Himegoto

Cannot believe missed spotting this show in the summer anime line up! Also known as “Secret Princess”, this new comedy anime is based on the “ひめゴト” manga by Tsukudani Norio that was originally serialized in “Waai!” magazine.

Of course, with this story originally from “Waai!” magazine, you can expect plenty of trap and cross-dressing shenanigans. Not only is main character Hime a cross-dressing boy, but several of the supporting cast cross-dress as well.

As I am prone to enjoy anime featuring cute trap characters like Hideyoshi in “Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu” or Mako-chan in “Minami-ke”, and previously read some lovely serializations from “Waai!” magazine like “Sazanami Cherry”, definitely had to give “Himegoto” a try.

Although the main plot premise for having Hime cross-dress feels rather uninspired and the situation of forcing an effeminate, cute boy to cross-dress is nothing novel for a trap story, the first episode was nonetheless enjoyable.

Do wonder if “Himegoto” will employ the same comedy style throughout, as some of the humor and puns were not only somewhat risque but felt more farcical than funny. With characters using aliases like ‘unko’ or ‘juchachikin’, it is obvious we should not expect this series to provide refined comedy.

The animation by studio Asahi Production is rather mediocre and not very impressive, with most care visibly having gone into rendering Hime as cute as possible. Though for this type of production this particular level may not be entirely unexpected, and thanks to the short episode running time, the plain animation does not feel too bothersome.

The main cast of characters seem to be voiced mostly by voice talents who have little other roles attributed to them, though some supporting characters do have more renowned voice actresses portraying them, like Arikawa who is voiced by Akasai Chinatsu, she also voiced Nibutani in “Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!” and Maki in “Love Lab”.

Mitsunaga is voiced by Sakura Ayane who also voiced Cocoa in “Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?”, Natsumi in “Non Non Biyori” and Marii in “Joshiraku”.

With the episode running time clocking in at four minutes only, this series literally takes only a few minutes to watch each week so plan to keep up with this trap comedy.