Skewing a bit older to be sure.

What They Say:
The series will be about 12 “pillow boys” (makura no danshi) with a diverse range of personalities. They all reside in a town and each individual pillow boy will star in his own episode on a weekly basis. It’s also revealed that the series will take on a first-person perspective to detail their story in a smooth and elegant way.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The Pillow Boys turns into The Pillow Man for an episode as we get to deal with forty-one year old Yuichiro Iida. He runs a food and drink cart and really enjoys his work. He’s pretty engaging as one would hope for someone of this position but he’s also playful and protective at the same time as he watches out for us, the rare woman that eats there and is out late at night. He’s a bit self-deprecating in a fun way and that leads to us complimenting him – something that gives us quite the vision of himself in classic shojo form. Yuichiro is certainly fun and engaging and unlike the younger boys has a real sense of confidence about himself and who he is that can in turn be utterly charming. Even if he does start showing off his body in some blunt ways.

Of course, you could also read the ending of this episode as though he just drugged us, so…

In Summary:
While this episode comes across as the most fun and honest in a way, and the show has certainly set a low threshold for creepy as hell, Makura no Danshi is pretty charming this time around. Unless that end sequence is what it comes across as, in which case no no no. This episode has Toshiyuki Morikawa taking the center stage and he’s older than the character here by a efw years. Moriakawa has been around for awhile and has some key roles, including Ryuichiro in Junjo Romantica. But many will know him as Griffith from Berserk or dante from Devil May Cry. His most established role is likely that of Naraku from Inuyasha and that alone makes him fun – unless you want to relive his time as Conrad in Kyo Kara Maoh…

Grade: C+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.