Anime in Retrospect: Amaenaideyo!!

Title: Amaenaideyo!! / あまえないでよっ!!
Anime Genre: Comedy, Ecchi, Harem, Romance, Supernatural
Date of Airing: 1st July 2005
Date Concluded: 16th September 2005
No. of Episodes: 12 + 1 DVD Special
No. of Episodes Watched: 12 + 1 DVD Special

"Religious fanservice."

Amaenaideyo!!...probably the only anime that lumps together 2 ingredients from opposite sides of the planet. A buddhist monk, and many amply chested, sexy babes. Okay, sexy priestesses/nuns (I'll go with nuns now...coz it's shorter), but no difference, just more perverted. =) If you have a fetish for very sexy, very young nuns, then stop reading this and do not hesitate to watch this anime, whatever my take on it. If not, read on. ^^

Sakura.

Real nuns are all this hot, honest.

Satonaka Ikko is a 16 year old, talentless bloke who has been sent to the Saienji Temple by his parents to train as a monk. Upon arrival, he finds that the only other trainees at the temples are six pretty and sexy nuns (depending on what you like, lol), who will eventually subject him to all kinds of abuse like any other harem anime. The temple itself is run by Ikko's grandmother, Jotoku-ba, the Head Priestess of Saienji. Anyway, to cut to the chase, Ikko gains the incredible power of the deceased High Priest Saizen when he sees any of these nuns in whatever state of undress. Hence, begins their wonderful life together. ;)

Haruka Neko-chan....meowww.

These 2 are 'not supposed to be hot', lol.

Anyway, the nuns in question are Nanbu Chitose, the fuchsia-haired, cute and innocent love interest for Ikko. Then there's Haruka, who's just the typical nice, carefree babe (much like Hatsune in Tonagura!), and Sumi, the brown skinned girl with a more than normal affinity for dogs. You'll get what I mean if you watch the show. ^^ Sakura and Hinata are sisters, Sakura is sadistic and power crazy, while Hinata is your silent-loli. Lastly, there's Yuko, who's more the fighting nun kind.

As far as story goes, there really isn't much. Most of the plot for this first season of Amaenaideyo!! focuses on Ikko and his powers, but only in the most flippant fashion. Meaning all we get for the first 10 episodes is that Ikko becomes Superman when he sees the girls undressed. Nothing else. So, this concept is played out in all sorts of various situations, be it exorcising hordes of ghosts, or putting on a Masked Ranger stage show. There are quite a lot of religious sequences in the show, consisting of Buddhist terms, and also the chanting of the mantra. I do admit it's rather unsettling to hear religious chants 1 minute, then see a nun having her robes pulled off the next. =.=

Masked Ranger Pretty!

The anime is slightly like Love Hina in the sense that from the get-go, you KNOW there's only one girl for Ikko. Definitely not a plus for an already shallow anime striving to be genrified as 'Harem'. I like Chitose's innocent character, somewhat sheltered and totally lacking any sort of guile. She's from a small village somewhere (after 2 seasons, I still don't know), and it's really amusing listening to her talk about stuff like the small 2-storeyed hut that was all of supermarket, department store, and video shop. The girls reaction to her unknown past are also somewhat funny.

An extra scarf is more than enough...despite the frozen steps. O.o

The most reliable way to exorcise ghosts.

Near the end of the 12 TV episodes, we learn A LITTLE bit more about Ikko's latent powers and why he must learn to control it. Slightly more interesting here, but not by much. Anyway, the end leaves us with something of a cliffhanger for season 2, which I'll talk about sometime later. Here comes the meaty part. Episode 13. Loads of ecchi, loads of nudity. It was like watching some softcore hentai episode, lol. This doesn't do much to redeem the whole season, but if you've suffered through all 12 episodes then you'd be dumb if you didn't at least watch this one. =D

Behind every man, is a woman...a naked one in Ikko's case.

Aah..the creme de la creme.

Animation is passable. Though I noticed there are a very large number of headshots. Just the heads of the characters, nothing else. Not good. Music is so-so. OP and ED are catchy, but aren't all anime songs? Too bad the series itself is nothing more than another excuse/setting for yet another harem anime and more ecchi. I feel there could have been something unique here, if it was done better. There should have been slightly more emphasis on the story, since they put in all these bits about Ikko's power and the girl's pasts. Right now, all it is to me is a jumble of unrealized ideas bereft of proper execution, topped with lots of fanservice. Good fun, but nothing more.

*Out of 10*
Animation (Quality of): 8
Story (Depth, twists, and extras): 4
Music (Songs, Suitability): 6
Characters (Dynamism, Background): 5
True to Genre?: 6

OVERALL RATING:

>>> Animania

Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Amaenaideyo!!, Nanbu Chitose, Satonaka Ikko, Tenjou