When I started watching Girl Next Door, the premises of the story sort of reminded me of the romantic comedy "Love Hina". Masahiko, like Love Hina's Keitaro, is fixated on a girl from his childhood days. He can't quite place who she is exactly, all he remembers clearly is what happened and how he felt at that moment. After Masahiko's dilemma is established, the Hentai elements conveniently come into play. The female population around Masahiko suddenly decide that they want him -- from Masahiko's part-time boss to his family friends to his schoolmates, these ladies would do anything to get into Masahiko's pants.

Although Girl Next Door wasn't really anything exceptional, I found it quite refreshing to watch a Hentai title which has the hero holding back the entire time. It takes all of Masahiko's willpower to resist his admirers' feminine wiles. Meanwhile, Masahiko's best friend provides comic relief throughout an otherwise run-of-the-mill Hentai teen romance.

The art and animation are average at best. Scenes are scantily detailed and the characters tend to stand out from the drab and washed out backdrops. Character designs are on the cutesy side. I couldn't stand Masahiko's constantly forlorn and effeminate appearance but in general everyone else looked fine. Although sexual activities are explicitly shown, the way the characters get it on is generally soft-core. The male organ is depicted very strangely -- a stiff red rod that could very well be mistaken for a jumbo hot dog. It was weird watching girls do blow jobs because it seemed as if they were eating sausage instead. I was surprised to find that most of the English voices were quite close to their Japanese counterparts. There were a few name mispronunciations here and there, as well as some slight variances between the English dialogues and subtitles but overall the English dubbing was pretty satisfactory.

Girl Next Door is all in all a somewhat entertaining Hentai feature. The plot was predictable and I didn't really like any of the characters, but I wouldn't say it was bad. It's one of those mild yet graphic titles which could serve very well to introduce someone to Hentai.

Back to Hentai Movie Review Section