Green Green

Introduction: Imagine the shittiest ecchi you have watched. For some, they're lucky and can get away with the Monogatari series or Kill la Kill. But for a majority of people, it's something like Redo of Healer, High School DxD, Kiss x Sis, or maybe even Interspecies Reviewers. While all of those are downright awesome, we all deep down know that they're just short of hentai and no more. But there deep down is an ecchi gem that just isn't talked about anymore and that is Green Green.

What is Green Green? The anime Green Green is based off of an erogae (erotic video game) of the same name. While this erogae never left Japan, I know I'm sad as well, it was successful enough within Japan to spawn two sequels along with two PS2 spinoffs while itself getting several rereleases and even a light novel adaptation. And that isn't even mentioning the 2002 OVA which is lacking in anything that makes the 2003 television adaption of note. In short, it isn't too far fetched to see why it got an anime. But you most be thinking, "How does a hentai game get a televised adaptation?" That's a good question because I do not really know, but it happened nevertheless. The televised portion of the anime didn't include any sex scenes within itself, but it did include plenty of nudity (at least within its DVD release). Green Green also gets to hold the title of the only anime I know with an official hentai sequel with Green Green Thirteen: Erolutions. While it isn't canon, it does serve as a pretty well fulfilling epilogue.

What is it about? In the countryside of Japan, there is an isolated all-boys boarding school of Kanenone Gakuen. There are no females in sight for miles. But one day, another school decides to merge with Kanenone Gakuen. An all girls school. With this, the boys were beyond excited and rightfully so. With the girls getting off of the bus, a girl named Midori Chitose just appears on the bus without any build up or expectation. She apparently time traveled because she had to express her love to our protagonist Yusuke Takasaki. But unsurprisingly, he is off put and wants nothing to do with her. What is surprising though is the fact that he doesn't have any active sexual interest in the girls unlike his three friends the ladies man (Hikaru Ichiban-Boshi), the sis-con (Taizo Tenjin), and the wide open pervert (Tadatomo Ijuuin). With this, they do their perverted shenanigans which while they are womanizing, they are pretty funny. Especially episode 6's C-plot which isn't even womanizing, it's just incredibly funny and one of my personal favorite scenes within anime.

What's the big deal? The importance of Green Green comes to its release year of 2003. That is important because it predates the aforementioned ecchi along with the more well known ecchi classic Girls Bravo. And all and all, there isn't anything like Green Green that predates it. Ecchi was more of a secondary thought rather than putting boobs and pervertedness at the forefront, but Green Green decided to pioneer it. Nowadays, an ecchi like Green Green is a dime a dozen. Green Green without any doubt caused a boom in ecchi. But is that a good thing though? Depends on your view of ecchi, but to a general degree, I would say that it no doubt had some positive impacts. The two ecchi I mentioned at the start, Monogatari Series and Kill la Kill, there is a possibility of them not existing in the form they do today. Hell, the whole Isekai genre would be drastically different.

Should You Watch It? This all depends on your opinion on ecchi. If you find ecchi disgusting and repulsive, obviously stay away. But if you can find some enjoyment from a trashy ecchi, I say go straight ahead. If you wanna have a ton of fun and do what I did, get a friend or two, get some popcorn, and just watch away. There's enough for you to laugh at to not feel like you're just watching softcore hentai. Is the plot a huge part of it? No. Is the animation mind blowing? No. Is the music good? Actually, yeah. It's incredible. It has unironically one of my favorite OP songs and ED songs. Is it an experience? Yes.

Conclusion: Green Green is an underrated and influential anime that needs more recognition at the very least. While the score I am giving in this review does not match the one on my own profile, I believe that taking the influence Green Green had mixed with the fact that ecchi isn't all that much different today justifies the score. Between that and the downright fun time Green Green is, I recommend at least giving the first episode a shot.