Welcome again powerless humans to another one of my anime reviews.
If you like some weird turns ons, then boy do I have the anime for you. This title goes by the name of Hen Zemi(or Abnormal Physiology Seminar). The students of this class study the most bizarre in the human mind’s workings. And new student Nanako Matsutaka gets a front row seat as she learns and on occasion is horrified by the bizarre things that go down in this class. Such eccentricities as hiding in certain places to get the best panty shots, purposely nurturing baby flies in one’s ears, and examining the smell of farts when they are done in bathwater.
No, nothing died in here.
This is the weirdest of the weird of in human behavior (surprisingly, it does it without getting really graphic). Each character has their own fetish/bizarre trait (such as voyeurism and keeping mannequins around). Of course every character is an individual and not just there for the sake of keeping the show weird. Like the cool and casual Komugi contrasting with the almost always angry. And some contrasts made even more evident by one perverted character actually finding what somebody else does gross.
You have a very interesting setting with many interesting characters, but the stories in most of the episodes do falter at time. Primarily on the question of why Nanako (and to some extent the character Anna) would stick around with a group of that clearly shock and make her feel uncomfortable (doing such things as trying to photograph her body parts and invading her privacy). In the first episode she hints that it’s because of her feelings for Komugi(it’s not exactly a spoiler, so pipe down weekling!). Considering that Komugi is pretty much just as bizarre as everybody else, it doesn’t really make all that much sense that she would be attracted to him.
Each episode focuses on a different topic of human behavior to study ( such as the title “Study on the Impulsive Action and Threatened Action in Extreme Conditions”), but eventually some of the episodes start to blend together and becomes excuses for the characters to act strange. Though that’s not to say we don’t get some well written gems. The episode involving Anna’s background and the episode about Makiko and Taguchi’s relationship actually hold a lot of emotion, and made me wish the whole series was like that. Given that the episodes are 15 minutes rather than 30, they manage to squeeze a lot in(just like that one time you were smuggling drugs across the border).
Miwako agrees with all squeezing.
To top off Hen Zemi is the artwork. The girls seem to be drawn much thicker than their anime counterparts in other shows. By no means am I saying they are chubby, but they are definitely not the scrawny woman usually seen in anime.
Of course nobody's complaining.
Then we add in the fact that the instructor Kenji is drawn with a ferocious face that is more suited for a finally boss in a horror game.
Yes, he actually goes out in public with that face.
Overall Hen Zemi gets major points for being a unique affair. Of course it’s not for those that are easily offended(it will certainly gross out and arouse some people at the same time). The show has some faults but I would say it is definitely worth a look if you want something that stands out.