To preface, I haven't yet read the source manga, but I'm given to understand it's more of a stream-of-consciousness than coherent story. Which confuses me more as to how it even got an anime adaptation. Even 'Gintama', as wacky and oddball as it is, has a consistent narrative thread running though it. 'A Centaur's Life' has no such consistency.
Billed as a Slice-of-Life, the anime only lives up to this classification in that it shows a slice of every conceivable life of even random and side characters. Everything that could be thrown in, was: Yuri, fan service/ecchi, gaming tropes, biology, politics, spirituality and philosophy, international intrigue, divergent evolution... and that's just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head. The world-building is haphazard, sloppy, and, tbh, bizarre. (Honestly, some of the creature designs are more horrifying and grotesque than anything else, such as the merpeople and Antarcticans.) Let's take the most infamous example - the Holocaust-centered episode. To begin with, the students (who are ostensibly meant to be the primary focus of the series) only have 5 minutes of screen time, and I'm being generous here, before we're thrown in a story about a frog person- excuse me, amphibian person, who's some business hotshot, having a meeting. Yup, a business meeting. Woot, excitement. Then we follow the frog to, I'm guessing, his home village, where we're thrown into amphibian person politics in which there's some kind of war brewing against the local "filthy" mammalian population. Because the mammals are spreading out... I think? Really, I have no idea, but according to the militants, Mr. Businessman Frog is a traitor to his people because he lives and works with the "filthy" mammals, and is becoming like one of them. And that's it. The second part is the Holocaust flashback, which, again, is straight up nonsense. Not the parallels between history, but how idiotically it's presented. There seems to be no distinction between the "Nazis" and the concentration camp inmates - multiple species are shown as both victims and aggressors, despite there being some references to "livestock" (the centaurs, apparently) being in charge and a reward system is based on body type. But, again, this makes no sense. Wouldn't it be more logical for one race, one viewed as superior in this particular world, to be the "Nazis" and an inferior race to be the victims? It might be a twisted logic but it would still make more sense than what was shown on screen. Which was basically about this one Angelkin boy who survived being shot, was placed in a work camp, is starved and worked nearly to death, but is finally rescued by the Allies, one of whom adopts him. And that boy turns out to be the old businessman Mr. Businessman Frog was dealing with at the beginning. End episode... and never see any of these characters or storyline again.
As I said, I'm still confused as to how the manga of 'A Centaur's Life' received an anime adaptation in the first place. Nevermind that it also got an English dub when so many other anime - such as Yowamushi Pedal, Re: Creators (thanks Amazon Prime Video), Nisekoi, The Tatami Galaxy, Bakemonogatari, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku - still haven't. I wouldn't even class this as a guilty pleasure anime, the kind where you can just turn off your brain and drool. Despite the draw of its surface premise, that of a centaur girl and her schoolmates, it's not worth the time so I'd recommend skipping it.
Billed as a Slice-of-Life, the anime only lives up to this classification in that it shows a slice of every conceivable life of even random and side characters. Everything that could be thrown in, was: Yuri, fan service/ecchi, gaming tropes, biology, politics, spirituality and philosophy, international intrigue, divergent evolution... and that's just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head. The world-building is haphazard, sloppy, and, tbh, bizarre. (Honestly, some of the creature designs are more horrifying and grotesque than anything else, such as the merpeople and Antarcticans.) Let's take the most infamous example - the Holocaust-centered episode. To begin with, the students (who are ostensibly meant to be the primary focus of the series) only have 5 minutes of screen time, and I'm being generous here, before we're thrown in a story about a frog person- excuse me, amphibian person, who's some business hotshot, having a meeting. Yup, a business meeting. Woot, excitement. Then we follow the frog to, I'm guessing, his home village, where we're thrown into amphibian person politics in which there's some kind of war brewing against the local "filthy" mammalian population. Because the mammals are spreading out... I think? Really, I have no idea, but according to the militants, Mr. Businessman Frog is a traitor to his people because he lives and works with the "filthy" mammals, and is becoming like one of them. And that's it. The second part is the Holocaust flashback, which, again, is straight up nonsense. Not the parallels between history, but how idiotically it's presented. There seems to be no distinction between the "Nazis" and the concentration camp inmates - multiple species are shown as both victims and aggressors, despite there being some references to "livestock" (the centaurs, apparently) being in charge and a reward system is based on body type. But, again, this makes no sense. Wouldn't it be more logical for one race, one viewed as superior in this particular world, to be the "Nazis" and an inferior race to be the victims? It might be a twisted logic but it would still make more sense than what was shown on screen. Which was basically about this one Angelkin boy who survived being shot, was placed in a work camp, is starved and worked nearly to death, but is finally rescued by the Allies, one of whom adopts him. And that boy turns out to be the old businessman Mr. Businessman Frog was dealing with at the beginning. End episode... and never see any of these characters or storyline again.
As I said, I'm still confused as to how the manga of 'A Centaur's Life' received an anime adaptation in the first place. Nevermind that it also got an English dub when so many other anime - such as Yowamushi Pedal, Re: Creators (thanks Amazon Prime Video), Nisekoi, The Tatami Galaxy, Bakemonogatari, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku - still haven't. I wouldn't even class this as a guilty pleasure anime, the kind where you can just turn off your brain and drool. Despite the draw of its surface premise, that of a centaur girl and her schoolmates, it's not worth the time so I'd recommend skipping it.
