Chu-Bra!!

By now, every regular MAL visitor is pretty much used to all sorts of anime, be it action, drama, romance, or something light-hearted and silly. There is one thing a lot of them have in common, though: They can be rather naughty from time to time. To see an anime that takes the subject of showing off cleavage and underwear without trying to lean towards the 'ecchi' side is rather courageous. It didn't exactly succeed in staying innocent and all, but it did bring us a silly yet heart-warming story featuring characters with each their own personality, a loose yet fitting storyline and some fairlydecent art. "Chuu Bra!!" is really an anime targeted towards a female audience. It's light-hearted, silly and involves girls talking about their undergarments. For guys, this might take a turn to the pervy, but it's not all that bad. It did add in some subtle elements to prevent leaning towards a female-only audience too much by including a guy's perspective, and some rather "interesting" scenes which to be honest didn't exactly have to be in there, but they were a fun extra bit. The story involves a girl named Nayu Hayama, a middle schooler with an obsession for female underwear. After accidentally tripping during the opening ceremony and revealing some rather interesting panties, rumors stated some wrong things about her, but this didn't stop her from making some good friends and starting a "society" (club-like, but not a club) that researches underwear for girls who are not sure what kind they should be wearing. The whole society is pretty much the main plot element that keeps the story together, as the main characters always meet up during events and such, which improves their overall character development. The society includes our main character, two of her female friends (Yako and Haruka), and a guy who can't look at underwear for a second without feeling embarassed (Hiroki). Later on, another girl joins in (the typical rich-type girl who looks tough and all, but is actually kind and stuff) named Kiyono. All the club really does is converse about underwear and the likes, but as in anime like K-On, it tends to lead to different everyday conversations. The rest is pretty standard school stuff, and event planning and such, similar to before said anime. Granted, the story seems a bit bland, but it's the whole "talking about underwear as if it's the most normal thing in the world" that makes the anime interesting. Normally, you'd expect it to go all ecchi and stuff when it comes to that, and it does have its moment from time to time, but it's surprisingly innocent as a whole. For the 12 episodes that it has, it's really nicely executed, and you can say it "provides fan-service without it feeling like fan-service". It simply doesn't feel naughty or anything, it's just fun to watch. The art and sound are basic. It's a shame the show itself got a very poor BD release, resulting in artefacts and poor upscaling. However, the art as a whole isn't that bad, but it's nothing special either. It's similar to anime like "Love Lab" and "K-On", which still makes it entertaining. Same goes for the sound, it being nothing special, but not bad either, and both the art and sound add to the overall silly atmosphere this anime has. It really fits well with the character builds, and I wouldn't have seen it drawn in any other way. In conclusion, this anime is a unique experience. Even though it's categorized as both "Comedy" and "Ecchi", it doesn't exactly feel like the latter should be marked, but it's understandable. Granted, the underwear bits (which there are a lot of) can be pleasing to the male eye and mind (or female depending on what you're into), but it's certainly not the main goal of the anime. Not only does it educate girls by learning them about proper underwear, it brings it in a way that both males and females can enjoy it without feeling awkward. The characters in overall are a lot of fun to watch, each sharing their own traits and having their own personality. Although character development is difficult with only 12 episodes, I think they did a pretty decent job at it. I would probably re-watch this with friends and have a laugh, too. It's quite a fun little anime, and although not exactly memorable, it does leave kind of an impression on you. I certainly would recommend giving this a try, either if you're into comedy or if you simply want to check out the "fan-service". Either way, it's a fun little show to watch inbetween. Something I never would've thought I would say about an anime mostly featuring women's underwear. At least, without having certain thoughts about it, if you know what I mean.