Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo.

When they were little kids laughing and playing together, Izumi Norimoto and Kazusa Onodera were like siblings. But as their bodies matured into middle school, Kazusa began seeing him as something different; unfortunately for her, so did the other girls. Ostracized, Kazusa had no choice but to distance herself from him going into high school. After joining the literature club, however, she finds friends that keep her mind occupied. Known throughout the school for reading aloud sex scenes in literature novels, the club's reputation has kept all teachers from accepting the task of being their adviser.

During a discussion about what they would put on their bucket list, one of the girls says one thing: sex. This single word sends ripples throughout the five girls, as the thought of sex begins taking over their daily lives. And, after walking in on Izumi during a very private moment, Kazusa is sent into a spiral of emotion that forces her to face her true feelings for him. Now, with their hearts racing and the literature club facing immediate disbandment, the five girls must work hard to keep both their sanities and their club alive.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sugawara, Niina Main

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Onodera, Kazusa Main

Kouno, Hiyori Japanese

Hongou, Hitoha Main

Kurosawa, Tomoyo Japanese

Sonezaki, Rika Main

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Sudou, Momoko Main

Asakura, Momo Japanese

Amagi, Shun Supporting

Hirose, Yuuya Japanese

Juujou, Sonoe Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Yamagishi, Tomoaki Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Norimoto, Izumi Supporting

Tsuchiya, Shinba Japanese

Saegusa, Hisashi Supporting

Sakuya, Shunsuke Japanese

Saitou, Shunsuke Producer

Aoi, Hiroyuki Producer

Yonai, Noritomo Producer

Sawada, Airi Producer

Reviews

Oct 22, 2022

Zerity

Recommended

At the start of this series after finishing the first episode I will admit I found it dumb and cringy, but as I kept on watching it the series grew on me in a way I never thought it would. What to me seemed to be the start of a melodramatic series became something wholesome, relatable, hilarious, and down right awesome.

While watching this series each episode felt like a roller coaster. During one moment im laughing my ass off or cringing from how I felt like this before to then being in awe of what would happen next. I was felt with great ... joy while watching these girls try their best to understand their emotions and how to properly express them, which is something most people of all ages find difficult to do.

Now I feel like I have seen many different series and a great number of them at that, not just with anime but all medium in general, and there has been very few times were I can say I really did not know which direction the series or Movie will take and how it will end. I can say that this is one of the few series series were I had no idea how things would turn out. Almost everything that happen was a shock to me and in a great way. Especially with the last 2 episodes. Can I just say wow, those last two episodes had me glued to the screen not knowing what was gonna happen and it was such a refreshing experience. They were filled with emotion and warmth, it was a feeling I haven't felt in a long time, and even more for the ending which is one of the most satisfying ending I have ever seen.

I absolutely love this series and is something I can see myself coming back to over and over again and each time while watching having the same feelings I am having right now. As someone who did not like this series at the start I would like for people to give this a chance and maybe you will like it to. I hope for the people who have already watched it and the people who will watch this in the future will be able to enjoy it as much as I have.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 20, 2019

SingleH

Mixed Feelings

Mari Okada is an extremely controversial anime writer for reasons both obvious and inarguably deserved. The main complaint most everyone cites with her scripts are her characters being utterly non-relatable and overemotional. Often times their emotional reactions to certain events are outright far fetched, and moreover, they’re hyper-passionate about things no actual person would be so with. Screaming, crying, wailing, and flailing all their merry way, Okada’s characters always loose me and many other viewers because we cannot find ourselves within them at all, but while many of us feel the need to critique her writing, there was this one time I read something someone ... online said which really intrigued me. They thought Okada’s writing was actually just fine the way it was, and the only real issue with her scripting in their mind was the subject matter of her shows. From their point of view, if Okada had written her shows on topics with which her overdramatic writing would actually be appropriate for, then the masses—me included—would finally see her writing operating at its full potential…and I think this is supposed to be it.

Araburu Kisetsu no Otomo-dono yo is a show about teenagers and their budding sex lives, so, on a conceptual level, literally my new favorites anime of all time. Anime is criminally averse to sex, and while much of the community may not fully appreciate this reality given the illusion that is fan service in cooperation with the fact they’re not the type to go outside and live normie lives rife with casual sex, any among the rare breed of anime watchers who has made the journey into the real world will’ve surely already noticed just how glaring a void this aversion is in almost all anime made. Granted, most shows are made for teenagers and young adults, which is fine, but while young people may not need a sexual side to their media, there is still a sexual side to their lives whether they’re a bystander or not. My point is, the lack of sex drive within most anime characters is and should be an immersion breaker for any viewer who has even the thinnest shred of maturity or worldliness. And if you’re an older viewer like me? Well, shit, you’re totally out of luck, because it makes ninety nine point nine percent of highschool anime totally unwatchable, seeing as you are well aware of just how maddened people that age are by the idea of sex, especially if they’re not a normie whose having it all the time. This is where this show swoops in like an absolute hero, and just as that one forum poster had posited, Okada’s melodrama fit their puberty riddled angst like a glove, and it would’ve made this show a crowing jewel of the genre if not for the characteristically awkward execution which diluted and undermined the refreshingly hilarious concept and daringly realistic worldview.

But to get the easiest critique out of the way first, this show is not the most well-produced thing in the world. The animation is lacking at best and clunky at worst, and some of the ugliest episodes were littered with off-model artwork—even in the foreground and on principle characters. The voice performances were a mixed bag, and as you’ve probably come to expect, Okada’s autistic scripting made their dialogue sound even more ham-fisted than it already would’ve, and while the golden apples in that mixed bag aren’t spoiled by the rotten ones, they’re spoiled anyway by the utter lack of fluid animation. Mouths will stay open for more frames than necessary, lip syncing is virtually nonexistent, and really any standard issue with anime produced by lower tier studios are present and pressing as expected. However, this isn’t all to say the production wasn’t cared for, and in fact, I’d say it may’ve actually been a little too cared for. The animation staff behind this show clearly had a lot they wanted to do with the visuals which was simply far too ambitious given the clear lack of time, money, and manpower they had on hand. Gradient coloration on a frame-by-frame basis was impossible, so they settled for a horrifically ugly white filter which they laid over the ENTIRE show. A cut of perspective animation from a character running down the densely packed city streets was impossible, so they settled for the camera shaking back and forth across still images of the street as if the character was whipping their sight side to side exclusively. I could go on but you get the picture. Even if the show’s small, inexperienced staff was truly, wholehearted giving it their all, their all was just not enough to deliver a good looking final product.

But I could complain about bad productions all day. What really ended up turning me off to this show was what should’ve made me love it: the character writing. We discussed characters having sex drive. Great, love it, but while realistic on paper, the way the cast is characterized is—like all Okada shows are—so incredibly non-relatable and stunted. Our main character Kazusa is basically the “childhood friend” from any other generic dating sim anime if not for her sex drive, and since her character is mostly handled per that trope, she’s just a reminder why those girls never win, and when Okada actually tries to capitalize on her sex drive to make her at all interesting, her autism gets downright diagnosable—and to no real effect. The object of her affections is her childhood friend Izumi, with whom she shares a completely platonic relationship with, seeing as they’re both as pure as the Holy Virgin, and the inciting incident of the show is her juvenile image of him getting shattered when she walks in on him masturbating…which is awesome, but then she autistically scrambles away like Generic Male MC walking in on his waifu changing and spends half the show avoiding the subject through a series of retarded misunderstandings, so you’re just left wondering what the hell happened to the supposed realism. Izumi himself is even less believable, since the alleged reason for him and Kazusa drifting apart isn’t their budding sexualities and the insecurities associated, but instead the simple fact Izumi became popular whilst she remained a bibliophilic nerd. Now, if Izumi was a normie, you’d think he would’ve already gotten laid, but he hasn’t because he’s actually a closet train otaku, BUT IF HE WAS A TRAIN OTAKU, HE NEVER WOULD’VE BECOME A NORMIE, because no one would’ve EVER accepted him, especially in Japanese schools internationally notorious for their rampant bullying.

And the realism didn't escape to the side characters. I earlier compared Kazusa and Izumi to the Holy Virgin as a joke. Well, Kazusa’s best friend, Sonezaki, takes the comparison to a whole new level. Her skirt goes down to her shins, her glasses are bifocals, her hair is pinned strictly aside her forehead, and her only dialogue amongst classmates outside her bubble is pretentiously delegitimizing them as hedonistic beasts. This was a striking character introduction I loved. However, she’s the first one of the girls to give in, and the guy she gets together with is someone whose only reason to be attracted to her is the fact she gave herself a makeover. This is almost acceptable, because this is a girl who’s been bullied for being ugly for as long as she can remember, so when she changes things up a bit and finally gets a guy’s attention it’s reasonable to assume she simply couldn’t help herself, but while that’s personally the most (and only) relatable character piece in the show, I can say for certain—because it’s so relatable—such a turnaround would just come across as disingenuous and turn me off to whoever’s attention I caught. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Of course she reacted differently than you would. You’re a bitch, and she’s not, so of course you would take cynically what she took graciously.” But I remind you, this girl’s entire character was just built around her pessimism and judgmental disposition, SO WHAT HAPPENED? The irony of this inconsistent character writing is magnified to an immeasurable degree when it develops parallel to another side character, Momoko, literally having her lesbian awakening because she’s disgusted by the fact guys their age are only after women’s bodies and looks. Then there’s Hongō and Sugawara, but they’re fine. I mean, Hongō goes from a closet fetishist to a public exhibitionist in a matter of episodes and Sugawara explicitly, and in no uncertain terms, endorses the character of a pedophile who expressed sexual interest in her as a grade schooler, but their character writing is never inconsistent or broken, just…yeah.

Where the show finally came through for me, as most Okada shows do, is as a truly fantastic comedy. Okada’s so-called comedy has always been a matter of perspective. Anohana was a schmaltz tearjerker which was so over-the-top with its melodrama as to be hysterical; Red Garden was an inspired take on an anime musical which took its thespian aesthetics so far as to be farcical; Mayoiga was an ambitiously intricate whodunit murder mystery which overcomplicated itself and its bloated cast to the point of being a nonsensical horror-comedy. All Okada’s works are like this in that they take themselves completely seriously, but being so obtuse, no one can relate to them and therefore can’t take them as seriously as she does. This show is the first occasion on which the comedy was not only funny, but funny on purpose, not just us laughing at her toneless writing. The countless visual innuendoes were kind of the funniest thing on the planet, even though they’re not really what the show is about. From Izumi making Kazusa blush by putting his fingers in a bowling ball—one in the bottom hole and two in the top—causing her to stand up with her hands covering her crotch and scurrying away all flustered to Hongō uncontrollably shoving her teacher to the ground and straddling him only to realized what she’d done compulsively and run away embarrassed, only for the scene to close with a shot of the school’s water fountain dripping, every little one of these gems was a comedic treat. Granted, these jokes are ruined just as often when Okada decides to unsubtly spell them out for anyone oblivious and innocent enough not to recognize them, like the time Kazusa is terrified by a train approaching a tunnel, exclaiming how it couldn’t possibly fit inside, only for it to go right in much to her discomfort, but most of the time it’s a joke between you and the director, and it’s usually good for a laugh or two.

At the end of the day, though, I feel compelled to remind you, despite sticking a positive turn on the end of this review, I can only really describe Araburu Kisetsu no Otomo-dono yo as a disappointment seeing as it failed to capitalize on the potentially hyper-realistic characterization which I wanted it to find success with. If there’s one group of people on this planet who need to have the realities of sex shoved in their faces until they accept and embrace them, it's the otaku whom this anime seeks as an audience, but the fact the characters therein are bizarre weirdos at best and backwardly written at worst makes it so the important message these incels desperately need to receive—if there ever was one—ends up totally flaccid and hard to entertain critically at all. Even if they nailed the worldview and attitude, failing to apply it to the characters in a believable or empathetic manner leaves most of the show’s efforts being all for naught, and the fact it had to constantly poke fun at itself in order to illicit any positive response from me at all really speaks volumes about how well it managed itself on really any level. I can’t recommend this show to kids because it would just confuse them or give them very bad ideas; I suppose I can recommend this show to adults who are like me and just dying to see ideas this risqué portrayed in a highschool anime whether it’s done poorly or not; I can’t recommend this show to teenage girls, because they couldn’t relate to it at all unless they are literally Mari Okada and probably shouldn’t be encouraged in their apparent perversions even if they are somehow able to see themselves in the characters; but I can most certainly recommend this show to teenage boys, the majority of the otaku audience, just so they can take notes on everything Okada’s woke author-insert, Sugawara, says.

Have sex, and thank you for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 22, 2022

RebelPanda

Not Recommended

When we’re young, love and sex seem larger than life—it is the most embarrassing thing imaginable. Maidens of the Savage Season captures all those emotions in the most melodramatic way possible. It skips all of that pesky build-up, the characters are stereotyped, it’s oftentimes predictable, and so what? Who cares about all that crap when it’s so damn entertaining?

Melodrama is what Mari Okada is known for, Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo is no different. Anything she writes that isn’t edited heavily by a director will surely be overflowing with melodrama. She’s an ambitious writer, however, she stuffed far too many ideas into this show. ... Sex, love, jealousy, homosexuality, social commentary, pedophilia, netorare, the list goes on and on. As someone who loves analyzing themes and the author’s intent, after watching Araburu I have no clue what the hell she was going for. There’s one thing I can say for certain, someone really needed to tell Okada when to stop.

Half of me hates Maidens of the Savage Season, and the other half loves it. So few rom-com anime are written over the top to the point where it’s hilarious. If you came here expecting a subtle drama with in-depth writing, you will be disappointed. Anyone who says this show is realistic is a liar! Sure it’s relatable at times, but it’s so intentionally unrealistic to be as enjoyable and shocking as possible. It will gut punch you immediately with the main point: sex, love, and growing up. Prepare to be beaten over the head with embarrassment until you cringe. After it grabs you by the collar and gets your attention, it slaps you in the face with endless sex metaphors. Trains going through tunnels, stimulating bowling balls, mushroom innuendos. Once it has your attention, the roller coaster is already moving and it’s too late to jump off. You’re stuck on it for every tight turn and a 200-foot drop. It’s a thrilling ride, I loved it at first.

Then the roller coaster came to a screeching halt. The writing worked, I wouldn’t call it good writing, but it worked. Eventually, it stopped being a cheesy coming-of-age romance about love and confronting adulthood. Instead, it was about jealousy, love triangles, cuckolding, homosexuality, teen pregnancy, and childhood trauma. It stopped being relatable. Rather than cringe-inducing, it was frustrating, uncomfortable, and creepy. Everything I liked about Araburu was still there, but it felt like an afterthought. When you try to force a cheesy romance to be serious, you get terrible NTR moments like this: Person A and Person B are in love, suddenly Person C inexplicably develops feelings for B. Rather than confessing their feelings, C forces B to grab their ass, cuckolding Person A. Romantic tension like this can work in a story with the proper character writing, and like I’ve said before this show does not spend time on that. We know who the characters are solely based on their personalities, which is fine for a comedy/melodrama. The moment the characters were shoved into a drama that wants to be taken seriously, the whole thing collapses. All of the characters are simplistic people.

The story follows five distinct heroines, in the same “savage season” of their lives but moving in different directions. Kazusa, the most prominent of the five has it rough. Imagine walking in on your crush beating their meat before ever being exposed to sex, it’s maddening; that’s the kind of laughable nonsense Kazusa has to go through. Her encounters are always contrived, which made them all the more entertaining. For instance, when Kazusa drops off the food at Izumi’s house, rather than calling his name or his phone, she just opens the door and walks up to his room. Something was bound to happen. Ignoring how predictable the scene is, the direction is so heavy-handed it’s comical—and it’s so good. The fear in Kazusa’s expression, the slow opening of the door, Izumi’s house shrouded in darkness, the distant rock music with a vertical slice of light shining down the long staircase. The anticipation is overwhelming. Unfortunately, the entire narrative falls apart by the end, Kazusa’s story included.

The cracks started to appear midway through the series, motivations for a few of the heroines were still unclear. Kazusa and Sonozaki were the best out of the five because it was plain and simple what they wanted: to figure out their relationships despite anxiety and a desire to remain pure. Momo had no clue what was happening; it’s so obvious from the first episode that she’s a lesbian and unfortunately that’s a defining character trait. She supports her friends, always with a smile, yet her scenes are underwhelming because she’s too busy being oblivious of her sexuality. If you’re uninterested in dudes, but tear up at the thought of a girl not liking you, then you’re probably gay—just saying. Her personality is so underdeveloped that her actions make no sense later in the show, making her seem like she’s bipolar. This is a huge issue past the halfway point in this series, at the drop of a hat as if half the cast suddenly becomes bipolar.

On the other hand, Hongou wanted to grow up faster and gain knowledge about sex. Hongou is a more subdued character, not quite standing out in the group aside from a few crude comments. She’s an aspiring erotica writer, regularly sexting with guys online to make her writing more authentic. Her motivations are clear, I liked her scenes, at first. Soon she finds out fabricating sexual experience is much different than the real thing. Her perspective focuses on the problematic pseudo-relationship with her teacher. Their encounter is unbelievable. Out of thousands of people on illicit chatrooms, they somehow meet each other. Later they decide to meet in real life, lo and behold they’re student/teacher. It’s absurd, but I wouldn’t expect any less of Maidens. Even his username is Miro, one letter off from his actual name Milo; you would think a teacher would try to hide his identity while sexting a random person online. Seeing her blackmail Milo and push around him is hilarious, at first. Eventually, the writers forgot Hongou was trying to become a more experienced writer, and she starts trying to get with Milo. There is very strange sexual tension between them; I won’t go into spoilers, all I’ll say is that the teacher also engages (don't forget she's underage). I came into Araburu expecting to cringe, laugh, and enjoy the emotional roller coaster, not to be frustrated and unsettled. There were points when it was uncomfortable to watch, however, nothing came close to the most disturbing parts of Nina’s story.

Conversely, the dark horse of the cast, Nina is by far the most flawed heroine. She’s messed up from childhood trauma (it’s not graphic, but enough to cause a warped perception of sexuality). As we all know, a flawed character doesn’t equal a bad character. However, when handled poorly they can be the worst members of the cast. Unsurprisingly Nina is the most hated character. The things she does are objectively wrong; however, you can explain most of her actions with development abuse. I wish that I didn’t need to assume ‘because trauma she is a bad person’. The absent nuances to Nina's personality seem less like a creative decision, rather it feels like Okada was ignorant about the psychological effects of trauma. Rather than connecting Nina's trauma and insecurities to her actions in the present, the show just gives us more of Nina's obnoxious self-loathing thoughts. The pedo's actions are always condemned. It’s pointless shock value—though I will admit the directing of these scenes conveys fear exceptionally well. While I can't ignore Okada's talents as a director, these themes shouldn’t have been in Araburu. Barely anything that occurs throughout the show matters at the end. Given this is a complete adaptation of the manga, it left me feeling robbed. At least the characters face consequences for their actions, Nina included. Due to the nature of melodrama, morality is rather black or white in Araburu: you do good, you get good. If you treat people badly, you will get bad in return. For example; the kids that bully Sonezaki are portrayed as sex-crazed sluts who get 'what they deserve’ in the end because they picked on the nice main characters. Dramas are meant to pull in the reader gradually so you can identify with the characters, to believe they could be real people, this is not a drama.

There's not much to say about the art. A washed-out palette plus a strange foggy filter makes it feel like your watching everything through a cloud. On top of that, the animation is very lackluster. From a distance, all the characters look off-model. Backgrounds often look hideous even up close. There were a few instances when the art style was changed for laughs, and they worked, but I wish there was more. The CGI cars look ugly and completely out of place. The character designs look much better in the manga; there is plenty of well-timed visual gags thanks to the director, however, the animation only serves to weigh it down.

Maidens of the Savage Season was a roller coaster ride. Exciting at first, then it rapidly spiraled downwards—out of control. I loved it for its flaws because it knew what they were and played them for laughs. Over time, it lost that self-awareness and it unironically became everything it mocked. It took itself far too seriously, then it became a jumbled mess of unclear themes, empty character motivations, and no playoffs whatsoever. My favorite character, Kazusa, was done a disservice with such a rushed ending. She deserved better than the cliched bullcrap she got. This is what happens when you have something great and ruin it by trying to unnecessarily add more ideas. No one told Mari Okada enough is enough. At some point, an author needs to know when to stop.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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