Sasami-san@Ganbaranai (UK Rating: 15)
Hikkikomori and NEET have long been a source for anime heroes and heroines. Few, however, have been blessed with omnipotence. The heroine here, Sasami, has the powers of God. With great power comes no responsibility, as Sasami never leaves the house, instead spending all her time playing games and watching anime, while being doted on by her slave of a brother. That is until she’s pulled into the world filled with other gods and weird people. Often described as “SHAFT’s The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, this truly unique series has arrived on British shores thanks to MVM and contains all 12 episodes, along with trailers and clean opening/ending animations.
Right from the get-go, this is one of the weirdest series out there. Sasami-san is set in modern day Japan, but a modern day Japan filled with the characters of Shinto mythology. As in Shinto, the world is filled with Gods – 8 million of them, in fact – known as the Yaoyorozu. They reside in every tree and flower, in every speck of dust and every grain of sand. They control every aspect of the universe and exist in a hierarchy. While the lower levels can alter the world, the higher gods can alter the lower. The most supreme is Amaterasu, and its powers currently reside in a teenage girl called Sasami.
Sasami is part of an ancient Japanese clan, the Nimigi no Mikoto. When the great god Amaterasu abandoned her responsibilities, she left her powers with a human – Sasami’s ancestor. The power was to return to Amaterasu when the man died, but he found a way around it. Incest! By keeping his bloodline “pure” he was able to pass the power down through his line. Since then, the family has had stewardship of this power, protecting it and maintaining a world convenient for humans. The women would train to become vessels, while the men would train to become their servants and eventually the fathers to their sister’s children.
Thus far, it sounds like a severely dark series, right? At moments it is, but it’s more often light-hearted and surreal and filled with insane comedy. The incest remains somewhat Sasami and her brother Kamiomi escaped the clan with Amaterasu’s power, but they were raised to love each other and they do, often acting as if they were in a couple and getting jealous when the other garners any attention from the opposite sex. It will be quite off-putting for Western audiences.
The series starts off with Sasami as quite the Hikkikomori, whilst her brother acts as her personal slave, brushing her hair, dressing her, washing her, providing food for her while she refuses to leave the house or go to school, and he instead heads off to his job as a teacher. There are three other women in his life – the Yagami sisters: Tsurugi, Kagami, and Tama. One Valentine’s Day, the power of Amaterasu is released upon the world as Sasami’s wish for chocolate accidentally influences the other gods to cover the world in chocolate. To stop this world-ending choc-tastrophy, the sisters step up and reveal their true powers. Kagami looks like she’s pulled straight from She the Ultimate Weapon, Tama gains superpowers, and Tsurugi draws a magic sword.
The series develops through arcs that each feels very different. The heart of the first arc is filled with bizarre comedy and insane stories, each filled with slapstick humour and genuinely funny moments. The second arc then takes a much darker and more serious turn as the dead come back to life and the truth of Sasami’s past is shown. This darker tone is a stark change and a very effective mood changer for the audience. The final arc takes on more of shonen style battle series, which manages to wrap up each of the stories nicely while still leaving the door open for more to come.
The bizarre comedy throughout is filled with weird moments. Why does Sasami’s brother constantly cover his face? Why does Kagami have giant missile launchers in her boobs? Some of these hit better than others. Towards the end of the series, the obligatory visit to the hot springs shows up and is filled with hilarious moments including an oppai obsessed yuri girl and even a futanari! There’s nothing too overtly sexual in these scenes, just innuendo and harmless ecchi fun.
The presentation is beautiful. This is a SHAFT piece of work, after all, and its signature style is felt throughout. The style manages to adapt with the story, too, managing to fill the world with rich tones and warm colours when showing Sasami’s hikikomori existence, giving crisp art and cool animations when the combat starts and filling the ecchi moments with plenty of curves and risqu angles. The character designs are also fantastic, each being individual and distinctive.
