Review of Omamori Himari
Another RTLR coming right for your eyes! This time we're dealing with a show that just basically hits the checkboxes for the harem/echhi/supernatural lists, and skips away, happy in it's ability to be perfectly average. The short of it is there is some amusement to be had here, but it's very vanilla. Not a waste of time, but there are other series that do all those thing with much more vigor. Will the RTLR wall of allergies get modified? Or is Emma Frost's position still secure? Let's drop it like its hot! Story: 6 As I said, this is very much your average harem show. The maincharacter (MC) possesses a very powerful technique that the demons fear and that the other slayer families wish to have. This power is not one he can use of free will, of course, and only activates in extremely dangerous situations. He is also a pacifist, believing demons and people can live together side by side, like some kind of hippie supernatural hangout. He only strikes enough to defend himself, and always keeps his harem on shorts leashes to make sure they don't kill either. We've seen this kind of character in tons of other shows, the happy go lucky guy that wants peace above all other things.
As he and his initial cat demon girl and his human best friend encounter new foes and defeat them, they pretty much always end up becoming new members of the harem. They all give some variation on 'his soul is pure, I must study his ways' or something similar. As the flock grows, a few of the girls hit on the MC, but the primary romantic rivalry is between the cat girl and the human girl. This is where a lot of the ecchi moments come in, with cat girl doing everything in her power to breed with the MC, and the human friend determined not to lose her best friend to the strange cat girl demon. The other girls seem interested as well, but no one gets in to each of their ways until another girl comes along and claims to be the MC's betrothed.
There's lots of moments where the cat demon shoves the MC's head between her enormous breasts, and he even up accidentally kissing the cat girl, blowing her mind and her lust sky high. The human friend sometimes attempts to keep up with the cat girl's outrageous behaviors. For example in one scene, the cat girl removes her top and exposes her breasts. The human girl freaks out, and then begins to remove her clothes as well. She's stopped before finishing the job, but the jealousy is readily apparent there. Oh, as a note, this is ecchi, but no nipples are ever shown onscreen that I can remember. It's all implied and innuendo and such. A lot of it revolves around jokes, where the MC and another person fall down and end up in an embarrassing position, with body parts in improper places and the light. It's not even as overblown as in, say, Highschool DxD where the characters put out their naughty bits intentionally and freak out the main character. This is more slapstick like, for the most part. Another old standby of the harem ecchi genre.
Another slightly varied, but still cliche'd feature is that of a single character possessing a great deal of power, but being unable to fully use it for fear of losing control. DxD had it in the red dragon armor Issei had, and Sister New Devil had that white armor that made him risk becoming berserk. In Omamori, its the cat girl who is the one unable to completely unleash her powers because when she does, she attacks everyone she sees, driven by bloodlust, making it dangerous for any allies to be around her. So she often moves alone against the enemy, thinking she'll use her full power to win before the MC and the rest of the harem arrive. This is pretty much always met with disastrous results. Only by fighting at the MC's side does she learn to truly do the best she can in battle and not lose her mind. The whole 'don't go full powered or it'll consume you!' is yet another trope many of these kinds of anime pull.
The ending doesn't give us anything new except a huge fight, and of course the MC gains the ability to use his superpower at will if only for a moment. The warriors for the hero find the true enemy had hasn't been engaging in the fighting, and finally slay him, freeing the 'face' of the true enemy (who is of course a female demon) the option to 'see the light' and join the harem if she pleases. Does she? I think we can all answer that question right now just off the info I've presented so far. And our ending has everything going right back to normal, only with the harem being even bigger now. The MC proves that demons and humans really can live together peacefully and all's well that ends well. Never seen that ending before, have you?
Art: 8
I thought the art looked pretty good. Of course they work hard for the ecchi elements, lots of bouncing tits and lots of panty shots, but they also work those into action shots and that to me makes the art and animation look a little smoother than some titles. Hard to slip in the panty shots over and over in the middle of fights if you're skimping on actual fight frames. No complaints from me, except that good art cannot save terribly average storytelling.
Sound: 7
The voices all sound fairly well. I didn't like the MC's voice much, though. The girls all sound fairly good, and have their own tweaks. The loli girl continually says 'nano' (you know I think is a rough translation) after damn near everything she says which can get a little old, but is used to humorous effects on occasion. The tea cup demon girl is a little high pitched at times, and nearly a little overdone. The other demon slayer sounds dead right in her arrogance, and the cat girl has a mature and sexy sound to her voice.
The background music was acceptable, and a bit funny at times. They have that 'midway' point in the show, like where in broadcast they would have cut to commercial, the first 'side' of this shot shows a girl, or sometimes two, in an outfit. When the 'second' side appears, a sultry sax phrase is played, and much of the model's clothes are missing. Hearing that sexy sounding sax play was kind of funny, calling back to the days of old, cheesy pornos.
The themes are fun, and while they may not always match some of the more intensive episodes, they still do their job well. They are both tunes I have playing in my general anime music folder, and they are fun and light-hearted. The ending theme, 'Beam my Beam' gets the lyrics shuffled around throughout the series, but is still 'bouncy' enough to fit the ecchi theme the show presents.
Character: 5
The characters catch knocks because they are so predictable and cliche to the point of being pieced together from better shows. Of course the cat girl, the demon trying hardest to win the MC's affection is sexy, and prone to initiating naught behavior such as flashing her breasts or pulling the MC into her chest and things like that. She's of course also very powerful and dresses in traditional garb while wielding a katana. She reminds me a lot of Erika from Campione. She's also at odds with every other girl in the harem, similar to the initial rivalry between Rias and Asia in DxD.
The human friend also mirrors that same rivalry, being not a demon and not having any powers. Asia started out not a demon and her only power is basically defensive, so there's some comparison to be had I believe. I guess if you have a next door neighbor for several years, especially of the opposite sex, I think you're like legally required to marry them or something. Sorry guys, but the law of anime must be upheld!
The loli isn't really into the guy all that much, beside her initial 'I must learn about love!' statement, which isn't that unusual. I am reminded of Yoshino from Date a Live here, in that she's around, she can help in a fight, but she's content to be close to the boy in question, and doesn't seem to lust after him the others do.
The human supposed finace is of course very powerful, though she harbors a secret that causes her intense need to be with the MC. She's arrogant and believes that no one else could possibly compete with her for his affections, though she's secretly jealous inside over the cat girl. She's also by nature in diametric opposition to the harem's demon members, but to be close to the MC, she sets aside her duty to slay demons and stays with the group. This reminds me of the church exorcist Xenovia from DxD, or the 'hero village' girls from Sister New Devil. She's also bossy and opinionated, always arrogant about her powers. Tropes everywhere!
Don't forget the MC, who, like most of these shows, has amnesia regarding his past, the ability to use a very strong superpower, but only when needed and never at will, and of course he's a total pacifist, thinking all creatures should be allowed to live and not be preyed upon. He's also clumsy around girls, doesn't have the confidence to move on any urges he might have sexually, and is not even bothered by the near sexual harassment piled on top of him by the harem members.
All these characters are cookie cutters and seem to be lifted from better shows. None of them show anything that is really remarkable nor does anything not totally predictable based on their personalities. They play off here and there for a laugh, and can sometimes be funny, but for the most part, they kind of end up boring more than anything.
Enjoyment: 6
Yes, I did laugh a few times here and there, and a 6 is still better than bad, even though many people view a 6 like they do a 2. It's not a bad show, it's just formulaic, and doesn't have any real points in it that stick out above and beyond any other harem ecchi show out there. I actually had to watch the series twice, because I forgot so quickly about the series I couldn't even write on it without a second watch. It's forgettable, but not bad. There are much worse ways to pass the time, but there are many better ways to do so as well.
Best Girl: Noihara Himari. The cat girl is cute, and is valiant enough in always trying to rush ahead and defeat the enemy before her master is ever in danger. At least she does't say 'nano' every 3 seconds.
In closing, I would say that this isn't a bad show, 6 is above board, but barely. There's a lot of elements in this show we've seen before, and seen done better. If you don't mind the retreading of these tropes, then you'll likely have a good time here. If you want something more tangible with a unique hook or something you've not seen before, then pass for sure. I guess for me the question is, is totally forgettable worse than bad? I'm going to go with no, but I can see how some of you might say 'yes'. Just another ecchi harem in a genre pack solid with them. Emma is safe on the RTLR wall for now. All thumbs sideways.