What is the number one set of circumstances that manufactures fanservice in harem comedies? Cohabitation! We saw it in Love Hina and the recent shotacon version of Mother of the Goddess’ Dormitory. You could say that forced cohabitation was the signature move of Ken Akamatsu’s manga career. Mahou Sensei Negima! had the boy genius teacher live in the girls’ dormitory with nubile older women. Forced cohabitation was why we saw so much of Akari Watanabe in More than a Married Couple but Not Lovers. That gyaru with a heart was a fanservice machine! We can see the cohabitation device everywhere! And now The Café Terrace and its Goddesses (女神のカフェテラス, Megami no Café Terrace, Goddess Café Terrace) forced a prodigal grandson to live with the sexy serving staff of the café he inherited. Is forced cohabitation a good enough reason to watch the anime? I present you with two reasons!
The lead harem master, Hayato Kasukabe, returns home to find his grandmother’s house is now a share house with new “adopted” sisters. The spirit and memory of Hayato’s grandmother are always at the top of the characters’ minds. So the weighty literary theme of family bonds drives the emotional atmosphere. Are ad hoc families no less worthy of love and protection than hereditary ones? Goddess Café Terrace pushes that question into the audience’s face with the café’s name, “Familia Café Terrace.” The manga source sits squarely in the seinen genre, aimed at older audiences. So there is a mix of melodrama, romance, comedy, and creatively censored nudity for fanservice. Will the anime adaptation transfer the artwork of Kouji Seo (Fuuka and Suzuka) convincingly to the screen? The preview gives us hope that this will be the case.
Harem comedies have a sticking point for viewers, which can make or break their reactions. Do you like the harem master? Is Hayato Kasukabe a main character who deserves his harem? We’ve seen how fans of Rent-a-Girlfriend love the girls in Kazuya’s harem. Except for Mami, unless you have a masochistic shame kink, you filthy degenerate! But they hate the lying Kazuya so much. Can we tell if the harem master in Goddess Café Terrace is a believable love interest? I couldn’t tell yet from the previews, but the kid has a chip on his shoulder. Hopefully, that will soften as he starts to bond with his new “sisters.”
The Goddesses of the Familia Café Terrace
Are Hayato’s new family members goddesses? Their names don’t match the mythological references Mother of the Goddess’ Dormitory did, so we’ll need to find out what makes them worthy of worship during the show. This harem comedy is already on the dangerous side because the sole male and his harem are over eighteen years old. The youngest is still in high school, but she’s about to graduate. Scenes in flagrante delicto can be on the menu! The animation studio for The Café Terrace and its Goddesses, Tezuka Productions, handled harem comedies before, most recently Girlfriend, Girlfriend, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord, and the first season of Quintessential Quintuplets. That quantity of experience fills me with confidence about how the goddesses will look in the anime. Let’s meet them!
- Shiragiku Ono. She makes the best housewife of the goddesses. Watch out when she gets drunk! Voice actor — Azumi Waki (Special Week from Umamusume: Pretty Derby)
- Riho Tsukishima. A former child actor, she uses her experience to gain customers for the café. Voice actor — Aya Yamane (Sui Yamada from World’s End Harem)
- Ami Tsuruga. A high school senior who shows her panties doing Street Fighter moves. Voice actor — Sayumi Suzushiro (Kei Shirogane from Kaguya-sama: Love is War)
- Akane Hououji. The café’s barista. The cool-voiced 19-year-old plays in a band! Voice actor — Asami Seto (Aoi Amawashi from BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls’ Story)
- Ouka Makusawa. The fashion school student designs the seasonal uniforms for the café. Voice actor — Ruriko Aoki (Hisoka Yuuki from Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru Trinkle Stars The Animation)
The other costar of Goddess Café Terrace is the location of the Familia Café Terrace. It’s right on the beach! We won’t have a single beach episode in this anime. We might get bikini blocks of anime episodes! I’ve also seen in the manga that Ouka, the fashion student, designs summer-appropriate uniforms for the café. I am excited about seeing that happening in the anime!
The data sets tell us that Shiragiku and Ami are the bustiest of the goddesses. A big sister who cares for you and has a sexy drunk side? Or an athletic exhibitionist who will wring you dry? Which one looks like your favorite? Or do you prefer one of the other goddesses? Let us know in the comments or online on Facebook or Twitter.
Is it time to bang all those new sisters, cousins, and aunts? The anime matches the plot of Sweet Home – My Sexy Roommates, so you can play that game while you decide if the harem anime is worth twelve weeks of your time.
