So yea, I’m gonna need a break there to catch my breath after watching that one.

I vant to be…alone

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Who Knew?

OK, better start from the beginning.

Did you do something with your hair?

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Airhead cat lover with a yakuza fetish?  Sadistic childhood friend?  Reverse Trap high school yakuza boss?  Animators and writers who must be on acid?

You had me at acid.

Sense – this makes none

The plot this week introduces a new character, and again I have a new favorite.  Ichinose, to spoil the fairly obvious reveal of this episode, is the newest unintentional love interest for Kousaka.  I refer to her as a reverse trap – rather than the guy who looks like a girl, she is a girl who looks like a guy.  The method of the reveal is also pretty obvious.

The Japanese are a very clumsy people

Even the inflection in her voice changes depending on the situation.  Nothing like a bi-polar yakuza member to add to the fun.

The rest of the story has plot points that include the cliche

How many episodes will this go on?

The unexpected

This is not how you react to finding yourself in a Yakuza stronghold

To the WTF?

No.  God No.

The visual style of this show lands it firmly in the area of gag anime, with bizzare visual twists and turns like those below.

You can’t resist my Geass!

An important ecological message.

Also, I am convinced all Japanese people are muppets

There is a felt shortage in the Far East

Nyan Koi sounds like a goofy concept, and it is – guy who is allergic to cats gets cursed so that he can understand cats, and must help them or turn into a cat himself. It’s a bit of a gag show, has some harem elements, nothing too fantastic overall. And yet I’m loving it so far. It took me a bit to figure out why, given there is nothing that stands out. But I think I finally hit on its appeal.

No panties.

OMG she is wearing PANTS!

I can’t remember the last show I watched that didn’t have some ecchi component.  We’re three episodes in, and so far no one has fallen on top of anyone, no ones skirt has flipped up at random, no camera shots come from below waist level, it’s amazing!

This is as bad as it gets

The story is progressing into harem territory, but that’s just alright by me.  It’s the good kind of harem, where the members are strong, individual characters there to support the main goal of the protagonist, in this case, helping cats. And the tone so far has been a silly comedic tone, not too dumb, and no serious social commentary.  I was afraid we were going to see the seedy underbelly of animal cruelty and abandonment in Japan, but so far the worst task was retrieving a collar from a mean dog.

My favorite character so far, watch Episode 2 to explain the hair

I’d also like to point out an odd bit of casting for the voices, which is one of the reasons this show garnered so much attention at the onset.  The two cats on the right are regulars.  The black one is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka , who does Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex, while the white one is voiced by Jun Fukuyama, voice of Lelouch from Code Geass.  That is a fairly badass pair of cats.

You know what they call cat food in France?  A Royal with Cheese…

Kampfer.  Concept – girls transform into battle mode and fight each other for reasons they are not entirely clear of.  Potential – high.  Execution – WTF?

Let me explain.  This is not a good show.  And yet, if they keep it dumb, there is some serious potential.  First, I like the team concept, even though the same team keeps attacking each other for no apparent reason.  Next, transforming into a Kampfer can transform not only your appearance and abilities, but personality as well.  Akane is an example of that.

Where does the hair band go?

Of course, sometimes it’s a little more extreme…

Not exactly cross-dressing…

The only thing that could make this show any better is lesbians…

CHECK!

But as for plot or logic, there we enter stupid territory.  Why are they fighting each other if they’re on the same team?  Why does no one have a clue why their fighting, yet off they go?  Obviously, this is not a thinking type show.  Bring on the dumb!

I sang the praises of this goofy gag harem show earlier.  It turned some anime conventions on their head, putting the privileged few in the hero spot, fighting the bland, uncaring forces of the violent common man.  So naturally, as this conflict got going full swing, we started the long slog into the series finale.  To sum up – it was bad.  But it was the sweet, unbelievable, sincere bad that you just have to watch, and at the end of it, all you can think is “I can’t believe I just survived that!”

It’s kinda like this:

You want to, but you can’t look away…

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This episode gives us some decent plot and character development, but the variable animation quality ends up giving us some interesting effects.  For example, here is a shot of Charlotte that appears to be an attempt at 3D!

They always point to magnetic North too!

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I believe it’s contrived plot line, sir…

When you start out from the heights that Princess Lover started from, the only way to go is down.  It’s not a great fall yet, but little annoyances are starting to show up.  Animation quality varies here and there.  Plot points are brought up and ignored.  Situations are a tad too contrived.  And let’s face it, sometimes, this thing just gets goofy.

Supa Cleavage Defense!

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Genre mashups are a common anime theme, trying to take two successful storylines and merging them to make, hopefully, something better.  One genre with a long tradition is the Harem anime.  Another that has gained popularity recently is the Butler/Maid anime.  Princess Lover takes elements of these two and mixes them together, and the result?  Awesomality.

They even through in ballroom dancing!

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I know I said I wouldn’t do this, but this scanlation caught my fancy enough to mention.  It’s up to chapter 38, so there is enough meat on the story to get into it, but there is still a major shoe that needs to drop that I want to discuss.

And in an attempt to avoid spoilers, let’s dive into the world of multiple mores!

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