The spring 2023 anime season rolls on, and I keep watching new series to find the hidden gems that are worthy of sharing with J-List customers. One show I’m enjoying is Otonari no Ginga, aka A Galaxy Next Door, about a manga artist and his alien assistant. It’s a super relaxing story that you should totally be watching!
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The Story of Otonari no Ginga
When manga artist Ichiro Kuga’s parents died, it was his responsibility to care for his younger brother and sister and manage the apartment he inherited. Getting each week’s manga drawn before its deadline is really hard, but happily for him, a new manga assistant wants to work with him. Her name is Shiori Goshiki, and she just happens to be an alien and Princess of the Star People…
After an especially hard manga-drawing session together, Shiori falls asleep, and Ichiro notices something protruding from her body. He touches it, and immediately finds himself transported to outer space with her. He didn’t know it at the time, but touching her mysterious alien stinger now means that he’s engaged to marry her, and can’t be physically separated from her or he’ll get sick.
Otonari no Ginga is a Low-Stress, Relaxing Anime
While watching the story of Ichiro and Shiori unfold, I was reminded strongly of the Flying Witch anime, another slice-of-life with a supernatural element to it, which pretty much gets ignored so the relaxing story can happen. While some fans might want Otonari no Ginga to focus on the sci-fi element of its story, such as how Shiori’s people live among humans and what powers they have, that’s not the point of this show.
A Gothic Lolita Alien Princess? What’s Not to Like?
I’ve had a lot of luck with anime with ‘Otonari’ in their titles lately. Last season we got the perfect girlfriend who lives next door and comes over to clean our apartment and cook delicious meals for us. This season we’ve got a super chill alien waifu who loves to dress in Goth-Loli style and help us become a better artist. Sure, it’s pure male escapism, but all forms of entertainment are offering some kind of similar fantasy to their target audience, when you get down to it.
Likable Characters Who We Can Relate To
Alongside Otonari no Ginga I’m working through episodes of Megami no Cafe Terrace, the story of a man blessed with five sexy girls who help him run his grandmother’s cafe. Unfortunately, none of the characters in that show are terribly likable, and other than the pantyshots, I generally don’t feel invested in the journey they’re on. I much prefer the down-to-earth characters in A Galaxy Next Door, who are easier to sympathize with. Sure, they’re contrived to fit into the manga-artist-wins-an-alien-waifu story, but at least they feel like people I’d like to know in real life.
An Anime About Drawing Manga The Old-Timey Way
I happened to begin my career with computers just before general desktop publishing became a thing, so I was lucky enough to have worked with the old system of wax rollers which you use to attach printed copy to a page, carefully checking with rulers to make sure it was lined up straight before photocopying the finished layout. Although computer-based publishing is far superior, I’m really glad I got the chance to do things the “analog” way first, just to get the experience.
I got the same vibe from this show. Although creating manga has been a 100% digital process for a decade or more, I enjoyed how Otonari ni Ginga went out of its way to show the classic method of drawing manga, penciling then inking and cutting out acetate sheets for screentone effects.
Why Does MAL Hate A Galaxy Next Door?
When I do my research for these posts, I often check in with the My Anime List website and see what people over there think of a new show. While most fans like to trash MAL for being prudes who hate any ecchi show by default, having hundreds of thousands of fans rating anime is a useful tool to have available. Sadly, MAL users don’t seem to think much of A Galaxy Next Door, describing it as “low-budget Tonikaku Kawaii” and criticizing it for not expanding on the alien angle. I guess they have different tastes over there!
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