Asu no Yoichi!

Title:Asu no Yoichi!
Ashita no Yoichi!
Mountain Summit
Samurai Harem (English Title)
明日のよいち!
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - FEEL
OKAMOTO Nobuhiko
R1 License - FUNimation
SATOU Rina
Having been raised and trained for the past sixteen years as a traditional samurai 'bushi', Yoichi was surprised when his father suddenly announces that there nothing more that he could teach his son, but he arranges for Yoichi to continue training at a dojo owned by one of their relatives. So now Yoichi must leave the tranquility of his remote rural mountain life and move to the city to live with his uncle's family to continue his studies. And if learning how to cope with city life were not hard enough, he finds himself living with 4 beautiful sisters and having to endure a ‘training’ regiment more severe than he could ever imagine.....

Based on a manga series authored and illustrated by MINAMOTO Yuu, serialized in manga magazine - Monthly Shounen Champion (Akita Shoten)

12 TV episodes (~24 min)
Aired January thru April, 2009


"明日" ("asu" or "ashita") means "tomorrow".
Episode Details 
sis1, sis2, sis3, sis4, boy1, 99
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 8 8 8 8 8 8 Dreamer [series:1878#2279]
A simple but fun series.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
Art and animation was well done. Especially noticeable on the opening scene with the river. Actually, I couldn't tell if that was artwork or CG. Character designs were also well done. Vibrant colors and with above average level of detail. For sure, our characters (girls), were all uber cute! Loved all 4 of the sister with my favorite being "Chihaya" and second "Ayame".

Music
The OP was a rock piece with female vocals that actually caught my attention! It's pretty rare for me to say that when it comes to anime music. But I actually liked it. The ED was a nice alternative piece.... almost a lullaby but not as good as the OP. The soundtrack composed of various very light pieces of piano and string instruments. Nothing really noticeable.

Series and Episode Story
Aside from super kawaii characters.... all 4 of the sisters, the actual storytelling wasn't too bad. There was a loose plot, which for the most part wasn't noticeable up until the last couple episodes. With that said, the episodes is what made this series enjoyable. That and some good characters such as the sisters, Wa-san and Torigaya. There was some light ecchi moments and plenty of humor as well. The only minor gripe were the "accidental" boob fondling. Just a bit overplayed.

Overall, there wasn't really much to this series but it was still really enjoyable. I think it's the characters that did it for me.

Last updated Wednesday, July 14 2010. Created Wednesday, July 14 2010.
Rent Jan-Chan [series:1878#967]
If you like harem stories - spiced up with slapstick humor, hints at high school romance and a good measure of marital arts competition, then this is good bet.

And the main character is a classic bushi - a good-hearted nice boy with a fatal weakness for cute girls, who is easily misunderstood by those around him.

If you like this type of comedic humor, then you might want to check out The Samurai

Last updated Sunday, May 17 2009. Created Tuesday, January 27 2009.
Rent 7 7 7 0 7 0 KBanger1 [series:1878#1694]
2 episodes watched
This is one of the new animes of 2009 that I will be paying particular attention to. I've been looking for something new since Rosario + Vampire Capu2 is over. In the meantime, it's kind of funny and interesting. I'll leave it at that until I finish the series.

Update: April 3, 2009

All in all, Asu No Yoichi is a very good series to get into. It's kind of short as far as getting the gist of it all. I was really disappointed coming towards the ending. It was funny to say the least, but just left me with a "meh" feeling. That's the only thing I'll nitpick about the series. Otherwise, the characters are very unique and the story was ok. Could have been done longer but it was well paced. A lot of humor in this one. Not as much as other anime, but still keeps it funny each episode. What I do like about it was how each character was not just support for the main character but plays has at least one episode dedicated to them. It wasn't long drawn out flashbacks but a look into their personalities. Overall, well developed characters, funny, and certainly worth watching.

Last updated Friday, April 03 2009. Created Sunday, January 18 2009.
Rent Forbin [series:1878#1573]
Analysis : All 12 Fansubs Watched
RENT-

  • Drama : Low (Almost None)
  • Action : Low/Med
  • Comedy : High
  • SciFi : Low (Unless you count ninja fighting as scifi)
  • Ecchi : Low / Med (Tsukasa was the largest portion.)
Final Opinion:
  • Ramen Fighter Miki meets Love Hina....too much violence on the boy (for things he didn't do) and the comedy was over the top.
Things I liked
  • Ayame was done good
  • Washu Vision was EXCELLENT.
  • The shrinking of his friend was hilarious
Things I didn't like
  • Ibuki, she should DIAF and Ayame take top spot. Too violent, and even her Dere comes with lots of Tsun.
I don't call this Asu No Yoichi I call this Bobbie-YesChi. It's all about boobies and fighting! I like!

A much better adaptation than Ichigo 100. They are squashing the whole series into 12 episodes so I wonder how the last episode is going to be.

It could've been better, it could've been worse.....

Last updated Friday, April 03 2009. Created Wednesday, January 14 2009.
Unevaluated chibi [series:1878#2380]
The setup looks a lot like Yaiba, but with extra ecchi added. With just the first episode seen, the characters seem pretty weak with a fairly standard fish-out-of-water story, though Yoichi's use of archaic Japanese language forms is sortof interesting.

Last updated Wednesday, January 14 2009. Created Wednesday, January 14 2009.
Watch Stretch [series:1878#628]
(Watch+ or Rent-)

(All episodes watched):

Episode one was looking fairly good until it went into the usual accidental-boob-fondling, tripping-over-a-girl-and-landing-with-your-eyes-seeing-something-they-shouldn't mode. This shtick is so old and unoriginal that it makes me groan. Also, Karasuma is an awesome swordsman, yet is as clumsy as an ox while in Tokyo--what gives? The characters all seemed to remain very two-dimensional after this initial episode. All-in-all, this seemed rather lame and disappointing.

...and of course I decided to watch it. Once I'd adjusted my expectations I found this to be a modestly fun and amusing show. It grew on me, and although I'd never argue that it was exceptional in any way, I generally looked forward to new episodes and was modestly pleased with what I got.

There were problems, like in episode seven. The martial art of surfboarding? I was appalled by the idiocy of the concept--it should have been played as a joke, but all the signs are that it was supposed to be taken seriously. Still, I couldn't help laughing at the climactic fight, even if that wasn't what I was supposed to do. The first half of the episode was great fun, though Karasuma getting slapped and beaten for all sorts of things which are clearly not his fault is tiresome.

The new set of villains which appear in episode nine seem to have some personality and humor to them. Also, the romantic juggling act is being handled with some skill. Together, these were reasons for optimism. The conclusion was corny as all get out, but I couldn't blame them and enjoyed it anyhow. It was a good corny, since I knew not to take much of anything seriously by this point. What didn't happen between Karasuma and Ibuki was a pleasant surprise, and I wondered if a second season might be a possibility. Asu no Yoichi was not deep, not brilliant, but it left me smiling at the end--therefore, a success.

Catch Ibuki Ikaruga's montage at the Kendo Girl Scrapbook page!

Last updated Saturday, December 11 2010. Created Sunday, January 11 2009.
Watch 8 9 9 7 7 7 Xenoknight [series:1878#2967]
A righteous samurai discovers what it means to fight for what he truly believes is right...

Here is a title that knocked on a door that read, "best harem titles", but was rejected without a second thought...

Let's be honest here, this title had everything going for it: beautiful artwork, tremendous animation, "near perfect" character design, great music, a solid storyline with a powerful premise, busty babes, ecchi fan service, astounding action scenes, ridiculous amounts of comedy, and (the icing on the cake) a harem battle for the male lead. How can a title with this much potential miss its mark so badly, you ask? Well, allow me to explain this titles perks and blunders.

For starters, there is the amount of characters and their roles in the story. Normally, tons of characters are a good thing, but that isn't entirely the case with this title:

*All throughout the series, the focus slowly wavered from Yoichi, the male lead, to Washizu (Wa-san for short), a side character who was mainly there for additional comedic reasons. This "flaw" increased through the eps until hitting its peak at episode 8 (where it became painfully obvious), and persisted until episode 10. There was no reason for this "transfer of attention" from Yoichi to Wa-san. It's as if the writer's could have made a separate title just for Wa-san and his little love tribulations. He wasn't all that bad though, as he was always a funny character with his "Washizu-Vision" daydreams. These visions featured scenes of how he wished for things to be, with all the comedic impracticalities and impossibilities included. He did finish strong with him helping to bring a certain someone, Ayame, and Yoichi get closer together (even if it was for only five seconds or so).

*Angela and Tsubasa, two Konoichi (female ninja) from a rival dojo, really got the short end of the stick in this title. Their role in the story (initially) was fantastic. The classic enemy-turned-ally theme was superb to watch. The writers did well in nearly every aspect of them: foreshadowing, fan service, gorgeous action scenes, drama, and a strong background story that never loses its prevalence. Only problem is that once their arc was over (one episode which is #3), they were tossed into a closet (so to speak) that read, "to be forgotten". Again, this was extremely unnecessary. They were reduced to quick appearances here and there, a bikini episode (for obvious reasons), and the last episode. What a waste of "story-saving" characters! If only they had more screen time...

*The enemies were mostly empty characters with little reason to be there except to try to kill Yoichi. Several eps in the middle of the series (5, 6, and 7) were dedicated to the standard "power ranger style - enemy of the day" format. The only difference is that for this title, they were all assassination attempts. It isn't as literal as I make it sound, but the episodes were obvious enough to figure out. Don't get me wrong, they were all great episodes, particularly ep 6 with the brutal killer who carried that massive killing intent only to never find his target after traveling for the entire episode. Those scenes were amongst the funniest in the entire anime (I'm still laughing from that one). The surfer dudes from ep 7 were boring, but the ep itself was fan service heaven. Yoichi's offensive performance was insane in that ep though his issue of not knowing how to swim brought him back down to "mortal" status. The water battle between them was probably the best in the series as far as animation and water effects are concerned. Last but not least was the love triangle of ep 5. Ibuki, one of the female leads, and Yoichi both discover themselves and certain feelings in that episode. The main reason for the ep was another stupid murder attempt (a seemingly normal school girl who suddenly likes Yoichi), but the end result was more than enough to make up for it.

So as you can see, tons of characters, but not for all the right reasons.

Now, about the ecchi/romance/harem themes of this title.

From the very first episode, the viewer is "tricked" (and I'm choosing my words wisely here) into believing this title to be one of those super ecchi, crazy funny, sword-fighting action animes. It starts out that way I agree, but it fades more and more as the title progresses. Tears flowing from the eyes by laughter slowly turned into giggles here and there. Naked flesh and shiny cleavage turned into small breast jokes on Ayame's part and Yoichi still accidentally grabbing Ibuki's chest and getting punched in the face as a result. By the end, the only thing left was the sword-play action scenes which remained prevalent in this title to the very end. Now granted, most of that ecchi/comedy turned into the unavoidable but necessary drama scenes, but even those parts were a bit exaggerated. The only thing we (the viewer) were promised (supposedly) was the fated scene where one of Yoichi's two harems wins his heart, but guess what? IT NEVER HAPPENED!!! Those that know me already know that I just can't stand harems with no final choice in them! The hero saves the girl and they all live on happily ever after...? What the $#%@!!! If there is no second season in the works to answer all the missing unknowns, then this title can officially "jump off a bridge".

All in all, this title was alright for the most part. The biggest issue was the writers trying to cram the whole thing into only twelve episodes where even a full 26 episode rehash of this title still wouldn't be enough for an anime of this production caliber. Only a second season would justify a buy rating from me for this title. Until then (sooner rather then never), you would certainly do better with Sumomomo Momomo - The Strongest Bride on Earth as the perfect "mirror-image" alternative to this title. Sumomomo Momomo was superior in every category that this title strived for. It is dangerously funnier, gallons more ecchi (almost crossed the hentai line a few times), far more romantic in terms of a better harem story where each girl almost wins (!), of equal action quality (if not higher), it has the same ninja clan family premise, AND it's a near full length series with 22 episodes. Need I say more? Heck, I think I should watch that title again to rinse the disappointing taste of this title out of my mouth.

Check out my award list to see some of the best anime titles in the world!

Never forget Xenosaga.

Last updated Monday, April 06 2009. Created Wednesday, October 29 2008.

Other Sites
NameURL
TBS Broadcast Station - Series Web Site http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/yoichi/
TBSアニメーション 「明日のよいち」公式ホームページ

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