Heavenly Sweetness – ‘Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me’ Full Season Review

What’s the show? Wataten!

Oh hey, Irlwaifu! Yup, I am back!

Welcome back–it’s been a while. Does that mean that the show we’re reviewing today is a boys love review like your very first review on the site for ‘LOVE STAGE!!’? Nope quite the opposite… well not exactly.

Intriguing. So, Wataten. What’s it about? Wataten is the shortened title for An Angel Flew Down to Me.  It’s a yuri/ CGDCT show about college student and shut in costume designer Miyako, and her little sister Hinata, a fifth grader who worships Miyako.  The show centres around the interactions and cosplaying adventures of Miyako, Hinata and Hinata’s friends Hana and Noa, with Miyako admiring the young and serious Hana a bit too much!

Yuri… sisters… CGDCT…cosplaying… why isn’t Matt writing this? This definetly sounds like the type of show he salivates over? Matt wanted a female point of view on this show specifically. There’s only so many times he can keep talking up these shows before–

–Before everyone starts labelling him a shameless lolicon? Hey, that’s the pervert I am going to marry you are talking about! Also, this show isn’t sexual. Why must every anime with young girls be seen as sexual fodder?

You sound eerily like him right now… Matt and I have some similar views on young/young appearing characters in anime, but we do differ a bit to. Just as you should never judge a book by it’s cover, you shouldn’t judge an anime by its loli.

Okay okay, I’ve heard this before. So, you have a college student who admires a fifth grader a bit too much and this show is…? Wholesome.

Wholesome? That’s a new one. Hear me out. Is this show about a college student who gets fifth graders to dress up as maids, anime characters and a myriad of other kawaii things. Yes. But at the heart of it, this show is about personal growth, and learning to push beyond your own boundaries. This show sees Miyako push beyond her crippling social anxiety, and place herself in situations she would never have done so if she hadn’t met someone who inspired her to do so.  We even see Hana grow and learn it’s okay to play and be a child, and just be cute. The relationship begins as one of contract – I’ll wear your dresses, if you make me all the sweets I desire. But it grows as they grow, and goes beyond the superficial.

But she’s grooming a child… She’s not. She just is inspired by her. There’s a great montage at the end that shows that for me goes through Miyako’s emotions and feelings towards Hana, and it begins with a scene of a young Miyako and baby Hinata and the obvious love and bond they share. This is the series for me. It’s about admiration, love, friendship, growth – and that’s so wholesome. Yes there are plenty of jokes about otakus, lolicons and social anxiety but those add to the fun of the show, but are ~not~ the heart of the show.

“Heart of the show”? Is this you looking for something to justify the wholesome maybe only you see? There’s a bunch of people out there who think this show is creepy you know. I don’t think I am alone seeing this show in a wholesome and heartfelt way. When Matt and I were in Japan there was a ‘Wataten!’ pop up at Akihibara Gamers, so of course we had to go. When we were there my eyes gravitated toward one young boy. He was about 10 years old and was looking at all the acrylic standees and deciding who of the girls to buy. He was picking up all the girls before settling on Hinata–my fave too–and he picked her off the shelf, and then grabbed his mum and they began counting his coins in his little anime coin purse before going to the counter. I smiled watching the entire interaction, and it made me love the show more. This show appeals to a wide demographic because it is a CGDCT show with beautiful characters, big personalities and lots of laughs and feels.

Sounds like a cute moment, so maybe the show isn’t as ~lolicon~ as everyone thinks it is. Alright. Final score? You know I don’t score things. Best leave that to Matt.

Ah that’s right. Well thanks for popping along. Always good to hear from you, although I do question your taste since you are marrying Matt…. HEY!

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Matt’s final recommendation and review for ‘Wataten!’ Thought I’d just quickly chime in with my thoughts on the show. I was initially skeptical about the show–not because of its subject matter of course, I’d enjoyed ‘UzaMaid!’ a lot from the previous season and these two shows share a lot of the same DNA. No, what I was worried about was Miyako–our slovenly, tracksuit wearing protagonist–who I didn’t much care for. It was about Episode 5 that I stopped caring and just started enjoying the show for the wholesome fun it was (yes, that’s right, I’m calling it wholesome too). It’s a fun, lighthearted series and it’s final episode is easily my favourite finale of any show this Winter 2019 Anime season and in fact ranks among the rare anime episodes I consider to be “perfect” which is in part why overall I give ‘Wataten’ a 91 out of 100.

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In Hot Water – ‘Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me’ Episode 4 Review

What’s the show? Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me, Episode 4.

How’s this episode? More of the same, which makes this incredibly difficult to review but I’m sure I’ll muddle through it.

Well that bodes well for this review… I don’t know, I just thought ~something~ more interesting would have happened by now—‘UzaMaid!’ this ain’t.

Gotta love the frills.

You keep comparing it to ‘UzaMaid!’, is that really fair? Probably not, I mean they’re only tangentially related but that relation is still enough to make the comparison applicable. Though there’s one thing that’s significantly different and that’s the protagonist and her motivations. I don’t think there’s any connective tissue between Tsubame and Miyako—in fact I dare say if they ever did meet Tsubame would harbor the same kind of disdain she has for Midori.

And what was the point of that thought exercise? I dunno. Filling time?

Accurate.

*facepalm* Just tell us what the episode was about and what you liked and didn’t like about it, no use wasting everyone’s time, okay? Fair enough. So the first part is about the girls playing in an inflatable pool in Miyako and Hinata’s backyard while arguing over who is cuter in their swimwear, the second part is them making clay models of their “favourite things” for summer homework project and the third part is everyone going to a summer festival.

“Where’s my attorney?” springs to mind…

 

Oh. I can see why you didn’t have much to talk about–kinda basic stuff for this kind of show? More or less. And none of it’s bad, it’s all pleasant and fun and funny and occasionally creepy (in all the right ways) but as I said at the start it’s just not particularly interesting to talk about. The most interesting thing that happens is at the summer festival Miyako starts taking candid photos of Hana and as a result Miyako gets in trouble with the police. It’s a funny moment but is resolved in literally 20 seconds with the girls coming to her begrudging rescue.

Does bribing them with sweets count as consent? Because she’s got that!

Anything else to add? Another thing that has the potential to be interesting (should it ever come to fruition) is the idea that everyone in Hinata’s class thinks Miyako is some super-sister, who’s a charismatic domestic goddess when of course the reality is the complete opposite. It’ll be interesting should these two worlds collide but for all we know that could be ages away.

Presented without comment.

Final thoughts on the episode? It’s more of the same–which is neither a great thing nor a terrible thing. The three girls (now five actually–with the addition of two more classmates introduced in this episode) are consistently more entertaining than our protagonist, but she’s at the very least slightly less gross then she was at the start–either that or I’m just getting used to her…

This is Koyori and Kanon, they are very cute. More of them please.

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Previous ‘WATATEN!: An Angel Flew Down to Me’ Reviews:

Angel Sweets – Episode 1 Review
Hide And Meek – Episode 2 Review
Loliconopoly – Episode 3 Review

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Loliconopoly – ‘Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me’ Episode 3 Review

What’s the show? Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me, Episode 3.

How’s this episode? First of all–I don’t normally mention individual episode titles, because most of the time its consequential but this episode was called “Imprinting” and boy did my brain jump to some scary conclusions when I saw that at the end of last week’s episode…

Okay, why? Well if you’ve managed to force yourself to watch the entire Twilight saga of films, including the final film ‘Breaking Dawn Part 2’ you’ll know ~exactly~ why “imprinting” is one of the most vomit-inducing things ever conceived of. But I digress…

…you watched all of the ‘Twilight’ films…? I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my time, okay? Don’t judge!

Danger danger!

Right… okay then, ahem, so what’s this episode about presumably some manner of “imprinting”? Thankfully not–least not in the way I was thinking about. This episode has two main themes. First we have Hinata, Hana and Noa making a board game in class about Miyako, yes that’s right they made a board game about Hinata’s weird big sister. But turns out the game has an ulterior motive–to help Miyako overcome her overall awkwardness by forcing her into ~mild social interactions~ all of which she fails… well except for the ‘Hugging Hana’ spot on the board which she over commits to and earns a well-deserved slap in the face from Hana over. “No” means “no!” Miyako!

It was pretty satisfying watching Miyako getting slapped by Hana.

A “board game for her to overcome her awkwardness”, well that’s a new one. It’s pretty endearing the fact that these elementary school girls are trying so hard to help out Miyako but it also reinforces what an absolutely pathetic specimen Miyako is, so you know swings and roundabouts.

Wholesome, except in the hands of a lolicon.

Hmm, true. And the second “theme”? Well it ties into the titular “imprinting” but is more about the fact that Hinata is utterly obsessed with spending time with her big sister and as far as this show goes this is about as wholesome as it’s been (and probably ever will be) as we learn about the closeness between these two sister’s. It’s adorable and completely not-weird (and the fact I have to clarify it’s “not-weird” says all you need to about this show).

The struggle is real.

Okay then. So good episode? As good as the others I suppose. I’ve noticed this show has a very slow pace, even compared to other shows of its ilk and while I don’t ~dislike~ that fact it does take some adjusting to get used to. That said there’s a few good laughs in this episode and some begrudging character development and it’s for the most part perfectly entertaining so yeah, “good episode” pretty much about sums it up. I’m still waiting for the turning point that turns this show into something ~different~ than my current expectations line it up with but I wonder if I’m waiting for something that’ll never come.

Mood.

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Previous ‘WATATEN!: An Angel Flew Down to Me’ Reviews:

Angel Sweets – Episode 1 Review
Hide And Meek – Episode 2 Review

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If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Hide And Meek – ‘Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me’ Episode 2 Review

What’s the show? Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me, Episode 2.

So how’s this episode? This one’s kind of difficult to review because it’s more or less ~exactly~ the same as last week, which for this kind of show isn’t a bad thing. But if I’m to draw comparisons (again) to ‘UzaMaid!’ episode 2 of that show wasted no time in giving us a whole heap of touching character development for its lolicon protagonist–whereas this show doesn’t even seem remotely interested in doing so. Which again, is fine, it’s just taking a different approach but yeah not the best for reviewing.

Some quality reaction images from this episode.

You say “exactly the same”, but surely it’s not? Tonally it absolutely is the same, all that’s changed is there’s a new friend to join Hana and Hinata in their predominantly housebound fun. The new girl is blonde loli Noa who we were briefly introduced to last week as she observed Miyako in an embarrassing cosplay outfit (and pose) from her window which is directly opposite hers. And at first we’re led to believe that Noa is going to use this information to blackmail Miyako but as it turns out she’s not that sadistic and seems to be just trying to get Miyako to come out of her shell and have more fun. Which you know, is nice and all, but she just met the woman–I don’t know that elementary school kids are that insightful and knowledgeable about picking up the societal anxieties of adults. But whatever it was pretty cute all the same.

‘Spider loli, spider loli, does whatever a spider loli does’

RIght and so it’s just all fun and games in the house then? Yep. They all dress up and Miyako takes photos of them, then Noa gets a ~complex~ about not being the cutest girl in the room so they have a dress up competition, then they play some hide-and-seek, then they have a competition to see who can take the cutest photo of Noa and then they have a bath. This certainly isn’t complicated stuff but it’s still endearingly adorable, even if Miyako still hasn’t lost any of her ‘creep’ factor.

I salute you!

So not won over on Miyako yet then? Not by a long shot, I mean I tolerate her–I don’t dislike her because she has funny reactions but I’m still not endeared to her the same way I am our other characters on the show. Even the mother, who has just a single scene in this episode is more likeable.

So we’ve got three loli’s coming over for visits and the lolicon protagonist still only has eyes for Hana I assume? Yes. Although there was an interesting moment that was very ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ but made me wonder if the show was going to eventually head in a different direction. Miyako’s looking at Noa in one of the cosplay outfits and thinks to herself–rather surprised–about how cute Noa is. And the way she said it sounded exactly the way a harem protagonist who’d otherwise been hung up on another character would ‘observe’ another girl in his harem. And I was like “is this going to be a gay loli harem?”

Most people’s reactions to reading the sentence “gay loli harem”

I bet that got you excited at the prospect… Well it’d certainly be unique–especially the yuri part of the equation! Sadly(?) I don’t think this show is going to go that route, at least not in any official capacity, unlike something like ‘The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done’ which (despite my dislike of its protagonist) seemed “all-in” on the loli harem aspect.

Right. So overall thoughts on the episode? It’s fun, I was smiling throughout which is always a plus but I think if the show doesn’t commit to some decent backstory or character development soon it’s going to lose some points in my book–even though I freely admit it’s still ticking all my buttons aesthetically.

Oof~!

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Previous ‘WATATEN!: An Angel Flew Down to Me’ Reviews:

Angel Sweets – Episode 1 Review

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Angel Sweets – ‘Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me’ Episode 1 Review

What’s the show? Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me, Episode 1.

So how’s this episode? So we’re in familiar territory with this anime, it’s basically ‘UzaMaid!’ all over again with our lolicon protagonist fawning over an elementary schooler–who in the case of this anime is her younger sister’s new best friend.

Really? This again?! And so soon after ‘UzaMaid’?! I know, I was surprised too but here we are, no use you complaining, we’re in it for the long haul!

Ugh, fine! So what’s this show specifically about and who is our pervert this time? It’s about Miyako Hoshino a terminally shy college student who spends most of her free time drawing and sewing cosplay outfits at home, she has a little sister named Hinata and they have a very close relationship.

That’s three degrees of head-pat-seperation!

Siscon and lolicon?! Calm down, she’s not a siscon, well… I mean, she doesn’t want to date her sister, she appreciates her sister’s cuteness and enjoys dressing her up–that’s about where it ends (as far as we know so far). So anyway one day Hinata invites her classmate Hana over and it’s “funny, squirmy feeling” at first sight for Miyako.

Is it diarrhoea?

Excuse me? Those her words to describe her feelings upon seeing such a “cute angel” like Hana. Simply put, she’s got a big ol’ crush on an elementary school girl and doesn’t know how to process it. What the rest of the episode is more or less Miyako trying to get closer to Hana, Hana (quickly) realising that Miyako is creepy and Hinata being oblivious to it all.

*Stockholm Syndrome intensifies*

And by “getting closer” you mean…? Dressing them up in her cosplay outfits and taking photos, making Hana sweets in the hopes of winning her over (or at the very least keep her in her life) then the requisite sleepover related shenanigans.

I’m sold.

This sounds very creepy, even for you. Did I say I liked it?

Wait, what? You didn’t like it? No of course I liked it, but I have issues… Unlike ‘UzaMaid!’ which had me from the first second and (almost) never let go there’s one BIG thing stopping me from calling this a largely enjoyable experience. And (unsurprisingly) it’s our lolicon protagonist Miyako. And I thought about this longer than probably anyone should, trying to think why I don’t like this particular flavour of lolicon but Tsubame from ‘UzaMaid!’ was so delicious. And at the end of the day it all comes down to confidence. People will tell you that confidence is sexy and alluring and brings with it charisma, and they are absolutely right. Tsubame was a hard-working ex-airforce woman with a killer six-pack and an attitude to match, she could say absurd lines about only liking girls who hadn’t had their period and you believed in her conviction–and (as much as this is probably the most problematic thing I’ve ever said) she made being a lolicon seem like the right play. Her confidence and self-assured attitude made you nod your head agreement all the while inside you were shaking your head in disbelief.

Everybody watching this show.

But not Miyako? Nooo~, Miyako is always in her sloppy loungewear (you can imagine they stink of sweat), she talks and acts like a shut-in otaku, she is the polar opposite of Tsubame and as a result you’re not endeared to her perversion (as much as one can be considering the subject matter) but rather repulsed. She is–to put it plainly and harshly–pretty gross.

I only just noticed her drawing tablet is a ‘Cherry’, now I’m worried about Hana’s virginity…

Wow. I didn’t expect that kind of dressing down on a show like this, a show you’d ordinarily be all for. Stop. Make no mistake I am all for this show, this show is aesthetically superior to ‘UzaMaid!’ absolutely everything about it from the loli’s themselves, to the more low-key setting, to the music and the visuals it is all incrementally preferable to ‘UzaMaid!’ in my opinion and for my preferences. But Miyako will continue to be a stumbling block for the rest of this series, oh I don’t doubt we’ll get some tragic backstory about why she’s so shy and housebound and maybe even a reasoning for her love of loli! Maybe she didn’t have a proper childhood and maybe she’s trapped in that mindset? Maybe high-school was so terrible for her that she reverts to her happiest time of life when at home? But until it does those things (assuming it does) and does them well, I can only take what I can see and that’s that Miyako is not an appealing protagonist. Yet.

Probably for the best. (Okay that was a bit harsh)

Okay, fair enough. So uh, how do you go about recommending this? The target audience for this show (at least among my readers, presumably) is small–if you enjoy moe, slice of life it’s a “maybe”, if you enjoyed ‘UzaMaid!’ it’s a “probably” everyone else nothing to see here, move along…

“Hey kids I’ve got candy in my van, come see!”

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