Genre: Harem, Drama, Comedy
Length: 24 episodes
Rating: 15 for nudity, fanservice, violence and adult themes
Score: Good (but not great)
Rin is a little surprised when the King of the Gods and the King of the Demons move in on either side of him (each demolishing four houses to build their own). He’s taken aback by how friendly they are, and how often they get drunk together. But he’s alarmed when they each suggest he marry their daughters, Sia and Rin.
This is unmistakably harem rather than romance, and in the early sections only sets itself apart by having a higher than average fanservice. Rin is surrounded by five girls, and it doesn’t help that two of them are called Rin and Rim (especially when people keep changing the honorifics they use, even referring to the boy as Rin-chan). There’s seemingly little conflict between humans, Gods and Demons – even though the three worlds only came into contact a few years ago, the three races seem to be more or less integrated.
But as the story progresses it gets more serious, with life threatening illnesses, ghosts of the past, and a certain amount of crying. It also has ‘yandere’ – sweet girls who snap and go nasty. In fact, Rin seems to be a magnet not just for cute girls, but for cute girls with deep psychological issues (and when you have the magical power to destroy the city, your issues are everybody’s issues). Also it features an impressive amount of fanservice and nudity, both in the comedy and drama scenes.
In the end, this is a story about the long-term harmful results of a harem situation, and particularly of a hero who’s a bit of an indecisive wuss. It tries to pull a realistic romance toward the end, but by that point the damage to the other haremettes is done. It doesn’t go as far as the gritty shock of School Days, but it does show how unstable a harem is. Sadly, given that approach, it could have been great but wasn’t. I’m not saying it’s bad, just that it had an opportunity to be more than it was.
P.S. There’s a second series, Shuffle! Memories, which appears to be a half-length recap of the original.