Anime: Touka Gettan 5z16c

The ability to enjoy Touka Gettan probably depends on how much you try to figure out the plot. If you just like it's particular brand of weirdness and some ecchi you'll probably find it quite enjoyable. If you come in trying to figure out what's going on you're going to be deeply disappointed.

Animation:
Animation quality is generally fairly high, although it gets somewhat worse in later episodes. It stays above average, though.

The general design fits in well with Touka Gettan's style of weirdness. The fact that several characters look very similar (and given that the way the story is told means there's no introductions, you're very likely to confuse them) may be intentional.

Sound:
Probably Touka Gettan's highest point is the sound. The seiyuu all perform well, but the music is steal the aural show. The opening and ending are quite good, as is the background music. It all matches the style of the series, and the background music is approriately placed. I'm particularly fond of the track they use for the previews (as well as certain other scenes).

Story:
The story is where it all falls apart. Given that it's broadcast in reverse chronological order (except for episode 2, which is set at the very end) and generally bizarre it's natural to expect it to be told somewhat oddly. The problem is that they keep taunting the viewers with explanations of what's going on, but never really explain it. Most of the plot that is explained has the majority of the exposition done in one of two episodes towards the end (broadcast order) of the series. Even those don't explain that much. The fact that after the first few episodes the series mostly just does episodic comedies only makes this more infuriating, as they had plenty of time to explain it properly.

Character:
The characters are entertaining which, considering that there's no way to watch it for the story, is what counts.

I can't really be happy about the lack of character development, though. I wouldn't mind it so much if the characters didn't talk about how they (or others) had changed, but they act exactly the same in every episode.

What seemed like a typical magical romance show turned out to be one unconventional gem of a series! Seems like this is a spinoff of Moonlight Lady, however, there are no similarities that I know of besides the magical involvement in both shows. Produced by the same people who brought us Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, you can be sure to find lots of yuri and weird stuff going on in Touka Gettan as well.

Animation:
This show is a beauty to watch. The characters are so amazingly gorgeous and the backgrounds are always filled with lots of crisp, gentle colours. Great choice of visuals for the magical aspects as well. Always colourful but not overbearing. This show has lots of beautiful wallpaper-material images very common of adult visual novels, but wonderful nonetheless. There's always a new scene to wow you very soon. If you like girls, there are plenty of them of course. And if you like guys, there's always Touka, though his gender is quite ambiguous. I'm sure lots have stuck on to this show despite the crazy plot confusion only to see those people strutting around looking pretty. Simply put, fantastic artwork designs! I heard they're created by a very popular artist called Carnelian, and I can see why she gets all the praises.

Sound:
Nice OP and ED themes, reminiscent of I've, probably. Not very original, but melancholy enough to suit the series. The music in general is great too, with a mix of mostly traditional tunes and some more modern ones where you get stuff like a flute piece with drums together. Really cool.

The seiyuu aspect, by the way, is brilliant. 16-year-old Saori Hayami, who voiced lead female Momoka and also sang the theme songs, has amazing pitch variations. She handles long monologues like it's the most natural thing in the world, and she has a moe voice to boot! Touka, voiced by Mariya Ise, sounds like the usual very cool and unapproachable boy similar to Romi Paku and Minagawa Junko's style, who are both my favourites as well so I have no complaints. In fact, I'm really excited to find another seiyuu who does bratty voices so well. And then there's Miki Itou, who sounds perfectly childish and erotic at the same time, if that's possible. I even like the evil laughter of the Butterfly Triplets, which strangely did not seem to annoy me.

Story & Characters:
Firstly, if you don't get what the hell just happened in episode 1, it's not just you. That's because that was supposedly the "last" episode. We have jumbled up episodes from Suzumiya Haruhi, now we have a series that has gone totally upside-down. Which means we're gonna watch this backwards, and get our brains cracked from trying to put the puzzle pieces together as we move along. Take it like you're on an adventure tracing forgotten history. It's quite challenging but a thrilling ride all the same if you like mysteries.

As you will not be given direct plotline from the beginning, a detailed summary will defeat the purpose of this unusual approach by the director. What you would know from the start: the world may not be real, the people may not be real, characters seem to have multiple personalities or pasts, they can use magic, the land of Kamitsumihara is magical, everyone's gender but Touka. The setting simply begs for attention with its extraordinary elements.

After about 4-5 episodes, the initial confusion overload decreases and you begin to understand a bit more of the story, however little. At least the flow is smoother and you can roughly get the gist of each character's setup. Touka is one with a mother-complex, distant and cold. Momoka is a cheerful glutton who dotes on Touka all the time. Despite this being a romance series, there are no ionate exchanges between them. They share a pure relationship where romantic gestures are always subtle and delicate. Yumiko is the deranged mother-cum-writer who has an unbelievable childlike tendecies and holds the key to solving the mystery. And then there's the enigmatic Kikyou, the loud Makoto and also not forgetting Shouko and the Butterfly Triplets, whose constant bickerings never failed to make me chuckle. The cast is great; you just can't stop caring about them.

The middle of the series is made up of mostly filler-ish episodes that contribute little to the plot and characters. Despite that, they were fun enough to keep me entertained, and also particularly helped me connect with the characters better as the storyline here is pretty much straightforward with the absence of excessive information to ponder on. Some parts were hillarious as hell too, especially the Yakitate Ja-Pan reference and yaoi mention, while others, like the infamous episode 14, which really should be renamed as the lost episode of YamiBou, was pure WTF-goodness. Not to mention the boundless amount of yuri fanservice splashed across episodes.

As if the backwards direction wasn't weird enough, a revelation episode was done entirely like a stage show. If you've seen Ergo Proxy, it's like another repeat of episode 15 only less wacky and more focused this time. There were tragic moments involving the characters that were pretty shocking to me. Definitely not for the faint-hearted and young. While many things were answered in the end, many things were also not quite clearly explained. Either that's intentional, or this backwards approach has caused me to forget some important details early on.

Whatever said though, this series concludes beautifully with a very touching scene of a new encounter. It's just so fitting for such a melancholic series - so heartwarming and affectionate and sad. Definitely gave an overall positive impact on me.

Enjoyment:
I'm actually quite proud of this series. I have been yearning to watch something like YamiBou that clicks well with me for ages, but I've always been disappointed. Examples like Kannazuki no Miko, sola, Fate/Stay, AIR and Kanon which were pretty solid though lacking something for me, Loveless even, not quite like each other but with some common distinctive features perhaps. They all give me the same feel at least. Touka Gettan has somewhat revived my hopes for the genre. It's a deep, bittersweet tale of romance wrapped in msytical intrigue. Honestly, the plot is not anything earth-shattering. Take away the gimmick and it would probably look just like any other romance with a twist. But as a character-driven show, I think Touka Gettan succeeds wonderfully.

High rewatch value for those with time. It's almost impossible not to go back once more if you want to understand the events better. While I enjoyed the experimental backwards sequence, if you have little patience or lack of time to rewatch, you should start with episode 26 and then 24 till 1. Episode 25 is an epilogue and should be kept last. Very weird epilogue, by the way.

I am very happy to have discovered this anime. At first I found the story to be rather confusing and without much substance, but I was captivated by the animation, which I found to be very beautiful, colorful, fluid and seductive. After a few episodes I got used to the rather surreal and dreamy flow of the story and fell in love with just about every character. Everything "clicked" when a few individuals from Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito appeared in episode 14 and I recalled the similar meandering plot progression and realized they were both produced by the same company.

My favorite element of this anime is the depth of emotion expressed by the characters. There is a lot of Shoujo Ai and many of the characters are often in states of boiling over with one emotion or another, be it the deep sadness that Momoka sometimes feels, the obsessive love that the hyperactive Shoko Rokujo has for Makoto, the cold honesty of Toka or the playful erotic giddiness of Yumiko Kamiazuma. The spiritual and magical aspect of the anime is also a strong underlying tone and many of the characters are reincarnations or carriers for ancient gods, goddesses or spirits of some sort. Much of it feels very romantic without being too direct or cheesy, not being shy about the more erotic side of anime and not coming off as childishly ecchi. There is also a good bit of comedy throughout the series.

The audio and music were excellent. I love the opening song and I ended up liking the end song as well, although it took longer to grow on me. The Japanese voice acting is superb and I found the sound, background music and singing to be appropriate to the scenes.

I feel this anime has a high re-watch value, due to the creative way in which the plot flows and the difficulty in understanding all the details the first time through. The backgrounds, clothing and colors of the animation are simply delicious eye candy. I gave the story a little less than excellent rating, since it seemed like there wasn't really a strong plot. I don't feel this detracted from the overall experience though. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves Shoujo Ai anime with romance, drama, a touch of comedy, a good dose of the erotic and with a spiritual undertone.