Chiaki TakahashiAyaka NanaseRisako MuraiYuki Yomichi
Mother of the Goddess' Dormitory
Episode 1 also reviewed here: Anime 1st episodes 2021: M
Also known as: Megami-ryou no Ryoubo-kun
Medium: TV, series
Year: 2021
Director: Shunsuke Nakashige
Writer: Masashi Suzuki
Original creator: Ikumi Hino
Actor: Asaki Fukuyama, Ayaka Nanase, Chiaki Takahashi, Hikaru Nanjo, Misuzu Yamada, Risako Murai, Yuki Yomichi
Keywords: anime, boobs
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Format: 10 episodes
Url: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=23959
Website category: Anime 2021
Review date: 6 November 2022
Megami ryou no Ryoubo kun
It's silly anime boob nonsense with a TV version and a "see-through" online streaming version with added nipples. (I watched the latter.) It's nothing special whatsoever, but I quite liked it. It's a happy, good-natured show that hurts no-one and is far more successful than old-school harem shows where all the girls are in love with a bland male protagonist. It has a not dissimilar formula, admittedly, but its protagonist (Koushi) is twelve.
Some viewers didn't like this, which is fair enough. There's no danger of actual sex, but the show's full of nudity and jokes like "whoops, we fell and landed in a compromising position". Koushi's living with five university students of amazing cup sizes and negligible self-restraint. MINERU is a mad scientist whose preferred outfit is: (a) a lab coat that's hanging wide open to show that underneath she's wearing: (b) knickers and (c) nothing else. FREY is a cosplayer who's usually showing so much cleavage that you could hide a cat down there. ATENA is modest, but has by far the most wardrobe malfunctions. KIRIYA is a martial artist who's easily mistaken for a handsome man. SERENE is a space case who thinks she's from the moon, which might be true. (The show never confirms or denies anything, but there are incidents where Serene's claimed lunar powers might possibly have been real.)
Koushi works as their dormitory's manager, aka. the "dorm mother" of the title. (His house burned down and his father ran out on him, so the show begins with Koushi starving in the streets. The girls' job offer might have saved his life.) However there's also a girl of Koushi's age, SUTEA, who's his classmate and childhood friend. She's a tsundere, but less annoying than you'd think since at least she's self-aware and capable of honestly apologising. She dislikes her tendency to shout the opposite of what she feels. Sometimes, she's even funny.
WHAT'S BAD IN ALL THIS
(a) Half of these girls will fall in love with Koushi, to some degree or other. 1. Sutea's understandable. (They're the same age. Besides, he's always looked out for her, partly because she's so heat-sensitive that she can barely even tolerate body contact.) 2. Atena isn't beyond the pale either. (She has a near-phobia of men, but she'll start getting over it with Koushi's help and she mostly puts the two of them in a sibling category anyway.) 3. When Kiriya started blushing in a suggestive manner, though, I got annoyed. It felt implausible. For an adult even to notice a twelve-year-old in that way would be a whole lot weirder than the show's trying to portray.
(b) Sutea isn't immune to the general fanservice. She's twelve. Eurgh, stop it. There's also a plausibility issue, since twelve-year-olds aren't usually that buxom.
(c) Mineru regularly makes sinister concoctions, usually poison gas but occasionally aphrodisiacs. She takes the latter to campus for the university festival in ep.7, which goes into questionable territory. (Lines aren't crossed, but still.)
BUT I STILL LIKED THE SHOW, BECAUSE...
Ultimately, it's harmless. It's light, friendly nonsense with people who help each other. I liked the encouragement of a child at the Christmas party in ep.8, for instance. With help from their friends, Atena and Sutea both make progress with their issues.
Meanwhile, the fanservice doesn't matter. By the time we've reached ep.9, Serene falling from a first-floor window and landing groin-first on Koushi's face is a non-reaction from all concerned. They just want to know that she's okay. Then, shortly afterwards, even the explosive-tempered Sutea doesn't bat an eyelid at Minera putting her boobs on near-maximum display.
This is a harem show, really. One boy and six girls, half of whom will show romantic interest in him... but the show's set-up guarantees that nothing will happen and defangs any hijinks. Koushi's more of a dormitory pet than anything else, for all that he's also often the show's one sane man. (Atena's not a loony, though.) In short, this is a lively, often funny comedy with lots of naked boobs. You already know whether or not you're the target audience.