It seems that most of the Winter 2012 anime series that I’ve had kind words for have been continuations or sequels–but here’s an exception, a self-contained single-cour series. Initially I thought that Inu x Boku Secret Service was rather silly. And it is.

It’s got a shy girl who turns into an oni when she gets angry. It has a certain amount of fan service. It has some rather kinky humor including a masked pervert who sings jolly songs about the joys of S & M.

(I think I know who everyone will be dressed as at the next anime convention.)

OK, this isn’t some great literary classic and it’s not for little kids, but after watching Nisemonogatari this seems almost wholesome. And it’s pretty consistently funny and in the end rather affecting.

Still, one thing puzzles me (aside from the question of how they got the idea that “secret-service” is the proper English term for “bodyguard.”) This show seems 100% shoujo, from the drawing style to the worldview to the sappy-romantic-but-slightly-twisted ending. Yet it’s based on a shounen manga series.

From watching Bakuman I have some idea of the pressures that a shounen mangaka works under. How could a series like this not only manage to survive but become popular enough to get an anime adaptation? I’ve heard that most shounen manga magazines have a certain percentage of female readers. Are there enough that if they all vote for a series on the reader surveys they can make it successful?