Samurai Harem: Complete Collection

Raised in a remote mountain home, 17-year-old Yoichi Karasuma—the only son of a samurai sword master—is sent by his father for additional martial arts training to the dojo of the teen Ikaruga sisters. These rambunctious siblings are typical anime gals—displaying Russ Meyer–worthy physiques—who react to unpleasant situations with appropriate physical violence. But the girls go beyond fighting techniques to teach Yoichi about a lot of other things, including social skills, modern clothing, and electrical appliances. While Samurai Harem clearly has the potential to be an amusing comedy series, it quickly becomes repetitive, with Yoichi habitually winding up in some sort of strange combat and at least one character per episode experiencing extreme comic humiliation. With too much emphasis on action sequences that are more mechanical than imaginative, the series feels more like an endurance test than a fun watch. Compiling all 12 episodes from 2009 in a two-disc set in Japanese with English subtitles, rated TV-PG, this is not recommended. Aud: P. (P. Hall)