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 ~

So moe he’s already dead

A little late in joining the summer first impressions is Potemayo, a series of almost zero substance that still manages to deliver superior entertainment.

All pleasantries things aside, Potemayo is about moeblobs. The story thus far has been disjoint and while minor relationships are being created here and there, the series as a whole has no direction or overlying plot. However, Potemayo being devoid of plot is what makes it so enjoyable.

The subjects of attention in Potemayo are these tiny, not exactly animal but far from human moeblobs. No explanation is given as to what they are or what purpose they serve, but they have been appearing more and more frequently, sometimes attached to human masters and sometimes wandering in solitude. Potemayo, pictured above, is one of these creatures and has attached itself to a high school student Morimiya Sunao.

If I were in charge of creating a dictionary entry for “moeblob”, I would put a picture Potemayo beside the it. It serves literally no purpose other than standing there and looking cute, and what’s more, it does so without even needing to speak!

The other Potemayo-like creature that has been introduced in the series so far is Guchiko, who wields a scythe and two laser cannon Kakuna hairclips. While it doesn’t have a master, per se, it spends a lot of its time following Takamimori Kyo, one of Morimiya’s classmates, most of the time in the pursuit of food.

I find Guchiko hilarious because of how blatantly tsundere it comes off, without having a word of dialog. It has an obvious animosity for humans, or for that matter, all living things, often blasting them with her lasers. But takes a liking to Kyo and her splatterballs, offering freshly killed livestock as a sign of thanks.

Despite the main attraction being the moeblobs, the main characters are a great source of lulz too. Morimiya takes the meaning of stoic to a new level, almost nothing phases this guy. A strange creature suddenly appearing in his fridge, Potemayo pissing all over his head, having to wear a cheerleader uniform, seeing his friends get blasted by laser beams, Morimiya faces everything with a deadpan expression and a calm attitude.

And of course the reason why I picked up Potemayo in the first place. Seiyuu casting rarely sways my choice of anime, but seeing a character voiced by Kugimiya Rie, Kasugano Nene is my favorite among the human cast and what convinced me to pick up the series.

Nene serves as a voice of reason in Potemayo, pointing out the fallacies in other character’s speeches, or just making fun of them for their general stupidity.

It’s nice to see Kugimiya voicing a character that isn’t a Shana-esque tsundere loli. Admittedly, her voice in Potemayo can get EXTREMELY annoying, but it’s grown on me, and once you accept the fact that she’s doing it on purpose, it’s pretty funny.

The technical aspects of Potemayo aren’t exactly spectacular, but they get the job done well enough. The animation is choppy and undetailed, but for a series that uses gags and slapstick humor as its main source of entertainment, it’s more than sufficient. The characters designs are, again, simple but effective. The seifuku design caught me off guard though, I thought the guys were wearing the girls’ uniform for the longest time, but then noticed that the only difference between the two is skirts vs shorts. The character designs also follow the growing trend of gradient hairstyles, which I first noticed in Manabi Straight and has been becoming more and more common these days.

Music, as always, isn’t much of a concern to me. I don’t like the ED, but the OP has been stuck in my head for hours now, which may or may not be a good thing.

A lot of people seem to have passed on this anime, dismissing it for its childish appearance and lack of substance. And while they’re right on both accounts, Potemayo still manages to be oddly entertaining. Not many anime can get the cute and humorous combination working right, but Potemayo comes damn close. It may not be the laugh out loud comedy of the season, but every time I see Guchiko blast something into ash, I can’t help but smile.

IMMA CHARGIN’ MY LAZER

~ Shirukii ~