After first hearing of this in Pearz' Spring 2011 Anime Preview post, I was genuinely intrigued. For one thing, what genre was this anime? For another thing, how do you get a series out of a guidebook? For a third thing...oh, there's no third. Those two reasons led me to watch it this morning. (I'm using Doki's 720p version.)
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| This shows the relationship of the introduced characters pretty well. |
I can't say I regret having watched it. The episode was over before I knew it, there were no points where I had to pause and breathe (for example, due to sheer insanity), and this first episode answered both of my questions really well. I'll watch the second episode to see what direction (if any) this series will take, but it'll really be purely for curiosity. That said, this anime does have its merits.
(My recap will be shorter this time, after getting chastised by the Rho-Pearz Combo last time with OreTsuba ep01.)
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| Lesson 01: Is it wrong that I feel shafted for not having pictures on the board? |
The episode was broken into "lessons", like "Lesson 1: First xxx" (where xxx was actually covered in the original Japanese; it's weird to see censorship in an anime that came from a
guidebook). Maybe I just didn't see it, but the lesson titles didn't really have much to do with the contents; maybe a second watch-through would clear up this confusion for me.
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| Lesson 02: Not really sexual in nature; it's more health-related advice. Then again, the title said it would be both. |
Story-wise, it's pretty standard "sudden girlfriend appearance", although it's a male god that appeared. If it wasn't clear, the
unnamed (he got named at 7:29, to Imagawa Hayao) main character just became a 30-year-old and is still a virgin. A "god of sex" appears moments before the clock strikes his 30th birthday and proclaims that he'll now help him graduate. The rest of the episode (less than 13min long; somehow, I missed that while watching it) follows the god showing up throughout his day to dole out sexual rules and tips (some interactive, others just direct lectures).
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| Lesson 03: How to touch breasts. I want a mousepad like that; seems pretty ergonomic. |
My only expectation going into this was that it would be some kind of informative on sex. Thirteen minutes later, it did live up to that expectation. The advice given was genuine, along the lines of things that pre-teens and teens (and sometimes young adults, too) are genuinely curious about. In terms of why this anime (and potentially the guidebook) needed to titled along the lines of "30-year-old Virgin" when the tips hold true for younger non-virgins as well, I guess I do have a few theories.
One: theoretically, someone younger probably isn't having problems losing their virginity. If a person gets to their 30s and still hasn't done it, then maybe they need some more help than the general "go out there and sow your seeds" line.
Two: potentially, a lower target audience (for the guidebook, if it was named accordingly) would lead to increased promiscuity...which I presume Japan, as a whole, doesn't want, despite reports of widespread sexual exploits.
Three: a guidebook targeted at a younger audience, sadly, usually doesn't explain the "basics" (like what to
do while doing it); it's usually assumed that young ones can figure this out on their own. I guess, by the time a person's in his 30s, these things can/should be explicitly explained.
Four: this title works better than just "Health and Phys. Ed for Virgins" or something along those lines. Just like fanservice is a selling tactic, having such an outrageous title is also a tactic, no?
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| I confirmed with Rho; breasts do not need to be squeezed every 2min to delay an explosion. |
For a series that came from a guidebook, the first episode was at the low end of the info-dump spectrum (compared to something like OreTsuba, where you willingly gave up remembering any character names only minutes in). I counted only three lessons (each coupled with some kind of comedic scene, especially Lesson 03), with maybe a fourth lesson.
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| Lesson 04: What adults have tried to teach children, generation upon generation. |
I searched through the scenes, considering how there were 4 lesson titles, and found what I guess is most likely the 4th lesson: don't be promiscuous. I tried to think up a reason for including this, given the sheer number of harem anime being produced these days, and my only conclusion is that it's probably because it's from a guidebook. Assuming this brochure (that I'll soon begin attempting to hunt down) is sponsored by some level of the government, this kind of theme should be mandatory. In terms of the anime, it opens up the door for the god to focus on getting the two leads together instead of just attempting booty calls for the main male.
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| After graduation, will he no longer be allowed to live in Cherry-Cherry Land? |
The comedy felt pretty 4-koma random, from the starting moment where he was about to "lose his virginity" to a blow-up doll (Momoka-chan, worth apparently 600,000yen [~$7000USD]) and the god showed up (also naked) in his room at the penultimate moment. The premise itself is outrageous, so I guess the comedy almost needs to be in this style.
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| If this was a different type of anime, the god would be a woman. Like a perverted Aa! Megami-sama! |
Despite the premise of sex and some of the scenes, I really can't classify this anime as ecchi. It may be borderline, truth be told. Any lecherous scenes have been entirely covered up, instead of having a mosaic of blur. While the men have been plenty naked so far (Lesson 02 occurred in the bath), naughty bits were covered up entirely (once again, instead of having a mosaic on them). We haven't seen any naked women yet (except for Momoka-chan, the blow-up doll, who was covered, like the men), so I could be wrong. The bluntness is of the same level as Seitokai Yakuindomo (which I only saw one episode of, leaning over Pearz' shoulder), but the visuals are at a much "cleaner" level.
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| The ending still was the most amount of fanservice presented the entire episode. |
In the end, to summarize, I think the genres that this anime straddles would be comedy (4-koma random), borderline ecchi (definitely NSFW), and informative. I can also see how they'll make a series out of a guidebook; I assume they took the information in the guidebook and decided to present it in an "everyday" manner. It's pretty clear that this will contain some level of romance as the two leads get together (the female one seems to also have a goddess with her), which would provide the story within which to contain the lessons.
I'll watch another episode; at 13min, it's not really a major commitment anyway. But it's pretty unnecessary (at this point) to give it episodic reviews. I'll probably just wait until the end of the series to talk about general impressions.
~Aaro off
