Okami-san and Her Seven Companions is based upon the light novel series. The anime is set at 12 episodes long. The anime takes place in Otogibana City, specifically focusing upon Otogi High School. Okami Ryoko is the titular character and heroine, but she is joined by various other characters, including the male protagonist Morino Ryoshi. This high school is different in that there is a club called the Otogi High School Bank. They serve their clients via favors. Any student can come in to ask for assistance in any matter, the payment is only a reciprocal favor when asked and it is implied that they can be heavy handed.
Ryoko is part of this club, along with eight other characters. The anime opens with Ryoko on an assignment with Ringo (a cute petite girl) where they are attacked by a knife wielding thug. During this scene, we learn that Ryoko is a capable fighter, specializing in boxing and not someone to be trifled with. Ryoshi on the other hand is a shy boy who can't stand people looking at him. However, he's quite talented as he was a hunter and competent when no one can see him. Aiding this is the fact that he has a low presence, able to hide himself without others noticing quite easily. He has a crush on Ryoko and that is the basis for joining the same club.
Ryoko easily falls for Ryoshi and you can see this a mile away. She refuses to show it and actually hides a lot of things about herself that she doesn't want others to know. Throughout it all, there is a snarky narrator adding their own comments. Sometimes the narrator is serious, other times it's sly. It breaks the fourth wall sometimes with the characters but occasionally, it tries too hard and fails (such as constantly bringing up the whole disappointing fan service aspect with Ryoko). It is a weird addition since it talks just a tad bit too much.
The main twist here is that the characters are based on fairy tales and parodies it. The club's first real task that we see has elements of Cinderella in it. While Ryoko and Ryoshi are based on the wolf and hunter from Little Red Riding Hood. These elements are not overused and can be amusing when you recognize the similarities. The tone of the anime is definitely not serious. There are plenty of random events and plot points as well as over the top reactions. A character may be introduced as someone not to be taken lightly but then in the same scene, they are shown to be a sleazy pervert. It also seems to load in the fan service more and more as the episodes go on.
The season mostly follows from one client to the next. It averages one person an episode and so it becomes fairly predictable. There is a large variety of requests, from finding a bride to having a double date; it's unpredictable to say the least. Unfortunately, it never gets too interesting as on the whole, the script is fairly bland even when it's trying to develop the characters via telling us their backgrounds.
As the season nears its end, it takes a slight shift in direction. The antagonist that had been haunting Ryoko finally makes his move but despite hinting at what a devious and sly person he is, it wasn't anything special and felt like a previous episode. It also feels that the anime ended one episode too much as the final episode felt like it didn't fit into the same theme as the previous ones. While it provides a bookend it was also a lot more normal.
Overall, Okami-san and Her Seven Companions is an average anime. There's nothing special really going for it. The concept of basing characters off fairy tales is novel at first but then you realize that it doesn't utilize it in unique ways. Despite having a large cast of characters, it only ever focuses on a few so you never get the feeling of camaraderie between the members of the Otogi Bank like you'd expect.
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