Otaku USA Magazine
Shuffle! Volume 1-2
by Emily Balistrieri September 15, 2008

This is it, guys, anime based on an eroge. As if one cute, live-in, childhood friend fussing over him isn’t enough, high school student Rin Tsuchimi gets his harem properly underway with the addition of a god and a demon—oh wait, make that the respective princesses of the god and demon worlds, plus their dads (i.e. the Kings), and a little sister-type, flat-affected dollish thing who carries a cat plushy (which, incidentally, is featured in some truly adorable eye-catches).  They don’t allllll live together, but they might as well, and when you stick another classmate crush on top, there are enough girls to create a playlist for everyday of the week.

Rin has lived with Kaede for eight years since his parents died. The girl has some serious issues with feeling like she has to take care of him, needing to be needed, that sort of misguided romance thing. Her English voice is appropriately meek and annoying. Even though Rin is a pleasant enough guy in a nondescript way, their relationship is completely unbalanced and only becomes moreso when all these other girls show up.

The first episode details this incident, which occurs at school. Everyone knows that since the Gate Opening gods and demons live with people and have elf ears (short and perky for the gods, longer and more horizontally reaching for the demons, but both pointed), so it wasn’t unexpected that the two new transfer girls, Sia and Nerine, would be a little different. That said, no one expected their dads to show up with them and proclaim that Rin had been chosen to wed either/or as he chooses and became heir to an otherworldly kingdom.

It’s more awkward than you might even guess, because as of the second episode, even though Rin was already on the run from a self-proclaimed Kaede protection agency, the KKK (for Kitto Kitto Kaede-chan), he has to contend with Suki Suki Sia and Ran Ran Rin (short for Nerine) as well. The second episode is also where Primula, the obligatory non-smiling girl makes her appearance, as well as the series’ first up-skirt (and certainly not the last.)

The episode plots don’t really contain anything surprising (Try not to fail final exams! Let’s make bento for Rin! Kaede worked too hard and got sick! Oh gosh, Primula didn’t know she should wear a bra under a white shirt in the rain!), but most of them had at least one moment that made me smile or laugh out loud. For instance, I love how Rin and Itsuki (local lady lover, even if they don’t love back) turn into manly rivals over their test scores, or how Sia breaks into hysterical angry tears over the fact that Asa (cooking club senior) ruined perfectly good okra by adding it to nasty, smelly natto.

As far as the audio-video quality goes, the animation is pretty smooth and normal. Every once in a while someone’s chin looks a bit off, but the characters appear to be designed exactly as in the videogame, so you can’t blame animators for the relative lack of flair in the gods and demons. The English voices capture some of the more crazy moments really well, but ultimately feel predictably cheesy most of the time.

I can’t say I really expected a dating sim spin-off to be as entertaining as it has been so far, but we’ll see how it holds out for an entire season. If they keep the blushy cheeks and panty shots coming (“Stop sucking so hard!” cries Nerine, as the vacuum attacks her skirt) it will at least have lived up to its roots.

Studio/Company: FUNimation Entertainment
Available: Now
Rating: TVMA

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