Murenase! Seton Gakuen

This series is set in a world where the human population has declined and species interact as near equals. Jin Mazama, a boy who dislikes animals, and Hitomi Hino are the only human students at the titular Seton Academy; Jin rather fancies Hitomi but he has caught the eye of other students, most notably Ranka Ookami a wolf-girl who wants him to join her pack. Jin forms a cooking club with Hitomi; Ranka soon joins along with an ever increasing number of other animals. There is some conflict but mostly it is all for laughs.

I wouldn't call this a must see series but it was rather fun; certainly better than I'd expected. The characters are good and distinctive... males look like their species but females look like standard anime girls with the ears/tail of their species... the makers clearly know their audience! That said there isn't too much in the way of fan service. Away from the activities of the cooking club a highlight is a male lion who has fallen in love with a female impala... something which both species disapprove of. Amongst the comedy one is likely to learn some facts about the various species. The ending implies that there is more to come; whether there will be remains to be seen.

These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

I know that this series might seem childish, but I enjoy it a lot, not because of the educational elements about characters. Rather, the ongoing comedy is the driving force of this story where humanoid animals outnumber humans, with the male protagonist attending a school where this is the case, with most students as animals, but he hates animals, leading to ongoing conflict. As this is currently one of my new favorite series, I'd definitely give this the current rating.

A human male attends a school almost exclusively populated by anthropomorphised animals. He is also severely annoyed by them. The central comical aspect of the show is his inability to spend time with the only other human at this school, who just so happens to be an attractive girl, due to the crush a lone wolf girl has on him.

Just like many anime before this one, all the elements for a funny/feel good show are there but it doesn't know what it wants to be. The slice of life portion of the anime, crowned most of the times by a lesson in friendship is t-boned immediately by sleaziness.

The fact that the male animals in the show resemble real ones while the female ones are basically human girls with animal ears and tails confirms fan service right from the start. Which would be fine if it didn't cross the line: putting girls in leashes (not the first anime to do this) edges on perversion.

Gender roles enforcement tries to be sneaked "here comes the air plane" style at first but later on it's just jammed down the viewers throat. I mean why does fighting prowess has to be at odds with femininity? Especially when female hyenas are used as reference, some of the most efficient killers in the wild. The show relays actual facts about wildlife, usually as a build-up or an explanation for a funny scene. Ironically, some times it blatantly neglects information to not contradict beloved anime cliche such as the subdued damsel.

The humour itself again suffers from being spread too thin and never committed long enough to a specific type of jokes. The Cooking Club, where 2 humans along side a bunch of animals learn to enjoy what's different about each other, is maybe meant to be an amusing metaphor for friendship. The romance aspect is endearing enough to support this general vibe. But afterwards the realm of the suggestive comes crashing in, most of the times culminating in a sexually depraved joke (i.e. pleasure in being dominated or indecently exposed).

The relationship dynamic between the main characters is inconsistent. Both the wolf and human girl are loyal to the protagonist who's only redeeming feature is his knowledge of animals. He uses said knowledge to fix situations, some of which he puts off until they almost turn into disasters. The wolf female is also the subject of treatment that ranges from neglect to physical abuse. In typical anime fashion, that makes her even more infatuated with the too cool for school human.

With everything working against this show, there are still moments of enjoyment. Like when all the shenanigans emphasize the idea of acceptance and companionship. Or when the jokes actually land and are just the right amount of indecent.