Series Review: Tasogare Otome X Amnesia (8/10)

Instant summary: Male high school student falls in love with a ghost.

Tasogare is chock full of fanservice. Well, that my first impression of the title. I got off a late start, so my image of this title comes mostly from the blogosphere. And as you would expect, people's choice of screencaps are pretty saucy... and all the T&A forms a general idea of what the show would be about. I usually avoid shows like these, but the many positive reviews prompt me to give it a try... and I found out that Tasogare isn't all about hard-selling the fan-service.

But that's actually not too far from what the show is about. Yuuko has some outrageous curves, and the director would not miss a chance to shove Yuuko's tits into your face every chance he gets. And there's the fact that Yuuko is completely shameless in front of our protagonist, so she has no qualms with being seen naked or having her boobs grabbed by him, which seems to happen once every episode.

There's one thing I love about Tasogare. Facial expressions!

I love it when an anime is able to show a wide myriad of expressions, because they always seem to work well in comedic situations. In fact, I'd like to think that the facial expression helped make "comedy" into one of Tasogare's primary genres. Without it, Tasogare would just be an ecchi drama, and that probably won't be very exciting.

Tasogare is one of my favourite shows this season. One of the reasons is, well, it was one of the most underwhelming seasons I've ever seen, and this is one of the few titles that manage to shine. It was also, of course, a delicious mix of cuteness, sexiness and comedy, which develops into a fairly good drama towards the end. The ending is a subject of a bit of debate, but I guess I'm quite satisfied with how it ended, as I dreaded the supposed outcome. I would call it a little predictable though; stories like these usually end in one of two ways, but Tasogare kinda did both... with a surprise twist at the very end. THAT I didn't quite expect.

Aside from the brilliance in character expression, the production quality isn't what you would call awesome. The consistently dark tones aren't very interesting, Kirie's trying way to hard to be a Bakemonogatari heroine with all the unfitting poses she does, and I can think of no less than ten seiyuus who would fit the character of Yuuko better than Hara Yumi. She's new, after all.

At least, in my opinion, this is the best Silver Link production by far.

Plot/Concept: Good
Story Style: Great!
Audio/Visual: Good
Value: 8

Top 3 Bishoujos of Spring 2012

3. Nyaruko (Haiyore! Nyaruko-san)

The series itself is pretty damn boring, but Nyaruko does help liven thing a lot. Without this fun, energetic and incredible cute character, there would be no value to the show at all. The other characters simple doesn't measure up to the main character herself. Her appeal might just make me give the show a second chance.

2. Kanoe Yuuko (Tasogare Otome X Amnesia)

Yuuko's an incredibly shameless character, having no problems with being groped or seen naked. But she's only shameless to one person, and perhaps that what makes her so sexy. She's would be the prettiest example of a high school beauty this season, followed by Rea. Too bad she's dead... (wait, Rea's dead too. What wrong with this season?) The show wastes no time to consistently remind you of her incredible bust size, and how they keep exploiting that. I won't deny that she's really a mix of popular moé traits, but I guess her back story does helps sets her apart somewhat.

1. Valmer Sofia (Jormungand)

It feels a little weird to put Valmet in first place, but I cannot understate how sexy this character is. It's not everyday you get to see a lady with a 8-pack. I'm not sure if she even fits the description of a bishoujo; she has enough muscles to make her look revolting to some. Despite being the only female in the group, she probably has the greatest physical power, and it's a group where everyone from the old man to the kid has at least a 6-pack. And it's not like this is a show with any kind of superhuman powers; that's her raw strength.

But together with her beastly muscular body, she also has quite an attractive physique, with her giant boobs and long legs. Together with her hilarious devotion to Koko and normally gentle nature, she turns out to be very likable. Perhaps we need less of stereotypical female archetypes and more of such unique characters like this.