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YMMV / A Centaur's Life

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  • Best Known for the Fanservice: Probably most know about this work only that it is dedicated to the life of the centaur girl.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
    • Chapter 31, devoted to Omaki's reflecting on kisses, suddenly ends with a dialogue about the cunnilingus and Omaki, looking at her vagina in the mirror with thoughts of what this organ looks like with other girls.
    • The ninth episode of the anime, while not completely a Bizarro Episode as it helps explain the setting, can seem quite jarring as Hime and friends are pushed to the background in favor of two stories about two characters who don't show up again, the first about colonialism and native peoples, the second about the freaking Holocaust.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: It's hard to pick just one, but the Class Rep and her family are a pretty big one, as well as Shino-chan. The Antarticans and pretty much everyone who isn't one of the main three. Adaptation even emphasizes this by devoted Class Rep a full ending or treating her as the next character after the main girls.
  • Hollywood Pudgy: Himeno is constantly worried about her weight, despite the fact that a non-Centaur would likely not notice it at all. Justified however, given how Centaurs will have serious hygiene problems if they become over-weight. Explanation (warning, minor squick) 
  • Genius Bonus: It is very much like for manga of this genre, given the mass of references to history, world culture and even popular scientific facts in general. In particular, one of the episodes mentions conspiracy theories about reptilians, and in another the character tells the legend of the pre-Cambrian animal.
  • Ho Yay:
    • Nozomi and Himeno's interactions often have shades of this.
    • Omaki received a "thank you-kiss" from Manami when they were in elementary school. The former still has feelings for her. They even go on a "date" in chapter 46.
  • Moe: Pretty much all the little kids that appear in the series. If you thought Shino was cute, Maki (her little friend from daycare) is even moreso, and Suetsumu is adorable beyond words. Even the young Antarctican kid from chapter 32 is cute.
  • Narm Charm: Already one description is enough for many. It only gets worse when the series reveals itself as unusually adult and profound compared to her appearance and other Schoolgirl Series.
  • Squick: How some readers felt about the relationship between the student council president and her father, especially with the incestual overtones in the later volumes.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The draconian Political Overcorrectness setting of the story could obviously make for some really good social commentary on censorship and racism, but no character ever questions the society they live in or if it really is a good thing or not, and only one short segment even makes the point that this sort of society is supposed to be a bad thing. Instead, they just accept it for what it is and focus more on their coming-of-age, making it look like the author approves of such measures even though it's supposed to be criticized.
  • Values Dissonance: Gabriella Eckens of ANN suggested in her review for the ninth episode that because of the series's criticism of political correctness, this work may seem offensive to someone living in the West, where anti-PC culture, xenophobia, and censorship are heavy issues, especially since the show juxtaposes such serious topics as the Holocaust or colonialism with Cute Monster Girl Fanservice.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: The fan translators first thought that Omaki (a Cat Girl) is a "he". Even when she wears the sportswear, you can see that she has breasts (they are not big, but visible enough).
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The world of Centaur, which is ruled by Political Overcorrectness and points out many problems with "absolute equality" as well as excessive political correctness hurts freedom of expression and individuality, is thought by many to be Take Thats at countries such as the UK, Canada, or several European Union countries, who have made the news in years prior and during the manga's publication for their hate crime laws. However, Word of God has never confirmed it's supposed to be an attack on any specific country, so it's best assumed it's just a criticism of the way of thinking to begin with.

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