kchorrex2012 said: Sorry to be this late to the party but I only found out about this series last week. It was a good ride overall. I started watching it expecting only humour and fan service, but kept going because of the plot (normally is the other way round, because there is no plot).
Pros:
- Surprisingly complex plot, haven't played the VN but apparently they took parts from different routes, yet the story still feels coherent and more ambitious than Amagami (politics aside, obviously).
- It is harem and comedy but at the same time shit gets serious, and I don't find the transition to be forced.
- Good character design :3 Though the VN is from a different studio, some characters look like expys from Amagami, and that's a plus in my book *¬* (Dem Shinonome sisters).
- Intricate politics. I personally didn't find the elections meta to be boring or too deep, it was always well-balanced
-Yuuki was a bit too dense at the beginning of the series.If the other elements had not been good I would've probably dropped the series because of him. HOWEVER, he does grow some balls and turns Chisato down TWICE and even bitchslaps her at some point (and with good reason). That was some nice character development. I was expecting him to be generic and appear oblivious to all the girls' feelings (see: most harems and sadly, Boku wa Tomodachi NEXT) and pick one at the very end, but he tried to be honest for the most part.
Cons:
-WHAT DA HELL?! Clingy childhood friend ending? Seriously? Talk about things done do death. Yuuki grew balls and even rejected Chisato at least twice, and then all of a sudden he remembers their childhood memories and click! He has a change of mind. I'm absolutely biased towards the Shinonome sisters (especially Satsuki), but I would've accepted any other route rather than the clichéd one. What bugs me even more is that none of the other girls that have feelings for Yuuki try to do anything to cock block Chisato, they just step aside like they could read minds, even Satsuki who almost kissed Yuuki. At first I was neutral towards Chisato, but her Yuno-like "you-belong-to-me" attitude made want to punch the screen every time. She even looks like Asuka the first time Yuuki turns her down (homage perhaps?). They could have at least tried to break Satsuki's advances with some conflict (IDK, maybe she was much more worried about winning the elections, or perhaps they try to start a relationship but somehow it doesn't work and they end up like friends... oh right, things like that do not happen often in anime).
- The CIA-like elements and the overall system of the school were good, but they were a bit overdone. Perhaps a lot. My suspension of disbelief fell apart many times. Eg: assassination attempts, kidnapping, etc. I think some of these things could've been done more credible with simpler forms of blackmailing or harrassing/bullying (through social networks and the like), with the aim of breaking the victim's spirit rather than going fully criminal. When they did try to do that, the results were good. I found the bullying scene was well done, I ended up hating on those girls. Also, I found really unrealistic that Aomi had to work LATE AT NIGHT sometimes. Seriously? Anybody knows that there is something called human rights and labor rights, and we're talking about an underage person, which would make it even more illegal. Still, since this is an adaptation of a VN, the anime can be forgiven.
- Sadly, there were many interesting characters, but the series was so short that only a couple of them got adequate development.
- Last episode lacked suspense or action. They kept showing every phone booth but when the elections came they skipped to the winner. Not even 30 seconds of counting votes, updates or anything that adds suspense. Not even a "Ooshima... sorry, Oojima-kun won the elections" big announcement and a big high-five.
- Transition to ending theme. At first it felt natural, but as the series got darker and darker the theme felt too happy/melodic, and somehow broke the suspense. Getting rid of that fade-in could've solved the problem.
TL;DR version:
The series is really fun to watch but things start to feel forced from episode 9 onwards. /rant
Still I'd recommend it to friends, at least the journey was fun.
7/10 Could've been higher with a different ending. Guess I might learn some Japanese just to try the VN and see some other routes..
Hopefully the OVA brings something nicer to the table than just the mandatory fanservice at the beach episode. I admit I'd be satisfied with just that, but this series has proven it can be much more. Like somebody said, OVAs with different routes would be interesting...Rooting for Yuuki x Shinonome sisters :3
well i liked the ending, there are anime's were childhood friend lost like Shuffle, i like this ending & i also like how Shuffle ended, it depends on a anime, in some anime's i like to see childhood friend win & this anime is one of them!!! it depends on how anime is build & how chars have build & how char's grow on me, BDW Chisato has suffered a lot, she needs Yuuki more then others, others have 1 thing love for Yuuki, but Chisato has love for Yuuki & pain from loosing her brother, so 2 things, with out Yuuki she wold kill herself cause she say'd she dose not want to lose some1 close to her ever again, so her past trauma is part of the reason i supported Chisato x Yuuki
i agree with u about: I found really unrealistic that Aomi had to work LATE AT NIGHT sometimes. Seriously? Anybody knows that there is something called human rights and labor rights, and we're talking about an underage person, which would make it even more illegal. Still, since this is an adaptation of a VN, the anime can be forgiven. |