Other than the influence of the Namako empire, I had also heard that there was some oneesama fan service in KimiAru. And an impressive VA lineup that included personal favourites such as Shizuka Itou, Yuko Goto, Rie Tanaka, Yuu Asakawa, hitomi, Tomokazu Seki.

I ended up marathoning it over two days. It was Not Good but it was still great brainless entertainment. A run down of favourite moments follows.

Shinra-sama x Benisu. Well, it’s not really yuri. More like faux yuri or LFB teasing. But I’m such a slut for it still. The most recent yuri role played by Shizuka Itou, Nadie of El Cazador, still hasn’t been surpassed yet.

Likewise, Shinra-sama’s seeming yuri siscon for Miyu-tan is seku hara rather than real desire. It’s arguable that it’s her rather weird way of showing affection for her blonde twin tailed loli of a younger sister.

Something for us in the Oneesama faction of the S.I.S.C.O.N. alliance too. Oneechan Power Charge! I’m so glad that Hato-nee doesn’t wear those dorky glasses when she’s in her meido uniform.

There were a lot of delusion and dream scenes. As if the series wasn’t delusional enough on its own.

No one can accuse Shinra-sama of not knowing how to enjoy her meido service to the fullest.

Yume x Natose are probably the only pairing in this series that’s yuri *if* one adheres to a more restrictive definition of yuri being not just HAWT L3SB14N S3XX0R but two women who are also emotionally attracted and who want to grow close as a romantic couple. Watching them interact was always nice; there was a tenderness as well as strength in mutual support that made them probably the least dysfunctional pairing of the whole series.

Yuko Goto continues to delight. I had been impressed by her range and depth as Tsubael in Blue Drop and she was surprisingly versatile too as Miyu. In the above scenes, she ranged from a furious ‘WTF take your time!?’ to a pathetic whine of ‘You demon!’ that was worthy of Mikuru.

A loli-looking chara (she’s actually in her twenties yeah right) must wear the stereotypical (but not actually prevalent in the modern era?) school swimsuit.

The homages to Hayate no Gotoku were inevitable. What was most surprising was that they were still funny even though they were really so lame. I suppose KimiAru’s firmly tongue in cheek feel helped somewhat but it was also quite a different style of homage from Hayate no Gotoku’s or Pani Poni Dash‘s.

They weren’t shy about the fan service though nothing was actually revealed like in SHUFFLE!’s WOWOW broadcast.

Rie Tanaka definitely must do more evil, wacky roles. Ok, Ageha-sama wasn’t evil per se but she had the whole megalomania gig going so well. I somehow got the feel that the VA cast knew that this was not The Greatest Most Arty Farty Cutting Edge Otaku Will Write Long Wankerish Post Modern Dissertations On type of animu. If anime voice acting paid handsomely, I could just so imagine a Michael Caine type of response: ‘I have never seen the animu but, by all accounts, it was terrible. However I have seen the house that it built and it is terrific.’

The chara designs also seem to shameless rip offs. Natose reminds me of Ryoumo from Ikkitousen *still trying to forget that I watched some of that* Eri Sawachika was the first chara I thought of when I first saw Miyu. De Niro seems to be a Haro homage. Benisu kinda looked like Vandread’s Dita [but with the background of Black Lagoon's Revy]. I’m certain that the references and cliches were deliberate but it could have easily backfired. I’m still not entirely certain why it didn’t for me.

Copious fan service. That’s what explains it for me. Oh Haruhi-sama and St Nagato-chi, I’m such a cheap slut.

The VA in-jokes were also fun. At the end of the first episode, Shinra-sama narrated the second episode preview about how Ren would be transferring to a school where she was the student council president and was rebutted that she was talking about a different butler anime! LOL

The scene above recreated the circumstances in one of Yuko Goto’s most noted roles, the box cutter scene from SHUFFLE! And the follow-up mention of yandere powers caused severe stomach cramps from laughter.

Phew. Half way through the episodes. Time for an Oneechan Power Recharge before I continue with this post!

Hmmm… I always figured Natose to be more a Belka magic user than a Midchilda one.

LOL at Hato-nee’s brother complex and dark side. However I can’t recommend this to Stripey because he likes the siscon to be doramaz and forbidden rather than fan service and LOLZ.

It is disputable whether Natose’s feelings for Yume are of the romantic sort rather than the super friendly or oneechan wannabe type. She definitely has that last complex given how she lost her younger brother and sister in a natural disaster. But I argue that the Chinatown scene of Episode 10 says YURI.

Yume’s classmate Kei calls their behaviour flirting. The non-denials and the blushing helps strengthen this particular interpretation too.

Seems that it wasn’t lust at first sight but growing close as Natose adjusted to life in Japan and working as a butler.

Pillow talk and rabu rabu desu. Made me go ‘Awwww~~’

Sometimes harem anime go NICE BOAT. LOL

Back to Shinra-sama. Mmm… nothing like Meido Morning Musume Call.

Or Loli Chara seku hara. You’re gonna get loved. The ‘younger sister pheromones’ thing was also both LOL and OTL (gattai!? LOTL !?). Junichi would probably love to use that excuse too though he doesn’t have Shinra-sama’s ‘As master of the house, my role archetype is that of a Dirty Old Man’ reason!

Hato-nee yandere FTW.

Hmm… if we go by the indicator from SHUFFLE! Episode 2, Ageha-sama’s Crotch in Face move may have added to her advantage of inflicting the First Kiss. But, of course, it’s a harem ending. What else were we expecting?

A harem family…

…which will not go down without a FIGHTO!

Or a couple of drinks.

And some yuri fan service!

Such a silly show with average to below average animation, cliches running amok, storyline what storyline. But the strong VA cast sounded like they were having fun and the chara-centric episodes succeeded, much to my surprise, in making *all* the girls more sympathetic and interesting. The Ageha arc was particularly strong on this – does anyone know how she got her Iori-like scar?

Against all my expectations and a sniffy high brow Oh I’m Too Good, Too High and Mighty, Too Sexy For My Shirt attitude, I was still thoroughly entertained. GG, KimiAru! [2008-04-07: Just realized that I got the full title wrong! orz]

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