Anime 3306 Aoki Honoo

"Aoki Honoo" is one of those shows that is so positively awful, so obviously terrible, that it turns around and becomes one of the best shows you've seen in a while.

Now, don't get me wrong, the quality, sound, story, animation and such are awful. What makes this show so good is the scumbag sociopath that we call the main character. His eyes are desolate; his soul is empty. Lust drives him, and nothing else. He gets bored? Find another woman. And in the process, ruin her life just for fun. Promises are but sentences to him, and empathy is nothing except a word.

You couldn't even ... call this a story. It's merely a window in the life of a man who feels nothing but an overwhelming desire to get laid. I searched—I really did—for some sort of meaning to this story, some sort of message of this lunatic's journey up the social ladder. Absolutely nothing. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes this show so great. It's so utterly incomprehensible that someone would write, get funding for, and animate this that just looking at the dumpster fire is the most funny thing I've ever seen.

What's important about this show is how you go into it. One one hand, if you go into this looking for an actual story, character development, some emotional attachment, then you're going to have a terrible time. But if you open your mind, and go into this expecting the worst, I think you'll have a good laugh, because it's probably even worse than you think.

Ryuuichi is sleeping his way to the top. Cool. This isn't a hentai FYI.

This anime revolves around Ryuuichi, a misogynist who sleeps with women to get to the top. However this OVA does nothing to prove that he reaches his goals, or does anything other than look like a total douche. Honestly, he's a male whore. Women beg to sex him. There is no story and I just told you all about it. This is definitely a woman repelant and this type of story would make a woman cringe at the sight of it. This is a fairly novel concept since it's post-OVA boom but ... still managed to deliver. I knew what I was getting into so the story was not at all that bad. Did I mention there are some sex scenes?

The art is as low budget as low budget can be. I've seen kids drawings with a better budget. It seems that the scenes get better during the sex. Sad, to say but I noticed there was much detail in the breasts. Even boobs can't save this anime. There is that old school vibe that you get with the artwork though. It kind of gives you a feeling that you're actually in the '80's. Everyone looks like they were ripped out of an '80's photoshoot.

The sound is actually not that bad, well in the case of the BGM. I pictured A-Ha playing in the background for some reason. The dub is quite poor and if bad timing is a pet peeve in anime then I would advide not giving this a look. You really can't expect anything to extravagant. Again, it seems like all of the budget went to the sex scenes. Really good moaning. Moaning to the point that it sounds like the anime is about that.

The character is a giant tool. He sleeps with the girl you like, forces you to hit him, rats on you, takes away your scholarship and kicks your ass. He somewhat makes Duke Togo look like a virgin. All the girls are pathetic and are poor excuses for women. They just sit there as they pant and moan about what a great lover Ryuuichi is. I didn't even bother to learn their names and they are forgettable with the exception of the girl that overdoses on pills when Ryu dumps her. If anything the girls are giant vaginas waiting for Ryuuichi to jump on them and take their money.

I have to tell you that I enjoyed it. Ryu is what I want to be. Despite the blood-in-piss quality it managed to make me a better man.

Pros:
+ If you're a guy you can watch it and show it to your girlfriend and show her you love her.
+ Misogynism.

Cons:
- Not female friendly.
- Misogynism.

All in all if you're a woman don't watch it unless you like insensitivity. This anime gets 5 "OH!" out of 10

“Aoki Honoo” is a hot mess. This one-episode OVA somehow manages to feature the most despicable “protagonist” I have ever seen in an anime. This guy, who doesn’t have a good personality (or really, any personality), charisma, good looks or any other potentially redeemable qualities, somehow manages to get girls and women to fall at his feet, and manipulates everyone around him to dance in the palm of his hand, ruining their lives while inexplicably not facing any repercussions.

I can’t sympathize much with his victims, either; none of them are likable. Some of them know he’s manipulating them but let him continue to do what ... he wants anyway, and others just make idiotic decisions with regard to their interactions with him, essentially digging themselves into deeper holes.

There’s not really a plot; the OVA just follows some key points in the life of the main character, Ryuuichi, particularly his last year at high school and his first year in college. He schemes, he connives, he lies, he cheats — he does anything and everything to anyone and everyone for the sake of gaining power, wealth and influence. He doesn’t show any true emotions, and he doesn’t seem to care about anything but achieving his goals.

He never receives any comeuppance for his actions; on the contrary, it seems like he’s rewarded every time he ruins someone’s life. Also, the anime ends abruptly, so we don’t know what happens to him later. Perhaps there’s a proper conclusion in the manga, since it has 77 chapters.

The dialogue ranges from stereotypical to cringy to downright laughable.

All technical aspects are subpar. The art tends to be either average or ugly. The animation is clunky. The direction is not so great in this one, even though it was handled by the well-known director Noboru Ishiguro. Some major voice actors star in this, but their performances are forgettable. The music is all instrumental and doesn’t fit the scenes it’s used in well, and sometimes the music is so loud that it’s hard to hear the characters speaking.

As far as objectionable content goes, pretty much this entire OVA is objectionable. But to be specific, there are quite a few sex scenes in “Aoki Honoo,” maybe around 10 or so, and some of them would be classified as rape (instigated by the protagonist, no less). Naturally, there’s quite a bit of nudity as well. There is a slight amount of violence and blood. Also, there are some potentially triggering scenes, like scenes depicting domestic violence and a suicide attempt.

The one positive thing I can say about this OVA is that the main character is memorable (for all the wrong reasons). If you watch “Aoki Honoo,” you won’t forget it. However, you may regret it.