Softenni

If you are curious soft tennis is a modified version of normal tennis using rubber balls, and was created after being introduced to the east in the early 1900's. Thus, five airheads entertain us with their insane antics and personalities as they play it. Softenni is one of the most hit or miss comedies I have recently watched.

With a comedy it comes down to the characters and how they interact. The captain Chitose who is unable to hit a single ball, enjoys eating, and is basically the most annoying and least important. Compared to her we have Asuna, who is the instigator of all ... that is ecchi with her delusions, and her partner Kotone whom has fallen in love with their coach and is aiming for Wimbledon. We have the foreigner Eli who is the rival in love, and Kurusu who is a hardcore cosplayer. Typically Asuna and Kotone are the ones training and playing while Kurusu and Eli do random things in the background.

Unfortunately, there are only a few occasions where there is an actual match. There are two different teams we meet throughout the season, and while kotone his hard headed and competitive they act more as friends than rivals. The matches in general don't matter, as they turn into a giant joke within the first few seconds. Despite the huge focus on comedy, there is a general plot as they aim towards the nationals, but no huge progress.

On a whole I would like to think I enjoyed this series a lot. However there was two occasions I gave the episode a 1/5 and the rest of the scores are all either 2's, 4's, or 5's for the most part. This is a issue with a lot of comedies that are do not split the episode into mini sub stories. With the focus on something, let's say a windy day on the tennis court, for a whole episode it can get old fast if it doesn't provide any laughs in the first place.


As a tennis coach I was able to enjoy the insanity that was softenni. A combination of ecchi, tsukkomi, as well as situational humor there is no doubt that it can be entertaining. I wouldn't strongly recommend this show as there are slightly stronger comedies out there, but there wouldn't be any harm in trying it out. Well, one of the 1's was episode one as well so maybe try two.

I'll get this issue out of the way first:

When an anime is an adaption of a manga, simulator, et al; there's a guaranteed chance that only a small number of people had seen the story outside of the recently-created anime. So sometimes, there's a need for said anime to be its own monster.

Hence this title.

"Softenni" is basically what KyotoAnimu, and their boot-licker otaku-base, didn't want K-on to be: an animu about cute girls doing anything other than cute things. Like wearing either their undies or thin air, having the skirts get robbed of their "magical" properties, allowing (God-Forbid) actually useful and skillful shounens ... within the same spotlights and time-frames.

Now comes my tried-and-true litmus test: "The Shounen's Survival Rate In A Brutal Pink Bishoujo Ghetto."

I have no qualms against Mishimagi. But I do have some issues against Leo, manager of the rival girls' soft tennis club. He's an expert masseuse; but (because it's a PBG) he still gets treated harshly, he's voiced by a female voice actress, AND he even crossdresses as a girl.

I nearly threw this animu into the for-otaku garbage can if it wasn't so colorful, so funny, written with an ounce of actual consistency, and filled with upskirt panchira.

(Actually showing an ounce of heart and restraint, because of the recent natural disasters that affected Japan, was a major plus IMMHO. But hey. :P )

If you wonder if you should check this out it's better to wait till there's more episodes. Maybe it'll get better in further episodes. If you want some ecchi scenes you better wait for
BD's cause producers censored everything.

Otherwise - don't bother..

I'm basing it on the first episode but, to be honest i couldn't fun anything worth enjoying.

Series tries to be moe but fails.
It tries to be funny but it's clearly forced and fails.
Tries to be ecchi but producers censored every ecchi scene.
...
Story is forced, doesn't matter much in this genre however...
Art is medicore.. nothing special, nothing bad.
Sound - nothing worth mentioning.

Characters seem to be forced mix of archetypes from other series, and they lack any charm.

Enjoyment is null.. I'd fall asleep while watching if I weren't rushing to finish the episode.

Overall : 4
There are many copy&paste series created to make money. But they usually provide some fun.. In this case maybe some ecchi would save the series from the fall.. however it's all censored.. unless jokes and characters get better in next episodes it will fail miserably.