Common Name: Etotama
Alternative Names: Eto Tamashii
Score: 6/10, 4/5
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama
Summary: Kicked out of the Zodiac long ago, Nya-tan the cat has been reincarnated so she might reclaim her place alongside the other deified animals, the Eto-shin. To achieve her goal, however, she will have to acquire enough human worship, otherwise known as Sol/Lull, to stand a chance against the other animals--particularly when Nya-tan must best each animal at a game of their choosing--games that will likely be weighted against her. As the first human to make contact with the reincarnated Nya-tan, Amato Takeru will likely be an ideal source of Sol/Lull. Of course, that'll require him to actually want to praise the excitable and obnoxious Nya-tan who, from his point of view, has barged into his life and made herself at home in spite of his wishes.
Review: It really is an interesting thing to consider at what point artistry and cinematic quality trump pointless plots and nonsense characters to the point that a generally average show can be considered actively good because of those elements alone. I am, of course, aware that one's tolerance and sensitivity toward such things are the key to deciding when that idea is realized. Of course, those key factors are also highly subjective in nature. So, I guess the real question is this: Where the hell does Etotama belong on my critical scale? On the one hand, the plot and character interactions showcased in this anime typically fall somewhere between dull and offensive. On the other, the 3DCG battles that are peppered throughout the show make it a real spectacle worthy of excited praise and critical consideration alike.
See, this just looks like fun, good stupid fun.
Before we even get to these scenes, though, we have to get through the plot of Etotama, which is unfortunately built on some of the most trite and uninspired dreck I have ever seen. Like most great anime plots, Etotama is centered around the idiotic tomfoolery of the rambunctious Nya-tan who, having been recently reincarnated, has forgotten about her past life entirely. In other words, our main protagonist suffers from both amnesia and a terminal case of stupid. Being the genki main character that she is though, Nya-tan doesn't really let this loss get to her. If anything, missing who she used to be serves as little more than a distraction from her current goal of fighting all the Zodiac, gaining their Sol/Lull Seals, and joining their ranks once more. While the show doesn't really address the what's and why's of that desire until the very end, none of the niggling details really matter all that much. The main point is that Nya-tan wants to be one of the zodiac and has to beat all the current members to do so. Being a comedy, it then figures of course that all the other members of the zodiac are weirdos too. Nerds, perverts, air heads, muscle heads--every kind of aberrant, not necessarily negative, personality is on display for this show. From their daily lives to their epic battles and interactions with the main human lead, Takeru, every part of these characters points to the simple fact that chaos and idiocy rule the day in this world.
Though I'd argue the Zodiac animals' character designs are pretty indicative of that fact already.
As much as I claim that the main force behind this show is it's CG battles, the show itself actually runs on the comedic interactions between the members of the zodiac and Takeru, the representative human. Since Nya-tan has basically latched onto the boy as both a Sol/Lull leech and a potential love interest, it becomes an eventuality that he gets to slowly become acquainted and then friends with the various members of the zodiac. Once that magical girl-esque "fight to become my friend" practice has worked its way through the rest of the cast, the show then trows itself into slowly built drama regarding the leader of the Zodiac, Chu-tan the Rat. For reasons that are, again, not expounded upon until the very end, Chu-tan is understood to be both functionally insane and the reason why the old Nya-tan died. Needless to say, the show mostly builds on this using the trite excuse that cats and rats have always been enemies as well as references to the old Zodiac tale where the rat tricked the cat out of the Zodiac race.
Regardless of the reason Chu-tan is the final boss, all that really means to me is some
really great CG battle moments toward the very end of the show.
So, finally on to why I actually like this show, THE SUPER ULTRA HYPE CG BATTLES THAT SINGLE-HANDEDLY JUSTIFY THE USE OF CG. OK, I'm not actually that excited or biased toward this show because of these gorgeous cinematic moments, but they were pretty much the only thing that held my interest when it came to this show. It was an excuse to put up with the nonsense plot, the dull characters, the vaguely racist and insulting character designs, and the fact that this show never surprised me at any turn. As far as excuses to watch bad shows go though, this is probably one of the better ones. Both colorfully stylish and masterfully choreographed, the battle scenes in this anime have a way of looking great and offering a surprising amount of impact. While it's by no means believable-looking, the stylized designs make the CG look great given how limited the medium tends to be. More important than all that though, these scenes are important because they actively make the show a fun experience. Even past all the bullshit that makes up the vast majority of this show, I still look back on it as a fun experience because these scenes have a way of validating the experience as a whole.
Trust me when I say there's a whole lot of nonsense these battles need to validate.
I suppose that is the answer to my burning question though. The artistic value and cinematography are able to single-handedly make a bad show good when they are able to color one's opinion of the whole product in a positive light. Since these battle segments make the rest of the show bearable, rather than being simply forgettable, I am both willing and justified and scoring this title as high as I do in spite of the overall content. Would I recommend it to people? Not necessarily. It's some great junk food, along similar lines to Umaru, but there are a lot of better ways to spend one's time than to watch anime that aren't really that great.