Well it's really eight companions when Ryoshi joins in episode 1, but whatever. This anime is based on a series of novels following main character Ryoko and her fellow members of the Otogi Bank, a school club that trades in favors. Ryoshi is her stalker, who declares his love for her after she catches him following her and her friend Ringo home. Turns out he'd been pretty useful in a fight when he'd helped her with his slingshot from the shadows. He joins the club to be near her and protect her from students from a delinquent high school across town, who keep causing her and the club trouble. It gets pretty dark at times. Sometimes the action is frustrating and at other times it's just awesome.
Sadly, I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. It's still good, however, and if you want to you should check it out. Just be warned that it gets quite pervy at times. More so than MasakoX warned about. At times, I had to look away from the computer screen, sigh a little, and wish I was watching something else, such as Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, Yu-Gi-Oh! season zero, or Azumanga Daioh. It’s at least better than Once Upon A Time. (I hate that show, but only because it’s all over the place in terms of character and can’t decide what it wants to be. Kingdom Hearts makes more sense!)
My biggest problem with the show is the narrator. She doesn't shut up. She even talks over the other characters, which is annoying as all hell when you're struggling to keep track of all the subtitles. Aside from the cast acknowledging when she's insulting them, she really serves no purpose and her part could be relegated to on-screen explanation boxes if necessary. Just let the cast tell the story, okay? It's not hard. We don't need a running commentary.
Another problem is with the message of the series. Ryoko acts tough and hides her feminine side, but her character growth is supposed to be that she can move away from being tough and a badass and let her cuteness shine through. Unfortunately, at times the message comes off as saying that women shouldn't be strong and that they are to be protected and treated like sex objects (yes, most of the perviness in this series focuses on boobs or lack thereof). Given her backstory, who could blame her for wanting to be tough and hiding her vulnerable side?
A small nitpick is that this is only twelve episodes. Not everybody is going to get a backstory or character development, but most of them do. If you can set all of its problems aside, this series can be a fun romp through a strange fairy-tale-ish world. I probably won't rate it any higher than MasakoX did, though, perhaps even a half-point or so lower. Hopefully when Funimation dubs it into English, some of the things I've pointed out (like the narrator issue) will be improved upon. If not, I have seen the cast list and I approve of many of the casting choices, not the least of which being Brina Palencia as Ryoko (since she was Holo in Spice & Wolf) and Monica Rial as Ringo (totally called that one just like I called her being cast as Mei from FMA: Brotherhood - it's just how she gets typecast). While I thought Vic Mignogna would've been a good choice for Liszt since the character is a lot like Tamaki, it's still cool he's voiced by Micah Solusod. The narrator is Luci Christian, Nekomiya is Jerry Jewell, and more of the usual suspects plus some names I don't recognize round out the rest.
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