Review:Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Okamisan and Seven Companions

Long, long ago…in a town far, far away…

Alex: There existed a school named Otogi Highschool, and within it, a club called Otogi Bank. This is another one of your club in a highschool shows, but is just a step above the rest. The anime is packed with some loveable fairy tail references like Puss in Boots to the Big Bad Wolf. That’s kind of original.

Its your standard cast of characters, really. Tsundere, cute caring moegirl, ladies man, ya know. The lead differs a bit from the norm, but not really enough to set him apart- he’s still shy and still likes our leading lady.However…it comes with a narrator, like all fairy tales. And this narrator will be familiar to all the Railgun fans…it’s none other than the voice actor of Kuroko. In itself, that assures you of a few laughs here and there. I was worried about putting her as the narrator, but the worries were for nothing. She ruins moments and gets giggles out of audiences-what more can you ask for?

The plot is where this highschool drama shines. Our lead character has a very dark past, with hints at rape and abuse from the getgo. It’s got its fair of fillers and boobs, but at heart its got a plot, and it’s not afraid to show it. The majority of this short anime is spent on fleshing out the seven companions and advancing the story to the point where it leads to one hell of an amazing finale.

You’ll probably recognize J.C Staff, the company behind this, for anime’s with a similar concept (Toradora) to a completely different one (Toaru Kakuru No Railgun), but worry not, because this is a step above most of their previous works and then some. It’s had a habit of loosing a character in a cliche, and thankfully, that doesn’t happen here. It comes close a few times, but manages to stay away.

Whilst not sounding impressive on paper, Ookamisan and Seven Companions shines when it isn’t on paper. The pure enjoyment factor of this anime is what sells it so highly for me.If you generally like romcoms, highschool dramas or some form of highschool anime, it’s worth giving this one a shot. For all its shortcomings, its worth it.

And they all lived happily ever after…the end.

Alex’s Score: 8 Meeps out of 10 (Very Good)

Dusk’s Score: 8 Meeps out of 10 (Very Good)

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 12

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

And the final episode puts the “and they all lived happily ever after” in this fairy tail with a random case about some stranger wanting to marry into Ryoshi’s house.

Whilst it does deepen the whole relationship between Ryoshi and Ookami, this whole episode wasn’t as good as the previous episodes can claim to be. It’s a pretty short post because it really didn’t cover anything which hasn’t been touched on, and whilst it was as enjoyable as the previous episodes of this series, as quick to take a cliché and mock it as this series has been…it’s nothing special. Just gives a whole “and they all lived happily ever after until next time” to the whole thing.

I hope i’m not the only person hoping for a second series. I can’t actually name something that ruined this series, it was enjoyable, funny, stuffed with characters with a charm., even though it was dotted with cliché’s left and right.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 11

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Alex:Oooh, you know its dramatic when the opening is cut. xD Anyway, this episode launches you straight back in from last week. Ookami-San, Tarou, Otsuu, and Otohime have all been kidnapped. Alice is running from a group of thugs. That leaves our heroes of Otagi Bank at Ryoushi, Ringo, President, and Majolica. In the name of love and justice, Nekomiya seems to join them too.

Its funny, serious, and the characters which were hardly developed are even proving amusing to watch. Be it torturing the playboy with endless females in swimsuits to making  the president  attack people with a tazer,including making people fight in the name of big boobs,  its an honest treat to watch. This over the top attitude of everything suits this series perfectly.Seeing the Otogi Bank fight was even better than it was last time. Watching Alice take people down with her high heels was one of the moments you have to see. I do question the choice of weapons though…whips, smoke bombs, people with cat ears wearing sharp boots and a broom, to name a few.

If this is what J.C Staff can do, then they’ve seriously screwed up in the past or seriously improved. I’ll honestly miss this series when it ends next week. Its quirky, amusing, serious, and overall…a good animation, even through all the clichés. I honestly respect this anime.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 10

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Alex:Yeeeees! A finale setup that was beyond anything I thought this show was capable of.The way this episode slowly layed down all the foundations for what’ll hopefully be one hell of a finale was nothing short of genius, with plot twists left and right and some very believable acting from our main characters, coupled with  some very atmospheric pieces of the OST.

The storyline is basicly that the big badguy sets up a trap for Otogi Bank, and tries to ruin their reputation by spreading false rumours everywhere.They attempt to clear this up by taking on even more requests, whilst falling even further into the trap. Ookami-san runs into a girl who faced the same treatment as she did, Ringo gets a threatening phone call, and a mysterious man shows up in an attempt to train Ryoushi in fighting  on the condition that he keeps it a secret from Otogi Bank.All whilst cleverly falling into the big bad wolfs trap.

JC staff have really hit a new high with this episode. The serious nature of the themes used, along with the general bouncy nature of this anime went hand in hand, and drew me in hook, line and sinker. I’m honestly excited to see where this will go now. o:

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 9

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Alex:Screw the fact that this was cliched,  this worked perfectly.

Yeah. So by now its obvious that this show is gonna have to pull one hell of a climax to make itself stand out from the crowd of animes, but for what its worth, Ookami-San to Shichinin is genuinely completely enjoyable, if your willing to put aside your hatred of clichés and tsunderes.I cant say that for many shows with a tsundere in it, as there’s normally a much bigger problem in the background, like Shakugan No Shana.And honestly? I didn’t expect this show to be any better than your generic tsundere show, because J.C staff are behind it.

This episode was all about two things. Number one- Give Ringo some more backstory. Number two- Make a serious swimsuit episode. And hey, it pulled them both of with the charm and flair i’ve come to expect from this show. The scene where Ringo, the reliable character you can always fall back onto, shed a tear when she thought her half sister was going to drown was everything a dramatic moment should be. Talking of the drama, its not often you get realistic drama in anime. It’s perfectly realistic for a kid to  fall into the deep part of a swimming pool, and their thrashing to injure/knock unconscious a teenage girl who’s trying to save them.Its also realistic to need to give them first-aid, and for a lifeguard (especially in such a crowded pool) to take his time arriving.

But goddaaamiiiit Ookami-san, just be true to yourself so we can stay away from the clichéd scenes which are undoubtedly going to happen in this climax. We all know you’ll end up with Ryoshi.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 8

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Alex:Filler. And not a particularly amusing one at that.

The group gets a request from some rich bratty kid to find him a wife, so they hunt down all the girls from the school. Alas, even the Toradora and Railgun crew make cameo’s just to get rejected.Then the childhood friend of the bratty kid turns up and they live happily ever after.

Whilst the boob jokes from Sebastian the Butler were pretty funny at times, the rest of the episode was a bit of a drag to watch, being very average.And as you can tell from the shortness of this post, I found it amazingly average, especially when we could have had another episode of character development.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 7

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Alex:Following the trend from last episode, the focus this time is on Ryoushi, and he finally gets some much needed development. And damn, this turns him into a decent lead.

Due to a hilarious set-up from Ringo to finally get Ookami-San and Ryoushi to date, she makes a double date with clients, and the fun begins. The date itself is relatively short, but it has many a fun moment, be it Ringo stalking them and monitoring them via radio, or the moment they finally hold hands, there’s enough to get a smirk from your average viewer.

However, Ookami-San got amnesia when she was hunting down a stray kitten by hitting her head, and this leads to Ryoushi being dragged along by a cute, adorable and innocent version of Ookami-san. Without any of her tsundere aspects and with no memory of her traumatic past. Due to a string of cute plea bargains and the like, they end up going on a proper date, viewing street entertainers and the like. This really allows Ryoushi’s real personality to shine, as he battles his shyness to make the innocent Ookami-San happy. And awwh. Being a man, I understand his feelings from that part.

However…it all goes sour when Ookami-San misunderstands something, and bumps into that grey haired man who’s got a past with her. Expecting answers to a lot of things, I just got more questions. He hinted at the fact that Ookami-San liked the abuse, the fact that they’d had sex multiple times, and the fact that he’d raped her before. Whilst they can’t all be true, it’s gonna be interesting to find out as this show enters its finale.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 6

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Alex: So this show has reached its midway point, and for the first time in 6 episode it starts pretty seriously, as Ryoushi worries about Ookami-San as she suffers the recoil from last episodes drama. Its clear that there’s some case of abuse in the past between these two, but I got the impression there’s something more based on the fact he sent thugs to rape her back in episode 2. But to prevent it from getting too serious and deep, Ringo wears a maid outfit to clean up their apartment.

As the episode continues, we’re shown how Ringo and Ookami-san met back when the two of them were in middle school. It’s a slightly moving scene, only let down by Ringo’s  voice made even squeakier because she was younger. However, I can see how this would be adorable to the mass of anime otaku’s in Japan. Cute, innocent girl meets angry tsundere when she’s having a vulnerable moment in her sleep and tries her best to befriend her for days on end until she finally manages it.

I suppose so far, for a 13 episode series, the pacing here is almost perfect. We’ve had the plot layed down, and now two of our main characters are developed.Where I hated Ringo before, and thought Ookami was your typical tsundere before, this episode really changed how I viewed them. Its episodes like this that I keep watching this show for, because they’re so brilliantly done its great to see.I love shows which can pull these kind of episodes off, because they become stronger based on how attached people got to the characters during the filler episodes.

I just want some more depth in Ryoushi, because as male leads go, he’s still a slightly bland male lead. Whilst he does have a lot of potential to get better, it’s going to be hard to get that potential out. However, it is shown excatly WHY Ryoushi really fell for Ookami-San, and it was a touching scene at that.But honestly, Narrator-San,  saying “Ryoushi has a fetish for legs” isn’t the best way to close off such a scene.

Please, PLEASE, keep this up. It’ll make those annoying filler episodes from before completely worth it.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 5

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Alex:Long, long ago, in a school far, far away, another story was taking place. I think i’m getting as bored of hearing that as Narrator is of saying it.

As the episode starts, we get introduced to a man-slayer…who’s probably a women-slayer based on how she’s attracted to Ookami-San. Despite the obvious otaku fanservice, this episode was about going to the “other” highschool and figuring out why they kidnapped Ookami-San, and why the school president is allowing it.But…uh…they come fully equipped in spy gear with neko styled boxing gloves which, according to narrator-san make this “adorable squeal” whenever they hit someone. It was nice to see the members of Otagi Bank in action again as they “broke through”, armed with whips, cat mittens and a slingshot against armed thugs. It did get a fair few laughs from me as the whole thing was played out like a spy film, with the kidnapper from episode 2 as the big baddie out to rape Ookami-San again, and take out all of her friends in the process.

Whilst it turns out that no matter how evil the school  president is,and no matter what dark past he has with Ookami-San, the caring nature of Ryoushi to make everything better.

And for now, they all lived happily ever after.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episodes 3 and 4

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 3

Alex:After finding its feet with a solid second episode, it…appears to have fallen over as it gets caught up in a love triangle which gets solved by a beauty contest. I suppose what you can say about this, however, is how it reflects upon the modern culture in anime. Modern, chamring, perfect girl, or loli girl with big breasts and a squeaky voice.

Perhaps because this episode focused on boring side characters and lacked anything interesting, it was easily the worst instalment of Ookami-San to Shichinin yet.It failed to draw any attention, and I ended up staring out the window or mindlessly daydreaming whilst watching it. Infact, the only highlight here was the annoying narator using sarcasm when talking about the two girls.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 4

Alex:Our beloved Ookami-san starts the episode by showing how tsundere she really is. This doesn’t give the most promising start.And as expected…it’s not very promising. Our male hero befriends the maid of Otogi Bank by saving her from a rouge baseball…and gets maid service at home, complete with your “Welcome back, Master”. Facepalm indeed. With scenes that feel like they’ve come straight from an ero-game, Ookami-San to Shichinin continues the boring trend from last episode.

Tsundere scenes…maid scenes… I wonder if im actually watching an ero-game adaption on the screen here.The only “good” thing episode this episode was how it spend the time to flesh out our ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. Not that she was fleshed out that well, but it was something to take my mind off the maid and tsundere.The second half was slightly more interesting, helping our Ookami-San to put her tsundere side away and admit she’d fallen for our male hero…unluckily, she couldn’t admit it. Aaaand guess how we make the maid feel better. We put the entire cast in a maid costume to serve her! What a great idea…not.But, ohwell. With a nice feel-good ending, Ookami-San and her seven companions deepen their friendship and progress on in life.