AKA: Pita-Ten

Genre: Comedy with a dash of fantasy

Length: Television series, 26 episodes, 23 minutes each

Distributor: Currently licensed by Right Stuf International.

Content Rating: G (nothing objectionable)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: Fruits Basket, Oh My Goddess

Notes: Based on the manga by Koge Donbo.

Rating:

Pita Ten

Synopsis

One day, when Higuchi Kotarou exits his apartment and gets ready to go to school, he meets Misha who loudly proclaims "Please go out with me." After the initial panic settles (several hours later), he finds out that an angel has actually moved in next door. And that is only the beginning of his problems. Aside from Misha's clinginess, he has to deal with a not so skilled demon-in-training moving in with Misha, new classmates that seem a bit too competitive for the class' liking, and all the weird stuff that practically erupts around the gang.

Review

There were several times I just considered giving up on this anime. It was just so damn cutesy, that it grated on me. Worst of all was Misha, who seemed to lack the skills to do the simplest of things without it ending in mayhem, including her clinginess to a certain main character and her speech patterns-su going like this-su all the time-su. Also, the fact that the main cast consists of nothing but kids -- one of them with a set of cat-ears to go with the regular ones even -- made me wonder whether this was anything I wanted to waste my time with.

For some strange reason I soldiered on. Perhaps it was the main lead character and his rather responsible nature despite his age. Or perhaps it was that just about everyone but Misha actually acted like intelligent and interesting characters, with the possible exception of Koboshi in one of her jealous fits. And considering how often Misha latches on to Koutarou, that's saying a lot.

Nevertheless, the show is nice looking, and sounds rather nice too. The animation is quite decent and the music is quite good. Even the rather hyper intro theme is decent enough not to grate on my ears.

Misha aside, the characters are an interesting and original bunch, apart from Ayanokouji Takashi ("Ten-chan"), who is the typical best friend who's also the smartest in school and popular with the girls. You've seen those kinds before in anime, and you'll see him here too. The rest of the cast is nicely presented. Uematsu Koboshi, the cat-eared girl has a rather obvious crush on Koutarou; Shia, the girl who's also a demon-in-training just wants everyone to get along; Nyaa, a talking, black cat is Shia's long-suffering mentor; and Mitarai Hiroshi, Ayanokouji's self-proclaimed rival in just about everything that can be turned into a competition of some sort - boy, do they compete....

And the show did finally reward me for my tenacity. By episode four, the antics of Misha's generally good-hearted but not well thought out help elicited a laugh from me, and when Hiroshi appeared I was pretty much sold. Later episodes also reveal the underlying theme of the entire show: how people deal with the loss of loved ones, a topic that perhaps hits a little too close to home for this reviewer. The show gets progressively better by each episode all the way to the definitively touching ending where even Misha's presence is much appreciated. That's saying a lot, given how annoying she could be from the beginning to a good chunk into the entire show.

— Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: Nothing objectional at all in this show. Most of the cast is children, for Pete's sake. No language, no fan service, and no violence beyond the slapstick type. Even demon's work seems to be limited to making people trip over rocks or pelting tomatoes at each other.

No, the question you should ask yourself is whether you can deal with the excessive cuteness at the beginning.