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REVIEW: HENNEKO Episodes 1-7 Streaming


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jymmy



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:47 am Reply with quote
It's kind of a weird show. It does feel fresh and likeable, but then it's also really often bland and if not generic then composed of generic elements. I largely agree with the review's criticisms, and weigh them more heavily in my overall opinion of the show. I think the insanity of the plot developments is what I like the most about the series. When Yokodera arrived home to discover spoiler[his entire house had literally disappeared] I had a good laugh. What later happened to the school was also much more amusing than the things the characters did in it.
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CCharmanderK



Joined: 08 Jul 2009
Posts: 218
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:52 am Reply with quote
"Genuinely awful flashback"? What? That was good! It was cute! Who wrote-

Oh, it was Carl. That explains a lot.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:13 pm Reply with quote
So far this show is has been a very pleasant surprise. I really wasn't expecting it to have those moments of real emotion, given the fairy tale nature of the exterior. There are many aspects of the show that make me roll my eyes, but just as many that make me tear up just a little.

spoiler[If they actually get to the point where the Hentai convinces Tsukiko to get her emotional expression back, I will be pleasantly surprised, but I would settle for the two of them actually confessing to one another, as opposed to her skirting around the issue and him wanting her as a "little sister".]

I agree that the flash-back scene with Tsukiko in the mask was a great scene! I loved it.

The end of the most recent episode really shows promise for more absurdity and even more emotional punch! I can't wait to see how it wraps up!

(BTW, I LOVE the OP and the ED!)
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RyanSaotome



Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:30 pm Reply with quote
"Incredibly Cutesy" being a negative? Heh. Thats why you watch a show like this.

Anyway, Henneko is great, easily my favorite rom com of the last year or so. The Kantoku artwork is amazing and Azusa is one of the best anime girls in a while. I look even more forward to it than Attack on Titan when it comes to Saturday anime!
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EighteenSky





PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:55 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
And then there are the stabs at feeling that get moe-moed to death...

...the genuinely awful flashback where Yokodera nurses a masked Tsukiko through a crippling crisis of self-confidence

Disagree with both of these. I thought that was a wonderful flashback and most of the emotional aspects are well done, something I didn't really expect.

I think the series is fantastic, my joint favourite of this season along with Oregairu. The OP and EDs always put a massive smile on my face and cheer me up as well.
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rahzel rose
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Joined: 19 Apr 2011
Posts: 823
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:28 pm Reply with quote
I found this show very cute and kind of refreshing in a way, in the beginning. But it's started to drag for me, and as much as I love Kaji, I just can't seem to get into it anymore.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:44 pm Reply with quote
The show is very poorly written, with some bizarre aesops and messages. The plot itself is an utter mess. Plus, did you notice how Azusa couldn't possibly have gotten Yokodera's facade, yet she did anyway? Big plot hole alert.

The characters aren't very likeable either. Asuza is probably the best of the cast, but even she is irritating at times with her cookie-cutter Tsundere ways. Nevermind his disgusting pervertedness, Yokodera is a complete prick who toys with the girls and strings them along. Tsukiko is so artificially cute her personality is as plastic as her face, and is basically a complete psycho. Don't get me started on her sister Tsukushi, one of the more bizarre Anime characters I've seen.

Many of the gags are actually pretty funny, but generally this show is one of the least-entertaining shows I'm watching.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:53 pm Reply with quote
Imo, this is one of those shows I have to turn my brains off and watch it through. However, it is actually amusing at various circumstances and obviously quite cute. There's a lot of potential .gif material every episode even with just the OP song.

The story is bit of a mess and some of the characters are out of my liking zone. I'm not even sure who is my favorite character in the series if I have one at all. Otherwise, the premise is fun. Oh and yes, the OP & ED song is catchy as hell for me.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:35 pm Reply with quote
Has anyone else noticed how similar the OP is to the OP from Oreshura? Turns out the music director for Oreshura wrote the Henneko OP...

dtm42 wrote:
Plus, did you notice how Azusa couldn't possibly have gotten Yokodera's facade, yet she did anyway? Big plot hole alert.

I'm curious as to why you think Azusa couldn't possibly have gotten Yokodera's facade? The Cat God has shown an ability to entirely change the perceptions of everyone around, including altering the past, so I don't see anything as being outside of the powers of the rascal. spoiler[There isn't really any logical way that Ponta's "Barbara-san" could have ended up in Yokodera's possession either (which brings to mind some question about the true level of perversion of Hentai-san...) but it did.]

In addition, this is a pure fantasy/fairy tale/fable type of show. It is rather hard to apply logic or normal causal relationships to a show where wishes can be granted and retracted on a whim.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:06 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The show is very poorly written, with some bizarre aesops and messages. The plot itself is an utter mess. Plus, did you notice how Azusa couldn't possibly have gotten Yokodera's facade, yet she did anyway? Big plot hole alert.


And the part where his house disappears? Big pot hole alert. {Plus, did he notice that while Azusa could have functioned without a façade, getting a perfect one from a magical wish granting stone cat statue ...huh, sounds logical to me... would be a big help? Seriously, it's not that serious a problem unless you make it serious.}

Digression, digression. Wait, the show, yes. Fun, funny, fun stuff, I particularly love the eyes, just so and really the performances are fun, especially Tamura in a role that surprised me. I loved how her reaction to a visual euphemism turned it into an audial one.

Just because she closed her eyes. All the quirks of a Looney Tunes character with none of the nonanime nonsense, right?

Since I'm not watching on Crunchy Tuna Roll {+2 Punch power, right?}, I am sadly four weeks behind but I am looking forward to each episode. At least these developments in 6 and 7 weren't surprising since the love tria- trapezoid- was or is the point of the opening.

Quote:
Imo, this is one of those shows I have to turn my brains off and watch it through.


Sure, you can but Tsukiko's an open book if you pay attention to her mannerisms so I recommend only ceasing partial brain function, that's voluntary function only.

I don't want to hear anyone complaining "I was so uninvolved by this comedic mess, I forgot to breathe".


In short, I wonder about people who have no sense of humor watching comedies for elements other than comedy. Why?
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nechronius



Joined: 23 Nov 2005
Posts: 275
Location: So Cal, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:37 pm Reply with quote
I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying this odd little show, despite its unevenness. Admittedly some of the strange moments were a bit confusing and never fully understood, but overall it's fun to watch and try to figure things out, but not think TOO deeply.

The last turn of events in episode 10... There's a reason why albino animals can appear so creepy (Kyubei looks albino-ish...).
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ultia



Joined: 14 Jan 2012
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 8:15 pm Reply with quote
Single most inaccurate review I have ever read.
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Thatguy3331



Joined: 18 Feb 2012
Posts: 1790
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:37 pm Reply with quote
Ok, I'll just go ahead and say it: I kind of like this show.

I understand where Carl is comming from with how cookie cutter the characters can get and how it can be out of touch from reality, but that's kind of the thing: I never really gave a shit that stuff like this couldn't happen.

Speaking generally for a momment, I never really head into ANYTHING expecting it to be relatable or to be an evaluation on real world issues. I know there are people who get into anime for deep reasons, but I'll be honest and say mine are pretty damn shallow: I just hunt for whatever entertains me. I guess because I look at it that way I never really get bothered if there are cookie cutter tropes being executed (especially at the begining of a series) because as long as they don't try to pass it off as "SOMETHING TOTALLY ORIGINAL" I can generally find something entertaining in just the ridiculousness of the antics going on.

That said I think that's what makes this show work for me, I've seen this sort of harem rom-com stuff many times now but the show dosen't try to act like they're being 'deep' or 'original'. It (to me at least) knows what it is and just adds in neccesary momments that do show a touch of character so that it can have a bit of credibility. That I have no problem with.

I will agree though that the OP and ED sequences are a bit too syrupy for my tastes and more often than note I find myself skipping them. The writing is definetly all over the place, like in the most recent arc involving spoiler[the school being turned into a greece palace ] I hardly had a Idea as to what was going. Not to mention that Takitsubo's sister can get a bit... annoying at times, to put it lightly. But overall I say it's a decent show if, as carl says, you can take some of the sugary-ness and not expect anything phenomenal. Besides, it helps that I'm watching better shows along side this, (like attack on ti- Pfff ke ke..) so really I don't have any BIG issues with this show which is good enough for me.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:08 pm Reply with quote
The stony cat has a lot of power, but even it has to abide by casual relationships as shown with Emi's arc. And yet Asuza already had a facade weeks or even months before Yokodera ever lost his own. If the stony cat could completely re-write reality then it would have changed the order of events around. Or should that be, if the writer had actually cared about how much sense the plot was going to make, then he'd have addressed this and not caused the plot hole in the first place.

Here's another plot hole. The stony cat could only give people things if there was another person who wanted to lose that very thing. Well, how in the world does spoiler[the wishing mechanism of the other two stony cats work? Because they don't seem to have any problem at all in granting any wish. Was there a school in Italy that really wanted their buildings to go to Japan? Was there a school somewhere else in Japan that already had swimsuits for uniforms and wanted salior outfits instead?]

Also, I would like to see the show address who got Tsukiko's expressions. Remember when that was important to the plot and her character? Yeah, not anymore. It just got dropped for the batcrap convoluted past history arc with those abominable childhood promises.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:31 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
The stony cat has a lot of power, but even it has to abide by casual relationships as shown with Emi's arc. And yet Asuza already had a facade weeks or even months before Yokodera ever lost his own. If the stony cat could completely re-write reality then it would have changed the order of events around. Or should that be, if the writer had actually cared about how much sense the plot was going to make, then he'd have addressed this and not caused the plot hole in the first place.

And Yokodere was already a pervert, he didn't need his buddies perversion, but he got an extra helping of it, making him desire to get rid of the facade that protected him from being looked down upon as a pervert.

[EDIT] I just rewatched the section where Yokodere and Tsukiko figure out that Asuza has his facade. spoiler[He comments that after he called her flat chested in front of everyone, she didn't even get mad. "She's got to maintain her regal facade around others. But a facade that strong isn't normal." So it isn't suggesting that Asuza had NO ability to put up a front before the wish, but rather that she has an unnaturally strong facade now, causing her to not be able to say what she means, even if she wants to, in front of others. So basically, Yokodere became the raging pervert he is, instead of the relatively normally perverted teenage boy he had been, when Ponta made his wish (let's face it, most teenage boys are a bit perverted... OK, it doesn't actually stop after you hit 20 either... LOL) and Asuza became unable to break out of the character that she had built for herself after Yokodere's wish. ]

dtm42 wrote:
Here's another plot hole. The stony cat could only give people things if there was another person who wanted to lose that very thing. Well, how in the world does spoiler[the wishing mechanism of the other two stony cats work? Because they don't seem to have any problem at all in granting any wish. Was there a school in Italy that really wanted their buildings to go to Japan? Was there a school somewhere else in Japan that already had swimsuits for uniforms and wanted salior outfits instead?]

Different cats. The one on the hill swapped people's characteristics. That one was made by the Steel King in order to make up with her sister after a fight. It was not the actual god, but an icon of sorts. The cat god is able to grant any wish. That is the one that is active now. If you recall, the one on the hill's powers went away.
dtm42 wrote:
Also, I would like to see the show address who got Tsukiko's expressions. Remember when that was important to the plot and her character? Yeah, not anymore. It just got dropped for the batcrap convoluted past history arc with those abominable childhood promises.

spoiler[OK, you really didn't get it, did you. The cat got her expressions. "Stony Cat" is frequently translated as "Cat Who Doesn't Smile", as in stone faced, not made of stone. After Tsukiko and Yokodere's wishes, the cat's facial expressions began to change. Prior to that it always had the same, flat, smile free expression. After the Steel King makes her awkward confession and tells the cat to give back the expressions, Tsukiko gets back the meat bun that the cat took. Instead of eating the meat bun and regaining her expressions, she gives it to her sister, which is why the Steel King now has a tendency to have her emotions show on her face far to much.] It wasn't really that complicated... OK, it was, but in an absurd manner...
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