Review of Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi

IncendiaryLemon · 14 December 2015

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After living in the mountains for all his life, Yoichi Karasuma, a 17-year-old samurai, is sent down to live in the city in an attempt to learn about the modern world. However, Yoichi is in for a lot more than he bargained for when his discovers his new dojo is occupied by the Ikaruga sisters, four girls who are about to put him through his most intense training regiment yet… \r\n\r\nSamurai Harem is a 2009 anime adaptation of the manga of the same name and whilst it's not going to blow anyone’s mind, is an entertaining show that I think goes a little beyond what you might expect out of a run-of-the-mill harem series. \r\n\r\nWhat I think makes Samurai Harem work well is its cast of characters and, more specifically, the relationships that the characters have. The cast themselves are not really anything original and most of them look like walking tropes when you first see them. The protagonist is a pervert, as you’d probably expect from a harem show and the cast of girls has a tsundere, an otaku, a loli, etc. However, as the show goes on, almost every character gets at least one episode dedicated to them that adds a bit of depth or back story and makes them much more interesting than the generic stock characters they first appear to be. Whilst this doesn’t happen every episode, the ones where the characters are developed are the best in the series, and often give you a couple of emotional moments in an otherwise goofy and silly show, which keeps things fresh and engaging. The relationships also keep things interesting as the set-up is a little different from what you’d probably expect. \r\n\r\nFor a show called Samurai Harem there isn’t really much of a harem going on. Out of the six girls that get major screentime, only two of them actively pursue Yoichi, making it feel like a more traditional romance than a straight-up harem. This feeling is further enhanced by a second male character who mixes things up and essentially makes a love triangle, which is way different from every girl just falling for the protagonist and results in a more interesting watch. The characters themselves are also entertaining and bounce off each other nicely. \r\n\r\nSomething else that makes Samurai Harem work well is its comedy. The comedy comes in three flavours: physical, ecchi and fish-out-of-water. The humour might not be for everyone but I quite enjoyed it and I was often chuckling to myself as I watched. As you might expect, there is very little in terms of story and as such the episodes are largely standalone. However, there is something of an overarching plot but it’s mostly kept in the background until the last four episodes. It isn’t really anything special but it serves its purpose of injecting some action into the proceedings. The action itself also isn’t really anything phenomenal either but it isn’t really an action show and the fight scenes aren’t too frequent so I didn’t really mind. \r\n\r\nSamurai Harem is animated by AIC, whose other works include Date A Live, Persona 4 The Animation and Kotoura-san and they do a fairly decent job here. The show looks average in pretty much every way and nothing really stands out in terms of animation. Not bad, but not overwhelmingly good either. One aspect I did like in regard to the animation was the way the art style changes to look more exaggerated at times as this helps to enhance the comedy. \r\n\r\nThe only audio option available is Japanese with English subtitles and the voice cast do a great job. The standout for me was Tomatsu Haruka, known for voicing Asuna in Sword Art Online, who provides the perfect voice for the character of Ayame and completely nails all the typical tsundere mannerisms. Nobuhiko Okamoto (Rin from Blue Exorcist) is also fantastic as the protagonist Yoichi, managing to balance both the serious and goofy side of the character. The music is provided by Tomoki Kikuya and is fairly decent. The OP, Egao no Riyu by meg rock, is pretty enjoyable and the ED, Life and Proud by Aki Misato, is also rather good. \r\n\r\nThis release by MVM includes a Clean OP, a Clean ED and Trailers. \r\n\r\nIn Summary \r\n\r\nIf you aren’t into ecchi comedy or harem shows, I don’t think this series will be enough to change your mind but if you do give it a try, I think that there is a lot of enjoyment to be had out of Samurai Harem. \r\n
Final score: 7 out of 10

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Review of Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi

IncendiaryLemon

Captain Karen