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Otaku Elf (TV) (w/ index).


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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:28 pm Reply with quote


Otaku Elf (TV)

Source: Manga (ongoing @ 7 volumes, by Akihiko Higuchi)

Demographic: Shounen

Animation Studio: C2C

Genres: comedy, slice of life, supernatural

Themes: demi-humans, elves, otaku, shrines

Plot Summary: Koito Koganei is a teenager who works as an attendant to the Takamimi Shrine. Rumors have it that a deity dwells within the shrine, but the actual resident is an immortal elf who found herself stuck on Earth some four hundred years ago. What's more, the elf is a total shut-in who won't go outside and has developed a taste for video games.

Air Date & Platform:
April 7, 2023 (Friday)
Available on: HIDIVE

Episode Count / Runtime: 12 episodes
----------------------------------

EPISODE INDEX

(Clicking on the episode will take you to my post that has a summary, comments, and screen-caps)

Episode 01: The Elf of Tokyo
Episode 02: Let's Go to Monja Street
Episode 03: The New Priestess and the Ritual of Succession
Episode 04: The Elf Battle of All Times and Places

Episode 05: Tsukishima Girls' Collection
Episode 06: Stand by Me
Episode 07: The Aroma of the Town
Episode 08: Her and the Elf's Situation

Episode 09: Time After Time
Episode 10: The Elves and Miko of 3 Cities
Episode 11: Detective Koma-chan
Episode 12: This is My Shrine Deity


Last edited by Tony K. on Sat Sep 09, 2023 5:36 pm; edited 15 times in total
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24232
PostPosted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:54 pm Reply with quote
Episode 1

I had a feeling I was going to like this one and I was not wrong. It's funny, charming and has heart. What more can you ask for? I'm a bit surprised the show "revealed" who the Lady in White was so quickly to Koito. We knew right away, of course, but I thought that Koito would be strung along a bit longer.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 2747
PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 9:06 am Reply with quote
Episode 2 was just as charming as the first one and our recluse elf is slowly seeing and tasting a bit more of the world. Given the opening I assume that the other elves will slowly start to appear.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15580
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 8:32 pm Reply with quote
I watched the first two episodes, and this easily looks like a confirmed pick to watch this season. I was thinking based off the name it might ride more on just the premise of an elf being an otaku, but it has felt more thoughtful than that.

Like in this episode she was talking about old collectables.

I was kind of wondering if she wanted extra money, whether she could auction off her old stuff that she might not have room for anymore. I otherwise wonder how she could avoid running out of space after being an otaku for so long.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 10:11 pm Reply with quote
Episode 01: The Elf of Tokyo

Summary: Koito Koganei is the miko of the Takamimi Shrine and cares for the goddess Takamimi Hime no Mikoto, who in reality is a hikikomori otaku elf named Elda who was summoned by Koito's ancestor 400 years ago.

Comments: This has a nice slice of life kind of feel to it. Elda seems a bit cooky and eccentric, as I feel most otaku are, in some form or fashion. It should be interesting to see what kind of interactions she as since he's 1) really old, but 2) also a big shut-in. I'm curious to see what a 400-year-old shut-in acts like.

The art is pretty nice, too. They seem to be putting a good amount of detail into the backgrounds and Elda's paraphernalia. Will probably take lots of caps of those, since the show feels like it'll gonna' be another chill-type show.

Screen Caps:







Last edited by Tony K. on Wed Apr 19, 2023 1:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 10:13 pm Reply with quote
Episode 02: Let's Go to Monja Street

Summary: Elda practices speaking with people again by thanking Koito's sister, Koyuzu. Koito invites her best friend Koma Sakuraba to the shrine, and Elda reveals she has been collecting free merchandise since the Edo period. Elda is convinced to visit a monja restaurant for dinner, but it costs Koito her entire week's wages.

Comments: This was a pretty funny episode. I like how unassuming Elda is, but also how gung-ho she gets when she gets into something. I could definitely keep watching something like this, if it's just Koito and Elda doing chill things like buying things or going out to do stuff.

Lots of screen caps of things, food, and backgrounds.

Screen Caps:





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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 8:55 am Reply with quote
The third episode really clicked for me. The blend of comedy, warm vibes, a bit of history, some magic and a whiff of melancholy really works. The perfect example is the ceremony, it has a bit of a moody mystique, comedy and a happy yet slighty sad moment in the span of 5 minutes. The show also hints at the downsides of being immortal but does not bash it in your face.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4161
PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:27 pm Reply with quote
The reason for the ceremony had me laughing out loud; It's best never to learn about the origins for religious ceremonies, as they may stop being regal and meaningful.

Episode 3 also kind of destroyed the whole series premise in two moves; It's hard to laugh at Elda being a shut in when you learn how she tried to connect with people only for them to die on her. Physical stuff, like her odd collection of glass, will always remain.

Move number two: another elf in the after episode segment. So there's at least two elves from another world or perhaps this new character is a half elf... who showed up after I wondered during the end credits "if Elda was a special subject of the shogunate for hundreds of years, did any of them try to..."
A human looking elf shows up.
"Ah."
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2023 9:51 pm Reply with quote
Episode 03: The New Priestess and the Ritual of Succession

Summary: Elda orders a limited edition pudding, recalling the first delivery service in the Edo period. Elda and Koito indulge in Elda's stash of limited edition cakes, pastries, snacks and drinks, and Koito undergoes her succession ritual to introduce herself as Elda's new miko.

Comments: It's been a while since I've seen an otaku-themed show. The last one I watched was, probably, Genshiken more than a decade ago. I have, however, been watching quite a few slice of life titles from this and last season. And I have to say all of them have been pretty relaxing.

I never realized just how chill otaku-ing could be. I get the collecting and geeking out aspect of the culture. Although, it's been so long, that I didn't notice the interaction part of people collecting and geeking and hanging out. I usually assumed otaku-ing was a solo gig. So it's nice to see Elda and Koito doing stuff together.

It should be interesting to see what the other elf is gonna' be like. I wonder if she'll turn out to be an otaku, as well.

Screen Caps:







Last edited by Tony K. on Fri Apr 28, 2023 10:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:09 pm Reply with quote
Episode 4

Oh my lord, this show is just too adorable. I love Elda's regular character design and I love her Super Deformed (SD) look, too. Elda's seiyuu, Ami Koshimizu, is just completely nailing the performance, perfectly capturing her soft, hesitant, super shy side and her more bratty, spoiled side. I love moments like when she proudly shows off her "cool glass shape" collection to Koito. She and Koito are a perfect double act; the determined teenager trying occasionally to drag her otaku elf charge out of her shell and comfort zone but also ultimately being a big softy with her. Cute, cooking imouto, cute elf senpai who is a year older, but looks substantially younger. And like others have noted, I appreciate the Edo historical stuff. I could be wrong, but those details feel authentic, like somebody has done real research. Loved the bit about how people used to have personalized inscribed paper lanterns when they went out walking at night and Elda's was "Don't Mind Me." Laughing Great show.
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 29, 2023 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, that was a fun episode. The interactions with Yord were fun, though I can imagine why you would not want to have her around all that often. The sick part of the episode had some cute moments and interesting history bits. I can imagine that just calling yourself a doctor and practicing medicine without knowing anything is going to end badly.
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 29, 2023 7:57 pm Reply with quote
One of many books that I started recently and haven't yet finished is one on the Great Influenza of 1918-19. The book starts off with how the state of medical practise in North America was pretty dismal up until the creation of John Hopkins which was apparently the first attempt to put the study of medicine in the New World on any kind of rigorous, fact-based basis. Medical schools were a joke because they were funded by student tuition so there was no real incentive to be choosy about who you took in or wash them out if they were terrible. Sounds like it was almost like the Edo period where you could just hang out a shingle calling yourself a doctor and dangnabit, you were.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 30, 2023 4:30 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Medical schools were a joke because they were funded by student tuition so there was no real incentive to be choosy about who you took in or wash them out if they were terrible. Sounds like it was almost like the Edo period where you could just hang out a shingle calling yourself a doctor and dangnabit, you were.

Some weird facts that went tumbling through my brain like socks in a dryer after reading this:

Vaccine comes from latin Vacc meaning cow because the first vaccine was basically using cow pus to give people cow pox so that they wouldn't get its cousin disease, small pox. A doctor noticed that dairy farmers weren't getting small pox and worked his way up to a hypothesis from there.

Can't remember where I read this recently, but one of the reasons they called quack cures snake oil was because they had small amounts of snake venom in them. The medicine sellers used this effect to cause a person's heart to speed up, making them feel like something dramatic was going on after they took a swallow.

If you make up your own martial art, you can be a sensei and open up a dojo without going through any tests or exams or whatever. At least that was the case a few years ago unless something's changed.

(I'm a master of ippso facto)
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:41 am Reply with quote
Edjwald, the Cliff Clavin of ANN! Wink (Let's see if he's old enough to get that reference.)
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 30, 2023 11:18 am Reply with quote
Elda has the most adorable sneeze!
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