PopSyndicate.com

Full frontal, no fooling

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been forced to pick between marrying two princesses before, let alone princesses belonging to the Kings of Gods and Devils.  I must have gone to the wrong high school.  The only interesting thing that ever happened to me was I was once attacked by a duck.  An experience I would gladly trade to be in Rin Tsuchimi shoes.  Rin is the main character of Shuffle! the next in a long line of harem style shows, in which Rin must choose between his childhood best friend, his upper classmate, a mysterious new girl, and the two aforementioned princesses. 

And all I got with this lousily scar and a bent diploma. 

I like to do a little research before sitting down and watching a new show, figure out the genre of the show, what the target audience is, and so on.  This is very important when starting a series midway through, as I often do.  At that point I need to have a general idea of the characters and the overall storyline before I can sit down and have any hope of knowing what’s going on.  As I am doing my customary research on Shuffle! some things jumped out at me.  First off, Shuffle! is based off a visual novel, one of those quirky Japanese games that involve a lot of reading and very little actual game play.  No big deal, the stories from these games are often deep enough to warrant a few seasons of a show.  As I dug a little deeper however, I begin to notice something else: not only is Shuffle! based off a visual novel, but it’s based off a visual novel with porn in it.  While this could be interesting, this could also be a bit of a problem…

Some of you may remember me using some choice words for the last fan service filled extravaganza which crossed my desk.  So when I learned of Shuffle!’s genesis I was a little worried.  Would I be forced to slog through another series that required me to scrub down with steel wool after each viewing?  Would I be made to watch another show with the curtains closed, for fear of some wandering FBI agent catching wind of what I’m up too?  Most important of all, is this show going to suck?  Each episode merely being an excuse for whatever revealing situation the writers opted to use this week?

I locked the door, and popped in Shuffle! not exactly hoping for the best, just praying that it wouldn’t be the worst.  The disk started to play, the standard “school’s out lets go to the beach” episode that immediately sets off my internal alarms.  After all, if I’ve seen one beach episode I’ve seen them all right?  Something is different about this one though, sure the fan service is there, but it’s not regular well placed hand over what is a naked body.  Maybe it’s the fact that Shuffle! is based off an adult game series, but when Shuffle! does fan service it doesn’t screw around.  You want boobs, you got boobs.  I’ll admit they get some respect for going the full nine, but I live on the internet: it’s going to take more than a few animated boobs to make this show worth watching. 

Lo and behold, there is more to it than that, the jokes are actually funny, the situations are jovial, not gut wrenching in their awkwardness.  I’m actually laughing out of mirth, not out of the need to break the awkward feeling of tension.  The characters actually appear to be characters, and not mere amalgamations of fetishistic traits.  I am at a bit of a lose in all honestly, I have said some awful things about shows who’s primary purpose is one of fan service, but this one is somehow okay in my book.  I don’t quite understand it, and I can’t put a finger on the details of why or how, I can merely claim that somewhere within these episodes lies a secret formula that combines X parts humor with Y parts naked ladies. 

I do not claim that Shuffle! is the greatest thing to every grace my screen.  It is, however, very funny.  And it’s got some boobs in it. Sometimes that’s enough.

3