Obey Me!

Obey Me! is an anime adaptation of the otome dating sim by the same name in NTT Solmare Corporations “Shall We Date” series. The five minute episodes follow the seven avatars of sin from the game and show brief glimpses of their lives without much relationship to the game. While this means it’s an easy show to watch without knowing anything about the game, the unfortunate part is, it’s not interesting enough to keep the attention of anyone who hasn’t played the game. I had high hopes for Obey Me! because of how interesting the story is in the game, but ultimately, those hopes were dashed without a sturdy plot or dynamic characters.

There is no plot connecting the episodes; it’s much like The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. in that regard. I’m a fan of that idea because it keeps everything short and sweet and lets you have a quick laugh. However, because of the poor pacing, each episode passed very slowly for me, and the five minutes felt almost like a full-length episode. There was also an episode that was a clip show with some of the seiyuus commentating—I found it interesting but not entertaining. Additionally, the last episode was a huge let down, as it was chibi versions of the side characters serving as a recap episode. Though it was helpful since the 12 episodes were spread over 6 months, it felt lackluster and downright lazy since there was no real content to the finale.

The characters themselves aren’t bad. They come straight from the game as seven demon brothers, the seven avatars of sin. The poorly executed part here was the lack of explanation of this; unless the viewer had played the game, they are left to piece together who each brother is and what he represents.

Additionally, there is minimal character development. I suppose that comes with the kind of show it is, given how it’s short views into the brothers’ lives, but character development is one of the most important things in my watching experience. With the lack of growth in any of the characters, this show fell very flat for me.

I can’t say the music or animation are anything spectacular. They’re both fairly average aspects to the show—they don’t detract from the show, but they’re also not the show’s saving grace.

In the end, I greatly believe the anime relies on the audience coming from the game to support the show, because none of the individual elements are particularly outstanding. If I had never played the game, I wouldn’t have a lick of interest in this show; that being said, I only continued to watch because of how short the episodes are and how few of them there are. However, I can understand how this show may be enjoyable to those who love the game and don't mind the episodic stories. But if you've never played the game and you prefer overarching plots with dynamic characters, then this is not the anime for you. This show certainly fits the “cute boys doing cute things” tag, because frankly, there isn’t anything else going on.

*a 5/10 on my rating scale is "below average but mildly enjoyable"