The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses

Okay guys we all know the kind of audience for this one , and for them one word This one is a big yes , you gotta watch it. if asked about the great distinguishing or attractive aspect of megami cafe ill come up with a big ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but as an harem anime which is supposed to be about cute color coded (yes the harem enthusiasts will know what i mean xD) girls with slightly tropey I am gonna go for the poster finish for those who dont know the names tsundere(long haired purple) , dandere (the big boobed green hair) , genki deredere (twintailsblonde), kuudere (short hair blonde) and and a ahodere (tall blue) . this combined with a none idiotic and slightly respectable Main character who is actullay kind of semi self aware and is able to recognize and even act on the feellings of some of the girls is enjoayble harem romance , which reminds me of the goo ol days. plot is not to special , the setting is a convinient excuse for a time limit for the girls trynna grab the MC attention while also validating him living with them and allow for some enhanced echhi scenes, the echhi scenes goes as far as side booba and thinghs with a good amount of ass too, but most of it is underwear walkins. the progression and the trigger points for conquering the girls are kind of reasonable and are well placed helping the MC become a decent enough guy in the mean time. by the end of the season i think we are about 2 down with 1 flag being active. art and animation is okay , the artstyle reminds me of the good harems of old and that was a good war call to our fellow harem bretheren who havent got a good treat since the quints. animation is not much to write home about but the art being good and the girls being beautifully drawn does make up for it a little bit. sound and VA wise, i hate the ahodere and here VA as a whole , but i guess the character itself was amade as such. the VA of the rest of the character are trope valid and gernally well don , I simply cannot get tht OP of this anime out of my head it is catchy and helps bring out the cuteness of all the girls quite well (and color coded them quite nicely too xD). oh yeah the ratings lol , its 6 for plot maybe a 7 for characters since its a good harme setup with decent and likeable mc and a 7 for artstyle alone since animiation aint that good but the old harem esque artstyle will help a lot, sound and VA is an uninspriing 6 but ill up it to 7 becuase of the OP A must watch for my harem enthusiast brothers , this is a call to arms this might be the next big harem TBH

Girls in sports, girls in a love polygon, girls in music, and now, girls serving in a cafe — that's what following this mangaka by the name of Seo Kouji gets you for a start, and that goes like his usual stint of rom-com garbage stank. The harem rom-com (kinda shit) connoisseur of a mangaka, the maestro Seo Kouji is back with yet another "grand" piece of his manga-to-anime works, nothing really is stopping this guy with anime adaptations back-to-back that started with 2005's Suzuka, then on the way to 2013's Kimi no Iru Machi a.k.a A Town Where You Live (which I thought was quitegood at first look, though beware rewatching it out of mediocrity), and 2017's Fuuka (which was the first Seo Kouji show I've gotten to after reading the manga because of that spoiled stopping point). Case in point, his most recent manga, Megami no Café Terrace a.k.a The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses, which, once you pass the initial point of know-how, is just the same harem rom-com that Seo Kouji is known for. Set in Miura, Hanagawa, this is the tale of a boy and his cherished grandmother, along with a once-prolific cafe that's now struggling to make ends meet. This is the story of Hayato Kusakube, whose parents passed away in an accident when he was very young, and was succeeded by his only family left: his grandmother Sachiko, helming the part on a cafe known as the Cafe Terrace Familia. This is where Hayato was raised until her eventual passing some years later, after he left to Tokyo for his further studies as a result from an argument that both son and grandmother had a falling out on the succession of the cafe. Until then, the cafe was since "abandoned" to the hopes of any government official that would want something else to take its place through demolition, but the prodigal son, coming home after his stint studying in Tokyo U a.k.a Tokyo University, the 18-year-old comes back with an once unwilling fight to tear down the place since it holds little to no memories for him. But in a twist of surprise, he now finds 5 girls staying at the linked common house, who were brought in after Hayato's falling out and trained by Sachiko in her own loving and caring guidance, only to fight in his place because they were the total opposite towards Hayato, that Familia is where dreams are made, and with the unwilling hope, Hayato presses on for Familia to be preserved, alongside the girls that would become his co-workers in the process. Out of all the protagonists that I have seen and read for all Seo Kouji works, Hayato initially comes off as being a rash character for all the wrong reasons, as compared to, say, Fuuka's Yuu Haruna. But when you come to understand him further, he too had to make "life-or-death" choices that would not only affect him, but also the effort that his late grandmother put forth into fighting alone for Familia's preservation against the wishes of some crude landlords who thought that an out-of-fashion cafe had no right to hold as long as it did, with that argument spurring on for years without his know-how. It can take quite a while to get on Hayato's good side, and as much as he looks like a demeanour of sorts, he's actually a good young adult at heart, who, apart from his Joker-like "Why so serious?" attitude that stinks, makes calculated decisions that eventually earn the praises of the 5 girls working alongside him, and like mangaka Negi Haruba's Gotoubun no Hanayome a.k.a Quintessential Quintuplets, sees the end that Hayato will get attached to one of the 5 girls at the end of the run. Speaking of which, let's be introduced to the Cafe Terrace Familia's Goddesses: - The pink-haired 19-year-old Ouka Makuzawa, initially prepped for the dream of wanting to enter the fashion industry, but lacks the funds needed, so she layovers at Familia for part-time work. Easily the tsundere character of the girls, Ouka is unceremoniously crowned the leader because she is at the forefront of helping Sachiko retain Familia, as much as she feels pressured to deliver. Ouka has a twin sister in the form of Kikka, who is more grounded in terms of the well-established Mazukawa family and aligned with their high-aloft ideals, which is something that Ouka doesn't want to be, resulting in her parting ways and her wanting to do fashion. Anything that the girls need help in, the "Mad Dog" Ouka is at their beck and call. - The blue-haired 17-year-old Ami Tsuruga, a college student and someone who's the physical character of the girls, is a karate at heart. But otherwise, she is the literate joker of the group, wearing all sorts of masks for hilarity among the girls. - The orange-haired 20-year-old Riho Tsukishima, akin to Ami only in the studying aspect. The social media brain of the group, she comes from a family that belittles those who don't work hard, as seen in Hayato's grandmother toiling her way through Familia until the time of her passing. And her family is more of the same, coming off generations of people who work hard to the bone, to the sacrifice of their own health, which unfortunately, led to the falling out between parents, especially since she was a child actress at one point in her life. - The black-haired 20-year-old Shiragiku Ono, who earns the childhood friend medal since she and Hayato grew up together. But this girl isn't all sweets and roses, for drunkenness sets off her lewd acts, and there's that for a girl seemingly uncontrollable in her antics. - Last but not least, the blonde-haired 19-year-old Akane Hououji. She's the music and coffee connoisseur of the group, given her passion for music and leading her own band as both a vocalist and guitarist (similar to Fuuka). But for her, like Ouka, coming from a rich family has its pros and cons, and it's mostly a con for Akane, as she feels that her passion grows much more out of her than following the rudimentary rules of the family, causing her to have a fallout with her own family. Being always behind the scenes, she only acts prudently in situations, and is the first to pounce on Hayato when it comes to the signature love interest (which Hayato is busier restoring Familia than this love shtick). Overall, there's not much of a difference between this and similar works like it (of which Gotoubun no Hanayome is the closest), because while mangaka Negi Haruba pioneered this trend with the manga's first release in 2017, soon came mangaka Hiroyuki's Kanomo mo Kanojo a.k.a Girlfriend, Girlfriend in 2020, Seo Kouji copied this idea and made it his very own in 2021. That's how you can tell that Megami no Cafe Terrace and said show have elements that are similar to each other, though unique in their own ways. And one way these shows are similar is through the studio, Tezuka Productions. All 3 manga-turned-anime productions were solely handled by the studio in Winter 2019 (only Season 1), Summer 2021, and this season respectively, and as far as I can tell, Gotoubun no Hanayome signalled the start of the trend for Tezuka Productions to pick up a harem rom-com series every 2 years (if based off the gap) to adapt at the most decent level. It feels like I'm watching the same show, just with different elements, chocked full of the studio's light paint jobs and decent animation that is now a copy-paste trend, thanks to in-house director Satoshi Kuwahara. It's not bad per se, but you would think that for a harem rom-com series that doesn't explicitly need the best talent, the sole focus would be adapting works to decency, and pray tell if this director is going to be lazy and adapt more works in this same style. The music fares somewhat better, though not by much. However, I'll give props to the OP song by Neriame, which is actually solely made for the anime in all of its intentions. One way to look at it is by comparing the song's opener with the actual song's YouTube MV that was released thereafter, and you can see the similarity. It's a good song, I'll give it that, as well as Miki Satou's ED. No complaints here. When all is said and done, I could advise you to just watch some other harem rom-com show that'll fare better (a la Gotoubun no Hanayome). But while Megami no Cafe Terrace isn't bad in layman's terms, it's just that Seo Kouji really lucked out by creating a work that, with an unoriginal idea, is just exceedingly mediocre at best until we get to the later moments of the manga. That's just me, but honestly, if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Mediocrely decent is what I can tell you about this show.

“A harem anime with 5 sisters in the same house trying to hit on a male main character, I've seen this before....” -Me Ah, harem anime, they come in all sorts and forms, there is a niche userbase like thems very much, if you are one of them, then The Café Terrace and It's Goddesses are great in achieving that. I wouldn't think that this anime revolutionise the genre, but nonetheless it execute it pretty well in a nice story that was very enjoyable to watch with some very good ecchi. Perfect, isn't it ? So what's up with this quoted backstory, is it real ? Yeahthere's a few things to mention to make it clear, the 5 girls aren't actually sisters, it's just 5 women who all got their reason to not live with their parents that preferred to live with the grandma in a nice family, so they aren't relatives. What this creates is a nice start to a harem anime with the MC being the grand children of the now deceased grandma, who inherited the house and the shop of her grandma, a nice and chill family Cafe restaurant. What follows is a hilarious story where our chad Hayato becomes a boss of a cafe with 5 girls in maid outfits that also happens to live with him in the same house, what an epic flatsharing. It's all a pillar for goofy-ah moments and character development, this newly formed family needs to adapt to each others and live in this tight space, they might not enjoy it as much in the beginning, but they get to appreciate the moment, and perhaps a few romantic feelings starts to develop. What I especially liked about the story of Café Terrace is how interesting the backstory of all 5 waifus gets progressively shown which is always a pleasure to see and like throughout the 12 episodes and makes you more engaged in the anime and the girls themselves. Now, the funny part, the presentation of all 6 main characters, you could of course say that they're just a generic trope being put onto a girl, but I would think that they aren't that bad, they're all quite funny at least. First, we have Riho, a solid girl who's very passionate and dedicated to her task. Then, there is Akane, a very apathetic woman who doesn't talk much, but is in reality quite deep with people she knows best. After that, there is Ouka, your usual red haired Tsundere (I would be funny if I don't explain further, isn't it ?). To continue, there's Shiragiku (my beloved), a nice girl who's always trying her best, tries to keep everyone happy and smily, but might actually have a serious problem with alcohol (those who knows knows). Finally, there's Ami, FUCKING AMI, and don't be scared, it's not in a bad way, she's just very unique, she's not even interested in the harem or living with a boy, she just does random shit and those shitty things works, she's outrageous and very out of place in an anime like this, very good stuff that will always bring you the unexpected. This concludes our charac..... DID YOU FORGET THE MAN AMONGST THE MEN, HAYATO THE CHAD ? Our mc isn't even trying to have sex with all of the girls, he's crude, he doesn't really have emotion, always have the same :| face and isn't very delicate with women, let's say. But what I especially find interesting about him is how he talks, he is quite profound in what he says, he's not a hero that's here to help the waifus with their problems, he uses words to make the girls realise things, and encourages them to find a solution by themself. And this quite mature attitude might be what makes the girls falls in love with him after a while, he might also do funny things by accident without realising what he's doing is wrong, this show wouldn't be the same if he wasn't there. Was this harem concept executed well in terms of production ? There's a positive, the anime is made by Tezuka Production, who kinda did Quintessential Quintuplets season 1, yeah it was pretty ugly but this one isn't at least, but that's still good experience for a type of harem with 5 girls, wouldn't it ? I feel like the visuals have nothing bad to say against them, they're quite good and sleek, and the girls have good attributes, the quality of the animation was constant on an alright level. They can draw boobs and ass quite well for an ecchi show, which is a great point for anyone who likes or at least don't mind it. I also wanna mention how catchy the opening is, I really love it but it also seems like I am the minority regarding that. At the end, it can be understood that if you don't like harem because it's unrealistic, I can affirm the fact that this anime is definitively not a realistic piece of content, but who cares, we still get good stuff for those who likes it. So, if you enjoy watching harem anime and maybe if you aren't mad about some generic stuffs because you're a veteran who watched a few dozen of similar storie, this is definitely a must watch, and as I mentionned throughout the review, there's great ecchi, that's convincing. What's even better is that we're gonna get more of Café Terrace, the story and ass will continue soon in the season 2, you aren't gonna run out of content yet if it's as good as season 1 at least, I'll be there for it !

I feel obligated to state firstly that I have read Kouji Seo's previous series Suzuka entirely as well as a pretty sizeable portion of the kinda-sequel Fuuka. So understand that I get it with his style of storytelling. That said, this series is something that I could only recommend to someone who LOVES the completely insane nonsense that Seo is willing to shove into his works to the point that they dont even care how the story justifies the madness. I felt that there was at least SOME attempt to justify the wild moments of Fuuka, but this show seems to lack any of the samemoments and just throws in the crazy. It felt somewhat refreshing at first to have a male protagonist that doesnt need his hand held through every single aspect of functioning as a member of society, but the cast of girls are just frustrating to watch for the most part with most of their screentime just involving gags, complaining, or deciding if they love the main dude. They just don't really feel like people to me personally. I'd go into detail about a bunch of the other aspects of this show, but the show is 99% just the characters and them talking and getting naked. The group is suppose to be running a small cafe but frankly that aspect is completely on the background and is basically just a tool for the girls say they got better at something, it never really feels like the business is in real trouble because things seem to just work out immediately after something goes wrong and the main protagonist never seems THAT concerned. I guess if you like fan service or the shock factor of seeing just how insane the writer can actually be, this will probably be a fun watch, but I'd say this is practically a gag anime that isn't really funny considering all the humor is just typical harem tropes.