The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat, translated from the Japanese title of "Hentai Oji to Warawanai Neko" is a 12 episode anime adapted from the light novels of the same name. The anime is about a high school student called Yoto Yokodera, who is a huge pervert but he is not good at showing his real emotions. By that, it means that he keeps everything to himself, which should be a good thing considering all the shameless stuff he runs through his head. There is a rumor going on though, that there is a cat statue on a nearby hill whereby if you give an offering to the statue, it can remove an unwanted personality trait from you and give it to someone else who is in need of it.
Naturally, one night, Yokodera goes for it and tries out the rumor, heading to the nearby hill. The funniness already begins here through the choice of his offering. Anyway, he meets up with a girl called Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi, who coincidentally goes to the same school as him, but only one year below. She also wants to make an offering to the cat statue, she wishes to not show her emotions on her face so easily, in order to be more like an adult. They only half-heartedly make their wishes, not really believing that it could happen. However, the statue turns out to be the representation of the Cat God, who grants them their wishes. With both wishes granted, it should good right? As expected, it is not to their expectations.
Yokodera now says whatever comes to his mind, with no choice in the matter. Therefore, all his perverted thoughts are forced to be spoken which earns him the Hentai Prince moniker within the school. It is a miracle he didn't get reprimanded or be arrested by the police. Whereas Tsukiko now cannot express at all which is causing other problems, her face remaining in the neutral state at all times. They team up together in order to recover their traits which would have been transferred to someone else. Along the way, Yokodera is your typical male protagonist, and he earns himself a few female romances. First up is Azusa Azuki, an attractive girl at his school who puts on the appearance of an elegant and high demand lady, turning down all boys who propose to her.
Azusa and Yokodera strike an unlikely friendship and in the process, Yokodera solves her issues, such as her loneliness. Azusa then permanently becomes part of the main cast and is infatuated with Yokodera. The other female romance (apart from Tsukiko) is Tsukushi, the president of the track and field club and your classic tsundere. Originally in love with someone else (someone completely unexpected actually), she predictable eventually falls for Yokodera. Speaking of which though, her relationship with Yokodera is very funny due to a misunderstanding (and Tsukushi's own naivety bordering on stupidity). Surprisingly, Yokodera solves his issues abnormally fast, although that's a good thing as it can only be funny for so long with Yokodera spouting perverted dialogue to everyone he sees.
The plot thread of taking back their personality traits takes a back seat soon to make way for the relationship subplots. The Cat God's powers are shown, including the power to grant any wishes (and cancel them), including time travel! This causes havoc within Yokodera's normal life from a perpetual typhoon hitting the house to the Cat God possessing another character. Watching through the episodes, a frequent subplot which eventually becomes the main focus is the mystery of things that apparently happened in the past, such as Yokodera already knowing Tsukiko from some time ago, but Yokodera does not remember. This is confusing for the viewers but it is explained in the final episode, where it was dealt with fantastically. It gives you a backstory of Tsukiko and Tsukushi and it was clever in how the mystery was revealed.
The final episode provided a powerful and emotional scene as you see the bond between the characters. The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat is a comedy at heart and it is hilarious. While the pervert nature of the dialogue can put people off and at times, stray into being crude, it is extremely funny. The recurring gags are great and while it uses typical anime cliches, it does it well so it doesn't feel old or tired. The animation and aesthetics are great but the soundtrack is a bit on the lacking side except for one or two of the slow sad songs that plays during the bonding moments. Overall, The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat is a solid series that is worth watching since it is entertaining and contains some good humor.
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