Anime: Futari Ecchi

I'm a sucker for a romantic sex scene. Maison Ikkoku, Kare Kano, Onegai Teacher. . . it doesn't matter, really, as long as it involves two people who really love each other expressing their emotions. But when you look at the way that sex is usually treated in anime (and popular entertainment in general), it's surprisingly hard to find real love and tenderness. Comedy? Often. Passion? Of course. Domination and subjugation? Just look at almost any hentai anime in existence. But that caring and love that is the foundation of a healthy sexual relationship is often terribly hard to find.

Futari Ecchi is a breath of fresh air: a sweetly innocent series that explores a truly loving (if somewhat clumsy) relationship (between a young married couple, no less!) without falling into the major traps that usually befall such shows. There is no promiscuous hero here, no flock of girls falling over themselves to be deflowered by him, no battle between rival men for the affections of the "perfect girl." Just a girl, a boy, and the various problems and pitfalls that challenge relationships of this kind.

Let's take this step by step.

ANIMATION

Animation quality is fairly good - character designs are nothing special, but they serve their purposes well. The series also makes use of some clever "screening" to keep the nudity at about the "late night on Cinemax" level.

SOUND

Voice actors do a decent job - nothing grates on the ears, but there is nothing to write home about either. Music is the same way - nothing spectacular, nothing horrible, and it serves the mood well. Ending credits theme song is nothing too special either.

STORY

This is where most of the enjoyment comes from. Futari Ecchi starts off with Makoto and Yura on the eve of their wedding day. We discover that the two of them really don't know all that much about each other, and both are nervous about starting a new life together. The first episode generally takes us through their wedding day, a few trials and tribulations, and then to their wedding night. . . which is less than satisfactory.

Episode 2 of the first season follows up on this aspect, and mainly involves both Makoto and Yura trying to figure out what isn't quite working out in their sex lives. Yura's promiscuous younger sister makes another appearance: also watch for a hilarious scene involving two older, more experienced brides giving the deathly embarassed Yura some advice involving various pieces of fresh fruit.

Season two follows up along the same lines: Yura and Makoto face various challenges in their relationship and work them out. Generally, the issues are those of trust and intimacy: for example, Yura wants to take a job at a restaurant to help pay the bills, but Makoto is worried that she will be ogled by the customers. And so on and so forth.

Really, the stories aren't that original, but I did appreciate the creators taking a more down-to-earth approach. Instead of hilarious hijinks or psycho plots, we simply deal with the characters struggling with their own weaknesses and inexperience. Rather refreshing, that. And it's nice that the creators didn't feel the need to over-dramatize the problems our young couple faces: I often get sick of American TV's tendency to make every little challenge a family faces into a life-or-death struggle. When Makoto worries that he isn't satisfying his wife in bed, that's really all it is: just a man who wants to give pleasure to the woman he loves.

CHARACTER

Makoto is your typical hormone-driven young male professional with a beautiful wife he's not quite sure what to do with. His major defining characteristic is his tendency to suddenly break into wild hormonal fantasies that every young male seems to share and/or fear. . . usually in public places. Which can be a bit unnerving, especially when you don't realize that he's just begun another fantasy and start freaking out that bad things are about to happen to the young couple. His other major trait is his lack of "staying power" between the sheets - this is a running gag throughout the series, and the focus of much of the effort of our two protagonists.

Yura, I'm afraid, was a bit weaker of a character. All we are ever presented with is a blushing young housewife who is inexperienced in sex, loves her husband, and tries to do the best she can. In many ways, she personifies the "Yamato Nadeshiko" - a Japanese housewife who keeps a good house and respects her husband, sometimes considered the ideal Japanese woman. It's a bit jarring to modern Western sensibilities, which generally emphasize a little more independence in our women. (I suppose, the target audience being Japanese people, the creators tried to make the female lead identify with issues facing Japanese women. Or not.)

Despite any weaknesses in character, however, one thing that the series does well is establish the relationship between the couple. You do get the feeling that these two people love each other very much, even if they are often very clumsy and awkward in expressing that love.

Aside from that, no other characters really get much character development - they are mainly there to express other sides of the issues facing Yura and Makotom and tend to come and go very quickly. Two personal favorites - Yura's promiscuous younger sister, who generally shows up in time to kick a little sense into Makoto when he needs a good boot in the ass to get going. And then there was the older married couple in the first episode of season two, who, despite the fact that they still cared for one another, had lost much of the passion in their relationship (they haven't had sex in over a year). Nothing too over the top here: almost all the characters are well grounded in reality, and they feel like people you would meet on the street every day.

And that, really, is the main point of the series. By using cookie-cutter characters that represent the common, everyday man and woman, the creators try to make the viewer identify with the characters and share their struggles.

VALUE

Strangely enough, Futari Ecchi is the kind of series I might watch a second time, later on. It's short and sweet enough to make it rewatchable, and hey, sometimes it's good to think that you aren't the only one going through these kinds of experiences.

ENJOYMENT

I enjoyed Futari Ecchi for one major reason: it begins where most other romantic anime series ends, with a marriage. It's good to have a series that recognizes that love does not end with the wedding, and even better to have a series that recognizes that a good marriage takes trust and work. And like I mentioned at the beginning of this review, it's nice to have a series featuring lovemaking with real innocence and tenderness behind it.

FINAL OPINION

Futari Ecchi is not for everyone. If you want hardcore porn, go somewhere else. If seeing naked breasts on TV freak you out, go somewhere else. If you want laugh-a-minute antics, go somewhere else. But if you want a sweetly romantic love comedy about two young people trying to work on their sex life together, check it out.

Why watch this? Well I don't think it's quite often you run into a married couple in anime as the center of the story, since generally couples' lives and passions are "satisfied" - or at least according to a loveless society. ^^; However, I can prove that Futari Ecchi takes a different, more realistic approach towards the life of married couples.

Inexperienced guy + kawaii, even MORE inexperienced girl = happy couple!?!?

Makoto and Yura are suddenly married. It was arranged, and the two of them were already living together before they knew it. Neither of them have any sexual experience, though - but it seems as though that is going to change very soon.

I first downloaded this because I couldn't stop drooling at the picture on the page. I surmised that the story would involve too many bouncy boobs and the usual pantsu shots...when in fact it goes all out! Sex, masturbation, and "happy endings" everywhere!
In shock, I anxiously scrounged all the episodes together to get the full effect for a 2nd watch. It turned out that the story isn't entirely cohesive, but rather episodic in nature and plot. Futari Ecchi refers to common sexual problems and shortcomings that hentai or typical ecchi can't even grasp. Love making and sex lessons dominate the story, which prove more use to couples than to lonely otakus like me. Still, it's a great show for anyone who likes ecchi and sexual comedy.

Animation: Conservatively straightforward.

With the above paradox, I make it clear that the ecchi is very difficult to be categorized. It remains somewhat respectful, avoiding the hentai category by blocking up the sex scenes, but it seems to avoid ecchi with a lack of boob jiggling and pantsu revelations that the average geek could dance around for.
The bodies are gracefully designed, as are the faces. Nothing gets crazy, so there isn't too much to say about the graphics altogether. However, the motions becomes somewhat choppy and simple towards the end, as if the producers got lazy and wanted to finish up the promised OVA's as soon as possible. As a result, the animation loses it's gentle effect, and dulls down to an 8 in my opinion.

Music: blah.

Keeping it very brief, nothing but the typical romantic orchestrations or ignorable background music...the focus of this anime is the seiyuu, who are satsifactory the way I see them.

Insightful characters: a little more real.

Makoto is actually very much like the average guy. Anxious to climb into bed to use his God-given toy, I found it amusing to see the desperate looks on his face, as well as his vivid imagination, which often times reflected on the fantasies I myself have had before. I don't think any guy can hate Futari Ecchi because of the main character - he is too real to shame.

As for the rest of the characters, none of them get nearly as well developed as he does. Even Yura, who seems to be his big focus. Somewhat later in the series things do make more sense, but it remains relatively static with the minor characters. With a series like this I thought it not as a bother, but some people may find this a little boring or unattractive.

Get your dose of ecchi.

And this is a great spoonful of it. Futari Ecchi reminds me very much of an HBO show called The Mind of a Married Man which I saw a few times here or there and laughed my ass off to.

Great humor and lovable characters, this could prove to be a valueable aphrodesiac for an attractive, otaku female. I guess there is no shame in a love story for a little action, is there? ;-) Enjoy!