Self-professed "home security guard" Mahiro Oyama has not left his home in years, secluding himself in his room playing erotic visual novels. This depraved lifestyle causes his prodigious sister, Mihari, to worry about his well-being. In hopes of solving this problem, she devises a plan to rehabilitate him back to normalcy.
The first part of Mihari's plan is to concoct a medicine that changes her brother's biological constitution into a bona fide female, much to Mahiro's vehement dismay. Stuck in this predicament, Mahiro has no choice but to live out his life as a cute girl until the effect wears off—if it ever does.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
SingleH
Like many, I was impressed with the debut of Studio Bind and their highly-anticipated, highly-praised, highly-controversial anime adaptation for Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, and like so many more, I was already getting excited for its second season as soon as its first came to a close. However, also like many, I proceeded to be half-disappointed, half-confused when I saw the announcement for Oniichan wa Oshimai! with the name of Studio Bind—the studio which I thought was created for the sole purpose of adapting Mushoku Tensei—so proudly attached. A veteran animator like Shingo Fuji making a directorial debut at a studio I can actually trust toproduce something competent is always something to be excited about in my book, but would some goofy gender-bender manga adaptation really be worth pushing back Mushoku Tensei season two??? Call me the Grinch—no fun allowed—but could something like this really feel like time well-spent for such a capable studio and talented staff? Because after watching it, all I can really say as to the answer to that question is “hopefully yes.”
“Hopefully,” as in, “I hope this series ends up feeling worth MY time and effort to review,” since nothing else airing this season apparently is. I guess I could review season sixty of My Hero Academia or season forty of Bungou Stray Dogs, something like that, piss a bunch of people off, etc. But what’s the point? Where’s the fun? What can be said about the endless deluge of shounen baby formula, highschool romcoms, and isekai/grossly-isekai-adjacent fantasy adventures which populate the apparent entirety of this winter season that hasn’t already been said about prior, similar, questionably distinguishable contemporary anime to complete exhaustion? I’m going to try to refrain from ragging on the actual quality of the anime produced this season from a technical perspective, even though I most certainly could (and don’t be sure that I won’t), and I’m instead going to ask that we all take a moment to appreciate the eye-watering banality of it all from a creative perspective. Even everything popular, seemingly, is a next season of a show I already reviewed and can’t bare the thought of writing about again.
Then there’s Oniichan wa Oshimai!, the unequivocal best anime I’ve ever been this fundamentally disappointed by. It’s a show about your typical NEET otaku protagonist getting dragged out of their room and slowly but surely rehabilitated and reacquainted with normal, social, everyday life through the power of friendship, family, whatever. The element of the story which gives the series its excuse to call itself different and stand out from the crowd is that the inciting incident which first begins to push our hero, Mahiro, away from the NEET lifestyle is that his magical(?), genius(?), scientist(?) younger sister administers him an undefined mystery drug that turns him into a girl. Wacky, right? Don’t see many gender-bender anime around these parts, now do we? But if you look past the quirky gimmick, the oh-so outrageous loli fanservice, and the consistently mind-bogglingly fantastic animation, I’m afraid you’ll be left starring in the face of, essentially, an anime you’ve already seen. I’m not saying the series is generic, because, indeed, it’s a tad fucking weird. What I’m saying is that I wanted more Space Race type shit. Ya know?
If we’re gonna sip our cognac and be high-class, gentlemanly and ladylike, intellectual critics about this, then I think it’s worth taking a full-stride step back and making the general commentary that this was an enjoyable series. It has that nice cushiony fuzz to it where I could just sit and un-impatiently watch the damn thing. All an anime really needs to succeed when it comes to borderline slapstick comedy, at least in my book, is competent voice acting, which this anime has; creative direction and good timing, which this anime has; lots of movement and visual energy, which this anime has; and good character designs matched with memorable, funny, broadly entertaining facial expressions, which this anime has in fucking spades. So often did they go for the most obvious joke and still make me laugh anyway. It’s just the most technically well-executed version of the simple thing it is, and the simple thing it is is silly. And that’s fine…and I expected that…I just wanted more Space Race shit. I wanted it to have something that would fucking reach out and slap me in the face if I tried lumping it in with “the other basic moe shows currently airing” other than “lol he got turned into a girl.”
If you were to scroll through the seemingly endless waterfall of seasonal anime which aired this season, intentionally paying each promotional image nothing but a mere glance, combining every entry which your brain subconsciously finds difficult to visually distinguish into one anime, you would end up with I’d wager something like five or six. There simply isn’t enough pizzazz popping out, nothing to get your neurons firing in different enough directions. My eyes simply could not in rapid succession pass by the MAL entries for, for example, “The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World” and “The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World” without my mind fumbling incredulously at the alleged uniqueness of the two properties. When a friend of mine first learned I was considering writing for this series, he said, “Ain’t no way you’re hoping on this crazy train.” To which I frankly replied, “When does the crazy kick in?” Oniichan wa Oshimai! has a memorable premise, I’ll give it that, and I’d consider the cast of characters particularly quirky to watch, but the wholesome NEET recovery routine has been done so often now as to, well, be a routine at this point. Like, if this wasn’t such a heartfelt, technically impressive animation passion project, what would it be the sum of its actual parts?
To play Devil’s Advocate, it’s worth pointing out that the first half of Hikari no Ou came out this season, so…that was probably interesting and worthwhile…presumably? Buddy Daddies, as well, looks fun, decent, cute enough…DOESN’T IT??!?!?!!????? Clearly I’m just being an asshole about the whole seasonal anime thing, right? I mean, what? An anime becomes worthless and derivative as soon as the arc of its story begins resembling an established genre of past works? Is that the argument I’ve been making? Because that’s a fucking stupid argument. If my whole thesis statement is Oniichan wa Oshimai! is somehow not worth watching because it is to whatever degree “formulaic” underneath the visual gloss, then this is a bad review. I just don’t have the fucking time anymore, okay? I’m like a normal fucking person now with a life, under pressure. If I’m gonna soak back into this, I wanna be pulled in hard. I wanna suffocate in the quicksand that got me this deep in the first place. I wanna be wooed, wowed, kapowed—swept up, up, up, and away, or plunged into the abyss. I don’t just want to watch something good; I want to watch something special; I want to watch some new and exciting, boundary-pushing, Space Race shit. Evidently, I want to watch something that didn’t air in the apocalyptically unimpressive season of Winter 2023.
But hey? This is all sounding more and more like a me problem.
Thank you for reading.
ZeroMajor12
The only reason why I decided to give this anime a shot is because of the fact it was going to be animated by Studio Bind. Therefore, I thought... "Why not? Looks interesting to me. A gender-bender anime about a failure in life who became a loli by his or should we say 'HER' now to give HER a second chance in life." Now I know what you're thinking, if you look into this out of context, it's essentially a story about a fully grown man who's living alongside middle schoolers who don't have the slightest idea of this PERSON's past, yet it's treating itas if the main character was never a grown man, to begin with. This review is here to give you the judgment needed whether this anime is worthy of your time.
This anime gives off a similar feeling to Maid Dragon, in terms of its environment, atmosphere, the fluidity of its animation, and the existence of school kids in the picture. For a comedy anime, it has no business looking this good. Studio Bind may be a lot of things, but pushing out rushed products was never one of them and it proves just that despite being their 2nd known work after Mushoku Tensei. Hence, I'm looking forward to whatever anime they can make and never getting blinded by money.
Mahiro, who is the main character (victim) of the anime, starts to get her crap together and decided to put some backbone into improving her life. How does she do it, you ask? Well, by making her befriend children who are way out of her age group but it's okay... "Because her body physically looks like a teen, therefore it's fine if she's hanging out with them, it's not like she's an actual stranger who has lewd desires." I, for one, enjoy watching this anime, but it's damn near impossible to try and defend the plot when you actually take a step back and realise what it's like in a nutshell. Thus, I'm not going to defend it and fully admit that it's detestable. Allow me to provide you with two perspectives about Onimai!
"Why can't they just make Mahiro initially a female middle schooler to begin with?" - Point 1
Doing it this way should solve the 'grown male turned female child' issue, however, it would lose its reaching appeal. The only reason we're here, to begin with, is that Mahiro turned into a girl is the main catch or else, we wouldn't be here. It would lose its appeal and has no chance of standing foot against other seasonal anime.
"Why make her befriend herself with children? Why not adults?" - Point 2
Honestly, I would also appreciate it if they do it this way. The story could easily just make her try to find a job (be a cashier or cleaner), get money for her household and meet new people, which solves two things, Mahiro being a functioning person in society and having friends to talk with. But no, then we wouldn't have our CGDCT and School section, to begin with. Hell, Mahiro has essentially forgotten almost everything she has ever learned back in her earlier school days, therefore she has to go back and do it again (although I don't think it has to be like this).
I'd be lying if I said I didn't like this anime. I had a good time watching it, hell I thought it was going to be just a mediocre show. When you don't try to think about the bad things it built its foundation from, you get to see some cool wholesome and genuinely cute moments, aligning with adorable character designs, it's a blessing for the eyes. It fulfils the CGDCT theme most definitely.
The characters are kind of a mixed bag, while Mahiro and Mihari ended up to be quite decent characters, there were particularly two characters that left a bad aftertaste whenever they take up screentime. Kaede and Miyo were so off-putting, for different reasons. Starting with Kaede, she's a walking fanservice icon, her boobs are big, she dresses up like a gyaru and has no problem wearing skimpy clothes, which honestly shouldn't be a problem if it shows them erratically, but it happens so often that it makes me want to stop watching for a while and take a breather. Another issue is with Miyo, who acts like a lesbian voyeurist for the most part and is mostly played for fan service jokes. The pandering is so obnoxious and out of place despite it being a cute wholesome anime. As for others except for Momiji, they act nothing more than tropes adding to the comedy it seeks.
In conclusion, watch this if you want:
- Cute characters doing cute things.
- Really good animation and visuals.
- Decent main character writing.
I don't recommend it if you can't:
- Turn off your brain thinking of the gross things in life.
- Stand unnecessary fanservice in your face.
- Dislike abysmal plot development.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
seth
Studio Bind has given birth to an anime like no other: a magical sex shift anime with cgdct stuff. If my parents were to walk in on me while I was watching this show, I would quickly switch to a porn tab, how would one explain a loli girl moaning? But let’s get to the real point, is it worth watching? If one is able to look past the initial shock factor of episode 1 then the show has a lot to offer. A fanservice episode doesn’t necessarily mean its the end of the world. The story starts off like any other simplistic gender-benders. An otakuero-gamer, room temperature IQ, socially inept brother got transformed into a young loli girl by his little sister. This is not the typical fanservice-laden anime, it is just another wholesome slice of life show like Kobayashi. This is a mixed review with some honest appraisal so expect up and downs fluctuating throughout.
This show could’ve done well without the fanservice bait in the first episode, which seemed to be intended to entice loli lovers. However, this was a double-edged deal as it drove away as many viewers as it attracted. Little hype was generated by well-known YouTubers due to its questionable potential. Most viewer’s starting point is the trailer, and they were likely traumatized by the excessive fanservice, among other things. The only two unique aspects of this show are that the main character is surprisingly wholesome, not being a pervert or supporting incest.
Story-wise, the way the pace goes this is absolutely perfect. Not an uncommon story since its about rehabilitation but they used a unique way to tackling this. The character development focuses on how the Hikikomori might recover by becoming a girl. Onimai takes a comedic and simplistic approach to the brother's recovery, and did it help him? The short answer is yes, but it took a harsh amount of sacrifices. These “women POV situations” are relatable to the female audience and the males would definitely be curious as well. It even helps build their main objective. I really like the knowledge this author has for these type of small things.
The only noteworthy accomplishment achieved by a character in this series is their transformation from a naive and immature individual to a more mature and understanding one, as well as touching grass. In terms of the characters, Oshimai’s cast of characters aren’t that impressive overall. While they may initially come off as endearing, loveable characters, not much is truly fleshed out enough to really make a statement. Lots of side characters come and go merely getting small screen time. At later episodes the characters become more integral to the show, providing wholesome scenes and moments. The main characters, Mahiro and imuoto, also often create heartwarming scenes. The inclusion of yuri elements was expected, but the show has managed to avoid any incest relationships, which is truly commendable.
Vibrant backgrounds, captivating artstyle, and aesthetically pleasing visuals make this show stand out. Its colour palette is far superior than the dull hues of many modern anime shows. This show art is incomparable it even made gyaru style look good on Mahiro. The character designs are well-crafted and you get a good feel of who they are. While their personalities maybe somewhat flat, they are still distinct enough to be recognizable. This show is sure to draw in viewers with its unique visuals and engaging enough characters.
VA’s were slightly well chosen, they sync well with the characters portrayed. The OST of Onimai is quite exquisite, with a blend of melancholic melodies that perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of the show. Although there is no OP/ED that stands out as particularly noteworthy since it was an okay level, but it is fitting for a sol-ish anime. The most controversial aspect of the show is unironically the animation of its opening sequence, which features blatant fanservice. Therefore, one may opt to skip it if they wish.
It is impossible to assert that there is no merit in watching this show; however, it is far from excellent but close to being great. It offers some enjoyable moments, but still lacks any real substance. Despite its potential, it fails to present any endearing characters, making it a forgettable experience in the long run. Its unique art style and remarkable animation are its saving graces. If you are looking for story or plot, this show should be avoided however, it is a great option for those seeking something lighthearted and wholesome.
Marinate1016
Onimai will go down as one of the best anime of 2023. Sadly, it’s also one of the misunderstood shows. It’s faced constant backlash and slander from people who based their entire judgement of the series on a few small scenes or a character design. This is not lolicon bait, CP bait, whatever you want to call it. Onimai is a genuinely well written and wholesome story about self-acceptance, growth and developing interpersonal relationships. Studio Bind’s second anime project could not be more different from Mushoku Tensei, yet it retains the same attention to detail, directorial prowess and film like artistic quality we’ve come to expectfrom the studio. The series follows Mahiro, a shut in Neet who has nothing really going for him other than his video game skills. He’s turned into a middle school girl by his mad scientist little sister and given a second chance at life. While it may seem like a wild premise, the show is extremely mild and focuses on Mahiro developing and strengthening relationships with her sister, new friends and coming into her own socially. It’s one of the best examples of the reborn story trope because it presents healthy solutions to social anxiety and depression in a surprisingly mature way.
Yes, there are a few moments of fan-service throughout the series. It would not be anime without it. However, the fan-service never overtakes the importance of the story and these moments are fleeting throughout the series lasting a couples minutes at most. Of course, some would like to only focus on those moments instead of all the wholesome and cute moments in the show, which is a shame. I enjoyed seeing Mahiro grow up right in front of our eyes every episode. Seeing her go from just staying home all day and being depressed to taking the first steps of personal improvement like enrolling in school, hanging out with friends, opening herself up and becoming vulnerable to others, etc., it was a joy. By the end of this season it was like I was not even watching the same person anymore with how far she’d come. But it wasn’t just her. You could see the impact she had on those around her, even her little sister and that was the best part for me. It’s a shame that people got so caught up in a few moments of fan service in this show and allowed it to define their experience. There’s so many valuable life lessons in Onimai and I think we can all learn a thing or two.
Like I said before, Studio Bind did their thing here. Every episode was so well animated. It’s nice having a studio working on this that doesn’t have a crazy work schedule for its staff. Every episode has so much vibrancy and the care that went into it is palpable. Probably some of the best booba physics mechanics I have seen in the medium as well. Great art style, consistent animation and solid direction. Can not ask for more.
I could probably write a dissertation on Onimai, in fact I probably will in a video or something one day, but suffice to say this is a very heart warming story about coming into your own as a persona and opening yourself up to other people. It’s a scary feeling, but a very rewarding one like this anime shows us.
Onimai gets 10 out of 10.
Rachiba
DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU: -Don't like Gender Bender, Cross-Dressing or Trans works -Don't like satire about sexuality and gender -Are sensitive to fanservice and find it in all its forms disgusting -Are a NEET who has been living under the tutelage of your younger sister for 2 years and does not wish to be represented on this show -An idiot who doesn't get jokes This is WRONG, absolutely WRONG. But in a discreet and provocative way, firstly uncomfortably funny and later cutely funny, but it's a story about getting another chance at life. Okay, so the story is that after two years of living a hikikomori life, Mahiro Oyama, aneroge-loving NEET, wakes up one day as a girl. All this coming from a drug made by her younger sister, Mihari, through an unethical experiment. Without his consent, Mahiro is now forced out of his bubble to live a new opportunity as a girl, act like a girl, dress like a girl… yes, anyone reading this will immediately notice something wrong going on there and I don't blame you if you find it repugnant at first, but sometimes one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and trying to explore something out of the ordinary can bring unexpected results.
Onimai is basically told as a Slice of Life, but with a bit of unreality and humor as the character's sexuality takes a major role in the development of the show. However, don't expect a serious and in-depth story from this, but rather a whole range of jokes and problems that Mahiro is going to have with his own self, be it from having to hide his masculine past in front of his friends to dealing with his menstruation periods. All these types of jokes can offend many who go to see this show. Fortunately I'm not one of those and I like when humor has its mischievous tone.
The animation is its star point of the show, with the details and settings too vivid. Similarly, the rather colorful environment and flashy/moe character design is an appealing point for an audience that has been following Studios Bind's Mushoku Tensei for some time, even though Onimai is only his second work to adapt. The creative freedom taken by the production means that the program also bothers to make cultural references, especially video games, at certain points in the episodes. There's even some Titanic and Space Odyssey parody, plus a mahou shoujo transformation sequence, not entirely new to any parody, but quite elaborate - ironically its director, Shingo Fujii, had been a part of working on the Precure franchise before.
Marika Kouno (Mahiro) and Kaori Ishihara (Mihari) return to reprise their leading roles, now in the TV version of Onimai. They had previously provided their voices for the Drama CD, released years ago. They both manage to capture the sisterly dynamic, especially Mahiro whose lazy and childish nature comes off quite well. Although the casting cannot be generalized as one of the most memorable, they fulfill their role in giving all the characters cuteness and personality.
Both the opening and the ending are quite good, a standard electronic J-pop music style. But what really catches the eye is its video sequence that generally places too much emphasis on Mahiro's cute appearance; especially the OP, which is a fanservice fest, where at the beginning they show us some shots of her dressed in a sports uniform and school bathing suit - all this to give the viewer an uncomfortable but funny feeling that the person on screen was previously a boy. Or that comic “symbolism” where Mihari directs Mahiro on a banana boat to the Moon where a couple (one of them with a female figure) of rabbits make mochi. The ED, on the other hand, is a little more relaxed except that Mahiro is dressed in a bunny outfit and performs an improvised choreography inside her house with the rest of her friends, while the animation style is quite smooth and different from the rest; with a resemblance to the manga design.
And speaking of fan service...
As a reader of the manga, this draws attention to the great difference between the adaptation and the original material, with the character design being one of his main points, adding more color like Mihari's purple bangs. However, the most notable change is that of Kaede who receives a "buff" on her physical appearance, appearing to be much more gyaru and sexy than she is in the moeism of the manga. To all this, it is likely that manga readers feel that the anime places a lot of emphasis on fanservice - like Kaede's breasts, for example - but this is because the show seeks to extend some holes that in the manga it is reduced to dialogues and scenes quite short. Fortunately, unless you're allergic to a second of Mahiro in a cat suit, this mostly fades into the background and doesn't deviate from the original manga material.
It is from there when the Oyama brothers begin to fulfill their role as protagonists of the comedy.
All subsequent situations to the first episode give a different impression to the viewer that what is shown at the beginning is not as one might think. A bait to generate moral controversy. What at first is an unwanted forcing begins to show the results of Onee-chan's experiment. Although superficially, Mahiro begins to carry out certain activities that he did not do in his previous life as a boy, and if you take the premise with a certain amount of humor, you will be able to enjoy Onii-chan's evolution with joy.
The rest of the characters, although they have a minor appearance than the Oyama sisters, are there to usher Mahiro into his new life. You've got onee-san Kaede, her tomboyish younger sister Momiji, yuri's shipper Miyo, and her spirited best friend Asahi. You also have Nemu, the class sleepy girl who makes certain appearances to a lesser extent. It's not the first anime where you've seen these character archetypes, and the show makes good use of the characters in every juicy situation with Mahiro, especially when her pacing is relaxed and doesn't rush to introduce all the characters in a combo.
Perhaps the biggest problem that Onimai has, especially if you are a manga reader, are the risks taken by the production to adapt its content to the screen: from aesthetic changes to the characters to slightly rearranging the chronology of events. Likewise, those familiar with the manga will notice how the anime takes a slightly different tack by using fanservice to engage the viewer. But am I honest? This seems really entertaining to me. The few seconds where you see Mahiro being teased with her physical appearance or Kaede and Miyo's breasts are nothing compared to the rest of the content where the girls go out to have fun or share moments of school life - And more when this series is not oriented to being an ecchi, although I guarantee that someone who considers themselves a fan of it will enjoy it.
Also, with this tendency to adapt works related to gender change (Fabiniku, Kendeshi, Reborn to Master the Blade, Ayakashi Triangle, etc.), Onimai is another one on the list for an audience that is looking for something even slightly different from the normal thing. You shouldn't feel guilty about enjoying every bit of the show, because the least you'll see is over-the-top fanservice. Yes, you will see Mahiro and other characters taking a bath, or showing Kaede and Miyo's breasts (one episode is literally titled "Mahiro Ponders Boobs and Identity"), but it works to push a more rebellious humor than usual from a moe comedy.
Yet what really makes Onimai soar and take off is the production value and creativity. Despite not being the best comedy that exists, works like these show how important artists are in the media, who can write, draw and give life to the characters as they see fit. Some may have a different impression of Onimai, but if it had a standard generic CGDCT animation and design, and not an "unnecessarily" sakuga style of colors, it would at best be a disappointment and fade into utter irrelevance - Especially in the West where we tend to forget that a good part of these anime are aimed at the Japanese market.
So what would you do if you changed your sex overnight? Would you change your lifestyle? Would you stop doing the same activities? Or would things be as usual? What would be your decision?
For Mahiro Oyama, all of these and more, he had to answer in this brilliant, provocative, and cute show like Onimai.
SanaeK10
Onimai has finally Oshimai... Onimai has got to be one of the best success stories this generation. I remembered reading the original when it was still a Pixiv manga all those years back, and seeing it animated with such high quality animation is simply stunning. I knew I was in for a treat when the OP first played. Such fluid animation that blows everything else from this decade out of the water, with a flair you haven't seen since the 2000s ended, all wrapped up in a beautifully directed package by the always great Watanabe Akio. No rotoscoping, no 3DCG, no cheap stills, what you seeis what you get. And this high level of quality continues on with the rest of the show.
Indeed, Onimai, despite the manga being from 2017, feels like a long lost series from the good old days of 2007, where shows with similar themes were much more common than it is today, where you'd get actual varieties in genres and not Isekai A and Isekai B all the time. Hell, this wouldn't feel out of place next to all time greats like Lucky Star or Zetsubou Sensei. A non-ironic non-otaku pandering GB show is so refreshing these days, and I'm glad Bind put in this much effort into making this show into what it is.
One aspect of the show, albeit minor, is the depiction of Mahiro's hobby. I just love seeing the attention to detail paid to depicting the parodies of the various manga/anime/games he owns (along with that one episode where they actually got the rights to show the actual manga covers). If anything, when it comes to Otaku culture, Onimai does serve as a time capsule for the future in preserving how things are in the late 2010s/early 2020s, similar to how Oreimo was for late 2000s/early 2010s.
Compared to the original manga, Onimai has several changes that make it really different from the original source material. Notably the fanservice has been jacked up considerably (the original was a purely wholesome manga, making this even more surprising). I didn't mind this however, if anything it was oddly nostalgic to be harkening back to an era where fanservice heavy shows were dime a dozen without heavy cuts to pander to an overseas audience. Even more surprising is how the show still maintains the essence of the original source material in spite of this, and can get genuinely heartwarming, nay, even more wholesome than the original manga ever could thanks to incredible voice performances and as always, the incredible presentation and directing that binds the show together. Comedic timing is nearly perfect. While some scenes can't be replicated 1:1 because an anime is fundamentally different to a manga when it comes to pacing your scripts, the anime takes advantage of the medium and reimagines scenes to fit the format better.
Mahiro is just so adorable. He's everything you'd want as a little sister, and Mihari's playfulness complements him very well. Not just them, but all the characters have incredible chemistry with each other. You can (and the show often does) mix different characters together and get interesting scenario after scenario out of them. My one minor gripe is Kaede's redesign. She never was that busty or slutty in the original manga, which did put me off a little. I suppose it fits her gyaru personality more, but her gyaruness was never really her appeal in the first place.
My praises above may make the show sound like it's nostalgia pandering, and it's not. Onimai is a show that can easily stand on its own without needing to do so, and believe me I have my fair qualms on nostalgia pandering in general. No, I get the feeling Nekotoufu always wanted to tell this story, and we are blessed that the best studio possible was tasked in making his vision (or some fanservicey version of his vision) a reality.
Mahiro is cute, and the show is very funny. I don't think there's much more you can ask for. It's great entertainment that's very easy on the eyes, and the emotional core is enhanced with the adaptation. Shows like these don't come often, and we have to appreciate what we have.
9/10
(Also eyecatches in a modern cute girls do cute things show!? This show really has captured my heart)
Ionliosite2
Whether you like it or hate it due to the themes it has, Studio Bind has crafted another masterpiece of animation in their relatively new hands as an studio even if not really fully new animators, giving us animation so good that would put MAPPA, Cloverworks and A-1 Pictures to shame in every single episode. Filled with “questionable” scenes that I couldn’t give less of a fuck if people complain about them or not, the series is about the NEET Mahiro who one day finds himself waking up as a girl due to a experiment from her sister who has been very worried about him,as she is basically searching for him to stop being a NEET, and what better way to do it than making him girl? There’s obviously no better way, right? Well the series won’t bother to answer you that question, but it will show you the way it plays out.
The premise of the series probably goes a little weird, but the way it plays out isn’t the big deal, and it is actually quite endearing and funny, and it’s not difficult to get attached to Mahiro, and with this I mean that it’s pretty easy to relate to Mahiro. As a guy, he turned into a NEET ever since he left high school and definitely had some kind of low self-esteem seeing how much his little sister improved and can live going without him helping her, after all, their parents are basically never around the house so he is left as the “man of the family” and you can even see when he tuns into a girl that he’s still fixated to that, to being the one around in charge even though he can’t, because his sister is more proactive than him and is so good that even goes to the university while being younger, and since he doesn’t have any big capacities, he feels as if he was left behind. His, or now, her social anxiety kicks in when she has to go outside and even return to school, to talk to people and make friends! You know, all of that complicated stuff that you are supposed to do. So we can see her struggle with it, but getting used little by little, while still retaining some of her antics that came with her being a NEET. I mean, this girl still has her room fully decorated with hot anime girls’ posters and figures without any kind of shame whatsoever, it really tells you when she was a guy he probably didn’t even come out of his room.
Stuff like when she watches the trailer of a movie and goes “oh, I can’t wait for it to be available online” hits pretty close to home, as I mostly watch movies months after they premiere, specially if they are anime movies, since no movie theater has screened anime movies in my country for years and the last anime movie I remember seeing at the cinema was Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F, so these are the kind of little moments that really draws you close to Mahiro, as is not difficult to feel in a similar fashion to her and seeing her reactions to everyday stuff. There is also one episode where some guys give her back chocolates for White Day, since she gave them chocolates for Valentine’s Day before, and then trying to take advantage of the situation, she asks them if it was only going to be one gift, and holy, I know this sounds weird, but I’m sure more than one person has asked themselves “how would I be if I were of the opposite gender?” out of sheer curiosity, and I have to say that very thing she did there is something that I have very much imagined I would do and she even left with a similar feel that maybe that would be too rude, but she had the opportunity to do it and took it.
So I can really appreciate Mahiro when watching the series, however, at some point there was this scene in episode 8, and I don’t want to sound like someone that likes to compare series disregarding a lot of stuff, but I have been like this for a long time, and when watching that episode seeing the girls at a sleepover talking and playing with each other I couldn’t help but to suddenly think in K-On! Season 2 episode 4 where a similar scene plays out, and that made me feel a little a bad, not because I think it is copying it, but because when I saw this scene in Onimai it seemed to lack emotion from both the episode and from myself, I couldn’t immerse myself on it no matter what happened, probably because my mind kept returning to K-On!, my best analogy would probably be that K-On! scene would be like eating your favorite food and you love it through and through because of how perfectly made it is, and watching that Onimai scene is like eating your favorite food, but suddenly you bite something hard and when you see it, it’s plastic, half of your food is made of plastic and you kinda just stop enjoying it for a second no matter how well it tasted before or how well done it looks like. So, after watching that episode I had to take a step back, leave Mahiro aside and think to myself: “who the fuck are these people?” And I mean that for Mahiro’s friends mainly, because this scene couldn’t feel fully organic from my point of view. Seeing them more thoughtfully I cannot help but think that they feel lifeless, not in the sense that they have no personality, they clearly have one, but in the sense that I can’t see these people as actual people, so there’s a big contrast between Mahiro and these girls.
There’s a reason why I love shows like Yuru Camp and K-On! so much, and it is because of how much I can relate to the characters and see people around me in them, but I cannot do the same for Onimai, it suffers from the same problem I had with Bocchi the Rock!, incredibly high productions values and the main character is relatable, I would say that Mahiro is arguably more relatable than Bocchi as her social anxiety aren’t being so exaggerated for comedy, but the other characters just aren’t on that same level, and I’m not saying Momiji, Asahi, Miyo or Kaede can’t have eccentricities ,but that’s really all they have to them, and this is one of the reasons as to why I cannot rate this anime higher.
No matter how much I love the series, no matter how much I like seeing Mahiro on screen, no matter how beautiful the animation looks like, no matter how many cute moments there are, the characters are the biggest detriment that I feel on here, and I got to that conclusion from that episode onwards, like they go too hard on them with Momiji literally going chuuni in a couple of episodes, Miyo’s only notable trait is that she seeing lesbians and that reminds me too much of a character from Fate/Kaleid that’s basically the same but with gay guys, Asahi is literally just there as she is dumb and not much more, and while I love every single time Kaede’s big fat voluptuous round anime tiddies are on screen, for Mahiro she is basically just the onee-san. I can give props to Mihari though, since I can actually see how she was worried by her brother and even if her methods of “helping him” reintegrating to society are questionable by turning him into a girl of all things, her worries feel real enough for me, as people around me do worry about me by similar reasons of not even being able to communicate for more than a couple of lines when I find myself alongside a classmate or even being almost incapable of going out and meet new people, her tears of happiness whenever Mahiro comes back after doing something she would have never made before are a really nice touch.
I’m making a harsh point on this since I think the biggest part of how to judge a slice of life series is their characters, they are the driving force of the series and the more you can make the audience to feel for them and to make them think of someone they can look forward to see just as if they were important to them, that’s why I loved Yuru Camp so much, that’s why K-On! is one of my favorite anime ever, because I can feel for the girls and feel happy while watching every single one of the episodes and feel very fond to the memories of watching them. This, sadly, and for my own distaste with myself, does not happen with Onimai, you could blame it on me for not enjoying those characters too much, but it is how I see them.
As I mentioned before the animation is always delightful to watch, the really fluid and natural movements of the characters on top of the extremely beautiful and consistent art. The background always look good, with a simple palette not making it too complex, which actually goes well with the setting of the series. There is a really high difficulty in finding fan service as well animated as in this series, as there is always animation bumps every time there are big breasts on the screen, seeing how much effort was put into every single movement was great. There is even this scene in episode 3 where there is a sudden art style change for a single scene and looks completely beautiful to the point of being movie quality, and it was made for a fricking joke of a trailer of something called “Space Titanic” with a Leonardo di Caprio parody included and all, there is also the ending song video which goes more similar to the art style of the manga but the animation demonstrated there is also incredible, you can really see all the effort put into this and how much passion the studio has over their work. I really hope Studio Bind can keep the good job they have been making so far both for this series and Mushoku Tensei, because if they remain on such high quality as they have so far, we’re probably seeing the early days of one of the new best studios in the industry, up there with legends like Production IG, Kyoto Animation, Sunrise and Shaft.
I really liked this series, and even if I think it is lacking in something that goes beyond what I’m seeing on screen, and it goes into something that I can’t put into words since I’m pretty bad at expressing myself, let alone expressing feelings. It is still a very enjoyable series and I’m sure if I check out the manga it will feel like the inferior version, I really doubt it will be as good as the anime because of everything put into it, but I’ll try anyways, the only thing I’m sure is that this series will maintain the status quo for a long time and whether that is good or not, I’m sure at some point of the series Mahiro will have to come to a conclusion on whether he wants to stay as a girl and keep living this life or return as a man, and seeing how gender bend series works, the option seem pretty obvious, but one may never know, even if it will always be easier to go for the cutest option since the other would be difficult to pull off.
Thank you for reading.
Mcsuper
Studio Bind, you guys adapt the most polarizing things, but boy, does this studio animate things well! From the studio who adapted Mushoku Tensei, one of the greatest isekai adaptations ever, to Onimai, a gender-bending, mind-boggling show, that somehow ended up being a very wholesome CGDCT anime. Without a doubt, this show will be uncomfortable to many, and even as wholesome as it is, the initial premise does sadly bring my enjoyment down a little. Did this show have to be so fanservice heavy at the beginning? However, I will admit that as the episodes went along, they did end up very wholesome and atpoints, even quite hilarious. I will say though that if a different studio did this show with lower quality animation, I would not have enjoyed it as much as I did. Studio Bind, you saved an anime! Be proud!
Mahiro Oyama is a self proclaimed “home security officer”, who has been a shut in for years, indulging in his erotic visual novels, games, and anything of the sort. His genius sister, Mihari, worried for his well-being, decides to create a medicine that would turn him into a girl, as part of her “rehabilitation plan” for her brother. This show sounds weird, I know, but I had to remind myself, this is anime we’re watching! Other shows get much weirder than this!
In her newfound body, Mahiro has to adapt to being a girl, and that involves many things that I won’t speak of here, but you can catch my drift I think. With that, comes complete over-sexualization and a lot of of fan service, and that put me off this show, at least at the beginning, with how uncomfortable it can be at times.
I do understand what this show is going for, and that is for the protagonist to go through changes to form better and more healthy views towards women, by putting him in one’s shoes. It makes for some funny jokes that land sometimes, but not all the time. I don’t exactly know why the gender-bender was really necessary to make this show work, but it is what it is I suppose. I guess Studio Bind just likes to have protagonists who are otakus who get reformed in some way, first with Rudeus from Mushoku Tensei, and now Mahiro.
After the first few episodes, the show turns into a CGDCT show with Mahiro going to school, and meeting new friends and creating fun friendships. There were a lot of fun and wholesome moments for sure to be seen, and the characters are quite fun to watch, as expected from a CGDCT show.
The animation is phenomenal, to put it lightly. Very well produced and fluid in its movements, and the OP visuals are a great example of this. This show needed the Studio Bind treatment, or else it would have flopped very hard in my opinion. The music is decent, especially the OP and ED, which embodies how insane this show is at times.
Overall, while this show’s exterior is very unfriendly and weird to the average anime viewer, there is a lot of wholesomeness and friendliness to be found here, but this show would have been much better if it didn’t have the questionable premise to begin with, though I’m not sure how that would have worked to fit the themes of the show around rehabilitation. It’s definitely way less of a degenerate show than I thought it was, and while I did have my doubts at the beginning, I slowly grew to enjoy this show for what it was anyway.
KANLen09
Well, well, looks like somebody broke their promise of being an exclusive entity just for producing one of the all-time modern greats in the AniManga scene! Haha, just kidding. But seriously, WOW, Studio Bind, you're the studio that can do no wrong, until you can do an extra wrong, and it elevates just about everything that you live as an entity developing deep into the fetish-dom. The Mushoku Tensei-based studio branching out to more or less the same sexual fetish that it was birthed from, and somehow that caught the eye from one particular person: debut director Shingo Fujii, whose works are known in one ofthe longest kids-based franchise of PreCure as its key animator. So, it must be said that if Shingo Fujii has a knack for kids looking for some action and Studio Bind being the paedophilia studio that wows from the get-go, then look further than mangaka Nekotofu's Onii-chan wa Oshimai! a.k.a Onimai: I'm Now Your Sister! (the "oshimai" written phonetically to have a double entendre of お終い "my older brother is over" and お姉妹 "my older brother is a sister"). And for better or worse, this show will make you feel a lot of emotions: disgust, disappointment, weary, wholesome, being outright bad to legit genuinely good.
There's something that's just outright illegal with the magical sex shift a.k.a transgender sub-genre, because it's a taboo subject that not everyone wants to dabble upon, unless criticism is your thing. This is especially important for people like authors wanting to use the same taboo subject to tell a story, though this is of the extreme kind. And this is exactly what Onimai's story is like: the brother of Mahiro, the self-proclaimed NEET and a girl of Mihari, the scientist, living alongside him, in the same Oyama family. But one day, an experiment goes very wrong, converting the sex change within Mahiro that drastically turned his young adult state of mind to that of a girl. In many a case, this "fixture" to help turn her brother's isolated, stay-at-home NEET behaviour into a life enriching experience has it benefits and drawbacks: Being new to the girlish feeling, the uneasiness of Mahiro sets in with the nonchalant Mihari, being forced to now live like a girl, bodily functions included. The only benefit that would weigh for the good is of course, if Mahiro actually would be willing to step even one foot out of the room, accompanying his sister to finally not label himself as a hikikomori and appreciate her high levels of intelligence in this "Big Brother Rehabilitation Project" experiment.
But the facts speak for themselves: despite this show being a lot more fanservice-y as it is to trigger lolicons, paedophiles and feminists in a mind-numbingly and overwhelmingly bad way, it has its moments as akin to a CGDCT theme (though this is only half true bcecause of the obvious odd one out) and the more "slice of life"-ish content that is more heartwarming and wholesome than most. By forcefully being changed into a girl, Mahiro gets to survey the world around her, albeit in a new sexual orientation that the former "he" has to get used to, on simple things such as hanging out with friends and just being productive at home. To aid him in getting the orientation right, there are friends in the form of sisters Kaede and Momiji Hozuki, as well as classmates Asahi Oka and Miyo Murasaki. The gyaru and tomboy-ish personalities of sisters do get well together with Mihari, even in the most mundane of things that girls like to do at their age. When it comes to the classmates Asahi and Miya, the former has been friends with Momiji for a few years, and the latter...is pretty stacked with an affinity for Yuri themes. Talk about being centralized to the T for Miyo. Overall, the circle of friends are a much-needed step for Mahiro to enjoy the privileges of being a girl, aside from still having the man-like soul of a stigma inside.
I think we all know what we came here for in regard to the anime: its production values, which if you have not heard of Studio Bind, you've been living under a rock for quite some time. It's pretty safe to say that while this is not the Mushoku Tensei-centred staff team that's working on this, it's the PreCure key animator-cum-director Shingo Fujii and his team working on this bite-sized chunk of a show that's no less than impressive and top-notch. Despite looking a lot CGDCT and Slice-of-Life-ish, the colours and visuals are vibrant and pop out in the simplest way possible. The animation in Onimai may be miniscule, but don't let that fool you, for its still as just as strictly detailed as Mushoku Tensei was, not losing the lustre that the new fledgling studio has been known for.
Like the production, the music is really well done as well, setting in the cutesy atmosphere that's all in the girlish context. The OP from Enako feat. P-maru-sama, it's a great song that stands out for its crazy upbeats and the animation prowess that doesn't lie to your face of how much Studio Bind also takes care of the minor stuff (like the OP/ED) and flexes at any opportunity worth showing. That said, the OP is ONE HELLA of an impressive showing that despite the somewhat targeted fanservice-y tropes it has, it makes up for an interesting combination that's a worthy standout as one of the great OPs of the season. And though the ED featuring the Oyama and Hozuki sisters altogether for a last hurrah of sorts, that was a decent showing.
Well then, after all that's said and done, here's the age-old question: is Onimai worth the watch? I believe that it's up to you whether you love or hate it, because while this show is definitely on the extreme side of susceptibility of tolerance levels, it's the entertainment that would define this show as a whole, and while I can say that I got over the fanservice quick to turn over a new leaf to enjoy this immensely, your mileage may vary. Onimai is not for everyone, but I pray that for whatever reason you decide to judge it at first glance, give this a second chance, because it functions as a legit good, wholesome show that doesn't take away its welcome "plot" of constant reminders time and time again.
Yes, the manga is good, but the anime is even better. That's the power of anime as a medium, and I would stand by Onimai as a standard, but unique experience under a growing prolific studio that grows with age. Try it, you'll be plasantly surprised.
rikiki109
‟wtf why did Bind picked this anime they are down so bad in degeneracy” -maybe someone on Twitter And that's exactly what's good about it ! Thank you Studio Bind for bringing us Onimai on our screens, big boobas have never looked that good ! To be more serious, let's start off the review for real. What's Onimai ? It's just your average young adult unemployed dude and eroge vn lover getting drugged by her mad scientist (hi s;g) little sisters into a (legal ? please no definitively don't post that on Twitter) loli and how Mahiro as our protagonist needs to survive in the hardtask and wasteland that it is to be a high school female student. What does this premise actually makes with the content of this anime, why would this weird story work ? After watching it fully, I see the genius ideas that came out and are used from this stoopid event.
I also wanna note that while my review is highly positive towards Onimai, it doesn't mean that anyone would enjoy it as much, that's of course true for any anime, but maybe even more this one, it's all personal taste. If you don't like ecchi and loli (and maybe think that adding those two together makes it even worse), it's totally fair that you'd hate this anime. As for myself, I ain't scared of anything, ecchi is cool. So what's about this that makes it in any way good (except the ecchi of course, but I will talk about it later) ? Who would have though, but a Magical Sex Shift can really mess our understanding of the surrounding world, and that's exactly what Mahiro does, he always learn how to adapt in this vastly new world and we get to see his character development over the course of 12 episodes, and as her sister Mihari has planned, make it so his fucking NEET onii-chan can go outside and live a normal live, which is fully filled with the wholesomeness of this show. Wait, that's wholesome ? It indeed is, the cute Mahiro's voice combined with the whole cast of girls and classmates makes it like if you're part of the gang yourself, you start to appreciate the small relationships, especially Mahiro who never had those before. There are a lot of chill and very heartwarming moments in the anime, that simply express love for your family, friendship and enjoyment as a whole, this anime can really touch you in your heart and make you feel chill while giving you a boner, it's genius. To add to the wholesomeness of this show, one of the best thing that pairs with it is comedy, and it still delivers in that regards. Onimai is a perfect mix of serious and fast paced moments, sometimes it's just goofy moments in a cute SoL that makes you go giggle real hard because of how hilarious they are, it's clearly a beautiful mix of everything, and as a great comedy lover, it's the cherry on top that makes me interested in this anime. It tries to be everything, and it succeeds in such.
Moreover, Studio Bind couldn't have been a better studio for animating this. As their second anime ever, everyone was excited to see their quality and usual ecchiness on another anime. As it did with the story, it stills delivers, and is probably one of the nicest and cleanest visuals of any SoL and ecchi show you've seen. When it needs to (and when it doesn't so they can flex more), the animation of it is insanely smooth and a lot of shots could become a pc background. The character designs are well made and the fake 3D effect that they sometimes uses on things like hands really shows how good Bind has become, and all that on a fucking Slice of Life show. The other thing Bind is known apart from them doing clean and smooth things is how good they can make ecchi and fan service look, and of course, this anime is full (I mean, it's not tagged as ecchi, it's just sometimes there in a few episodes and in spirit) of it, and it really has some of the nicest animated boobs that I've seen in anime, it's a big plus, obviously and they've really put a lot of effort into it, really is a passion project for anyone working on it, wanting to make this somewhat normal anime (that a few cultured manga readers really enjoyed) into something almost magnificient that's beautiful in every way.
I also wanna note how good looking the visuals and the song of the Opening and the Ending are, they are both in a strong contender for best OP/ED of 2023 and it has only started bruh.
Onimai might not be for everyone, but for me, it was. A very weird story that actually works out in something uniquely interesting in terms of character and topics addressed, while filling my degeneracy and a blast in animation and funniness. Enjoyment is a big factor in this anime. If this review hasn't made you think that this shit is fucking weird, and that I've picked your interest, I would highly recommend you watching this, I love it ! (Do note that the orange logo guy has the censored version, which cuts a few seconds and scenes every episode, it's not like if you're gonna see bare naked boobs, but even regular ones might be cut from it, so go watch the uncensored one !)
Wilhelmine
So, Onimai finally ended and so I decided to write a review for this. Because, to be fair, this isn't an easy anime to recommend, due to its subject matter and execution. But let's get this started. For starters, Onimai is not for you if you cannot look beaond the basic premise of the story. Mahiro, who is a shut-in unemployed male adult gets drugged and transformed into an underage girl by his little sister and now gets to live middle schooler girl life. If the forceful transformation is a dealbreaker (a legit reservation to have), stop right here, this anime is not for you. Ifnot, then I go into what this story is, why I recomend it and why it isn't just some degenerate garbage.
Onimai is basically the story of a young adult man who has given up on society and partly even life, living basically just with his few remaining hobbies that don't require him to leave the house, who gets now a makeover and second go at life. As many other reviews point out, the studio behind Mushoku Tensei once again has picked up a story about someone whom most people would consider a failure at life getting slowly rehabilitated into a decent person. This time though, not by dying and reincarnating, but by getting genderbent. And to be fair, it does it rather well (thanks to the source material it is based on being rather solid).
Now, some people might complain about whether it was necessary for Mahiro to be a goddamn middle school girl, after he was an adult man. Isn't it friggin cringe to have an adult man hang out with people way below him in age? Eh, I mean, technically, you could view it that way, but this plot isn't just for nothing. Mahiro is supposed to get rehabilitated. You don't just rehabilitate people by throwing their gender identity out the window. Realistically, most people would become worse off. If Mahiro wasn't kind of transgender already (which the story never really delves into), you'd basically risk giving him major dysphoria and yeah, you aren't getting anywhere. But age regression actually can do something. It is quite clear that Mahiro struggles to meet social expectations and has basically given up on trying. It makes sense for him to have a second chance by becoming young again, at an age where social expectations are way more relaxed and where socialising is easier. A 20+ year old adult guy having no job and no income isn't viewed favourably by society and can weigh on one's self-esteem. An 11 odd year old girl having no job and being a dependant is kinda what you expect and you'd not fault them for it. Thus, regression isn't used to make some loli porn, it makes sense in context for it to be there, as it provides Mahiro with the safe space to return to society.
Is it wrong now for Mahiro to hang out with genuine middle schoolers? Well, if the point was to give a safe setting of middle school, you'd expect friends to be in that age category. And let's be real, the interactions between the four friends are mostly CGDCT. It isn't Mahiro fawning over their underage bodies or viewing them romantically, it's basically just the peer group he finds himself with and why not. It's basically as if people would call Conan Edogawa a creep for befriending the Detective Boys.
Now, with all that out of the way, Onimai is
-a pretty decent story about a person getting a second chance at life
-a casual slice of life show with a bit of deeper plot
-actually one of the most deep gender bender anime we have so far. There's clearly better manga who give more thought to the whole thing, but when it comes to anime, Onimai is (sadly) quite revolutionary in how much thought it gives to gender identity of its protagonist. This show aired alongside two other gender bender shows, which were Ayakashi Triangle and Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire and it's a great example of three different kinds of gender bender you will encounter: Reborn to Master the Blade (this needs a short title) treats it as an afterthought and is basically a shounen plot with a more visually appealing protagonist, Ayakashi Triangle is still your shounen plot, but also has some thought put into the gender bender aspect beyond the steamy scenes and Onimai makes the gender identity one of the most central aspects of the show (to the point the entire OP is a reference to it). Maybe one day we also get even more serious works as an anime, it'd be nice, but for now, I'm already happy we arrived at Onimai. I still remember when the state of the genre was Happiness! OVA.
This show's plot can be genuinely enjoyable, isn't too serious, but also not shallow. It's a good watch for entertainment, while also raising some valid questions, regardless of viewer age. The story mostly stays true to the general plot of the manga, so anyone who enjoys this can read the source material. It's pretty neat.
Art-wise, I have to consider Onimai a mixed bag. Generally, this show is beautifully animated, the colours are fitting, the design changes to most characters are pretty cool, like the colourful highlights to many people's hair. Makes the whole thing a bit more quirky and lively. However, the anime adaptation did add, for whatever reason, some fanservicey material and it really wasn't necessary. It's not ruining the show to me, but it certainly isn't something that can be ignored or viewed favourably by me. Kaede's design is just... Manga kaede is a stylish gyaru, characterised as attractive, but the fanservice is limited. Anime Kaede is way more questionable, with a notable upgrade to her assets just because. Ehhhhh...
Sound-wise, pretty solid. I like the OP and ED songs. The VAs are reasonably well-selected and the overall experience is pleasant.
Personally, as a critical rating I give the show a 9. It could be a 10, if it hadn't messed around with the fanservice. It still preserves the core good parts of the manga though and I expected worse for an anime adaptation. They clearly put in effort, the whole thing has its one blemish, but is otherwise still the Onimai I read and loved.
JxKrS
One of the best slice of life anime of all time. The quality is just peak and prove how strong Studio BIND is. I can say without doubt that Studio BIND has convinced me that no matter how niche a series can be, there is always a way to produce such a heart warming story. The art style is a little unique and I had some struggle with it, but through it episodes, I ended up enjoying it more. The animation can be considered too high for a simple yuri + school + slice of life genre, it feels unreal for Onimai to have sucha great quality.
I know that the Gender Bender stuff can turn off a lot of anime fans, and the rating for this show, in my opinion, is significantly lower that where it should have been. I can easily rate this show 10/10 for me, and for unbias, 8.5/10 confidently.
I loved the show so much that I registered a whole f***k MAL account and wrote the only review I had done in my life, thank you so much Studio BIND for lightening my life anxious, and once again, I wish Onimai season 2 and also wish that Studio BIND will continue the adaptation. It would be a huge waste if some great manga with niche genre get cancled whereas its uniqueness is what make fans fall in love with the series.
(Side note: I wrote this purely to record the day I finish the show. This is not a "review", it's just an after-thought, never consider this seriously.)
PanzerIV-J
This show is both, wacky, questionable, and wholesome. I can't say that it is an amazing show by any means, but if you look past the first episode, and watch it as a non gender bender anime, then it really gets much better to watch through. The plot is really mixed, the plot of the MC basically being a sheltered discord moderator male that gets changed into an awkward female. Then doesn't realize you can't do male things as a woman without being looked at weirdly (kinda reminds me of “Bocchi The Rock” in some ways of awkwardness of the MC). The bad part about thisis by the first month of becoming a female, it seems quite dumb to be made into a trope of going and doing obviously stupid things, such as — Small Spoiler — going into a men's restroom as a female, then realizing, when you should not have dumb mix-ups like this.
The other major issue I have with the show is fan service, it is an excessive amount of fan service and sexualization of characters, whether it be the MC or some random character in a classroom. To me this heavily detracts from the experience of enjoying this show considering these are middle-school age characters getting intensely sexualized for no apparent reason. From what I hear is that most of these scenes are absent in the manga, meaning that these were added to the show for trying to make neuron activation at the sight of a random teacher with huge breasts, or a bath scene.
Not to say the plot is bad at all, it just has off chances of really stupid out of character behavior, where the MC thinks like a man for a few seconds and acts awkward or weird, even though the MC has been a female for a decent period of time by this point. It does not exactly make sense to do this type of stuff or get weirded out by regular actions by women.
The reality is that the show is moderately enjoyable, and is quite decent at being a CGDCT anime, it may have moments that make you shake your head and want to punch a table.
Overall it does everything quite well, and while overall I enjoyed it, I could 100% see why someone wouldn't want to watch this show, whether it be some middle-schooler sexualization or awkward sex shifting MC. Past that, it feels like “Lucky☆Star” was mixed with some characterization from “Mushoku Tensei” and added a magical sex shift theme in it.
I would at least give it a shot to see whether you enjoy it or not, since this definitely will be a show that different people will have tons of different feelings on. Personally, I was able to just look past the fan service and the weird MC to see a good slice of life hiding behind it.
🗿 7/10 🗿
AloofBidoof
This show is great in a lot of ways. It does so many things so masterfully and coming off of the show, it's gonna be hard to forget some of the stronger moments that impacted me emotionally. What? What's that? Why did I give the show such a low score then? Well, if you've been following the discourse surrounding the show, you already know the answer to that! The answer is...complicated. But first... Scores suck. Slapping a number on something to superfluously gauge how much you value the show doesn't do the finer intricacies of properly judging media any justice. In other words, I have no fknclue what to give this show. It's best parts deserve a 10! It's worst parts deserve to wipe it from existence along with my shiny new spot on several government watch lists, cuz, if you've followed any amount of discussion around this show and somehow DON'T know what's wrong with it, this show is... ((hold on lemme get a good grip on that bandaid and...)) FOR P*DOPHILES!!
Now that I've shooed off some of the avid defenders of this show, let's do something that'd probably piss off your average English professor and NOT provide any justification for that claim... yet. I wanna talk about the good first.
The story is par-for-the-course slice of life shlock (my favorite!). Main character is turned into a little girl by his older sister with seemingly abundant access to eldritch blood she found lying around because how the hell else is she able to change someones chemical makeup and de-age them? Anywho, he's a little girl now due to his sisters horrifically thought out plan to get him to reintegrate into society. Shenanigans ensue, and it eventually works to varying degrees. But then the show kinda slaps you upside the head with what it's actually about. No, not exploitation of minors (we'll get to that...). It's about family :))
No really. Barring the more dubious aspects of this show, the MC reconnects with his sister, learns how to make friends, and learns from said friends about togetherness, friendship, and f a m i l y :))))) I genuinely cannot believe how a couple of the scenes legitimately choked me up. I'm absolutely AGHAST that my cold dead heart FELT something for some of these scenes.
Talking about music in anime reviews always feels redundant. It's a slice-of-life; it's what you'd expect. Lighthearted jingles with lighthearted instruments. Opening and Ending were catchy. Otherwise, nothing notable.
As for the art tho... this show is gorgeous. Watch any scene, from the most exciting to the most mundane and you'd be hard pressed to not find copious amounts of attention to detail. Characters interactions are full of minute movements that bring them to life and convey their emotions beautifully. The backgrounds are densely packed and often populated with non-CG nobodies. The colors are absolutely fkn delicious. It has this slightly washed out yet still vivid pastel color palette that's easy on the eyes and a joy to look at. The show has random goddamn sakuga for things like filling up cups with water and washing hands. The rest of the show has dynamic, impactful, fluid animation that makes these characters shine like very few others could within the genre. Everything you could expect from Studio Bind, who up until this point was thrown together to animate Jobless Reincarnation- another show with drop-dead gorgeous visuals and an animation team so obviously dedicated to their craft.
Which is where the painful part comes in. Like Jobless Reincarnation, this show suffers from very suspect ecchi scenes involving characters that are confirmed minors that range from "What did they mean by this??" to "Guess I'm no longer allowed within 50 miles of any grade school now." This shows creators knew what they were doing, what they were making. The inclusion of several scenes were kids piss themselves off screen is slightly subtle. Clever camera shots that allow for distant upskirts is much less so. There's no subtlety, however, in the inclusion of several nude scenes, ass shots, close ups of intimate parts of their bodies, sexual fake-outs and the dressing up of said minors in various scantily clad outfits, most notably in the, unfortunately catchy, OP and ED.
It's not an okay thing. It drags down a show that is otherwise such a gorgeous and comfy labor of love with an occasional surprise sledgehammer to the back of your skull reminding you what you're actually watching. Like gold speckled with shit, or maybe gold-speckled shit. I'm not sure. Debate the politics all you want but to me there's clearly something wrong with people who very openly make and enjoy things like that. The only saving grace, if you can even call it that, is that nothing is fully uncensored and no overtly sexual acts ever happen.
SO, going back to my score of three, I decided it based on the fact that MAL labels a 3 as "Very Bad" which is what I would say if anyone were to walk in on me watching it. Them: "Hey man, what's...what's that?" Me probably: "Oh no! This is (3) Very Bad!!" Yeah, like that. Better yet, because numbered scores are cringe, I'll give this show a "$3,000 bail bond for a crime that should've landed me in jail for much longer than it did, but the jury found no sufficient evidence to truly incriminate me beyond possession of illicit material, so instead I walk free for the price of your average checkup at an American doctor". Sure it was cute and excellently endearing at various points, but I'll never live down the shame as "the guy who watched that show with naked kids...again."
Tl;Dr - Great show with fantastic animation and lovable characters with fun and sometimes impactful story beats...absolutely destroyed and marred by its sexualization of characters that are overtly minors.
I can't recommend this show without having a moral crisis, so take that information how you will.
S1L3NT-L0V3RS
[7/10] Good. Contains some minor spoilers, but nothing big, don’t worry ;) I guess we all know why I watched it ? If u don’t, easy answer : Studio Bind. At this point, Studio Bind’s just flexing their animation and I love it ! Even their ED animation has more budget than some whole others shows. This show is just a pure beauty visually! With this kind of animation n quality, I usually give 10 easily.. Now, what’s the problem ? It’s the fact that Fan-service has to be present in every episode, like whyyy, the OP’s just disgustingly filled with this type of bullsh’t. I don’tmind some fan-service, ecchiness or anything, some of it is fine, but why overuse. Without mentioning, they’re « smol » :( won’t say that every person who enjoyed the protagonist’s fan-service r lolicons n pedophiles but yh.
Plot - It’s a pretty original story. The protagonist, Mahiro, who hasn’t got out for 2 years is changed into a girl by his little sister, Mihari, for some amount of time. Their parents chose some original names, right ? I thought, I would just hate the gender change theme, but it was so well done, I loved the show! So Mihari lives their life as a young woman.. n they get in some rlly funny scenes, honestly, I laughed a lot at some points. Mihari’s mission is to get her brother back, getting out of his room, his video-games n get closer to her again. I really enjoyed the last part I mention, their relationship was so cuteee. The whole show is cuteee honestly ! Mahiro met their sister’s bestfriend Kaede, a sweet character, but I didn’t like her look, the usual « sexy character with a VeRy big chest » which is completely avoidable.. but anyways I loved her character! At some point of the show, Mahiro has to go back to school, this is when this show gets weirder.. uhhh.. girls relationship, bath scenes, more bath scenes, n more bath scenes, thermal source scene.. lemme mention that Mahiro’s classmates are 12 :D 2 of them are literally flat-chested pre-pubescent girls, just disgusting :( without mentioning the whole lot of garbage innuendos, like whyyy do you need this, just triggering. But this show has a lot of funny scenes, n many cute ones! So pretty balanced.
Animation - flawless, just splendid.
Characters development - Great. That’s it. I just loved every single character n we get a glimpse of everyone.
Soundwise - Overall it was great. OP n ED were wonderful, if u don’t pay attention to the fan-service, the visual’s just amazing n the sound’s catchy, loved them.
Designs - Sumptuous, just magnificent.
Plot - 9/10
Music - 8.5/10
Visual - 10/10
Character development - 9/10
Story telling - 8/10
This show needs a second season, as Mahiro’s school isn’t finished yet. We need to know how they manage to leave all her friends knowing the fact that no one apart from them, know about this gender change. Most importantly, we need to see more of their relationship cuz they’re just so cuteee, just loved the ep when Mihari’s sick! One of my fav watch of the year!
Looking forward to the next shows by Studio Bind this year. Normally we’re getting at least 3 more shows by them this year, quite excited to watch!
Will definitely recommend you this great anime ! But avoid if u have some issues with small characters’ fan-service. Overall it ended up with a « good » rating cuz of the disgusting parts mentioned above. One of those shows that you just loved but that you can’t recommend to some close friends cuz of their fan-services. Anyways, a good show to watch! Enjoyed throughout the whole watch.
[7/10]
lycoping
This anime has a very simple premise: A hikikomori (shut-in) young man get turned into a middle school girl, and he has to come to terms with it. With some subplots, from beginning to end, this is the entire plot. One very sticky wicket is what to call Mahiro - he or she. I choose "she". She has an actual girl's body (with every function thereof) - who just happens to have the brain of a boy. You may disagree but that is my convention and I will be using it in this review. This is not intended to makeany statements, I just have to pick one and that makes the most sense to me. (I will use "he" for the time before he was turned into a girl. Geez, this is difficult. Oh well.) Onwards...
One might be tempted, given this plot, to think a whole bunch of things about it that would be highly inappropriate if they were true. But, they're not true. This anime has multiple opportunities in each episode to go in some particularly awful directions - and never takes those opportunities. Even at the very beginning of the anime, those possibilities are acknowledged, and then summarily and ruthlessly squashed. While there is some fanservice in this anime (I don't think any mangaka could *completely* resist the temptation), the travails of an adult man turned into a middle school girl are treated, not only sensitively, but as realistically as possible, given the surrealism of the plot. For example, we witness her getting her first, well, womanly time, and it's not treated fetishistically, but far more realistically than you'd think, and that's the case with all similar events.
The reason for this is that this anime does not appear to have been written or produced as fetish fuel, instead, it seems to have been designed as a "dead-dove" story - it's exactly what it appears on the cover, by which I mean, an adult man who has to learn how to live as a middle school girl. And it does a very good job at that.
This anime made me think. And I love it when a anime makes me think.
So, let's get the technical stuff out of the way before I poke the bear. I love the bright, pastel color pallet of this anime. It's fun, playful, and fits the theme quite well. The characters are well designed and treated sensitively, and the story is well written, interesting, and funny when it matters. I also really liked the OP, though the animations are a little too fanservicey for my taste.
And boy, can that girl pack away the pizza.
Now, here's the part that I'd prefer not to write, but any serious review of this story *has* to address this: This is not an anime about any social justice issue (including the obvious one). As near as I can tell, this is not anywhere near the mind of the mangaka, producer, or anyone else when creating this anime. Mahiro is a girl in all ways except for in the brain, and the change was not of her choosing. Many people seem to want desperately to tack that motivation on this anime, but it's simply not there. It's a story about a boy who is turned into a girl against his will and has to learn how to live as a girl for as long as she is one. That's it. There is no other agenda. If you're looking for more you'll be disappointed. If you want to see this anime through that lens, more power to you, but I'm absolutely sure that's not, in any way, the intention of this anime.
I promise I would be the first to say if it were the case, and it would be clear if it were. It's just not.
It's also, as I mentioned, not really an ecchi, hentai, or anything else anime. It's a surprisingly wholesome story that could have gone off the rails in fifteen different ways, but stayed wholesome right until the end, and I love this anime for that.
Are there flaws in this anime? Absolutely. It does rely quite a bit on double entendre, a bit too much, in my opinion. For being wholesome, it's not above a dirty joke or ecchi-adjacent misdirection or two, and that did make me a little uncomfortable. But it never stayed there, and I was alright with that once the joke resolved. Also, the kind of fanservice that they *did* have for a thirteen or fourteen year old girl was a little much, I thought. They kept it just this side of appropriate, but it was a close thing. The "transition" is also not consensual, which definitely raises questions about the morality of her sister - whose intentions are beyond approach, but you know the saying, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". But then, that's one of the things that makes you think, so at least there's that.
Also as you may have gathered, although this anime keeps the fanservice to a minimum and avoids ecchi content, it does not avoid *frank* discussion of intimate female and adult topics. Somewhat clinically, perhaps, but it still addresses them. If that's not something you're comfortable with, you might want to pass on this one.
At the end of the day, this was a cute, beautifully animated, slightly ecchi-adjacent, mostly wholesome story that made me think, and I actually enjoyed the heck out of it. And at the end of the day, that's all I really can expect an anime to deliver.
A recommend from me. But my caution: don't read into it what's not there, and don't expect from it what it won't deliver. You'll just be disappointed. Enjoy it for what it is and you'll have a nice few hours and maybe something to think about after.
Fortato
This masterpiece of an anime was a piece no one thought could be good. It meets all the standards of CDGCT and has an extremely well done plot that keeps me coming back for more. This show is about someone going from a NEET living in his room and not going outside for 3 whole years to a social butterfly that can make friends with anyone. His sister is a mad scientist and only wants the best so she drugs his drink and he gets turned into a middle school girl overnight in a program she calls “the brother rehabilitation project”. At first this seems likea classic case of sibling rivalry where the sister pranks the brother but they change it from a prank gone wrong to an actual CGDCT story where the mc tries to become a contributing member of society.
His sister takes him to do things one step at a time that he hasn’t done in years such as going outside, making friends, going back to school, and eventually doing things by (his/her?) self. At first you might think she just wants him out of the house but you can see how much she cares by the way she cries tears of joy from even the smallest improvement in her older brothers behavior.
This anime also doesn’t just use its plot as “transgender” as a plot to get into women only areas. Mahiro is still self conscious about being a man on the inside and when his friends come over and they want to all bath together he decides to go in with his sister as he felt it would seem pedophilic otherwise. This shows that even when he is a girl on the outside, acts and dresses like a girl he still knows his boundaries and tries to avoid them.
Along with this, the art style is extremely well done. It’s rare for a slice of life to have more than just the mouths moving while talking but this show broke that barrier and dragged far past it. Their are so many cute faces you could screenshot to use as reactions/emojis as well.
The only problem with this show is how it presents itself as that seems to deter a lot of people. The opening and first few episodes paint a very different picture as they are more sexual than the rest. There were a few more questionable scenes but in all honesty they weren’t bad. Another deterrent for some is that the show has a secondary uncensored version HOWEVER this version only has a little less clouds in bathrooms and a few more scenes that they removed from the original to try to make it more appealing.
From someone one of the biggest NEETs I have ever seen to an absolute social butterfly that his friends and sister can be proud of, Onimai was an absolutely stunning presentation of rehabilitation. Onimai presents its plot, characters, ideas, and worldbuilding beautifully in something only Studio Bind could have accomplished. I truly hope this people appreciate this show instead of dropping it from the start as I don’t think I will forget about it for an extremely long time.
JediahSk
Easily the best anime ever made, and the best anime that will ever be made. If you didn't watch it just drop averything you're doing and go watch it immediately. Just throw away every anime up to this point cause they won't be able to make them the same way anymore, Onimai just introduced a whole new way to make art. The generations to come will talk about the wonderful day in which this masterpiece was first aired and cry because they didn't witness the majesty of it's debut. I had to digest it for a few days after the glorious season finale before posting this review becauseit's just too advanced for the human brain, and I can finally say with certainty that it's easily the best piece of art humanity has ever put out.
Great plot, beautiful and deep characters, gut wrenching drama, great conedy, exquisite animation and GOD tier ecchi. There is literally no reason not to watch this absolute masterpiece.
Ivantxu55
So, first of all, we have to tackle probably the biggest problem in the anime. The Fanservice. It's really noticeable and if you don't like that type of content, don't watch it, even myself I feel bad when watching it. However, as I was told, in the manga it is much more light-hearted and wholesome. And that is for me the best part. The wholesomeness of how Mahiro reacts and adapts into a girl. Even though that first point is a big problem, the rest of the series is good, just remember to turn off your brain or you won't be able to enjoy it. Not muchto add, just wanted to send the message to not make this a normal thing. I'll probably read the manga to feel better about myself.
