***Anime information***
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 12
Episode length: 24:00
Genre: Action Comedy, Fantasy
Viewers rating: 7/10
Opening: Retry☆Rendezvous
Ending: Blue moment
Plot: When Takeru Amato moved into his new apartment in Akihabara, he was warned that there was one problem with it. He wasn't warned, however, that the problem was a hole in the floor that leads to the realm of the zodiac gods. He also wasn't told about Nyaa-tan, the eccentric, immature, prospective zodiac-sign cat.
Nyaa-tan would like nothing more than to join the rest of the girls, otherwise known as Eto-shin, in the Chineze zodiac, but she's going to have to fight to work her way in. Fortunately, establishing a relationship with Takeru can help her with that. In Etotama the members of the zodiac don't just represent people's births; they draw their power from positive human emotions in the form of energy called Sol/Lull. With this power, the Eto-musume, or potential Eto-shin, can change from their mostly humanoid appearances into smaller "pretty modes" that can battle with each other in the Eto world.
Nyaa-tan needs to get Takeru to warm up to him fast, and not just because they're living together. The ETM12 selection festival to determine the next member of the zodiac is coming soon. With Takeru's good graces, Nyaa-tan just might be able to fight off the other Eto-musume and the 12 Eto-shin themselves, and finally take her place in the zodiac.
***personal input***
Personal rating: 7/10
Opinion: This anime is one that surprised me. Honestly, I was incredibly baffled by the end of the season. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's one of the most, if not the most surprising series I've seen thus far. Now, I say that with the idea of low expectations and high ending results in mind. Allow me present and express my thoughts.
Staying at home for a solid week, was incredibly boring. Without clocking into school due to our Thanksgiving break, I found myself with much more time than I needed or could possibly use. So, with that I decided I'd simply lay back and watch an anime from start to finish. Originally, I'd planned for a zombie anime, however that was quickly debunked, as I simply couldn't find one. As a compensation, I scrolled through MAL and randomly decided to view Etotama. I'm glad I did!
I'd been informed of the series through a YouTuber I watch, and had been given the impression by him that the show was weird, and rather bad...However after a few episodes found that wasn't the case for myself, and that the series was way more enjoyable than I could have ever guessed.
As the show started I was confused, a huge cast of characters asked the protagonist to recite the Chinese zodiac, and soon after...an almost naked neko is jumping out of a box proclaiming herself as his "gift." It was defiantly weird. I mean, after that a dragon lady blows up his house. Yeah, it was certainly one of the strangest first episodes I'd seen. That being said, as the episodes continued on, I was introduced to all of the characters (a shit ton) and whatever plot that wasn't pure jokes began to unravel. While the show was mainly a simple comedy, there were attempts at a story, and I enjoyed the one they'd created. However, any "serious" elements that they may have attempted at simply didn't work.
The entire plot concept was interesting and the way it was presented defiantly came off as humorous or funny. In fact, the series nailed that completely.
The art style and animation for the series was done extremely well, and the characters were simply nice to look at. But I'd expect not much less from such a modern anime. And while the art was good, it wasn't always good. See, I actually had issues with the animation and art forms that the characters took when fighting. When they battled the art styles changed into this chibi style that was odd and wasn't very stylish in my opinion. Simply put, I almost hated the forms they took on when fighting. But when that wasn't the case, the art was great.
The music was, 50/50 (like most anime) I actually really enjoyed the opening song, while on the other side, really disliked most of the ending songs that played throughout the episodes.
Moreover, the life of the series and it's great comedy is without debate the cast of diverse characters to fill the anime. I have very specific feelings towards specifically this character cast, and that is as follows; "I loved the characters, but too many is bad." When it's brought to my attention, this is a general feeling, but this show is really the first to become an example of it. Now why I feel that way is simple.
The series only had 12 episodes, and the conflict was resolved, so I can only assume that a season 2 isn't ever coming. In this incredibly short anime, they threw around 10 characters at the viewers in only 2-3 episodes. See, there's a huge problem here. With such a short amount of time and the sudden base drop of characters, there was no way in hell they could introduce and develop them all.
I loved the characters, don't get that wrong. But I wanted more than anything for them to all get a bit more screen time and to be developed more. I wasn't able to really see inside the hearts and minds of my favorite characters. And so, I think this was the only real fatal flaw for the series when it comes to myself.
To wrap things up; I went into the show as a way to simply pass the time till I had something to do again. However, I fell in love with the series and became very suspectable to it's genuine comedy, amazing cast and ridiculous story. I really recommend this series for anyone looking for some great characters and some good laughs.
Favorite character:
Dora-tan
Mei-tan
Favorite part: (Sadly my favorite/the funniest part wasn't available on any form of video that I could place here. Basically, watch the entire 5th episode and that's it.)
***Average***
Plot: 70
Op: 80
Character's: 93
Art style: 92
Enjoyment: 97
Etotama average: 86 (B level anime)