Tokyo is under siege by a nefarious terrorist. In a society free from the horror of
inappropriate language and potty mouthed humor, Blue Swan seeks to restore the
wild side of living by any lewd way possible.
When Tanukichi Okuma arrives at the prestigious and pure high school in
the country, he discovers he’s been brought here specifically to track down
Blue Snow, who may be a student at this academy. But soon Tankukichi finds himself an
unwilling accomplice in student Ayame Kajou’s sexual revolution and high school
living is about to change for the wilder
To begin our Anime Corner coverage for 2025, I’ve decided
to try something a bit more…risqué and it’s probably the most wild title I’ve
covered here since Panty and Stocking.
But it’s hard to resist the challenge of reviewing a show like
this.
When I saw the first episode in
the middle of 2024 I could not stop laughing and even though we only checked
out that sole episode, I wanted to see more of this messed up world and how
Ayame was going to give everyone the change to let their freak flags fly.
Well that time has come and we’re spending
the month seeing a repressed and sheltered society get brought back into the
light of the freaky.
Welcome, Dear
Reader, to Shimoeta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't
Exist.
It's impossible not to take immediate not of the
Orwellian inspired world Shimoneta is trying to parody.
It takes the concept of Big Brother to a
whole other level, that of a super strict parent who wont tolerate their kids
looking at any kind of naughty material while going to great lengths to ensure
they never have a potty mouth.
The
opening couple of minutes says it all: get caught looking at porn magazines and
say a naughty word out loud and several SWAT Teams will be on you in a
second.
As if all of that wasn’t enough
of an over the top reaction, these societal norms have created a generation of
kids who have never had the talk about the birds and the bees with the parents
and probably never will.
That kind of
messed up thinking is what leads to probably my favorite character of the
series in the premiere: the sleep deprived, sex obsessed scientist Hyouka Fuwa,
who always appears in a particular way to Tanukichi and is so desperate to
understand the mysteries of sex, it’s amazing she hasn’t pulled him into a
closet yet to do the deed somehow.
This
is Shimoneta in a nutshell folks and if that paragraph isnt your cup of tea,
neither is this series.
And who is the self appointed chosen one to lead this
repressed culture out of darkness?
That
would be Ayame.
This girl has no filter,
even when shes trying to keep a low profile and not get outed as the most
wanted person in Tokyo.
Ayame also hides
herself surprisingly well, as a soft spoken member of the student council at
school while rocking short skirts and her trademark costume of a blanket and
panties for a mask outside when she’s up to mischief.
Nothing is off limits for this girl and I
love it when English Voice Actors and Actresses get to let fly with all the
naughty content that can spout in a single sentence.
And who better to deliver such no holds
barred dialogue than Jamie Marchi, who is no stranger to this kind of work as
she’s probably best known as the voice of Panty Anarchy in the aforementioned
Panty and Stocking (could Ayame be her reincarnation?
No wonder she’s so turned on all the time).
Ayame is a ton of fun in the premiere and I’m looking forward to whatever other
hair brained schemes she can get up to with Tanukichi.
Tanukichi, like Ayame, has some family history related to
resisting these repressive social norms.
Unlike his wild and wacky counterpart, Tanukichi wants to be a good boy
and impress the girl of his dreams, the alluring Anna.
He’s uptight and normally that would make him
boring compared to the way more entertaining Ayame.
However, the uptightness works in this case
as the more insane scenarios Tanukichi finds himself in play perfect against
the personality he wants to stick to no matter what.
I especially love his interactions with
deranged student artist Otome, who is desperately in love with Anna as
well.
I will say that while a lot of
Shimoneta’s humor is genuinely great and cleverly written, some moments are a
bit cringe, especially during some flashback to Tanukichi talking about his Dad
just…ugh just no, let’s just leave it at that.
Still, Tanukichi seems to be very into Ayame’s schemes and the more he
does, the more he might be coming to embrace his destiny as a sexual
revolutionist.
As I’ve hinted, the supporting cast is as fun as the
leads, if not more.
Anna in particular
is hyped up as an Angel and a force of nature by both Tanukichi and Ayame and
the best moments for the Student Council President came when she chased a Blue
Swan disguised Tanukichi across the school.
The girl went full on Terminator, not letting a door or wall or jump
from a far distance slow her down.
Just
what else can she do when she gets truly pissed off I wonder?
Hyouka and Otome offer a different kind of uncomfortable
humor to Tanukichi compared to Ayame, making sure his life is hardly ever
boring.
Surely there are other faces to
come in this 12 episode series but I can say already that the bars been set
pretty high by the characters we have already, this is a fun group to be
around.
Think that’s about all I can think of for this opener and
what can I say: Shimoneta’s first three episodes are an absolute blast.
Ayame’s societal sexual revolution is offer
to a small but tremendous start and Tanukichi is just trying to keep his head
down before one of the many girls in his life gets him arrested or worse.
This world is so bizarre it has to be seen to
be believed and the more I see of how far it goes with everyones freedom to be
naughty, the more I wanna see it get Blue Swan’s full reckoning.
I’m ready for more, how about you?
Come back Next Monday for another round of
Shimoneta right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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