AKA: シャッフル!

Genre: Romantic ... uh, comedy, with drama and harem elements.

Length: Television series, 24 episodes, 23 minutes each

Distributor: Currently licensed by FUNimation.

Content Rating: 15+ (fanservice, minor nudity)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: Ah! My Goddess, Midori's Days

Notes: There is also a PC dating game available from Navel. The lack of surprise from the THEM Anime review crew is deafening.

Rating:

Shuffle!

Synopsis

Three worlds -- the human world, the world of the gods, and the world of the devils -- have merged, and both... uh... gods, and devils are now living among the humans on Earth.

Tsuchimi Rin is a young man who's been living with his friend Kaede and going to school. Then two new girls, one from the world of gods and one from the world of the devils, enroll in school, and all hell breaks loose.

Review

I have no excuse. I had pre-viewing knowledge that this show would, like so many before it, cause me great physical and mental pain upon viewing, and STILL I went ahead with it. I dunno ... maybe it's just the amount of schadenfreude that keeps me going at times -- the sheer pleasure I get out of watching a show thoroughly bombing -- because I really can't think of any reason why anyone would want to subject themselves to SHUFFLE!

And yes, that's how the title is: all capitals and an exclamation mark at the end, as if that would make the show all that and a bag o' fries.

And, like so many shows before it, the main content seems to be firmly rooted in the antics and happenings of a somewhat bland male lead and the girls who find themselves attracted to him for being "such a nice guy", which has me wondering whether most of the male Japanese citizenry is a collection of humongous jerks.

The first of the girls we meet is Kaede, his roomie and housekeeper. Naturally, like any "proper Japanese girl", she's quiet, shy, and a whiz in the kitchen, making the meals for her man.

But what is a harem anime if not with more suitors for our lucky stud? Enter Lisianthus (shortened to Sia, because, you know, Lisianthus just isn't CUTE) and Nerine, our representatives from the world of gods and devils respectively. Both of them have ridiculously cutesy voices and pretty much have their personalities copied-and-pasted from Kaede. Naturally, since the creators of SHUFFLE! don't want to be looked upon as unoriginal -- God forbid -- they have all been expanded with various different character traits, like Nerine not being much in the kitchen and Sia being a bit of a goofball in school. Admittedly, Sia is also a bit more ... violent ... than the others, though mainly against her father, so I can't exactly blame them for being exact clones or anything. Close, but not quite.

Ironically enough, that was pretty much the reason I thought Nerine was from the world of gods and Sia from the world of devils instead of vice versa. Of course, the show later proves that it's all just in a name. The "gods" and "devils" are, in fact, more or less normal people with some powers, plus the "gods" have slightly longer and slightly pointier ears, while the devils have quite long and quite pointy ears. You know ... if anyone out there cares.

*crickets chirping*

Aaaaanyway, I'm putting too much thought into this show, as all SHUFFLE! (*sigh*) has to offer for many, many episodes is your general "I want to take care of Rin-san / Rin-chan" "No, me... me" comedy, spiced up with the antics of the Kitty-Kitty Kaede fan club (or whatever the hell they

In an insane bout of generosity, I'm awarding the second star for the things it did right. Not that it makes the show more worth to watch or anything, but credit where credit is due, and all that. — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: The show isn't outright DIRTY, but there are enough lingerie shots and other kinds of fanservice to make this one a teenager venture. Well, in a technical sense, as this show is pretty much unfit for human consumption for the most part. There is a nude scene with the underage girl, but she is being portrayed like that while lying in a medical tank, so there's nothing sexual about it.

The violence is mostly slapsticky, and not worth mentioning.