some sleeping pills, intelligent male and shy/aloof male, but being as their from the Funimation stable, they all work well. The best voice belongs to the person we never see, the narrator, or in this case storyteller. She sounds like the best version of a Grandmother reading fairytales to her grandchildren, but with great comedy timing, and it’s no surprise considering that the V.O. artist is one of the best and versatile actors in the anime business, Luci Christian.

Both the opening and closing themes fit the show’s light and comical theme, and while neither are to my taste, they are probably one of the best example, in a long time, of a show having two songs that actually work with the series. The music throughout the series also sounded very nice, with songs at times resembling some of the softer piano pieces that the band Muse has in their music.

Characters - 8/10

Due to the nature of the show, the characters are very reminiscent of those you’ve seen before, but for once it’s worth it, as they are mocking similar characters from different anime series. 

Ryouko is the tough school girl samurai, well boxer, who takes on the tough jobs of the bank, those where fighting is the most likely outcome. She has no problem beating up hordes of men, and when things get tough she’s got “Kitty Knuckle” boxing gloves to help her, which just so happen to always have some little feature that gives her the upper hand. Deep down inside though, she’s really a girl who is suffering from her time as a younger child and the abuse she suffered from an old boyfriend. Even after this series you can see this exact same character, in a more serious situation, in the likes of Akame from Akame ga Kill  and Ryuuko in Kill la Kill.

Thankfully, as in so many of these series, there’s the boy who is in love with our heroine and will do whatever he can to save her, even if that means getting himself hurt in the process. That task falls on Ryoushi, and boy does it fall hard, as he’s often not only beat up by the baddies, but also by Okami….which is no surprise considering that’s what always happens.

The series makes sure to cover as much as they can character wise, including the busty maid, the librarian, the tiny sidekick, the handsome sex crazed male, the plethora of high school gang members and a butler. Each and every one of the character in the show works perfectly to serve their purpose, as a parody of all the awful and repetitive characters we’ve had to endure in series after series. One pretty brilliant aspect of the show is how they don’t need to develop any of the characters, because their story is supposed to be obvious to all but the newest of anime fans, and those viewers wouldn’t understand most of the jokes in the show anyway.

Overall - 7/10

It’s a short and enjoyable show if you understand that it’s a light comedy that rags on how the world of anime is loaded with the same stories and shows that are only in it for fan service. It’s not supposed to be original, deep on plot or full of backstory, which they make clear to anyone paying attention. The show will make fun of your favorite series, it will point out that you’re a creepy perv who just wants to watch underage girls prance around in their underwear and it will touch on how most of the time none of your favorite shows make any sense. If you can understand that, you will find the show pretty funny and entertaining, if not you’ll most likely get angry at your TV.