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Blood- wrote:

Speciest.

No, no, no, I have no problem with elves. I read a lot of fantasy. The problem is, I've visualized elves with vulcan like ears in every one of them god knows how many times.

To see an elf with ears jammed out like bat wings is like seeing a promo of the new star trek series with Spock's ears going all yoda. Not a really big deal, but for me, when I looked at the artwork for this show, instead of going "Oh, that looks cool," there was a bit of "do I really want to experience this weird moment of cognitive dissonance for 12-13 episodes?

If anything, I'm a...a...lobist? Cartilagist? Shocked

The things you find out about yourself.

There were other things, none of which would have been a deal breaker by themselves.
The premise sounded like it might be a one joke formula that would wear out after a few episodes, but I gave Campfire Cooking in a New World and others a chance and liked them.

The cute adolescent girls' club sort of anime isn't my favorite genre, but I've given DIY Club and a few others a chance and liked them okay.

The title character sounds like they milk laughs from being annoying thing isn't my favorite, but I've given The Hero is Too Cautious a chance and others a chance and at least made it all the way through the season.

There were just a lot of little things, in a season where I was already trying out a lot of shows. But if the last two thirds of this show are as good as the first third, I'll cheerfully admit I should have stuck to the principle of giving all shows a chance.

The voice actress doing the elf is particularly good IMHO. She's a big part of why someone who could be a grating character is amusing. But mostly, the show has a big heart and a light touch.

Your ear fetish - YES, IT'S A FETISH!!! - reminds me of years ago when I developed a crush on a lass. One of the things I found adorable about her was the way the tops of her ears poked out from her hair. When I eventually revealed this to her, I discovered that the thing I found so cute... her ears... was the thing she absolutely hated most about her body. She believed that she had Dumbo-esque ears and was incredibly sensitive about them.

Needless to say, ole Blood- did not ever receive num-nums from that source... Crying or Very sad

Ear fanatics aside, I really liked the show. It had a near perfect balance of humor, cute, chill and a touch of melancholy. There was not a single character I did not like (though the small elf can probably get on your nerves long time) and each episode was a joy. Also, an extra kudos to that catchy opening.

Blood- wrote:

Your ear fetish - YES, IT'S A FETISH!!! :

Sure, let's go with that. I'll just count it as my penance Wink

Besides, judging from the way I've gone from being slightly put off to a fetishist to an ear fanatic, if thing s keeps travelling on this trajectory, I'll be accused of collecting severed ears in a burlap sack in another few posts.

That said, I'm up to episode 5, where Elda gets a smartphone, and still finding the series a pure pleasure.

Wow, just finished the show, and it's one of the most consistently enjoyable shows of the season for my money. I noticed during one of the shows with a narrator - I think it was the 3 mikos story - that something seemed off, and then I realized that the voice actress playing Elda is usually the narrator - or at least has been in all sorts of anime. She does this sweet, sing song voice for narrating and then ends scenes or episodes with a little bit of an bite, like a 1-2 punch.

Anyway, really good stuff.

Glad to hear it, Edjwald! Now, I don't have to put you on my Most Hated Enemies List! Wink

Ha ha, just kidding - you're still going on it, but for reasons completely unrelated to Otaku Elf.

No, but seriously, I'm glad I didn't accidentally lead you astray. I was so impressed with Ami Koshimizu's performance as Elda that I went and looked up her credits. She's been in a lot of anime I've seen, but often in smaller roles. A few exceptions are Kill la Kill where she was the lead and she was the lead in School Rumble. Not surprising I didn't connect her to School Rumble because I watched that fine show when I was starting out as an anime watcher and so used the dub version. I certainly look forward to checking out her performance in the sub rewatch.

I think that I will rate it Very good (8/10) also. I think that it is elevated by facts like I probably couldn't pick out anything wrong with it, no real places to improve it for what it sets out to do.

Probably kind of weird, but something I was oddly fond of was Koito's apparent interest in fancy things, even if others would say that it didn't fit her image, like the handbag and jacket. I would hope that she would eventually be able to be the sort of sophisticated person she wanted.

I found that trait of Koito's endearing, too, Dusky.

I feel Koito's attraction to fancy things is a kind of yearning for modernity.

I don't know how strict a miko's lifestyle is supposed to be. But in my heritage (Lao Theravada Buddhism, which I don't practice, by the way), monks have a fairly strict code of things they're not supposed to have. The very basic, tiny nutshell concept is to give up as much materialism and be as mindful as you can to better understand the teachings and philosophies of Buddha and, in turn, teach to others to better themselves.

But if the miko in her has to give up some of that materialism, then maybe the modern-day-girl is trying to retain some it. And the fact she's always interacting with an otaku, whose culture we know is all about materialism, it's just one of the ironic and hilarious side effects of her having an otaku on the premises and subconsciously making her want fancy things.

I took it more as Koito wanting to be more mature and sophisticated than of a yearning of modernity. From my understanding modern miko don't seem to be bound to a strict lifestyle and live normal lives when not actually performing their duties. Granted, it's not real life, but if what I've seen from anime is any indication, modern miko seem to be pretty free to do as they like when not working at a shrine.

@ Beltane70 - that's the way I saw it, too. Koito is, of course, still a high school girl, but it seems like part of her wants to be a full adult and in her mind those fashion accessories are "proof" of adulthood.

Good point. I forgot to consider her just wanting be more mature. That's the perfect tie-in to that time where Elda wished Koito would "stop growing up so fast." The difference in perceived mortality was another cool theme that was briefly addressed. I wonder if the source (which I've not read, yet) will actually show Koito age, or if it'll just stick to the SoL shenanigans with bits of non-shenanigans interspersed.

I'm definitely going to collect the manga, so I'll let you know, Tony K. There are currently 5 English volumes out. Interestingly, when Seven Seas first announced its license, the manga was called Shut-In Elf which is perfectly accurate, but Otaku Elf is definitely a better title.

There are currently 7 Japanese volumes that collect up to Chapter 105 and up to Chapter 122 has been published but not collected in a volume yet. In other words, there's plenty material left to adapt, hint, hint.

Koito’s attempts at buying accessories to make her look more mature and Koma quickly pointing out how they don’t suit her was one of my favorite running gags of the series. I think part of what made it funny to me was Koito’s just as quick dejected agreement that Koma was right.

It would certainly be interesting to see if the manga does cover Koito growing up. The only thing we see in the show of her growing up is during the opening credits where we see Koito growing up from a crawling infant to her present teenage self. I do like how Koito looked just like her younger sister just before we see her as a teenager.

I picked up the first volume of the manga on the weekend and I've read about half of it. It's just as cute as the anime, as you would expect. It also shed a bit more light on Koito's desire to be "sophisticated" by buying things that make her look older. I don't think the anime passed this along but a big part of her motivation for that is that she hopes to meet "The White Lady" she idealized in her memory... who of course she finds out was actually Elda. So her desire to be sophisticated really stems from wanting to impress "The White Lady" which I thought was an interesting nuance.

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