I generally dislike anime. A few however manage sometimes to break from the norm and genuinely impress me. So I gave pure romance anime a chance for a change. To the most that I've watched I just gave a rating. But I stopped to review this one because of its capacity to leave me the very best and worst thoughts about it at the same time. So here it goes.
The inhabitants of the luxury apartment complex are all interesting. I wasn't sure what to expect at first about their trace of supernatural blood that allows them to transform into creatures from legends. However it blended nicely with the rest of the story. Almost all of the characters won me over either by being adorable, quirky or both. The operative word here being "almost". Keep this in mind. The central characters are the socially inept Ririchiyo and her inappropriately subservient yet caring bodyguard. Their clumsily budding romance was filled with heart felt affection, devotion and humour that ranged all the way to being subtle (remember to keep an eye on the screen in the supermarket displaying a dog breeds documentary). Most of the supporting characters are an integral part in the development of the protagonists' love story. They each have a certain allure. My favourite is the adorable girl who thoroughly enjoys food. Although she has her head in the clouds to such extent that she creates weird situations for herself, she is uncannily empathetic and caring. Which makes her terrifying supernatural form quite a contrast to her good nature. There is also her good friend who nurtures romantic feelings for her and puts up a tough front to make up for his not so tough supernatural form. All characters residing at the complex are delightful or funny. Even the attractive blonde secret service lady who can't stop making, what I thought at first, were pretty sleazy remarks and advances towards the other girls in the complex is adorable. There is nothing dark or disrespectful in her over the top sexuality.
Which makes this the right time to move to what this show actually gets wrong. The blonde secret service lady is often used for fan service or as a transition to it. Which in itself is not something I am opposed to if it's contained within certain bounds of respect. However she is just the first piece in the domino effect. She is also used to degrade an attractive, yet cute at the same time, maid. The show just had to have a woman in a maid outfit in a demeaning situation... What's worse they also made her dumb.
The final straw was the introduction of the sadist who also views everyone as either sadists of masochists. Remember the innocent, food loving girl? She was debased by him to sickening levels while still being the least explicit scenes in the show. Without spoiling anything I can just say it's not violence which makes it even worse because it's not actually denounced. In fact it's quite condoned because the girl is showed in a character slide later exactly in the same circumstances. I am not the cleanest guy in the world, but that was just revolting.
So in conclusion this anime is like a really good fruit that I love right to the point where I bite out a rotten piece. Both the good parts from before the spoiled piece as well as the tasty portion after just don't taste the same any more...
