Dog Days

Dog Days:  B+

So this is another fresh-off-the-air series from Japan, just over.  Shinku, a normal junior high school athlete finds himself transported into a strange world of cat and dog-people, and the dog girl princess explains that he has been summoned to be their hero in their war against the cat people.  This sounds awfully serious, until he learns that war in this world is an exceptionally polite affair in which nobody dies, people are rarely injured beyond going into harmless ball-forms of their animal type, and that the entire thing is broadcast to both nations in a manner not unlike a sporting event.  Realizing that this is the best world ever, Shinku throws himself into the role of Hero and makes friends with the Princess, her captain of the guard, and even quite a few of the cat-people commanders, as war is for fun in this world, and wins and losses rarely result in hard feelings.  The only problem is that the's no way to return a Hero back to his homeworld, and Shinku only has two weeks of spring break...

Dog Days is an incredibly lighthearted series with little in the way of substance.  Fan service runs oddly high for how innocent the characters themselves seem to be, overall, and  the series is more than a little saccharine. This mostly pales, however, to how thoroughly it manages to be really fun and adorable.  Seriously, if I could get a Dog Days version of Dynasty Warriors, I would play it so much more than I play regular Dynasty Warriors.  (Especially if they kept the fan service levels and my idea that for KO animations named characters suffer critical clothing damage.)

Due to the relative lightness of its plot and characterization, I wouldn't recommend this series to anyone who doesn't appreciate moe as an art form, as aside from their unique approach to warfare (which is worth checking out just for the idea), the series provides few surprises.  If light-hearted cuteness sounds like your thing, check it out.  But don't hope for a deep and engaging plot, just relax and enjoy the silliness.