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The Secret World of Arrietty Review

By DoubleSama | April 30, 2024 | Comments 0 Comment

The Secret World of Arrietty anime movie cover art — The Secret World of Arrietty

The Life of a Borrower

The Secret World of Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty / 借りぐらしのアリエッティ) is a fantasy movie by Studio Ghibli. You know, the kind of anime movie Ghibli is generally known for. But, this is one you might not be familiar with.

Everyone’s heard of Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle. Those are the “big four” when it comes to Ghibli movies. And, that makes sense considering they’re not only good but quite a bit older than Arrietty.

The Secret World of Arrietty only came out in 2010. You probably know those other movies from your childhood. This one is too new for that. Well, actually maybe not. At this point, there are a lot of kids who grew up watching 2010s movies. However, I’m a bit too old for that — as are the majority of my readers.

Arrietty and Pod exploring from the anime movie The Secret World of Arrietty — Arrietty and Pod exploring

Alright, enough about that. What’s Arrietty about? It’s about tiny people who live in your walls and steal your stuff. Though, if you asked them, they’d say they were “borrowing” things you wouldn’t miss — like a single cube of sugar. Since they aren’t ever returning these things they take, I wouldn’t call that borrowing.

But, you’d normally never get the opportunity to ask them anything. They make sure to stay out of sight. If one is seen by a human, they pack up their things and move. Why? Because some people view them as pests and oddities. They don’t want to get exterminated or put in a zoo.

Now, I can understand feeling that way if your home is overrun by these “Borrowers.” What if there are only a few, though? Because they’re so small, you wouldn’t have to drain your finances to support them. And, other than their size, they’re normal people like you and I.

Arrietty’s Big Adventure

You know the trope. When the main character is small, they have to go on a “relatively” big adventure. Think of the Hobbits traveling across Middle Earth to Mordor. Arrietty’s adventure isn’t as big as that. But, she goes out of the comfort zone of most Borrowers in a big way.

Arrietty isn’t as afraid of humans as her parents are — specifically her mother. In fact, Arrietty takes more risks than you’d expect, in general. She’s not afraid to go outside and forage in the garden despite the wildlife. And, she couldn’t wait to be allowed to go exploring the house with her father.

If her family needs or wants something that’s risky to get, Arriety doesn’t think twice about searching for it. That’s the kind of person she is. She likes the thrill of adventure. However, that doesn’t mean she wants to leave home.

Arrietty outside in the garden from the anime movie The Secret World of Arrietty — Arrietty outside in the garden

Think of it this way, Arrietty likes exploring, but she never attempts to leave the property. Why? Shouldn’t someone like her want to go out and explore the wider world? Well, she has her parents to think about. She’s not going to go on a grand adventure that would leave her parents behind.

In that sense, I guess Arrietty is similar to me. I like hiking on trails I haven’t been on before and exploring. But, I also like my explorations to come to a conclusion within a day. Going for a day hike up a mountain? Great. Camping out overnight? No, thank you.

Anyway, the adventure aspect of this movie is something I really liked. In the first half, we get to explore the world with Arrietty. We see how she and her father navigate the house and how their size changes everything. That’s the best part.

Shou and the Little People

If the best part of Arrietty is the world exploration, what’s the worst part? That’s pretty easy. It’s Shou. Shou is the male lead of the movie. But, unlike Arrietty, he’s not a Borrower; he’s a human.

Shou was sent to live with his great aunt Sadako in the countryside due to an unnamed illness. We know he has a heart condition, but I’m not sure how being in the country is supposed to help with that. Usually, in stories like this, the child has asthma or something that clean, country air can help.

Why is Shou bad, though? Is he the villain of the story? No, that’s Haru, Sadako’s maid. Shou’s bad for two main reasons. The first is how he spoke to Arrietty the first time they talked to each other. And the second is that there’s an uncomfortable romantic thing between him and her.

Arrietty talking to Shou from the anime movie The Secret World of Arrietty — Arrietty talking to Shou

How does Shou speak to Arrietty when they first meet? He tells her that she’s part of a dying species and that soon the Borrowers will be extinct. That’s pretty mean. But, what makes this bad is that he then apologizes and says he’s lashing out at her because of his illness.

What?

His reasoning is that because of his heart condition, he doesn’t think he has long to live. So, that fear of dying is what made him say mean things to Arrietty. But, that’s terrible writing. His explanation made no sense and it came out of nowhere.

Then, of course, there are some weird romantic feelings between Shou and Arrietty. In most other movies, this would be fine. But, Arrietty is literally the size of one of Shou’s fingers. There’s not any explicit romance. However, their relationship still felt very uncomfortable — closer than friends.

Final Thoughts

I gave The Secret World of Arrietty a 7/10. It’s a good movie, and much better than I expected it to be. I hadn’t heard of it before it was suggested for this month’s Discord movie night event. And, none of us in the server had seen it before. So, I thought it would be a Ghibli flop.

That turned out not to be the case. So, if you’re a Ghibli fan and you haven’t seen Arrietty, I’d recommend giving it a try. It might surprise you.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And, I’d like to thank Rob and Pepe for supporting at the Kouhair tier. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt Review

By DoubleSama | January 29, 2024 | Comments 0 Comment

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt anime series cover art — Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

The Anarchy Sisters

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (パンティ＆ストッキングwithガーターベルト) is a parody series stylized after Western cartoons. It follows Panty & Stocking Anarchy, two angels kicked out of Heaven for their bad behavior. Now, they live in Daten City, where they fight ghosts to collect Heavens (a type of currency).

I don’t remember how many Heavens they need. Let’s just say 1,000. But, if they obtain that many from defeating ghosts, they’ll earn their way back into Heaven. That’s the ultimate goal of these sisters. However, despite wanting to return to Heaven, they don’t take their job very seriously.

Both of the Anarchy sisters are wild. How could they not be with a surname like Anarchy? But, Panty is definitely the wilder of the two. She’s obsessed with sex and sleeps around as much as possible. She even has a personal goal of sleeping with 1,000 guys before returning to Heaven.

Panty & Stocking Anarchy in "angel mode" from the anime series Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt — Panty & Stocking Anarchy in “angel mode”

By comparison, Stocking seems relatively normal and well-behaved. Rather than sex, she’s obsessed with sweets. Though, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t partake in Panty’s hobby of choice, too. But, Stocking is as crazy about sweets as Panty is about sex. So, she’s not exactly much better in that regard.

There are some other big differences between the sisters. Panty dresses more like a party girl while Stocking dresses in gothic lolita fashion. Panty is also more nonchalant and doesn’t care about most things. Meanwhile, Stocking is the more hateful and aggressive of the two.

But what about their names? Why are they named Panty & Stocking? Well, it has to do with their ghost-slaying weapons. Panty can turn her panties into a ghost-slaying gun. And Stocking can turn her stockings into ghost-slaying swords. The best parts of the series are the scenes of them removing these garments.

Fast-Paced Filth

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first half of Panty & Stocking. I get that this is a cult classic and there are people out there who love this series. But, I was unimpressed by the start. And, a good start is pretty important for anime.

Of course, today, I’ll finish basically any anime I start because, even if I don’t like it, it’s something I can review. But, if I picked this series up and I didn’t have an anime review blog, I would have dropped it. I wouldn’t have made it passed the first few episodes.

Why do I think these first episodes are bad, though? The best way I can describe them is: Fast-paced filth. There’s a lot going on in these episodes visually. But, the content isn’t very interesting. It’s a lot of gross-out humor.

Panty & Stocking in their underwear from the anime series Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt — Panty & Stocking in their underwear

Let’s consider some of the ghosts featured in these opening episodes. There’s a poop ghost, a vomit ghost, a booger ghost, etc. I don’t find these things funny. I’m not the target audience for the series. And, that’s not a bad thing. But, the target audience for this series feels pretty small.

Now, I can’t talk about filth without talking about the language used in this series. Panty, Stocking, and Garterbelt are all foul-mouthed. That’s part of the appeal of the series. It’s not something you’d expect from an anime. And, it works. Considering who these characters are, it would be weird if they didn’t use language like that.

But, here’s the controversy. Should you watch Panty & Stocking in Japanese or English? A lot of people will say the dub is better. I watched the series in Japanese because that’s how I prefer to consume anime. The characters curse in both, so choose whichever you want.

Better in the Second Half

While I wasn’t a fan of the first half of the series, the second half was good. So, what’s the difference? What changed between the first six episodes and the latter seven? The episodes became less hectic and there was more of a plot.

I believe the Demon sisters, Scanty & Kneesocks Demon, were introduced in Episode 5. But, they play a larger role in the second half of the season. These two are the opposites of Panty & Stocking. They’re just demon versions of the Anarchy sisters, even using the same weapons.

The main reason the Demon sisters are good for the series is that they provide continuity. Most of the series even after their introduction follows a “monster of the week” formula. But, with the Demon sisters, there are antagonists who transcend that formula. They connect each episode to the next.

Panty & Stocking "listening" to Garterbelt from the anime series Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt — Panty & Stocking “listening” to Garterbelt

Episodic anime used to be a lot more common than they are now. And, you can really see why they fell out of favor when watching Panty & Stocking. As soon as there’s some continuity added to the series, it’s better. It’s more enjoyable to watch and easier to follow.

Now, you may have also heard that a sequel to Panty & Stocking is in the works. It’s called New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt — how original. Trigger is going to be the studio animating it, which means it should be faithful to this season. After all, Trigger is pretty much the continuation of Gainax.

But, the reason I’m bringing up this sequel is to say that I have high hopes for it. Considering the direction the second half of this season went, it should be a fun watch. And, this is a series that can benefit from the advancements of the past 14 years.

Final Thoughts

I had to give Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt a 6/10. The first half was a 5, and the second half was a 7. So, I think 6/10 is a fair rating. That rating also lines up with how I’d recommend this to someone. If you’re not already interested in it, it’s probably not for you.

One thing that should be for you, though, is the ending song. The song used in the ED is great. I skipped the OP every time after the first. But, I always made sure to let the ED play because the song’s so good.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

And Yet the Town Moves

By DoubleSama | December 29, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

And Yet the Town Moves (Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru / それでも町は廻っている) is a slice of life, comedy anime. The series is about the daily life of Hotori Arashiyama, a high school girl who works at a maid cafe.

Seaside Cafe doesn’t get many customers, even after adopting maid uniforms. The majority of the time, the cafe is empty other than for the employees and their friends. I’m honestly not sure how it stays in business with how few customers it gets. But, I guess it helps that Hotori works for free.

At least, I assume Hotori works for free. The reason she’s working at Seaside is to pay off a debt to the owner. So, I’d imagine that any pay she would get goes toward paying off the debt instead.

Hotori Arashiyama wearing a maid outfit and holding a guitar from the anime series And Yet the Town Moves — Hotori Arashiyama wearing a maid outfit and holding a guitar

As is the case for many slice of life series, it’s hard to say what SoreMachi is really about. There’s no overarching plot. Each episode is split into multiple chapters. And the chapters and episodes aren’t necessarily in chronological order.

Despite what you might think, it’s not about a maid cafe. That’s the setting for a lot of the series. But, it’s not what it’s about.

If I had to point to one thing, I’d say SoreMachi is about how everyone thinks they’re the main character. And I don’t mean the characters think they’re the main character of the series. I mean that everyone (us) views themselves as the main character.

There are many instances of characters in this series thinking that they’re special. But, it always turns out not to be the case. One example is the chain of crushes. Tattsun likes Sanada, who likes Hitori, who likes Moriaki-sensei. They each think their one-sided love is special.

Main Characters

Hotori Arashiyama is the protagonist of the series. She loves detective novels and she wants to be a detective when she’s older. But, she’s also not very smart and struggles with math in particular. Though, that doesn’t stop her from thinking she has a special connection to her math teacher.

Toshiko “Tattsun” Tatsuno is Hotori’s best friend who joins her in working at Seaside Cafe. However, she didn’t start working there because Hotori does. Instead, it was because she found out that her crush, Sanada frequents the cafe. Unfortunately for Tattsun, Sanada only goes there to spend time with Hotori.

Speaking of Sanada, his full name is Hiroyuki Sanada. There’s nothing particularly special about him. And I wouldn’t exactly consider him to be one of the main characters. But, he’s a major recurring character. He’s also Hotori’s childhood friend, which is how you know he’s going to be friend-zoned forever.

Toshiko "Tattsun" Tatsuno from the anime series And Yet the Town Moves — Toshiko “Tattsun” Tatsuno

Futaba Kon is possibly my favorite character of SoreMachi. I like Hotori, too. But, Kon is the ideal maid. Her skirt is short and she’s verbally abusive. What more could you ask for? She’s also an upperclassman and a member of the school’s ping-pong club.

Uki Isohata is the owner of Seaside Cafe. She’s a widow who treats Hotori as her grandchild, even though the two of them aren’t related. Uki is also voiced by Takahiro Sakurai, which I never would have guessed. In case you aren’t aware, he voices Reigan from Mob Psycho 100 and Meme from Monogatari.

The final character worth mentioning is Natsuhiko Moriaki, Hotori’s math teacher. Hotori drives Moriaki-sensei crazy with her stupidity and tardiness. And yet, he does seem to actually try to get her to learn. He does things like connecting math to detective mysteries, which he knows she likes.

The Shaft “Vibe”

Before watching SoreMachi, I never would have guessed Shaft was the studio behind it. But, as I watched it, the Shaft “vibe” became pretty obvious. If you’ve seen enough Shaft anime, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Obviously, a lot of the Shaft “vibe” comes from director Akiyuki Shinbou. There’s the iconic Shaft head tilt. But, there are also things like how a lot of Shaft anime use backlighting. Watch any Shaft anime and you’ll notice many scenes of characters in front of large windows.

In SoreMachi, this is most often done using the windows at the front of the Seaside Cafe. Characters will be in front of the windows with the golden light of the setting sun shining through. It looks good, sets the mood, and works with the often abstract backgrounds of Shaft anime.

Futaba Kon wearing a maid outfit and playing the bass from the anime series And Yet the Town Moves — Futaba Kon wearing a maid outfit and playing the bass

Not every part of the Shaft “vibe” comes from Shinbou, though. Well, at least, I assume not. Part of it has to do with the art itself, which I’m not sure he has all that much to do with. And by art, I don’t only mean the way the characters and backgrounds look.

Yamamura also did character design for Fireworks, Fate/Extra: Last Encore, and Pretty Boy Detective Club. And he worked on plenty of other anime for which Akio Watanabe did character design. So, it’s no wonder a lot of Shaft anime have similar character designs.

And, finally, there’s the way things are drawn. Some Shaft anime are more stylized than others. But, they tend to have similar shading going on — especially when it comes to facial shading.

When you put all this stuff together, what you get is the Shaft “vibe.” It’s easy to spot a Shaft anime.

Conclusion

As a whole, I give And Yet the Town Moves an 8/10. It’s a very good anime and the comedy is good, as well. One of my favorite bits came in the last episode. Hotori accidentally goes to the wrong (Egyptian) afterlife. And then when she’s taken to the Japanese afterlife, it’s a bureaucratic nightmare.

Both the OP and ED for this series are also pretty good. I prefer the ED, though, because it has maid Kon in it.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer. And, come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

K-ON! Season 2

By DoubleSama | October 21, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

Season Overview

K-On! Season 2 (K-On!! / けいおん!!) is the second season of the K-On! anime series. It covers Yui’s, Mio’s, Ricchan’s, and Mugi’s third and final year of high school. Importantly, this is also only Azusa’s second year.

So, what’s different about this season compared to the first? A lot of people didn’t like the first season when it aired. But, when Season 2 aired, that wasn’t the case. It was generally loved. Why was there such a different reaction to two seasons of the same series? Is Season 2 really that much better?

For starters, Season 2 is twice as long as Season 1. Season 1 is 13 episodes while Season 2 is 26. That means there’s twice as much development — sort of. It’s still a slice of life series. That hasn’t changed. But, Season 2 does improve upon some of the issues I had with Season 1.

Azusa, Mio, Yui, and Mugi looking at Ton-chan from the anime series K-On! Season 2 — Azusa, Mio, Yui, and Mugi looking at Ton-chan

One of the most notable differences is that this season isn’t as repetitive as the first. For example, the first season had 2 different summer training episodes. It covered 2 years in 13 episodes. This season doesn’t even have 1 summer training episode. And it covered 1 year in 26 episodes.

Another improvement is that there was an overarching story told throughout the season. 4 of the 5 members of the club are graduating at the end of the year. Once that happens, Azusa will be all alone and the Light Music Club may come to an end.

To me, this is what makes Season 2 better than Season 1. We get to see how Azusa and the other club members come to terms with the end of their time together. There’s a larger focus on the differences between the grades.

After School Tea Time

The second season of K-On! arguably focuses less on music than the first. If you told me that before I started it, I would have assumed that to mean it was worse. But, that’s not the case. The shift in focus is actually what makes it better.

One of my main complaints about Season 1 was that the series wasn’t building to anything. The climax of the season was the girls playing the same school concert for the second year in a row. They didn’t graduate to a bigger venue with more on the line.

The second season could have solved this by introducing a competition for the band to enter. But, that would have resulted in a fundamental change in the series. It wouldn’t be as much of a moe anime at that point. An actual plot would take away from the moe.

Mugi, Mio, Azusa, Ricchan, and Yui from the anime series K-On! Season 2 — Mugi, Mio, Azusa, Ricchan, and Yui

Instead, this season doubles down on the non-music aspects of the series. What do the girls do other than play music? They get a pet turtle, they go on a class trip, and they perform in a play. It’s more about their overall high school experience, not just their music.

In fact, one of my favorite episodes of the season didn’t even include any of the 4 main girls. When the seniors went away on their class trip, we got an episode all about those left behind. It followed Azusa, Ui, and Jun as they did things unrelated to the Light Music Club.

With fewer episodes focusing on music, more episodes focused on character development. And when I say character development, I don’t mean anything deep. I mean we get to see more of the ways the girls interact with each other and their surroundings. They felt more real.

Highs and Lows

The highest and lowest points of the season both came toward the end. Let’s start with the low point because that’s what came first. It’s the few episodes around Episode 20 — I’m not going to go back to find out exactly which ones.

So, what made these episodes the worst part of the season? They were extremely boring. One of them starts off with over 90 seconds of Yui looking at herself in a mirror. No dialogue. Just Yui looking in the mirror and fixing her hair. I actually skipped through this part.

That’s not all, though. We also got to see the band play during their school festival for the third time. And, what was different about the performance this time? I’m glad you asked. Between songs, Yui decided to recap the entire previous episode for us. Again, I had to skip through the episode.

Mugi and Mio laying on futons from the anime series K-On! Season 2 — Mugi and Mio laying on futons

I’m not usually one to skip through episodes. I tend to stop paying attention and look at Twitter or Discord instead. But, I couldn’t even do that here. I had to skip ahead for my own sanity. It was mind-numbingly boring.

So, what about the highlight of the season? Well, that actually came after the end of the season. You see, Episode 24 is the “final” episode. Then, Episodes 25 and 26 are flashbacks to before the final episode. They function like normal episodes, though. So, I’m not sure why they’re at the end instead of in their chronological positions.

Position aside, these were the best 2 episodes of the whole series. I especially liked the very last episode. In that one, the seniors visit Sawa-chan’s apartment while she’s out with a cold. It had some of the best character interactions of the entire anime.

Conclusion

In the end, I begrudgingly gave K-On! Season 2 a 7/10. I was considering giving it a 6 like the first season. But, I’ll give it the 7 because I do think the character development in this season was very good. Also, the second ED for this season is the best song of the series.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi for supporting this blog at the Heika and Senpai tiers this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

The review of K-ON! The Movie is available now.

Motto To LOVE-Ru

By DoubleSama | March 25, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

Season Overview

Motto To LOVE-Ru (もっと To LOVEる -とらぶる-) is the second season of the To LOVE-Ru anime series. It also comes after the To LOVE-Ru OVA and comes before To LOVE-Ru Darkness.

I didn’t mention this in my earlier reviews of the series, but the title is actually a pun. The way To LOVE-Ru (とらぶる) is spoken in Japanese is the same way the English word “trouble” (トラブル) is spoken. You may sometimes even see the series referred to as Trouble, and the OVA had an episode called Trouble Quest.

Anyway, I brought that up because motto (もっと) means “more” in Japanese. So, the name of this season of the anime can be translated as More Trouble. Unfortunately, the pun doesn’t really work with the next season.

The name of the series aside, Motto To LOVE-Ru really just improves upon what came before it in every possible way. The art and ecchi content are both better. And it even removes that pesky thing known as a plot that only seems to get in the way in ecchi anime.

In the first season, there was this whole plot about Lala running away from her home planet and then mistakenly becoming engaged to Rito. That was brought up a lot and was used to help the series progress. But, it wasn’t exactly the most interesting content.

Motto To LOVE-Ru basically ignores all of that. There’s no more plot, and instead, the series feels more like an adaptation of 4-panel manga chapters. Each episode covers multiple “chapters” that may not be related at all. And at times, it seemed like these “chapters” were out of chronological order.

Vanilla in a Good Way

There are a lot of girls in Rito Yuuki’s harem. There’s Lala, Haruna, Momo, Nana, Run, Darkness, Mikado-sensei, Risa, Oshizu, Saki, Mikan, and Yui. And then there are the other girls in the series, such as Aya, Kyouko, Rin, Haruko, and Mio who still get “lewded.”

Basically, there’s a girl for just about everyone in Motto To LOVE-Ru. My top 5 (in no particular order) are Haruna, Momo, Mikado-sensei, Risa, and Kyouko. I know a lot of people like Darkness, but I don’t like that she doesn’t really have much of a personality.

Anyway, despite there being all of these girls to choose from, Motto To LOVE-Ru is surprisingly vanilla. Yes, the girls have their differences. But it’s not like each girl has her own unique kink like the girls of Hensuki do. They’re all pretty plain when it comes to that.

Motto To LOVE-Ru Episode 12 end card from the anime series — Motto To LOVE-Ru Episode 12 end card

I think the plainness of the girls overall is also why I like some of the girls that I do. Momo is a bit kinkier than most of the others, which makes her more interesting. Mikado-sensei has the whole age-gap and teacher-student relationship taboo going on. And I enjoy how forward Risa is when it comes to teasing Riko.

With all that said, the fact that Motto To LOVE-Ru is so vanilla is an advantage of the series. There’s something for everyone, but there’s not much for people to dislike. Okay, maybe people don’t like (or pretend not to like) Mikan’s inclusion because she’s Riko’s sister. But, even then, Mikan isn’t “lewded” nearly as much as the other girls.

And generally speaking, I think anyone who’s looking to watch an ecchi anime will enjoy everything this series has to offer. There’s nothing you’re going to see in this series that’s going to make you think “That’s messed up. How could someone be into that?”

The Perfect Ecchi Anime?

I included To LOVE-Ru in my article on the 3 best ecchi anime alongside Kiss x Sis and Miru Tights. That was back when the highest I rated a part of the series was a 6/10. Motto To LOVE-Ru is much better than that.

Now, I know a lot of people say To LOVE-Ru Darkness is the best part of the series. Maybe it is. I haven’t watched it yet. I also rated the Kiss x Sis OVA higher than I rated Motto To LOVE-Ru. But, even so, I think this is a great example of what the perfect ecchi anime should be.

Of course, there are the nice things about the series that I’ve already mentioned, such as the nice art and ecchi content that everyone can enjoy. But, I think what really makes this one of the best ecchi anime is how it walks the line between ecchi and hentai.

The characters of the anime series Motto To LOVE-Ru at the beach — The characters of Motto To LOVE-Ru at the beach

There are a couple of issues anime tend to run into when it comes to ecchi content. The first is when the ecchi isn’t actually the main focus of the anime. Rather than calling these ecchi anime, I prefer to call them anime with ecchi. In these series, the ecchi content is more of a distraction.

The second is when the ecchi is very tame or limited, despite the series being an ecchi anime. When this is the case, it generally means that the anime isn’t very good. Ecchi is the main focus, but it’s not good ecchi. So why are you watching it?

And the third is when you have an ecchi series that should actually just be a hentai. These series typically involve sex, but since they’re not hentai, the sex isn’t actually shown — think World’s End Harem.

Motto To LOVE-Ru avoids all of these problems. The ecchi is the main focus, it’s uncensored and extremely prevalent, and it doesn’t cross the line into content that would be better off in a hentai.

Conclusion

Motto To LOVE-Ru is an 8/10 from me. That puts it on par with both “seasons” of Kiss x Sis combined. If you’re looking for a great ecchi series that doesn’t fall into the traps most ecchi anime do, this is what I recommend.

The one thing I liked more about the previous season of To LOVE-Ru, though, was the OP. The original OP is multiple times better than the OP of this season.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

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The Life of a Borrower

Arrietty’s Big Adventure

Shou and the Little People

Final Thoughts

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The Anarchy Sisters

Fast-Paced Filth

Better in the Second Half

Final Thoughts

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Series Overview

Main Characters

The Shaft “Vibe”

Conclusion

Season Overview

After School Tea Time

Highs and Lows

Conclusion

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Season Overview

Vanilla in a Good Way

The Perfect Ecchi Anime?

Conclusion

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