Review of Please Put Them On, Takamine-san

'Please Put Them On, Takamine-san' is expected to be gooner trash, and it is great for being exactly that — TRASH. § Overview Takamine Takane is sexy and beautiful. She is extremely intelligent. To top it all, she is the student council president. But she has a secret: She has the ability to redo a part of her day. Called the 'Eternal Virgin Road,' she just needs to take off her bra or panty to activate it. If somebody sees her naked, that person will not be affected by Takamine's ability and will notice that change has taken place. Shirota Koushi, who one day saw hernaked at the PE shed, confronts Takamine. Takamine in turn uses the ability against him and forces him to be his closet, i.e. every time Takamine uses her ability, Shirota must put on a new panty.

§ Notes

1. Don't expect realism from this show. Some have expressed disbelief that it is impossible for Shirota not to be seen putting Takamine's panties on. It's a fair comment, and I don't judge this anime on its lack of realism. It is supposed to be titillating, and that is its greatest strength.

2. Let's compare this anime to the ecchi 'Beheneko: The Elf-Girl's Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster!' Beheneko's story is far superior to Takamine-san. In contrast, Takamine-san feels episodic. It feels something that the mangaka can prolong without really advancing the plot as long as he can come up with ridiculous scenarios. It goes without saying that as a romcom, Takamine-san is great.

But here's where both shows are different. Beheneko just relies on showing large boobs and having baths in almost every episode, and that's where it fails. On the other hand, Takamine-san relies on teasing Shirota-kun, in contrived situations where Shirota gets to see or even touch Takamine's body. This feels visceral so it is easy for me to get a hard-on just by watching this anime.

Between Beheneko's decent story but useless ecchi and Takamine's episodic story that induces hard-on, it's obvious that I will choose the choice of my little head below. This is why I only gave Beheneko a passing score of 5, and I am giving this a score of 6, a slightly above-average score.

3. Another thing I like about the Takamine and Shirote dynamic is that it reminds me so much of the dynamic between Senjougahari Hitagi and Araragi Koyomi's dynamic in the Monogatari series. I know die-hard fans of Senjougahara will be offended that I am comparing an awesome character like Senjougahara to a character designed to be trash, but it is what it is. Even if Takamine is just a derivative of Senjougahara, bringing a similar vibe is enough for me to praise this character.

Another evidence that this is derivative of Senjougahara, aside from being a purple-haired character, is that Kubo Yurika's vocal performance as Takamina approximates Saitō Chiwa's performance as Senjougahara.

4. The art design is so-so, choosing to only give faces on certain characters and blanking everyone else. (Some claim that the art style in the manga is better and perhaps that's true, but as far as the anime is concerned, it's passable.)

Nevertheless, there's a polarising sequence that I believe is great. There's a butterfly sequence that's shown whenever Takamine activates the Eternal Virgin Road. It's an imagery of a butterfly entering a door, then an image of what seems like a rose is seen, then the clocks in the background are seen reversing time, and then the door closes. Depending on the episode, it might be seen as short as 5 seconds but the full sequence is 45 seconds.

It's not in the manga, but it's a great addition to the anime as far as I'm concerned. It is like being inducted hypnotically into a trance, which is also the function of long takes in films.

Furthermore, the imagery in that sequence — a butterfly entering a door to feed on the flower — is an obvious sexual metaphor.

§ Final Thoughts

'Please Put Them On, Takamine-san' is trashy but so what? If it gives you a hard-on every time you watch it, it trumps every other consideration.

NOTA BENE: A grade of 6 out of 10 means that I find this anime slightly above average and I enjoyed watching it.

A 6 means a decent score and one notch above average. If you're the kind of viewer who treats anything below a 7 as irredeemable, I'd encourage a broader, more nuanced approach to rating.

My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4, I actively dislike it.