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EP. REVIEW: The Helpful Fox Senko-san


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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6516
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Mon May 06, 2019 1:56 am Reply with quote
Posts deleted. Avoid insulting other posters.

@ Wellington. You've made your point. You don't need to keep repeating it.
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 1000
PostPosted: Fri May 10, 2019 9:40 pm Reply with quote
Wonder if Steve, or anyone else for that matter, was expecting the show featuring a loli-who-is-actually-800-years-old-so-she's-totally-legal to be better than the sequel to the greatest action show of 2015 lol. Because that's both impressive for Senko-san but also very unfortunate for OPM.
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Northlander



Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 900
PostPosted: Sun May 19, 2019 5:11 am Reply with quote
Quote:
However, Nakano's quip about buying more games than he has time to play was a brutal attack on my Steam library.

Yeah, I know that feeling too. Although I do not work the main lead's hours -- and nobody ever should -- I have far more games than I have time to play them all. It doesn't help that the games I do play are massive time sinks -- Skyrim, Borderlands 2 (and the upcoming 3 will not make any of this easier), Minecraft.... and recent free-to-play addition Path of Exile.

And then a special offer comes and you just have to have that game too for nearly nothing because... well, you never know.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2019 5:22 am Reply with quote
Shiro really sets my teeth on edge. I can't find anything relaxing about someone who lobs in uninvited, whose idea of pampering you is "pay attention to MEEEEE!!!" On top of that she cheats and hogs all the snacks. What fun!
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2019 6:57 am Reply with quote
Shiro is exactly the kind of relaxing that watching a CGDCT anime is.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun May 26, 2019 8:44 pm Reply with quote
Fetish or not, there's nothing better than having someone walk on your back. The only really uncomfortable part of the episode for me was Nakano's hand placement when he was giving her a massage. And even Shiro wasn't quite as obnoxious as usual.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Sun May 26, 2019 11:05 pm Reply with quote
A little baffled why the reviewer insists on saying back massage is a fetish and seeming not to know that what Senko was doing is well known and totally legit massage technique (more in Japan because of the diminutive women there). Like chiropractic adjustment, practitioners of this are highly trained. Anyway, just want to say that I absolutely love this show and this episode seems to be hinting at a more dramatic turn ahead which would be a good balance to the "suppa fuwa-fuwa" stuff so far. Was sort of hoping Shiro would end up "pampering" the otaku neighbor but she seems to be less a jerk than before. Cute end segment this episode too, I really wish I had a nice fox-girl waiting when I come home at 8pm...
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Mon May 27, 2019 12:55 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Fetish or not, there's nothing better than having someone walk on your back. The only really uncomfortable part of the episode for me was Nakano's hand placement when he was giving her a massage. And even Shiro wasn't quite as obnoxious as usual.


Yeah, I thought it was strange how the reviewer just simply passed that off as a "massage in return" while the show gave us a great idea what the size ration is between Senko's butt and Nakano's hands.... and we also find out that the part of her body where her tails connects is hairy.

As for Nakano's job, that's pretty much it. For x amount a year, you are at your company's beck and call. I think the guy who did the screw up has the better idea; Do just shoddy enough work so they won't force you to stay but be good enough so they won't fire you. But those people don't deserve massages from loli fox girls, only the ones who work themselves to death do...

As always, this brings me back my main anime lesson which has remained constant for decades: Japan has problems and they should seek professional help.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon May 27, 2019 4:47 am Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
the show gave us a great idea what the size ration is between Senko's butt and Nakano's hands

I was talking more about his hands wrapping around her sides under her arms. Too close for comfort.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Mon May 27, 2019 1:19 pm Reply with quote
Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
A little baffled why the reviewer insists on saying back massage is a fetish and seeming not to know that what Senko was doing is well known and totally legit massage technique (more in Japan because of the diminutive women there). Like chiropractic adjustment, practitioners of this are highly trained.


It's about the framing, as alluded to by the reviewer. When Senko states that she is going to going to give him a back massage, she doesn't say "I'm going to give you a back massage with my feet" or even "I'm going to step on your back", but just "I'm going to step on you", while the camera places the viewer just beneath her foot, despite Nakano's eye level being above it.

After explaining that she is going to use her feet to massage his back, when explaining why she wanted to do so, she quips "And this is the kind of thing you like, isn't it?", her eyes narrowing a bit. Nakano strenuously denies it, saying "Do I look like I'd be into something so weird". After sitting aghast, recalling the weird things he visited upon her, she says "Well, everyone's taste's are different", to which he responds "That's too different for me!". Again, all of this was after she clarified that this was a massage.

During the massage, the camera lingers on her bare feet touching his back (though not the whole time), and after it is finished, there is a close up of Senko putting on one of her tabi. She later remarks "The little sounds you make when you're being stepped on are so cute". In the morning, while Nakano is on his way to work, during a conversation with the neighbor, Senko says "He looked especially happy when I stepped on him the other day". The neighbor is visibly taken aback, which is not the reaction of someone believing that she gave him a massage.

This isn't to say that that isn't a legit massage technique, or that that kind of massage is in and of itself a fetish, just that in addition to joking that she is going to do/did something kinkier to Nakano, it is also visually framing it to try to appeal to those with such tastes. That it is a legitimate technique lends it plausible deniability, much like her being an 800 year old fox girl does in other regards.
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yurigasaki



Joined: 06 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2019 8:39 am Reply with quote
It's wild how many people in this thread are pretending they don't know what a foot fetish is
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:24 am Reply with quote
Quote:
There's just something calming and therapeutic about them.

Maybe I'd feel that way if I had ever found someone who gave me the cut I asked for instead of the cut they wanted to give me. Since I never could, letting someone else cut my hair was always nervewracking. I cut it myself now.

I also am completely out of the loop on ASMR. I can cope with scissors and paper fx, but the whispering drives me to violence. Fiji ads and that beer one with the woman opening the bottle in the mountains while she whispers about it makes me want to kill somebody. I don't know how people find it relaxing.

That said, the shampoo thing was nice. I agree that it's relaxing to have someone wash your hair. And I'm making mac and cheese as I type. Very Happy
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Northlander



Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 900
PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 6:59 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Maybe I'd feel that way if I had ever found someone who gave me the cut I asked for instead of the cut they wanted to give me. Since I never could, letting someone else cut my hair was always nervewracking. I cut it myself now.

I never liked having my hair cut, as I wanted to grow out mine longer. However, when you were a boy in the 80's, that sort of thing was seen as "Very Not Right And To Be Fought At All Fronts".

That said, I am totally on board with it feeling pretty good during the actual act.

Quote:
I also am completely out of the loop on ASMR. I can cope with scissors and paper fx, but the whispering drives me to violence. Fiji ads and that beer one with the woman opening the bottle in the mountains while she whispers about it makes me want to kill somebody. I don't know how people find it relaxing.

I feel it's important to make a distinction between whispering or talking in hushed tones. The first can sound a bit aggravating to people, but the latter is somewhere between whispering and talking normally. (People differing in volume control notwithstanding.) As one who doesn't have much of an outdoor voice, the one thing that pisses me off the most is people being loud and basically filibustering you at any opportunity, which really makes whispering less of a problematic experience for me.

That said, there is a difference, because whispering is usually done when you don't want someone else (who's awake) to hear what you're saying -- which is generally a neutral thing, but can be taken negatively depending on the topic of conversation -- while people are usually talking in hushed tones because they don't want to wake up someone who's sleeping nearby or disturb their relaxation, which is borne more out of a wish to be considerate. Which is a lot of what Senko-san is all about.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:26 pm Reply with quote
zrnzle500 wrote:
Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
A little baffled why the reviewer insists on saying back massage is a fetish...
It's about the framing, as alluded to by the reviewer. ...After explaining that she is going to use her feet to massage his back, when explaining why she wanted to do so, she quips "And this is the kind of thing you like, isn't it?", her eyes narrowing a bit.... In the morning, while Nakano is on his way to work, during a conversation with the neighbor, Senko says "He looked especially happy when I stepped on him the other day". The neighbor is visibly taken aback, which is not the reaction of someone believing that she gave him a massage.

This isn't to say that that isn't a legit massage technique, or that that kind of massage is in and of itself a fetish, just that in addition to joking that she is going to do/did something kinkier to Nakano, it is also visually framing it to try to appeal to those with such tastes. That it is a legitimate technique lends it plausible deniability, much like her being an 800 year old fox girl does in other regards.
yurigasaki wrote:
It's wild how many people in this thread are pretending they don't know what a foot fetish is
To the latter, I do know but it's not that I am trying to deliberately deny the possibility for some obtuse reason but doubting the reviewer's and your interpretation that what they were going for couldn't be interpreted any other way than she was being kinky. My reaction to the "step on you" phrasing was that it was an extension of the archaic phrasing Senko was noted for using before in the show and deriving humor from not knowing it could mean something else in modern parlance. Koenji's dismay I thought was from the literal interpretation of the phrase and not meaning she interpreted what was described as sexually deviant. Senko's remark about liking "that sort of thing" I did find oddly out of place.

To be accurate, what I have heard of as foot fetishism involves stroking and touching someone's feet and sexual arousal to the reactions to doing that. However, what I think you are insinuating equates to sado-masochism and the setup to Senko's message didn't seem to me that was the direction they were going in.

To get to the present, I'm finding the increasing hints that there is a possible dramatic turn lurking interesting. While there hasn't been a full exploration of what "powers" she may possess beyond making "foxfire", it would seem that Senko's emotional state could turn nasty if she is hurt or rejected and Nakano might have "something bad happen". That Senko smiles at his reaction to the "punishment fish" she made makes me wonder if she has a dark side. Seriously, Nakano should have known that Senko doesn't appreciate his "tail chasing" but Lady Sora's ominous hint at the end I will be anxious to see play out...
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Jun 30, 2019 10:50 pm Reply with quote
I'm not sure how Steve failed to grasp the point of the tone shift he was complaining about. Without it, this would've just been another episode. But the point was providing a sense of closure to the series. It wasn't drama just for drama's sake.

Their life together had been going along just fine, but like the series, it can't continue that way forever. "Everything comes to an end." The question for Senko was, "knowing that, and knowing it will be painful, do you still want to see it through?" That's a choice everyone faces (even if for some the answer is no).

Given the premise of the series, I think they made the right choice to include this message. That said, I'm not exactly sure it's a premise that bears much looking into. As long as Senko is around, he's unlikely to find a human companion, or have children, or fall in love (the series seemed to want to keep their relationship platonic, which seems wise. Smile), or even just to stand up for himself at work to fix his own darkness, since she can't do that for him. As long as she makes his work situation endurable, he'll endure it. So that's not so healthy.

But never mind all that. It was a pleasant enough diversion and mostly harmless. I'd probably watch some more if it came in a lightweight season.
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