There’s nothing like seeing your favorite book, comic, doujinshi get the big (or small) screen treatment. Adaptations never perfect, a million book lovers will tell you that, but I think it’s fun to see how directors and other creatives put their own spin on a project. The great thing about adapting eroge is that you can come into them cold. You don’t need to play the game to enjoy watching anime characters have sex with each other. Shikijou Kyoudan was released in 2017 as a visual hentai novel that was turned into a two episode hentai series. It’s also a bit of an odd duck. It takes the story of the game but to such a degree where it traces the path to what I presume is one of the game’s bad endings, leaving the viewer without much closure and lamenting lost opportunities.

Our lead protagonist is angry. And why wouldn’t he be? Having lost his job and apartment, he’s without a place to live or income to keep him afloat. All he has left in the world is a park bench to sit on and people-watch the women around him, cursing their smiles, cursing their bodies, and whatever else comes to frustrated mind. As he considers the notion that raping these women would somehow put them in their “place,” he is approach by Itsuki Shima, a representative of the Goddess Consort Assembly. Itsuki has a commanding presence that would stop anyone dead in their tracks. Dressed in an elegant business suit made from a special, magical fabric that effortlessly contains her enormous breasts, Itsuki’s face wears a smile so fierce and loaded it would make a serpent turn tail and run. After a brief interrogation, the woman offers the protagonist a once in a lifetime offer: join the ranks of the Assembly (an organization many believe to be a cult) not as a patron but the patriarch for a local chapter. No reason or ulterior motive is given as to why this sad, angry man was chosen instead of younger, better looking and more charismatic individuals but when a big boobed hentai lady invites you to a room filled with an aphrodisiac incense and proceeds to pleasure you, my advice is to take a leap of faith! 

What follows are two standout moments in the life of the Assembly’s newest patriarch. Both episodes feature situations where the protagonist is allowed to “enlighten” certain members of his new flock by having sex with them. The first is Yoshino Ayaka, a pretty housewife looking for advice on how to deal with her husband who doesn’t seem to be all that devoted (nor interested) in the Assembly’s philosophy. To guide her through this moment of crisis, the new patriarch offers to “look at the manifestation of her soul” which, I have to admit, is a pretty classy way to say “lemme grope dem tits.” Introducing Yoshino to a “purification” ritual is a not so sublte pretense to have lots and lots of sex with her–and they do so with a ferocious sexual intensity. Where Yoshino once was timid and unsure, she eventually gives into the throes of pleasure and passion in a steamy, legitimately sexy scene in the baths.

The patriarch’s next target is a new recruit named Rui, a lovely looking gal-girl with daddy issues who is offered to him on a silver platter. Left to be taken by the Assembly’s special incense, it doesn’t take long for the woman to start pleasuring herself in preparation for the Patriarch’s “teachings.” Appealing to her feelings of loneliness and sadness, which stem from a troubled relationship with her father, the patriarch wiggles his way into her nether parts by playing up the father-daughter angle, which is just enough to get her loose enough to be molded by his hands. Left in his control, the patriarch plows her with as much enthusiasm as he had with Yoshino. As the latest indoctrinated follower, Rui allows herself to be molested and fucked by the patriarch whenever he pleases, his tongue and dick buried deep inside her as she scrubs the floors.

Now, at this point, you might expect a grand finale in which the patriarch, due special circumstances, is given the honor of having sex with Yoshino, Rui, and even Itsuki! Damn, how incredible would that be! Instead, the story takes a sudden twist as rumors suggest that the Goddess Consort Assembly is nothing more than a sex cult (I mean, it is). We’re not told how these rumors got out but they were enough for the patriarch to lose favor with the organization until it eventually disbands. We see our former patriarch as we did before, sitting on a park bench and lamenting his fate. Itsuki arrives, still flashing that frightening smile, and asks if he wants to start again. I don’t have to have played the Shikijou Kyoudan visual novel to know that this dramatic ending is a fail-state and wow, it sucks. By this point, I was really getting into the OVA because the sex scenes were pretty great and to have missed out on some grand finale left me feeling disappointed with the entire thing. What an abjectly cruel thing to do to me–of all people!!

Given the abrupt, sucky ending, has the time spent writing about this series been wasted? Not entirely. Though the ending sucks big time, I can’t stay mad with it for too long because the sex scenes are really great. I attribute that to the way the women are drawn and animated, their bodies glistening as they bounce, shake, and straddle in front of a greedy camera. Shikijou Kyoudan is a strictly “No one under a DD cup allowed” series and viewers that enjoy big anime boobs will be taken to a particularly fleshy slice of hentai heaven. I was delighted by the number of shots of Rui and Yoshino getting fucked on their backs, reinforcing my belief that it is the most sexiest, gravity-assisted pose for large breasted women. Apart from catering to a breast fetish, the OVA also pretty wet as body fluids from both partners are featured heavily. Sex ends with the patriarch filling his partners with cum until it bursts out, leaving them soak in dude fluids as they lie on the ground, catching their breath. 

Shikijou Kyoudan leaves the viewer wanting. The story is unsatisfying and misses out giving the protagonist (and the viewer) a shot with three gorgeous anime ladies whose bodies were built for sex marathons. Even with its great animation, good camera work, and sex appeal, this is one of those “fap and forget” OVAs that doesn’t quite have long lasting appeal. It’s a good enough title to recommend to your fellow perverts–I might even go far enough and say it’s a good starter hentai for someone taking their first steps into the genre. In the end, there’s so much potential in this animated adaptation of Shikijou Kyoudan visual novel but it falls criminally short of greatness.