Rin Tsuchimi is a nice guy because he is an orphan. Or is he an orphan because he is a nice guy? Anyway, we all know in anime the two are connected. So welcome to the cliché filled world of Shuffle! And what is it with all those anime titles which have exclamation marks in them?

So Rin is taken in by the family of his good friend Kaede Fuyou, whose own mother later dies in an accident and whose father then goes off on a ten year business trip leaving the two teens all alone. Kaede waits hand and foot on Rin because she is madly in love with him. Rin is oblivious to all this and considers Kaede only a friend.

Then two other girls come into the mix. There’s Sia, the daughter of the King of the Gods, and Nerine, daughter of the King of the Demons. They both love Rin as well.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the barrier that separates the human world from the worlds of Gods and Demons has been broken, so now they all live together in peace and harmony. The two kings are actually good friends, despite the fact that they seem to be in competition for the title of “Dumbest Dad of the Year.”

Now add a few more females into the mix. But not only that, but add several unrelated anime clichés. Shuffle them together. Hey! Maybe that’s how the series got its name!

Anyway, for the most part we get another coming of age story which does nothing but repeat what every other coming of age story before it has done – and done better. The two seasons come in six discs with four episodes per disc. While watching disc 2, I was ready to give up the series. But then came a rather tender episode where Rin’s buxom teacher, who seems to attract only jerks, wishes for just a normal guy to spend her life with. Could it be that the show has some redeeming value after all? By the time I realized the answer was no, I was too far along.

A coming of age romance about the angst of several teenage girls in love with the same boy, pretty much sounds like a chick anime. And like all chick anime series, there is plenty of female nudity. Why is that? Are they trying to give guys something to watch while their girlfriends follow the adventures of these tormented young females? Or maybe they figured they were losing the female audience and got desperate for viewers. Anyway, after you are well into the series, the fan service just sneaks up on you. Then it becomes more common with more detail, and also with a series of panty shots. I guess you have to detract from a poor story-line somehow.

Now season two gets darker. The specter of death is hovering over one of the characters, while another has a mental breakdown. Now I like it dark, but the twists and turns are so predictable, you can’t think anything but that the characters are complete morons not to be able to figure out what is going on. Plus the transition is just poorly handled.

Here and there Shuffle! shows promise. Then it breaks the promise. Consider yourself warned.