Oct11

First Impressions – Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu

By , posted under ANIME, First Look, Ore Twintails ni Narimasu

Gonna be the Twintails!! First Impressions

lvlln avatarAh, twin tails. I feel that they’re similar to thigh highs, in that they’re ubiquitous in anime, but rare in real life. Also like thigh highs, they’ve come to be associated with the tsundere personality (see episode 1 of Le Fruit de la Grisaia for a demonstration). I recall Konata in 2007’s Lucky Star pointed this out, though I wonder how well established that correlation was by that point. Surely the 7 years since then have seen an explosion of that trope, though.

Which brings us to this show, a shameless love letter to twin tails. And as the title Gonna be the Twin-Tails!! indicates, it’s not enough only to LOVE the twin tails, you must BE the twin tails.

Skylion Avatar“I don’t want a threesome. I don’t have time!” Twoearls? You make time for the important things… And with that, let’s talk about Ore Fetishism and UST:the Anime!!
Highway AvatarBecause I don’t really look too much into previews and source materials (especially if someone else has already written the preview information for a show) I frequently don’t really know what to expect with a show. And sometimes it’s nothing at all. That was the case going into Twintails. I had no idea what it was going to be, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Ever wish you could become the twin tails that you love so much? Well then this is the show for you!

Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu. - 01 (55)

lvlln// Wow, what a crazy yet extremely straightforward opening episode. We start with Souji, our twin tails-loving protagonist, entering high school with his Miku-level twin tailed childhood friend Aika. Before long, the two are approached by (conspicuously non-twin tailed) Thouars, who seems insistent on getting Souji to put on a certain bracelet. One thing leads to another, Souji transforms into a magical twin tailed girl he has dubbed Tail Red, and he (she? Xe? I’m not sure what pronoun to use here) saves the day by defeating a lizard creature and his henchmen who are running some machine that undoes girls’ twin tails.

So yeah, crazy yet straightforward. I knew going in that this would be a magical girl show of sorts, perhaps in a scifi style in a similar vein as Vividred Operation or Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, but I didn’t catch that we’d get a bit of Kampfer mixed in. Which is good, because everyone knows that being the little girl is what we’re all after in anime. And boy is she little. Unlike Natsuru in Kampfer, Souji’s transformed form seems to have little to no connection to his regular form, as he shrinks down to grade schooler size while taking the form of Kuuko in a Striker or IS-ish unit. Also unlike Natsuru, his voice completely switches, to that of a woman (Sumire Uesaka, who’s well known for another minuscule character with S-class twin tails in Dekomori from Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!). Basically, in this case “transformation” means “wholesale character replacement.”

Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu. - 01 (64)

Coincidentally, student council prez Erina is voiced by Chinatsu Akasaki who voiced Dekomori’s love interest Nibutani in Chu2koi.

To add to the absurdity are the villains whose lizard leader and henchmen bring to mind sentai hero shows from the 70s and 80s (Samurai Flamenco is a recent show that heavily drew from that well). So naturally we don’t know who they are, where they’re from, or what their motivations are. I’m especially getting mixed messages on that last one, since they appear to go moe-moe over twin tails as much as Souji, yet they seek to destroy twin tails. These villains are typically aliens, so maybe there’s some back story where their planet used to have twin tails but lost them, and thus they need to rob the Earth of its twin tail resources? I mean, it’s about as dumb an idea as aliens seeking to prevent the heat death of the universe by reversing entropy through the use of the despair of little human girls, so… perhaps that’s it?

I’d like to see this nonsensical story explored, as it was the main source of amusement in this episode. The show’s other qualities leave something to be desired. The characters are bog standard for these types of harem action shows, from the perverted protagonist to his socially aware and supportive mother, from his shy childhood friend to the fancy ojou-sama class president. And what action there was was good, but not great. I have to appreciate that the action scenes actually used animation instead of stills, and implemented actual choreography and direction rather than relying on speed lines and zoom-ins, but there was zero creativity in them. Same could be said of the comedy, which relied on overused jokes we’ve heard too many times before. A pushy busty woman hitting on a boy next to his flat-chested childhood friend was funny the first dozen times we saw it, but by this point, the poor horse’s corpse is so thoroughly beaten that it has become n(e)igh unrecognizable.

Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu. - 01 (48)

How does one with twin tails in his heart summon a single sword as his weapon? Souji, you’ve still got a long way to go…


Sumairii// What can I say? This episode was everything that we were promised: guy loves twin tails, guy becomes twin tails, guy saves twin tails. The bad guys are reminiscent of your typical tokusatsu villains; they come from space, they look like random mutated animals with random space tech, and they have nonsensical goals. So from just these few elements, you already have the show in a nutshell. Now, Twintails obviously isn’t some masterpiece to be remembered in years to come. But I do appreciate the crass and trashy entertainment it provides. This is a show you watch for a mindless distraction. It doesn’t have any pretense of “class” as afforded by the Strike Witches franchise’s attempts at more serious storytelling. It doesn’t even have the relatively “innocent” cute girls doing cool things factor that Vividred Operation managed to pull off (admit it, that show was pretty tame beyond the bloomers in your face). No, Twintails is just raw, unrestrained, lowbrow entertainment.

The childhood friend is a boring twin tailed tsundere (sorry Michiru, no blond hair here because that’s reserved for the next character). The StuCo president is the stereotypical blond ojou-sama. The mysterious twin tails scouter is just a couple of funbags that come with a pretty face (and Maaya Uchida‘s voice). And even the lead is just a vehicle to deliver unto us a deliciously loli-tastic, fiery redhead. Everything about it is so bland that you wonder how you even sat through the episode. And then you remembered that you got exactly what you came for and you hang your head in shame. But fear not, my friends. There is no need to be ashamed. No one is judging you for watching a show like this. Well, except for the elitists in their little circle-jerk elitist dream world. But pay no heed to them, because you are wasting your time and enjoying every moment of it. And if it’s enjoyable to you, it can’t be that bad, right? Right?

Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu. - 01 (19)

Absolutely loved this brief bit showing how close they were. According to anime, brushing someone’s hair is an extremely intimate affair.


Highway// There are some shows that are what they are, and that’s what they’re going to be, and they’re not ashamed of it, they’re not afraid of it, and they just ARE that to the greatest extent possible. This show is one of those. It’s a show about girls with twin ponytails. It will NOT let you forget that. Was there even a minute where twin tails weren’t talked about? I don’t think so. There certainly wasn’t more than 15 seconds at a time where there wasn’t a twin tail on the screen (thanks mostly to the omnipresent osananajimi Aika). But for whatever reason, it didn’t get old. Maybe a little old. But not as old as it should have gotten with a main character that is so focused on one particular characteristic. We’ve seen some shows where the MC is gaga over something and after about 10 minutes you’re thinking “Ok, we get it. You like boobs. Criminy, shut up already.” Maybe it’s because it wasn’t boobs, but Souji never really crossed that line for me. Maybe there was just the barest hint of that feeling, but then they got to the action part.

The biggest strength of this show, I thought, was that it embraced the silliness. It knows it’s all full of cliches. So what’d it do? Played with them. It pushed some of them to the forefront, lampshaded others. Like Souji’s mom inviting Aika over to “eat Sou-chan if she wants.” Yeah, we know that Aika’s got the typical crush on Sou (I guarantee that’s why she has that all-out twin tail hairstyle), but I like that in the show everyone else knows it too. It’s got Thouars acting like some sketchy pusher, so it plays that up, even using her ‘assets’, and breastets, to get Sou interested (and offering her boobs instead of changing her hairstyle… I think that Thouars’s got some compulsion against twin tails). And I love the tension between Thouars and Aika. And then finally, it’s time for a totally dumb fight. But instead of being ultra dumb like Daimidaler, it rescues itself with the heroics of Sou figuring out how to win, and NOT being a total perv about his transformation into Tailred.

Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu. - 01 (39)

“How dare you!? Now Souji doesn’t have to come to me for his twin tail fetish!”


skylion// Well, someone has to say it, and I guess it fit’s when it’s me. DA DA DA Da Dude looks like LOLI! Well, he transforms into a LOLi…which raises the question, where do I get a bracelet like that?! As for why he LOLiforms, they are saving that for a later date… This will need explanation as we see in both the ED and OP that both Tail Blue and Tail Yellow get “upgrades.”

OK, I’ll get on a more serious note, as serious as this show demands, which isn’t saying much. That’s the key, not taking it seriously. From the rather unusual twin tail fetish, to the trap/Mr. Female Impersonator childhood friend (that the male lead’s Mom is cheering for!), to the Endless Puddy Brigades and their Commander in Derp, if you take this thing seriously, you’re just gonna table flip. And I have some nice things on my table, like fluffy bunnies and cute dollies, so please…

So with that caveat out of the way, what do we have. I think we will have a genuinely fun show. I can see Vividbutts all over this, but as HWY reminds me, it’s closer in tone to Daimidaler. Which isn’t a bad place to be as that show was a fun watch despite the absurd levels of fetishism and down right brain dead writing. Twintails manages to skewer right through it all, and come out a winner. It has some good character design, decent fight sequences, and some engaging characters, no matter the goofyness the story line puts them through. I mean the villain basically HNNNNNNNGS himself to defeat… not that I can blame him!

Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu. - 01 (44)

Souji finally finds out what it’s like to be on the other side of his desires.

Highway Banner

This show brought the fun. That’s the main thing to say about it. It’s not the brightest, it’s not the cleverest, but it knows exactly what it is, it’s going to be that the best it can be, and at least in the first episode, it didn’t cross the line. It also didn’t turn Sou’s fetish for twin tails into something really skeevy. Odd, maybe a *little* out there, but not something that makes all the girls go “eewwwwww, don’t look at me!” I love shows that are honest about what they are, and this really met that standard.

Skylion Banner

I don’t know if this show aims to be subversive, or have somewhat mild levels of deconstruction, but if they manage to continue the same streak they are on, they will deliver a fun ride for the next three months. My only concern is that the jokes will run stale at some point. But for now, let the riot continue… GRANDO BUHLAZAH!

I will close off by saying that I am not a particularly big fan of twin tails or curls. But I have to agree with Souji’s insight on Erina’s twintailed curls. They are absolutely divine. Maybe it’s just the added effect of the sparkles and the lengthy showcase when they were introduced. But there is definitely something about Erina’s twintailed curls. Nevermind Erina herself. She’s just there as a necessity because it would be awfully awkward to just look at twin tails floating around with no body. Just like how the rest of Thouars has to be there for us to appreciate her two big, fluffy bowls of pudding. Oh, and loli Souji’s twin tails are pretty fabulous as well, with that red-to-yellow gradient and fiery effect they have going on.

lvlln banner

So though this opening episode wasn’t all that great in itself, I do see hope in this show’s future as long as it keeps pushing on the gas with its ridiculous premise and villains. Like, the gender-bending aspect has barely been touched upon yet. And perhaps they can make the show truly about the meaning of twin tails, because right now it feels like the author might as well have picked a [moe character feature] out of a hat to use as his gimmick. What is unique to twin tails that makes us love it so? What does it really mean to love twin tails? What does it really mean to become twin tails? How do twin tails allow our inner goodness and ability to shine through so that we may fight against the injustices of the universe? These or others like it are the questions this show must address if it is to be a success.

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52 Responses to “First Impressions – Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu”

  1. Foshizzel says:
    October 11, 2014 at 7:50 pm
    POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments

    I don’t know if it is sad or amazing that the anime today can turn anything into a plot for a series; however I guess if it works why not make it real? That said I would easily throw this into the WTF DID I JUST WATCH list of things this season, but there was something hilarious about Twintails that kept me watching! I guess the derp baddies which take me back to both HeartCatch Precure and the new Happiness Charge Precure because both of them have the same type of fodder mini henchmen and goofy bosses that give them orders.

    I guess you could classify this as technish magical girls like in Vividred right? I can’t wait to see how yellow and blue join up and maybe we will get some twintail fushion!? Just kidding but why not…

    I didn’t want to say this but Twintails reminds me of Kenzen Robo Daimidaler because its got a really silly plot about spreading ecchi all over the world and both have some really stupid villains xD

    Reply
    • Highway says:
      October 11, 2014 at 9:11 pm
      POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments

      It gave me Daimidaler vibes also, but it’s better in all ways. The ludicrously silly bad guys aren’t skeevy. The good guy isn’t a total jackass. He’s actually a hero. It was like what Daimidaler probably should have been, so let’s watch Twintails and forget about Daimidaler.

      Reply
      • skylion says:
        October 11, 2014 at 11:00 pm
        POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments

        Since Daimidaler had no LOLis (well, a pettanko) it’s easily forgettable…but I agree with you in spirit.

        Reply
      • BlackBriar says:
        October 11, 2014 at 11:13 pm
        POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments

        It was like what Daimidaler probably should have been, so let’s watch Twintails and forget about Daimidaler.

        Just mentioning Daimidaler should be taboo.

        Reply
  2. Sumairii says:
    October 11, 2014 at 8:18 pm
    POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments

    According to anime, brushing someone’s hair is an extremely intimate affair.

    Crime Edge and GJ-bu, eh?

    Reply
  3. zztop says:
    October 11, 2014 at 8:28 pm
    POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments

    Little did TailRed know the lizardmen were being manipulated by the evil Ponytails & Sidetails Alliance, who wished to rid the world of Twintails so their own hairstyles would reign supreme among innocent girls and lolis alike.

    Reply
  4. BlackBriar says:
    October 11, 2014 at 9:04 pm
    POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments

    Is it possible to die laughing? Cause I think I’m close to it. Souji has Ayumu Aikawa hopelessly beat in the crossdressing game. Something I didn’t expect would be a plot device. This is absurdity that works since it’s funny as hell. Amazing how the Japanese can come up with such random ideas and they manage to work. Well, with that kind of transformation, Souji is sure to keep his true identity secret.

    So basically, this is a twintail themed version of Vividred Operation/Symphogear against a band of twintail crazed aliens. Points for originality. I can honestly it was tolerable because though the premise is ridiculous, it wasn’t so much that it repulsed me from watching. As opposed to what Fosh says above, this was a hundred times better than Daimidaler. The lead may be a nut but he doesn’t piss me off.

    Reply
    • Di Gi Kazune says:
      October 11, 2014 at 10:36 pm
      POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments

      obviously spammy haet twintails.

      Reply
      • BlackBriar says:
        October 12, 2014 at 8:48 am
        POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments

        Seems that way. Maybe he’s just not into that hairstyle.

        Congrats, Di Gi Kazune, on claiming another rank on the top 20 list! Welcome to 5th place. You’ve overtaken my predecessor Dan-go.

        Reply
  5. Di Gi Kazune says:
    October 11, 2014 at 10:33 pm
    POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments

    This show is fucking damn ridiculously absurd. And full of innuendos. The H-doujinshis will have a field day with the LOLi. (Excellent, phase 1 of project gastrea works.) The only thing that would make it even better would be adding kemonomimi.

    Now, would our resident magical girl master watch this until the end? 😛

    PS. No twintail show would be complete without having a cameo by the Queen of Tsundere Twintails.

    Reply
  6. Wanderer says:
    October 12, 2014 at 12:29 am
    POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments

    This show is stupidly ridiculous, but I don’t care. It manages to be so in a way that doesn’t offend me, perhaps because it shows sufficient self-awareness.

    There’s nothing wrong with a show like this. As long as you’re looking for a show that’s ridiculous actiony comedy fun with cute girls, it’s right here. It doesn’t seem to be pretending to be any deeper than what it is, and it is delivering exactly what it promised. You get what you come for when you watch this, and if it isn’t what you want, I don’t think you can watch more than a single episode of it and claim that it “tricked” you into thinking that it was something other than what it is.

    Reply
  7. Wanderer says:
    October 12, 2014 at 12:31 am
    POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments

    Spammy, eating my posts will get you Grand Blazer’d. >:(

    Reply
    • BlackBriar says:
      October 12, 2014 at 8:43 am
      POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments

      After all the comments he’s eaten over the years and gotten strength from them, that may not be enough.

      Reply
  8. JPNIgor says:
    October 12, 2014 at 10:06 pm
    POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments

    I just watched it and…

    God, I lost count of how many times I facepalmed myself. Really? REALLY?! TWINTAILS IS WHERE LIES THE STRENGHT OF HUMANITY?

    And Souji, if you are a man, you don’t scream like a girl, even if you just turned into a girl. And you don’t yell “yaaaaah!” when a monster you just defeated asks you to touch your twintails.

    Reply
  9. AllenAndArth says:
    October 18, 2014 at 3:17 pm
    POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments

    When i first saw the preview i was like “please, Japan just…STOP!” and then when i was actually seeing it i was “GO TWIN=TAILS POWER! o/”

    Reply

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