Upotte!!

Guns, girls, guns, girls! In a nutshell that’s what “Upotte!!” is all about. A plain, light comedy slice-of-life show about a group of school girls… that also happen to be anthropomorphisms of various assault rifles.

Adapted from the “うぽって!!“ manga by Kitsune Tennouji, was curious about this series due to its peculiar premise and these first three episodes definitely have not let me down.

Was unsure how the main point of girls being anthropomorphisms of guns would work out in a school setting, yet was mostly hesitant considering am not a fan of character designer Takami Akio’s usual signature style, as seen in “Kanokon” and “Ladies vs Butlers”.

There are some ecchi jokes in “Upotte!!”, but they are few so the only link above mentioned series remains solely in the character visual styling. Even with the gun element, this series feels more akin to a slice-of-life school comedy as it focuses most on the circle of girls their daily shenanigans at school.

Am not a stranger to basic assault rifle, battle rifle and submachine gun knowledge, so that side of “Upotte!!” doesn’t bother me and manages to provide an interesting twist. Those of you with no interest in guns however may find this focus on guns bothersome as it is prominently present, no episode goes by without the girls picking up their rifles or going on about guns.

Although an overly simplified statement, guess you could say this series feels like a watered down version of “A Channel” or “K-ON”, but with guns and the resulting crazy antics of schoolgirls wielding them thrown into the mix.

While most of the girls aren’t as endearing as the cast of “A Channel” or “K-ON”, Funco is able to carry the show as female lead where Ichiroku’s tomoboyish demeanour falls short of being as cute as Ritsu’s or Shigu’s ojousama style not as endearing as Tsumugi’s.

Funco is voiced by Nomizu Iori, she voiced Shouko in “Rinne no Lagrange” and also voices Haruna in this season’s “Kore wa Zombie des ka? Of the Dead”. The Osaka dialect using Ichiroku is voiced by Togashi Misuzu who previously voiced Yukiteru in “Mirai Nikki”, Mai in “Nichijou” and Shiina in “Seitokai no Ichizon”.

Of the other two girls of the main group, star pupil Shigu is voiced by Sadohara Kaori and Eru is voiced by Misato, they both do not seem to have many other roles credited to them.

While nowhere near as good as some of the other series airing this spring season, “Upotte!” nonetheless provides a fun weekly watch for it remains unpretentious and delivers a silly comedy with a peculiar mix of gun otaku elements in a slice-of-life school setting.