Winter 2020 First Impressions – Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga, A Destructive God Sits Next to Me, and Interspecies Reviewers

I do most of my writing on the weekends, and I feel like this most recent weekend has just been a marathon of consuming tons of anime even though it really hasn’t been that much (and most likely won’t seem like that much to readers, since this will be getting posted later in the week). It’s not the “watching” part of the equation that’s so much work for me, it’s all the writing that comes afterward. While I’ve changed my process quite a bit from how I was writing first impression posts previously, I still have to work diligently to write something I’m personally happy with and which encapsulates the feelings I want to express. I’ve found that if I slack off, even for a little bit, it becomes very easy to justify slacking off even more… which is why there are still several anime seasons where I’ve never completed the full set of reviews. I’ve been lucky that I’ve had some convenient days off during the last several weeks, so I haven’t had to balance the workload from my day job with that from my hobby.

Note: Some language and imagery related to Interspecies Reviewers is NSFW. That review appears last in this group.

Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The Warring States Period in Japan’s history was a time of battles, betrayals, and shifting borders. One of its most famous figures was the warlord Oda Nobunaga. As he comes to the end of his life, he defiantly faces a statue of the Buddha and states that in his next reincarnation, it might be fun to come back as a dog. All he really wanted was for his last words to sound really cool… but in some inspired moment of cosmic humor, Nobunaga really does come back to Earth as pampered pooch in modern-day Japan.

Not only is he pampered, he’s also a very cute Shiba Inu. He would have preferred to return as something with a stronger aura, like a Doberman or a German Shepherd, but as the neighborhood women attest there’s a certain charm to a Shiba’s tsundere nature. Nobunaga soon learns that he’s not alone; several of his friends, enemies, and co-conspirators are also living within dog bodies of various cuteness-levels. Though the general public is completely oblivious to it, old rivalries continue to play out at the dog park right in front of their eyes.

Different body, same attitude. *Screencaps from Crunchyroll.*

Impressions: The Warring States Era seems like it might have something of a cultural equivalent in the Revolutionary War era in the USA. Both are iconic time periods within their respective histories, and both seem to have become mythologized within their culture to the point that their major players have become caricatures. From this cultural transformation have arisen plenty of entertaining historically-reinterpreted narratives. In America right now we have Hamilton, a musical in which many of the major players in the country’s formative years play out their real arguments using decidedly modern music styles. In Japan, on the other hand, it seems like every couple of years we get an anime about Oda Nobunaga getting reincarnated into some unexpected form.

This time, instead of becoming a cute anime girl he’s now a cute dog, which is preferable, in my opinion. A lot of the humor in this episode comes from the internal battle the character has between his pride as a former warlord and his frequent lapses into his newly-acquired, more basic canine urges. It’s difficult to look cool when your tail wags on its own or you’re getting a belly rub from the cute girl who totes you around town on a leash. Nobunaga wrestles with being called a different name – “Cinnamon,” which is way too cute for a warrior to bear – and teases his fellow historical figures about theirs (especially Date Masamune, whose current name is “Boo”). There’s another layer of humor that definitely goes over my head, however, and I think this might be the case for a lot of other fans (or their might be a lot more budding Sengoku experts than I assumed, who knows?). The Warring States Period isn’t something that most people in the West know about on their own; it’s more specialty knowledge that one might encounter as part of an Asian Studies degree. I’m ashamed to say that, despite being an anime fan for multiple decades and having had many opportunities to supplement my historical knowledge on this subject, I still don’t really know enough about the real history to laugh at the referential gags in anime like this.

A friend of mine who is very knowledgeable about seiyuu tells me that there’s some fun to be had in knowing who plays which characters in this series, so if that’s your jam (and you’ve indulged in any other Sengoku-set entertainment) then I bet there are a few Easter eggs to be uncovered. For me, while there are some funny sight gags and the characters are pretty cute, the knowledge base required to get the most out of the series is a high enough barrier that I’m left feeling as though I’m just chasing my tail.

Pros: The juxtaposition between the hardened characters and their fluffy dog forms is funny.

Cons: A lot of the humor will go over viewers’ heads unless they’re well-versed in Sengoku history.

Content Warnings: Mild violence. Many dog butt holes.

Grade: C

A Destructive God Sits Next to Me

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Koyuki is a serious kid with a serious problem; he tends to get drawn into others’ drama. Since his grades have been flagging lately he has a vested interest in trying to buckle-down and study, but sitting next to Hanadori has been wearing him down bit-by-bit. Hanadori has a bad case of middle-school syndrome, a delusional state of mind that keeps him (willingly) trapped in a fantasy world of his own making. Even as a second-year high school student, he fancies himself some kind of demon god. It’s all Koyuki can do to keep from getting dragged into the manufactured drama of the situation, but eventually he slips up and becomes ensnared in Hanadori’s fantasy world.

When Koyuki, Hanadori, and troll extraordinaire Tsukimiya are forced to be in a study group together, Koyuki worries that the other two will drag his grades down even further into the hole. They goof around during study time and distract from the task at hand so much that Koyuki worries their collective average with doom them to extra class work. When they get their grades back, however, Koyuki is even more horrified; it turns out that those two goofballs are the extra-frustrating types who can screw around all day and still get near-perfect grades.

Koyuki is forever forced to play the straight man. *Screencaps from Crunchyroll.*

Impressions: Ever since I learned what the term “Chuunibyou” meant, I’ve been forced to examine my own behavior as an adolescent and come to terms with the fact that I was at least the same level of disastrous as many of the chuuni characters that feature in today’s popular anime. While I may not have gone so far as to cosplay in school or to directly talk back to my teachers, I certainly had an inflated sense of my own importance, like I’d been forcibly expelled from some other, better fantasy-style life and made to suffer through this decidedly more mundane one. My personal fantasies were definitely more video game related, although Sailor Moon was getting popular too around the time I was in middle school… anyway, I’m sure there were people in my class who were as annoyed with me as Koyuki is with Hanadori in this series.

Much like Outburst Dreamer Boys from the previous season, our POV character is the type of person who’s reluctant to get drawn into the antics of other people. The outward impression is that Koyuki is too mature for this particular brand of ridiculousness, but as in many similar cases I think the real problem is that he’s projecting; he’s struggling with the tension that comes from wanting to behave like a “grown-up” while still having the desire for escapism, so he’s annoyed by the freedom that his classmates experience very loudly right in front of his face. Nowadays, as an “older” person whose hobbies are occasionally still assumed to be too juvenile for people in my age group, these types always frustrated me. I never understood why anyone would willingly give up on something fun that they loved just because it wasn’t perceived as a mature activity. I’m assuming that this is the situation that Koyuki will have to self-examine his way out of, assuming the series decides to go that route.

On the other hand, the series could definitely stick it out as a gag comedy without the additional emotional baggage, and that might be okay too (though definitely less satisfying for me as a viewer). I found a lot of moments throughout the episode pretty funny, though I probably laughed more at Tsukimiya’s constant high-level trolling than Hanadori’s demon lord monologuing. There’s nothing more infuriating than someone who can goof around all day and get a rise out of everyone else who then turns around and does well in school with seemingly little effort. It’s almost unfair – and the utter injustice of it all is framed in a very humorous way here. I have to give props to the boys’ teacher, too; his deadpan nature is exactly how I’d try to deal with kids goofing off in my classroom.

My middle school math teacher used to tell us that “nerds will inherit the Earth.” While I now question the wisdom of convincing a bunch of insufferably smart middle school students that they’ll someday be better than everyone else, I think that there’s something to be said in allowing the weirdos and the geeks the mental space to believe that they’re powerful and have some control over their own lives (although now that being a geek is “cool” that might no longer be such a need, and may in fact be detrimental). I think that’s all the chuunibyou mentality really is – it lets powerless kids, kids who get picked on in school and teased for their differences, believe that they have even just a small amount of agency. That’s why I’ll always have just a little bit of fondness for anime like this. While this isn’t necessarily the best example of this type of comedy (it’s not nearly the worst, either), it hits a soft part in my heart that anime comedies rarely prod.

Oh, and thumbs up for a great “Animal Crossing” parody! This show is really speaking my language.

Pros: Enjoyable, funny comedy about a phase that is familiar to many of us. Captures the frustrating aspects of many different characters. The OP is a real banger.

Cons: It’s not clear whether this is a story about Koyuki becoming less uptight, or whether it’s just a straight-up comedy.

Content Warnings: Slapstick violence. Comedic bloody injury.

Grade: B-

Interspecies Reviewers

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Note: this review contains NSFW language and imagery.

Stunk and Zel are two adventurers whose after-hours tastes run the gamut from the elven to the demonic. There’s a saying around town that every species represented in the red light district can be traced back to the sensual, sexy succubus, but whether there’s any truth to that or not, the intrepid adventurers savor each varied thrust of their sword. Of course, being different races themselves (Stunk, a human and Zel, an elf), they don’t always share the same opinions on which species are the sexiest, so they embark on a new quest to sample every flavor of woman they can find and review their experiences for the benefit of the realm’s various horn-dogs.

Their little “project” gets bumped into high gear when the two meet Crimvael, a fallen angel in need of rescuing. They trade companionship with Crim for a future free trip to heaven, once Crim’s broken halo is healed. Crim, as an angel, is as sexually-inexperienced as they come, so they aren’t particularly enthused when the guys treat them to a romp in a brothel full of catgirls. But it beats revealing their ambiguous angelic genitalia and potentially becoming yet another item to cross off the list of sexual conquests, so Crim ends up reluctantly joining in the sexcapade.

Stunk and Zel have a very simple goal. *Screencaps from Funimation.*

Impressions: I like anime quite a bit, and I also (like most people) enjoy lewd material when it suits me. It wasn’t until trying to review the first episode of Nekopara earlier this season, though, that I realized why, despite enjoying both of those things, that porny anime (or awkwardly-reframed anime based on porny material) so often gives me heartburn; in my mind, the enjoyment I get from either of them is very compartmentalized in my own mind. If I’m enjoying an anime for it story and characterization, I don’t like it when that’s interrupted with a bunch of low-brow horny fanservice. Likewise, if something’s sexy and fun, just let it be sexy and fun. I don’t think anime typically handles realistic sexuality very well, so I’d rather ecchi series just jiggle around in their own corner.

Interspecies Reviewers is sort of different for me in that, despite being part of a typical anime season, it’s never seemed to be more than just “sexy fun,” and I was prepared to judge it on those merits. Immediately what struck me from the key art (and later, the animation itself), is that not only does the series feature a lot of different varieties of monster-girl characters (that’s a plus in my book), they actually represent a decent variety of ages and body types. There aren’t just slender women with huge breasts (although there are those as well), there are plump characters, fat characters, and even old characters. I can’t think of the last time I saw a grandmother-type character who was framed (at least in some manner) as honestly expressing some kind of sexuality (well, other than maybe on The Golden Girls), so at least in that sense this series has something different to offer. That said, digging much deeper below the surface is where I started to uncover a lot of issues.

While I don’t have any particular issue with there being sex workers in an anime, the big problem is that the series is framed through the eyes of two (and then more) characters who believe it’s their solemn duty to rank them based on their perceived fuckability, like some kind of Yelp service for dipstick-dunking. There’s an entire scene dedicated to their argument over how age is physically expressed in both humans and elves, the conclusion being that “old” (however that’s perceived by the paying customer) equals “bad.” Later conversations revolve around specific erogenous zones, submissiveness levels, and ways of interacting with other species that puts the focus on being able to get the most “bang for your buck,” which I found to be dehumanizing. It feels creepy, like boys passing notes and lists around in the locker room about which girls are “sluts” and “easy” and which ones are “prudes.”

This really hit home for me in a later scene where Meidri, the bird-woman barmaid who works at the pub the characters frequent, has to sit and listen as the various men in the bar read aloud Stunk and Zel’s most recent review posting. The frustration on her face is obvious as their article focuses on how “slutty” those of her own avian species are perceived to be. It gave me flashbacks to the many times I’ve overheard or had to listen to even tame gendered talk and didn’t feel comfortable speaking up about it – if even ignorant gender-essentialism or minor microaggressions can wear one down, imagine the effect that degrading, entitled sex talk can have on someone who doesn’t consent to hearing it. There’s also Crim’s situation, where they’re clearly uncomfortable with having sex, the logic being that angels have sort of a “vanilla” mentality about sexuality, but get coerced into it anyway (for intended comedic effect, I gather?). It sucks when an anime series that is probably meant to be mindless, horny fun for a certain kind of person can be so specifically mean-spirited (or even just oblivious) toward others. I honestly didn’t think I’d have to grapple with this sort of emotional garbage from such a dumb, horny anime series, but there you go.

“But Jessi, what did you think this was going to be like?” Heh, I guess I’m not really sure. I think anime, like any other storytelling medium, is great at telling so many different types of stories from so many varied perspectives that fun, positively-framed human sexuality shouldn’t be such an enormous and difficult undertaking. I’m actually remembering back to a line in Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga earlier in this very post: Sore wa sore, kore wa kore – that is that and this is this. Anime is anime and hentai is hentai, at least until someone decides that sexuality as it can exist in mundane real life – where someone isn’t automatically made a victim, where no one is being judged, where both (or all!) participants communicate with one-another, respect boundaries, and have a good time – is marketable. Until then, well, at least the character designs are sexy.