-Story
The story takes place in an alternate reality where people from the world of the gods and world of the demons can live together in peace in the world of the humans. It revolves around the main character named Rin who is a 17 year old high school student who just happens to be an inexplicable stud that girls can’t seem to get enough of. One day two attractive female students show up at Rin’s school to confess their love to him. Sia and Nerine are the princesses of the world of the gods and the world of the demons, respectively. Each girl fell
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in love with Rin when they were young children who traveled to the world of the humans for a day. There are three others girls in the mix for winning Rin’s heart and this is what sets up the premise of the series.
The first eleven episodes are what you’d expect from a typical harem anime. The girls are each trying to win Rin over and there is a nice amount of comedy involved. The series starts off fairly entertaining but does a complete 180 about halfway through. This is where things get bad. The series decides to get serious out of nowhere and the scenario leading to this serious tone is completely random and not well explained. I won’t go into detail to avoid spoilers, but this is the only time we get a glimpse into the world of the demons. Just a brief look into a secluded laboratory residing in the that world.
Shuffle introduced us to the interesting concept of various worlds but the idea is completely abandoned for no good reason. It would have been great to explore both worlds and see what makes them unique and how the gods and the demons live and interact with each other in their own environment. Unfortunately, we get no insight into these worlds. Other than being a polygamous society, which is mentioned countless times, we know nothing about the gods or their world and we get very little information about the demon world as well. One of the things that set apart demons and gods from humans is their ability to use magic which is hardly ever explored and only used two or three times.
Eventually the first serious predicament comes to a resolution, which is achieved with no explanation and things just “go back to normal.” The series then goes back to a more light-hearted nature for a couple of episodes and resumes the girls pursuit of Rin. However, most of the girls are literally thrown on the back burner from the get-go. Rin makes his decision out of nowhere and his choice is certainly unexpected. Shortly after the serious tone comes back into play. More random revelations lead to a bunch of drama that eventually results in a terrible ending.
-Characters
Sia is the princess of the gods. She has a bubbly and playful personality, but packs a mean punch. Her reasons for falling in love with Rin are about as stupid as they come. One day when she was nine (approx. 8 years ago) she got lost in the human world where she ran into Rin who played with her and helped her find her way home. Of course it makes sense to fall madly in love with a kid you’ve met once when you were nine, so naturally you would leave your own world to confess your love and marry this stranger. Sia is a likable character but her personality is one-dimensional and her reasons for loving Rin are straight up senseless.
Nerine is the princess of the demons. She’s very introverted and has a shy and innocent personality. She fell in love with Rin for very similar reasons as Sia, however, thanks to one of the random revelations in the latter half of the series her reasons for loving Rin are even more illogical than Sia’s. Ultimately, Nerine is a dry character who contributes little to the story and is often shoved to the side and forgotten.
Kaede is Rin’s roommate and childhood friend. After Kaede loses her mother and Rin loses both parents in a car accident, that occurred when they were kids, Kaede’s father takes Rin in and they’ve lived together ever since. Kaede is the most dull character in the series and one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Her only reason for living is to take care of Rin who clearly has no interest in her and often treats her like crap. She rarely displays any emotion outside of the occasional whimpering for Rin and has the personality of a rock. I think they want you to fell sorry for her but I find it very hard to feel sorry for a character who is so dense and emotionless. Later in the series her personality takes a massive turn. I won’t give anything away but the transition is out of the blue and made me go from feeling indifferent to her character to flat-out disliking her. But of course she just snaps back to her old dull self like nothing happened later on.
I don’t have much to say about Primula. She’s a cute and likable character but she possesses little in terms of personality and feels like a supporting character with little to add to the series (other than the random turning point).
Asa is my personal favorite. Her personality is similar to Sia’s, bubbly and energetic, and she seems to have the most genuine reasons for liking Rin. She displays a wide range of emotions and receives the most character development. However, the stubbornness and sheer stupidity that she displays in the last couple of episodes is quite annoying.
Finally we’ve got our main protagonist, Rin! Rin has a dull personality, he’s extremely indecisive, and is often an asshole to girls. He often leads the girls on and then displays random spurts of affection that come off as disingenuous. Rin is, simply put, a terrible lead character.
There are some supporting characters as well. Two of them are the king of the gods and the king of the demons, Sia’s and Nerine’s dads, respectively. Both of the dads add great comedic relief to the series but, unfortunately, after the first eleven episodes they’re almost completely forgotten. Itskui is the typical pervert who is Rin’s best friend and also does a fair job of adding some comedy to the series. Itskui’s sidekick Thyme is the “flat-chested” girl who is always keeping Itskui in check and one of the few females in the series who isn’t head-over-heels for Rin.
-Art & Animation
Nothing to write home about.
-Sound
Average at best. The opening is pretty good.
-Overall
Shuffle had some potential. It took a unique approach to the Harem genre by taking a very serious tone to the series. Its also one of the few Harem anime that results in the protagonist actually choosing a girl to date. However, it abruptly switches gears from a light-hearted comedy to a serious drama. The transition is random and alarming. I don’t mind it going in this direction and as I mentioned its actually a unique and an unexpected approach to the genre. Unfortunately the plot becomes convoluted and relies heavily on unreasonable events, poor character development, and random shock value. There are countless plot holes and interesting concepts that were introduced in the beginning of the series are abandoned and never revisited. Most of the characters take a backseat to Rin and the girl that he chooses halfway through the series and any vested interest in those other characters is gone with the wind. The last few episodes crank up the drama to full-blast and in true Shuffle fashion slams on the breaks and delivers an ending that feels random and out-of-place.
-Final Verdict
I give this series a 4 out of 10.
It would be hard for me to recommend this series, but if you have a lot of free time on your hands and want to watch an unconventional harem I guess you can give it a shot. Just remember to keep your expectations very low.
Aug 3, 2014
-Story
The story takes place in an alternate reality where people from the world of the gods and world of the demons can live together in peace in the world of the humans. It revolves around the main character named Rin who is a 17 year old high school student who just happens to be an inexplicable stud that girls can’t seem to get enough of. One day two attractive female students show up at Rin’s school to confess their love to him. Sia and Nerine are the princesses of the world of the gods and the world of the demons, respectively. Each girl fell ... |
