I normally wouldn't go through the effort of writing a full review of a series, since I feel often most of what I have to say about a series can fit into the "notes" feature Anilist uses. That said, I feel like my opinions on this series are so conflicted and frankly, I'm still so astonished by what I've watched that it's warranted here. That said, my apologies if this is a bit disjointed or rambly, or overall unprofessional. That said it's anilist I doubt anyone gives a shit anyway.
The confounding thing about it is that, for as batshit insane and out-there it gets it also never feels completely alien or completely outside the box. This goes for almost every aspect of the show, the writing, the visuals, the music, they all have this way of being both completely unique in their approach compared to so much of what I've seen, while also feeling absolutely in-line with most modern rom-com anime as a whole, to my knowledge anyway.
Seeing the title and a couple clips of the first episode when it came out I was kinda expecting a really sleazy, run-of-the-mill sort of harem series but with an extreme premise and also filled to the brim with dated memes and references. And, I mean don't get me wrong there are memes and it is a tad sleazy for most of it but, I think what really solidified it in my mind as something special was when, with the first two girls, it was settled that he'd just date both of them, with honest intentions of caring for both girls. Maybe I'm just stuck in older conceptions of what was "ok" to be on TV or in a story but "Ecchi show where the main character leads an earnest and fulfilling polyamorous relationship" was kind of outside the realms of anything I considered possible in the current landscape of Japanese television. With that said, on the other hand it's handled in this very old sort of tone and packaging. A nagging thought in the back of my mind when I was watching was "this feels like a Go Nagai series for the modern age." and I think even after the "ending" (I'm aware the manga is longer but that's outside the scope of this review) I stand by that. There's a lot of parallels to be made to something like Harenchi Gakuen or Cutie Honey, in that the world of this anime is populated by these really eccentric and off the wall types of characters even within a relatively grounded setting. A lot of the character dynamics or gags feel very in line with said vibe as well, the biggest example being the vice principal.
That said, the visuals also have this big issue where, they wanna strike that funny Go Nagai/70s gag manga esque cartoony flow but also have to adhere to the "rules" of modern anime. Characters are always on model almost all of the time, and the cuts where they try to do say, cartoony run cycles, carry the same weight as when a live action toku tries to do so and it just looks really stiff and superimposed in. This combined with the way it kinda at times adheres to that modern anime "hold on joke shots while a character delivers a tsukkomi line" motion comics lookin' ass pacing gives it this really stiff feel a lot of the time. My first thought was that it was a budget issue but they clearly can do very fluid or well animated visuals in other shots or for other gags so I guess it's just a restriction imposed somewhere along the line? Either way it's not really a problem exclusive to this show. I thought Nagatoro or the new UY also had this issue to an extent, but it's still something that I wish was just different.
Getting into a bit of spoilers, I really appreciate in general just how much this anime allows itself to do or how often it just completely circumvents sweating the small stuff in favor of doing what's funny or natural for the characters or the scene. Again I don't know if I'm just behind the times on this, or what, but I was seriously shocked to see how well they took to seriously exploring these characters' relationship, or the ways they all interact romantically. Make no mistake, I'm aware like 99% of it is probably just "because fanservice" but idk. I like that they clearly knew people would really take to Karane and Hakari's dynamic and leaned into that as a serious thing, or the fact that there's a serious attempt to make it very clear that Rentaro cares deeply about each and every person in his life. It's really sweet and most of the heartfelt moments hit well enough even with the layer of absurdity they're baked into within the work. I was convinced by the time a certain male character got briefly introduced it might even go into "bisexual harem" territory which, is something I certainly never have and let alone never once thought would even be a possibility at any time soon for mainstream anime content. It's exciting, and it's the kind of thing I'd really like more of. I understand having clean, "good" rep is a big priority for people and for good reasons but god I'm so sick of any gay or non-standard pairings in anime being this thing that's delegated to side characters or treated as some hot-button political thing that needs to be addressed as this bespoke special thing. Don't get me wrong it can be but on the other side of the coin, it means we almost never get things that'll just let loose with this stuff. The closest thing I can think of is Stop!! Hibari-kun, but otherwise you really never get to see things like "Oh yeah Hakari and Karane totally have feelings for each other too" as like a foregone conclusion to then just have fun with or build comedy off of in the way you get for straight gag comedy. I'm probably not conveying this as well as I could be but regardless, it's a pleasant surprise.
All that being said...
All of this like almost completely goes off the fucking rails when Hakari's mother, Hahari, gets fully introduced and becomes a part of the main cast in the last three episodes or so. I don't know how, or why, or honestly WHO had the bright fucking idea to go, "YEAH, LET'S HAVE HIM ALSO DATE HER MOM IT'LL TOTALLY BE FINE YOU GUYS WE CAN LEVERAGE THIS"
I understand, that it makes for good drama, I guess, or that it's more grist toward the fanservice machine in the form of milf content I GUESS. But god does it feel really fucking weird. The prior 5 girl dynamic was obviously not really going to last given the show's premise but, I don't understand why this also meant we needed anything remotely like this. They try so, so hard to make it feel ok or seem like it's gonna work out but I've gotta be honest it kinda stinks on ice. Like there's no fucking way, this ends in any other way, than with this guy living in a palace as some fucked up cult leader, never speaking to anyone on the outside and delegating any messages to his girlfriends to pass along. It's unhinged, and I don't really know what to make of it at all.
And that kinda goes for the whole show really. I don't know how I really feel about it. I guess as a whole I had a lot of fun with the first like 9 or so episodes. Even with the last 3 I was still having fun albeit in part because I watched it with someone else. I'll even say I'd at least like to see where the fuck this goes if it lands another season (since anime aren't allowed to just have a normal amount of episodes these days, fuck me.) But also god I've never seen an anime shit the bed so fucking hard and still try to keep face the entire time so late into it's run. It's truly incredible. Maybe in like a month I'll figure it out but I'm so stuck between "I really, really want more like this" and "God I never want to continue this again". I'd say if you wanna see a moderately funny ecchi gag comedy with relationships that feel like nothing else, for better or for worse, give it a look. Just keep in mind that sort of unpredictability goes both ways.
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