This is review number one hundred and forty four. The Winter 2013 lineup is about halfway through so I’m still in the Spring 2011 lineup. I’m doing my best to close this lineup but it has a lot of twenty four episode anime that really challenges me. I often lose energy when I watch that much anime in a day or two. Twelve episodes hit the spot for me.

Anyways, I’ll be reviewing “30-sai no Hoken Taiiku” or Health and Physical Education for 30-Year-Olds. It’s a mature themed anime about the thirty year old virgin getting guidance so he can pop the cherry. It’s pretty fun. Let’s read on.

Story

The anime is about a thirty year old virgin named Hayao Imagawa who was visited by a “God of sex” during his 30^th birthday. The god is there for one thing; to make sure Hayao gets laid. He’s not leaving until it happens. He soon teaches Hayao the basics of relationships from how to attract girls down to what sexual positions are advisable for your first time. The journey will be rough and full of obstacles but the God of sex is certain that the late bloomer will soon have his day.

Taking the Pants Off

Here’s an interesting fact about this anime. It originated from a guidebook series about men at their 30s who haven’t had any relationship with women. It’s a guidebook for amateur virgins. It was turned into a manga and the manga was adapted into an anime. It sounds like fun, right? It’s a book that teaches virgins how to have a relationship turned into an anime. It certainly has a target demographic in the anime community because let’s face it, a lot of the members of this fandom are virgins. I guess, this where I open up and reassure you that I’m a virgin as well. Thankfully, I’m not. I won’t go into details after how I admitted about being into fetishes at my previous review. Anyway, the anime is pretty nice. I have my complaints that I’ll address later but I liked the show. There’s something admirable at its core that I wanted to see more of, but sadly, the anime couldn’t execute it properly.

The anime is about a guy being taught by a God how to have a relationship and eventually have sex. Throughout the anime, there are a lot of tips and tricks various characters presents to the guy. I thought at first that it was non sense but these tips are actually pretty beneficial. Simple ideas like making eye contact with the girl while you talk or making yourself presentable so she sees you as a potential partner is discussed pretty thoroughly in the anime. Of course, the fun part is seeing this awkward guy putting the thought into practice. There is something cute yet pathetic at how the anime presents the journey of this guy into getting a relationship. It’s a cute and pathetic experience I can somehow relate too. Let’s face it, our first times aren’t as colorful and peachy as anime usually displays it. No, the girl isn’t as daring as the ones in anime. No, you often never just chance a girl alone and talk to her casually. No, normal guy aren’t as smooth as to have a very colorful experience with a girl he met 3 episodes ago and no, girls aren’t open to casual friends like the ones in anime. Obtaining your first time takes freaking hard work, a lot of commitment and a lot of rejection. This anime doesn’t have the colorful and peachy approach to romance. It’s freakin close to anything anyone as endured to get the girl they like.

Aside from simple relationship advice, the anime also has tips for how to do it on your first time. These are certainly grown up talks that involve some pretty dirty topics. There are a lot of lessons about sexual positions and how to unhook a bra. There are some tips on how to french kiss, how fundamental the missionary position is and how rough you should be on your first time. Certainly not something a kid should watch but something very helpful for adults. The advice given in the anime is, once again, pretty spot on and very helpful. I wish I saw this anime when I had my first kiss. It was so awkward we couldn’t look at each other’s faces for a month!

There are certainly some dirty scenes in the anime but nothing really explicit. They are adult situations that only seasoned perverts can understand. You can get a kid to watch this and it would just fly over their head. The idea of being dirty is present in the anime but nothing so blatant that it rivals Highschool DxD or something. It’s pretty hard to avoid being dirty when the topic is how the doggy position is to ensure a deeper penetration than the missionary, so you know, it tried to be as safe while walking the fine line of perversion.

The anime is Comedy. The story certainly made light at the thirty year old virgin premise. At first, the comedy aspect of the anime is pretty strong because some of the punch lines where nicely executed. There are scenes in the first half of the anime that truly made me laugh. It was over the top but it never compromised the potential of the story. It changed going into the second half though, where the story gradually strengthens, and the comedy soon became an unwanted element. The story started to disintegrate towards the second half and the over the top nature of the anime soon became heavy handed. I wanted to see how the story unfolds where Hayao gets a girlfriend and then have sex with her, but I guess the anime couldn’t keep the pace up. The second half was full of relationship tips and scenarios that should’ve been given a more serious note. Instead, the anime incorporates the comedy with the serious relationship and we soon get a subplot where an 80 year old man vows to protect his virginity.

The characters in the anime were pretty nice. They don’t really stand out because Comedy anime usually have weak characters. It’s true in this anime because the characters are generic archetypes we’ve seen before. The characters had enough personality to carry the show though and the over the top quality of the Comedy did fill the empty space where the personality should’ve occupied. There is also some decent character development in the anime. As the story keeps progressing, certain characters become more rounded and certain relationships become more meaningful.

This was a pretty nice experience for me. There’s not a lot of mature anime that isn’t trashy or possessing a decent story so it was a nice change of pace. I was expecting the worse from an anime with a thirty year old virgin in it but the anime is nice. At its core, there lies a sweet story about having a relationship for the first time that I can somewhat relate too. It’s a rocky journey but something worth experiencing. I could’ve lived without the over the top nature of the anime though but I do understand that a serious anime with detailed talks of sexual positions will be a bit awkward for anyone watching it. To all the virgins out there, this anime is certainly helpful. There are tips I personally tried presented in the anime. No, not the sex positions. It’s the one about dating a girl. Damn perverts.

Sight and Sound

The character design is plain. There’s really nothing worth getting in depth here. The animation is also pretty plain. The still poses are pretty nice though. I’m a huge fan at the scenes where the characters don’t move and just sits still because there are some nice details in it you don’t often see while you watch the anime. The reason is that the animation is pretty lazy.

The scenes with the most movements are the ones where the characters are in chibi. The quality of the animation is pretty all over the place. It has normal scenes with the characters having nicely detailed features, then it often go into cheap animation where the characters have heavy outlines and then there is the chibi. I don’t expect great quality in the anime though when the studio is pretty unknown.

The dirty scenes also range from cheap ones to detailed ones. The anime is comedy so the focus is making some scenes weird and funny. It’s not about being sexy or arousing the audience. It’s about getting them to laugh and a fat guy tied up being dominated will do the trick. The romantic scenes are the same. It ranges from highly detailed ones to cheap ones. I admire those scenes where they make the girl look cute with detailed blushing and stuff like that. It doesn’t always happen so I appreciate it a lot. At times though, the romantic scenes are also aimed to make the audience laugh.

The anime’s OP is “Koi no Doutei” by kanonxkanon. It’s a nice and upbeat song. I love the singer’s voice because it’s very cute but it also stands out pretty nicely. The song nicely captures the romantic cute side of the anime. The anime’s OP has a lot of CG scenes in it like notebooks and rulers that often give you the idea that the anime is about a puppy dog love. The CG is very well made though. You can also see the different quality of animation in the OP. It has the heavy outlined ones and the nicely detailed ones when sitting still. There was also some spoilers in the OP. I guess a twelve minute anime doesn’t really need to hide some things but it still spoiled some major things in the anime.

The anime’s ED is “learn together” by AiRI. This song is very cute and I love the intro of song. It’s so upbeat and catchy. I remember AiRi doing the OP song of Tari Tari. She definitely has a powerful yet gentle voice to her. The song is also about the romance aspect of the anime. It’s about taking the risk and grabbing the opportunity to do something big. The ED sequence is pretty lovely. It opens with a still shot of the characters, nicely detailed as well, and then a side by side shot of the characters walking. In episode one, they’re infants crawling. As the anime progress, the characters grow older in the ED until it reaches the final episode. It’s pretty cute. The last episode featured all the ages and the final shot of the characters signaling a happy ending.

Overall Score

6/10 “It’s nice balance of elements certainly provided a great anime experience.”

I should tell you that I marathon the anime since it’s only 12 mins per episode so I was able to understand all of its components. It’s a strong show despite being short and there is something pretty impressive about this anime. If you’re into Comedy that has a story and a sprinkle of Ecchi in it then this anime is for you. I recommend it.