Green Green

Impressive title aside, I went into Green Green expecting at the very best a saucy, funny yet poignant coming of age romcom set in the freedom of the great outdoors and at the very least a fun,sexy and occasionally sweet fanservice comedy. I soon found out that both my expectations were set way to high.

Set in the serene, heavily wooded wilderness of rural Japan, an all boys academy is in the process of being transitioned to co-ed, so the officials use the summer as a opportunity to try and integrate the two sexes. The story centers around a mild mannered male lead who is actually a step up from most shows of this ilk who is surprised, to say the least to find out that one of the gals who just arrived is claiming to have traveled from the future(where they were lovers) to be with him.

That really is all the plot that one needs to know about. While the male lead may be slightly better than average, his friends more than make up for this improvement by nearly destroying the entire show by themselves, they are beyond obnoxious and uncomfortably creepy and pervy to such a degree that their antics(which take up a way to much screen time) are jaw-dropping in their bad -taste and sometimes downright unsettling. They are made out to be sympathetic characters, which adds a whole new unpleasant vibe into the mix, you begin to dislike the main character for even associating with them. Green Green tries to be romantic and sweet, and sometimes it actually is, but the series remains firmly entrenched in the gutter, with its non-stop fanservice(which is actually pretty well done as far as fanservice goes), a hand full of squirm inducing situations that you really have to see to believe and incessant preoccupation with sex, one begins to wonder why they didn't just take the leap and make the show into a full blown hentai.

Green Green isn't terrible, its actually works rather smoothly from time to time,but anyway you look at it its a mediocre show, sure the ridiculous fanservice and ecchi humor are above and beyond the norm(which is good and bad) and it's never really dull but on the other hand it never escapes the feel of a low rent show employing outrageous content in order to distract viewers from its blandness and numerous short comings.

Grade: C

Reviewed: episodes 1-12(complete) Format: English Sub, DVD.