‘Futoku no Guild’ Review: A Fan Service Overdose
Fan Service is one of the most controversial aspects of anime. The term is used in many other mediums as a way to refer to an element of a project that is only there to appeal to fans, without having any sort of meaningful relevance to the stories or the characters. Give the fans what the fans want. It is always very important to keep your audience in mind whenever you are doing some creative work, but sometimes appealing to the fans as the only way to make your project relevant might not be so good. Futoku no Guild is exactly that kind of project.
Futoku no Guild is an anime series developed by TNK and serves as an adaptation of the manga published by Square Enix of the same name. The series is written and illustrated by Taichi Kawazoe and tells the story of a young monster hunter who is getting bored with his job. The young hunter named, Kikuro Madan has decided that he should better spend his youth doing what he wants instead of spending his time hunting monsters. However, a collection of girls belonging to the Hunter’s Guild will try to convince him otherwise.
Like many other series in the genre, Futoku no Guild is broadcasted in two versions; a censored and an uncensored version. Why? Because Futoku no Guild is definitely not an anime for kids. In fact, the series is aimed completely at adults. The series is basically a collection of comedy scenes with tons of shots and close-ups of the most feminine parts of the female characters, who are only there to please the main character. The premise could be interesting, but the series only focuses on how sexy are the girls and how clueless the main character is.
Kikuro isn’t particularly intriguing as a character. He has been forced to train since he was very little, so he is now looking to catch up with the lost time and do the crazy stuff that he should have been doing during his teenage years. This premise is charming, but then you realize that it is only an excuse to surround the character with countless female bodies with big bubbies and booties all around. Futoku no Guild ends up feeling a bit overwhelming, as every single shot sometimes involves some kind of sexual innuendo. These elements don’t add anything to the story, but they are there for the fans.
And that is the thing, Futoku no Guild will find its audience no matter what. It doesn’t matter if the writing is good or if the characters are nuanced and well-constructed. What really matters is to create a franchise that can sell merchandise to the fans and make some good money. There are huge franchises that focus only on that, so the creation of an anime like this one will only propel this sense of consumerism further than the manga ever could. It seems like a win-win situation for everyone involved.
However, if you are not a viewer that is already into the entire harem or fan service anime realms, then Futoku no Guild becomes a very hard recommendation. It is actually a no-recommendation in those cases. You will certainly won’t enjoy that the characters’ entire motivation is to make the main character happy and get naked for him and such. The comedy does have some good jokes here and there, but not enough to make it something watchable or something that is worth following for the storytelling alone.
So, you have to ask yourself some questions. When watching anime, what do you care about the most? Narrative or boobies? Character development or booties? The answers will tell you if the project is for you or not. I’m sure that this isn’t for me, but for someone else, this could be their anime of the year easily. I can see it happening.
In terms of animation, it is all very colorful and the characters, while generic, look excellent. TNK is an expert at doing this kind of show, and it seems to be working well for them. They must be selling tons of dolls, so why not make another show that will make the audience buy dolls? It is a genius move, and the creators of the franchise will be laughing on the way to the bank. For example, Gundam created an entire empire by doing just that, and it is now its own industry. So why Futoku no Guild cannot do the same?
You will definitely know if this show is for you or not by watching the first few episodes. If it is for you, then don’t doubt of giving it a try. It will make you laugh, and it will quench your thirst for voluptuous anime girls. If you don’t like this type of series, then just ignore it and let the people who like it enjoy it. Futoku no Guild might not be the best anime of the season, but it will find an audience. No matter how small ends up being.
