Potemayo Series Review

September 23rd, 2007 by Shirukii

Guchuko nooooooooo ;_;

And so Potemayo comes to an end, and despite having only done one entry on it before, in my opinion it was one of the better series that aired this season. However, it was also one of the least covered in terms of blogging, but not due to a lack of comedic genius, which Potemayo had tons of, but perhaps the impassable Plight of the Comedy Anime.

Back in my first impressions post for Potemayo, I said that Potemayo wasn’t the ‘laugh out loud’ comedy of the season. After watching the whole thing, I take that statement back, I laughed numerous times throughout this series, more than I ever did while watching other comedies like Lucky Star or even Hayate no Gotoku.

What made Potemayo easy to laugh at was the sheer randomness and simplicity of its jokes, one second the characters could be having a completely normal and even serious conversation, when all of a sudden, a moeblob appears out of nowhere and proceeds to bite someone in the face. I liken it to a sort of slapstick humor, where the jokes are crude and simple, but so stupid you can’t help but laugh at them. I thought I was above such simplistic humor, but I couldn’t help but crack a smile when Potemayo busted out her trademark “SHAAAAAAAAAAAA!” or Guchuko went on another taping spree. This as opposed to impossibly tangential jokes which rely heavily on a doctorate in Japanese culture.

But of course, Potemayo had its flaws, the major one being its complete lack of direction or plot. The series started off with Potemayo and Guchuko, these small moeblob humanoids, popping out of Sunao’s fridge, and by the end of the series, we still have no idea exactly what they are nor what purpose they serve, if any. While one part of me thinks that its randomness was a large part of Potemayo’s success as a comedy, I can’t shake the annoying feeling of having watched 12 episodes of anime and not having seen any sort of plot develop. Part of me feels like it was a big waste of time, a funny and entertaining waste of time, but still a waste of time nonetheless.

But to counter that feeling, Potemayo did a great job with its characters. From major characters like Sunao and Potemayo to the minor ones like those three random girls that appeared periodically, they all had their moments and contributed well to the overall hilarity of the show.

My favourite character by far was Nene. Every anime needs a character like Nene, whose purpose was to point out general stupidity in the actions and speech of the other characters, I often found that she was saying exactly what I was thinking. There’s a huge divide over the popularity of Nene though, mainly because of her voice, which some think is the equivalent of pouring acid into your ear canal while others feel it’s the heavenliest of sounds. Being a huge Kugimiya Rie fan, I fall into the latter.

Among the non-human cast, Guchuko is made of the most win. To this day I’m still amazed at how obviously tsundere she comes off as, despite not having said a single word throughout the whole series. You gonna get taped!

The only character which I didn’t really like was Mutan’s friend who was gay for him, it just felt so wrong. It’s not that I have a problem with gay characters, but this guy took it to a stalkerish level that succeeded in creeping the hell out of me. I prefer the more flamboyant depiction of gay characters, like Leeron from GL or Itsuki from SHnY. FABULOUS!

My views on the technical aspects of Potemayo haven’t changed since my first impressions. We’re not talking KyoAni level animation here, but for a series that uses basic gags and random off-center slapstick humor, it serves its purpose.

However, despite having 12 episodes to adjust, I -STILL- cant shake that feeling that the guys are wearing the girls’ uniform.

Also, Gradient Hair. It’s the future of anime.

Music still remains a ‘meh’ aspect to me, but that being said, the OP song continues to loop endlessly in the back of my head. It ranks up there with Miko Miko Nurse, the Sakuranbo loop and Tsuru Pettan as one of the most annoyingly catchy songs in the history of anime.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for a series to waste some free time and make you laugh in the process, look no further than Potemayo. But if you’re looking for an anime with substance that will leave you with some overall moral or life lesson to take away, stay far far away. Potemayo is nothing more than a disjoint comedy about moeblobs, but the fact that that’s all I can say about it and still have enjoyed it as much as I did is reason enough for me to be able to recommend it without hesitation.

DIABEETUS!

~ Shirukii ~

13 Comments »


13 Responses to “Potemayo Series Review”

  1. on 23 Sep 2007 at 4:22 pm1 Totali

    Honi hon honiii hon honi hon. HONI HONI

  2. on 23 Sep 2007 at 4:51 pm2 psgels

    “However, it was also one of the least covered in terms of blogging”

    Actually, I found that lots of blogs have at least said something about Potemayo. Where did you get the idea that it wasn’t covered enough? Take shows like Tetsuko no Tabi: nearly nobody talks about it. Or Code-E. Or Shigurui, etc.

    Anyway, my main problem with Nene isn’t her voice, but the fact that her character just doesn’t get anywhere, like you said. We’re twelve episodes further and she’s still abusing Mutan. I’d love to have seen some change in it. Guchiko was definitely funny, though. It’s not the best of comedies, but it remains entertaining.

  3. on 23 Sep 2007 at 6:14 pm3 AS

    Another great comedy comes to an end. Guchiko was my favorite throughout the series and probably one of the reasons why I kept watching. Potemayo was alright but she lacked that comedy Guchiko brought. I’ll post my own final thoughts after exams lol.

  4. on 23 Sep 2007 at 9:29 pm4 sdliddo

    need insulin shots… .. ugrh.. need insulin.. too too too much moe
    ghuchiko…’s kid.. made me a diabetic…

  5. on 23 Sep 2007 at 10:57 pm5 Shirukii

    @ Totali: *slash slash slash* *applies tape*

    @ psgels: True, I haven’t seen those blogged either. Though it certainly didn’t get the amount of coverage that say…School Days or Higurashi has gotten.

    @ AS: Yea, Guchuko > Potemayo. Pote-chan only had her “SHAAAAAA!” going for her.

    @ sdliddo: Glad I’m not the only one who thought so, that thing is incredibly moe.

  6. on 24 Sep 2007 at 11:50 am6 Hangmen

    Muto’s reference to Broke**** Mountain in Episode 2 made me LOL so much I almost died, but nobody dies in my house, like Bleach.

  7. on 24 Sep 2007 at 5:17 pm7 Brian Woon

    This anime is damn funny. I only watched the 1st episode but it was funny! Shirukii, i agree with you about this series. It’s because the jokes are obvious & simply that makes this anime funny. But can’t believe it ends in just 12 episodes..makes me feel kind of disappointed. Well three cheers to the moeblob!!! (^o^) Hahaha

  8. on 24 Sep 2007 at 10:58 pm8 Bastille

    I’ll also miss Nene’s voice. When I first heard it, it was annoying at first but then after hearing it more, I fell in love with it like I do all of Kugimiya Rie’s works as a seiyuu… Only 9 more days until we get treated to the start of another 26 weeks of Shana. I still have to find a way to see if I can watch the show as it broadcasts as opposed to waiting for the RAW to come out, watching it, and then also waiting for Eclipse to sub it as well.

    I also agree that the comedy in it was a nice change to series where you had to know certain things in order to understand them, like Lucky Star where I found it getting less funnier once the sub group that included notes died out, and then I still have to get into Pani Poni Dash but from what I’ve heard, you either can get it with a nice thick .txt file for each episode, or get reference notes blazing across the top of the screen constantly.

    Mutan’s level of gay was indeed scary at times, but still provided a good laugh at certain times, the main one already mentioned by Hangmen.

    And the OP was indeed great, one of the few singles I’ve torrented.

  9. on 25 Sep 2007 at 7:45 am9 Owen S

    Not really related to the post (feel free to delete after reading this), but could you check your mail, Shirukii? The kyotochocobo one. I sent you something a week or two back and I haven’t gotten a reply from you yet.

  10. on 09 Oct 2007 at 4:08 pm10 Anonymous

    DIABEEEEETUS

    Best comedy of the year.

  11. on 07 Dec 2007 at 4:15 am11 SakuraNek0

    lol, their offspring seemed to resemble the inner, bare bone version of themselves.. o_o; Yet opposite in a sense? (Well, like Guchuko’s offspring shows the shy, scaredness in a different fashion, lol.

  12. on 18 Aug 2008 at 4:39 am12 Jay

    whats the real point of this one pivture of boy’s in skirts or are they girls in the boys bathroom.

    if a male would wear skorts dresses would he ahve to stand to pee or like me i’ve always ahted urinals and perfer going into a stall to do my busniess there it does not matter if you sit or stand and males take over and start wearing skirts and dresses then we will be gettining somewhere and i welcome this i would much rather wear a skirt or dress then pants and jeans it just makes more sense for males to wear loose clothing like this consiering our antomy so what is keeping us from doing so come on!

  13. on 03 Mar 2009 at 3:14 am13 Alexwebmaster

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