Taishou Otome Otogibanashi was solidly in the upper mid-table on my expectations list for this season.  Yet I had definite reservations about it, based not on the manga (of which I’ve read not a jot) but a general instinct about the series.  Suffice to say that the premiere pretty much confirmed every fear I had – not that it was awful, but that it stepped in all the potholes I was worried it would.  There’s more separating this show from something like Ikoku Meiro no Croisee than simply a decade (the quality of the writing for starters) but I do think they represent an evolution in what anime is, and what it tries to be.

This premiere reminded me so much of Satou Junichi that it isn’t funny, and for me that’s not really high praise.  I adore Princess Tutu but generally I find Satou’s maniacal dedication to “healing” to be way too much for me.  Sadly, Taisho Otome Otogibanashi worships at the altar of the divine loli like so many anime do these days (and like almost all of Satou’s works do, whether you admit it or not).  I find these shows to be incredibly sexist even when they don’t overtly sexualize the girls at their center – they objectify them just as surely as if they did, and they paint an unrealistic picture of juvenile femininity for an eager (male) audience.  It’s endemic in anime these days and frankly it’s a major black eye for the medium.

The premise here is that a young man named Shima Tamahiko has been disowned by his wealthy father after a traffic accident which cost him the use of his right arm and claimed the life of his mother.  Seems a little extreme but okay, wealthy families can be pretty brutal in that way, so let’s go along with it.  Dad exiles the son to the mountains in Chiba (which in 1921 was a much bigger deal than it would be now), where he whiles away his days feeling sorry for himself and his nights lying awake, dreaming of not waking up from a sleep which forever eludes him.

Enter Yuzuki, the girl (about 13 I suppose) the father buys from one of his debtors as a future bride to make sure his son doesn’t starve to death.  Yuzuki is infallibly charming in any situation, speaks as if she’s been working in a helium factory, and relentlessly mugs for the camera as she ignores Tamahiko’s surliness in a saintly manner.  In short, she’s every trait you’d ascribe to the cliche she represents and then some, without exception.  Will that change with exposure?  Who knows, maybe – but it’s very clear what impression the series was trying to make.  And did.

There was really only one scene in the premiere I genuinely liked, and that was the aftermath of Yuzuki’s suggestion that she and Tamhiko “sleep together”.  The misunderstanding to follow is obviously telegraphed, but it’s handled in quite an amusing way, as he awkwardly panics over the situation and she reveals she’s not quite as naive and sheltered as she usually acts.  It gives me a little sliver of hope that there might be more here, and the series could dial it back a bit now that it’s made its statement of intent.

I’ve always said about Satou this his series (especially when he’s both writer and director) are like a too-sweet dessert with no variety of taste or texture.  I love desserts, but I like bitter, sour, and salty along with the sweet – and Satou these days is pure sugar.  So is Taisho Otome Otogibanashi – so far.  I don’t see that changing but these days one can’t be tossing anime with even a drop of potential away after one episode – we’re not in 2012 anymore.  Based on the setting and art style alone I’ll give it at least another week, but I certainly hope the band starts playing more than one note.