Anime: Ladies versus Butlers! 6r5a40

Animated by Xebec, a studio that never made a worthy show in its whole existence. Directed by Ootsuki Atsushi, the same guy who did over the top erotic comedies such as Kanokon and Motto to Love-Ru. Yeah, you know right away in what you are getting yourself into.

Ladies versus Butlers is amongst the most honest anime in existence. At no point is it pretending to be anything other than brain-dead ecchi comedy. It doesn’t try to tell a story, it doesn’t try to have characters you should like, it doesn’t even try to be anything other than the tired, repetitive softporn humour the Japs are so good at and that is what makes it so much more enjoyable. So as long as all you want is endless retarded borderline hentai without irrelevant elements such as a plot or character emersion getting in the way, then this is the show for you.

I wish I could write ten pages of analysis around this show but the thing is, that way I would be pretending the show has something worth writing about and I would be lying. It is just aimless excessive fan service and thus I am objectively giving characters and story an ace, since the show is honestly telling us it doesn’t need such useless extra.

I have read many comments about the ending being terrible and how most were disappointed with the show because of that. Guys, seriously, you missed the point entirely; it was the perfect ending for such a show. If you subconsciously expected context, where there was none, the joke is on you. Its target audience doesn’t care at all about that, so why would the anime waste precious airtime on anything other than borderline hentai comedy to begin with? It is an endless parade of overused brain-dead erotic clichés, one after another, all accompanied with the much essential blank lead character who loves his virginity more than he loves to grope girls. Something that he is cursed to be doing every 30 seconds because they all constantly trip or are in need to be silenced by groping. That of course hints that the show attempts to have its own in-laws and subconscious messages over how you are supposed to react if you grope girls and I guess it is a minor negative aspect of the show; it should not even hint it has context. That is what prevented me from giving enjoyment the maximum score.

The production values are fine for such a show. The girls lack noses and some hairstyles may look like huge drills but that is the perfect way to separate one character from another. I mean, since they completely lack personality (and noses), the animators did the right thing to centre on boob sizes, hair colours and loli looks to help us tell apart who is who. What is so bad about that? Plus, they all have retarded squeaky voices, since this way it sounds funnier and it hints they are all underaged lolis. That makes the erotic humour a lot kinkier and funnier and one should not expect anything other than that.

I highly enjoyed the honesty of this anime and I gladly recommend it to all those of you who are displeased with context, character emersion, plots, and generally who don’t like thinking what the hell is going on with the anime while you are touching yourselves. It is really annoying when they try to distract you from your enjoyment like that.

Oh, and of course I forgot anything that happened in this show 10 seconds after I completed it. It may be the perfect method for endless replay value or just total lack of attachment with the show. Your call.

No scoring breakdown for this show. This would hint there is context.

First, let me say this about Ladies versus Butlers!: it's, surprisingly, actually a lot better than it seems. Based on synopsis, or looking at the character designs, one thought comes to mind: ecchi harem show. This series should have been another Heaven's Lost Property or Love Hina, a shallow parade of bishoujo and fanservice, with an everyman protagonist that the viewer is suppose to project themselves into. Something fun, yet brainless. Yet somehow, the series manages to end up being better than the sum of it's parts, and I'm completely unable to put my finger on how exactly it's able to accomplish this. Maybe it's the soft, cute art-style? Maybe it's the fact that the fanservice is (mostly) non-sleazy and innocent? Maybe it's the fact that's not actually a harem show since only two of the girls like the protagonist? Maybe it's because the breasts obey the laws of gravity instead of being helium-filled, perfectly spherical balloons? Maybe it's because said protagonist actually has a personality instead of being a blank canvass? Or perhaps it's a mix of all of these elements?

The bare-bones plot for our story is thus, Akiharu, our protagonist, is newly-enrolled at an un-named academy, where he's training to become a butler. Said academy also trains the daughters of noble families in the ways of being a "lady". Akiharu's childhood friend Tomomi is one of these ladies-in-training, and on his first day, he meets another one, Sernia Iori Flameheart. Owing to his delinquent-like appearance and a misunderstanding, Akiharu makes a bad impression on both Sernia and the rest of the school's ladies, which leads to him developing a reputation as a perverted thug. The story continues from there. Though perhaps "story" would be too strong of a word for this series, since I can recall only one plot point from the entire twelve episode series.

While the story is weak, the visuals are Ladies versus Butlers! greatest strength. It's art style makes use of very soft, light, warm colors, which contrasts with the typical bright, bold colors commonly used in anime, to the point where you wonder if your TV's settings have gotten messed-up somehow. The show's character designs are also unusual, with the girls being short with thicker bodies, making them look "chubby" when compared to typical anime girls. Which makes sense, since in reality, bustier girls will normally be on the chubbier side. Speaking of busty, the breasts also bear mentioning, since they have a much more realistic shape and level of sagging compared to the aforementioned "helium-filled, perfectly spherical balloons" of typical anime breasts. The overall art style of Ladies versus Butlers! is much more simplistic than compared to, say, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, there's minimal use of shadows and highlights and the lines are not very clean and precise, but this doesn't make the show look "cheap". Instead, it allows for a bit more movement than you would normally see in anime, not to mention this "simplified" art style gives the show a lot of charm.

Sound-wise, Ladies versus Butlers! is woefully average. The OP and ED are your standard ani-songs, and the BGM tracks... Well, I just had to go back and check if there were any, that's how forgettable they are. The voice-work is average, all the actors perform their roles adequately, and their being no real stand-out performances.

Regardless of how it accomplishes it, Ladies versus Butlers! manages to sur other formalistic ecchi comedies and become something better. Make no mistake, it's still a simplistic, nudity-packed romp filled to the brim with good-looking girls, while at the same time it's better than a simplistic, nudity-packed romp filled to the brim with good-looking girls has any right to be. This is probably largely due to a combination of the series charming art-style, the less-sleazy fanservice, the unusual design of it's female characters and comedy. That, or the fact there's nudity in every episode. Obviously, people who don't like ecchi comedies or copious amounts of animated nipples probably won't find Ladies versus Butlers! their cup of butler-served tea. But if you love fun ecchi comedies, or you only have an small interest them, you should definitely for Ladies versus Butlers!

From the makers of Kanokon, comes something so much better!

At first glance and subsequent glances, Ladies vs Butlers is nothing more than your average ecchi show. So why watch it? Because it is fun!

Animation - It's nice
Personally, I liked the animation. I thought that the character models were refreshing and the way they interacted was great. The facial expressions and even minor movements were well developed and brought a liveliness to the characters. Something that is certainly taken for granted and often goes unnoticed.

As for the backgrounds, most of them are in school settings, hallways, dormatories, shower room, classrooms, etc. They are all wonderfully detailed and blend well with the overall animation. It has been a while since I've seen it, but I don't recall any obvious repeating scenes.

Sound - What do you know, it is nice too
The opening reminded me of another song and I was never able to put my finger on what song... I suppose it didn't bother me that much for me to investigate further to find out. Either way, the opening was a nice catchy song... other than that I don't really much about it. The ending... I don't much about that either, my deepest apologies.

As for the characters, their seiyuus did a wonderful job. The characters really reflected well the emotions being portrayed. You really got the sense that the seiyuus enjoyed their roles and it reflects well in the show. Every piece of dialogue that I can recall, never once felt like it was a voice reading lines. Kudos to the seiyuus.

Story and Character Development - There isn't much of a story, that isn't nice
The show revolves around Saikyou Tomomi, his childhood friend that he greatly fears.

The show revolves around him getting accostumed to student life at the academy as well as his some-what daily life. There is plenty of nudity and most of the characters fit into the stereotypes that come with ecchi titles. There is the girl that doesn't mind stripping, the clumsy girl that causes problems for everyone, the boy that is actually a girl, the tsundere, the game loving principal, the strict teacher, the annoying guy that always gets into trouble trying to sneak peaks, the shy loli type that is actually older than most of the cast, the foreigners that love the male lead but her servant wants him dead, etc.

While all of that may seem like it is annoying, it blends really well and in the right balance that makes this show hilarious. I will tell you, if you can make it past the first episode (it is, ittedly, kind of off putting), the rest of the show is great. While there are some pretty linear story moments and things are predictable, it is still a fun and hilarious watch.

In regards to the character development, there is very little with a few of the characters... mostly people coming to like Hino. However, for the majority there isn't any.

Value and Enjoyment - It is better than Kanokon!
Most places I've seen on the internet seem to agree that Ladies vs Butlers is indeed, better than Kanokon. Although the story is pretty linear and predictable and there is virtually no character development, the saving grace of the show, in my opinion, is that it is funny! Also the ridiculous amounts of nudity certainly won't hurt if you like that, which I don't think you would even be reading this if you didn't mind nudity in anime.

Value-wise, there isn't much to be gained. No deep, interesting, philosophical, thought provoking story concepts, neither is there deep, emotionally connecting, make you cry character development. It is pretty much a mindless nude-fest with lots of humor sprinkled in. Which for that, enjoyment scores pretty high. I enjoyed the series and will probably rewatch it in the near future.

Plenty of potential that simply fizzled and fell flat.
The main male lead is never really developed, He's supposed to be delinquent seeming, but the only indication of that is a facial scar.
This makes the female reaction to him to be completely inexplicable and ridiculous.
The other guys in the series don't seem to be at all threatened and don't appear to notice anything particular about him at all.
There are far too many characters that they try to fit into a short series.
The main characters got plenty enough trouble as it is with the friction between the two main female antagonists, so why throw in pointless stereotypical extras?
Now, if ecchi's your thing then this delivers in spades.
Gratuitous and frequent, so frequent in fact that you begin to believe that the creators of the series had no confidence in their writing abilities what so ever.
This may be fun for some, especially if you're male and under 30. But I was generally disappointed overall.
it could have gone so many places and settled for going no where in particular.