Single women are all over in anime. Without single women, few harems would exist. Shipping relies on them. However, few stories focus on their experience as much as the reverse harem or otome game genres. The Gorilla God’s Go-To Girl — based on a web novel like Solo Leveling and many other anime these days — twists otome expectations for an animalistic exercise in mate selection.
Claim or be Claimed: Single Girl’s Life
Sophia Reeler is the child of modest nobility, attending a fancy school for the well-to-do. Rich and beautiful (but doesn’t know it), she seems like any reverse harem protagonist. Dreading adulthood and with no dreams of her own, Sophia’s culture’s traditions shake up her life. She got magic when she reached sixteen years old. A single animal god chooses each youth to provide animal-related powers. Bird gods let people grow wings and fly. Fish gods give out magic swimming. Sophia wants any power that will allow her to live a quiet life.
Instead, she’s claimed by the gorilla god, a once-in-a-generation event.
The gorilla is perfect for warfare. Because it provides the strength of ten men, super speed, and other powers. The single person who knows which god chose Sophia is her headmaster. And he explains how rare her gift is and sends her to take the knight exam. Being a knight is prestigious, and knights are famous, so of course, Sophia’s not interested. She decides to take the test, fail, and then return to obscurity. Of course, it’s never that easy.
Day and Knight
The knightly order is all men, of course. When Sophia passes her exam, she remains a student day-to-day, but also the only woman knight in her free time. Understandably, Sophia is uncomfortable being a woman in a man’s world. But once she meets her primary crush, Louis Scarrel, she warms up to knighthood. Louis is a hottie, and he takes care of Sophia when she’s injured. What more could a woman ask for? Louis is an officer (instead of a trainee) and the most popular boy in school. But he never attends class (which is the explanation for why Sophia doesn’t know who he is).
Even when the story moves on from introductions of characters and setting to action, Louis is protective of the out-of-her-depth Sophia. He’s not too protective, though. I’ve only watched four or five reverse harems over the last few years. But the one thing they had in common was that the heroine needed near-constant saving when in physical danger. At first, I thought Sophia was going to be another damsel despite her powers. But not so. Sophia’s not physically weak — the gorilla sees to that — and she’s not mentally weak, either. For all that, she’s shy and naive. Sophia is one determined lady, and (combined with the strength to rip a reinforced door off its hinges) she makes a great knight.
A Single Man to Rule Them All
You may have noticed that I have called this a reverse harem but have only detailed one man. There are other male characters, but in another tweak of genre expectations, they’re more like Sophia’s single boy best friends. For instance, characters directly compare Isaac to a loyal dog, and he receives the Dog Blessing. Then, when Sophia needs a quick makeover, it’s Eddie who steps up. I don’t get competitive vibes at all, despite everyone’s affection for Sophia, and that impresses me more than Sophia not being a damsel all the time.
Instead of being a story about which dude Sophia desires most, the story shapes up by episode five to look like it’s about Sophia coming to terms with her emotions and pursuing Louis. This story is a traditional romance using the disguise of a reverse harem.
No Longer Single
With a cast that’s easy to like or hate (depending on how they treat Sophia) and a story about a girl finding her dreams, I wholeheartedly recommend The Gorilla God’s Go-To Girl.
Like romance? Like really loyal dudes? Enjoy heroines who save themselves and others from danger? Then this anime is right for you.
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