Anime: Nourin

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love. What you see depends on how you view the world. To most people, this is just dirt. To a farmer it’s potential.

Nourin cover all aspect of Romance, Slice of life, Agriculture down to the core itself.

I'll get back to the main story in a minute. I want to clear this first.

The stories of Nourin tell us about how is it to being a farmer. At this point, we will go through a daily farmer life which it shows also to be something fun. Yes, the producers want us to be at least open minded. Skeptical view from the media side about a farmer life not really all the truth. Life as a farmer is not necessarily bad or worse. It does actually can be fun and entertaining life. But, most of us looking it with one side eye only. You can say ignorance yet try to defy and judge it.

Story 8/10
This story is about Kousaku Hata who goes to Tamo Agriculture School. Hata is a huge fan of national idol Yuka Kusakabe. Suddenly, his national idol Kusakabe Yuka retired from the entertainment business and went quiet. This give a huge shock to Hata and made him depressed and unmotivated. After Hata successful past through those bad days, Kusakabe Yuka appears again in his life. To the shock, she goes with a nickname as Kinoshita Ringo, a new transfer student to his school. Could this be a chance for him to know better the girl he once idolizes and love? This set a new hard life Hata will go through. You cannot rest yet Hata-kun! More hardship, love, and funny moment yet to come!

Art 7/10
Simple but cute! It's good and not even worse or bad. Still the art play its part marvelously without blemish.

Sound 6/10
Fair enough but not memorable. Undulating rhythm plays in our ears without realizing it.

Character 7/10
I love all the characters in this series. Most of them play their role efficiently which bring the whole series to a good path up in the main storyline. The main lead, Hata is a person who the shiny one among the character showed us his kind and caring personality up to the bitter end without hesitation. He proved he is not some stupid Main lead who just being pushover by everyone. Which resulting a fresh scene in anime series once in a while. His crush, Ringo who also an idol does not disappoint us as the main girls of the series. Supporting Hata in her owns way. Ringo is undeniably a cute girl in inside and outside.

Enjoyment and Overall 8/10
Right at the start, to be honest, I was surprised. I'm tried to think that this anime is just your base average type of anime. Rather, I found it amusing and fun to watch as I kind of enjoy the story and comedy. It's a really great series overall. Never let the appearance fooled you. It looks like this series is kind of boring one but actually opposite of what we've been thinking. Do not give up to watching the series. You will not regret it. I can assume that at least.

Thanks for reading!
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A farm boy living at an agricultural school's dorm suddenly becomes dorm mates with his dream idol. Sounds like the perfect mesh of Gin No Saki and Idolm@ster right? Unfortunately, if you're thinking this is a cute, character-driven love comedy you're in for a big shock. After the overly-moe intro song, things start to go downhill quickly. Not only is Kousaku's idol a kuudere, but the entire show is actually an ecchi-based comedy with hints of an agricultural setting. If you're a connoisseur of subtle, well-mannered ecchi and humor that requires a bit of a brain, this series is definitely not for you. This show is chuck full of crude jokes, in your face sexual references, and other insults to your intelligence. The plot is barely present and you're only going to get a tiny blip of development towards the very end of the show. I'd go as far as to call this entire show a fan-service laden filler show. Unless you really have nothing to watch, I'd pass on this one.

Animation:
The overall look of the show is a bit on the comical, light side. Scenes are drawn in a fairly saturated color scheme with a lot of effects to bring emphasis to a particular event or object. The backgrounds are serene but not particularly detailed. Character styling is average with a strong emphasis on ecchi. Characters are distinguishable enough but no one is particularly standout, perhaps Ringo a bit if she actually showed some emotion once in a while. The series does occasionally use a serious, Minami-ke type expression at times, but it just made the show feel that much cruder.

There isn't much in terms of action other than characters being comically chased by a loose bull. There is however a strong focus of ecchi. We're not talking about subtle glances and accidental wardrobe malfunctions, we're talking about direct, sexual references. Be it girls with vegetables in their cleavage or the virgin teacher rubbing a cucumber gingerly with a bit of cream at the tip. Just is this not my kind of ecchi I guess. Expect an endless battering of these situations throughout the show, for better or worse.

Sound:
The show opens with Yukari singing as the idol Yuka Kusakabe. The melody isn't too bad but the overall tonality is just a bit too immature for me. The ED shares the same tonality and instrumentation as the OP, and features both Yukari and Kana Hanazawa. Both were easy skip candidates for me. The BGM was likewise fairly average with nothing particularly memorable.

I pretty much picked this show up for the VA cast and I guess hearing Kana Hanazawa with a country accent was worth at least a few points here. Yukari is unfortunately relegated to a kuudere role so you won't hear anything exciting from her in this series. Chiwa Saitou is also relegated to play the uncouth forty-year-old virgin teacher. So for the most part, the great talent is wasted on the pointless script.

Story:
If you think this show is about an idol meeting an unlikely partner at an agricultural school, you're going to be pretty disappointed. While it's true that there is some inkling of relationships in this show, the majority is just a slice of life, ecchi comedy sprinkled with some bits of agricultural facts. It's pretty hard not to compare this win Gin no Saki and to be blunt, this show falls far short. Gin no Saki makes you want to visit a farm and eat really fresh food. This show just gives ecchi a bad name.

Nourin follows Kousaku as he introduces Ringo to the world of farming in a school with a strange lack of adult supervision except for one teacher who is really more of a cougar than a teacher. They go through many fun activities such as checking plants for bugs, planting rice, and cleaning chicken droppings. Rather than highlighting that the results are worth the effort, the activities here are instead interrupted by Ringo's rivalry with Minori, often ending with both of them losing their clothing and being covered in mud.

There's a bit of story progression finally in the last two episodes but frankly the climb was not worth the view at the summit. The series closes without much of a conclusion, but it wasn't too bothersome as there wasn't much of a rising action or climax anyways. In summary, expect a series with just enough plot to string together a series of ecchi events.

Character:
Ringo is seemingly a cheerful and upbeat idol who somehow becomes a quiet kuudere in reality, to the extent that she can't even smile. However, despite a few small efforts, the show isn't really about her or any other character growing as a result of their trials in the fields. In fact, the characters are all pretty much static. Add an explosion of unnecessary supporting characters who look out of place at the school and you get a horrific fruit salad. The characters themselves also seem to have an IQ of about 20, easily being swayed by illogical statements or reasoning.

Value:
The characters weren't particularly likeable and the story is completely unengaging. If you enjoy ecchi that's in your face and don't mind a show that goes nowhere, this might be a good filler show for you. In all other cases, this will most likely not be worth your time.