Anime: Seto no Hanayome

A show that sacrifices everything for extreme emotion visualization. Unfortunately this includes character development, scene and story continuity as well as story or scene development.

The underlying story is interesting, the characters for the most part likeable. This kept me watching.

But there are many horrendous things that prevent this show from being something better.

Characters seemingly develop during an episode, but just a scene or at most an episode later the character is back to the original blatant, simple character. A character set up for continued and repeated running jokes and interactions. And sometimes they are presented even worse than they started out as just for an episode setup to work.

The show continuously pushes extreme emotion visualization. It is an over-the-top show in an extremism is the most important feat style. Often it repeatedly switches between extreme aggressive or loud scenes and extremely calm scenes, which allows for at least some breathing room, and to further amplify the aggressive ones by difference.

Animation is fine for the most part. But shortcuts on animation budgeting are obvious. They are well integrated into the style though, so not really bothersome and damaging.

Can be enjoyable despite the frustrations and loudness.

Note: This review applies to both Seto no Hanayome and its OVA. Also it is based on first half Ayako and second half YaMom fansubs. Anyway, I can only offer my condolences to the poor guys who had enough resolve to translate this dialect heavy show. Though Ayako fansubs have their translation rough and sometimes don't translate more complex dialect words their subs are understandable and follow the anime's original script well... What I can't say about YaMom fansubs which create their own text according to random guesses it seems. I have watched two last episodes with subtitles turned off because YaMom's subs were only distracting me from what the characters were really saying. Anyway, though Ayako is recommended, you'd do better if you avoided YaMom's subs.



Originally created by Kimura Tahiko (Yo no na wa Zushio) and directed by Kishi Seiji (Ragnarok the Animation) Seto no Hanayome[/b] looks like your everyday lame harem show from the first glance. It has a wimpy male lead placed in a setting full of mermaids who start falling for him for no apparent reason at all. Add the fact that due to some "circumstances" he gets engaged with one of the hottest mermaids around in the first episode and, well, you get the premonition of what might not be exactly the greatest show ever. However, despite the atrocious first impression I did indeed enjoy this show a great deal and can safely claim, that though it's indeed pure blood harem, it's best of its kind. There are two very simple reasons why Seto no Hanayome, despite seemingly following all the possible cliches and pitfalls, manages to be entertaining even for people who have already taken their toll on anime and graduated from puberty. First is that it approaches its story with an attitude of - So what if I'm a harem, that doesn't stop me from dancing on my arms naked on the roof of your house and second is that it spurts main heroine which simply shatters all the stereotypes other harems had put up before. San is schizophrenic, has strong values and is strong willed, yet is not stuck up or a tsundere, seems clumsy, but does important things with precision, has a tendency to moe, but never exhibits it to others, cares for the main character with respect and not with an exaggerated affection. So, yeah, Seto no Hanayome is indeed a harem to the bone, however, its wacky presentation, good sense of humor and marvelous main heroine makes it stand above all the harems I have seen to this date yet.

Animation: 6/10

The first thing that comes to mind when getting a glance of Seto no Hanayome's animation done by AIC (Kiddy Grade, Rosario + Vampire) is that it has low production values. Both backgrounds and character designs lack detail and are mostly bland, there are lots of still frames and work on in-betweens is barely noticeable. Your average harem with a below average animation as usual, those were the first words that popped to my mind when watching the first episode. And though indeed production values are below average by today's standards, what gives this show credit for animation is its good use of comedic deformation design. Main character has around twenty different faces, all done in different art style to suit the parody of things and I think that's a feat to be commended. When characters freak out or go into their usual schizophrenic spasms their deformations are done so well it adds quite a lot to the comedy. I must admit I even laughed out loud when I've seen the face of one particular character meeting her father who wore a sailor school uniform. That expression was priceless, not very human-like, but priceless. Also, though most of the guys look generic and majority of girls are either bland or unattractive, San has a pretty good and peculiar design. For me she always stood out as the only one having a beautiful shape in the middle of, well, second rate products. So at least they put some work into drawing their main heroine and I must say she has all the rights to look the best out of the bunch. In the end, low production values and good use of deformation techniques kind of weigh each other down and animation stands there in the middle, not good, but not bad either.

Sound: 7/10

Though music composed by Takanashi Yasuharu (Gantz, Naruto Shipuuden, Ikkitousen) lacks originality, it fits all the scenes in the show so well I can do nothing else but to call it good. Not great, but good. It spurts enough emotion in sad or serious scenes and fits the comedy as well when it needs to. I must say I particularly enjoyed those light hearted melancholic tunes, even at times when they were only there to induce comedy out of nonsensical situations, heh. There is also this song which always plays when San goes into her schizophrenic chivalry mode and I must say it's a pretty good and catchy piece. For the whole later half of the show I was actually looking forward to in what part of episode would San finally get into that state so that cool music and cheesy, but good lines would be said.

OP Romantic summer by SUN&LUNAR is also pretty good, actually among the better I've seen in any anime. It seems a generic pop song at the start but suddenly becomes upbeat like some disco music and all the characters start dancing or doing weird tricks in the background. It really sets the right mood for the show and it is definitely pleasant to listen to. I haven't skipped it once and that's quite rare, especially for harem shows. This show has two different EDs, but neither of them picked up my attention, second one was more energetic than the first, but that's pretty much all I can say. I've been skipping them most of the time.

Now the most delicious part in this show - voiceacting. The first thing I would like to note is that this show packs a tremendous amount of weird Japanese dialects and words. For an aspiring Japanese student like me it was like paradise catching all those weird phrases and pronunciations. So, voice-acting is fresh, very fresh. I don't think I have ever heard anyone speak in a dialect like San does before, I wonder which part of Japan it derived from, sounds like a variation of Kansai-ben, but which one I cannot imagine. Anyway, seiyuu work itself though is not as brilliant as their script is, everyone except from San and Masa sound generic and not particularly distinctive... so let's ignore them. Anyway, I should write a line about the awesome San's seiyuu Momoi Haruko (Tales of the Abyss as Anise Tatlin) who managed to derive four different sounding voices for all the schizophrenic San's outbursts. What's more is that all, be it either cool mature, childish kind, confused clumsy or pissed off mobster like voices, all of them sound good and add even more to the San's character. This is by far the best role Momoi Haruko has ever acted and I hope she gets to voice more San's type of characters in the future. There are two very good and famous seiyuu voicing side characters as well, but since they have very few lines it's not really worth mentioning them. Anyway, Momoi Haruko dominates the voice-acting scene in Seto no Hanayome.

Story: 6/10

The first thing you can notice in Seto no Hanayome is that setting is built of cake and is waiting to melt down any minute rain pours down. Seriously, if you think too much about it, it completely stops making sense whatsoever. But so what, I say. Harem genre doesn't try to make sense anyway and it's comedy so let's just laugh at all the idiocy. Mermaids who transforms into humans and live in human societies anyway, mermaids who act like cyborgs, mermaid royalty introduced in the last few episodes completely out of nowhere and guy who travels with submarines underground. I was kind of terrified at the beginning since it was clear the setting would fall apart really soon, but once I realized the show was funny I kind of seen the humor in fragile setting and forgave. Yeah, it makes no sense, but it's funny so it's alright. At least it beats boring in my book.

Plot itself follows the romantic relationship of the generic main character Nagasumi and his mermaid bride San who in turn is a great character. So since the main guy is not really annoying, just generic and the main heroine is attractive, all the inner workings of their relationship is, though not awesome, interesting to observe. I must say I even found it slightly dramatic in the end. When plot is not concentrated on Nagasumi and San, it tells various side stories using side cast as backbone and comedy as substance. I must say I've nearly died from laugh in the episode where gang leaders were cosplaying as moe girls from eroge. That was really, really sick, and cool. Joke about "the first kiss" is also, though gross, extremely entertaining. Anyway, though the plot is slightly disjointed and sometimes it's hard to understand if what you observe is the main story or a filler, it never ceases to be entertaining, because it's funny. It doesn't exceed in anything, nor break any laws set by anime before it, but it's funny and entertaining to watch. Though the ending is slightly inconclusive and there are those two non relevant to plot OVA episodes, I must say I was satisfied with this show. It didn't open my mind to new pleasures, but it was fun, what I can't say about most of the other harems out here. Comedy and characters are actually good enough I could digest another three seasons of this show with ease. It's not intelligent, but it doesn't melt your brain either, it's just guilty fun you want to have when you want to relax after getting tired from work, studying or watching dementia anime.

Character: 7/10

Strongest part of Seto no Hanayome is definitely its characters. Though many of the girls follow the usual harem stereotypes - we have sadistic tsundere, stuck up rules fanatic, cool strong-willed girl and a shy unsociable girl, we also have San who is too schizophrenic to fall into any stereotypes. I must say I myself in the course of the show was kind of converted into San's fan before I knew it. She isn't particularly deep, but she has so many different personality traits that she never gets boring. It's been awhile since I had such a hard time defining character's personality and I must say I loved doing it. Some of her serious lines, especially the ones about being a good wife even made me emotional to some extent. Anyway, since the main character is generic, it's easy to tune with him and since the main heroine is cool, you'll want to tune with him.

This show spurts some very interesting side characters as well. Two overprotective fathers, one of whom acts like a Terminator, macho gangster who is so cool even boys melt before him, millionaire who has open space phobia and has a crush on San, guy who looks and acts like a monkey.. perverted monkey and main character's parents who are so realistic they kind of feel... pathetic next to all the cool mermans who overshadow them. That's actually a good trait since the show takes its time to make fun out of the generic father of the generic main character because of his genericness. Side characters aren't particularly deep, but they have a full fledged personality and are entertaining, so what more is there to ask? On the other hand, there were some annoying characters, like sea-shell Maki, but she got her screen time cut in the second half, so it's not a tragedy.

Myers-Briggs personality type indicator:

Masa - ISTP (C)
Seto San - INFP (B)
Seto Ran - ESFJ (D)
Mikawa Kai - ENTJ (C)
Edomae Papa - ISTJ (C)
Edomae Luna - ENTJ (D)
Shiranui Akeno - ISTJ (C)
Class President - ISFP (D)
Sea-Shell Maki - ESTP (E)
Zenigata Mawari - ESTJ (D)
Seto Gouzaburou - ESTP (D)
Sarutobi Hideyoshi - ESFP (D)
Michishio Nagasumi - ISFP (D)

Show Spoiler

Value: 7/10

Though the romance loses its novelty the second time around, some comedy elements make this show compelling to re-watch. I might indeed re-watch it one day and I will definitely repeat some parts I've found funny many times in the future. So though not a diamond, Seto no Hanayome is a valuable addition to my collection. It's also one of the best harems I have ever watched.

1. Conclusion[/u]:[/b] Suited for anyone who is above 13 years old of age Seto no Hanayome is one of the best harems around. It's funny, it has good characters and though it doesn't offer anything new to the genre it's entertaining. If you have hots for harem genre, then it's a must-watch, if you, like me, have "meh" attitude to the genre, you might still want to check it out when you feel too tired to think. It's not intelligent, but it's entertaining, so as long as you are in the mood - it will make your day. Other harems I have also relatively enjoyed are Green Green TV and Love Hina. So check them out if you are a fan of the genre. Those who are not - don't expect too much.

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<<PLEASE RATE THIS REVIEW>>

First off, let me tell you that it is of the utmost rarity for me to give a series a personal rating of a '9', let alone a '10' (which is what I've rated this one, the only other one being Eureka Seven). That said, it should be obvious that something here has struck a chord, I hope you can relate.

Animation:
Produced by AIC and Gonzo (One of my favorite companies for visuals) and Square Enix. Does it get better than this?? Just the names alone if you've watched anything else from these companies should give credit to their work.

Absolutely beautiful characters, backgrounds, scenes, and environments. Purposefully created for each situation, be it comedic or dramatic. Flawless, smooth, and immersing.

Sound:
Superb theme songs and score during the show, especially some stereotyped notable songs for specific situations. The opening theme was fun and upbeat (though it had to grow on me for a few episodes) and the endings were quite cute (though the second more appealing).

Sound effects were quite rich throughout the show and meshed perfectly with the animation.

The cast was required to have a large range of vocals and emotions, often changing from one instance to another which is quite an achievement in a fast-paced comedy such as this.

Story:
Don't let my rating fool you, I'm just being fair. I absolutely adore the series all the same. Keep in mind this is a comedy, and there is a lot of random action thrown in that may disturb the "norm".

The premise is quite simple, in concept. Boy drowns. Boy is saved by mermaid. Boy must marry mermaid to save her (and his) life. Boy must live life keeping mermaid's secret. Boy must SURVIVE his new life... and in-laws (who are yakuza - the mafia).

The story immediately grabbed my attention when I read it and held my attention throughout the series, though some things were not quite as expected. There is no stereotypical "mermaid-related" plot every episode where being transformed into a mermaid would cause a ruckus. Sure they have a few points in some episodes like this but it doesn't drone on like some series' do. A definite plus.

Unfortunately it also doesn't go into much detail about a few things, you never get to see a large portion of some of the characters' mermaid forms, nor do they often involve heavy use of the yakuza theme, but when they do it's laid on thick.

Plot? There is one, thankfully. Initially it feels mildly (JUST MILDLY) episodic, however events from previous episodes and the like are remembered, carried over, and referenced to by the characters... including running jokes. And every episode has a laugh. True, some are better than others, but I've seen very few series where the latter episodes are just as funny as the initial ones if not more, ramping up to the finale.

Character:
This show thrives in inventive comedy, and thus, they will do whatever it takes to throw a monkey-wrench into your perceptive thought process. They constantly add new characters, or upgrade introduced ones, as the show progresses and surprisingly it works, adding to the comedy.

The main characters are Michishio Nagasumi and Seto Sun (San). Nagasumi undergoes a bit of change throughout the series, still as lovable as when they began, but gains internal wisdom from his trials. Sun is difficult to read because she can be airheaded at times, insightful at others, loving some more, and at times confused and belligerant. (Maybe that is to say they captured a woman's personality quite well, ha! j/k...)

The other characters also are given quite a bit of screen time and rarely are treated as "supplemental" with only one dimension. Two at least. I couldn't begin to list the rest of the characters without giving a lot of the action away.

Value:
As fast paced as this series goes, I believe there is definite replay value in it. A few go-throughs may let you see all the jokes, but I'm sure you'd catch something new here and there. And besides; comedy still is funny, even when repetitive. At least this one is, especially considering how there were no dull spots.

Enjoyment:
Not once did I feel bored while watching this anime; on the contrary, I eagerly looked forward to it. It's easy to watch a show and smirk if something's funny or even let out a chuckle from time to time. I'm that type of person, who often laughs when other people are in the same room, laughing at what we are watching together. This series had be busting out and laughing so loud even when I watched it alone that I wanted to call people and show them because it was so funny. That good.

Summary:
Basically, there's a lot to love in Seto no Hanayome. A great start, a brilliant finish with the right ammout of drama added to the final episodes to truly make you sit on the edge of your seat after coming to love the characters and all their quirks. It will put a smile on your face if you like comedy, ecchi, fantasy, or romances. And if not, give it a shot anyways. This is a keeper of a fish-tale.

I have always been a big fan for comedy/parody animes and so when I found this one I was naturally motivated to watch it. When I first read about it and watched the first few episodes it reminded me of little mermaid but japanese styles. Then after that not really cause the "mermaid" aspect of it was there but really didn't matter that much. Actually the whole thing had so many weird twists and turns and random events that you never knew what they wanted to do with any of it. I can say that I didn't hate or enjoy it but it was different. Although I can't say it hasn't been done either. Anyway enough of my rambling on with the review. The plot is fairly simple, the main character goes swimming and is about to drown but gets saved by a mermaid. After this they are forced to begin living with each other because of certain mermaid "rules". Thus you get to see the two of them deal with everyday trials as they try to go to school like regular high school students. Mind you most of the trials aren't at all normal.

Animation
Its not great but it is acceptable for this anime. I would like to say that and actually in some parts of the anime they did have fairly decent animation. The biggest problem I had was they had to resort to many cliched anime faces. I.e. the baby/flat looking faces for visual effect. I mean sure this anime is a parody and as a parody this is something to make fun of in other animes but still.... They over use this effect way too much for my liking. To me it seemed like a cheap way to lower animation costs. Also the overall character sets weren't appealing to me. I just found that the characters looked ugly. They had weird hair styles and also awkward faces. I guess i'm too used to cuteness and round and appealing anime characters :S. Finally the overall backgrounds and settings were too plain. They didn't add much to the anime but took away quite a bit. They generally had quite of bit of talking so it would of helped if the settings looked better.

Sound
I found this to be decent. The opening and ending were catchy and led into the series very well. They also had some decent songs during the series that helped create the mood. The voice actors choosen were well planned as well. I think they suited the characters. The best parts of the sound were the old school music they would use to create the whole samurai/mermaid pride kind of scenes. So all and all this part of the anime was satisfactory.

Story
If I say the story is good I would lying to myself. Cause you really don't get much "story" in this anime. It is more like a episode by episode anime. Actually sometimes you get the feeling the anime is more moment by moment. You rarely get much continuity in the series at all. One moment a character could be half dead and the next hes perfectly fine. In other cases you could have a character cut there hair and then the next day its back to normal. It reminds you of watching your mundane cartoon where characters stay the same no matter what happened the episode before. Although they do have a main plot but that in itself didn't amount too much aside from a few episodes. At the end of the day you really watch it to see the characters in weird and quarky situations.

Character
I liked most of the characters since they brought a good variety of them. It also helped that they had extreme personalities to further develop random situations. unfortunately you also get a few characters which you wish you could punch in the face and would dissappear from the anime totally. For instances the character nicknamed "Saru" = monkey in english. He is by far the most annoying character in the series. You always see one of them like him in any anime. The stereotypical pervert, loser, annoying "sidekick" that follows the main character around. In any case since I've grown used to this I wasn't too critical about it in this series. I'm not sure if you can say you get much development in any of the characters. At some points you get small and big changes. Then you think to yourself did they really change or did they just add thoses reactions because its a parody. I always tend to go with option 2. Even still I think it worked out ok so I accept it.

Value and Enjoyment
I can barely make any arguement for value that can be found in this anime. They really don't have any good messages to tell nor were they even trying to be serious when they DO try to give a message. I don't think I could ever rewatch this anime because I had trouble watching it through the first time. Thus I can't give much reassurance for thoses who wish to find something that has merit. I moderately enjoyed this anime. It had a few good points to it and some particulair scenes that made me laugh. I think what really kept me going was the gay jokes surrounding "Masa". Thoses always made me laugh. Either way I would that this anime would be hard to watch and enjoy very much for most fans. Its not exactly groundbreaking or good in any ways. For its genre there are MUCH better examples like Excel saga, Azumanga dioh, Zetsuboi sensei and etc. So if you really ran out of animes in this style you can give it a go. Otherwise it probably won't suit you very much. Good luck if you watch it :)

An anime about mermaids? High budget animation partially from GONZO (no, they didn't do any script writing)? SAME DIRECTOR AS MAGIKANO???

By the forces combined, Seiji Kishi presents Seto no Hanayome (Bride of Seto), the Ninkyo love comedy of the summer season! SnH follows the relationship between Seto San and Michishio Nagasumi that bloomed when, on one summer vacation, a mermaid saves the drowning boy and violates the mermaid laws, requiring them to get married soon. As soon as Nagasumi needs to return the school, so does San's family, so tagging along are a zany bunch of underwater Yakuza and their overprotective father! Mayhem and hilarity ensues.

Like Magikano, SnH is bent as another insane over-the-top fanserviceful super-deformed harem love comedy, but this time WITH MORE BUDGET. With his newfound flexibility, the director successfully pulls off crazy stunts in each episode: precisely timing in running gags, exploiting the seiyuus to the full extent of their abilities, spends no time parodying anime such as Hotoku no Ken and Dragonball Z, taking liberties with intended censorship and word labels, etc.. Even the worse of episodes still manages to be laugh-out-loud funny and rib cracking. The guy is a mastermind at providing humor even in the most serious or badly-written scenes. The show never lets down on the absurdity, and by the end you'll be screaming "FUCK YEAH" when NaGARsumi goes shirtless berserk on his enemies - all by himself.

In addition to San, NaGARsumi, and the Yakuza family, the show keeps introducing new characters throughout the show, unrelentless in dishing out material once the new seems old. Mawari, the childhood friend, is an aspiring policewoman who loves to teach people the "rules of society". The shy class president turns out to be an Amazonian, but we still don't know her name. Saru, the best friend, parodies a lot of other monkey media. His later master, Mikawa, is a rich killer whale that has to wear a spacesuit in the presence of open space. Runa is the popular idol Lunar (San is Sun, of course) whose father is the freakin' TERMINATOR. Maki, like San's father, is an overprotective humanoid shell-dweller whose habitat doubles as a water gun. Late in the game, Shiranui arrives at school and equals San on the sword dueling ring. Everyone, as serious as they can be, all has a crazy/cute side to them, too (mermaid water episode)!

The stories are quite typical as a love comedy. Random stories are thrown in from the manga everywhere and are quite hilarious even though they don't advance the plot. Character interactions are always a big part of these comedies, and it's pulled off okay. The middle of the series consists of a feuding rivalry between San and Runa, and since they are idols, the show gains a little more profit with the songs they can sell. There are two cross-episode arcs, and both are epically funny (and the series ender will make you desire for a second season). Characters gain levels (especially the case for NaGARsumi) and the show explodes on the final episode when all their power levels are released. So in summary, fun fun fun is what you'll get!

But can SnH carry through for 26 episodes? Most will say yes, but even they know some episodes aren't very good. Several episodes have bad stories (like they expanded a half-episode story into a full-episode one), there aren't enough coverage of all the characters, and the relationships between the girls and NaGARsumi don't go very far (although he's very devoted to San already, so we'll let this slip by). Nonetheless, if you enjoy over-the-top comedy and easy-to-get reference gags, Seto no Hanayome is surely the show I recommend to you.




*GAR is a typo from "to be gay for", with the connotations of being manly and having attitude and compassion.