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This is more like what I hope a fan-service should be: plenty of titillation, but a story and characters that would still be worth watching--or possibly even more worth watching--without the generous expanses of skin.
(Held back from Facebook; my circle there is wider and less carefully chosen. Also, it includes my mom. I guess you could feel privileged or honored or something if you want, but it's not required.)
I picked this one up because the English title suggested a parody of Ah! My Goddess!, which I enjoyed, and because the previews I saw showed pretty girls showing plenty of cleavage. The former turned out not to be the case, but the show delivered on the latter in spades, and to my surprise, also delivered characters one could care about and an overarching plot that, unfortunately, promised more than it delivered. I think I'll have to try the manga to see if it finishes the main story.
Ah, My Buddha! is delivered in two, 12-episode PG-13 "seasons", with a bonus, not-shown-on-TV ("OVA") episode at the end of each "season". Each OVA episode is closer to R-rated, which good in that the pretty girls get nekkider, and bad because one of the girls is designed to appeal to the Lolita crowd, of which I am not a member.
Ah, My Buddha! takes place in and around a Buddhist temple. The central character, Ikko Satonaka, is an acolyte monk of high school age. The temple is run by Ikko's grandmother, and the rest of the main cast is filled out (pun intended) with six acolyte nuns, each of whom represents one of the six "lower realms" of Buddhism. I know jack-all about Buddhism, so I have no idea whether the realms and characteristics as portrayed in the anime are accurate, so I merely mention this in passing. The acolyte nuns are all within a year of Ikko's age, plus-or-minus.
Most of the stories in the anime revolve around spirits needing to be exorcised. This is one of the functions of the temple, and so when news is received of a haunting, the acolytes are sent out to deal with the situation. Unfortunately, being only acolytes, they are not necessarily very good at exorcisms yet. Ikko is particularly inept at this, but within him lies the power of a famous monk (on whose name I am drawing a complete blank), which can be brought to the fore by causing Ikko to have an orgasm. Fortunately, Ikko is a teenage boy, and a glimpse of forbidden flesh--say, a nicely-endowed acolyte nun in her underwear, or the infamous Marshmallow Hell*--is plenty to bring him to this state, after which the evil ghosts are dispelled in an explosion ofpent-up sexual frustration pure spiritual power, after which a lust-crazed Ikko must invariably be forcefully subdued by the same nubile young women who brought him to this state in the first place.
This is not only the dynamic that gives Ah, My Buddha! its justification for the fan service, but also whence it derives the conflict that should have made this a truly compelling coming-of-age story. Because the reason Ikko is training at the temple is to learn to control his power, and each time he succumbs to lust, his minimal control slips even further.
The characters are portrayed with a fair amount of depth, especially in the second "season" (wherein a rival temple, determined to control Ikko's power, sends yet another pretty acolyte nun to seduce him and keep him in his lust-filled state as much as possible), but in spite of several points along the way where Ikko shows signs of growth and improved control, the show continually slams him back into situations where the girls (too quickly, in my opinion) decide that they are overwhelmed by the Ghost of the Week and disrobe to invoke their deus ex machina. This practice also derails the budding romance between Ikko and one of the acolyte nuns (Chitose, who alternates between regretfully taking her clothes off to evoke Ikko's power and being infuriated with--and mildly abusive toward--Ikko for not being strong enough to resist).
The story here should have been Ikko learning to control his power and earning Chitose's respect and love. Instead, these plot points are constantly cast aside in order to keep the fan service gravy train running.
I enjoyed this show, and the fan service was mostly entertaining. I just wish it had lived up to its potential. I would almost certainly watch further episodes if they were available, whether the real story were ever resolved or not.
*I take no responsibility for the length of time it takes you to extricate yourself from the attractive nuisance which is TVTropes.
(Held back from Facebook; my circle there is wider and less carefully chosen. Also, it includes my mom. I guess you could feel privileged or honored or something if you want, but it's not required.)
I picked this one up because the English title suggested a parody of Ah! My Goddess!, which I enjoyed, and because the previews I saw showed pretty girls showing plenty of cleavage. The former turned out not to be the case, but the show delivered on the latter in spades, and to my surprise, also delivered characters one could care about and an overarching plot that, unfortunately, promised more than it delivered. I think I'll have to try the manga to see if it finishes the main story.
Ah, My Buddha! is delivered in two, 12-episode PG-13 "seasons", with a bonus, not-shown-on-TV ("OVA") episode at the end of each "season". Each OVA episode is closer to R-rated, which good in that the pretty girls get nekkider, and bad because one of the girls is designed to appeal to the Lolita crowd, of which I am not a member.
Ah, My Buddha! takes place in and around a Buddhist temple. The central character, Ikko Satonaka, is an acolyte monk of high school age. The temple is run by Ikko's grandmother, and the rest of the main cast is filled out (pun intended) with six acolyte nuns, each of whom represents one of the six "lower realms" of Buddhism. I know jack-all about Buddhism, so I have no idea whether the realms and characteristics as portrayed in the anime are accurate, so I merely mention this in passing. The acolyte nuns are all within a year of Ikko's age, plus-or-minus.
Most of the stories in the anime revolve around spirits needing to be exorcised. This is one of the functions of the temple, and so when news is received of a haunting, the acolytes are sent out to deal with the situation. Unfortunately, being only acolytes, they are not necessarily very good at exorcisms yet. Ikko is particularly inept at this, but within him lies the power of a famous monk (on whose name I am drawing a complete blank), which can be brought to the fore by causing Ikko to have an orgasm. Fortunately, Ikko is a teenage boy, and a glimpse of forbidden flesh--say, a nicely-endowed acolyte nun in her underwear, or the infamous Marshmallow Hell*--is plenty to bring him to this state, after which the evil ghosts are dispelled in an explosion of
This is not only the dynamic that gives Ah, My Buddha! its justification for the fan service, but also whence it derives the conflict that should have made this a truly compelling coming-of-age story. Because the reason Ikko is training at the temple is to learn to control his power, and each time he succumbs to lust, his minimal control slips even further.
The characters are portrayed with a fair amount of depth, especially in the second "season" (wherein a rival temple, determined to control Ikko's power, sends yet another pretty acolyte nun to seduce him and keep him in his lust-filled state as much as possible), but in spite of several points along the way where Ikko shows signs of growth and improved control, the show continually slams him back into situations where the girls (too quickly, in my opinion) decide that they are overwhelmed by the Ghost of the Week and disrobe to invoke their deus ex machina. This practice also derails the budding romance between Ikko and one of the acolyte nuns (Chitose, who alternates between regretfully taking her clothes off to evoke Ikko's power and being infuriated with--and mildly abusive toward--Ikko for not being strong enough to resist).
The story here should have been Ikko learning to control his power and earning Chitose's respect and love. Instead, these plot points are constantly cast aside in order to keep the fan service gravy train running.
I enjoyed this show, and the fan service was mostly entertaining. I just wish it had lived up to its potential. I would almost certainly watch further episodes if they were available, whether the real story were ever resolved or not.
*I take no responsibility for the length of time it takes you to extricate yourself from the attractive nuisance which is TVTropes.