Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 12 (Completed)

Just as Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi started with what seemed like a random confession of love, with Morino "stalking" and then saying his part to Ryouko, so the series also ends with what seems to be an equally random confession on the surface.


This time around it's Ryoushi who is on the receiving end of such a confession, as it's dished out by class mate Machiko Himura (who I was expecting to start drumming at any moment, which is what I get for seeing this episode directly after K-ON!!), although in truth it isn't quite as random as it first seems - the hard-up Himura has seen Morino with his pedigree dogs and seemingly expensive house, and has decided that it's the perfect opportunity to marry into a wealthy family. So, she goes about winning over Ryoushi, in ways that are largely cliched (the girl has clearly been playing too many dating sims or watching too much anime) but also a little sneaky, as she uses Morino's position at the Otogi Bank to get him to come on a date as a request by her.

While this is all well and good, such a turn of affairs doesn't sit too well with Ryouko, although oif course she wouldn't admit this to anybody, even when it comes to following Morino on his date along with Ringo "just in case something happens". As it turns out though, something does happen, as Himura's father's debts catch up with her and leaves Ryouko and Ryoushi having to fight off a bunch of generic thugs, the likes of which we've arguably seen far too often this series. With that imminent danger passed, Morino works hard to ensure that Himura's debt is paid and she's given a new home, in turn causing her to genuinely fall for him, although of course by this point she's realised that she has a love rival she can never hope to win against, even if Ryouko still can't confess her feelings properly come the end of the series.

With the dust settling and this series done and dusted, I can only praise J.C. Staff for doing the best possible job with the source material as you'd tend to expect from them - however, on this occasion it was never really enough to push Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi beyond the realms of mediocrity. While the deployment of a narrator for the series will split opinion in two amongst viewers, personally I sit in the camp that feels that her quips and talking over other people's lines actually enhanced the series, particularly in terms of comic value, adding an extra layer to a show that could genuinely be funny when it got everything right. Sadly, getting things right wasn't something this series ever did with any consistency, deviating too frequently from Ryouko and Ryoushi's burgeoning relationship (by far the most interesting point of the show courtesy of a couple of likeable lead characters) in the name of pursuing side stories that were really quite dull, to the point where the main over-arching plot of the show came to a rushed and unsatisfactory conclusion that feels like it was designed for a second season that (on this showing) might never come. At no point did I hate Ookami-san or what it was trying to do, but that alone isn't enough to stop it from being an instantly forgettable series.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 11

With the lion's share of the Otogi Bank's members falling into one trap or another during the last instalment of Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi, things are looking pretty tough as this penultimate episode begins even before you factor in Ryouko's kidnapping, which of course is the most important piece of Hitsujikai's master plan.


Well, I say master plan, but it all turns out to be a little bit flawed really - rather than doing anything sensible with the other kidnapped members, they instead tease them with their supposed weaknesses, only to leave themselves wide open to counter attack. Thus, before we know it pretty much the entire Bank staff have regrouped, and thanks to all of the debts accumulated by their recent 30% off sale they also have a handful of important extras to help them out along the way, while our cat-eared friend of the last episode also comes along to a lend a hand.

Ultimately though, we're left with a face-off between a furious Morino and Onigashima student council president, which is exactly what the latter was hoping for in the supposed knowledge that he could beat the current apple of Ryouko's eye to a pulp right in front of her. In a blitz of nicely animated action (I'm guessing the work of animator Seiya Numata from the style), this does indeed look to be the case until Morino remembers his recent training to land a nicely-timed punch... just in time for the Otogi Bank's president to crop up and call a halt to things. This appears to be simply the end of a battle rather than the finale of a war, but with happiness restored and only one episode left surely they won't be running with this particular rivalry any further this series?

Somehow, I'm left feeling a little torn about this episode. For all of its satisfying (but of course far from final) resolution, the feeling of danger which was built up in the last episode was frittered away far too trivially here - yes, I know this isn't exactly a deadly serious show at the best of times, but surely they could have put the Otogi Bank's members through a bit more of a challenging and perilous escape than those they ultimately had to face? Still, there was a fair amount of satisfaction in seeing Morino stand up for his girl and ultimately end up looking rather cool, for a little while at least, and my soft spot for his pairing with Ryouko does at least ease my broader feelings of unhappiness with aspects of the episode. To be fair there was more good than there was bad when you look over the instalment in balance, but I still can't shake the feeling that there has always been more potential to this series than it's ever ultimately delivered upon.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 10

Something is clearly afoot from the outset as we hit episode ten of Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi, with all of the Otogi Bank's members called to a meeting by the club's president. The reason for the urgency is obvious enough - somebody has been running a smear campaign against the bank, even going so far as to finding out about their secret basement "lair" and reporting it to a local paper, although the bank's members were smart enough to deflect that particular problem.

Still, this is obviously an issue, and one which the bank's president decides to fight by offering big discounts to anyone who wants to request something, causing the Otogi Bank to be overwhelmed with requests - this means hard work for all of the club's members, but on the other hand it gives them a lot of loans to cash in if required, as well it might be if Onigashima's student council president Shirou Hitsujikai is anything to do with what is going on as suspected.


As the episode progresses, both Ryouko and Morino are hit with distractions from their work for the bank - in the latter case this comes from Saburou Nekomiya, a boy who promises to teach Ryoushi how to fight and protect the girl he loves, while Ryouko runs into a girl named Reiko Kokonoo who claims to have been dumped by Shirou and left to the mercy of his cronies; a story which Ryouko eats up despite it seeming rather too convenient for the tastes of even Ringo. Come the end of this instalment, the "divide and conquer" approach builds up to quite the crisis for the Otogi Bank, and more specifically Ryouko - now certainly isn't the time for Morino to be sparring with a stranger, that's for sure...

Throughout this series, Ookami-san has seemed to be at its best when it has a more all-encompassing storyline to focus upon, and so it proves again here - as everything begins to stack up and the plot begins to gather pace, so this episode succeeds in ramping up the tension and worry quite nicely to its inevitable cliff-hanger to lead us into the final couple of episodes of the series. If only the whole show could have focused on this bigger picture and the more interesting facets of its characters it could have been quite something; as it is, I suppose we'll simply have to enjoy the more compelling moments as they come, but thankfully it looks like we're at least headed in that direction as things draw towards a big finale.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 9

From being the one doing all of the helping throughout much of this series so far, it's time for Ringo's own issues to take centre stage for episode nine of Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi.

Ringo's specific problem appears to be with a girl named Himeno Shirayuki (the winner of the beauty contest earlier in the series, incidentally) and her seven dwarves... wait, not dwarves, what do they call those little people that wander around everywhere? Ahh yes, children. So, despite Himeno requesting that the Otogi Bank babysit her seven siblings while she goes out to work, and more specifically requesting Ringo to do this, Ringo instead leaves it to Morino and Ryouko to do while watching from afar in a state of agitation.


Of course, we soon come to learn the reason for this; a complicated family affair involving Ringo and Himeno's parents that effectively stripped the latter of her home, her father and his relative wealth. This has left Ringo filled with guilt ever since, to the point where she simply can't speak to her step-sister no matter how hard she tries, and despite Himeno trying to get the ball rolling herself.

Never mind all that though, this story only seems to serve mostly as a good reason to shoehorn in a swimming pool episode and the swimsuits that it brings in its wake, leaving us with much of this instalment's second half making the most of that before bringing Ringo in to save the day when Himeno almost drowns. So, that particular pairing lives happily ever after, and Ringo even does her bit to ensure her step-sister's future education.

While I was actually quite pleased to see Ringo take centre stage at last within this series, come the end of the episode I was left wonder whether they should actually have bothered - this was a pretty lifeless episode that never really had any feelings of emotion or fun, and by the end of it all I really couldn't have cared less what happened. As per usual with this series the show's narrator was the only real source of entertainment, papering over the gaping cracks in what was otherwise an extremely mediocre episode.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 8

As something of a "two for the price of one" affair, the main body of Ookami-san's eighth episode is sandwiched between a faux movie starring Morino, Ryouko and Ringo (and how, in the case of the latter two...) as they do battle against three "pigs" with a predilection for Twister and ending sentences stupidly. As per usual, it's the narrator who makes the whole thing just that bit more amusing and worthwhile... well, that and Ryouko and Ringo towards the end of this brief aside in a moment that will doubtless fire the imagination of numerous doujinshi authors.


Away from all of that, the main thrust of this episode's story is a job for the Otogi Bank requested by one Chuutarou Nezumi - A young old heir to a housing conglomerate and an all-round slightly annoying rich kid, who is trying to stick to the family tradition of having a marriage arranged by the time he turns twelve. Thus, the Otogi Bank as agreed to help him try and find a suitable bride.

This is a pretty tough ask as it is, and although Chuutarou himself seems easily pleased with pretty much any girl pointed out to him (hmm, I've already used up my John Terry joke quota for today, haven't I?) his butler (whose first name is Sebastian naturally) invariably finds some kind of hidden problem to these otherwise wonderful girls, normally managing to insult them in the process. It seems that even the girls of Toradora and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun aren't good enough for this particular heir, much to the relief of otaku everywhere no doubt.


Of course, in true fairy tale style Chuutarou's perfect girl ends up having been right in front of him all along, and they all live happily ever after and so on, although not before all of the spurned girls demand their share of cake from an increasingly hard up Otogi Bank president.

While part of me is disappointed that we've gone another episode without any further opportunity to delve deeper in Ryouko's character and her relationship with Morino, this episode was pretty amusing without being spectacular, and somehow managed to keep going even when the conversation delved into the subject of breasts for quite some time. If nothing else, this series does at least keep ticking over thanks to the narrator's quips and the odd decent one-liners or moments of dialogue when an episode could otherwise make it falter. Despite my hopes that this series isn't dead and buried in the pile labelled "mediocre" just yet, it certainly isn't going to gain itself classic status.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 7

What's this? Ryouko and Ryoushi on a date? Surely not! Of course, this isn't some kind of beautiful blossoming of the relationship between these two, but rather another of Ringo's bright ideas under the guise of helping one of the Otogi Bank's clients.

The client (or I suppose you could say clients) in question are Jin Hanasaki, a quiet baseball ace who suddenly finds that he arrives home every day to a clean home and fresh food prepared by some mysterious stranger. Thanks to the Otogi Bank, he discovers that this mysterious person is in fact the strait-laced and shy Ami Jizou, who appears to have falled for Jin after he lent her an umbrella one time. Although this appears to be an entirely one-sided infatuation, Hanasaki is determined to repay Jizou for all the time she spent cleaning his house and so on, to which Ringo suggests he take her on a date of course, forcing Ryouko and Ryoushi to make it a double date to make things more comfortable for their clients.


Everything seems to go as smoothly as you might have expected (that being not particularly) until Ryouko takes it upon herself to rescue a kitten stuck in a tree. Next thing we know she's fallen into a pond, hit her head, and proves to be suffering from that cartoon classic condition which comes from a blow to the noggin - amnesia. More specifically, Ryouko seems to think that she's thirteen again, meaning that she behaves like the cute girl of her past rather than the tsundere who is desperate to hide her true self from everyone. Despite being treated to Ryouko at her most adorable, Morino is still keen to get her to a hospital - a task which ends up with Ryouko getting annoyed with him (an early demonstration of her younger tsundere side?) and an encounter with Hitsujikai which sheds a little more light on his past with Ryouko before she regains her current memories.

Although this episode manages to pile on cliché after cliché, from the awkward date to the inevitable amnesia, for some bizarre reason the whole package works really well to make for a funny and entertaining instalment that had be laughing and/or smiling throughout. I'm really not sure how J.C. Staff manage to do it, but they certainly seem to have a knack for making the bets out of even the weakest material, and this particular instalment must surely be as good an example of this as any, as Ookami-san seems to be on the up and up.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 6

From the happy and cheery atmosphere that usually kicks off a new episode of Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi, the beginning of this sixth instalment of the series seems to have found everybody with rather a lot on their plate. Indeed, all of these worries seem to be related to one person - Onigashima's student council president Shirou Hitsujikai.

Given the shock seen on Ryouko's face when she came face to face with Hitsujikai, it's more than a little understandable that her mind is distracted by his appearance, and via this episode we're granted some further little clues into the history between the two of them. These are clues that Ryoushi would love to be party to no doubt, worried as he is about Ryouko and her history. Indeed, his worry is such that he seeks to find out more via Ringo, to no avail as she quite rightly points out that if he wants to know then Ryouko has to trust him enough to tell him directly.


Much of the rest of the episode therefore focuses on solidifying the back story between Ryouko and Ringo - How the latter got to know the former, and how the two became friends thanks to Ringo's dogged perseverance in the face of Ryouko's distant and unfriendly behaviour, which was an issue even then on account of her past travails.

This made for an instalment which really didn't move things forward to any particular degree, nor did it tell us anything that we couldn't have extrapolated for ourselves, but nonetheless it actually made for an enjoyably touching episode when it came to examining the relationship between Ryouko and Ringo that actually moved me a little more than I would otherwise have expected - J.C. Staff certainly seem to be good at getting the emotional tone of their shows right if nothing else. This episode also perhaps worked simply by being a departure from the stories offered up in previous weeks; it felt almost oddly luxurious to actually spend some time getting to know characters a little better in a series which has wasted little time on doing so previously. Perhaps things are looking up for this little show after a sub-par beginning after all?

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 5

Another week means another story for Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi, although this time around the goings-on tie in to the happenings of episode two, with an eye very much on the show's wider story which appears to be unfolding.

Before that however, we're introduced to Momoko, a member of the school disciplinary committee and a bit of a man-eater... and woman-eater for that matter, given her overbearing interest in Ryouko. Anyway, if you can get your mind away from the inevitable doujinshi that this episode will inspire, Momo has a favour to ask of the Otogi Bank (that is what they exist for, after all), as it transpires that she wants to have a word with the president of rival Onigashima school's student council regarding the recent increase in delinquent behaviour coming from that establishment's students.


Of course, this is the same Onigashima school that caused such a ruckus in the show's second episode, so the likelihood of making a friendly appointment is pretty remote - Instead, with the help of Ryouko and Morino amongst others, it's up to Momoko to fight her way through to meet the new student council president. Despite being well-prepared (and ridiculously dressed all-round, quite frankly), this proves to be more difficult than even the Bank's members imagined, not least for Ryouko as we are again treated to some very brief insights into her past and how it influences her current personality and behaviour - A state of affairs which also seems to link directly into the student council president himself.

While that might sound interesting enough, to be honest there wasn't really much going for this episode - Boxing gloves and breasts that make meowing and bouncing sounds respectively really don't cut it, and the storyline as a whole lacked any kind of inspiration or real interest beyond providing the ability for some pretty half-hearted action scenes that were all eclipsed by those in the aforementioned second episode.

On the positive side, this instalment did have two plus points in its favour - Once again, the show's narrator adds a little spice and humour to an otherwise dry script full of predictable dialogue, while Ryouko herself continues to turn into a genuinely interesting character. The more than I watch this series, the more I find myself wishing that a lot of the other plot elements would "just go away" so that the focus can remain on revealing more about Ryouko and building her budding little relationship with Morino. I'm certainly not watching it for the otaku titillation and bouncing breasts, that's for sure.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 4

After being saved from an errant baseball by Morino, the Otogi Bank's resident maid Tsurugaya Otsuu turns out to be somebody who simply refuses to be in debt to anybody. So, she moves in with a bunch of oddball characters under a bridge and has a plethora of madcap adventures with them.


Whoops, wrong show... In fact, rather than living under a bridge with crazy people Otsuu instead decides that she needs to be Morino's maid for the forseeable future to repay her debt to him, leaving the poor guy with neither privacy nor sleep. Then again, Otsuu herself is hardly doing her health any good, as is proved when she finally collapses from exhaustion after all of those continuous attempts to help out.

From here, we find out the real reason for Otsuu's fear of being in debt to anybody via the Otogi Bank's president, and needless to say it's a pretty typical sob story for this kind of series, the kind of thing that makes me worry that I'm dead inside for not reacting to it when in reality it's probably because it's a scenario that's been presented within anime a million times before. Anyhow, the club members gang together with a plan to load Otsuu with so much debt that she can't possibly repay it all, thus hopefully breaking her from the vicious cycle into which she has entered herself, meaning that she can live happily ever after.

I have to say that viewing Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi so far has been a pretty bizarre cycle in itself, with an opening episode that left me unimpressed before episode two had me fall in love with it, only to fall back out of love with it again last week. Thankfully, this forth instalment is an improvement again - Despite its boringly typical sob story and occasionally frustrating moments, the episode as a whole is much sharper in terms of both dialogue and story, perhaps because it once again returns at least some of the focus to Ryouko, who is turning into quite a likeable tsundere character all in all with a bit more depth and human interest to her than I initially expected. Overall then, I really rather enjoyed this episode, although of course judging by current form that means that episode five will suck...

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 3

After a decidedly average start, Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi seemed to have found its feet with its second episode, but with each instalment taking in a different story the big question is whether or not it can keep up that improved standard this time around.

This third instalment brings us a good, old-fashioned love triangle of sorts, with Tarou Urashima finding himself caught between the attentions of two fierce rivals. On the one hand you have Otohime Ryuuguu, a girl who used to be fat, dumb and bullied (earning her the nickname of "turtle" in the process) before Tarou's advice and attention allowed her to blossom, and on the other we find Mimi Usami, a rather more dimiutive character who is no less feisty for her "loli"-esque stature.


The focal point for this rivalry soon becomes the school beauty contest (because of course, all schools have beauty contests, right?), with Otohime putting a request in to the Otogi Bank to help her win said contest; a request which turns into an all-out information war as the Bank on one side and Mimi on the other battle to slag one another off in public until they both end up having their names run through the mud (along with a few other individuals). Thus, neither party manages to achieve their goal of winning the beauty contest, but despite this perhaps there is still room for someone to have their heart one over....

Perhaps its because of the shift in focus away from Ryouko and Morino, but this episode really struggled to interest me at all - Neither of its major female characters were really that likeable at all (with Otohime only winning in those stakes because she used to be bullied), and the entire endeavour became altogether too self-referential as it indulged in throwing around the loli or tsundere status of its characters, which only served to reduce those characters to the tropes they have been based up. From all of this, I think it's becoming clear that this is going to be one of those hit-and-miss series which depends heavily on the content of each individual story arc; the previous episode proved that it has the potential to do well, but equally this instalment suggests that it's unlikely to be able to do so in a consistent manner. Indeed, even some of J.C. Staff's usual animation sparkle seemed to be missing here too, to leave us with a pretty lacklustre episode.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 2

After offering up possibly one of the most generic opening episodes of anime I've seen in quite a while with exception of its narrator (whom I refuse to call anything but Kuroko), Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi is going to have to do quite a bit of work to win me over. So, let J.C. Staff's efforts begin!

Come this second instalment, we find that our male protagonist Ryoushi Morino is improving slightly in terms of his scopophobia (or fear of being looked at), while his unrequited love Ryouko Ookami is as much of a tsundere as ever. However this episode does at least hint towards some underlying reasons for Ryouko's personality, which gives a little more depth to her otherwise stereotypical character, while Morino has also clearly pegged her tsundere tendencies without using that exact word.


After milling around rather aimlessly for a while, this episode finally gets into its groove then a girl visits the Otogi Bank with a request for help in dealing with a violent boyfriend... a request which turns out to be little more than a thinly-veiled trap to lure Ookami into the midst of a bunch of delinquents from a rival high school. Despite both Ryouko and Morino's efforts, the former is soon captured, and taken away to be the object of "affection" for the gang's boss.

It's here that we also see a little character development on Morino's part, as he leads the rescue effort to release Ryouko from this demonic group's clutches, leading to what turns out to be a fantastic combination between Ryouko's up-front fighting style and Morino's own abilities with a slingshot whilst hiding in the shadows. Of course, even this isn't enough to put a stop to Ookami's tsundere service, although the cracks in her proverbial make-up are already beginning to show.

After that lacklustre opener, this was certainly a big improvement for me - Simply explaining Ryouko's behaviour at least makes her clichéd character a little more tolerable, while Morino is turning into a rather more likeable male lead than he first appeared, culminating in what actually turned out to be rather a pleasing action scene that I got a bit of a kick out of. Kuroko's narration also adds an extra layer to the show, masking some of the more boring moments with at least a dash of humour or outright craziness to keep things moving along. While I'm still not entirely convinced by this series and what it has to bring to the table, an improvement is still an improvement, so I'm willing to give Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi a little longer to try and win me over.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 1

Yes, that's right kids, a new anime season is upon us once again! First out of the door for the summer is Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi (but we're all friends here, so how about we just call it Ookami-san from now on?), J.C. Staff's vaguely fairy tale themed outing for the season.

The series certainly opens with a bang - That noise being the sound of a tsundere fist against a random delinquent's face. The tsundere in question (for that is the only word required to describe her personality, so otherwise generic is she) is named Ryouko Ookami (of the show's title) and she's a member of the Otogi Bank, a club which offers help to members of Otogi Academy.


However this academy club, which goes by the official name of the Student Mutual Assistance Association, are a bit short of male members, and what do you know no sooner do we learn this when one appears almost literally out of the blue. His name is Ryoushi Morino, and he has a crush on Ookami, as well as a rather unfortunate affliction that means that he hates anybody staring or otherwise looking at him. Still, he's supposedly an expert in hiding and trailing people, making him a perfect addition to the Otogi Bank despite Ookami's protestations.

As his first test, Morino is set a task courtesy of the club's latest client, who is looking to stop a member of the tennis club she admires from quitting after an injury. What follows is barely what you could call a take on the Cinderella story, but Ookami-san tries to pass it off as one anyway as the hapless Morino makes a mess of pretty much everything before accidentally making a success of his endeavours in the end so that client and so-called "Prince of Tennis" get their happy ending.

While the premise is interesting enough in its own way, everything else about this opening episode of Ookami-san is so run of the mill that if you placed it inside a mill it wouldn't look out of place. As we've already discussed, Ookami herself is simply the dictionary definition of "tsundere" without any further effort put into her character, and you get the feeling that most of the other major players in the series are similarly straightforward. The only thing that saves the episode from sinking entirely into the mire of mediocrity is the show's narrator, who we shall call Kuroko (for reasons anyone who has watched To Aru Kagaku no Railgun should fathom); her asides and borderline fourth wall breaking moments aren't the height of hilarity, but they do at least lighten up an instalment that is otherwise only mildly amusing on occasion at best.

Not the greatest start to a new season of anime then, but nor is it the worst. In fact, it's straight down the middle - The perfect definition of "average".