The basic premise – a city-bred idol retires to the country, where she gets indoctrinated into the ways of agriculture – seems ripe for all manner of “fish out of water” situations, and to an extent this 12 episode series from 2014 does use that approach. However, it does not necessarily do it in the way you might expect. The result is a lively, largely episodic production which can at turns be stupidly funny, surprisingly raunchy, edutainment about all things related to agriculture, and even deeply sincere about its characters and the reality of both farm and farming village life. Often it is two or more of those things at the same time. Without question the mix is entertaining, but whether or not that all works together well is a much trickier question.

Series which try to do and be as much as this one does usually end up taking a hit somewhere, and in this case the weak point is the overall storytelling. The series has only a vague sense of ongoing story, mostly centered on Ringo getting integrated and acclimated to agricultural life. The story never goes into much detail about the circumstances which led Ringo to retire, which is a shame because that's the one aspect of being an idol that anime has never really examined and this would have been a golden opportunity. From what is revealed we can surmise that Ringo either got burned out on stardom or chewed up by the system, and perhaps both. The implication always exists (and is confirmed late in the series) that she came to No-Rin High at least in part because of Kosaku sending her fresh vegetables, but another implication which persists is that she finds country life more her speed. As a result, anyone expecting a lot of content involving her being shocked or overwhelmed by the farm-related tasks she has to do will be disappointed, which is surprising for a series which depends so much on madcap humor. Her presence does set up a requisite love triangle with the all-too-eager Minori concerning Kosaku, but its execution is awkward, inconsistent, and at least on Ringo's part, does not seem that strongly-developed. The one substantial plot thread extending across more than one episode involves someone being essentially railroaded into marriage, but that only comes up late and is too contrived to have too much impact.

The series fares much better in its component parts, though. Bringing Ringo up to speed allows a convenient excuse for all manner of explanations and pontificating about assorted agricultural issues, and some of them can be quite interesting; a heavy rain after a lot of hot weather can cause tomatoes to split, for instance, or rice is remarkably sensitive to flooding despite being grown in standing water. Even as someone whose parents were both raised on farms, and thus has been gardening to one degree or another since a very early age, I learned a few things. The humor can also be quite funny even while being painfully dumb; laughing in spite of yourself is definitely a possible reaction in some places. In fact, in many respects the humor has a similar feel to it as another prominent Shin Oonuma directorial effort: Baka and Test – Summon The Beasts. When it separates its serious moments out from its humor then it can generate some sincere moments, too, such as the resolution of Kei's struggle with his father (which comes down to a conflict over organic vs. non-organic food which also develops into a philosophical issue) or the efforts of Kousaka, Minori, and Kei to use a field as an analogy for helping Ringo to smile again. They just don't flow together that well with the other aspects to make an overall story.

The dumb humor also brings out the series' other major component: its raunchy side. The content is quite a bit dirtier than the initial impression it gives, although it seems to be aiming almost equally for male and female audiences with its fan service. Guys get a couple of well-endowed female characters (one is even nicknamed “Oppai” in Japanese and “Boobs” in English) with jiggling chests and a female teacher who engages in nyotaimori; gals get a muscular male character wearing a mankini on multiple occasions and a couple of other male characters who strip down at various points. An early half-episode spent philosophizing about panties is practically matched by a series of jokes later on involving marketing mushrooms to fujoshi. (And yes, that goes exactly where you might expect it does.) And of course there are all sorts of sexual allusions made concerning certain vegetables. The look of Minori's dorm room when she thinks Kosaka is finally visiting to have sex with her also has to be seen to be believed. This content is not incessant, but it is present in large enough doses that the series rarely avoids it for long.

A less frequent feature of the series is its parodies and shout-outs to other anime series. One late episode uses an extended recreation of the opening scene of Princess Mononoke, while other episodes have either obvious or more veiled references to Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!, Death Note, Sailor Moon, Turn A Gundam, and even Urusei Yatsura, amongst others I may have missed or forgotten. Non-anime parodies including obvious references to 2001: A Space Odyssey and a certain famous scene from Basic Instinct (again, amongst possibly others).

The most distinctive visual feature of this SILVER LINK production is that many of the female characters seem to be perpetually blushing. Character designs do a nice job of distinguishing Ringo as Yukatan from Ringo at school without making the transformation so extreme that it's not obvious that she is still the same person. (That does make me wonder how the writing justifies her not drawing more attention than she does, though.) Otherwise designs seem a little flat, though perhaps trying to portray the students as more ordinary folk was intended. The color scheme also seems a little subdued most of the time, which, again, is probably being done for effect. Animation quality is plenty good enough to support all of the madcap humor and action scenes, contributing to an overall solid but not exceptional visual effort.

A highly eclectic musical score supports the series' varying moods. Comedy scenes and parodies get silly ditties, country-themed, numbers, and occasionally light jazz, while more serious moments get softer orchestrated numbers, and (naturally!) there's a sprinkling of J-pop or J-pop-styled music, too. Opener “Himitsu no Tobira Kara Ai ni Kite,” sung by Ringo's seiyuu Yukari Tamura (the voice of Nanoha, among many others), is a hyper number whose visuals showcase the actual setting for the school, while the closer varies. The most frequently-used one, "Mogitage Fruit Girls," features Minori and Ringo in interesting bikini designs and chibi visuals reminiscent of the Mahoromatic closers, but four other ones ranging from serious to parody songs are used, often as scenes from the episode continue to play out.

Funimation's release comes in its standard DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack with bonus interior art. On-disk Extras include English audio commentaries for episodes 3 and 8, clean versions of the opener and main closer, and a collection of trailers and promo videos. It also comes with a very solid English dub. Kei was the first anime role for Derick Snow and Minori was the first consequential role for Lynsey Hale, but both are well-cast and hit the ground running in the company of terrific performances by Austin Tindle (as Kosaka) and Tia Ballard (as Becky); by comparison, Jad Saxton's Ringo was less impressive, though the audio commentary claims that acting that deadpan is actually a lot harder than it sounds and that Jad's ability to do it that well is not common. Some of the minor roles are a little weaker but not to the point of being problems, though the country accents used in the village episodes may not go over well with everyone. In Funimation tradition, some of the songs are dubbed, too, with mixed results; easily the strongest is Ringo's low-key rendition of the cell phone song at the end of episode 11. The script zings, too, in finding appropriate equivalents for all of the jokes.

In summary, No-Rin may not come together well, but that does not keep it from being quite entertaining. Be aware going in that it's not as tame as first impressions might suggest and it can be a fun viewing experience.