This is review number one hundred and fifty two. It’s part of the Spring 2011 lineup and it’s a short one. It’s a twelve minute episode anime called Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san or “You’re Being Summoned, Azazel-san”. It’s a thirteen episode anime with poop jokes and other unsavory things for its comedy. It’s pretty awesome. Let’s read on.

Story

The anime is about a detective named Akutabe that solves his cases by summoning demons to do the dirty work. Akutabe often leaves the care of the demons he summons to his assistant, Rinko Sakuma. Rinko is an ordinary college student taking a part time job at the detective agency. She clearly did not expect to form a contract with a demon and totally did not expect that this demon is more trouble than he is worth.

Taking the Pants Off

I’m kind of ashamed to say this but this Comedy anime is probably one of the funniest ones I’ve seen so far. It’s also pretty weird because after Gokujo, I swear I would never like toilet humor. Those poop jokes doesn’t really sound as funny as people think it is but Yondemasuyo Azazel-san proved that with the proper execution and the right cast of characters, even poop jokes can be tremendously funny. I feel awful enjoying toilet humor but I really enjoyed this anime. Maybe I should give Gokujo another try….nah, never mind.

The anime is a combination of Comedy and Supernatural. The Comedy aspects of the anime are certainly strong and they were executed pretty nicely. The jokes are rather brash though. Like I said before, it has toilet humor that definitely has a factor of grossness to it. I’ll be straight about, there are some poop eating in this anime. Yup, characters eat sh*t and some of them are even seen in all its disgusting glory. They censor the poop but you still see the process of consuming it which is pretty awful. It is surprising though and I believe the anime was adding shock value to its comedy. Nothing will make you laugh than a joke that completely catches you off guard. If you are not into that kind of toilet humor then it’s best to stay away.

There is also a lot of blood in the anime. It also provides that shock value to the anime and they are done in a comedic way. It’s a way of overdoing the physical comedy of the anime. The blood scenes though are the ones that made me cringe. There was a lot of blood and a lot of limbs being cut off. The complete randomness of the scenes also catches me off guard. The bloody scenes certainly have some graphic moments to it but seeing characters in pain is really nothing new in comedy.

The supernatural aspects of the anime are a bit mild because of the funny nature of the anime. It’s not really a serious anime so it only uses the genre light handedly. Most characters are demons or angels or people practicing the occult and this is where the supernatural aspect of the anime ends. Some characters have deep background though and the anime uses familiar demons like Beelzebub, the lord of the flies. The supernatural is the basis of some of the jokes in the anime though and I love how the two genres play hand in hand in the anime.

The characters are the strongest aspect of the anime. They start out as pretty weak because the anime was busy serving the laughs. As the anime progresses though, some episodes revolve around the characters. For a twelve minute anime, there are a lot of things done pretty impressively. The characters in the anime are usually the loud types who over react at jokes. They have pretty brash attitudes to them and some of them are pretty perverted. They all have a specific trait to them that makes them pretty special. There is the level headed assistant, the frisky demon, the scat eating demon, the sexist demon, the guy who doesn’t give a f*ck and many more. Even the one shot characters are pretty nice because they stand out nicely despite being one dimensional. The interaction among the characters is also one of its best features. Whether it’s the assistant and the demons hanging out or the demons beating each other up, there is never a dull moment in the anime.

As new characters are introduced in the anime, some episodes often branch out to focus on other characters. It’s pretty awesome how the anime was able to present its characters clearly while balancing the Comedy and Supernatural elements in under twelve minutes. It’s a pretty straight forward show so there’s really not a lot to talk about here. It delivers a lot of jokes in a short amount of time though and I really admire the setup of most episodes. Drawing strength from its characters, the anime never runs out of gags to dish out.

This is an awesome show. Not a lot of comedy anime can be executed as nicely as this show. It might go overboard sometimes with the topics it explores but I personally think that it’s one of the best elements of the show. I want more of this anime and I cannot wait for its second season (coming 2013).

Sight and Sound

This anime was made by Production IG. Yeah, that mega powerhouse of animation made this anime. The first thing you’ll notice about the anime is the lack of cuteness to the characters. There are a lot of weird characters in the anime. It personally throws me off a bit because I’m not really used to seeing such…well, for the lack of a better term, FUGLY characters. I believe it is part of the gag to have some characters look absolutely horrific and some characters to resemble dogs. Seriously, there are characters, often in the background, that have jowls and looks like f*ckin dogs. If they aren’t dogs then some characters are really just FUGLY. They have ugly features like a pig nose, large faces with no necks, buckteeth, large chins and other disfiguring facial features. They are meant to be hard on the eyes though because it’s part of the joke. Still, seeing close up shots of their faces often kills me inside.

The demons are more like mascots because they have short limbs, they have a small stature and they look like talking animals. Some of them are cute though like the cow demon. If they stood still then they are really cute but the characters are over the top crazy or perverted so you often see these cute mascots doing unflattering things. I still remember Azazel’s dance in the first episode where he was pushing his man boobs together. *shudders*

This is Production IG though and they are known for their beautiful characters and heavy details on the eyes that you notice them not blinking. There is one and it’s Rinko, the main character. Other characters in the anime are often plain looking or just really FUGLY. Rinko has that nice proportions though and some impressive details on her. She is really the only appealing looking character in the anime and you are often drawn to her simple beauty because she is surrounded by people with jowls and fat girls with no necks.

Despite the ugly mugs of the characters in the anime, I really hate to admit it, but the animation is really great. The frame rate of the anime is outstanding and there is clarity in all the scenes. Nothing is half assed and you pause the anime at any time and you’ll get a clear scene of the characters. There are a lot of characters running all over the place or dancing randomly and they have really clear movements. The anime has a fast pace but the animation was never once compromised. The facial expressions are also nicely animated. I never expected to see so much work done but then again, it’s Production IG.

The anime’s OP is “Pandemic!!” by Team Nekokan feat. Chihiro Yonekura. It’s a simple song that captures the energy of the anime. Chihiro’s voice is really lovely and it stands out despite the simple rhythm of the song. The OP sequence features all the characters and even had a small summary of the events of some episodes. It’s a bit of a spoiler because part of the appeal of the anime is the introduction of new characters and the OP sequence ruins the surprise a bit. I do love the design of the demonic forms of the characters. They’re mascot chibi in the anime but in the OP, it showed their truly menacing look. It’s pretty awesome too.

The anime has two ED. The first one is “Like a Party” by Team Nekokan feat. Chihiro Yonekura. I honestly don’t feel it as much cause the credits roll while the anime was still playing some scenes. It doesn’t have a proper ED sequence. I honestly only heard it once, during the final episode. It’s another simple song. I do love the instrumentals of the anime because it’s pretty mellow yet fun sounding. Chihiro’s voice, once again, nicely stands out. The other ED is “Strawberry Magic Nyorin” by Wild Strawberry Fields [Nakajima Hiro]. It’s part of the gag of one episode where the characters cosplay as a magical girl. It’s a cute song with the bubbly voice of the singer. It’s bordering loli a bit too. It’s pretty awesome, actually, to see such parody from the anime. The anime sequence is awesome. It features a loli version of Rinko and it feels like a typical mahout shoujo OP. It even went as far as providing side characters on the sequence. It’s as precise as any other ED sequence as if it’s actually an actual anime.

Overall Score

5/10 “The Comedy and the Supernatural was executed pretty nicely to deliver a really effective comedy anime.”

It’s a really awesome show with some well executed comedy. You don’t see a lot of good comedy anime out there that delivers punch after punch so this anime is certainly amazing. If you don’t mind poop eating and bloody comedy scenes then you’ll love the anime. I recommend it.