The Demon Prince of Momochi House

Omg I almost this good anime because of bunch of negative reviews. Thanks god I gave myself a chance to completed this anime. This is actually my first time writing review for an anime that should deserve some positive reviews. This anime is highly recommend if you want some slice of life + romance. Because people kept comparing this to Kamisama Kiss, it received so many negative reviews. The anime is actually decent to watch if you want to kill your time. In my opinion, at least the art is better than Kamisama kiss. So do yourself a favor and give this anime a chance– you won't be disappointed. :) Definitely deserve a second season! Can’t wait for it 🙂🙂.

Read the Momochi House manga and save yourself some time. I write this anime review as, originally, a reader of the manga. Ever since the Momochi House manga originally released, I enjoyed reading it all the way to the end, due to its whimsical fantasy qualities, interesting characters, and the beautiful artwork. So, because the manga is already complete and it isn't as well-known as other series, I was very surprised when I discovered that there was going to be an anime adaptation for Spring 2024. However, upon seeing the first visuals, I immediately knew that it would not be adapted well. Now, after finishing all12 episodes, I can definitely say that my first assumptions were correct, and this show is terribly bad. To be honest, the budget of this anime HAD to be incredibly minuscule; you can see it in all the non-existent details. It is so obvious that this show must have been serving as a filler anime for the season - maybe because they didn't have enough shows running in a time slot or something. Honestly, this is the only reason I can come up in my head for why they would take such a beautiful manga and utterly butcher it. As everyone knows - normally, completed mangas aren't chosen to be adapted into anime in the first place, unless they're considered classics or they've already had an anime season previously, or it's a new adaptation of something that's continuously popular. Unfortunately, Momochi House does not meet the mainstream criteria for any of this. Throughout the show, there at least 3 scenes that I can count on hand where characters are speaking, but their mouths aren't animated to move. All of the beautiful designs of the characters from the manga look incredibly dull and ugly as well. Himari's hair is too thick; her pigtails are like tangled snakes. Yukari looks like some Yuki Sohma ripoff with not even a fourth of his charm, and Ise isn't half as masculine-defined and bullheaded as what he should be. There are even scenes where Aoi looks like he could be thirteen years old, while in the last 3 episodes of the show, sometimes he looks like he could be in his thirties. Not to mention all of the outfits in the manga look so delicate and detailed with beautiful patterns and gradients running throughout each piece, but the anime designs are nothing like this - the only piece to hold up is the top cover of Aoi's blue kimono. If this was a true adaptation, then the anime would have the same depth of beauty as Oshi no Ko in terms of style. And don't get me started on the story. The only episodes that hold true to the manga are the first 3, maybe 4. They rush through the surface synopsis of the manga and then pull about 4 or 5 different mini stories/situations from the manga and smash them all together to fill in the middle episodes. If they don't completely re-write something, they rush it and toss out the details. The watcher has no real history to fall back on and relate to with the main characters - at least, not in the way they should be able to relate to them. I'm mildly surprised they even put Kasha in this anime, because they didn't even cover his background at all. Not even the ending of this anime matches the manga. The screenwriters definitely pulled one out of their butts to end this show as fast as they could. If they were going to tell the story truthfully, and see that it was well-made, it would take at least 40+ episodes to capture everything correctly. Simply put, I am very disappointed, because I know the manga will probably never have another chance to be adapted (tis the way of life), but I am not surprised at all. If you like old school shojo manga, I definitely recommend reading Momochi House. But for the sake of your brain cells, definitely don't try watching it.

The Demon Prince of Momochi House - It's Kamisama Hajimemashita, but 100 times worse. Let that sentence sink into your brain. Everyone within the AniManga community sure knows famed mangaka Julietta Suzuki's Kamisama Hajimemashita a.k.a Kamisama Kiss, if not, then where the hell have you been? It's one of the famed Shoujo series that all girls will speak of when they have a classic that they can recommend to, hell even to guys who are not interested in the Shoujo genre, at least for the classics (which I recommend you read/watch the entire series in general). And yes, countless examples have followed this tradition, but notin the specific sense, which is where mangaka Aya Shouoto comes in with her work of Momochi-san Chi no Ayakashi Ouji a.k.a The Demon Prince of Momochi House. And let me tell you, despite it looking like an imitation copy of Kamisama Hajimemashita, it's nowhere near that level. Hell, everything looks like a carbon copy of the extreme bad side of it. And yes, I read the entirety of the already completed 16-volume, 64 chapter series so tell you my overall thoughts as a whole. So first, the story elements of which all characters have their fate intertwined to one mansion where the border between human and the supernatural meets: - The human side: the 16-year-old orphan of Himari Momochi being granted her old family estate as a gift of inheritance. Despite the many rumours going around that the house is haunted, she takes the challenge to reclaim the haunted house as her own, to which she finds 3 handsome guys loitering around in the estate for god knows what reason. As the sole proprietor of the house, she attempts to shake them off her house, but soon realizes that her destiny how lies at the hands of the same 3 Ikemen who warned her about the impending changes/fate within the Momochi House itself. - The supernatural side: Led by Aoi Nanamori, he is one of the 3 entities whom Himari tries to chase out of her House. But the House itself has a hidden secret: the bloodline of the Momochi family must take its reigns and become the next Omamori-sama or "Nue", one which Himari was supposed to be as its guardian. But Aoi escaped into the Momochi House when he was 10 due to his family's problems when he was a human, and through the goading of an adult who tells him that he would be able to find solace within the House on a hill, there he is unanimously welcomed into the House, and soon realizes that he will become the Omamori-sama instead of Himari, which grants its user spirit-like shikigami powers when he's transformed into a Nue. Feeling the Nanami Momozono and Tomoe semblance within Himari and Aoi? Strap on, because things are about to get worse. With Himari's Omamori-sama power stripped down to just expelling entities from her own House, she has to settle down with Aoi and his 2 other shikigami lackeys: Yukari, a serving Mizuchi spirit, and Ise, a hard-headed Shoujo-like orangutan. The former is tolerable since he displays a fair expression, and like what he does, only serves his master to the fullest, which he eventually displays that affection to Himari as well, seeing how she is still serving as a co-linkage between her and Aoi as well. The latter is very brash and grumpy, and would bolster trouble even over the most minor things. But when it comes to the crunch, like Yukari, he's in loyalty to Aoi as well to drive out beings who dare to disrupt the House's dimensions, save for the one who always grates on their nerves: Kasha. The powerful Ayakashi who has a deep obsession and rivlary towards Aoi as the Nue, he is the definition of the boredom character, trying to annoy the heck out of everyone for some amusement. The biggest sin, however, is Himari herself. Though she does give the usual appearance of a main character, it's not exactly enforced on her until she gets to the root of the problem within the happenings at Momochi House. And even then, she tries to take charge handling all matters from the wandering ayakashi to the shikigamis themselves, which is nice to see from the authoritarian standpoint of the female MC. The part that feels egregious is the romance section, because since this is a Shoujo, you can't exactly run away from Himari and Aoi having feelings for each other even in times of trouble. This is where Kamisama Hajimemashita does this better at knowing where to emphasize character growth that leads to expressive outcomes...wis an irony for the author herself that Aya Shouoto has an idea on where to take Himari's character, yet force it down the predictable route when creativity besets her back. Despite the difference between Aya Shouoto and Julietta Suzuki's approach of the Shoujo genre, you know who won, and had a better, yet creative approach that doesn't betray its themes and knows how to create a natural guideline on long-standing storytelling. Being an Aniplex show, they do have shows that are definitely out of the ordinary like Yana Toboso's Kuroshitsuji a.k.a Black Butler. But this is even lesser for Shoujo-centric shows when it comes to the traditional classic Shoujo, which is where this show comes in. The production by studio Drive is just...there, it's not the greatest, but it's not bad in either way, just mediocre to a low-level decent, avoiding it being a literate imitation of Kamisama Hajimemashita. To make matters worse, director Bob Shirahata isn't someone high-profile of note, going through almost 35 years of main roles and assuming directorial roles for the lesser shows, the last notable one being the downfall of Nanatsu no Taizai a.k.a The Seven Deadly Sins via the Ensa no Edinburgh ONAs. I mean, I did not expect much from this show from the get-go, and my feelings were pretty much unchanged from start to finish, with the dip coming off from the 2nd half. The music is decent, with both Ayana Tsujita and Tomoyuki Kono helming the department, they did a fair job creating the atmosphere for the show. The part that I don't get, is the theme songs. Muto's ED is calm and collected, just like an actual Shoujo work, but Yoh Kamiyama's OP is a pure wreck of a disaster. Sure, he can create songs like for instance with Horimiya's OP (and "Iro Kousui" IS a fantastic song BTW), but "Hozuki" sounds too much of a Shonen than a Shoujo-ish song, resulting in quite a dissonance of a song that is just plain bad, or even close to ear-numbing in my terms, yikes. If there is any recommendation after washing off the distastes of the anime, I implore you to read the manga from the very beginning, because Shoujo anime rarely have follow-up seasons and tend to rush to get a stopping point, which this show unfortunately has done so. The manga is quite the opposite approach to the anime and is a decent traditional Shoujo romance work on its own, which I respect Aya Shouoto for her long and arduous work over 6.5 years. Just take the standard word to "Go read the manga" and forget that the anime ever existed.

This anime was very contradictory to me. I liked the characters but at times they felt very distant to me. I knew that Aoi and Himawari liked each other and that they could not indulge in these feelings but instead of romantic tension sometimes it felt flat. The premise was intriguing but it just didn't get there for me completely and I'm not sure why. The ending was tonally sound but it also felt muted like a lot of the series. Part of the problem was everything felt like it needed to be expanded upon, whether it was Himawari's emotional state, Aoi's past, the ayakashiall around them, or specific plot points, it felt very condensed in on itself. I think if it took on a broader scope, had a little more tension and drama, and really capitalized on this kind of nostalgic shoujo romance background flavor, it might have been more engaging and closer to a 7/10 for me. If you're looking for a shoujo that is a little subdued but still has some stakes to it, you might enjoy this anime. I don't regret watching it, but it just wasn't as good as it could have been.