Ore Twintails Ni Narimasu (Gonna Be The Twin-Tails!) Review

"Put our dreams and wishes into these twintails"

Have you ever loved someone or something so much that it literally consumed you? Has that love swallowed you whole, allowing little to no breathing and forcing you into the darkest depths of your heart's inner-workings as you grasp for air and fight to regain control of your life? Or have you accepted that and started the trek toward a downward spiral in which everyone you know questions your fixations and starts to lose hope for you?

Souji Mitsuka is obsessed with twintails, a hairstyle only possible and acceptable within the world of anime. And even though this hairstyle is undeniably the greatest there is, there is a line that must be drawn. Because when a group of humanoid animal creatures invade your world with affinities of their own, your fetishes will not save humanity. Unless you are Souji Mitsuka. He loves twintails so much that he is given the power to transform his affection into a physical manifestation and annihilate monsters in order to save the world.

Still reading? Cool. I should also mention that this power transforms him into a girl -- and a cute one at that. And even though the entire thing is overly-spontaneous and silly, it really isn't all that bad. It's something you can just throw yourself into and have a good time with, which isn't all that easy anymore.

Now, I know that we've already come so far over the past couple paragraphs, but we need to go deeper in order to figure out just what this show is. So I'm going to break it up into a few key components in order to further this review.

Music: 8/10

I think this might be the first time I've reviewed a show where the music outshines the rest of the aspects. Gonna Be The Twin-Tails! brings you in-your-face and extremely catchy rock music for both the opening and closing of the show, being somewhat reminiscent of how the Power Rangers was many years ago. It's both a good and bad sign when you are waiting the entire episode for the ending song to play. And with lyrics like, "Put our dreams and wishes into these twintails," you really can't go wrong. However, despite how awesome the music is, it does quickly get repetitive having to hear the same songs every time a new fight breaks out (Which is at least once every episode). It does a great job and really pumps you up, but it honestly just gets boring after a while. Except for the ending song. I will listen to that all goddamn day.

Characters: 5/10

As far as the characters go, there isn't really much to be invested in. Each one is slightly interesting and completely different from the others, but there really isn't much to them when you break them apart. It's a harem, so each girl has a thing for Souji, but only one of them really has a reason to (That being the childhood friend and best-girl, Tsube). It's nice having three characters able to transform into different versions of themselves as soon as they yell "Tail-on!" but considering they are almost identical to the way they are when they aren't transformed, there just really isn't much of a point to it apart from gaining superpowers. The characters definitely had potential, but didn't develop as the story progressed. They were all just too static and not interesting enough to be considered good.

Art: 6/10

Character design is well-done and relatively intriguing in Gonna Be The Twil-Tails! But boring landscapes and art that grows weaker as the series moves on really depreciates the overall quality. It was clearly evident that the studio was either running out of money or just getting lazy in the later episodes. But consistent design of the humanoid monsters (Or guildies as they are called in the show) stay pretty decent overall. Fight scenes are disguised by flashing lights and magic pillars, so focus is taken away from what's on screen and is instead directed toward background music or the lame dialogue the characters have to yell at that point. The color schemes are solid and appear interesting at first glance, but quickly become dull and boring, just like the characters do.

Story: 6/10

I'm going to be direct here and say that story isn't all that important in comedic anime. Gonna Be The Twin-Tails! relies on its script to succeed -- and the script is actually pretty good. But the story feels like there is something missing. It works like this: Tailred and friends take on a lizard-man or insect-man, completely destroy it, and then move onto the next one. It's just recycled action over and over again. The series attempts to get more interesting with the introduction of Dark Grasper, a human that is idolized by and in control of the Guildies, but she is just another boring character essentially trying via reverse-psychology to get Souji's mentor to love her. It's not something you can't find anywhere else, but it is fairly decent and watchable.

I've always liked uniqueness in visual media -- creativity is what I look for more than anything else when I review something. But there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. Gonna Be The Twin-Tails! approaches entertainment from a non-serious standpoint, and so it can't be graded the same way a serious anime is. It is watchable, but it isn't by any means great or groundbreaking. Approach this anime the same way that you would approach a stand-up comedy routine. If you go in with high-hopes, you will come out disappointed. But if you go in expecting it to just be okay, you might wind up enjoying yourself.

Overall score: 6/10