DearS 6/10

An (unpopular/nerdy) (high school/college) student discovers a (naked/oddly dressed) girl (on his way home to/in) his one bedroom apartment. It turns out she's (an alien/a robot/a goddess/an angel/his fiancée) named (Chi/Ren/May/Aoi/Belldandy/Ran/Mahoro/Miharu/Yuna). Hilarity and fan-service ensues.

The 13 episodes of DearS aired back in 2004 so they look pretty good. The animation was pretty consistent but there were bits that were sub-par here and there. I liked the style and usage of the superdeformed scenes. The art and character designs were OK, the girls look pretty good but they should because of the type of show this is. The music was pretty forgettable and I was pretty indifferent to the OP and ED. I'll point out I didn't care for the "gnaw and taste" line in the OP, I gnaw and taste meat on the bone, it's not the most romantic lyric. The VAs were pretty standard but I REALLY liked the casting for the main girl Ren. Her voice was much more mature sounding than most female anime characters and I thought it was a nice change of pace.

So what's DearS about? An (unpopular/nerdy) (high school/college) student discovers a (naked/oddly dressed) girl (on his way home to/in) his one bedroom apartment. It turns out she's (an alien/a robot/a goddess/an angel/his fiancée) named (Chi/Ren/May/Aoi/Belldandy/Ran/Mahoro/Miharu/Yuna). Hilarity and fan-service ensues.

It turns out Ren is one of the DearS (pronounced DEERS) who are a group of aliens who've landed on Earth and taken up residence. A DearS arrival in a town to live is usually a much publicized event so it's odd that the main character, Takeya, finds one on the side of the road. He takes her home (of course) and quickly discovers she isn't like the DearS he's seen on TV. She can't speak (Japanese/English), doesn't understand clothing (of course), and other things. Meanwhile the DearS on TV are all very intelligent and friendly.

Ren IS friendly though. She refers to Takeya as "master" and makes it pretty clear she's now his slave since she kissed him when they first met. She also seems to be able to detect when he's sexually frustrated and offers to...well you know, interfere with him sexually.

The show carries on with the various misadventures of Takeya, Ran, his female childhood friend, another couple of DearS's as they attend school and such. The main plot thread of the show is about how Ren is some sort of special DearS and how the DearS community are deciding on how to deal with her. This results in the last couple of episodes where Ren is to be taken away and Takeya has to decide whether or not to keep her.

This show has some obvious plot holes, everyone seems blissfully unaware that Ren and the other DearS are SLAVES! They wear dog collars for fuck sakes! The show is pretty funny though and I wasn't expecting some award winning writing or anything. I was a little disappointed in the level of fan-service but what there was was OK.

Recommended if you liked (Chobits/Hand Maid May/Ai Yori Aoshi/Ah! My Goddess/Angel Tales/Mahoromatic/Girls Bravo/Maburaho).