Wagaya no Oinari-sama - Episode 7

After episode six of Wagaya no Oinari-sama tried its hand at love/harem comedy, it appears that this latest instalment of the show has decided to return more to its action motif. If nothing else, I have to give a little kudos to the series for shaking things up episode on episode recently, having looked like it was going to become far too formulaic earlier on.

The episode begins by introducing us to another couple of fox gods who are new to the area, and don't have a massive amount of use in the episode beyond acting as a cute distraction to all and sundry, playing a minuscule bit-part role in the fighting, and neatly tying up the storyline at its close. Speaking of the fight scene which takes up a big chunk of the episode, it's actually okay despite suffering from that age old anime problem of most fight scenes ending up the same - Lots of dialogue, not much actual fighting, and some clever "Aha! I got you and you didn't even realise it!" moment that ends the battle. I must be in a generous mood though, because I actually didn't mind the rather generic fighting that much, and it did gain bonus points for the attacker varying the attacks at one point by grabbing Kou's arse. Not very politically correct, but it's good to know that the work of Benny Hill is still alive and well in some kind of crazed clam spirit.

Speaking of Kou's physical assets, this series does seem to be getting gradually more fan service filled - Not to any kind of Kanokon-esque degree admittedly, but the amount of female flesh on show has certainly been on the rise. Have ratings been dropping for this show in Japan or something, causing this desperate attempt to draw in the show's demographic of young males? Who knows. It's not like I'm offended by it or anything, but the shift did come to my attention and amused me a little.

I really can't be too hard on Wagaya no Oinari-sama at the moment, because there really isn't much to criticise. It's just a bit of a workhorse of an anime than gets from A to B in a not particularly spectacular fashion, while remaining just entertaining enough not to send me to sleep. Hardly glowing praise, but it's about the best I can do for it.