Hentai Prince & the Stony Cat

"No one likes to see a girl cry, no matter who she is." - Yokodera

The quote above sums up the entire tone of the whole show. It's genuine and fun to its very core. Like Hentai Ouji, anime comedies that rely heavily on moe or cute girls as their driving force are overly contrived of tired old gags that aren't truly funny and come across as annoying than anything else. However, some shows are exceptions to this, and Hentai Ouji is one of these and is by far the best one to come out in the last year or two.

From the beginning, the plot is already quite over the top. You have a boy who can't help but be perverted because he loves girls so much, and he finds a cat statue that somehow grants wishes to people near it. Where did it come from? Why does it grant wishes? We don't know. Quite frankly, they don't bother explaining why it's here, but to the show's credit, they are at least aware of how silly the premise is, and the way the show is set up makes it completely obvious. It does go to a serious plot arc near the last episodes. Still, at best, the pacing isn't terrible and provides some decent development to the characters, especially with our three main leads, Tsukiko, Yokodera, and Tsukushi. One other thing that sets this back involves Yokodera and Tsukushi. He tricks her into thinking that he's a younger brother to himself, which somehow fools her easily without hesitation. Even with how silly everything in the anime is, this was easily eye-rolling material if someone were to buy into this.

Now let's talk about the most significant strong point in the show: The characters. From time to time, we don't often get harem anime with protagonists, especially those that are perverted, that aren't spineless wimps or don't express their perverted fantasies openly like the true perverts they are. Luckily, recent harem shows in the past year or two have realized this and fixed this long-overdue mistake, and Hentai Ouji's protagonist Yokodera is one of the more vital aspects of the show. Voiced by Yuki Kaji, who is no stranger to perverted roles, Yokodera brings so much of the show's charm front and center from his honesty and the way he is written as a pervert who is likable within his primary trait. Most writers can't pull it off perfectly, but the writers for Hentai Ouji are an exception.

So how do the girls fair in the character department? Are they all clichéd stereotypes? Yes. However, given in the context of the show's charm, these stereotypes are forgiven because of the sheer sincerity of the characters' motivations. Tsukiko provides excellent humor in a deadpan tone throughout most of the show, which is a shame since the seiyuu Yui Ogura who plays her, is better when she's putting more emotion into her performance than when she is playing a dandere. Azuki Azusa may seem like your typical tsundere character. She quickly becomes more than just her alleged stereotype later on. Then we have Tsukiko's big sister Tsukushi who is the least interesting. Still, she does have some excellent needed humor involving her and her sister wanting to marry her, which is just as strange as it sounds but then again, this show is silly in and of itself, so it's a nice bonus.

The animation is relatively standard anime fare with nothing unique or exciting, but the art design of the characters is something to behold. It is nicely done moe girls that don't seem as bloated with so many smooth or jagged lines around the characters that make it suitable for poorly trained eyes. The original character designer Kantoku is very talented in what he does, and it would be a shame not to let him have any more Anime deals soon.

Voice acting is very well done to give all characters their own given charisma. Yui Ogura is fantastic in how she manages to pull off the dandere role and Tsukiko's original outgoing personality. Kaori Ishihara is easily the best one out of the rest simply because she pulls off the loud mouth tsundere without making Azusa Azuki grating or unpleasant from an audio perspective. I've already mentioned Yuki Kaji before, and he's as eccentric and delightful as ever in yet another perverted triumph of a performance. The rest are exemplary in their way but nothing special to discuss.

The opening and ending songs are very catchy and pleasant to listen. Nothing in terms of complex or experimental rhythm, but they're lovely J-Pop songs that are there to capture the essence of the show's pleasant comedic tone.

It would be considered unprofessional for a reviewer to recommend a show purely based on fun and entertainment simply because people appreciate different types of comedy or entertainment. With the growing hate of moe shows in recent years, there's no doubt that many people won't bother checking this out after looking at the posters or screenshots. I appreciate shows like Hentai Ouji that rely on entertainment regarding my taste in entertainment. Still, at the same time, you come out of it with a sense of gratitude and pleasure rather than the feeling of regret or gain nothing from experience like most shows with moe traits. If you're open-minded enough to subject yourself to cute girls for 12 episodes, rest assured that you will most likely come out of this show feeling good and accomplished without feeling any form of regret watching it.

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