Satomi Koutaro has a terribly supernatural freeloader problem threatening his new peaceful bargain of an apartment, but despite the spirits and aliens haunting him, Rokujyouma no Shinryakusha!? comes across rather mundane.

After deciding to move out on his own for in his first year of high school so as not to inconvenience his father who had a work transfer, Satomi lucks out when he finds cheap room with low utility fees and his landlord even turns out to be one of his classmates. It all seems swell — your standard “normal high school life” of an anime equilibrium, you know? 

But while working part time, Satomi follows a voice in his head and falls into a sink hole where a statuesque maiden at a shrine says she’s been waiting for him. When he comes to, he’s lying in a hospital bed with a bump on his head, and that bump looks like it comes with hefty curse.

When he’s discharged and heads home, one by one, a territorial ghost, a subterranean earth dweller, an unconvincing magical girl, and a haughty galactic princess try and claim Satomi’s apartment as their own — but he’ll have none of it. They try persuasion, violence, bribery, and seduction, and while it is a bit funny to watch the chaos ensue inside Satomi’s small square apartment, it doesn’t seem like humour that can be sustained for more than a few episodes.

Rokujyouma no Shinryakusha!? plants a few seeds about Satomi’s desires with the remnants of a half-knitted sweater likely left behind by his out-of-the-picture mother, and he even joins the knitting club at school instead of the baseball team, but whatever grows from those seeds likely won’t be the focus of the show. 

The apartment invader’s combative personalities could make for some interesting scenarios, but the stakes don’t seem high enough and the jokes aren’t funny enough to make Rokujyouma no Shinryakusha!? worth strongly recommending.

Rating: 2/5

Rokujyouma no Shinryakusha!? is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Check out this header post for more Summer 2014 anime previews and for more on why I’m taking a stab at them in the first place.