3 Episode Taste Test: Sora no Otoshimono (Heaven's Lost Property)

Around the ending credits of the second episode one realises that they've just watched a flock of women's underwear take flight, some with mock jet-streams behind them. That the key element of Sora no Otoshimono's story - a busty, docile angel that fell from a hole in the sky - is the most tame concept of the series demonstrates how abjectly bizarre it is. The opening episode starts out tritely enough but then plunges into bizarre areas as a mostly naked teen runs rampant around his school which is frozen in time, until the penultimate closing scene where everyone in the world apart from the protagonist and fallen angel have evaporated. Were it not borderline misogynistic towards the female cast, this would be a surreal but enjoyable show.

they can alter reality on a whim but not manufacture some more discreet clothing

The sparsely dressed angel that is ground-zero for the ensuing bedlam is completely obedient and accommodating towards the reprehensibly crude lead, Sakurai; the master-slave situation is instantly repulsive, more so that the master of the pair pays little to no attention to her beyond barking orders. The obscenity continues when an order goes awry and causes the other lead female, Mitsuki, to be sans underwear and handcuffed for a large portion of the episode. The first three episodes are intermittently funny but an undercurrent of repugnance sours the otherwise competent show.

The cast, ignoring the emotionless angel, is refreshing and while most begin as stereotypes, quirks and nonsense keep them from being as interminable as the premise threatens. In between the constantly dead-pan doll fanatic who lives in a tent by the riverside and the perverse, well-to-do student council president is the ferociously stupid male lead. His only redeeming features are that his rampant idiocy keep him from doing anything that would catapult the show from smutty to pornographic and, crucially, he quickens the pace of the show. Only the rapid switches between mad scenarios keep the show going and glosses over the more disturbing demonstrations of female objectification.

The opening animation threatens to introduce a further heavenly creature, this time with more modest attire but slots neatly into the young, annoying girl aesthetic. With much to be explained such as the origin of the otherworldly females and just how they can alter reality on a whim but not manufacture some more discreet clothing, the series could well surprise with some pathos for the obvious love tri - soon to be quadr - angle. More likely is that the simple humour will be eroded by more and more off-the-wall antics, culminating in a thoroughly unsatisfying conclusion with the misguided opportunity for a sequel.

Overlooking the disconcerting treatment of women, the first three episodes of the series are enjoyable by not being entirely formulaic and despite being scattershot, sporadically amusing. This is not the first series to cross tasteless moral boundaries when it comes to females nor will it be the last, it is simply unfortunate that the rest of the show is strong enough to stand alone.

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