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Mikakunin de Shinkoukei is a slice of life romantic comedy that only recently aired, didn't receive much attention and is adapted from a lesser-known manga.
However, under all the obscurity lies quite the gem of a show. While it doesn't fit everyone's tastes, especially if you are averse to SoL or romantic comedy, Mikakunin certainly delivers on what it aspires to be. It doesn't try to change up the traditional formula or anything fancy, but what it does attempt is executed charmingly.

The story follows the daily life and escapades of Kobeni Yonomori and her family. Many of the scenes are your typical high school slice ... of life antics. While they are very tried-and-true, the segments(especially the reactions) are very funny and give each character moments in the spotlight. There was a little plot twist close to the middle of the series, but it could have easily been written differently with little impact on the outcome. However, the plot twist is somewhat subtly foreshadowed and is worked into the main storyline effectively.
Essentially, the plot can be boiled down to "Kobeni and Hakuya slowly developing their relationship together". It is a simplistic plot, but personally I would not have it any other way. There's no dithering, no serious love triangles that lead to overwhelming tragedy, no "I need to make a choice" or whatever. The relationship is already set at the very beginning, and now it's the characters' turn to make it grow. It's the simple story of two people slowly falling in love, and that's what makes it beautiful.

The art style is one of the nicest things about this show as well. The characters mostly give off a sense of reality, that these people could be real. They are styled in typical fashion, but not outlandishly cute or anything like that. The proportions are very realistic and help just a little in getting into the show. Adding to that are the background art and environments, which are beautifully designed and a pleasure to look at. The school is your standard anime high school, but the city and mountain scenery are very well done and add to the ambient feel. Topping it off is the animation, which is very fluid and somewhat more natural compared to many other series. It's not over-the-top 60 frames per second quality, but that kind of quality would detract from the series as a simpler and more realistic show, in my opinion.

An oddity about this series, however, is that there is a noticeable lack of background music during many scenes. Some people may find this a little jarring, being used to background music playing during most scenes during a show. I found it a little jarring the first couple episodes myself. In spite of that, I do feel that the lack of BGM doesn't really take too much away from the show. It allows some of the scenes to showcase what's happening onscreen without necessarily needing BGM to immerse the watcher, and it also reflects reality somewhat since most of the time background music won't be playing while things happen. The background music mostly boils down to personal preference; if you prefer to have BGM to immerse yourself in the show, the lack of it during some scenes will hurt this show's impact on you somewhat. The opening and ending songs are rather fluffy and addicting, however, and I think I can safely say that most people will enjoy them. They also fit the tone of the show very well and are good songs in their own right.

The characters, while not featuring anyone who really breaks the mold of the traditional archetypes commonly found in slice of life/rom-com anime, work fairly well together and don't really have any serious flaws in them. Kobeni, our main female lead, is a cute teenager "with a great rack and child-bearing hips" who is often the face of sanity among the cast. Hakuya, our main male lead, is a quiet guy who speaks little but shows more than tells, which is a quality I appreciate among characters. Mashiro is the childish comic forever at odds with Benio, Kobeni's older sister who is...erm, rather perverted. The main four characters above get at least some development and/or shown to have hidden depths, which is very nice. Some potential pitfalls, however, is that the development itself is rather gradual and not entirely explicit, and a couple characters can be a little annoying at times. I personally found Benio rather grating occasionally, since a few parts of her character are highly exaggerated and are brought to the fore. She also has a tendency to interrupt something important, which can be annoying. However, the show does put on display another side to Benio beyond what is presented normally, which does help to balance and flesh out her character, but she can still be rather annoying at times.

Personally, I love this work above many of the more recent SoL/rom-coms that I've seen in the past couple years. That is not to say I didn't like the others, just that Mikakunin left a big impression on me. As a guy almost in his 20s who has never had a girlfriend in his life, I'd say that there are few romantic SoL comedies where I could say "Man, I hope any future relationship I have could be somewhat like this". Mikakunin de Shinkoukei qualifies to be among those select few in my book. I found the growing relationship and eventual love that the main couple develop over the series to be very sweet and heartwarming to watch, and for me, that was the greatest gift I could have gotten from taking the six hours or so I needed to watch this anime.

Overall, Mikakunin de Shinkoukei is a solid Slice of Life romantic comedy that, in my opinion, deserves more attention than it got or currently gets. It is not an anime that appeals to everyone; for people who are looking for something earthshattering in the genre or for people who dislike either SoL or romantic comedy antics, this show is not your cup of tea. Mikakunin doesn't pull any new fancy tricks out of the Slice of Life hat. What it does do, however, is execute the tried-and-true forms very well and tie them all together into a very sweet and heartwarming story. For SoL and rom-com fans, people looking to try something new, or for somebody just looking for a sweet and relaxing story to pick up, I ask you to try Mikakunin and experience it for yourselves. It isn't perfect-I don't think any anime ever will be-but I certainly hope you prospective viewers would come to enjoy and love Mikakunin de Shinkoukei as much as I did and still do.

Clannad is a slice of life and harem romance anime that is famous(or perhaps infamous) for tugging at the viewer's heartstrings. It's perhaps one of the most well-known of Key/Visual Arts' works. It's one of my favorite works, even though I don't think it's perfect(and, well, nothing really is). I did go in with some spoilers unfortunately, but I won't be sharing them here.

The story follows Tomoya Okazaki, our standard high school student. Except that he hates his life, which I'm fairly certain most of us don't. Tomoya's character is somewhat shrouded in mystery at the beginning. We don't see immediately why he acts as ... he does. It makes the reveal all the more hard-hitting when we do see it, and we understand that Tomoya isn't just your standard harem protagonist. He's got his own issues to work out as well.

Now, on to the heroines. The main heroine is Nagisa Furukawa, a rather shy girl with some cute little antennae on her head and a lot of confidence issues. There is, or at least used to be, a lot of flak regarding Nagisa. Personally, I enjoyed her antics and her character. I found her overwhelming sincerity and naivete to be rather endearing, and she does start to go through quite a bit of development over the series.

Two of the other four heroines get their own story arcs within the series, Fuko Ibuki and Kotomi Ichinose.
Fuko is a freshman who's hiding a little secret along with a metric ton of wooden starfish(yes, they are starfish). Her story arc focuses on an event that is of utmost importance to Fuko. Sadly, I felt that Fuko's arc had the least emotional impact of the three arcs covered in the series. It just didn't hit me as hard as the other two did, and I'm not entirely sure of the reason why. It certainly did hit me and the arc ending was bittersweet, but for me it had just a little less emotional punch than the others, which is a shame, but by no means did I not enjoy it. The best part about Fuko is her daily antics. She's a damn good laugh, and so is at least half of her story arc, and for me that's the strongest part of her story. It's a good thing too, because Fuko's arc is first in line, with Kotomi's and Nagisa's following in that order and they hit pretty hard.
Kotomi is, rather bluntly put, a frigging genius. She's academically perfect, spends all her time in the library reading, never has to go to class and still aces all her exams. I'm sure all college and high school students everywhere wish they could do that. Unfortunately, like all the other heroines of Clannad, Kotomi has serious emotional issues of her own that Tomoya has to help her resolve(because, y'know, that's how he gets his harem). The thing I liked best about Kotomi's arc was how suddenly it hit you with "the feels". Unless you've been spoiled, most viewers aren't likely to see it coming, which is nice because emotions have their biggest impact when they arrive without any advance warning. The resolution of Kotomi's arc is also pretty emotional, except on the other end of the spectrum, which provides a nice contrast with the events before then.

The other two heroines, Kyou Fujibayashi and Tomoyo Sakagami, are also pretty important characters and have a big impact on the storyline but their own story arcs are reserved for the two OVAs, Another World: Kyou Arc and Another World: Tomoyo Arc, so if you're hoping to see the focus on either of them, I highly suggest that you watch the OVAs.

Overall, the part that I enjoyed most about the characters is that they all feel very real. I got the sense that they were real, that the emotions they felt were real. I could smile and laugh with them, cry with them, and love with them, and that was something truly special that I can say only about a very few shows.

The art style is firmly fixed in "bishoujo" style, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your tastes. I didn't really put too much stock in judging the series based on its art style, but I think the art fits the general feel of the series relatively well. You might come across a couple instances of generic cuteness or something similar, though.

A lot of the soundtrack comes from the original Clannad Visual Novel. The opening and ending, Mag Mell and Dango Daikazoku respectively, set the tone of the series very well and get you in the mood for the emotional roller coaster. One other notable piece, titled "Over", is used in Episode 18 and carried a lot of impact, especially once you read through the lyrics, and is in my opinion one of the best-placed pieces that the original series has to offer. A lot of the other BGM aren't masterpieces, as you might expect, but they do fit the scenes that they're used in relatively well.

I enjoyed Clannad very much for a wide variety of reasons. As I mentioned before, the characters were a large part of it. Watching characters that could be a neighbor, or a friend, or even a simply acquaintance gets me immersed and invested in the experience.
The other big part was the aforementioned emotional roller coaster that Clannad is well-known for. I've heard it said that Clannad is one of those shows that can make you laugh and cry both in succession and at the same time, and I feel that description fits the show perfectly. It took me quite a while to finish the 23 episodes that make up the original Clannad series, but at the end, it felt almost like a cathartic experience.

Clannad is a solid and enjoyable show if you enjoy slice of life antics, romance, and emotional punch. The story arcs might throw some people off and it is a little slow at first, but once the roller coaster starts, it rarely ever stops. The characters are definitely the best part about this anime, though. Every single one of them has flaws and emotional baggage that each one has to deal with, just like many of us in the real world. A big theme that has so far gone unmentioned in this review comes into play here: the concept of a family. Clannad tells us that family doesn't have to be related by blood. A family is made of those who wouldn't turn their backs on you or kick you when you're down. They would put you over their shoulder and get you to stand back up again no matter what life throws at you. A family supports each other not just physically, but also emotionally, no matter what might come between them, and if the only thing anyone takes away from Clannad is that, then the show has accomplished much more than anyone could have ever expected.