Well, it looks like i’m back for another season. God help us all. And what better series to start out with than a series that is like if Hamtaro and Sugar a Tiny Snow Fairy had an illegitimate child which forcibly opened your mouth and poured sugar down your throat? Why, I can’t think of anything better! And here’s an added twist. I didn’t want you guys to have to wait until somebody decided to fansub this show, so yes. That’s right, I tackled this show not only about insane levels in cuteness, I tackled it with no subtitles in the Japanese raw. My Japanese is between basic and barely passable in conversation, but I think I managed to get the gist. If I got something wrong, oh well. That being said, let’s do this.
So the series starts out with this girl named Kokoro (by the way, this is a joke as ‘Kokoro’ also means ‘Heart’ in Japanese. So yeah… there’s going to be a lot about friendship and love in this show) in school with her friends who are in elementary school and they’re doing an art project. They comment on how Kokoro really likes using her green colored pencil and she tells them how the pencils mean a lot to her because they’re from her dead grandmother.
She sees her pencil glow but no one else seems to have seen in. Ignoring it, she heads home and then to school. While at school an egg pops out of the pencil and turns into one of the cutest damn things since Jigglypuff. It’s a squishy little thing that runs around and accidentally knocks the hands off a clock as Kokoro returns home.
We learn that it a god named Lucktama and it symbolizes, you guessed it, tacos. No wait, luck. Yeah that thing. Kokoro notices him and he explains this to her. It can also perform magic, however, since it’s based on luck, it can either go very well, or terribly as we see it able to create a hair dryer, however the next time he tries it nearly burns her.
Okay, this is where I get a tiny bit fuzzy, but I think I got the general idea. So Luckytama wants her to sign a contract of secrets so she won’t tell anyone about his existence. Not only that, but she has to take care of him and build him a house before midnight or he’ll disappear. The problem is, she’s terrible at building houses, which is ironic, because her father is an architect. (Yeah, I’ve come to accept that the only time the 1 or no parent rule is broken in anime is if the kids are in elementary school)
She tries a few times to make the house but fails miserably. Until finally, she’s able to design a house and works up until midnight to finish the house. However, It looks like they’re out of time, but it turns out they’re not as Luckytama messed up putting the hands back on the clock and they actually have 15 minutes left. She finishes it, and he gets to stay. She then signs the contract and the episode ends with them hinting at another egg thing being born next episode.
Well what can I possibly say? This show is adorable. I mean, that’s really the main thing that needs to be said here. However, I will say this. It’s actually BETTER than I thought it was going to be. I’ll say this, at least in episode one, it’s better than a bunch of other crap I’ve reviewed on this show. Here is a list of shows that have been worse than this show. Ushinawareta, Vanadis, Saenai no Heroine, Triage X, Punch Line, And i’m sure there’s others.
But now, let’s go on to the actual parts of the review.
Head: This show…it has a cute premise. Like I said, it’s like Hamtaro, but one thing that always pissed me off about Hamtaro was that the girl couldn’t talk to them. I do like that they remedied that here. Let’s be honest though, the show’s not going to have a plot as dark as Attack on Titan, or as full of twists as Monster, or as funny as Comic Party, that’s not what this show is, and it’s not what it’s trying to be. It’s a show for little kids to sell a toy line. However, I WILL say this. I have seen far FAR worse premises and executions for such an idea than with this show.
7/10
Eye: This is one of the places the show really shines. The animation is simply put, absolutely adorable. Of course, it HAS to be, to get the kids attention. Still, I will say, the character designs ARE adorable. And…I kind of want to buy a plush of one of these. DAMN YOU EFFECTIVE MARKETING! (shakes fist in the general direction of Japan) The voice acting is cute, the sets are bright and cheerful, and the show in general is very pleasing to the eye. No complaints except for my poor pancreas.
9/10
Heart: (haha, get it? Because it’s Kokoro, like the main character’s name?)
So I guess what this show all boils down to is, does this formula work? Do I feel for these characters or do I not give a single shit about their first world plights? And…to be perfectly honest….I do. This show…for all intents and purposes shouldn’t really work. It’s a marketing tool used to sell toys to children and…interestingly enough, it works. I like the characters, they actually HAVE personalities, albeit the girls is still being developed, however, i’m not digging the whole, “She has a crush on a guy in school” thing as that’s been done 40,000 ways to death. Hopefully it won’t be that big of a deal. Other than that…the characters work and I actually like them. I know, shocker right? Oh well. I can’t help it, i like cute stuff. Sue me
7/10
Total Score 7.6
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know how the show ended up getting an initial score this high, however, sometimes you just need an adorable show to make you smile. it’s fun, it’s harmless, and it’s very very cute.
So the big question. Am I reviewing this? Welp, I’m losing Tribe Cool Crew as my feel good series, and Gate is on hiatus until next season. So…you know what? Yeah. Even if I have to review the raws, I will. I’m on board. For better or worse guys, you got me on board for another season, and god help you, it’s with a show about Egg underwear gods being adorable. May god help us all.
Watching: …Yes.
Blogging: Yes…Shame? What’s That?
-Hideki