Funimation
Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Starring: Terri Dotty, Jamie Marchi and Yui Horie

What they say:  Once upon a time, the studio behind Toradora! and Shakugan no Shana created a fable-minded story full of fairy tale tomfoolery, attractive archetypes, allusions to allegories, parodies of para…ugh, enough alliteration! You get my drift…

Ryoko Ōkami, the “wolf” of our story, and her BFF Ringo, also known as Little Red Riding Hood, are members of Otogi Bank—a high school club that helps classmates out of grim situations. One day, a meek young man proclaims his love to Ryoko, who does nothing but bite him in return. “You’re much too weak for me,” she huffs. So the boy joins Otogi Bank to prove he has the stuff to protect his beloved—even if it means taking a blow to the head with a lead pipe. He’s no Prince Charming, but will Ryoko allow herself to have her own happily ever after?

What I say: I didn’t know what to expect when I got this anime.  By the box I couldn’t tell if it was a comedy or love story.  I was leaning more towards love story since in my head. I figured Okami was a girl who was in love with seven pretty boys.  Okay okay… I was a bit off.  What it turned out to be was a romantic comedy that parodies fairy tales like Little Red Riding hood, Snow White, The Ant and the Grasshopper and others. 

This collection comes in one box set that includes the DVD and Bluray version of all 12 episodes.  It comes with English dialogue, the Japanese audio and English subtitles.  Each episode is in 1.78 widescreen format and last about 25 minutes long.  I watched the entire series with the Japanese Audio and English subtitles on.

The series is set at the Otagi Academy where there is a high school club known as the Otogi Bank.  This group helps people with various problems under one condition: That no matter what they repay their debt one day.  Our protagonist is Ryoko Okami a flatchested/fierce lady who fights thugs using her Neko Neko Knuckles.  Ryoshi Morino has a crush on Okami and after epic failing with his confession to her ends up joining the Otogi Bank.  Ringo is Okami’s bff and also the one who got Ryoshi to join the Otogi Bank.  She’s the Little Red Riding Hood character with a little more scheming and manipulative than the original.

That is the basic plot in a nutshell. Ringo tries to get Okami and Ryoshi together because she knows that Okami has feelings for Ryoshi too.  By the end I felt the show was a harem anime, because we have nine characters that are in the club have stereotypical harem clichés.  I have to admit that I was excited to meet each of the characters because they are all loosely based on a European fairy tale or Japanese folklore.  As a matter of fact some characters went over my head. 

There are two commentaries in the extras section and textless openings and closings.  I had a hard time following the series at times because the Narrator has a habit of talking over the characters.  Since I’m not fluent in Japanese I found it annoying and at times lost interest in the story.  I’m not sure how I felt about the ending.  I felt like it could have kept going for another season, but I think 12 episodes was enough for me. 

Episodes: 6.5/10
Blu-Ray: 9/10