violettheory

I don't normally write reviews, but I honestly think it's awful that this anime has such a low rating and a majority not recommended reviews. This isn't a perfect anime by any means, it's a bit clunky, and probably too rushed to give the characters any real room to breathe, but it's an interesting story and a nice romance. Don't let the score fool you, if the title and poster drew you in, you'll probably enjoy this anime. I'm beginning to realize that MAL underrates shoujo in general. An equivalently decent shonen would not be sitting at a 6.4, so keep that in mind. I've seena lot of people comparing this to Kamisama Kiss, but worse. I've never seen that anime, so I can't really make a comparison. But I can say it does feel Fruits Basket adjacent, but with much less focus on the characters and more focus on the mystery. Much of the anime centers around the main character's fish-out-of-water situation, how weird it is to finally go to your family home and find it inhabited with weird spirits who won't fully accept you or tell you exactly what's going on. Most episodes waver between hints at an overarching plot and a monster of the week kinda thing. Things would feel much more fleshed out and less rushed if this was a two cour show, but in this day and age just getting shoujo adapted is a big enough accomplishment so ya get what ya get I guess. The strong suit of this anime is definitely the mystery and the romance. Teasing out character's motivations and backstories every episode is honestly pretty engaging, though this only centers on the main characters, side characters are left to the wayside, again, seemingly because they tried to cram so much into twelve episodes. The romance is very cute, grows believably, and doesn't progress like you would expect from the typical shoujo/romcom cliches. The art style is great, the patterned flourishes to clothing and wallpaper are gorgeous, though the animation quality is lacking sometimes (quite a few slideshow scenes that could have been fully animated but weren't). This is probably a personal issue, but if you aren't very familiar with the terminology associated with Japanese spirits and demons you might have a problem following some of the introductions and very brief explanations of the inhabitants of the house. Lots of new names and terms get thrown out with little to no set up or explanations, presumably because the target audience already understands the differences between an ayakashi and a youkai. It doesn't diminish the enjoyability of the plot, but it can be a bit annoying so keep that in mind. Overall, if you enjoy believable romances, mysteries that are slowly solved over a season, and interesting world building, you'll enjoy this show. If you're in it for dramatic, intricate, character growth and lots of well animated action then you will probably not have the patience for this show. 7.5/10

PhoenixA

Read the Momochi House manga and save yourself some time. I write this anime review as, originally, a reader of the manga. Ever since the Momochi House manga originally released, I enjoyed reading it all the way to the end, due to its whimsical fantasy qualities, interesting characters, and the beautiful artwork. So, because the manga is already complete and it isn't as well-known as other series, I was very surprised when I discovered that there was going to be an anime adaptation for Spring 2024. However, upon seeing the first visuals, I immediately knew that it would not be adapted well. Now, after finishing all12 episodes, I can definitely say that my first assumptions were correct, and this show is terribly bad. To be honest, the budget of this anime HAD to be incredibly minuscule; you can see it in all the non-existent details. It is so obvious that this show must have been serving as a filler anime for the season - maybe because they didn't have enough shows running in a time slot or something. Honestly, this is the only reason I can come up in my head for why they would take such a beautiful manga and utterly butcher it. As everyone knows - normally, completed mangas aren't chosen to be adapted into anime in the first place, unless they're considered classics or they've already had an anime season previously, or it's a new adaptation of something that's continuously popular. Unfortunately, Momochi House does not meet the mainstream criteria for any of this. Throughout the show, there at least 3 scenes that I can count on hand where characters are speaking, but their mouths aren't animated to move. All of the beautiful designs of the characters from the manga look incredibly dull and ugly as well. Himari's hair is too thick; her pigtails are like tangled snakes. Yukari looks like some Yuki Sohma ripoff with not even a fourth of his charm, and Ise isn't half as masculine-defined and bullheaded as what he should be. There are even scenes where Aoi looks like he could be thirteen years old, while in the last 3 episodes of the show, sometimes he looks like he could be in his thirties. Not to mention all of the outfits in the manga look so delicate and detailed with beautiful patterns and gradients running throughout each piece, but the anime designs are nothing like this - the only piece to hold up is the top cover of Aoi's blue kimono. If this was a true adaptation, then the anime would have the same depth of beauty as Oshi no Ko in terms of style. And don't get me started on the story. The only episodes that hold true to the manga are the first 3, maybe 4. They rush through the surface synopsis of the manga and then pull about 4 or 5 different mini stories/situations from the manga and smash them all together to fill in the middle episodes. If they don't completely re-write something, they rush it and toss out the details. The watcher has no real history to fall back on and relate to with the main characters - at least, not in the way they should be able to relate to them. I'm mildly surprised they even put Kasha in this anime, because they didn't even cover his background at all. Not even the ending of this anime matches the manga. The screenwriters definitely pulled one out of their butts to end this show as fast as they could. If they were going to tell the story truthfully, and see that it was well-made, it would take at least 40+ episodes to capture everything correctly. Simply put, I am very disappointed, because I know the manga will probably never have another chance to be adapted (tis the way of life), but I am not surprised at all. If you like old school shojo manga, I definitely recommend reading Momochi House. But for the sake of your brain cells, definitely don't try watching it.