Senryuu Shoujo

Spring is usually my favorite season every year. It usually consists of heavy hitters of popular franchises as well as new adaptations that generates a great deal of hype. This year though, we have an unusual amount of short series that runs half the length. Unfortunately, most of these shorts fell flat and limited themselves with low expectations. However, there are two shows this season that managed to break that limit. One of them is this curious little thing called Senryuu Shoujo.

I love the manga. It recently reached its 100th chapter milestone and being a short length show actually helps make the story flow better. ... The story premise itself is simple that stars Yukishiro Nanako as the main female protagonist. An easy trait to notice about Nanako is that she doesn’t communicate verbally with others. Instead, she expresses her language in the form of haikyu, a form of poem.

What it comes down to it, Senryuu Shoujo manages to captivate me with its charming cast of characters. Nanako’s personality is that of a friendly girl who is very open minded and willing to accept anyone as a friend, including ex-delinquent Eiji. Throughout the series, Eiji is portrayed as a misunderstood person by others because of his intimidating appearance. As members of the Literature Club, we get an inside look at their relationship. There’s many running gags between the two but at the end of the day, it’s shown that they greatly care about each other. Or perhaps it’s more than what it seems. Someone as dense as Eiji doesn’t realize Nanako’s feelings for him. As a slice a life comedy, this anime is filled humorous moments. It never ceases opportunities to poke fun of their relationship. At its very best, we can see their true personalities behind their outer shell.

Meanwhile, we do have other characters such as Literature Club president Amane Katagari. A running gag in the show is how she tries to get Eiji and Nanako together for alone time. Similarly, Eiji’s childhood Koto Ootsuki loves to tease the duo whenever she gets the chance. It makes time to always sell humor so the audience remains entertained. This also extends to fortune teller Tao Hankai who is well known for her bizarre personality. I think by the time we are introduced to the majority of the cast, there’s always someone to keep an eye on. The only character I felt underwhelmed would be Kino, another girl who communicates non-verbally. Unlike Nanako, she is too timid and lacks presence. Even when an episode focuses more on her than others, it feels like she’s invisible. I personally think Kino is a poor’s man version of Nanako for being unable to develop character chemistry with the other cast. It’s a shame.

At its core, Senryuu Shoujo is an easy going slice of life anime that relies a lot on its character chemistry than storytelling. It doesn’t and shouldn’t take anyone to think about what this anime means with each episode. Come to think of it, the comedy itself often feels very direct with even more characters getting their own moments of fame. This includes Nanako’s father with his own misunderstood fantasies or Eiji’s denseness. There will definitely be an audience who will find this type of humor to be childish and poorly executed. But hey, that’s the ball in your court.

This is actually Connect’s first TV short if you don’t count their previous net anime projects. The overall colorful visuals delivers a great look to the series’ themes. I was cautiously optimistic at first after seeing the preview videos but as more episodes aired, the show proved itself to be visual fest. Studio Connect managed to capture the school life setting with a feeling of serenity. In the meantime, character designs are carefully made with care to match the look of the manga. The most noticeable characters are Nanako and Eiji for their very contrasting designs but anyone who lay eyes on them the first time should easily see how well they match their personalities. Character expressions is also an important feature that manages to communicate characters’ feelings. And for any fans who wants to be serviced, there’s moments of that too including the unavoidable swimsuit episode. There’s something here for anyone who is a fan of slice of life.

I admit that shorts aren’t really my favorite type of anime. Most often, they suffer from story development based on the amount of content. However, Senryu Shoujo never relies on storytelling to be special. Instead, it has these creative circle of characters that’s here to steal the spotlight. I recommend giving the manga a chance for first time viewers as the anime doesn’t adapt chronically with its flow. But once you start to get into the flow, you’ll want more and more.

Honestly, I really, really, really hate writing scathing reviews. Nonetheless, I also understand that when such reviews are presented as constructively as possible, it would reach the proper ears and eyes and may bring about better anime in the future. Here it goes... Senryuu Shoujo is a whimper of an anime.

Looking at the most reviews on MAL, I deduced of which the generally high scores were most likely influenced by the heroine's femininity and not, ironically, her Senryuu-writing journey. The heroine, Yukishiro Nanako, can only communicate with Senryuu writings (poems with 5-7-5 syllables), most likely due to past bullying issues, but soon she finds her ... fellow kindred spirit in former yankee Busujima Eiji. Looking at this premise, various interesting scenarios could occur and be followed with rich possibilities. In fact, Nanako could be the elevated version of her predecessors --fellow socially dysfunctional charas-- such as Switch of SKET DANCE saga. Unfortunately, by the time it reached the first half of the series, I finally realized that it was too high of an expectation.

Here are just some of the issues. One, the senryuu (the poems) as written by Senryuu Shoujo herself are nevertheless mediocre. She would simply converse but with a small twist of 5-7-5 syllables. There is no artistry, no finesse, and to be horribly ironic, her male interest writes better senyruu (isn't this supposed to be Senryuu Shoujo-- and not Senryuu Shounen?). Two, with such horrendous literary skills, it becomes hard to root for the titular character. Therefore, it is easy to assume that she is basically coping from her past by utilizing such mechanism that is neither attractive or flattering for her character journey. Yes, the series finale manages to unveil some context for the sake of development-- which leads me to Point Number Three: why the hell would you put such important episode as the finale? It is already too late to go back and root for the character (unless you would consider re-watching it but then one would most likely experience the deja vu of how pointless the experience used to be). Finally, there is also the unfortunate supporting characters that are basically the Cupid for the 'lovely couple'. There is a difference between supporting the heroine's strengths and enabling the heroine's weaknesses. This anime does the latter and this could be a very misleading, if not dangerous, message for the friendships in 'real world'.

It truly pained my heart to write the above. It truly did. Unfortunately, I felt it had to be written. The audience deserved better. Why? Because once we choose to watch a particular anime, that also means we toss aside the rest. It is very, very, very important to choose wisely.

#felixlovesanime

Nanako silent
Haiku is her language
Koto’s tits are huge

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that is characterized by three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. In Japan, they utilize sound units known as “on” or morae. This inconsistency can lead to a number of problems in translation, leading some translators to claim that 12 syllables in English equate to the duration of 17 Japanese “on.” Nevertheless, the intent is to capture the essence of a moment in time with a short, poetic composition.

Due to Nanako’s lack of audible communication (for reasons unknown), she relays her thoughts through haiku. Naturally, ... she joins a 5-7-5 club and develops a crush on a boy named Eiji. Despite his tough exterior, Eiji displays a gentler side when around Nanako. Thus, a friendship between the two is established with the possibility of love in the future. While “Senryuu Shoujo” is a lighthearted show with intermittent moments of comedy, it frequently becomes dull. The chief reason being the bland, rudimentary characters. The second reason being the vanilla comedy that has been used umpteen times in other romantic comedies. And reason number the third…..this anime didn’t accomplish enough to justify a third criticism.

The only positive aspect of Senryuu Shoujo is the brief nature of the episodes (12 minute runtime). So if haiku is a personal passion of yours, and you’ve got 12 minutes to spare, then give it a go. Otherwise, this anime can be disregarded for something with more character substance and comedic weight.