Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Title: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
Japanese Title: 電波女と青春男
Original Work: Iruma Hitoma
Animation Studio: SHAFT
Official Pages (all Japanese): http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/denpa/ and http://asciimw.jp/mediamix/denpa/ and http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/denpa/

Seiyuu Cast:

Irino Miyu as Niwa Makoto
Oogame Asuka as Touwa Erio
Iguchi Yuka as Hoshimiya Yashiro
Fuchigami Mai as Maekawa-san
Katou Emiri as Mifune Ryuuko
Nonaka Ai as Touwa Meme

Description:
* Based on a light novel series by Iruma Hitoma with illustrations by Buriki.

The story revolves around a highschool boy named Niwa Makoto. He lives with his aunt's family since his parents are away on business. It is there where he meets his mysterious cousin of the same age Touwa Erio — who happens to tie a futon mattress around her upper body and is a self-proclaimed alien. Her staple food is pizza. Erio had been missing for half a year and was found floating in the sea. She doesn't remember anything about what happened during that period of time, but she began to think that it was the act of an alien and wanders the neighbourhood wrapped in the futon. (taken from AniDB.net)

My Take:
Well since this a SHAFT series minus the wierd animation they are sometimes known for feels rather interesting. I mean if you'vew seen Arakawa Under the Bridge or something around that order you might just like this series.

My first reaction is, "wait, this is SHAFT?" It's certainly their kind of story, and those little Shinobuisms come through, but the animation quality was outstanding throughout. I hope they don't lapse into their usual quality issues, though I've never really cared much about that in the past anyway. This is a funny little story which I'm sure from reading the synopsis has some very sad underly causes, but the Mom and the girl are so wackily charming each in their own way that it's easy to look past that for now. Both the OP and ED are great, both funny and show appropriate. I loved the little +/- session at the end too. With all the minuses stacked against him, I wonder if he will ever get into the plus column.

QUOTE (AccipiterF1 @ Apr 15 2011, 08:35 PM)My first reaction is, "wait, this is SHAFT?" It's certainly their kind of story, and those little Shinobuisms come through, but the animation quality was outstanding throughout. I hope they don't lapse into their usual quality issues, though I've never really cared much about that in the past anyway. This is a funny little story which I'm sure from reading the synopsis has some very sad underly causes, but the Mom and the girl are so wackily charming each in their own way that it's easy to look past that for now. Both the OP and ED are great, both funny and show appropriate. I loved the little +/- session at the end too. With all the minuses stacked against him, I wonder if he will ever get into the plus column.

I can just say that i agree. It was funny to watch this first episode. That mom with her moe look and the first time to see her inside the futon was a very good scene. The reactions of all the characters were very strong indeed. Hopefully this series can keep it up

I thought it was really strange that the mom was ignoring her daughters presence and didn't think to explain anything to Makoto. I'm sure there are reasons behind that, and I'm curious to find out they are. The mom is really charming though, love that head tilt of hers Erio's voice is fantastic too, really unique and suitable for her.

What can be said about this.... I watched it 3 times and apparently it is nowhere close to enough times to kill the humor.The futon girl has to be the MOST awkward character I've seen in a while. Talk about weird. Her down to earth cousin (Kin-chan) seems reluctant to leave the fact that the mother and daughter relationship is somewhat... well, how can this be explained, unlike anything I've ever seen. Love the characters, the development and plot seem quite simple, yet interesting at the same time, next episodes will definitely hold some good laughs as well as some plot development.

I will mention that this has to be one of the two gems that we will see this spring. To be honest, i am eager to watch the next episode, and the sooner i get to watch it, the happier i am bound to be.

Rating so far:

Art: 10, although the running scene at the start was quite... choppy.
Sound/Music : Loving it, honestly it is amazing.
Plot: 9, although simple, as i mentioned, i can see it getting better in an exponential matter.

Overall feel : 10, MUST WATCH.

Only one word can describe the first ep: strange. I mean it is totally strange. Not only the mother-daughter relationship, no just everything is just somewhere else that its great in his own way.
Characterwise its really interesting with Meme and her unique personality and Erio with her alien delusions. If they even are delusions. You never know.
Comedy is pretty good too. The best scene defenitely was when Erio was eating the pizza. I had to laugh so hard.

Only negative aspect is the shiny and glitter when they do a female face up. It looks just ugly.
But wait. I just looked at my screencaps and there is no shiny oO Seems to be only there when watching. Now this ep is really 100% strange.

This show reminded me a bit about Bakamoegatari but with more slides. Dohohoho~

I have to say, I liked her better when she was in the futon, and being a shaft-fag I'd eat it up like every other thing they throw out there.

Well this might be SHAFT's "Thar' be talking heads 'ere, yar!" kind of a series for them.

Nothing wrong with that since the girl is kind of cute though.

QUOTE SHAFT series minus the wierd animation

Wat? That's not possible!

QUOTE (Ausdoerrt @ Apr 18 2011, 01:10 AM)QUOTE SHAFT series minus the wierd animation

Wat? That's not possible!

By wierd animation I mean like what they did with Modaka of course.

But add in the tilting head gag and you have yourself a rather interesting series here.

QUOTE (Killer_Ossi @ Apr 17 2011, 03:45 PM) The best scene defenitely was when Erio was eating the pizza. I had to laugh so hard.

Yes the pizza part was hilarious. I had to rewind it a couple times because I was laughing so hard. Did not think you could do that with a futon, though it makes me wonder how long has she been wrapped up for, I mean she was able to run down the hall with out bumping into any thing.

Ok with episode 2 we pretty much get an idea of why Erio claims she's an alien, but it doesn't really explain why her mother still acts like she doesn't know her own daughter still.

In any case it now makes me wonder what really happened to Erio to the point of what happened and where she was for half a year as well.

I think her mother may be protecting Erio from herself. From the accident she had when she tried proving she can fly I gather, that it is dangerous to try to talk rationally to her and persuade her, she isnt alien. Because she then tries to prove that she indeed can fly and seriously hurts herself in the process. Maybe there are other reasons as well..... maybe it is the mothers way of dealing with the situation.

The premise of the anime is interesting and i like the animation, but lets face it, it is just another harem and the women concentrating around Niwa are annoying like hell. Whats up with the tall girl and all that weird stretching? Whats up with that crazy girl and her super annoying way of talking? Is that supposed to be cute? I guess....

The only person who has some excuse to behave like a retard is Erio. Seriously, when Niwa was talking to the tall girl (yeah, I dont bother remembering their names) and Erio was kicking the bike with her feet and making noises I would expect from a 3 years old, I was thinking: how old is she again??? Have the aliens fried her brain and made her mentally return to pre-school stage?

Now I wouldnt mind watching a harem series per se. I watched nyan koi and enjoyed it. What I hate the way women are portrayed in this anime. I strongly object to the "cute = mentally retarded". Seriously, i find this insulting as a woman. Whats up with Erio making noises like a spoiled 3 years old and the the fact she needs her face wiped as if though she was 2 years old? And also the whole I am an alien premise is just a creative way of justifying Erios mental behaviour, so they can make her look like a retard.

If the roles were reversed and it was Erio who transfered to a new town and found her male cousin rolled up in a futon and he would be making eeee eeeee eeeee noises and kick the bike with his feet and she would have to force him out of the futon and wipe his face like that of a little baby she is babysitting, how would guys feel about this? Not any different then how we women feel when we see this. It is highly insulting to us!!!
I know japanese prefer their women children-like, but I think it is about time they stopped supporting this on TV.

*sigh* I think they are just trying to go for the moe moe factor here. Besides since this town is known for its issues with aliens and whathave you I'm sure there will people certain people that have very wierd traits. Heck in real life there are people that have wierd traits as well mind you. I don't find it insulting at all with that part.

As for Erio acting all childish well since she keeps claiming about aliens messing around the town and didn't want her cousin to stop and talk to someone on the way back, of course you would want to try any means to embarass him to head on home already.

Besides he even states that the way she acts is rather annoying mind you, and I have to agree with him to a point. I mean if something traumatic happend to her then it would explain why she regressed back to a pre-schooler. Also, I think everyone making fun of her claims of being abducted to being an alien kind of pushed things a bit too far for her to handle.

Well to challenge you on the whole cute = mental nutcase theory my dear warita-san, I may be so bold to say that to him the hotter the girl the more flaws she has, be it mental, physical, and/or socialogical. Besides he probably never had cute girls where he lived in the countryside before, so that might be why he is thinking that. I mean to him the girls are cute, but they have thier own unique flaws to them, just like any normal human being of course.

So we get to meet some other girls in the city. They also seem to be strange in some way. However compared to Erio the two girls are somehow more interesting. They look normal but act pretty abnormal. Ryuuko with her bike (never let go of the bike) and protection helmet was fun to see. Somehow the two girls seem fit to become friends with Erio.
Also the explanation of Erio's mother was pretty good. Where did Erio go...?

Ep 2 was pretty boring. The characters are boring, the plot is boring and everything else too.
Maybe I will drop it if ep 3 isnt getting better.

QUOTE (Killer_Ossi @ Apr 24 2011, 12:10 PM) Ep 2 was pretty boring. The characters are boring, the plot is boring and everything else too.
Maybe I will drop it if ep 3 isnt getting better.
I sense you'll drop in when epsidoe 3 comes out. I mean like I stated before about this seires seems to be rather accurate for a story baised and not really an action baised work mind you. I mean I see this as nothing more than a "Thar' be talkn' heads, yar" kind of series.

this so stupid funny but so stupid i put it on my watch list girls he meet are all coo coo

@Kid: I dont have a problem if its story based but the story itself is just so boring and sooo slow, plus the characters are boring as well thats why I will maybe drop it.
That there wont be much action was clear after ep 1 for me.

The plus side of this harem anime is, there hasnt been much ecchi so far, which is good. The ecchiest moment of all probably was, when Niwa walked into the house for the first time and saw her on the floor wrapped in the futon and all you could see were her legs. But it didnt give the vibe of cheap ecchiness, but rather that she simply has pretty legs and thats all you could see of her. From that point it is all OK.

Irritating factor is the behaviour of the girls. Alien town or not, they are behaving like retards. I am willing to cut some slack to Erio, because obviously she has some issues, but I am not as generous with the other girls. I take it, that Erio is acting the way she does because she went through some trauma. We dont know for sure if it was indeed aliens or something else, and hopefully it will be revealed later in the story.

Now, I was willing to give this harem anime a shot, because not all harems are so bad.... and the whole alien premise looked quite interesting, but I am afraid there is too much MOE in it. Wont that ever go out of fashion?