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Review

by Theron Martin,

Etotama [Collector's Edition]

Sub.Blu-Ray 1+DVD

Synopsis:
Etotama [Collector's Edition] Sub.Blu-Ray 1+DVD
High school student Takeru Tendo is moving into his own place, on which he has gotten a good deal because one corner of the living room is a little odd. That oddity turns out to be a hole which is a portal to the realm of the gods, and that quickly brings him into association with Nya-tan, an Eto-musume (essentially, a junior divine spirit) who manifests as the cat who was left out of the Chinese Zodiac. She is striving to ascend to being an Eto-shin (essentially, a senior divine spirit) and thus win a place in the Zodiac, and the process for doing that essentially involves defeating the existing twelve Eto-shin in one-on-one fights (which can actually be anything from direct battles to games of tag with her socks also at stake) without a single official loss. Most of the Eto-shin – who also wind up freeloading at Takeru's place – regard Nya-tan as a hapless little sister, and indeed, she is more than a bit of a screw-up in addition to being an amnesiac. However, the Rat has a mad-on hate for Nya-tan for some reason that the latter has forgotten. Takeru, meanwhile, becomes a casual observer to all of the antics, though he is also involved because he is a prime-grade source of the crucial Sol/Lull energy which Eto-musume like Nya-tan depend on.
Review:

Etotama (whose name is a reference to the souls of the Eto-shin and Eto-musume) is a 12 episode series from the Spring 2015 season which also has an accompanying manga version; the latter, which debuted more than a year earlier, is actually listed as the adaptation, suggesting that the project was originally conceived in anime form. Whatever the case may be on that, one thing is certain: this is the kind of series which charges forward pell-mell, not concerning itself much at all with whether or not the viewer is actually keeping up. Not until the end of episode 3 does it let up on the accelerator for a bit, allowing a seemingly-major development to sink in. Even at that point, knowing what to make of such a madcap affair is a real challenge.

Despite Takeru being surrounded by a bevy of female animal spirits, the series' first four episodes give no indication that this is meant to be a harem series centered on him. Instead Takeru functions more as the observer at the center of a storm of craziness, whether it be the perversity of the big-breasted Moo-tan (i.e., the ox spirit who wears a cow-patterned halter top), the enterprising efforts of Usa-tan (i.e., the rabbit spirit), or the occasional head-butts by Uri-tan (i.e., the boar spirit) to keep the hyper Nya-tan in line. Takeru just passively accepts most of what it going on because he has to for the series' concept to function. He also becomes just the latest example of a peculiar phenomenon in anime series involving fighting female characters: that of the male character who doesn't fight much himself but effectively serves as a battery for some or all of the female characters around him. (See also Shakugan no Shana, Samurai Girls, and Isuca, among probably several others.) In this case he powers up Nya-tan and sometimes others by releasing Sol/Lull energy (which manifests as a bubble with an icon of the focused-upon Eto-shin/Eto-musume inside) when he expresses positive thoughts towards them, such as being grateful for one making breakfast for him. He does not get to do much else besides wonder about the fourth-wall-breaking references floating around.

That's not actually a big problem, though, because this is mostly a series about the antics of the animal spirits, not him. No, the real problem is that the jokes play out at such a dizzying pace that few of them have a chance to sink in and way too many of them are DOA. (Among the latter efforts are the regular attempts to break the fourth wall and everything concerning the king character, which so far is one of the lamest running jokes ever.) Every so often a good joke does survive, but they are too few and far in-between for a series like this. On top of that, an abrupt tonal shift strikes towards the end of episode 3, turning the series more serious for a while than it has any right to be (or any ability to support). Given the mercurial nature of the series, though, such a shift does not last long.

The series is hardly just a comedy. Regular features include battles between Nya-tan and one of the Eto-shin in “pretty mode,” which is essentially a chibified version of their “adult” appearance. Both combatants are transported to the spirit world for this event, where they duke it out in an elaborate assortment of lavish, CG-crafted battlegrounds. Sometimes these are straight-up battles, while other times they are rock-paper-scissors contests or games of tag with a twist. Usually they end up being destructive and/or involving violence to one degree or another, with Nya-tan occasionally showing that she has a really powerful attack – if only she could remember how to use it and her other fighting skills right! The details in the battles scenes are the real treat, as this is a rare case where characters in CG-modeled scenes have a wide range of expressions and can even look beat up, and the animation isn't limited to foreground details. Definitely some extra effort went into animating those scenes. If the humor does not work for you then these battles still might.

The battles are where the main production emphasis lies, as the real-world scenes are quite ordinary on both visual and audio fronts. Character designs are distinctive but nothing special, and backgrounds are commonplace; the only things which stick out are some occasional finer details, such as the Zodiac animals in the patterns on some sliding doors. The music, which mostly takes on a playful tone, also never distinguishes itself in real-world scenes, while the battle scenes are high-energy affairs flavored by a traditional Japanese twang. The strongest musical entries are actually the upbeat, pop/rock-flavored opener and gentler, more melodic closer.

The release is one of Pony Canyon's deluxe Collector's Editions, which means it comes in an oversized case (with the standard clear plastic slipcover) containing a DVD version, Blu-Ray version, and CD. None of those include an English dub, although subtitles are available in Spanish as well as English. On-disk Extras are minimal, consisting only of a clean opener and series commercials, while the CD contains both vocal and instrumental takes on the full version of the opener, for a full running time of about 7½ minutes. The strength of the release is in the physical Extras, which include bonus interior art, large art cards featuring three of the main girls, and a 12 page oversized booklet. The latter has four pages of detailed character profiles, two pages of background art features, opener lyrics in kana and romanji (but not English), key credits, and two pages of interviews with production staff. There they reveal that the original idea for the series came from an action figure of Uri-tan which was released several years ago, during the Year of the Boar, and elaborate some on the 2D-3D transition scenes and how uncertain they were that the melding of the two animation styles would even work. Even factoring that in, it probably goes without saying that the price is ridiculously high, especially since this is not really a series of note.

Some signs of an overall story are starting to show by the end of episode 4, and there is also the casually-discussed mystery about why Nya-tan has amnesia (something which some, but far from all, of the Eto-shin knew about). It looks like any such story is going to be more of a framing device for the goofiness and energy than an actual point of emphasis, though, and all indications are that this series will continue to live and die by the effectiveness of its action scenes and humor. So far the results are mixed.

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

+ Really sharp action scenes, effective mix of 2D and 3D graphics, some humor does work well.
Price, too much of the humor doesn't work, frenetic pace can be a turn-off.

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Production Info:
Director: Fumitoshi Oizaki
Series Composition: Deko Akao
Script: Deko Akao
Storyboard:
Takeshi Furuta
Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Fumitoshi Oizaki
Episode Director:
Ryo Ando
Matsuo Asami
Kazuya Iwata
Takahiro Majima
Shin'ichi Masaki
Sōichirō Miyano
Hikaru Murata
Fumitoshi Oizaki
Hiroyuki Okuno
Yukio Takahashi
Mitsuto Yamaji
Unit Director: Fumitoshi Oizaki
Original Concept:
Takashi Hoshi
To-Ru Zekuu
Original Character Design:
QP:flapper
Akio Watanabe
Character Design:
Satoshi Koike
Asami Takahashi
Art Director:
Masato Shirata
Kenichi Tajiri
Chief Animation Director: Satoshi Koike
Animation Director:
Yukiko Akiyama
Ryōko Amami
Eri Ishikawa
Takashi Kumazen
Takeshi Kusaka
Masahiko Matsuo
Tomoe Nishio
Fumitoshi Oizaki
Konomi Satō
Yōko Satō
Jeong Ha Seo
Sakae Shibuya
Mikirō Shiiba
Jun Shirai
Dana Shuhara
Ayumi Sōgawa
Masaki Tanigawa
Eiichi Tokura
Junichi Umezawa
Art design: Kazushi Fujii
Cgi Director: Takamitsu Hirakawa
Director of Photography: Shinya Matsui
Licensed by: Ponycan USA

Full encyclopedia details about
Etotama (TV)

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

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