Anime Review: Ao-Chan Can’t Study Episode 1

Anime: Ao-Chan Can’t Study

Studio: Silver Link

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Ecchi

Streaming: HiDive/VRV

Ao Horie is a diligent young student known for her hard work and constant study. She dreams of going to university and living a modest life one day. She also has a famous erotic writer as a father. Her pervy father has plagued her life since Kindergarten, and as a result, Horie hates men and wants to get as far away from her lewd upbringing as she can.

Ao-Chan Can’t Study is an ecchi comedy anime short series by Silver Link. It’s based on the manga with the same name and mostly focuses on the relationship of Ao Horie and “The King of Normies.” The first episode does a nice job at establishing the tone of the series, and surprisingly doesn’t completely rely on fanservice to tell its story. Sure, there are a lot of boobs in this episode, but towards the end, it hints at what could actually end up being a nice and funny love story.

The comedy won’t work for everyone, and those who are turned off by fanservice might not have a lot to stay for based off of only the first episode. I did find myself chuckling at how ridiculous the premise is, but I never found myself dying of laughter. Ao’s father is nearly unbearable in this episode as a character. His role in the episode is mostly annoying and is enough to turn off most viewers by himself. Still, one of his actions leads to a defining moment by another character that gives me hope that this could be a decent series. I’m hoping that the father doesn’t appear too often, because the show is much better without him.

The production isn’t anything spectacular and is what you would expect from a comedy short that takes place in a school. The sound design is full of silly sound effects to match how ridiculous the situations are. There isn’t much room for the animation to shine, because there actually isn’t too much movement, but this doesn’t hurt the experience much at all.

It’s hard to tell if this show is worth watching. It surprisingly doesn’t lean on the fanservice as much as I thought it would, and some of the jokes are genuinely funny. If the rest of the series focuses on the relationship between Ao and her suiter, this could be an entertaining anime. Regardless, this one certainly isn’t for everyone.