It's an outrageous hentai-like TV anime about a Raving Nympho Law under which it's mandatory to be promiscuous. Seiran Island has made it a crime not to be sex-crazed. Walking down the street or getting on the bus, you'll see so much public coupling that it looks like a queue. This is wildly popular and there's no public debate about it. People love it. Everyone's a happy shagger... except for our dissenting heroes.

I'm reminded of the small wave of anime ten years earlier, inspired by and mocking the Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths. Anime like Shimoneta and Daimidaler were crass, obscene and funny. They had a point. This one's based on a visual novel and is less obviously parodic. (What's it mocking? Pornography? It's also harder to believe in its premise.) It is, though, playing similar games with lawmakers who've invaded the bedroom and are mandating private behaviour. The difference is that this show's avoiding political points and is more about how someone who's a bit different can feel excluded or sidelined by a sex-obsessed society.

That's a worthwhile conversation, given extra spice by its near-pornographic context. (The visuals are surprisingly tame, despite all the background activity, but a truly uncensored release would be hentai. There are various versions of this show, including a 2am TV broadcast, but even its "uncensored" streaming release has cartoon duck heads over the genuinely X-rated bits. It does, though, have bonus hentai mini-episodes, albeit again with duck head censorship.) Anyway, the show's heroes are outsiders, each in a different way. With one girl, her issues are all in her head and any objective observer would say that she looks fantastic... but that's a real thing too. Being objective about yourself is hard. "We are a minority. We couldn't fit in. We got bullied."

Our heroes include:

1. JUNNOSUKE TACHIBANA, a proud virgin who hates promiscuity and establishes the rebel organisation NLNS (No Love No Sex). His only sexual activity is furious masturbation and he thinks his life was ruined by his big penis. Even his friends think he's stupid, but he's pure-hearted and sincere.

2. ASANE TACHIBANA, Junnosuke's worrying younger sister. He's the only boy she likes. Does that mean, er... well, no, it doesn't in this anime (although apparently she enjoys an incest threesome in the second visual novel). She's a lesbian and the Raving Nympho Law doesn't recognise homosexuality. Whoops. I don't think she dislikes Seiran Island and she certainly didn't stop her brother taking her back there after their parents died. (What was he thinking? Seriously.) She enjoys porn, but she has hikikomori (shut-in) tendencies.

3. HINAMI WATARAI, the loli. She's older than the other heroes, but she looks like a child. This is a well-worn and sometimes disturbing anime trope... but what's unexpected is that the show's addressing what it would mean for someone with that body type to desire sexual activity but to have been messed up by her appearance (about which she's in denial).

4. MISAKI HOTORI, who has a fantastic figure but thinks she's fat and would be embarrassed by sex. "If they ever found out I'm a virgin, I'd have to expose my ugly body at the guillotine."

The guillotine is the regime's public punishment for monogamous couples and similar hardened criminals, but it's not what it sounds like. No one gets hurt. Exactly the opposite, in fact. All this is an odd example of lawmaking, to be honest, but it stands out for how conservative it is. The law is heteronormative. One-on-one male-female couplings are the expected pattern, hemmed around with protective rules about paedophiles, age limits, contraceptive implants, etc. Anything minority is off the menu, be it gay, incest, orgies, trans, futanari or whatever.

So it's interesting. But is it good?

To be honest... not really. The wordplay is outrageous and clever enough that the subtitles can't always find a satisfactory English translation. I like how wholeheartedly the show commits to its ludicrous premise, including sometimes subtle use of pornography tropes. It's wild social SF in a contemporary setting. It's also true that we live in an era when repressive minority-unfriendly politics is in the ascendant, which this show somehow represents while also being its anti-matter opposite. I liked the characters and their journeys, especially Junnosuke's discovery that the regime's sex police are ordinary people like him and his friends.

"All the FS members are students who are homeless or have family problems. Rei had a whore parent and was sold to the island. Ikuko is an orphan."

The plot, though, isn't interesting. The important stuff is the characters' journeys, evolution and personal discoveries. The plot beats tend to be running around, guns, fights, etc. which aren't really going anywhere. The show's happy ending has Seiran Island's hentai regime still in power. Nothing's changed. There's still public sex everywhere you look and every sign that everyone loves it. Actually, compared with a lot of real-world lawmaking, that's probably a success. (Go trawling for plaintive "vote for us" adverts on YouTube and see how many things they say which make you respond with "yes, but that had the opposite effect from what you intended".) The only thing that's changed in this series is that our heroes are happier with themselves and less messed-up. Their fight will continue!