The loli fanservice series that's not so loli fanservice-y.





Being an avid follower of the manga, I had some high hopes, as well as some genuine concern for the series. With the lovely Youth Ordinance Bill on the horizon, I'm sure it was more than just me worrying about this series (and future series) outcomes. Of course that's not to say that this series features anything that's really justified to shooting down.


When someone gives you a summary of this one, they'll likely just shoot off a copy-and-pasted version of this. It's the most common one, and you see it everywhere. It, however, doesn't do the series justice. The summary makes the series sound much more like a raunchy loli-h-series that deserves to be serialized in LO than Dengeki Maoh. Those who know the series (and this means have read more than 10 chapters, or watched more than 1 episode) will tell you that the story is quite a bit different than what most people think.

The story, keeping this as spoiler free as possible, is much less of a succubus trying to get into a guy's pants and more of a story about a father raising a daughter (or two). Anywho, enough of me rambling. On to the review!

Followers of the manga will notice some very big changes in the anime. Personally, I think the director made a good choice in skipping much of the material in volume two, as it allows much more interaction between Lotte, Asuha and Naoya. It also introduces the school, and Lotte's classmates and eventually her friends (including Asuha). I do, however, question why the director decided to change Judit's venture to Midgar. Haga had Judit go there and come back completely with her own power. The anime has Lotte more or less pull her back to Alfheimer. Another this I question is why the director cut out the scene at the Touhara residence. Most of it has little importance to the plot, except for one small scene where Judit notices that Naoya (unknowingly) has a sapling of the world tree in his house. It more or less adds to the mystery of Asuha, as well as his connection to Lotte and the Queen. One might call it a small, minor change, but I find it odd as they decided to include the hairclip, and not the tree.



The bright colours in the series make this series fun to watch. Lotte's castle (above) is always nice to see because of it's childish (not in a bad way) look. So far the setting has almost exclusively been inside or within the vicinity of the castle, with the exception of the school, the short scene in Midgar and the brief trip to town. The character design, which I believe is done by Okama (of Cloth Road fame), is clean and doesn't stray far from Haga's design (no K-ONified characters, thank god).


For a series that's so often played off as a loli-fanservice series, it doesn't have as much service as you'd think it does. Sure there as panties and whatnot here and there, and Asuha often is prancing about commando-style, but there really isn't any actual service. Unless of course you consider Lotte's babydoll service.


I get the feeling that if I say anymore, I'll sound like I'm prepared to defend this one to the death, so I'll start wrapping it up here.

The series is quite different from the summaries you may have read about it. Yes, Lotte is a succubus who needs to start extracting sauzfryma soon. Yes, Naoya was selected to be part of the harem. No, this does not mean that Naoya's shagging a ten year old. The matter of Lotte  being a succubus almost immediately gets put on the back burner the moment Asuha shows up. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it comes off more as a comedic, light and service-y father raising daughter(s) story.




The visuals are great. The colours are bright and vibrant, and the characters are clean and crisp. The voice work is great too; the cast is equally as impressive, bringing in the likes of Kugimiya Rie, Tamura Yukari, Sato Rina and Horie Yui, just to name a few. 




And the animation for the ED is adorable (plus it's by azusa, you know, the singer who did the openings for amagami ss).