Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. If you’re like me some of the first stories that were read to you as a child were fairy tale stories such as the three little pigs and so on. Well what would happen if there was an anime based off fairy tales? I bet you anything it would Okami-san & Her Seven Companions. Based off the novels of Masashi Okita this anime debuted in the summer of 2010 with a manga adaption that started in 2011. What made this anime so interesting is that all the characters were humans based off of classic fairy tale characters, Japanese folklores, and various stories found all over the world. Get ready to be hit with childhood nostalgia as we go back to once upon a time and look at Okami-san & Her Seven Companions.
Opening and Ending theme
The opening song is Ready Go! by May’n. It took me 2 or 3 episodes to really get into the song but overall it’s good, I like the music. The ending is Akazukin-chan Goyōjin by OToGi8 (quite the band name) and much like the opening it took me a few episodes to really get into the song. Actually, the song is quite strange; the band is singing about Little Red Riding Hood and warning her to be careful of the wolf.
Episode 1-4
So our story begins with a thug running from our two main heroines in this anime. We have the wolf Ryoko Okami voiced by Shizuka Itou (Lenalee from D-Gray Man) and little red riding hood Ringo Akai voiced by Kanae Itō (Nana from To Love Ru). Ryoko and Ringo are hunting this guy down because he’s stalking his ex-girlfriend and are warning him to stop (oh sure, when a girl stalks a guy it’s cute but when a guy does it everyone wants to call the cops). The thug refuses and charges at Ryoko with a knife but is stopped by a flying rock and taken out by Ryoko who uses boxing gloves shaped like kittens (Fist of the Koneko-Star!!!). We cut to a later time that day where our narrator, Satomi Arai (Peke from To Love Ru) gives us a ride down exposition street and whose only purpose in this anime is to provide sly remarks to our main characters, give us rides down exposition street every so often and serve as an annoyance for us the viewers.
It appears that our story takes place in a city called Otogibana City and our two heroines work for the Otogi Bank at their school which helps students solve their problems and as payment hold them to a favor that they have to repay at any time the bank chooses (godfather impression: oh come on it’s a good deal I scratch your back you scratch mine). At the clubhouse we meet the rest of our colorful cast: the club president Liszt Kiriki, Hirofumi Nojima, and the secretary and cousin of the president Alice Kiriki, Yui Horie (Milhi from Dog Days) who are both based off the story of the grasshopper and the ant from Aesop’s fable. There’s also a mad scientist named Le Fay Majolica (aka Majo) voiced by Kimiko Koyama. This character is based off the fictional sorceress Morgan Le Fay from the King Arthur stories. Her role is to design crazy gadgets and machines for the members of the club but she doesn’t appear all that much in the series. There are three more club members in the show but I’ll get to them later. After club activities Ryoko is walking home alone where she hears a voice saying he loves her. The voice comes from our male lead in the series Ryoshi Morino voiced by Miyu Irino. His character is based off the hunter from the Little Red Riding Hood story and who has amazing stealth skills that put ninjas to shame and has been stalking Ryoko for some time waiting for the right moment to confess (oh and Ryoko is one of the fiercest girls at school and she also has a tsundere personality) . So one would think of this character as someone cool and awesome right? Wrong, he suffers from scopophobia, the fear of being stared at by others so anytime when someone stares at him he begins to breakdown and cower in front of people. Okay anime 101 guys, when you have a male lead in your anime you want him to be someone we the viewer can like and cheer for. When you have a pivotal character like Ryoshi here make this kind of first impression, the value of your anime starts to fall quickly. Ryoko quickly rejects the guy (I don’t blame her) and tells Ringo about it later that night. The next day Ringo brings him the clubhouse to make him a member saying that his stealth will come in handy but Ryoko refuses to accept him because he’s a wimp (she is correct). Later on a girl comes by with a request, she wants them to stop her senpai known as the Prince of Tennis (no not that prick from the actual anime under the same name but an entirely different guy) who has plans on quitting the tennis club because of an injury (He’s quitting over an injury? When did anime guys start becoming Shinji from Evangelion?). They devise a plan to have Ryoshi keep him under constant watch from a distance and steal the withdrawal letter when he has a chance. Guys, this really is unnecessary, just walk up to the guy, tell him to grow some balls, get over his injury, and continue to play tennis. So throughout the episode Ryoshi keeps failing because people keep staring at him and he goes into a cowering state (Is it possible to punch an anime character because if so I really wanna punch this guy?). So through a series of events they stop the guy from turning in the letter, and near the end the thug from the beginning of the episode comes back with his friends and tries to attack Ryoko, Ryoshi takes a crowbar to the head for her (Literally. What? You were expecting an arrow to the knee joke? Screw that.) and Ryoko accepts Ryoshi as her companion (it’s not like she’s your friend because she wants to be).
In the next episode Ryoshi tells Ringo why he has the hots for Ryoko. He says it’s because that even though her exterior doesn’t match her interior self and feels a sense of displacement she still tries hard to be strong and that’s what he admires about her (well at least he doesn’t have shallow reasons for liking her). The next day a girl comes by who wants Ryoko to take care of her ex-boyfriend who has a violent streak and wants to get back to together (what is it with girls and dating douchbags in this anime? You know he’s bad for you so why do you go out with him?). It turns out it was a trap set up by students from Onigashima high school a rival school full of delinquents. Ryoko tells Ryoshi to run saying that he’ll only be in the way but he refuses and says he’ll fight with her. He gets clocked in the head with a crowbar (okay he’s terrible at this can we get another male lead) and Ryoko gets captured and taken to an abandoned warehouse. In the warehouse she tries to act tough and calm but is really panicking and scared about being raped by the boss of the group. However, with the help of Ryoshi’s dogs he and the gang find the location of the warehouse and rescue Ryoko. Ryoshi attacks from a distance using a slingshot to snipe people out and open up opportunities for Ryoko to punch out her opponents, he even knocks out the boss with his bare hands. This is all cool but it’s too late you’ve ruined his character; all I’m gonna be seeing is a wimpy guy who cowers when anyone stares at him.
Episode 3 focuses on two more members of the Otogi Bank. The first one is Taro Urashima voiced by Shintarō Asanuma (Crow from Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds) and Otohime Ryugu voiced Aki Toyosaki (Momo from To Love Ru). Man, there certainly is a lot of To Love Ru actors in this anime aren’t there? Were they all next door recording To Love Ru and were just asked “hey you guys wanna do the voices for these characters in our anime” and they just said yes. Anyway, these two represent the characters presented in the Japanese folktale Urashima Taro in which a fisherman (Taro) saves a turtle (Otohime) from a group of children. In the anime these two went to the same school as children where Otohime was picked on because she was slow and fat but Taro showed her kindness and affection. Years later, the two are freshmen in high school and in the same grade even though they’re both a year older than Ryoko (we’re told Taro dropped out of school for one year and went on a journey of knowledge and Otohime dropped out in pursuit of him). Otohime seems to have an obsessive crush on Taro which scares him from time to time and they seem to have a sexual relationship throughout the anime. Okay they don’t show them having sex nor do they say they have sex but it’s strongly hinted that they’re doing it. Okay, sorry for getting so off topic, in this episode the two run into an old classmate from elementary school named Mimi Usami voiced by the tsundere queen herself Rie Kugimiya who used to constantly bully and call Otohime names. She’s also a chibi child-like character like Ringo (there can be only one chibi!). She represents the rabbit from the Tortoise and the Hare another one of Aesop’s famous fables. In order to settle their dispute they decide to enter a beauty pageant at the school to see who is more popular. Otohime request the help of the Otogi Bank and they proceed to spread nasty rumors about Mimi who in turn does the same thing to Otohime (how is this any different than what most girls do to each other?). The day of the contest rolls around and as you imagine they each receive no votes except for Otohime who got one vote from Taro but that was the plan all along, to show her that she doesn’t need to live in the past anymore and be happy with who she is now. Ryoko as well as the other girls in the club (except for Alice) also participated in the contest and Ryoko received one vote from Ryoshi who she punches out of embarrassment (love truly is a painful experience).
In episode 4 we focus on our final member of the Otogi Bank, a maid named Otsu Tsurugaya voiced by Ayako Kawasumi (Saki Tenjoin from To Love Ru). Another one? Man they must have been next door, there’s no way this can be a coincidence. Her character is based off the crane from the Japanese folklore Tsuru no Ongaeshi. While sweeping outside the clubhouse a baseball comes flying at her but is deflected by Ryoshi with his slingshot. Hoping to repay the favor Otsu becomes Ryoshi’s personal maid and starts living with him. Not being able to stand it Ryoshi calls for the help of Ringo and Ryoko who pay him a visit at his boarding house which is run by his aunt who is the author of Ryoko’s favorite light novel. In this episode we learn that Otsu has an obsession with returning favors because when she was little she was saved from a car accident by a boy who died before she could thank him and thus has developed a fear of not being able to return favors. But with a good hearty phone-in speech about friendship she’s able to move on from the past and think of everyone as her friend instead of strangers. I would like to say she got the lesson but after the credits she becomes the maid of Ringo and Ryoko only this time she’s doing it to show her gratitude as their friend so in the end she learned almost nothing. Another fun spoof about this episode is that we get a cameo appearance by Gretel and Hansel (https://youtu.be/TVYT2OJyhBw. I don’t why but for some reason this always made me laugh as a kid) who have an incest relationship (do I even need to say this is wrong).
Episode 5-8
Episode 5 opens up with Liszt giving a progress report to the principal and founder of the school who represents the genie from Aladdin in this anime (and no he doesn’t sing or do pop culture references thank God but he is an old pervert). After that we meet Momoko Kibitsu a disciplinary committe member of the school known throughout the school as Momo-chan-senpai-sama-san-kun-neechan-san-sama-chan . . .-senpai (nah just kidding they just call her Momo-chan-senpai). She’s based off the main character from the Japanese tale Momotaro and asks for the aid of Otogi Bank to infiltrate Onigashima High School which has been causing a lot of trouble as of lately and find out who their new student council president is. So they go to Onigashima where as you would expect is an absolute dump. Seriously, its dark, crawling with thugs, and the teachers and principals are nowhere to be found when you need them (sounds like public school if you ask me). The gang gets separated and Ryoko fights her way up to the student council office where she meets an old acquaintance of her’s, Shiro Hitsujika voiced by Junichi Suwabe (Freed from Fairy Tail) who completely scares the shit out of her for some reason (please don’t turn into a wimp like Ryoshi, because seriously one wimp is already making this anime unbearable). They all meet up and give him a warning to take control of his school which he humbly agrees to do so. However, the group doesn’t trust him and are determined to keep an eye on him. In episode 6 Ryoshi ask Ringo about Ryoko’s relationship with Shiro but refuses to answer the question saying that he should earn Ryoko’s trust first and ask her about it directly. Throughout the rest of the episode we see how Ringo and Ryoko became friends. In the past it seemed that Ryoko had a problem trusting people from a bad experience and how she’s afraid to trust others in the fear of being betrayed again (BETRAYL! BETRALY! Betrayed me!). Ringo ensures Ryoko that she will never betray her and that she doesn’t have to put up a face when around her. After that the two became friends, they shared their past (which we never get to hear), and start living together. Ryoshi also recalls his past with Ryoko on how he found her fascinating and fell in love with her. The episode ends with Ryoshi once again proclaiming his love to Ryoko (it’s not like she’s happy you love her) and resolving to become a stronger man.
Moving on to episode 7 a baseball player named Jin Hanasaki wants to repay a girl named Ami Jizo who has a crush on him (based off the jizo from the Japanese tale Kasajizo) for cooking him food and cleaning up his house even though she has been breaking and entering his house and has no affection for her whatsoever (people have strange and confusing ways of showing their affection for one another in this anime). Ringo has Ryoko and Ryoshi accompany them on their date to ease their nervousness but when trying to rescue a stray cat from a tree Ryoko falls into a pond, hits her head, and gets amnesia. She believes she’s 13 years old again and acts cute, sweet, and innocent which is totally different then how she normally acts. She doesn’t even hit Ryoshi or act tsundere anymore (talk about a complete character change). So the two abandon the mission and go on their own date where they ultimately run into Shiro where we finally, learn about Ryoko and Shiro’s past. It turns out in middle school the two were a couple but at some point Shiro tried to rape her (that sick bastard) but failed. After that he began spreading bad rumors about Ryoko causing no one to believe her story and be ridiculed by everyone in her school. This caused her to develop a fear of him and transfer schools in order to escape him. After hearing all of this Ryoshi swears that he will protect Ryoko from him and that he will (and I quote) hunt him (Shiro) down (scene here: https://youtu.be/BXyxrb2I7jo?t=4s). I’m not gonna lie, this was Ryoshi’s most badass moment in the anime. No I’m serious, I love the look in his eyes and the way he says that line. This one scene almost completely nullifies all of his wimpy actions and demeanors up to this point. After that scene Ringo and Ryoshi take Ryoko to the hospital where she regains her memories and she returns back to her old self punching Ryoshi, acting tsundere and everything. Oh, and Ami and Jin’s date went off surprisingly well and the two seem to have become a couple. I’m not entirely sure if that’s true but she’s serving him rice in his room and from my experience when a girl is in your room serving you food or in your room period that’s usually a good thing. I’m Nitsuj and I approve this sentence. Episode 8 is probably my favorite episode throughout the series. It centers around an 11 year old kid named Chutaro Nezumi who’s the heir of a large company and has to find a bride before his 12th birthday. I’m not sure what fairy tale character he represents or even if he’s based off a fairy tale character but he kinda resembles a mouse. So Ringo, Ryoko, and Ryoshi introduces him to the many girls of the school but his butler Harmel (soul name Sebastian. Watch Black Butler you’ll get the joke) rejects each of them because of their personality flaws. Among the candidates are girls we’ve seen from the past as well as a few cameo appearances from Aisaka, Kushieda and Kawashima from the anime Toradora and a few girls from A Certain Magical Index anime (I haven’t seen this anime so I don’t know their names). In the end Chutaro chooses his childhood friend Uika who resembles a household spirit and the girls force Liszt to buy them expensive cake as an apology for the pointless request (huh? So the quickest way to make a girl happy is to buy them expensive stuff).
Episode 9-12
Episode 9 centers around Ringo’s past. It turns out that Ringo has a half-sister name Shirayuki Himeno (winner of the beauty pageant in episode 3) who got kicked out along with her mother after Ringo’s father finalized his divorced with Shirayuki’s mother. At the time Ringo didn’t know but she still feels that she betrayed her and avoids her altogether because she thinks Shirayuki hates her. Shirayuki also has 7 other siblings that she takes care of while working part time so these characters kind of represent Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The gang decides help Shirayuki out and help patch things up between her and Ringo by going taking them all to a water park. Ringo goes in disguise and watches from afar but when Shirayuki begins to drown after saving on of the kids (of course she can’t swim) Ringo jumps in to save her and the two quickly patch up their relationship and everything ends well (alright I’m getting bored let’s get back to the action).
The action slowly starts to build back up in episode 10 when Shiro starts spreading rumors about the Otogi Bank. In order to counter these rumors the gang runs a bargain on request (something about 30% off request. Yeah I don’t it either). Ryoshi meets a dashing third-year student named Saburo Nekomiya commonly known as Neko-san who represents the character Puss in Boots (pray for mercy from Neko-san. . . in anime). He originally showed up in episode 6 and was the guy Ryoko saved from a bunch of bullies in her flashback. He abandoned her while she was fighting the thugs and now wants to help make Ryoshi stronger so that he can protect Ryoko. Meanwhile, Ryoko and Ringo help a girl name Reiko Kokonoh from Onigashima who fools them into believing that Shiro tried to sell her off and they believe her and keep her safe in the dorm. Seriously? She has the Onigashima school uniform on; it’s clearly shown that they like to use females to fool their enemies and this Shiro guy is coming after you and YOU TRUST THIS GIRL! I’m sorry, but this is stupid, I wouldn’t trust her, no matter what bullshit story she gave me. Lock her up, keep her under surveillance, do a background check on her, go Batman on some of the thugs and get information out of them. And wouldn’t you know it the bitch is a double agent who knocks out Ryoko and Otsu (who was on lookout), Otohime gets kidnapped and they force Taro to follow them, Alice and Mimi are setup and barely escape from some thugs, and Ryoko gets taken to Onigashima. While all of this is going on Ryoshi is receiving training from Neko-san. The story continues in episode 11 where the remaining memebers (Ringo, Majo, Liszt, and Ryoshi) and Neko-san meet up and begin a counterstrike against Onigashima. Taro and Otohime are reunited and escape together, Majo finds and saves Otsu from a bunch of thugs trying to get her to change outfits (Fools! You don’t make a maid wear a nurse outfit, you make her wear different maid outfits.Dumbasses, just stick to being background characters), and Liszt uses a disguise to take out the thugs chasing Alice and Mimi. Ryosh’si group heads toward Onigashima and storm the place (this is getting pretty exciting). Ryoshi makes his way to Ryoko and we finally get our hunter vs wolf fight. It’s short and Ryoshi gets his ass handed to him but he got one good punch in and actually injures Shiro. Before the fight can continue Liszt steps in and stops them saIt’s short and Ryoshi gets his ass handed to him but he got one good punch in and actually injures Shiro. Before the fight can continue Liszt steps in and stops them (NO! KEEP FIGHTING, THIS IS YOUR HIGHEST POINT IN THE ANIME, YOU DELIVER!) saying that their done here and that they will repay Onigashima for what they have done (SO LET THEM FIGHT!). We even see Liszt open his open his eyes for the first time in the series. You know shit is serious when a character has his eyes closed throughout the anime and decides to open them. They rescue Ryoko and all ends well.
In the final episode a papergirl name Machiko Himura who lives in poverty sees Ryoshi exiting his apartment and thinks he’s rich. Hoping to get out of poverty the girl goes to the Otogi Bank and request to date Ryohsi. Ringo and Ryoko follow them on their date which gets interrupted by some loan sharks who come to get their money from her because her dead-beat father took her money and skipped town. Ryoshi calls for the assistance of the Otogi Bank and takes on the loan sharks with Ryoko who comes out of hiding. After a bit of sweet-talk from Ringo the loan sharks get arrested, the Otagi Bank pays off Machiko’s debt, and arrange for her to live in the same apartment as Ryoshi. The series ends with Ryoko confirming that she does have feelings for Ryoshi but is too shy to admit it.
Final Thoughts
I hesitate to call this anime bad but I also hesitate to call it good. On the one-hand it is creative, I like how all of the characters are actually based off of characters from fairy tales, Japanese folklores, and fables from around the world how they manage to work their stories around them. I think Shiro is a pretty menacing villain, he’s not like the other thugs who dress all in black, he wears all white clothes, has a calm demeanor and actually plans his moves accordingly but underneath that disguise is a wolf in sheep’s clothing which is his basic character. I also like the relationship between Ryoko and Ryoshi I think it’s cute and innocent and I like how it evolves throughout the series. On the other hand this anime is pretty forgetful, I actually forgot a lot of the characters after watching it the first time, I don’t like the way they introduced Ryoshi to us granted he gets better as the series goes but no matter how cool you make him I’m just gonna keep thinking about him being a wimp who’s afraid of being stared at. The climax is also a letdown and cut short which is a big disappointment for the watcher. The biggest complaint I have with this anime is the goddamn narrator. I hated the narrator so much in this anime, she never shuts up, she’s always talking, and it’s so annoying and distracting from the other characters. If she would have talked at the beginning and at the end I wouldn’t have mind so much but she talks throughout the whole episode and it’s really obnoxious.
The animation is nothing special to look at, the music is pretty good I actually liked it. There are a lot of side characters in this anime which are mostly used for one episode with a few coming back in episode 11 in the fight against Onigashima so chances are you’ll probably meet one or two characters that you’ll like. I personally liked Momo and Neko-san. Momo’s funny and disrupts the rules of the school which is ironic because she’s a member of the discipline committee. Neko-san is cool; I was worried it was too late to get fully invested into this character but no, they give him a backstory, they connect him to the main characters, and they show his resolve in the anime as to why he’s strong and why he wanted to be strong. He was a very well developed character; I wish they introduced him to us earlier.
Final Score
Okami-san and Her Seven Companions earns a 5.5/10. This anime is okay, there’s nothing really stupid or demeaning in it but at the same time there’s nothing that really drives it to greatness other than the fact the characters are based off fairy tales, Japanese folklores, etc. which as I said before is creative and clever but other than that it has few mistakes that really can’t be overlooked. My advice, check out the first two episodes and then decide if you wanna continue watching. That’s my review; I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj. Man, that narrator was annoying; imagine if I had a narrator in my reviews.
Narrator: So said Nitsuj as he prepared to closed out his review with a laugh and look to the side shocked at what he had seen.
Me: Morgan Freeman, what are you doing?
Freeman: I do this as a way to get extra money.
Me: Oh.
Freeman: You’re not gonna use my services are you?
Me: Nope.
Freeman: I figured. *Walks out*
Me: How he get into my house in the first place?
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