Say what you will about the quality, Denpa Onna was definitely a varied affair. It’s just a shame that the variety had to come at the price of originality. So now we’ve gone from a shut-in girl who thinks she’s an alien to her far less interesting cousin, whose only distinguishing feature is he keeps a running score of his various teenage exploits which include but aren’t limited to: Being invited to a girl’s house, taking a girl out to lunch, and hitting on his overly moe-fied yet somehow still enjoyable to watch aunt.
So it’s come to this… a baseball episode. The way they’re sending this show off as it’s currently aired is with a filler episode that most shows would have anywhere from the beginning to the middle of their run. But no, Denpa Onna had to be different with the way it implemented its well worn tropes by putting them in the least effective place. And it makes me ashamed to say that people will likely lap it up and act like it’s Shaft’s greatest gift to the world.
It’s finally the big match between the shopping district and the city team for who plays host to the annual summer festival, and the shopping district is coming up noticeably short in nearly every regard: Player quality, a present pitcher, and people not dressed in ridiculous outfits. But the other team has somebody (hyper competent, so it’s hardly a fair comparison) dressed in a space suit, so I guess they’re even on that front.
But lo and behold, here comes Meme to the rescue yet again, not looking at all like she’s fucking forty. Seriously, who buys that? To make up for the missing pitcher, she yells at the team for what seems like for-fucking-ever before sending them out to their inevitable doom… and Makoto to find the missing pitcher. But don’t worry, Erio’s taken over, pitching balls with such a wide arc that you’d have to be a total dipshit to miss.
It’s now a race against time to find the pitcher before the city team (Which I can’t say in my head without it making it sound like the City Wok guy from South Park) claims their inevitable triumph against the ill-manned shopping district. He could be anywhere in this city, and it’ll likely happen that Makoto finds him before the final inning… Oh wait, he’s just on the bridge, sitting morosely. And after a pep talk, he’s back in the game right before the final inning. Yay correct predictions! Boo anime predictability!
Makoto comes in at the last minute and, naturally, is up to bat. After another pep talk, a vague threat, and a near deafening experience, he hits the first ball out of the park with enough passion to induce an art shift of shounen proportions. Sadly, he hits it right to the outfield where one of the outfielders stands ready to catch it before the Deus Ex Machina kicks in, in the form of Yashiro, or Nega-Erio as most viewers likely know her. So somebody really is an esper, the shopping district wins, and Makoto gets a kiss from his aunt, truly making sure everything goes full circle.
There’s your resolution to what they’re going to air, folks. Aren’t you happy you stuck around for such a climactic ending to a thrilling series?
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Okay, this post was unnecessarily sarcastic at times. Denpa Onna was a mostly serviceable show that had just enough quirkiness in the characters to keep the otherwise interminable contrivances interesting. Erio was difficult to dislike, even at her most moeblob-y, Meme was easily the most entertaining character to watch, and Makoto himself was tolerable when he didn’t take center stage. And, dare I say, the first four episodes had a charm to them that quickly wore off, making this just another slightly bearable weekly watch.
But oh was the development boring. Coming from Shaft, that’s even more of a disappointment, since this is easily one of their more ‘by the books’ shows. Again, the first third was good. Not anything groundbreaking, revolutionary, or must see, but it had its own unique charm that the rest of the series just couldn’t match. I understand that this is based off a series of light novels, but that doesn’t excuse the decision to make it just another harem show, then just another sports show thrown in for good measure.
And what’s worse is they ended on that with almost no closure; no festival, no oblivious protagonist having somebody finally say how they feel for him, not even any comedy that wasn’t just Erio getting hurt. It was a perfect example of them leaving stuff out that really should’ve been included, all just to boost DVD sales or attempt to keep interest for a later date.
It’s this way of withholding closure that really grates on my nerves; it either makes something a mediocre series with no sense of satisfaction, or a mediocre series that requires a DVD purchase for satisfaction. It isn’t a particularly new or villainous trick, and I don’t feel betrayed, but it doesn’t do any good for something that really could’ve used that extra episode aired.
With all that out, I don’t have many gripes. The ones I do have are glaring and obvious, making me point them out time and time again, but they’re not numerous. This show ended up taking the Ano Hana approach of taking perfectly reasonable character development and plot, and turning it on its head for the sake of giving a completely bland character the spotlight, and it ended up showing nothing for its work in the end, but it definitely did have its moments.
Again, every character had their own quirky charm, Ryuuko aside. The animation was fantastic at times and the character designs were well done if lacking in the creativity department (Except for those fucking smiles. I don’t know what it is about them, but they really seem off).
The ED animation, gratuitous unnecessary panty shots of Erio aside, was a chuckle-worthy watch each time, matching with the oddly fitting ending piece about Erio’s love for her futon.
On the auditory front, the only thing really worth mentioning is the ear splitting OP song, sung like the person had no concept of how a song was supposed to be put together. It was one thing that didn’t get any more tolerable as the series progressed, and served as the black sheep in what I think is Shaft’s otherwise great collection of OP and ED themes.
In the end, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko didn’t set out to do much but please a moe-dazzled fan base and it succeeded at what it set out to do. Even with my praise, the first third of the series would’ve been a slightly above average OAV in the right hands, but serves as the highlight of Denpa Onna only for how dull the rest is.
If you’re late to the party and want to know what all the fuss is about, watch those first four episodes. Erio does plenty of cute things, her relationship with everyone’s developed well enough to stand on its own, and the idea of her thinking that she’s an alien is as silly as it is oddly charming. If you enjoyed those, it really doesn’t improve from there, so you can stop watching then. And don’t look anything related to Erio up without strict search moderation… a lot of creepy stuff turns up.
Well, we knew from the first couple of episodes that this would have been focused on fanservice, so yes I agree with you. Unless you know and accept what are you watching avoid it.
As for me, I have Ryuuko blushing as my wallpaper. :P
I think I’ve seen enough glistening lips to last me a lifetime.
Agreed. I think it was some kind of subliminal advertising, like Pizza Hut in Code Geass. The question is, for what…
Ah, the traditional SHAFT head tilt – it was everywhere!
Coupled with that odd smile, it was terrifying at times. And done way too many times.
I have no problem how this show started as sci-fi then ended up as slice-of-life. I’m also pleased with how the ending has no proper closure and left some room for the viewers to think about.
Overall, this series is one of those stories which started with hype then ended up so mundane, but at the same time it gives a very neat impression—not necessarily lovely but it’s plain nice.
As for the moeness, Erio is my number pick, and Meme is best cougar I’ve seen in a while.
It was always slice of life with a sci-fi twist to me, but eschewing the sci-fi for straight slice of life wasn’t a great decision, in my opinion.