Two-view - Asobi ni Ikuyo
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 12:10PM My philosophy is to give a series three episodes before giving up on it, to avoid that "it gets going after episode 2!" regret. For Asobi no Ikuyo, I have to pull back and give a run down after two for reasons you shall see.
A summary of Asobi ni Ikuyo sounds like something out of a How to Plot an Anime book - cat girl alien comes to Earth to move in with high school boy to learn about Earth. Quickly, however, you get the feeling that the previews are trying to hide the true nature of the plot. The first 4 minutes are from a completely different anime than what you were expecting (of course they tie that in later). Then, we introduce a world where the arrival of a cat girl alien in a small town really doesn't seem to bother anyone. And with a quick one/two punch, I am confused, bewildered and angered by a completely incomprehensible introduction. The rest of episode one doesn't help that opinion.

This is pretty much what I was expecting
Let's list the ridiculous elements we are supposed to accept in the first 15 minutes:
- Boy, Kio, with absent parents, get adopted by a cat girl alien, Erisu, who moves in
- Overly possessive neighbor girl
- Little bit too concerned female teacher/club advisor
- Quite classmate with a secret crush on boy
Now see where they take these in the second half of the episode
- Neighbor girl is a surveillance otaku with ties to the CIA
- Teacher is the leader of a paramilitary secret society
- Quiet girl is a technologically enhanced assassin for hire
By the end of episode one, I'm so lost and confused I'm pretty much ready to pass this off as a 12 year old's fanfic.
In comes episode 2. I was fully expecting the remainder of the series to be a run down of each of the harem members taking a shot at Erisu while Kyo convinces them one by one not to do evil stuff. Instead, all three of them take a shot at Erisu at once, as the CIA sends the neighbor, Manami, to kidnap Erisu, Itokazu-sensei sends her alien defense buddies to take her out, and assassin for hire Futaba gets Erisu as a target. And thus, in practice, all three of them first threaten, then regret, then assist Kio in one short 3 minute scene. So much for the rest of the series.

THEIR SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!
Then, they take all that and pretty much throw it out the window, as Erisu reveals her alien bad-assery credentials by taking out not only her entire team of captives, but a battalion of tanks with squeaky hammers. SQUEAKY HAMMERS!!! We end with her ENTIRE RACE showing up to visit because Erisu told them the food was good, and a tiny teaser indicating that we will be seeing a race of dog people show up soon, and you know what happens when cats and dogs get together. So while I thought we were going to get the combined efforts of the CIA, paramilitary alien otaku and hypertech assassins protecting Kio and Erisu from the forces of evil, we instead get a friendly alien invention who could eat any of those three groups for lunch.

Apocalypse MEOW!
This show will go down either as one of the greatest parodies of anime tropes and stereotypes, or the biggest mess of a plot this season. And that's a season that includes Amagami SS!
















