The Essentials
Name: Moetan
Genre: Comedy
Episodes: 13 + 1 OVA
Released: July 8, 2007 - September 23, 2007
Based On: Moetan study guide books by SansaiBooks
Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi
Produced By: Actus
US Distribution By: N/A
Major Japanese Cast
Ink Nijihara: Yukari Tamura
Ah-kun: Masaya Onosaka
Nao Tezuka: Yuji Ueda
Sumi Kuroi: Haruka Tomatsu
Ka-kun: Nobuyuki Hiyama
Ruriko: Rika Morinaga
Mio Tezuka: Eri Nakao
Arisu Shiratori: Kaori Nazuka
Na-kun: Tomoko Kaneda
Remi Suzuki: Youko Honda
Rina Tanaka: Yuka Iguchi
Major English Cast
N/A
Scores
Animation: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Story: 4/10 (x 4 = 16 pts)
Music: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 7/10 (x 2 = 14 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 2/10 (x 5 = 10 pts)
Total: 100/190 (52.6%)
Review
Moetan is theoretically about a high school girl, Ink, who apparently has yet to hit puberty. She has a crush on her classmate Nao, but doesn’t know how to approach him. One day, Ah-kun, who was banished from the Magic Kingdom, plops down in front of Ink in the form of a plush duck. Ah-kun then enlists Ink as a magical girl so that she can accumulate magical points through helping others which will eventually allow Ah-kun to return to the magical kingdom. However, the primary use of Ink’s magical power ends up being used to act as a disguise so that she may secret teach Nao English, a subject which he is poor at yet Ink is very good at.
Now, I say theoretically because this series has been created for one, and only one reason: loli fan service. First off, three of the main characters, Ink, Sumi, and Arisu, are supposedly high-school aged but actually all look like elementary school students. Apparently no investigation has been launched to see if there is some growth suppressant in the city’s water system.
To top this off, whenever any of these three girls - who all are or become magical girls - convert into their magical disguises, the transformation scenes are done in the most ecchi way possible (remembering that the girls look like elementary students). The rest of the so-called plot is created just to provide situations where this and other fan service-heavy scene can occur.
That’s about the extent of what this show is. Some may find the show humorous, and it did have it’s extremely rare funny moments, but even the humor often takes second-fiddle to fan service. It’s a shame that the animation is OK and music is somewhat decent or else I could have given this show an even lower score.
I don’t think I have to say, in review, that there is basically no conceivale reason to really watch this show, unless you want to see just how bad it is.
First Watched: July 2007 - June 2008
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: In the name of god, no
