When it comes to Succubi in anime, the interpretation can vary in a number of ways. On one hand, we have Astarotte's Toy, which involves a succubus at the age of 10 (don't ask me why that age), needing to build up her male harem for reasons I need to keep censored; and on the other, we have Rosario + Vampire, which involves a more developed and outgoing succubus named Kurumu, who can only have one mate in her life. And then we have Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun, an anime that has way too many succubi, and a rather interesting plot.
Story (7.52/10): This ... anime for the most part does have a decent plot. The story of Good Luck Ninomiya-kun, as it is known in the english version, is about a boy named Ninomiya Shungo, who is some sort of martial artist badass, considering the fact that he beats up a bear in the first episode, who finds himself in a predicament of having to take care of this cute and rather large chested girl named Tsukimura Mayu, and help her get over her androphobia by doing various "relationship-esque" things with her. Along the way, a 3rd year by the name of Houjou Reika somehow makes herself involved in their affairs by becoming the house maid, and the story of this love triangle continues onward.
While this synopsis is fairly standard in terms of how the character relations are set up, the actual plot itself is a roller coaster; meaning that it has its ups, downs, spirals, and unexpected twists. What the series does do, is integrate a backstory for the three main characters, and develop a sort of connection between them all, as this backstory provides a main focal point towards the end of the series. While the backstory was cute and all, the fact that we only got bits and pieces at the beginning, followed by some really heavy hinting as the series went on, was infuriating. What I mean is the fact that we had characters mention the actual backstory constantly, like "I won't forget what you did to me 10 years ago", over and over again for 3 episodes. It was so ridiculous to the extent that it would make any normal watcher crazy due to how teasing it was.
On the flip side from the main story, we have side episodes. Several episodes throughout the series were pretty much just pointless side story, which made me felt like I was wasting time watching this series. Especially since this anime is only 12 episodes long, using every minute to explain plot and do what you want to accomplish is pretty crucial.
Overall, I felt as though the story was at the very least watchable. There were a couple of facepalm moments and complete utter waste of time moments, but the majority of the series proved itself to be ok to watch. The pacing was decent, and nothing felt particularly rushed, but I just felt like some parts of the show could've received a bit more explanation for a few of its points since some things felt ridiculous even by anime standards.
The end I felt like was a bow to the series (not a nice looking fancy bow, but just a normal one), as the actually end was a close to the series, just not the most wonderful close to a series ever. Apart from that curveball that I did not expect, the end was rather generic, but somehow really befitting for this series.
Overview
+ Decent main story
+ average pull off of a back story
- Too little explanation of certain plot points
- Pointless side story
- unexplained details
Characters (6.83/10): Ninomiya Shungo as the main protagonist is a rather interesting male lead. Compared to a majority of male leads that I've seen in romance-related animes, this guy can most definitely pull his weight. He is shown to be a rather determined and caring person towards the people he cares about, and is generally a decent character. When he's not somewhat dense. Compared to a lot of male characters, he's not completely oblivious to the fact that he's got 2 girls that basically live with him crushing on him at the same time, but he's still oblivious to this fact.
Tsukimura Mayu is generally what you would expect of a cute, dandere character. She is most certainly a dandere, being only proactive in the series at the end, as well as being an androphobic, meaning she does not like to deal with men. Other than this, there's not really any other way of explaining her, since she is that damsel in distress character that Shungo sweeps in and saves at the very last second. Which, when you have a martial artist badass having to save you from various threats cause somehow your brother is an international terrorist, being saved happens quite often.
Houjou Reika as the last of the character trio is a tsundere character that is more explored than Mayu. While I don't necessarily like the route that the anime put her on, (considering the fact that she's a stalker half the time), I find her to be a lot more interesting and more developed than Mayu because of the fact that she was affected by the aforementioned backstory that isn't explained until the very end. Apart from that, she's also a Oujo-sama character too, and I just feel like she wasn't put beyond the pedestal that she was given at the start of the series, since the only development she actually gets only appears at the very last few episodes.
The side characters in this anime are heavily one-noted, being a bunch of troupes and pointless people that I personally could care less about. There's only perhaps one or two that I feel like actually matter, since some of the supporting cast basically show up in almost every scene and add more to a perspective character and develop them in the process. Mostly though, they're just plot devices.
Overview
+ Above average male lead for a romance-related anime. (Since most of them are crap.)
+ Some character development
- Very troupe heavy cast
- Mainly useless side cast
- Underdeveloped main cast
Art and Sound (6.98/10): The art for this series is a standard looking look. The actual color palette and detail aren't particularly outstanding, but as aesthetics, they look rather decent to look at. One thing that I feel is a turn off for a lot of people, is the very moe-looking females. Every female in this series has those large, moe eyes, and if you're not a fan of moe, or hate it, this isn't a series for you.
Ecchi section (I do this for any ecchi show I watch.): What surprised me about the ecchi was the fact that there wasn't an excessive amount of it. Sure, there was some here and there and some scenes that would have you watch this in your room alone when no one's looking, but for the most part, this series isn't too aggressive in terms of showing its audience the naked bodies of their female character. (I just wrote that, didn't I?)
From a musical aspect, the series had a very hyper and very generic OST and ED. They're cute and all, but they really aren't as catchy as one might think. Apart from that, the series does have this mystical woodwind music that actually sounds pretty decent. It's not the most memorable thing to take from this show, but the music does appear quite often, and it gives a whole other tone to this anime.
Overview
Everything is average. There's no real positives or negatives to the aesthetics of this series.
Personal Enjoyment (7.02/10): I wouldn't say that I disliked this series, cause I did finish all of it and was rather pleased with myself after I had finished, but I wouldn't say I truly liked it. It wasn't by far the best series that I've watched, but it wasn't the worst. Apart from the pointless side story episodes, which I hate in any anime in general, the story was rather executed well, and I was able to follow along with it rather easily without any trouble whatsoever. I will say however, that I wasn't a fan of some of the plot points and focuses that the series had, such as the entire middle arc, as well as some of the absurd parts of the story, that I felt like needed a bit of explanation because there are some confusing scenarios in this series.
If you don't mind moe, ecchi, missing plot, or even generic anime troupes in general, then you might actually like this series. If any one of those you hate with all your heart, this probably isn't the first choice for you. Personally, I feel like this series is a good time killer, and nothing more. However, I will put a disclaimer that there are a few scenes that get my seal of approval for being disturbing and overall strange, so bear that in mind. (Ex. A man wearing a bunny girl outfit. Yeah, that exists in this anime.)
Overal Score: (6.73/10)
Alternative Titles Synonyms: Goshusho-sama Ninomiya-kun, Gosyushosama Ninomiyakun, My Condolences, Ninomiya-kun, My Heartfelt Sympathy, Ninomiya-kun Japanese: ご愁傷さま二ノ宮くん Information Type: TV Episodes: 12 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Oct 5, 2007 to Dec 21, 2007 Premiered: Fall 2007 Broadcast: Unknown Producers: Kadokawa Shoten Licensors: Funimation Studios: AIC Spirits Source: Light novel Theme: Harem Duration: 24 min. per ep. Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity Statistics Score: 6.651 (scored by 48,831 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #59192 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #2103 Members: 98,794 Favorites: 177 Available AtResources |
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