Okami-San & Her Seven Companions Review

Hello every one, this week I bring you the review for an anime that was going to be posted last week, but due to complications was delayed until this week, but at least it is finally here, Ōkami-San and Her Seven Companions. I sarted this anime shortly after I started Wakfu, I found out about it by seeing a cute photo of the main character on Facebook. And yes this is how I found most of the new anime I have to review for you, I start to watch for the "plot" but I stay for the plot. This was true with Haganai which I'm sure I told you already.

 This is the picture I saw that "sparked" my interest. *Ryoko does not act like this in the anime*

This anime has fairy tales twisted into it, what better example than that of our main character Ryoko Okami, her last name means The Wolf. Our next main character and fairy tale friend is Ringo Akai or Little Red Riding Hood. Next is Ryoshi Morino who plays the role of our fairy tale Hunter. 

Now as always, our characters:

Ryōko Ōkami- The protagonist who is fierce, like a wolf, and flat-chested, fights thugs using special Neko Neko Knuckles developed by Majolica ( I'll explain in a bit). She tends to put up a strong and fierce front to disguise her inside nature, where she is a bit more kind and frightened of certain things. Although generally hostile about Ryōshi's wimpiness, she soon accepts him as someone who can watch her back in fights. Later in the series, she would sometimes blush when she sees Ryoshi. It should be noted that Ōkami-san's character fits into the tsudere category. She is a close friend of Ringo Akai and is based on the wolf from the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, though on several occasions she is shown to be very different from her base character; she mostly tries to act and be like the wolf, "wearing a wolf's clothing". She'd originally been an honest and innocent girl, but in Junior High her former boyfriend Shirō attempted to rape her, and when she told her friends, they refused to believe her and accused Ryōko of fabricating the story in anger after being dumped. After this, she transferred schools and struggled to be "strong" enough that she would need no one and not risk being betrayed again. She develops feelings for (Ryōshi) Morino later on in the anime. Her last name, Ōkami, means "wolf".

Ringo Akai- A petite red-haired girl who has been longtime friends with Ryōko. She is the one who recruits Ryōshi into Otogi Bank. She is a close friend of Ryōko Ōkami, and is always trying to involve herself with her best friend's love life. Like Ryōko, she tends to smile to hide her true feelings, and admires Ryōko for trying to become stronger. She is based on the Little Red Riding Hood from the folktale of the same name, though some aspects of her scheming, manipulative personality closer resemble the poisoned apple ("Ringo" means apple) of Snow White, a fact which is occasionally referenced by the narrator and other characters. She is also the half sister of "Snow White" Shirayuki Himeno and feels responsible for her past. However, thanks to Ryōko, she moves on from the past.

Ryōshi Morino- A shy boy who cowers when confronted by other people and so keeps his distance. It is explained in the anime that he suffers from Opthalmophobia. He has a crush on Ryōko and following a failed confession to her, he is somehow enrolled into Otogi Bank, where the others hope to use his low noticeability to avoid being detected. However, Ryōshi is much braver when hidden in darkness, and fights from afar using a wrist-mounted slingshot armed with pachinko balls with extreme precision, as shown when he knocks a baseball flying in midair about to hit Otsū. He is also known to perform well in fist fights if Ryōko is in danger. He is based on the hunter in the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood who captures the wolf or Ōkami-san.

Liszt Kiriki- The president of the Otogi Bank. His skill is cross-dressing, which he uses to gain information normal men cannot obtain. He is almost never seen working. He is always seen with his eyes closed, but he would open them when he's dead serious, revealing gold eyes. He is most likely a parody of the Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper as during the opening and ending scenes he is shown playing a violin while his usual pairing, Alice, is working on her computer, and in the closing sequence he is further shown buried under snow while Alice is in an underground "nest".

Alice Kiriki- Liszt's cousin and secretary in the club. As said above she most likely fits the ant description in Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper as she is shown working and usually in a serious manner. Also, her hair's front resembles the antennae of an ant, and the first two syllables of her name, "Ari", is the Japanese word for "ant" ( I explained the resemblance in Liszt's description).

Otsū Tsurugaya- The club's maid who has an obsession for returning favors. When she was young, she was saved from a car accident by a boy who died before she could thank him, resulting in her having a fear of not being able to return a favor, this lands her in the hospital because she refused to rest while trying to return a favor. She is based on the crane from the Japanese tale Tsuru no Ongaeshi.

Tarō Urashima- A first year transfer student who is a year older than everyone else. He shows no interest in men but goes completely amorous towards girls. Although he is very flirtatious, he seems to have special feelings of love for Otohime. He is based on the title character from the Japanese tale Urashima Tarō. It is heavily implied that he is in an intimate relationship with Otohime, and he occasionally enters a "gentleman mode" after Otohime drags him off and "extracts various things" from him.

Otokima Ryūgū- A girl with an obsessive crush on Tarō, who cares for her greatly but on some occasions, is scared of her. It was thanks to Tarō's motivation that she changed from a chubby bullied elementary student to a thin beauty. She constantly grabs Urashima and drags him into the closet, and the narrator remarks "I'll let your imagination figure out what they're doing", giving hints that they have some kind of sexual relationship. Although Tarō often runs from her advances, he does have special feelings for her, and can even be considered her boyfriend. She is based on Princess Otokime from the Japanese tale Urasima Tarō. The reason she is called turtle is because Otohime from the legend was a turtle on land when she met Tarō. Her relationship with Mimi Usami is also resemblant to the fable, The Tortiose and the Hare.

Majolica Le Fay- Called Majo for short, she is a self-proclaimed mad scientist who builds various devices such as Ryōko's Neko Neko Knuckles special boxing gloves that are shaped like cats and even meow when they make contact, one pair even acts as a taser when Ōkami hits someone. She is based on the sorceress Morgan Le Fay. She also takes the role of a fairy godmother at times.

Saburō Nekomiya- A third-year student at Otogi described by the narrator as a "pretty boy." Knowledgeable about Ryōshi and the Otogi Bank, he takes it upon himself to "train" Ryōshi, even taking part in joining Ryōshi and company to Onigashima High School to save Ōkami because when he was younger, he was saved by Ōkami from a bunch of delinquents. His hair is shaped into cat ears, and his name, attitude and mannerisms are catlike (i.e. meowing after every sentence). He is apparently a skilled fighter who easily overcomes Ryōshi. He is based on Puss in Boots. He is first shown in episode 6 where Ryōko saved him from the delinquents in a flashback. Neko means cat in Japanese. He is not a main character but I included him because he is a cool character and is voice by my favorite voice actor Jerry Jewell.

And now with the characters out of the way ( Im sorry if there is any repeated information anywhere, I'm pretty tired when I write these and I try my best not to repeat myself but I'm sure something's still slip through), the actual story of Ōkami-San and her seven companions. Again, like the last anime I am unable to do it justice and won't beable to explain everything since there is literally a different plot for each episode.

In order for me to give my review I must tell you about the one who tells the story I can not, the narrator. The narrator apears to be a women by her voice and loves to criticize the main three characters. A running joke through the anime is the narrators jokes about Ryokō's and Ringo's flat chests, this begins with the quote "unfortunately the flat chested wolf and little red riding twerp are this shows eye candy, hmm, heroines." She quickly changes what she has to say about the two of them when they stare angerly at the camera/sky indicating that she exists as a true disembodied voice the main characters, or at least the wolf and little red, can hear.

Both Ryokō and Ringo work at the Otogi bank, "it's like a yearbook club, but of a different kind" (narrator). Like a normal bank students can take out loans in the form of favors that must be paid back in full at a later date. The bank will handle any favor, meaning the loanee must too. I believe, if memory serves me correctly, that there was a favor in every episode, with the exception of one episode. 

The underlining plot that carries through the series is Ōkami's ex boyfriend keeps trying to ruin her life and has her kidnapped twice, Ryōshi and the bank come to her aid. During the second time Ryokō was kidnapped the bank called upon many of their favors. 

I enjoyed the workmanship and the individual plots per episode, I also enjoy the character's personalities. Having the main character as a tsudere really appealed to me. I give this anime an 8/10 : it could have been longer and I would have liked to see a real admittance of love from Ryokō. ( I am rating each anime/anime season from now on will go back later to rate the past ones).

I know it's a little late but Toonami was on and I need my two and half hours of anime. See you next week for a new anime review. Thank you for reading.