REVIEW: ‘Plus-Sized Elf’ Season 1 Is Painfully Mediocre

Plus-Sized Elf Season 1 aims to be an entertaining and educational take on the niche exercise and self-development genre in anime. Unfortunately, the series only succeeds at being occasionally humorous and fails to take its self-development theme seriously due to its highly inconsistent pacing and progression.

Plus-Sized Elf Season 1 follows Naoe Tomoatsu, a massage therapist who manages a modest establishment with his boss. One night before closing, he meets a strange customer. It turns out that the customer is actually an Elf named Elfuda who came to the human world to indulge in vegetarian-friendly dishes that her world doesn’t have—specifically, french fries. Unfortunately, she was a bit too indulgent, and became overweight. She begs Naoe to help her lose weight, and the two begin a journey to physical fitness and self-improvement.

In each episode, the pair meets other monster girls from other worlds who have similar issues and asks Naoe to help them lose some pounds. This includes the dark Elf and Elfuda’s rival, Kuroeda, the energetic mermaid Mero, the plant humanoid Kusahanada, and more. They all try to lose weight in many ways, including endurance exercises, running, swimming, oddly sensual massages, dieting, and more.

However, as the series progresses, it’s clear that these exercises are just an excuse to introduce several tropey characters with specific body types and put them in various ecchi scenes and scenarios. It’s made even more obvious through the incredibly short segments with extremely surface-level exercises in each episode. Moreover, whenever a character manages to make some progress in their fitness journey, they eventually lose it all in a humorous yet nonsensical way. This proves that Plus-Sized Elf should not be treated as an anime like How Heavy Are Your Dumbbells, which seriously promotes fitness and is more of an ecchi gag series that primarily aims to get a laugh out of viewers.

However, this isn’t to say that the anime isn’t entertaining. Thanks to the show’s many characters, several episodes are somewhat amusing. While most are one-dimensional and all fit a generic trope, the characters’ interactions and dynamics, backed by how their races interact, make each episode engaging.

In fact, this dynamic is one of the best aspects of Plus-Sized Elf Season 1. The intricacies of each character, their behavior toward each other, and how they align with their races is quite accurate. Characters are prideful, have rivalries with others, and behave in particular ways based on their race. However, while attention was paid to characters and their behaviors, their homeworld was not treated equally. Details about the fantasy world are sprinkled very sparingly in the first half of the season and then completely left out in later episodes.

Throughout Plus-Sized Elf Season 1, viewers only learn that these girls come from a certain fantasy realm through a shady portal in an abandoned sewage tunnel. They came to the human world to enjoy its many luxuries and have seemingly acclimated to their life here, some even getting jobs. However, while their presence is known to some, it is still a poorly kept secret as they try to disguise their presence as best as possible. Other important narrative details about this fantasy world, such as its current circumstances, why there is a portal in that specific location, how it got there, and more, were still not revealed, which is disappointing.

Production-wise, Plus-Sized Elf Season 1’s animation is far from spectacular. Everything in the first season, from the character designs to the backgrounds and motions, is of standard quality—nothing fantastic, but nothing abhorrent. The aspect of the season that stands out the most was the voice acting, as the cast did a great job of breathing life into characters, especially during funny moments.

The anime features many ecchi scenes that appeal to a specific audience who prefer particular body types. What’s shocking about these scenes is that they feature almost full-frontal nudity, so those who intend to watch the anime anywhere remotely public should be advised.

Overall, Plus-Sized Elf Season 1 is not awful, but it is also nothing special. The anime has its funny moments and unique hook. It’s a gimmick anime with a reverse isekai twist. However, its presentation falters due to its lackluster narrative depth, overreliance on blatant ecchi scenes, and a theme that’s hard to take seriously.

Plus-Sized Elf is streaming now on HiDive.