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Review

by Rebecca Silverman,

Denki-Gai [Collector's Edition + CD]

Sub.Blu-Ray 1+DVD

Synopsis:
Denki-Gai [Collector's Edition + CD] Sub.Blu-Ray 1+DVD
Umanohone is a doujinshi and manga shop located in the “Electric Town” neighborhood of Tokyo near the train station, and is absolutely not Toranoane in Tokyo's Akihabara district. The store is staffed by a group of eclectic part-timers, from doujinshi-writing Sensei to zombie-obsessed Fu-girl and silent giant Sommelier. Every day is a strange new chapter in their otaku lives as they strive to serve their customers, succeed in panty-eating races, and help Hiotan discover just what kind of manga she really likes in the first four episodes of this surprisingly fun slice-of-life show.
Review:

The second of Ponycan USA's forays into physical releases for the North American market, Denki-Gai at first seems an unlikely choice. The story takes place in Umanohone, a barely-veiled reference to a popular Japanese doujinshi retailer, something that most certainly does not exist stateside. The first episode dabbles in such themes as shrink-wrapping newly arrived mature titles and preparing for ComiKa, another thinly disguised reference, this time to the doujinshi scene's biggest gathering. Despite the in-jokes, however, by its second episode Denki-Gai has taken off, and while it still relies on viewers having a firm grasp of otaku culture, it takes some interesting risks and entertaining turns that make it worth paying attention to.

One of the most noteworthy – and in one case funniest – things about Denki-Gai is its equal-opportunity fanservice. The cast is pretty evenly divided between males and females with fairly equal amounts of screen time for everyone. What leans firmly towards a female demographic, however, is the fanservice: far more time is devoted in episode two to bouncing male groins than the ladies' boobs. The first half of the episode (the format of dividing each episode into two or three parts speaks to this title's origins as a 4-panel manga) is about a neighborhood-wide series of carnival games, all otaku-themed and mostly off-color. These include such thrilling races as the “pantsu-eating race” where male contestants have to bite underwear off of drying racks and “golden ball rolling,” where females have to roll enormous balls around while the commentary makes it sound like they're playing with testicles. But the highlight is by far the water balloon fight, where contestants form teams and try to hit other teams on the head with water balloons. When store manager Kantoku shows up in a barely-there male thong, Hiotan has a total meltdown at the sight of his bulging package. She freaks and begins pelting all the male players in the crotch as Denki-Gai gives us one the more anatomically correct sequences in recent memory. There's hardly a boob-jiggle to be seen as balls bounce, which unfortunately does not stop the show from having Hiotan drenched with such force that her bikini rips, leaving her quivering in tears in a suggestively dripping puddle. There is no reason that male viewers should not also get some fanservice from this competition, but I can't help but feel that this part was in poorer taste than it needed to be.

Generally speaking, however, this show's first four episodes tends to poke equal amounts of fun at both its male and female characters. Sommelier is called that because he can tell what manga a person will like just by looking at them, and he provides both boys and girls with a wide variety of ero and fetish manga, from a man getting a manga about sexy old women to a girl delighting in boys in shorts. In fact, it's kind of refreshing to see a series acknowledge that both men and women enjoy reading ecchi titles, although there is a heavy implication that women will prefer yaoi over other ero genres. (In one scene, fujoushi are seen being able to smell when a new BL title is put out for sale.) Most interesting in this regard is the Ero-hon G-Man, a government worker who comes in to make sure that no obscene materials are being sold to minors. She's actually a devotée of erotic manga, and not only does she make a couple of passionate speeches on the subject, but she also has a song on the included CD about her work.

Ponycan USA's release is impressive even with the small amount of episodes. The case is roughly the size of NISAmerica's premium editions, comprised of an oversized plastic DVD case holding both the Blu Ray and DVD, as well as a flip-up holder with the character song collection, which is four tracks. There's a small poster, two cardboard pin-ups of Sensei and Hiotan, and “Umanohone Magazine,” which has character information about three of the girls, other characters' thoughts about them, some character art, and song lyrics, as well as information about several of the fake titles sold at the shop in the show. (My personal favorite is the light novel series The Devil is My Pop Idol, although The Derpy Guy and the Quiet Girl is a close second.) All of this is then slid into a clear plastic sleeve. It is a lot to pay for four episodes these days, but if you're a collector willing to spend, the only issue is that the English in the magazine is not particularly well-translated, reading as if someone not entirely fluent did the work; there are missing articles (the, an) and odd phrases such as “This book spurs many speculations and rumors in the blank period.” It is understandable in context, but a definite quality issue, at least in my mind. I should note that none of the English subtitles suffer from this problem; my Spanish isn't fluent enough to assess those subs' quality.

Denki-Gai drags a bit in episodes one and four, but is laugh-out-loud funny in episodes two and three. It takes some risks and makes use of some clever animation in its opening theme and a few other places, and does its best to appeal to both a male and a female audience. With its overall sense of fun, cute character designs, and a couple of snide references to issues within the otaku world (check out the cover of the 18+ title in episode one), it proves to be a much more enjoyable show than you might think. The price they're asking is way beyond what most people would be willing to pay, but if you're the sort of fan who would drop that kind of cash on a show like Denki-Gai, this release is worth your time.

Grade:
Overall (sub) : B
Story : C+
Animation : B
Art : B
Music : B

+ Lots of fun with the otaku material, fun little references to spot. The false titles can be very funny. Equal-opportunity fanservice and appeal.
One fanservice scene feels like it goes a little too far, episodes one and four drag a bit. Grammatical errors in included booklet, no English translation for song lyrics in booklet. Characters all look much younger than they are, which can throw you a bit in some scenes. Ridiculous price.

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Production Info:
Director: Masafumi Sato
Series Composition: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu
Script:
Yuki Enatsu
Kazuyuki Fudeyasu
Mio Inoue
Makoto Moriwaki
Storyboard:
Michio Fukuda
Masakazu Hishida
Takayuki Inagaki
Keiko Kanai
Taketo Oshita
Masafumi Sato
Hiroyuki Shimazu
Kenichirō Watanabe
Episode Director:
Takashi Andō
Yasuyuki Fuse
Kiyoshi Matsuda
Masafumi Sato
Hiroshi Tamada
Hideaki Uehara
Kenichirō Watanabe
Kōji Yoshikawa
Music: Hiroshi Takaki
Original creator: Asato Mizu
Character Design: Yurie Kuniyuki
Chief Animation Director: Yurie Kuniyuki
Animation Director:
Hisashi Kawashima
Tomoyuki Kitamura
Satoshi Kubo
Yurie Kuniyuki
Hitomi Matsuura
Takuji Mogi
Yasuyuki Noda
Mai Ogawa
Noriko Ogura
Madoka Ozawa
Konomi Sakurai
Takurō Sakurai
Shiro Shibata
Yasue Sosogi
Ryozo Sugiyama
Fuyumi Toriyama
Ai Tsuruta
Toshiya Washida
Sound Director: Takuya Hiramitsu
Producer:
Shinji Horikiri
Yoshiya Kojima
Shunsuke Matsumura
Tomohito Nagase
Yuichi Yamada
Licensed by: Ponycan USA

Full encyclopedia details about
Denki-Gai (TV)

Release information about
Denki-Gai [Collector's Edition + CD] (Sub.Blu-ray 1+DVD)

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