30-sai no Hoken Taiiku Review

Kicking off with a rather peculiar anime from Spring 2011 is 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku (Health and Physical Education for 30 year olds). As a quick note, while I will review an anime after it has finished and only if I have something to say about it. This doesn't mean I will only review a few anime each season, I will probably get to reviewing most if I have enough time.

What is it: 30-sai is an anime that is supposed to be for 30 year old people who are still a virgin. This does not mean virgin in the traditional sense, but also refers to those that have not had any sort of romantic experience. 12 fifteen minute episodes were produced by Gathering. 

Main Plot:  Imagawa Hayao is a 30 year old business worker who has yet to lose his virginity. On the night before his 30th birthday a mysterious person comes into his house claiming to be the God of Sexual Love and promises to help Imagawa lose his virginity. Throughout their adventures they meet more gods and eventually meet a target for Imagawa.

Basically the plot of the show

Why it's special: As the name suggest this anime is supposed to be filled with advice for those that have not had any romantic experience. Along with advice, the plot is set up in a way to make light of some of the serious situations. Each episode contains a few 'lessons' which deal with a certain topic.

Plus One:
The cast: 30-sai has a rather small cast, revolving around only 6 characters. Even when there are additional characters they never play a lasting role. Such a small cast actually helps the show because it leads to more character development than trying to deal with a large cast. 

The censorship: Because this show deals with a lot of risque topics, there is a lot of censorship. Despite the censorship, 30-sai is able to deal with it in a humorous way.  Each lesson has a topic yet sometimes the titles for the lesson are so censored that it is hard to figure out what it is going to be about.

The shortness: Each episode is only 15 minutes long, which is just about the right length. It doesn't drag on and manages to pack quite a bit in the short episodes.

Minus One:
The advice: The advice starts out well enough at the beginning but it eventually focuses on the plot. Any advice the show has isn't too terribly useful so the main draw to the show isn't even good. While it is good that the show chooses to focus on plot, it is severely hurt by the fact that a show about advice has little advice.

Ku-chan: One of the other Gods of Sexual Love she helps out Andou (Imagawa's love interest). For most of the series she is mute and doesn't say anything only drinking weird things. Yet at the end of the series, she begins to talk. Her beginning to talk just happens with no real explanation. The dynamic of the character is just thrown out to give her talk time.

One for all:
This show overall is nothing special. Some humor that can be funny at times really offers nothing unique. What could have been a decent advice show degenerates into a boy trying to get the girl show. If a light show is what you are looking for then this can fill that gap but it is not going to be memorable after a few weeks after watching. The one really good thing about 30-sai is watching the relationship between Imagawa and Andou develop and reach its conclusion.