Incest is a touchy subject… in more ways than one and Eromanga-sensei looks to be another show that’s going to touch upon this subject… sort of. Many people have already been saying that this show is complete trash, but was it really all that bad? Let’s take a look at it.
First Episode Impressions
Eromanga-sensei is about a light novel author collaborating with an illustrator he has never met. One day, he gains a step-sister when she moves in with them, but after an incident with her mother, she holes herself up in her room and becomes a complete hikikomori. In fact, Masamune hasn’t seen his step-sister in an entire year, despite living under the same roof as her. One day, during a live stream by Eromanga-sensei, Masamune notices a lunch he made for Sagiri sitting in the background and discovers that she was Eromanga-sensei, the illustrator for his light novels, all along. For the first time in a year, she comes out of her room and the two of them talk.
Now, everything about the anime seems fine up until this point. It’s when Sagiri shows pretty obvious love interest in Masamune that people start to get sour. I don’t understand what the big deal is because they are only related in name only. She is not a blood relative of Masamune’s, but I guess the fact that she’s included in the family is the thing that makes it weird. I actually liken the relationship to something along the lines of Domestic na Kanojo (which, as an aside, is a FANTASTIC manga series by Sasuga Kei that I highly recommend people check out… especially since Kodansha is licensing it and releasing the volumes digitally.) where Natsu ends up losing his virginity to a girl who, later, becomes his step-sister.
I wonder if people’s opinions would change if Sagiri wasn’t in Masamune’s family? Take away the step-sister part and what would people think about the relationship then? That’s how you really have to look at this series, to be honest.
Outside of that whole ordeal, the first episode itself wasn’t as bad as people are making it out to be. No, the anime is not a masterpiece and it’s not going to be an anime of the year candidate, but it’s far from actually being completely terrible like some people are making it out to be. It’s a decent, average anime at best (so far) that you can sit back and enjoy for what it is. Sure, there are better shows out there this season, but this is the kind of show to watch when you’re bored and you’ve already plowed through the good stuff for the week.
OP & ED Impressions
In typical first episode fashion, the opening of the show served as the ending. Having heard ClariS perform the opening to Puella Magic Madoka Magica, I kind of new what to expect, but I didn’t expect her to fall into the overly generic opening category. With a show like this, you already know what to expect from the opening song “Hitorigoto.” Trumpets, upbeat music, and, obviously, female vocals. The only upside here is that it’s not sung by the seiyus. I liked ClariS’s Madoka Magica opening, but I hate this song. If you like it, more power to you, but it just doesn’t suit my style of music.
There was no Ending theme, although it is listed as “adrenaline!!!” by TrySail. The three exclamation points make it seem like this song means serious business. I will be highly disappointed if we get anything less than screaming death metal with anime goat sacrifices against a polka dot background.
Worth Watching?
MAYBE – While the first episode of Eromanga-sensei didn’t really have much wrong with it, much to the chagrin of the rest of the internet, this seems like a series that can easily fall into mediocrity. If the pacing and quality keeps up from the first episode, then it should be a semi-decent show, but there are flags all over the place that say that most of these episodes may feel a bit generic or even filler-ish. Time will tell if that will be the case, but this show seems like it blew all of its good material in the first episode. I enjoyed the first episode so I’m hoping this series can prove me wrong.
