A Predator in a Skirt

This anime is an enigma. Regardless of whether you're a hentai fan or an ecchi lover (or both), odds are you're going to come out of Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita with some rather mixed feelings. If you're not interested in either of the two though, you should probably stay away. As the synopsis states, this is basically a short anime about a crossdressing guy (Ryou) who ends up seducing a shy girl (Shizuka) at a college mixer, leading to the start of a rather strange relationship. The guy's reasons from crossdressing are eventually explained, but beyond that there isn't much in the way ofstory here other than an abundance of intimate and sexual encounters between the two of them. And those erotic moments make up the main focus of the series. Here's the weird thing though: this anime is basically a hybrid between an ecchi anime and a hentai. I'm not sure exactly how this happened because it was evidentially aired on TV, but the content in it is undeniably 18+ in nature. At first you could argue it was just an abnormally lewd ecchi show, but when it started revealing close-up shots of Shizuka's pixelated vagina and showing detailed footage of Ryou fingering her and making her cum... there was just no room for argument anymore. In the final episode they even have explicit sex where both of their pixelated genitals are shown. It's undeniable at this point: this is pornography. Now I don't have a problem with hentai nor ecchi so I'd be fine with this either way (plus it's more unique like this), but this hybrid design brings with it a different set of issues instead. In short, the main problem with Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita is that you're basically forced to see it as a hentai, but in that case it's the most softcore and toned-down hentai you'll ever see. Not only do most of the "sex scenes" consist of basically nothing but fondling, fingering and close-up shots, but these episodes are only 4 minutes and 30 seconds each (discounting ED time), and only maybe half of that at best covers the actual sexual content. I don't know about you, but having merely around 2 minutes' worth of what was already some very tame lewds doesn't really result in the best fap material to me. And really what merit does a hentai have if I can't get off to it? I mean it's not like the story is anything to speak of here exactly. On the other hand if I try to force myself to think of this as an exceptionally lewd ecchi anime (like let's say Kiss x Sis), then it still fails because while the erotic content is unusually intense by ecchi standards, the show gives me absolutely no reason to care about the characters or anything else going on. This kind of absolute focus on explicit sexual content without any real attempt at characterization is a trait only found in hentai, so it's quite difficult looking at this anime as anything else. In other words regardless of whether you consider Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita to be smut or pornography, it doesn't do a particularly good job either way. That said I still kind of enjoyed watching it solely because of how weird it was. I've watched a lot of ecchi and hentai over the years, but I've never seen an anime quite like this before. I thought it was genuinely interesting seeing just where the hell the show would end up going next, which in combination with its short runtime made it a relatively easy watch despite everything. I honestly had no idea how I was supposed to rate it though but I eventually decided on a 5/10 for at least being a unique and interesting experience even though it ultimately failed at accomplishing whatever purpose it may have originally had. Think of it as an experimental anime more than anything else; though one which I somehow doubt we'll see a whole lot of similar works to in the future. Then again we've gotten one supposedly similar anime announced for the upcoming season already, so what do I know.

****some spoilers ahead**** Schrödonger's trap: It's not gay until you can prove a dick exists down there, without proof, a dick can exist and not exist down there at the same time. Skirt is an interesting show to say the least, for a while when it aired it had the hentai tag on it and as of when i wrote this review, it has been removed. For a hentai, it's also barely a hentai as it's super short and actually has a romance going for it. (yes i am aware some hentai do have romance in them but no one watches those hentai)Although calling said relationship a romancecan be seen as being generous with it as it also isn't much off a romance either. So the basic of Skirt can be divided into romance and hentai section for the entire show. Every few episodes which can be divided into arcs not unlike a romance anime, where the female lead and male? lead go on dates and all of that romance anime stuff. Every end of the arc, or even in the middle of the arc sometimes has the hentai portion, where the male? lead does sex stuff with the female lead. Of course this format seems simple enough but hey with all romance anime comes the jealously and drama as seen in the 2nd last episode where the male? gets jealous and finger bangs the female out of jealously. My problem with this is that there was no warning nor enough time to prepare for this and said problem is basically solved at the end of the show in the next episode anyways, where they decide to have full blown sex. Overall tho, i wouldn't mind admitting that i enjoyed skirt and that it's in my top 10 summer anime, and also placed quite high in my hentai list.

2 words, Softcore P*rn. Episodes are no longer than 5-6 minutes, there arent many of them either. IF you enjoy Ecchi, but want it to take a step further, do not want fillers that expand the epiosde over 20 minutes, go ahead watch it. Take some tissues with you too, if you are that kind of person. For the good side: -it is basically hentai-it is fa*pable -basic censure For the bad side: -it is basically hentai.. no "story", no character development..kinda. -heavily relies on the hentai element.. more than the general hentai does -short, everyway possible. Overall score is 5 mainly because the art is okay, and cmon, its fappable.