Anime: Astarotte no Omocha!

Astarotte is about a fantasy world with a lot of fantasy ideas thrown in. In Astarotte-land, the inhabitants think of humans as fairy tale creatures and pray to the world tree loosely based off of Norse mythology, which happens to connect different worlds. Astarotte-land is ruled by succubi, creatures that live off by "sucking" essence off others. In this world we find princess Kugimiya er... Astarotte who is a typical tsundere loli that hates males, which makes her life miserable since she must rely on male "essence" once she becomes an adult. After hearing about the rarity of humans, Astarotte boasts that she will start her "harem" only if her servants bring her a human male. You should clearly see where this is going...

Astarotte is your typical fan-service-filled comedic romance with a very strong lean towards the former of the two. Since Astarotte-land is filled with non-humans, you get all your favorite cosplay-type characters such as a cowgirl, wolfgirl, succubus (think Lala in ToLoveRu), S&M, etc; if you're into those things... Watch this if you're into lots of panty-based fan service and other underhanded forms of humor such as getting milk to drink from a cowgirl. To be honest, despite the high-profile VAs, this was a let-down of a series.

Animation:
The animation is fair but not great as the production quality isn't that great at times. The series is fantasy so expect a very saturated and varied color palette. Backgrounds are a bit lacking in detail but are imaginative though also somewhat strange at time (I don't understand the dwellings...). Character models are, well, appropriate given my description above. The character designs were good though some of the clothing obviously caters to certain niches. The primary form of fan service here is definitely panty shots, they pretty much sneaked one in whenever they possibly could. This was definitely over used. Naoya is also seen cross-dressing (as punishment/or not) a few times in the series. There aren't really any real battles nor anything terribly serious for the majority of the series.

Sound:
The OP is a fairly slow rock piece that failed to capture my attention. The ED is an even slower piece though the melody is slightly more catchy. You'll find some insert songs including one for Kugimiya fans. The BGM is totally forgettable, partly because it's mixed in at such a low volume. It does create a light mood but can also induce slumber.

The VA cast is full of veterans such as Rie Kugimiya, Yui Horie, Rina Satou to name a few. You get your by now almost patented "umu" and tsundere behavir from Kugimiya. The VA cast doesn't dissapoint, though I still think Satou's female voices are better, though it does make a bit of sense in this series as Naoya's supposed to be girl-like in appearance (so why not voice too I guess?).

Story:
Naoya is offered a ridiculous wage to work as a member of Astarotte's harem in another world. Thus you have your typical case of being "forced" into a relationship with initial tension and eventual acceptance. The series sticks pretty much to the book with this one and you can easily predict the plotline, though they do throw a few loose curve balls at you, including Asuha; she's Naoya's sister, right?

Don't expect a very contiguous storyline as half-episodic side adventures abound. There's just enough semblance of a plot to keep me watching but they really go out of their way to provide scenarios for fan service. The series does eventually converge back on the main plot line and builds to a climax/conclusion but the entire ending sequence didn't feel very natural, almost contrived. As with some other shows of late, there are some pretty interesting concepts that the story introduces but then never fully develops/makes use of. Also, don't expect many plot holes to be answered as the show seeks to fill those holes with just more panty shots. In summary, the story isn't very good. It's a bit original in the setting aspect but doesn't really make use of it.

There is some humor in this though it's for the most part very light (fan-service type) though occasionally very implicit.

Character:
Astarotte is your typical somewhat spoiled loli with a ultra-tsundere personality. Her relationship with Naoya does develop but, with the plotline, feels superficial. Naoya is a very mysterious character. You get glimpses of his past that just begs more questions that you'll never get answered. This really can't be considered a romance because there's this third wheel named Asuha, who eventually gets more screentime with Astarotte than Naoya; thus a third of the series is really girls hanging out while constantly being under an abnormally strong wind.

There are also numerous supporting characters that are introduced but don't really play a very significant role in the series, other than serving as cameo appearances by VAs.

Value:
So many potentially interesting possible developments based on the setup were wasted... In the end you're just going to have to settle for Rie Kugimiya tsundere-ness and that's about it. As some others have said, watch it if you really don't have anything to watch.

Astarotte no Omocha! is an anime for the loli character and light comedy lover. Within its genre, I think it is very well done. It delivers the right amount of dirty jokes, and the characters are lovely. It is quite refreshing in a time where cynicism seems to be "in". I don't recall any "violent retribution for accidental infrigement" or other forms of slapstick, which I hate. In comparision with other "moe" anime like K-On, etc., I liked AnO better, since there is some romance and character development.

The setting is quite common; a child succubus in the Monster Realm is growing up so she needs to start acting like her species soon, or she will simply die. The problem is that she hates men, so she declares that she will only do her business with the most difficult kind of man you can get in the Monster Realm: a human male. To her surprise, her guardian actually brings a real man from the Human Realm to take care of her. As expected, the guy is all kindness, uninterested in loli sex, and devoted to his work. A nice relationship develops from there, with several other characters added to the mix.

The story, however, remains open-ended. That's to be expected from a work based on an ongoing manga. Fortunately it does not leave the season in any particular cliffhanger, as I felt with season one of Hayate no Gotoku!.

Most characters have definite personalities. I especially liked the characters of Astarotte and her mother Mercelida, for different reasons. Astarotte is a tsundere, yes, but she's not stubborn; she is kind enough to reflect on her acts if she thinks that she's hurt somebody or could have done better. Her mother, Mercelida, doesn't have a lot of screen time, but manages to appear deep, adult enough in her role.

Art is OK; it's not stunning, but correct, most centered in the characters. Animation is also OK; no big flashy scenes but not too static like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

I liked all the voices but that of the male protagonist, Touhara Naoya, who apparently was dubbed by a woman. I don't care much about the music, but it was not annoying.

All in all, I'll keep this anime and hope for a second season to come.

A pedophilic show, dressing as a romantic comedy. The reason is clear if you see Rie Kugimiya in the voice acting cast; she is voicing nothing else but loli tsunderes in romcoms. And it’s not like the similarities end just with her name; the entire show is basically a rehash of the anime she gained her fame in the past. “Meek boy summoned to a magic world to serve as butler a rich spoiled loli tsundere” is basically a fusion of Familiar of Zero with Hayate no Gotoku. And just like those aforementioned anime, Astarotte no Omocha has very little plot and lots n’ lots of jail-bait. To be completely honest, this anime is far better than the other two, no matter if you hate or like such shows. If you hate them, it lasts only 12 episodes thus your suffering ends much faster. If you love them, it is far more perverse and bold thus you are going to have much harder boners out of it.

Allow me to describe the story to you. Please be warned that I am not joking; this REALLY is the story. The setting is a magic land based on the Nordic mythology. It doesn’t look like a place full of brute Vikings and scary frost giants; it just borrows the names and basic functions of the Yggdrasil, the world tree which connects all different realms. In fact, it looks more like a fairy tale with four leaf flowers endlessly falling from the sky on a land filled with furry cosplayers. Meaning, it looks like a virtual brothel for otakus. In this land, the princess of the land is Astarotte, a 10 year old rich spoiled tsundere loli succubus. Since she is a succubus, she reaches an age where she needs male life seed to survive. And by life seed, I mean semen… Seriously; I am not making this up; the loli princess needs to suck semen in order to survive from the age of 10. For this reason her assistant brings a young boy from our world to be her butler. Meaning, her sex toy and regular semen provider. Said boy is 23 years old and already is the father of a 10 year old girl who loves to run around without pantsu. The mother of the girl is the same one as the succubus’, meaning the boy impregnated her mother when he was 12 and now came to “do” her too.

And if you expect some really sick incestuous lolicon hentai from all this I’m afraid you will be disappointed; the plot “sucks” harder than the semen-craving loli. Everything that follows is just plain old random gag and slapstick romcom, usually centering on the words “milk” and “suck”. Well, you can imagine what type of jokes they are… The last two episodes attempt to provide a sort of crisis and resolution with the worlds being in peril because of the sudden interaction of the realms; a thing which I feel was ripped off from Ah! My Goddess. Yet the resolution is the usual open ended finale where nothing much has changed. In fact, nothing did since episode 1.

So there you have it, an incestuous lolicon hentai premise that heads nowhere, with its cast being caricatures defined by their erotic fetishes. If you are willing to be content with that instead of reading some ACTUAL lolicon manga, then be my guest and fire away (your life seed). As I said it is far bolder than the other two anime and has Rie Kugimiya voicing a tsundere loli; what else is there to expect? Yeah, the score is low and that will make you think it’s bad, but it’s also so bad it is good (if you are a lolicon). I guess the rehash of such stories got boring and Kugimiya-based anime are now pitted against Toradora, the best romcom she has been in so far (she voices Taiga there).

The production values are not good in overall since the animation is jerky and heavy on SD characters and simplistic backgrounds. Heck, even the world tree looks like a crude 3D cone with a dry scalp that flakes all the time. And the characters are all drawn simplistically moe and sexy with outfits from some nekomimi maid café. But who cares if the fan service is good; right? There are lots of nude scenes, as well as pantsu and nopan ones, most cleverly censored with passing by items. That is almost a talent! As for the soundtrack it is full of silly songs I have already forgotten, and voice acting with expectably high pitched voices, since Japanese people believe squeaking squirrels are sexy. Heck, even the main male is voiced by a girl.

In all, I liked the bold humor and disliked the absence of EVERYTHING ELSE. There is of course no value in this anime, the characters are just ephemeral fapping material, the story goes nowhere and the production values are cheap. But hell, chances are you only care about the first thing I said; so be my guest and allow yourselves to be entertained by a 10 year old “suck”ubus. You can also allow the anime industry to “milk” your wallet or just look for a torrent with lots of “seeders”.