The Helpful Fox Senko-san

Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san is not your typical slice of life. The reason for that is because of the focus of the show. This anime tells about a demigod fox named Senko who one day decided to take care of our poor and miserable Nakano who's exhausted from work. That's it, there is hardly anything more of it. What makes it not typical is that the focus is on self-insert. This show tries to makes Nakano simple so it is easy to self-insert ourselves. This is, of course, to make you fantasize how lovely it is to have someone like Senko take care of you.This point is further reinforced by the extra parts post-ending song. This part is the real self-insert with the first-person perspective. It is fanservice, but not the lewd kind of fanservice. And as bonus info, this anime likes to present about fluffy tails of Senko and the other demigod foxes. The fact that this is anime focuses on self-insert is not the bad thing about it. It does it, and it does it pretty well. The bad thing about this anime is the lack of depth. Nakano and Senko can be very shallow characters. There are not much to see from them as the focus is not on the characters. Side characters get it worse, as they get even less screentime than the main characters. I won't deny that the art and sound are great to help you feel relaxed while Senko does whatever different things she does each episode. The animations are not a spectacle, but I argue that sound and music usage is more important at keeping the viewers relaxed. And so, here is how Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san stands. This anime is a great watch to help you relax by self-inserting yourself into the position of Nakano. Enjoy Senko pampering you with her fluffy tail. However, it has hardly anything to offer in terms of character depth. Characters and their interactions won't be memorable. Just focus on Senko taking care of you and It will be good to enjoy.

Doga Kobo has done it again with a series that's exactly what it sets out to be, a cute heartwarming show. Senko-san does this perfectly and you get exactly as advertised in high quality. The story follows a hard working man who's beginning to be slammed with massive depression due to how rough just living and working is, when a fox girl who feels like she owes his ancestors arrives to start helping him feel better. If you can accept that as a concept, the show performs it perfectly, so it's just a matter of if that concept could be appealing to you. Every episodeis a breath of life and happiness, and I couldn't help but smile when watching and that's saying a lot. The art is standard Doga Kobo moe art, very well done though and very fitting for the show. The sound was also good and helped to create the "breath of life" atmosphere the show has going for itself. The characters were pretty likable, the titular character was memorable. Overall I'd give this a 10/10 for being near perfect at what it sets out to be, although I'd understand lower scores if this isn't what you're looking for, you may still find enjoyment in it. To know if you'd dislike it simply go back and read what I said the story is about, if that just sounds plain bad to you then you'll likely dislike this show.

The premise is as straightforward as this sort of thing can be. Kuroto Nakano is a single, depressed Japanese office worker perpetually stressed out by his job. Still, seeing as he lives alone, he has no choice but to struggle and push forward to sustain himself. According to the show's supernatural conceit, all of that stress, sleep deprivation, and depression inevitably takes the form of a darkness residing within the body, and once it surpasses containment level, it manifests itself externally as a sort of black smog, which not only negatively affects the people around one's self, but will also bring one's life to ruin. Thankfully,the demigod servants of the Shinto gods, fox deities, always keep a watchful eye over humans. They can physically see the darkness caused by anguish and suffering and it is their duty to help people and alleviate their burdens - to save them before it's too late. As such, Senko, an 800-year-old loli foxgirl volunteers to live with Kuroto and pamper him in every way imaginable so as to relieve the tension in his weary soul. Having aired in the spring of 2019, Senko-san is a Doga Kobo production. In terms of what they are known for, I hesitate to say they are known at all, period, but for what it's worth, they seem to generally specialize in cutesy loli shit. They're the studio being Umaru-chan, Yuru Yuri, and most notably Gabriel DropOut. While nothing stands out about Senko-san's production value, neither in terms of audio, nor in terms of video, it does its best to feel as warm and welcoming as possible. By and large, it succeeds. In principle, Senko-san is simply meant as a wish-fulfillment show for single, older, working (mostly) men who have a hard time coping and finding a reason to keep going. It satiates a deep-seated need by providing a Tinkerbell-type substitute for a housewife in the form of an adorable foxgirl with an outlandishly fluffy tail. For the most part, that's exactly what it is. Now that's all fine and dandy. Alas, if you've seen the poster or a trailer, you already fucking know what my problem with the show is. Alarm bells might have been ringing in your head ever since I mentioned the term "loli". You might be thinking: "Hold up, hold the fucking phone. What are you telling me here? Setting aside the supernatural trappings about 800 years and tails and what not, you're essentially saying this is a story about a 12-year-old-looking little girl moving in to live with a grown ass single man and having all sorts of physical contact with him?" Well... yes. That's exactly what it is. I mean, one can imagine a world in which this show wouldn't really be that offensive, a version of this show in which she only cooks and cleans for him, say, and otherwise just entertains him with conversation. That still wouldn't address some of the fundamental ethical concerns, but it would be a damn sight better. Unfortunately, we do not live in that universe and we don't have that version of the show. No, we have the actual show where she has him lay his head on her lap to clean his ears, lays in the bed next to him to spoon him and help him fall asleep, changes clothing in his line of sight (though he has the decency to look away in horror - har har), they give each other massages, and they even end up bathing together, they wash each other's backs and everything. Whenever they do have physical contact, be it her washing his back or giving him a massage, or when doing either of those to her in turn, his constant emphasis on how small her back and hands are really doesn't help. Yeah, no, it's just as fucked up and indefensible as you think it is. Thing is, if this were real life and a fox deity that looked like a child, but was really supernatural and 800 years old and all that jazz showed up on your doorstep, yeah, fine, whatever. Let her take care of you. It is what it is. That said, this isn't real life. It's fiction. That means that as this universe's omnipotent god, Rimukoro, the manga's (yes, this is a manga adaptation - I was surprised, too) author made a conscious choice to make her be a 12-year-old girl. "Uhm, ackshually, she's 800 years ol-"; Shut up! What sane grown ass man would make the conscious choice to have their housewife substitute be a small 12-year-old girl? Why? Rimukoro had the option to make her anything he wanted. Why, then, did she turn out to be a 12-year-old girl? Be honest here, as a guy, if you had the option to be personally and closely pampered by a small, frail child versus a grown, voluptuous woman, which would you choose? Hell, I'm not even suggesting that she would have to have an anime bimbo physique. Make her flat-chested for all I care. Make her be Sakura from Naruto Shippuuden. I give two fucks. But why the fuck a child? Why the fuck not an adult? Why is this a story about a grown ass man having inappropriate physical contact with a child? Why is this a story about a child who is not that grown ass man's daughter getting naked and changing in the same room as him? Why is anime so fucking full of this cancer? Doga Kobo's other production I'm familiar with, Gabriel DropOut, had the same problem. Despite being an infinitely better and hilarious show, it still insisted on sexualizing its main cast of 4 extremely young girls by dressing them up in all manner of suggestive clothing that you can't have me pretend isn't exactly what it is. As if to make my point, the one thing that Kuroto really finds fascinating and attractive about Senko is her fluffy tail and ears. Well, judging by the way she reacts when he touches and fondles them, they are, to put it as bluntly as I can, such an obviously a paper-thin metaphor for genitalia, that not even the innocent mind of a child could miss that something illicit is going on. Particularly, when he fondles her ears and accidentally slips his fingers inside them and she gets mad, like, bro... could you possibly be any more transparent with your anal sex metaphor? Yeah, dude, we weren't born yesterday. We've all heard "wrong hole" jokes before. This isn't some obscure symbolism whose secrets have yet to be divined. For what it's worth, if you manage to look past the degenerate aspects, Senko-san is a genuinely pleasant, and at times, really funny slice-of-life show. Nothing much happens, but then again, nothing needs to happen. The whole point of the anime is taking it easy and relaxing. Alas, I wouldn't call this a binge-worthy show. The novelty of the R&R wears off after a couple of episodes and the rest becomes a bit of a slog to get through. Besides, every single episode ends on a short PoV segment where Kuroto disappears as a character and the idea is that you get to see what it's like to be him, to have Senko take care of you and talk to you. She speaks directly into the camera and reacts to silent answers the viewer is presumably giving her, like in Dora the Explorer. The camera even shakes left-right or up-down to simulate you, the viewer, shaking or nodding your head in response to Senko's queries and prompts. Ugh, I fucking hate that sort of thing with a passion. No matter how funny or pleasant each episode was, those segments always left a sour taste in my mouth at the end. The one technical aspect of the show I feel compelled to note is that the protagonist is voiced by my favorite voice actor of all time, Junichi Suwabe. He is the voice of Grimmjow from Bleach, Greed from the original Fullmetal Alchemist, Daiki Aomine from Kuroko no Basket, Takashi Komuro from High School of the Dead, Emiya Archer from Fate, Siegfriend also from Fate, Eraserhead from My Hero Academia, etc. I won't pretend not to be disappointed to see him play a central role in a show like... this, but what can I say, Suwabe goodness is still Suwabe goodness. Alas, Kuroto admittedly doesn't have the aggressive quality of characters like Grimmjow or Aomine that Suwabe brings to life so well, so all in all, this is in no way an outstanding performance.

"My Little Furry Loli Can't Be This Cute!", the animation. And an entertaining one if you buy into it's premise: a divine loli-waifu becomes your personal therapist, cleaning woman and love interest. While the show fails to achieve the full quality of it’s obvious role model “Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid”, it solidly entertains with feel-good slice-of-life comedy centered around the titular kemonomimi girl's vibrant personality. *** Story *** Let's start right with the elephant in the room. "Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san" stars a furry harem, and it’s best loli Senko and the MC Nakano have a lot of intimate physical contact situations. This includes bathing andback scrubbing, ear cleaning, back massage with bare feet, hair cutting, and they share a bed of course. This intimacy and it's depression-breaking effect on MC are not only central to the story, they are the story. Then there is that tail touching trope, and the orgasmic sounds it triggers in Senko. It's not even a hidden metaphor for sex, it's just a metaphor for it. Like Nakano himself concludes the bathing episode: "I did a lot of fluffy-fluffing that night. Thank you, Senko!". You are welcome, this fantasy is a little weird but probably PG-13. So undercurrent sexual tension is present in spades, and the resulting sitcom is at the heart of the show's comedy. The genius of the narrative is that this is never defiled by mundane sexualized fan service. The story teases the audience along a fine line without ever crossing it, even in the bare skin episodes. Probably much to the delight of doujinshi artists, who get a pure A-tier loli to build on in Senko. Studio Doga Kobo is very aware of the situation. Self-parody scenes of a police raid (E01, 6:35m) and multiple pedo-bear references (E03, 9:02m and 11:12m) make this abundantly clear. The complete story could be seen as a well executed wish-fulfillment fantasy with moe and fetish elements. Many males, not only in Japan, will consider the titular cute loli elder with her magic powers, housewifiness, perfect traditional manners, a sprinkle of innocent sexual attraction, and foremost a planet-sized positive vibrancy the apex of womanhood. The evil genius is to accept and never question the fact MC is exploited and burnt-out in his job. Rather than changing this, as it happens in Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, he's sent a peak-kawaii foxy lady from heaven to sooth the pain. Why remove causes when you can deal with the symptoms in such an adorable way? Overall Senko-san is a one kitsune personality show, the remaining cast, even the MC, are accessories to produce slice-of-life plot for her. And to be honest, I could watch her doing cute things for hours. In this aspect, the show completely succeeds. Excursions into slapstick comedy, like in the vacuum cleaner episode, and the submissive routine pampering are less entertaining in my book. The penultimate episode deserves a special place in my heart, because of the amazing change in tone and direction quality. Senko's party, her misunderstood good-bye speech, and the lone walk into the rain hit poetic melancholy notes beyond simple tearjerking. (6/10) *** Animation *** The center of gravity in "Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san" animation are the fox-goddess' ears. The further apart an object is from them, the lower the animation quality. Even alleged mains like Nakano are no exception from this rule. Senkos elaborate design with big, expressive golden eyes, her detailed shrine maiden's hakama outfit, and most importantly the fluffy head and tail get the extra pen-stroke, and that's fine with me. The overall animation excluding her is just average, if not slightly below. Cost-saving techniques such as low-detail still backgrounds, zooms into stills, simplified faces, mouth moving only dialog animation and structure-less clothing are highly visible. The animation is not fully fluent all the time, often falling back to extended still montages. Despite all that, the artwork's style resonates with a “made with love and passion” feeling in me. Summing this mixed results up, there is an overall average quality (4/10). *** Sound *** The show has a really catchy OP and an above average ED. Sound effects such as the clapping of Senko's wooden shoes or effects such as a chime when she perks her ears are appropriately used. There are recurring mini-themes of functional music for moods, persons and situations, many of them done using traditional Japanese instruments. This of course supports Senko-san's told-fashioned Japanese themes very well. Overall, the sound is solidly average, (5/10). *** Characters *** There are five characters in the cast. Beside the titular kitsune Senko, the second main (in name only) is self-insert MC Nakano, a burnt-out software engineer. Then there is the harem consisting of spoiled brat kitsune loli Shiro, her and Senko's voluptuous boss and femme fatale Sora, and the slightly maniac manga-drawing neighbor Yasuko Kouenji. Senko is an very well designed character combining traditional Japanese values, unlimited vibrancy, and a smart polite humbleness. With up to eleven cuteness features such as fang, cat mouth, light clumsiness, and the sweetest pouting of the season you just can't avoid falling in love. There's some but not much character development with her, e.g. towards the end she develops jealousy towards other harem members approaching the MC. She's in full control of the events, without ever dropping her friendly to the point of submissiveness, humble and vibrant facade. This character carries the weight of nearly all of the show on her small shoulders, and makes it look easy. MC Nakano is so self-insert that there literally is a first person view bonus scene after the ED in which he/you is given the pampering of the week. Nakano's genericness is emphasized by expressionless eyes, rudimentary drawing style, plain clothing, and mostly reactive dialog. He enjoys the kitsune show, but never is in control of it. Of course he recovers from his burn-out courtesy of Senko's influence, but neither is he ever fully cured, nor does he tackle the causes of his condition. In that sense, he is not developing at all. A typical plot point example for him is to teach Senko about some feature of the modern world, such as electricity. This earns him admiration for the miracle she just learnt about, cleverly assigned to the messenger. But in the end knowing how a vacuum cleaner works is nothing special. The two other kitsunes are hardly more than fanservice girls and significantly more sexualized than Senko. Ironically it’s Nakano's neighbour Yasuko who seems to get the most character development of all the cast. She picks up cooking, gets her life organized, and starts to get out of her shell. (4/10) *** Enjoyment *** Yes, the show is quite enjoyable, just don't think too much about it's premise to avoid waking up. Despite average production values, flat cast beside best girl, and borderline-submissive plot for Senko she simply makes you smile and calm down. Moe design at it's best. Senko-san is heroin-grade escapism at highest degree of perfection. Just don't confuse that with real iyashikei (healing anime). One for the story, and six for the fox. (7/10) *** Overall *** (6+4+5+4+7)/26=5.1, which means average mainstream. "Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san" is an enjoyable, average show with a strong and cute female main. You will not regret watching it, but forget it the moment the next cute waifu is washed on the seasonal shores. For fans of lolis and furries, the show will surely become part of their "special list". Senko’s character makes up most of the fun, so I can understand perfectly well if people rate the show higher than 5/10. In the end, they rate the waifu, not the show - which is fine. I would defend my rating as a base line, just add extra points for fluffyness as needed. (5/10)