You're Being Summoned, Azazel

”Yondemasu-yo, Azazel-san” is a comedy anime by Production I.G, known for Ghost in the Shell and Kimi ni Todoke, amongst others. The premise is pretty simple, but very functional. A detective called Akutabe summons a demon named Azazel, and the story follows him, his assistant Sakuma, and their various demon helpers as they solve cases and engage in depravity and lasciviousness. Because the humor ranges from mild to Detroit Metal City-level swearing, visually almost grotesque gags, and numerous mentions of bodily waste. All the demons (unsurprisingly) have some sort of perverse gimmick or vice, and the show pulls no punches when it comes to exploitingthese. Compared to the only other I.G comedy I have seen, Cromartie High School, the humor is very different, though that mostly has to do with the source material. I have not read the manga, nor have I been able to locate it, but I think the anime does a pretty good job on its own of delivering a story that at a few points made me surprised at how involved I had become. Still, it’s nothing to write home about for the most part, but the humor, though juvenile, is great. The shortness of the episodes make it good for sporadic watching, and I joined in late, but marathonned the first five episodes without noticing it. The animation is mostly decent, with a couple of scenes with slightly above average fluidity. What makes the show stand out a little, though, is the overall design and expression of the characters. It’s very similar to Sgt. Frog in its simplicity, and while there is not much detail in the appearance of the characters, their over-the-top reactions and facial mimicry reinforce the gags, and do an effective job of bringing the characters to life. The other thing that brings them to life is the voice acting. The show has a great cast, featuring Kobayashi Yuu (Undine), Nakai Kazuya (Salamander), Kamiya Hiroshi (eBeelzebub) and Namikawa Daisuke (Akutabe). They all give it their best, and do a wonderful job of giving the characters identity, making them lovable (or even more detestable) and they all fit their roles like a hand fits a glove. If you’re of the opinion that all anime needs to have at least two subtle messages hidden in the plot, and that comedy you don’t consider high-brow is worthless, then you should not watch this. If you liked for example Detroit Metal City or Panty & Stocking (with Garterbelt), then you would probably like this. For everybody else, you’re likely to get a couple of chuckles out of it.

Alright, when you look at every aspect separately this anime would be really average the story is kinda random, art is not outstanding, sound is casual. But on the other hand character are really lovable! I watched this anime from 1 to 13 all together in one night and I was extremely sad on how short it was because this is probably the FUNNIEST anime I ever watched. The ending would let you believe a sequel is possible, I sure hope this happens and that we will get 20min episode instead of 10. Everyone that is looking for a good laugh should be watching this.

Azazel is a show about some pretty sick humor. If you can't stand raunchy stuff you might want to stop reading now. The show revolves around a detective agency. The thing is, this is no ordinary agency. Here they use demons to get the job done, but of course things don't always go very well. The general concept is Us vs. You. Basically, everyone outside of the office is portrayed as an moron. Thus, it makes it relatively easy to make gags about the office workers, otaku, molesters, idols, married couples, god. Seriously, even god is not safe in this show. Partially satirical, is just makingfun of how stupid everyone acts. Well, except for Akutabe. He's untouchable. There is no general story, which is to be expected in a gag show, although they do introduce a reoccurring match of angels vs. demons. The 'cases' usually last two episodes of what would be a total of 20 minutes. While Akutabe owns the agency he is a supporting role as the camera focuses on the college student and part time worker Sakuma, the stupid demon of lust Azazel who becomes the shows punching bag, and Beelzebub who looks like a prince, but eats fecal matter. Typically, I am not one for this type of humor so believe me in saying that it was rather entertaining. I wouldn't praise it to highly, but if your looking for a comedy in this neck of the woods, Yondemasu yo Azazel could be the comedy for you.

Probably one of the most unbashed "don't give a shit, I'll cross the line three times over" slapstick crude humor kind of anime shorts LA has ever seen. Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san. is about a detective agency using demons in order to accomplish their missions. Akutabe voiced by Daisuke Namikawa actually cons Rinko Sakuma voiced by Rina Sato to do all her dirty work by being contracted to the demons and thus Rinko is stuck with some crazy demons and uhhh crude slapstick hijinks ensues. The humor in this anime by all means crosses the line to what it can do essentially, from shit jokes, sex jokes, makingfun of societal norms, showing humanity are assholes...you know that kind of stuff and heck even Rinko the audience surrogate of the anime even dabbles into the dark side and she even shows her true face when she's been butt monkeyed ever chance she gets (kinda makes sense due to the demons mostly Azazel and Beelzebub's influence on her). Yeah whether you'll enjoy these crude humor and crossing the line situations is entirely up to you, LA did enjoy the unbashed comedy and how much this anime short can skirt the censorship laws and all but some of the comedic situations are obviously things LA wouldn't touch with a 20 foot pole. The humor is entirely up to you, but Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san will still say that it doesn't give a shit what you think either way. The animation by Production I.G is "experimental" but all means. From sudden shifts of animation out of nowhere of traditional animation to storyboarding white boarded "action" moments to just some intentionally ugly character designs that doesn't exactly matter and the facial animation is nearly the same element as well. Production I.G for Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san really is experimental but it's decent enough looking and yes even the intentionally ugly character designs feels like it was meant to represent something...that a bit later. The voice acting is actually very decent with some well known voice actors in Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san, from Rina Sato, Daisuke Namikawa and heck even Yuu Kobayashi is in this!. The minor cast do this stereotypical character schtick in this but LA thinks it's intentional due to it's coupling with the ugly character designs....again soon LA will talk about it. LA's favorite voice actor would be Rina Sato if anything due to this and yeah this extends to Rinko Sakuma being LA's favorite character if not because she's the most "NORMAL" character in the anime...and that's a GOOD thing weirdly enough. Ok, so what did LA mean but the ugly character designs and intentional stereotypical voice roles have to do with anything? Well LA sees that Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san pretty much is saying that no matter how pure you THINK you are, you will be corrupted by society or your own avarice will turn you into just like the demons in this anime probably even worse. This concept for LA feels like it's easily manifested into Rinko the most, from society and heck even her employer and demon friends corrupting her and even the minor characters goes through something like this as well if they are already horrible beings in the first place...even ANGELS in this anime aren't excluded. (Well mythologically speaking IT DOES make sense...you know Lucifer and everything). Really Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san is saying that the world is a cruel dog eat dog world with no giving a shit unless it's your own. Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san is NOT for everyone that for sure, but as much crude humor "not giving a shit" attitude this anime short has, it is entirely it's own unbashed thing and it's PROUD of it, you can sneer and schadenfreude your way through what Rinko goes through in this anime for a cheap good laugh as Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san will not care either way. Did you have fun with Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san?...LA did, good then it did it's job well.