Softenni

Softenni is primarily a slice of life comedy with ecchi. There is soft tennis in it, but that is more a reason to bring the characters together than a genuine focus in the actual series. I should make it clear that this is NOT a show for someone looking for a sports anime. Being slice of life there is little substance in ways of the story. The basic setting is the Soft Tennis Club want to win nationals and then go onto Wimbledon. A rival tennis club is introduced part way through the series as are more girls and so on. The heart of theshow are the characters. Each of them manages to bring something different to the court in terms of appeal. Each has their own little gimmick, for instance, Asuna tends to think a lot of things are sexual innuendos (when they are not), to hilarious results. How much you enjoy each gimmick is probably how much you'll like each character. Like any show in the genre, it has to make you laugh. Softenni does not offer as many huge moments some other over the top shows (like say Sora no Otoshimono) offer, but the running gags and overall quality of the humor are a lot higher. Visually, the show is kind of middling. Pretty average detail, etc. However, it's not really a problem. Voice acting is fine. Elizabeth's voice is probably the least bearable, but it's passable due to the characters background. I suggest watching this show if you like to laugh. If you enjoy things like Otoshimono and K On, Softenni is sure to be an ace.

I'll get this issue out of the way first: When an anime is an adaption of a manga, simulator, et al; there's a guaranteed chance that only a small number of people had seen the story outside of the recently-created anime. So sometimes, there's a need for said anime to be its own monster. Hence this title. "Softenni" is basically what KyotoAnimu, and their boot-licker otaku-base, didn't want K-on to be: an animu about cute girls doing anything other than cute things. Like wearing either their undies or thin air, having the skirts get robbed of their "magical" properties, allowing (God-Forbid) actually useful and skillful shounenswithin the same spotlights and time-frames. Now comes my tried-and-true litmus test: "The Shounen's Survival Rate In A Brutal Pink Bishoujo Ghetto." I have no qualms against Mishimagi. But I do have some issues against Leo, manager of the rival girls' soft tennis club. He's an expert masseuse; but (because it's a PBG) he still gets treated harshly, he's voiced by a female voice actress, AND he even crossdresses as a girl. I nearly threw this animu into the for-otaku garbage can if it wasn't so colorful, so funny, written with an ounce of actual consistency, and filled with upskirt panchira. (Actually showing an ounce of heart and restraint, because of the recent natural disasters that affected Japan, was a major plus IMMHO. But hey. :P )

An underdog tennis anime comedy with it's fanservice being *ahem* notorious... Softenni is a comedy anime centreing around a ragtag bunch of an all girls soft tennis club aiming for nationals. With the captain of the club Chitose Akiyama voiced by Shizuka Ito who can't hit the ball and cares more about food, Kurusu Fuyukawa voiced by Satomi Akesaka as the strange mysterious girl who is strangely proficient in soft tennis but does some weird cosplays, Kotone Sawanatsu voiced by Eri Kitamura as the athletic-centered type but can't control her power and has a crush on her coach You Mishimagi voiced by Shinobu Matsumoto and AsunaHarukaze voiced by Kanae Ito, the ditz of the group but has wild fantasies whenever, WHENEVER there is a hint of an sexual innuendo and latter on Elizabeth Warren voiced by Sayuri Yahagi, the foreigner of the group who ALSO has a crush on the coach and like Kurusu is an airhead most of the time and the last member Yayoi Hiragishi voiced by Haruka Tomatsu with a tragic backstory about her sister and her anting to join the club with uhhh "splitting" results. With this we have a typical slapstick, comedy driven anime focusing on soft tennis with varying degrees of success in terms of plot and comedy. Softenni relies on the soft tennis as more of a backdrop for the characters and quirky antics to flourish in the comedy with the fanservice also having a HEAVY hand in it but that a bit later. The character interactions and the hijinks is the usual driving force of the anime's comedy and how sometimes one certain action from the core cast leads them down an almost rabbit hole of craziness and this being anime, it goes crazy funny, sometimes falls flat, sometimes both and for an anime in 2011...it's alright in all circumstances. As comedy is subjective and how this is an anime centred around soft tennis and comedy, it has it's flaws but some strengths and in it's strengths LA will at least say is that Softenni if anything KNOWS how to make a running gag going and sometimes makes a callback in the weirdest and sometimes funniest ways and in a ways, even though the two most focused characters in this anime are Kotone and Asuna, they are the most developed even for a comedy screwball ecchi anime from 2011. So the fanservice, well to say that this is Xebec is an obvious hint to what's to come but Xebec took some hints from TNK in which they panty shots and nudity ABUNDANT and LA watched the uncensored version and the fanservice is HEAVY to say the least. No the fanservice is at least serviceable and not in your nose about it, they unlike TNK does it stealthily, it's the nudity count that will make your drinking game make you SOBER by the end of it all. So take what LA said about the fanservice as you will... But yes from what LA said about the strengths of this anime, the two out of the five of the core cast are the most developed and with Asuna being the narrative focus whilst Kotone goes through some romance arc as well as one involving her and Asuna later, they are the most developed, while the rest of the cast more or less develops their running gags if anything and doesn't really develop beyond that unfortunately, which is sad as someone like Chitose, a character who can't HIT A BALL could've been interesting but instead left as comedy fodder for majority of the anime and LA actually liked Chitose (and because she was voiced by Shizuka Ito) to us finding out snippets of Kurusu but never pinpointing "who she is". Yeah to put into contrast to Kotone and Asuna, Chitose and Kurusu were probably the least developed characters, plot wise in Softenni (sans Yayoi as she only had like ONE episode and that was her introductory episode and she barely have any screentime afterwards) The animation aforementioned was done by Xebec and for the most part, the animation done by them was actually pretty decent even for an ecchi anime, with decent character designs, ok background work and typical chibi-fied comedy reactions. There's not much beyond that for animation, it's just alright even with the heavy amount of fanservice it has. The voice cast is kinda what drew LA into this anime and namely Shizuka Ito and Kanae Ito and LA will say at least Kanae Ito and Eri Kitamura were probably MVP's in this anime considering their screentime, whilst Shizuka Ito ended up as the shy type role. But the rest of cast from Sayuri Yahagi as Elizabeth, Satomi Akesaka as Kurusu to some minor voice actors like Minako Kotobuki as Misaki to Haruka Tomatsu as Yayoi. There are some very good voice actors in this anime and yeah due to the rather skewed character hijinks focus, some voice actors got to shine, some were typecast but all in all...decent to GREAT voice cast. Softenni is pretty much what you get to the exact mark when LA says "a comedy screwball ecchifest anime about soft tennis and the club's crazy antics". Was it good?, in LA's experience in watching it...it was alright, just typical from what you expect from LA's aforementioned statement about Softenni. What you get...is what you get and it EXACTLY what gave us. Ohhh and the entire Kotone x Mishimagi x Elizabeth love triangle goes nowhere...

Do you think random cosplaying, riding naked on a wild animal, flashing panties and blatantly breaking the laws of physics doesn't belong in an anime like this? Well you'd better like it as of right now, cuz ready or not that's what we've got! If this had been far more realistic it would have been some sort of slice-of-lifeish sports drama with shower scenes, that could have appealed to some viewers but as a general rule any show that dishes out loads of fan service has a much better chance of getting a warm welcome if it's silly comedy. Softenni succeeds really well in doing whatit sets out to do, it aims low and hits. As weird and dumb as this show manages to be it isn't cutting any corners, except with the script that must have turned circular in shape. The art and sound are nothing fancy but fits like a glove, just like the over-the-top characters with their quirks. If this anime doesn't make you laugh you probably need a beer or something to loosen up, as long as you don't take it seriously it's often quite hilarious.

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