Comedy is a tricky thing. People have different perspectives on what is funny, the genre itself is hard to judge or rate. You may find the dialogue of Monty Python funny, but the slapstick immature. You may even enjoy the immaturity and unscripted nature of Jackass, or find it to be unfunny and juvenile. Now, imagine the struggle with Comedy Anime. Not only is it a cultural separation, but it is also harder to catch the concept of humor. What is funny in Japan is not funny in America for the most part. Anime like Love Hina and Girl’s Bravo are just not funny in English, because it doesn’t translate well. Not to say Anime can’t be funny when they come into the States. Excel Saga, Dragon Ball, and even Pokemon had great moments in Comedy that are well remembered and people still laugh at them. Which brings us to what may be one of the funniest Anime I have seen, Those Who Hunt Elves. Last time, we went to 2007 for an anime, this time we are going back to 1997; 20 years ago. This came out at a time, we got so much anime, a bunch was overlooked. This is one of the overlooked anime, and it had 2 seasons.
If you are not familiar with this, the title may confuse you. Those Who Hunt Elves is not about people who kill Elves in a fantasy world; it is about people who strip the clothes off female elves. Let me explain. The story is, a group of three people from Japan get pulled into a Fantasy world and an elf tries to use a spell to send them back, something goes wrong and the spell leaves the book and implants itself as fragments onto different female elves around the world. So, they three characters, the elf that attempted the spell in the first place, and a tank that is later possessed by the spirit of a cat (you did not read that wrong) go out into the world in search of the spell fragments and get the title, Those Who Hunt Elves, from the citizens.
I actually found this anime as a young teenager. A friend of mine had episodes 5-8 on VHS tapes in the original Japanese audio, and we both laughed at it every time we watched it, without knowing everything that was going on. Fast forward to the present day and I find it not only on a reliable streaming source, but in the English Dub. So, after over ten years of wondering if it really was as funny as I remembered, I rewatched it and was not disappointed.
Pros- The characters are all unique; we have the Elf, the Muscle Head man, the actress, and the female weapons expert. With a small cast, it is do-able and their individual relationships are also done really well. The humor translates really well and even manages to be funny in both the Japanese Audio and the English Dub. I laughed during both of them. That is a pretty rare thing, so I can recommend both forms of audio. The episode specific characters are also interesting and there is still a level of investment even when we see them in one episode. With the concept, this could have easily been an R rated, fan service show, but it is actually very tame in comparison to others. We don’t see any full nudity and even when the elves are naked, we don’t see anything provocative or sleazy. It comes off as funny; the way it was intended to be. You would also think the main characters are also not likeable due to what they do, but actually the opposite happens. They not only make it clear that they don’t enjoy it, but they do good in areas of the world when they see a dilemma. They do the right thing before rushing to strip the clothes off of elves. Sometimes an elf does it voluntarily because of how they helped out. You want to see the characters succeed and get back to Japan with how they talk about it. The ending to the first season will make you laugh out loud. The humor is well set up and works in all languages. Physical humor is well done with the concept and it has some great laugh out loud moments.
Cons- The animation has not aged it. You can tell it was made on a budget, and while it’s not as bad as others, it definitely looks like a 90s anime. Same thing with the voice acting. Since it is a low budget anime, it was localizing was done in the early days of ADV, so we got no name voice actors and people who were new to voice acting at the time. It’s not incompetent nor is it as bad as other voice acting from the 90s, but it is another element that shows it's age. While Season 1 had a funny and well done ending, season 2 feels kind of abrupt and sudden. It isn’t as well set up and it left a little to be desired. As far as I know, we did not get a 3rd season, so this was the ending we got. It was still funny, but not as fulfilling as a series finale should have been. For anyone that is looking for a fun opening or closing, you are not going to find it in this anime. They are not interesting or grab your attention as well as other do, but it is just a nitpick. If you don’t care about that, then it won’t bother you.
Final Thoughts- If you find older anime to be a bit more your taste, compared to newer anime, this is one I recommend. It is funny in all the right areas, and it handles the concept in the best way, by being more funny and less sexy. This could have been bad, but it is fun to watch and a joy from start to finish. If you are picky about English Dubs, watch it with the Japanese Audio and the subtitles on. If not, you can find joy in watching either version.
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