LogFAQs > #969552472

19. Etotama
https://myanimelist.net/anime/28221/Etotama
Spring 2015 (12 episodes)
My Score: 9/10, MAL Score: 6.81/10
Best Character: Nya-tan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLi2rKMgFxY

Premise: The legend says that when the Chinese zodiac was decided thousands of years ago, the Rat tricked the Cat into not participating. Now, in the modern day, Nya-tan is ready to fight her way through the other twelve and finally claim a spot in the zodiac.

The Good: Etotama is a comedy anime that also has action scenes during the zodiac battles. A regular guy, Amato Takeru, moves into a cheap house which turns out to have a tear in the floor leading to a celestial dimension. Nya-tan pops out and uses the house as a base of operations to challenge the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. The biggest hurdle is the Rat. Chu-tan has already killed Nya-tan once many years ago and is still murderously aggressive towards the Cat.

This is an anime that sounds like it has a serious plot. Theres a big bad Rat, a Cat who needs to make her way through whats essentially a tournament, and so on. Theres nothing wrong with the main story, but its mostly used as a framework to tell amazing jokes. Usually, I wouldnt like a normal dude being in the middle of a plot like this, but Takeru is great as the straight man. The zodiac animal girls all have fun gimmicks that lead to a lot of insane gags. My favorites were Mo-tan the Ox, who had a perverse affection for Nya-tan, and Piyo-tan the Rooster, who would forget everything after taking three steps.

The real star of the show is still Nya-tan. She may be a cat-girl, but she isnt the sexy kind (though she occasionally tries to be and fails horribly). She really does act like a cat. One of the first things she does is a trademark cat stretch and then start scratching the wall. She always had a funny quip at the ready which, combined with excellent nya-style voice acting, led to a lot of hilarious moments. The battles in this have the characters take chibi form and are all 3D CGI, which might bother some people. For me, I thought they were all flashy and cool. They were also super creative. Not all of them are battles. Some are intense games of tag, or an intense game of shogi, or an intense game of Mario Kart. It was a lot of fun seeing where Etotama would go next.

The Bad: This is a twelve-episode anime and one of them is a recap episode. I guess they must have had budget problems, which isnt great. However, its one of the best damn recap episodes ever. A lot of the humor in Etotama breaks the fourth wall, and part of me suspects the only reason they did a recap episode was because it led to a lot of amazing jokes. Its impressive that the most negative thing I can think of for this anime is still pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNHGHSZHzIo

Overall: Etotama is an insane and creative comedy, but the battle scenes are impressive too. There are even a few plot points taken seriously, and it nails those as well. Nya-tan was hilarious and easily became one of my favorite anime characters. As long as you dont find her annoying, dont mind the 3D CGI chibi-form battles, and appreciate the style of humor, Etotama is great. Admittedly thats a lot of hurdles for people to clear in order to enjoy it, but I loved it a lot.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/1/AABz_zAAD5qx.jpg

CHARACTER: Nya-tan (Etotama)
https://myanimelist.net/character/118495/Nyaa-tan
Voiced by: Murakawa Rie
TOP 100 RANK: 40th

SPOILERS FOR ETOTAMA

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6FP20nXrYQ

I already talked a lot about Nya-tan in the anime write-up. Shes the star of the show, after all, and every scene that shes in is amazing. On the surface her personality is insane and annoying, and I imagine that would turn a lot of people off. I, on the other hand, fell in love with her instantly. Its important to remember that shes freshly reincarnated after getting killed by Chu-tan, and she has no memories of her previous life. Nya-tan is trying out lots of different silly personalities trying to figure out who she is. This is a plot point that would be serious and poignant in a normal anime. In Etotama, Nya-tan is just an off-the-wall crazy person. I love her.

Once the story started delving into her past, though, theres a lot more to Nya-tan than meets the eye. It turns out the Rat didnt trick the Cat when the Chinese zodiac was decided. They were actually friends, and they made a deal where Chu-tan would look after things from an official position. Nya-tan, meanwhile, would be a wanderer taking care of problems as she finds them. They kept peace for over a thousand years, but Chu-tans soul was slowly tainted. She missed having her friend around, and she resented the burdens of responsibility. Nya-tan sought out a way to cleanse Chu-tans soul, but it could also be used to kill them forever, and the insane Chu-tan took it the wrong way. She used the method to kill Nya-tan, though thankfully not forever.

The revived Nya-tan fights her way through the other eleven animals of the zodiac, and then she finally faces off with her old nemesis/former best friend. The battle goes back and forth for a bit, as shown in the video I linked. In the end, though, Nya-tan is able to cleanse her friends soul and bring the old Chu-tan back. Its a happy ending! Well, for everyone except Nya-tans ambitions. They decide not to let her into the zodiac despite her one cour of effort. Poor Nya-tan. Shell have to settle for another prize, that is, being one of my favorite anime characters.

ANOTHER VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDtbQXMK4gw
(Its just a fun song, not really spoilers)