***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Eromanga-sensei. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
One year ago, a young author named Masamune Izumi (voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) lost his father and stepmother. Things have been difficult, but Masamune has gotten by. More than that, he has managed to turn his passion for writing into a promising career.
Masamune's most recent story has made him a rising star. But a large part of that success is thanks to his illustrator, the mysterious Eromanga-sensei.
Masamune has never met his partner, but he has more pressing concerns.
With the death of their parents, Masamune' stepsister, Sagiri (voiced by Akane Fujita) has become a shut-in and hasn't left her room since that fateful day. Try as he might, Masamune has been unable to reconnect with Sagiri. That is until he makes an amazing discovery.
By chance, Masamune learns that Sagiri and Eromanga-sensei are the same person. Through this, the two step-siblings get the chance to grow close again.
Through this, they begin to realize how special they really are to each other.
Series Positives
At the top, I want to say three things:
One, I had been eying Eromanga-sensei for a while. Due to circumstances, I never found the opportunity to sit down with this show despite knowing about it since it first aired back in the spring of 2017.
Two, although I was interested in this show, I was also a little concerned. It was the title, Eromanga-sensei, that fueled my reservations. In Japanese, the term “ero” means “erotic.” For example, an “eroge,” or an “erogame,” is an erotic video game. Putting two and two together, take a guess at what the word “eromanga” might mean.
Please note, even with a title like Eromanga-sensei, there was no guarantee it would include the kind of lowbrow, haphazard material I would be concerned about. Too bad I let my experience dictate the odds, and as such, I didn’t place this show’s odds that high.
Three, considering my anticipation and hesitation, I ended up enjoying Eromanga-sensei a lot more than I expected. I had a lot of fun with this show.
Fair warning now, though, Eromanga-sensei will be one of those series that will bar a lot of viewers right at its gate. If you feel there are too many specific details you can’t ignore after reading this review, I seriously doubt there is a chance you will be able to find any kind of enjoyment out of this show.
Alternatively, if at any point during this review you think Eromanga-sensei sounds even the slightest bit interesting, I would then urge you to give this series a shot.
To test the waters, the creator of Eromanga-sensei, Tsukasa Fushimi, is better known for his earlier work, the Oreimo series. If that information means nothing to you, here’s a bit more context.
Oreimo and Eromanga-sensei are two stories, from the same author, that center around romantic sibling relationships. Before I lose all of you – granted I don’t think what I’m about to say will change many of your mind’s – Eromanga-sensei focused on step-siblings.
In the past, I have mentioned how non-blood sibling romances don’t set off my bad-touch alarm. I am like this because I have seen way too many shows, as in more than one, where actual blood siblings did cross this line. For example, Oreimo.
I have reviewed the two seasons of the Oreimo anime. As a recap, the first season was fine; mainly because the siblings never became a thing. The second season, on the other hand, was a steaming pile of garbage, and this wasn’t only because of the big no-no territory the show entered. Thanks to Oreimo season two, one Kirino Kosaka, the main female protagonist, is now an entry on my “Most Despised Characters” list.
To bring my point back to the show I am currently reviewing, even if we ignore the worst of the two seasons of Oreimo and only focus on the good one, I’m still able to say that Eromanga-sensei is the far better anime series by a considerable margin.
Incidentally, two different animation studios produced the two seasons of Oreimo. The company that made Oreimo 2, A-1 Pictures, also did Eromanga-sensei. I would say, “Go figure,” but A-1 Pictures has a respectable reputation; one that I have a lot of faith in. I stand by that statement even though they have produced the occasional dud.
Besides, if you are familiar with the Oreimo series, knowing this bit of trivia does explain one or two hard to miss cameos.
Off shooting from that, there was a ton of referential humor in Eromanga-sensei. This was a most unexpected element to this series that I can’t pretend I didn’t find entertaining. You could make a game out of this because these references were all over the map, and the ones I was the most surprised to run into were two not so subtle nods to Toradora and Azumanga Daioh.
With reference gags being part of its comedy toolbox, Eromanga-sensei turned out to be incredibly funny. On more than several occasions, this series had me laughing pretty hard. Nowhere was this more so the case than with this show’s fantastic use of reactionary humor. Sure, there were a handful of jokes that went a bit too over-the-top, but the vast majority were a lot quieter, and thus, a lot more amusing.
Eromanga-sensei’s comedy worked because of the performances of its voice cast. I want to single out Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Akane Fujita, the voices of Masamune and Sagiri Izumi respectively. Mr. Matsuoka and Ms. Fujita both did phenomenal jobs, and I especially loved their excellent deadpan deliveries.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. There is more I can and will say about the actual characters of Masamune and Sagiri.
Incorporating this show’s performances and the events that happened during its story, the most essential thing Eromanga-sensei managed to do was something the two seasons of Oreimo failed to achieve. This series had several heartfelt moments that allowed it to rise above most other anime comedies.
This isn't the next great thing, I assure you. Nevertheless, Eromanga-sensei was much better than average.
The Characters
A few episodes into Eromanga-sensei and I didn’t think I would be talking about this show’s characters during the Series Positives section of this review. Although the Izumis were well on their way to being the two best things about this series, everyone else wasn’t instilling the highest amount of confidence.
There was plenty of annoyances to go around.
However, one of the strengths of Eromanga-sensei was its ability to course correct. Having now finished this series, I can still think of one or two characters that served almost no purpose and had no business being in this show. That notwithstanding, there wasn’t a single character I ended up disliking. That’s a win in my book.
However, one of the strengths of Eromanga-sensei was its ability to course correct. Having now finished this series, I can still think of one or two characters that served almost no purpose and had no business being in this show. That notwithstanding, there wasn’t a single character I ended up disliking. That’s a win in my book.
But to back up for a moment, with the exceptions of the Izumi step-siblings, every character in this show started on the wrong foot. And nowhere was this a bigger problem than with Megumi Jinno (voiced by Ibuki Kido).
Without question, Megumi was an example of a character that did not need to be in this series. If you were to remove her, nothing would have changed. And had she stayed as the character she originally was at the beginning of this show, that would have been a huge problem. She lacked any sort of tact and failed to look past how she saw the world. Megumi didn’t understand that there may be reasons why people did the things they did.
Megumi wanted to be friends with Sagiri. A noble goal, but the way she went about it made it seem like she was doing this for the wrong reasons. Megumi liked making friends and wanted to get to know everyone in her class; which included Sagiri.
Since Sagiri never went to school, Megumi was frustrated that Sagiri was the only person she hadn’t been able to befriend. Megumi’s solution to this was barging her way into the Izumi step-siblings' lives.
Megumi was loud, pushy, and didn’t take “no” for an answer; all things that pushed the very reserved Sagiri away. Megumi failed to see the harm she was doing.
How Eromanga-sensei course corrected itself was by introducing a counterbalance for Megumi. This series brought in someone who not only quelled Megumi’s high-maintenance nature, but managed to knock Megumi down to a level that was a lot more tolerable, as well as likable.Megumi found herself in a situation that, to be fair, wasn’t anything more extreme then what this series had done up to this point. That said, this scene was a bit much. Had the initial version of Megumi been the one in this spot, though, I wouldn’t have cared a whole lot.
However, since she had calmed down and began taking a more thought-out approach in getting to know Sagiri, I was instantly on Megumi’s side when someone – and by someone, I mean Sagiri – took this situation one step too far.
In the aftermath of this, Sagiri immediately knew she was way out of line and finally opened-up to Megumi; even if just a little.
Eromanga-sensei took someone that was hard to like and gave them some depth. In doing so, this series demonstrated that it was willing to go beyond relying on one-note personalities to define its characters.
That was me doing a lot of explaining, and that is why I’m not going to go into as much detail with the other secondary characters. The only reason I went on about Megumi was because she was the person who underwent the biggest character transformation. However, the person who had the best character transformation was Elf Yamada (voiced by Minami Takahashi), and I don’t want to give too much away about Elf since she was a critical part of why Eromanga-sensei ended up being so good.
But the side characters were one thing. The real stars of Eromanga-sensei were, if you can believe it, the actual stars of Eromanga-sensei – the Izumi step-siblings, Masamune and Sagari. These two were a blast to follow.
Masamune – had this series chosen to go down this route – would have made for the ideal harem center. There was a lot more to his personality than merely being the main character. He was kind, hard-working, and extremely likable. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine why he was able to pick up a few admirers.
My favorite thing about Masamune was his ability to separate his professional life from his personal one. For instance, when Masamune first met Elf, the two didn't get along. In fact, Masamune saw Elf as a giant headache and never got the slightest bit fazed when the two of them ended up in several awkward - a.k.a. suggestive - positions. Rather than freaking out and stammering on like an idiot, Masamune quickly moved on because he didn’t see Elf in that kind of way.
Amazing: a male anime character in a romantic-comedy series that didn’t let his penis dictate every one of his moves. That’s a new one I can get behind.
What was even better, despite not always seeing eye to eye with Elf Yamada, the person, Masamune had a ton of respect for Elf Yamada, the writer.
Masamune had plenty of jabs to throw at Elf thanks to her large ego and lazy attitude. But with a genuine smile, he was more than happy to thank Elf because her stories helped him get through a rough patch in his life.
I don’t know if I can adequately express how much this series impressed me when I saw this.
And to think, there was someone in this series who matched Masamune.
It would be to easy to say our titular Eromanga-sensei, Sagiri, was adorable; there was a lot more to her than that. Nevertheless, yeah, Sagiri was cute as hell.
Sagiri’s self-imposed isolation was a real dilemma in this series. Sagiri knew this was something she needed to overcome. Unfortunately, her not wanting to leave her room had nothing to do with laziness. There was something in her mind that was zapping all the motivation from her.
Stemming from the tragic death of her mother and step-father, Sagiri no longer felt the will to leave the safety of her bedroom. After a year of isolation following the incident, simply asking Sagiri to go outside and expecting her to do that without hesitation was something that was never going to happen.
Stemming from the tragic death of her mother and step-father, Sagiri no longer felt the will to leave the safety of her bedroom. After a year of isolation following the incident, simply asking Sagiri to go outside and expecting her to do that without hesitation was something that was never going to happen.
However, in her exile, Sagiri’s much more energetic and outgoing persona, Eromanga-sensei, came to be. She grew to love online streaming because it was a way for her to put on a different face and pretend to be someone who wasn’t her. While doing this, she found a voice and an audience that supported her work as an illustrator.
And speaking of Sagiri’s illustrations, this was another area that allowed her sillier side to come out. Sagiri would lose herself in her work and would forget her more timid tendencies. This wasn’t always the best combination since Sagiri loved nothing more than drawing lewd pictures. And losing herself to what she was sketching often involved embarrassing the poor soul, or souls, she got to model for her.
Eromanga-sensei was one of those special shows with multiple characters that could carry whatever scenes they were a part of. So, I now want you to imagine what this series became when the step-siblings got the chance to play off each other.
If there was one thing I had to say about the relationship between Masamune and Sagiri: they were a team. Together they created their success within the world of Light Novels. And though they were aware of their own gifts, the pair also knew very well that they got as far as they did because of the other.
If you were to take away Masamune’s writings or Sagiri’s illustrations, the stories they created would have lost their meaning. They no longer would have been special.
Eromanga-sensei was more than just a show that had step-siblings with feelings towards one another. This was a series about creative partners with a shared goal they both cared deeply about, and they were willing to challenge anyone who got in their way.
Adding this extra layer of purpose made this show a lot more memorable.
Series Negatives
Remember how I said a title like Eromanga-sensei didn’t guarantee any concerning situations? In case you didn’t get my meaning, I was referring to the possibility of a ton of poorly implemented fanservice. But while the title may not have guaranteed this from happening, I also never said my concerns were misplaced.
To say this series had a lot of awkward fanservice would be flat-out incorrect. The show actually had very few examples of blatant fanservice. Instead, Eromanga-sensei was a lot more suggestive in its approach.
To say this series had a lot of awkward fanservice would be flat-out incorrect. The show actually had very few examples of blatant fanservice. Instead, Eromanga-sensei was a lot more suggestive in its approach.
Did this make things better? I have to say no because this show was already walking a thin line. Although I may not have cared that Masamune and Sagiri were step-siblings, I know a lot of people would. And since this series came from the same mind of an author whose most famous work is about blood siblings starting a relationship, this is a shadow that is impossible to escape.
To defend Eromanga-sensei a little, this story actually contained the reason why step-siblings having feelings for each other doesn’t set me off.
Near the end of this series, we got a look at what Masamune and Sagiri were like before they became step-siblings. Unbeknownst to them, they were already important parts of one another’s lives. They were supporting each other, and that brought them close. Had their parents not met and these two found each other on their own, suddenly their relationship would be socially acceptable.Now before I dig my grave even deeper than I’m sure it already is, what I just said isn’t a glowing positive of Eromanga-sensei. The segment I am referring to contained a lot of elements this show failed to go anywhere with.
First, if Masamune and Sagiri were already connected without being step-siblings, why bother making them step-siblings? You’re just asking to open a can of worms that didn’t need opening. Unfortunately for this series, if Masamune and Sagiri weren’t step-siblings, that would remove a critical piece of what made Eromanga-sensei, Eromanga-sensei. This massive white elephant in the room became forever linked to this show; there is no getting around it.
Second, this was the only time during this show that focused on Masamune and Sagiri’s parents. It was strange that this series didn’t do anything with this since the death of their parents shaped the kind of people Masamune and Sagiri became in this story. This tragedy was what put Sagiri into isolation, and it was what fueled Masamune’s drive to write. This was important, so then, why would you never touch on this?
Third, this segment served mostly as the end of this series. However, to say Eromanga-sensei ended wouldn’t be right. No, this show just sort of stopped.
There was no hinting at a second season. There was no wrap up to this series. There wasn’t even much of an indication that we were in the final episode. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have expected this story to go one for a least five, or more, episodes.
Would I be excited to get an Eromanga-sensei 2? Absolutely. But it also would have been nice to get a finale to Eromanga-sensei 1.
That aside, the biggest problem with this series was the already mentioned large number of unimportant characters.
It would have been one thing if this show introduced these people and then simply did nothing with them. Instead, this series not only introduced characters it was never going to use, but it also set it up so that it appeared as though it was going to use them.
Soley based on the information this series gave me, I can think of at least five potential storylines Eromanga-sensei could have gone down. And should a second season ever come, it wouldn’t solve anything. A sequel season would have to reintroduce these characters and their importance since that is how little impact they left behind.
Eromanga-sensei had a ton of excellent ideas. But just because you can throw something into your story, that’s not reason enough to actually to it.
Final Thoughts
So, if you've made it this far into the review, maybe you're willing to go one step further?
This series was a lot more than I expected, and if you decide to give this show a chance, I'm sure you will come to that same realization.
With a great mix of both comedy and heart, this series was a full package. Though some of its characters were wasted, or rather, not at all necessary by the end, the same was not true for leads Masamune and Sugiri.
With that in mind, I can easily give Eromanga-sensei a recommendation.
But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this show? What would be your advice concerning Eromanga-sensei? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.
And if you liked what you read, be sure to follow me on my social media sites so that you never miss a post or update. Also, please share this review across the internet to help add to the discussion.
I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.
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