Episode four is pretty light on service, though there is one likely nipple sighting awaiting on BD.
Here is the one part of the episode that will probably have nudity on BD. Weirdly, this panel occurs at the very beginning of the manga, but appears in the anime in episode four.
My Thoughts:
Matsuri and Suzu head to school in search of evil spirits (Ayakashi). The one spirit they find naturally causes girls to slip and fall and end up in fanservice-y situations. In a show like To Love-ru, with much better production value and art, these non-nude slapstick fanservice scenes could still be pretty sexy.
Series creator Kentaro Yabuki is revered for his art talent, but sometimes there can be a downside to being so gifted. His rare ability to make a mundane panty shot, neck nape, or arched back instant boner material isn’t something that is going to translate to the anime version unless the anime is also drawn with high skill (and high budget). But here, with the Tsugumomo-at-best production values, these soft fanservice moments just feel like a boring waste of time.
And normally this wouldn’t be so bad, except that because Yabuki is so good at drawing these scenes, they make up the bulk of his fanservice in the manga series. It’s ironic that, had he been a less talented artist, he would have to rely on nudity more heavily to achieve the same effect, and thus would have made for a better low budget ecchi anime.
Still, this is a series that should produce a fair amount of nudity when it’s all said and done, and that counts for a lot in the mega-drought that is 2023.
