Review: Asu no Yoichi Episode 1

My Thoughts
I wasn't overly impressed truthfully. The animation flickered between really well done and just okay, and the character designs weren't all that great either.

The episode itself was typical setup, for an anime, and does its purpose of introducing the main character and the set of females who are going to be the initial batch of women in his life.

I actually liked the opening and the ending themes to this series. Wikipedia says that they are "Egao no Riyuu" by Meg Rock and "Life and proud" by Aki Misato respectively.

That said, I do feel kind of bad for this character, much like I feel bad for most male leads of harem-style anime. I mean, this guy is going to be misunderstood, abused an in general be oblivious to the girls around him because the plot demands it.

But I digress, Yoichi's character is the one of the honorable warrior motifs, and unlike some, he's actually effective in his desire, even if he also screws up in the execution (mainly due to his not knowing enough of the customs of city life).

In the end, I'm reserving judgment on if I want to continue watching this or not. I think it may ultimately devolve into if I have time on the night it gets released.

Episode Recap:
The episode begins with fan-service, just on the off chance that one wasn't aware that one was watching a harem 'fic.

After that, we get introduced to the lead male character of the series, one Yoichi Karusuma, and the particular brand of swordplay which his father has been teaching him in the mountains. Well, he's gotten too strong, so his father sends him to the city to strengthen his "spirit and soul." The place he's going is the Ikaruga family dojo, and it means we are also introduced to the four sisters of the family.

Well, he arrives in the town, and we get to meet the secondary male character, and have the initial meetings between Yoichi and the Ikaruga girls; in a series of silly mishaps and misunderstandings. We also get a decent bit of foreshadowing as to who we should expect him to end up with at the end of things.

He shows off his "samurai-ness" and finally makes it to the meeting. The eldest of the sisters was still there, and she takes him back to the Ikaruga household were he realizes that the girls he's been having the misunderstandings with over the course of the second half of the episode are the same set of girls he's going to be living with.

Cue credits.