Amaenaide yo Katsu anime review
When I watch a series, I look at it from two perspectives. One of the otaku, who loves things like fan-service and pointless ramblings, and one of the critic, who has no choice but to stab out the obvious flaws. As much as I would love to see these two perspectives could coincide, this is seldom the case as I have experienced with Amaenaideyo! Katsu! Although I had hoped the flaws of the original would be resolved, they carried over and dragged this second season into mediocrity past the point of a favorable pros vs. cons balance.
While Amaenaideyo! screamed mediocrity, its distinguishing characteristics gave it enough leeway to keep its head above water; Katsu!, however, sinks. On an aesthetic level, the animation is much like the first season’s, which isn’t anything worth praising, but it’s not terrible. The soundtrack is a bit disappointing save for the few tracks brought back from the first season.
Ecchi continues its prevelance in Amaenaideyo! Katsu!, so much in fact that it begins to detract from the story. With the addition of Kazuki to the rest of the bunch, I was certain that her presence would inspire the main female character Chitose to confess her feelings for Ikkou. Instead, Kazuki adds to the fanservice and becomes another member of the harem. While Kazuki adds a little bit of depth to Ikkou’s background, the silhouette of his past remains clouded in mystery. His origins and the fear around what will happen should he reach his true potential, two key focal points around which the series is based, never get a real explanation.
Characters continue their copy-paste format typical of the harem genre. I had hoped for more insight into their backgrounds or at least for their relationships with Ikkou to progress, a flaw that the original series lacked, but no progress is made. Even Chitose, whose feelings become obvious to the viewer through her inter-monologues and reactions, suffers from the stereotypical “I love you, but will never admit it” syndrome we find quite frequently.
The frosting on the cake -so to speak- is that we are left again without an ending. An additional thirteenth episode has been added to the DVD release, but was loosely tied to the rest of the story and served as nothing more than an anchor of over-the-top fan-service (even losing the censoring that was present throughout the rest of the season). Although the cons dragged this sequel passed the 50-50 bar, fans who enjoyed the original will still find something enjoyable from Amaenaideyo! Katsu!