It's a slice-of-life series about an elf in Tokyo who's hailed as a local goddess, but is mostly a layabout NEET loser and otaku. Her name's Elda and she has a shrine maiden called Koito.

It's okay. Nice, but nothing special. Every so often, it made me think "this is a stand-up routine turned into manga". Elda's been living in Japan since 1619 and was a personal friend of Tokugawa Ieyasu, so she can be interesting if discussing history, language and so on. She can explain how, for instance, Edo-era people used umbrellas as fashion statements and marketing. There are other elves too, but none of them know magic. What makes them special is daft ears, near-immortality, telepathy and talking to spirits... and their tendencies to silly, childish behaviour. They get excited about games and mobile phones. Elda's basically a parasite, albeit a sympathetic one. Another elf's a gambling freak. They've all been here for centuries, though, so they're all regarded as gods.

Koito means the show isn't static. She gets character development, starting out as an intolerant schoolgirl who's hostile to Elda and wants to be more mature than she is. She'll thaw and learn patience. At one point, she also sees a Betamax video recording of her late mother.

Unfortunately, one fan theory doesn't fit the dates. Since Elda is telepathic and an introverted shut-in, it could be funny to blame her for Japan's 265 years of isolationism... but unfortunately that was 1603-1868, whereas Elda arrived in 1619. Drat. Well, maybe she influenced it from then onwards.

This show isn't a big deal and I wouldn't go recommending it to random people. Plot: negligible. Tone: wholesome and amiable. The characters grow a bit. It's the kind of understated, pleasant show you might randomly put on and possibly even enjoy, but it's not surprising that it didn't attract a big audience.

"Aw, come on! I stayed up all night gaming and tonight there's a marathon of an anime I wanna watch!"