Towa gets an assignment from God to descend as an angel from Heaven to Earth and learn how to live among humans. The purpose is to help her better understand the motivations and behavior of individuals so that in the future she can better help troubled souls and guide them to the right path.
Due to the fact that Towa only knows the world of humans from the guides available in Heaven, after crossing the barrier of worlds she doesn’t know much what to do or where to go. She decides to spend the night on the balcony of one apartment building in Tokyo. It just so happens that this apartment is rented by Tokumitsu Shintarou, a high school student who lives there alone and doesn’t lead a very healthy lifestyle, eating mostly fast food. When he wakes up in the morning and notices a beautiful girl on his balcony, he experiences a serious shock.
One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki. (2024) – Audiovisual Design
Visuals
I’ve already had the pleasure of watching two other series from Okuruto Noboru studio. In both cases, I was satisfied with how the series looked visually. The same goes for One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki. I really liked the character design. All the girls look simply fantastic.
The creators also made sure that the backgrounds were visually pleasing. I’m mainly referring to the world scenery. The animation itself was done at a fairly high level. The combination of all these aspects made watching it very enjoyable.
Audio
The voice cast caught my attention as soon as I was browsing through the spring 2024 series. There were many popular names, including several seiyuu whom I simply adore: Ogura Yui, Oonishi Saori, Tomita Miyu, Kuno Misaki, and Hara Yumi. Each actress perfectly played her role, fully embodying the character’s personality. Additionally, the ending theme (Sunny Canvas by SoundOrion) can easily be considered my ending of the season. It has a very nostalgic feeling that reminded me of older openings/endings.
It’s also worth mentioning the One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki‘s soundtrack. Many tracks caught my ear, and I can confidently say they are more than just background music that serves its purpose while watching. This is something that has unfortunately become rare in recent times for the shows I’m interested in.
One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki. (2024) – Plot and Characters
Introduction
After watching the series’ PV, I knew it would be worth my time. The characters immediately caught my attention, and the directorial style was recognizable within those few seconds. Nostalgia from the 2000s, my golden era, began pouring out from the screen.
A Quick Overview of One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki’s plot
Towa has just completed her guardian angel training and receives her final task from God. She must descend from Heaven to Earth and learn to live among humans. This is meant to help her better understand the motivations and behaviors of individuals, so that in the future she can better assist lost souls and guide them onto the right path.
Towa is only familiar with the human world from guides available in Heaven, so after crossing the barrier between worlds, she isn’t sure what to do or where to go. Intrigued and somewhat overwhelmed by the human world, she decides to spend the night on the balcony of an apartment in Tokyo. Coincidentally, this apartment is rented by Shintarou Tokumitsu, a high school student who lives there alone and doesn’t maintain a very healthy lifestyle, mainly surviving on fast food. When he wakes up in the morning and sees a beautiful girl on his balcony, he is shocked.
At first, Shintarou isn’t sure how to react or what to do in the situation he finds himself in. He assumes Towa is a normal girl who has run away from home. However, he soon discovers that what she told him about herself is true. He agrees to let Towa live with him but decides to keep it a secret from his friends. Initially, he manages to handle the situation quite smoothly, but as his life undergoes rapid changes, coming up with new excuses becomes increasingly difficult day by day.
Things become even more complicated when he discovers that Noeru, his coworker, also harbors a secret about her identity. It turns out she comes from a family where female children are born as Yuki-onna. At this point, Shintarou realizes that nothing in the world is as he previously believed.
What is the series about
One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki is primarily a comedy—a well-executed comedy in an old-school style. The creators balanced the humor perfectly. I didn’t experience any fatigue from a never-ending stream of jokes. The scenes that were meant to be funny were exactly that. Moreover, everyday life events were simply enjoyable to watch. There was also a hint of romance, subtly suggesting which characters might form the main couple. Don’t expect sudden plot twists or deep psychological profiles of characters and their actions here. The series depicts the daily life of a young boy and his interactions with friends. Amidst all the threads, there was a tastefully executed fan service that overall enhances the flood of memories of how anime of this type looked in the past. Definitely a positive.
Characters
In each episode, a variety of characters grace the screen. Almost every main heroine is some kind of supernatural being. Why ‘almost’? Because Tsutsumi Tsumugi, a classmate of the main character, has secretly harbored feelings for him for a long time. Towa is clearly an angel, as hinted in the title of the reviewed anime. Kagami Sayuri is a young vampire. As mentioned earlier, Izumi Noeru is a Yuki-onna, while the very shy Tsurumi Hisui represents creatures from Japanese folklore known as Kappa.
Towa is clearly crafted as the main protagonist, even though other girls also get their share of screen time. She possesses all the qualities of an ideal woman, so it’s no surprise that she’s the titular angel. She’s nurturing, resourceful, sensitive, and mysterious (but not excessively so), with her mystery being more natural than deliberate. Additionally, her external appearance and other attributes also have perfect proportions. Despite being unfamiliar with modern times and the human world, she quickly learns and strives to be as helpful as possible. Shintarou’s feelings towards her become apparent quickly, but Towa doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of romance. This is where the plot becomes more complex, as they build a relationship based more on trust than being a couple. However, Shintarou himself is simply unaware of romantic feelings and indifferent to anyone else’s emotions.
One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki. (2024) – Evaluation and Summary
Although I knew from the start that I would be watching an above-average series, I didn’t expect it to be this good. A series doesn’t need a complicated or highly developed plot if it has well-written characters and well-crafted interactions between them, because it’s the characters and their relationships that draw in viewers and build emotional engagement. Even the simplest plot can become addictive when the characters captivate with their personalities. Here, voice actors play a crucial role, faithfully portraying the creators’ vision of the original material (in this case, the manga) and the directors’ vision for the anime adaptation.
One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki is just one of many series of this kind. Series that, overall, quickly stole my heart and sparked a love for Japanese pop culture in the past. I sincerely hope to see a continuation of this story in the future. In summary, I highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates everything I’ve highlighted in this review.
Finalny werdykt
Final evaluation
Which translation do I recommend to watch One Room, Hiatari Futsuu, Tenshi-tsuki. (2024)?
- Crunchyroll (official) – although I must admit, in a few places I started to doubt if the translator was sane. Why? Because the vast majority of the translation faithfully rendered the original dialogues; however, in those few mentioned scenes, it seemed like someone took the translated sentences and came up with something of their own. It felt more like the work of an aspiring writer who got their roles mixed up.
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