Fluffy Paradise Initial Review
Lots of people in the world love animals. They’ve helped us with our work for thousands of years and can serve as good companions for years on end. Being comforted by an animal can even serve as an excellent way to reduce one’s stress; it’s why animal videos are so popular online! Which is why the first isekai of 2024 is one that, while a bit silly in premise, is one capable of melting animal-lovers hearts: Fluffy Paradise.
Wanting to Live for the Fluffies!
Midori Akitsu was a 27-year old office worker with a horrible job and no way to relieve her stress. Thus, when she came home from work one day and dropped dead from exhaustion, she couldn’t help but lament her sad fate. Until a being that called itself a god plucked her from death and made her an offer. He’d give the usual isekai treatment and send her to live in another world called Asdyllon with a special power of her own. All she had to do in return is decide if that world’s humans, who persecuted non-humans, deserved to be saved or wiped out.
What does Midori ask for? Instead of super-powers or great knowledge, she just wants to pet fluffy animals forever. So, God gives her the ability to make non-humans love her, and off she goes. She’s now Nefertima ‘ Néma’ Osphe, the youngest daughter of a warm and loving Duke’s family.
Three years later, and Néma now a little girl, and true to the god’s word, all animals love her and want to be around her. Life couldn’t be better! However, then Néma’s mother takes her to the Royal Palace where she works, and the girl wanders off and befriends the Crown Prince’s pet sky tiger. Then she befriends the giant dragon that her sister summoned in front of an entire stadium of people! It doesn’t take too long for those in power to realize that Néma has some kind of special power, and then the more unsavory types start getting this gleam in their eyes.
Néma, though, doesn’t really care. Having known naught but stress and toil in her first life, she just wants to be surrounded by a fluffy paradise.
A Feel Good Anime for Animal Lovers
So far, Fluffy Paradise only has four episodes out at the time of this writing, but it already gets its premise across pretty well: it’s meant to be a feel-good anime. It’s not a story that has the fate of the world at stake or some dark lord that needs to be stopped…or a misguided hero that needs to be stopped. It’s just an anime about a cute little girl trying to get as much cute and fluffy time in to make up for her first life. And, despite not doing anything so far to move the isekai genre foward, it works.
Why? Because it’s a show about cute little girl getting spend time with all kinds of animals. From little birds and kittens to dragons and tigers that can, and would, end you in real life, Néma loves all animals. And seeing them fawn all over is, honestly, adorable.
Plus, despite the light-hearted premise, there are hints that things could get darker. Néma’s whole reason for being sent there was to judge if humanity is worth sparing. Given how the second episode sees nobles and priests openly talking about how they can use Néma for their benefit, they could become a problem down the road.
So, if you’re the kind of person who likes animals and wants something to take the edge off our lives, then I recommend watching Fluffy Paradise. It’s a feel-good anime to help start the year on a positive note.