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Zero no Tsukaima or Familiar of Zero may have passed on its period of relevance given its age. Some may remember it as one of the holy trinity of shows produced by J.C. Staff that had Rie Kugimiya voiced a tsundere loli for each. Some may even remember it since they happened to watch it long ago. Zero no Tsukaima may appear outdated due to its date of release as well as its premise. I admit that this show isn’t a hidden gem that got overlooked since it’s nothing special. You could even argue its narrative is fairly simple and predictable. Nevertheless, I would argue ... that Zero no Tsukaima’s biggest strength lies in its simplicity.

The story follows Louise whatever-too-long-of-a-last name, a mage student who lives in a world where mages are considered the upper class, aristocrats while everyone else is considered as the lower class, plebeians. In spite of being an aristocrat, Lousie is totally inept in magic and always causes an explosion every time she attempts to cast a spell. Her peers dub her, “Zero Louise”, because of her success rate always being zero. During a mage familiar summoning ritual, Lousie tries to summon a proper familiar, but instead she summons our second lead, Hiraga Saito. Saito is a regular dude from Japan who got isekai’d to Louise’s world by accident and now has to live with Louise as her familiar since forming a contract is mandatory. Thus, this duo of misfits unwillingly band together despite their differences at first.

Zero no Tsukaima’s plot mainly revolves around Louise and Saito’s shenanigans as they try to live together as master and familiar. It takes a sort of episodic structure at first where each episode focuses on different subject matter. This portion of the season focuses on developing our characters as well as the world. It’s full of comedic as well as emotionally cathartic moments between the main leads. It’s impressive how much of the lore is explored throughout these “episodic” episodes. For example, the classic love potion episode managed to be relevant to the overarching story as well as entertaining. Around the last four episodes is where it became more narrative-driven. Granted, the story has been building up piece by piece since the beginning so it didn’t feel jarring whatsoever. The series has a very by-the-book fantasy adventure story that can be viewed as generic for a lot of people. Moreover, the humor is your average light-novel/anime kind that may turn some people off. Regardless, I enjoy its simplicity. Perhaps it provides me a sense of charm that newer shows can no longer give me. It might be a product of its time, but there’s just something so charming about its genuinity. I much prefer a generic, but well executed story than one that’s overly cynical and tries to be unique without any heart to it.

Perhaps the reason I’m so invested into this series is the relationship between the main lead, Louise and Saito. If you know anything about me, I’m a huge fan of tsundere female characters so going into this show I was excited to say the least. This show is considered to be conceptually similar to Toradora! after all. And to no one’s surprise, I adore the romance between Saito and Louise. Sure, it’s not as nuanced as the pairing between Taiga and Ryuuji. Sure, Louise could have been the pioneer of the modern day tsundere trope. However, watching these two misfits finally overcoming their emotional barriers and getting together puts such a big smile on my face. Some may say Saito and Louise’s relationship is not the most….ideal, yet this kind of nonsensical relationship is just so much fun to watch. Besides the usual comedic routine of Louise beating Saito, there are a lot of genuinely heartwarming scenes where both of them display they truly care for one another. It’s cool to see both of them bond together since Saito accepts Louise despite her flaws pointed out by society. Perhaps I’m just insane, but screw it I will never get tired of tsundere characters (except maybe that main girl from Asterisk War). Also, Lousie was voiced by Rie Kugimiya which made her a great tsundere by default (I may jinx myself so hard when I try Shakugan no Shana).

The most unexpected thing about this show is that the supporting cast is super hilarious to watch. We got Guiche, a snobbish classmate of Louise who’s a playboy and loves to show off. Naturally, he gets his ass kicked by Saito to show how pathetic he really is. No matter how hard he attempts to flirt with girls, he always ends up messing up. Kirche, a seductive, big breasted, fire mage who’s a sort of rival to Lousie. Despite playing with several guys every night, she ends up falling for Saito and does whatever she can to lure Saito over to her embrace. Siesta, a maid who works at the mage academy who also falls in love with Saito after he rescued her. It’s crazy how honest with her feelings she is to a point where you could say she’s Louise’s foil. Montmorency, the only girl who’s still willing to give Guiche a chance and ends up disappointed every time since Guiche is Guiche after all. Lastly we have Tabitha, your typical quiet bookworm who receives a substantial amount of character development in an episode which strengthens the bond between her and Kirche. There are other characters as well as, these are the ones I found notable. They aren’t unique in any way, but still entertaining nevertheless.

The visual element of this show is what you would expect from J.C. staff during the early 2000s. Nothing laughable, but nothing impressive as well. In terms of character design and art-style, it has a sort of small-scaled, RPG-looking aesthetic to it where no one appears too detailed or too “large”. It’s simple, yet memorable which fits in line with the story and tone of the series quite well. In terms of editing, there’s this strange sparkling transitions that occur between scenes. It’s sort of a motif for this season exclusively and I am not sure whether it adds or takes away from the show. Sometimes it feels appropriate during a comedic scene, but during a serious scene, it kind of ruins the tone. In terms of soundtrack, it has some memorable tracks, still they’re amazing or anything. On the other hand, the opening and ending themes were both fantastic. “First kiss” by ICHIKO manages to convey such a strong feeling of wonder and excitement while “Honto no Kimochi” by Rie Kugimiya perfectly captures the essence of Louise’s character.

Zero no Tsukaima may be outdated to most people and I can’t blame them. It’s definitely the most flawed season of anime I am giving a 9/10 to. It has countless cliches, tropes, and plot points that have become redundant in today’s landscape of anime. Regardless, it got charms within its generic nature as well as a resistible tsundere romance that made me binge the entire series by the time of me writing this review. If my review piques your interest into watching this 2006 show, then good chance and luck. If you’re a fellow tsundere connoisseur, then please give this one a chance. I am sure you will enjoy it.

*Contains Minor Spoilers*

At the time I finished this anime I had already read upright to right before the School trip arc so my review may focus more on this anime’s quality as an adaptation rather than a show on its own. Go-toubun no Hanayome revitalized my love for the harem genre once more after being away from it for such a long time. The series’ simple, yet effective premise drew me in right from the first chapter of the Manga. I was hesitant whether there was any reason to watch the anime since the Manga already exists. But with how much ... I enjoyed the stories and characters, I couldn’t help myself wanting to experience it from an animated format. Does this series deliver as an anime? Let’s get into it.


This first season is pretty much a faithful adaptation of the first 32 chapters or so of the Manga. There were a few moments that were cut to be shorter such as during the final episode where Raiha in her highschool years delivers Futarou’s wedding ring in the future. Still, it doesn’t detract anything major from the story. The strangest part of this adaptation is perhaps the final scene where Futarou walks to school and meets the quints along the way. This scene doesn’t fit chronologically considering what occurs right after the School trip arc in chapter 33. Regardless, I had a blast watching every episode and even laughed at how the jokes are executed in anime format (e.g. when they all pretended to be Yotsuba). Another surprising aspect is the pacing which never felt too fast nor too slow, just the right amount of emotions, comedy, and wholesomeness.

My only gripe with this adaptation is perhaps very apparent to a lot of you. The art does not deliver whatsoever. Quite frankly, it looks pretty bad when compared to how gorgeous the Manga looks. There are numerous spread pages in the Manga that left me in awe while witnessing them for the first time. Negi Haruba’s art-style is probably my favorite out of all the shounen harem series I have read thus far. It may be unfair to compare a TV anime's visual to that of a Manga, but one of Go-toubun's biggest strengths was its aesthetic. Therefore, I expect the adaptation to at least attempt to capture that. Moreover, season 2 has proven that it’s possible to make the visual closer to the feel of the Manga. But the art style is not the only problem with the visuals. The color palette is just too light which makes the hair color of one quint, in particular, inaccurate to how it’s supposed to be in the Manga. The one I’m talking about is Nino’s hair color is the wrong shade. In the anime, it looks outright pink when in the Manga it’s explicitly shown to be more red. Thankfully, season 2 fixed this issue. My only positive for the visual department would be that there weren't any visible CGI background characters and that's always appreciated.

For the sound department, the only notable thing is the voice cast is pretty fantastic. We got four well-known voice actresses voicing the girls: Kana Hanazawa, Ayana Taketatsu, Ayane Sakura, and Inori Minase. The only one I didn’t recognize was Miku Itou who voiced Miku (hahaha they have the same first name hahaha). I was kind of skeptical with Yoshitsugu Matsuoka voicing another harem protagonist, but his performance as Futarou was fantastic. In fact, the main voice all performed beautifully. They really brought those wonderful characters to life right out of the Manga pages. The soundtrack wasn’t really memorable, but the opening was absolute fire. Everybody surely loved the beginning with every quint telling Futarou to wake the hell up.

Go-toubun no Hanayome season 1 was an enjoyable ride from start to finish. It definitely delivered a fun and enticing rom-com story with intriguing development at every turn. It’s unfortunate that the visuals didn’t deliver when the Manga is among the best of its kind. With that said, I would recommend this show to anyone who wants a good harem to come back to or the manga readers who haven’t checked it out yet. Believe me, despite its flaws it’s still a fun time. Lastly, Nino is best girl and you know it’s true.

*contains some spoilers*

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk or titled in English as Asterisk War is what exactly you would expect from a generic, uninspiring light novel adaptation. I went into the show with an extremely low expectation since it’s been revered by many as an absolutely horrible series (credited to Digibro’s infamous Asterisk War Sucks series). Due to its reputation, I got curious as to how horrible it could be. Moreover, for some reason, I like to watch bad shows from time to time just to criticize or ridicule them for fun ... and this instance is no exception. After having watched the show, I did get what I was expecting, yet it got something that surprised me a tiny bit.

Perhaps the most notable flaw of this series you would notice is how generic the premise. In a world with specialized schools for kids with superhuman capabilities and technologically advanced weaponry, our protagonist is a mysterious outsider with a hidden overpowered ability. I can probably name more than a hundred stories with the same synopsis. This wouldn’t be much of a problem if the execution isn’t so unengaging and bland. Everything about the setting’s history, social system, and power system are explained through boring expositions. One of the things I despise the most in any entertainment media ever is constant reliance on exposition to inform the audience. It always feels so forced and shoehorned because you know that they couldn’t integrate the information into the story naturally. Even after we’ve gone through the beginning narration, we still need constant expositions from the characters. The one most guilty of this is Claudia, but I’ll get to her later. This show is unable to engross the audience with its dull worldbuilding, but what about the other aspects?

Another aspect of Asterisk War that bugs me is its visuals. God this show looks more life less than a dead mosquito I squashed while typing this review. Everything from the color palette to the character design feels so bland and unimaginative. It’s as if this show wasn’t animated by humans, but instead a bunch of undead corpses who’re pushed to the brink of their existence due to bad scheduling and inhumane work ethics. The whole show uses pale colors with zero saturation to make it look bright or colorful. I’m not saying that the art always has to be bright and colorful, it depends on what kind of atmosphere you’re for. A series with a melancholic tone would need a more pale color palette to fit that tone. Meanwhile, a show that’s supposed to be exciting and fun needs a richer color palette. An example would be a series such as No game no Life though I am not the biggest fan of that show. Still, its color choices are incredible and they fit the series perfectly. Besides the color, Asterisk War’s character design looks so generic that I instinctively know it was animated by A-1 Pictures. Why the hell does every light novel protagonist from this studio have to look the fucking same? Nonetheless, the mc isn’t the only one guilty of this. The only ways I could distinguish characters from one another are hair color and dressing style which aren’t even that varied mind you. Now that we’ve established that the show fails to engage us with both its world and visuals, are the characters any better?

I’m honestly impressed at how predictable and tropey these characters are. Our protagonist, Amagiri Ayato, is like any other self-insert, power fantasy protagonist who’s an underdog that has a mysterious overpowered ability. He’s a typical nice guy who loves protecting others and is oblivious to the females’ feelings for him. His reason for protecting others comes from his backstory involving his older sister who went missing. If this sounds familiar to any of you, then congratulations ‘cause you’ve probably watched more than 5 anime series. And again, this sort of characterization isn’t inherently bad, but nothing about Ayato stands out whatsoever. He’s nice, heroic, dense, and overpowered. That’s it. And not like these four adjectives are even uncommon among other anime protagonists out there. I guess the only thing they tried to make him stand out is his hair color which is purple. I guess purple hair is still better than another black hair. Well now we know the main character sucks, but do the supporting characters save this show?

Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld is the main heroine of Asterisk War and she’s a tsundere. That’s pretty much it really. Normally I have a soft spot for tsundere characters whether they’re well-written or not. But with Julis, holy shit she’s the most basic, run-of-the-mill tsundere I have ever seen. Her whole character is just acting tsun towards Ayato and showing off her firepower. They tried to flesh out her character by giving her a backstory about how she fights in order to raise money for an orphanage she knew as a young princess. Oh yeah, she’s a princess by the way. It doesn’t really add that much aside from being a part of her background as well as adding on to her tsundere personality. However, if you remove the fact that she’s a princess it wouldn’t have changed much honestly. In fact, if she was instead someone who grew up with the orphanage and wanted to enroll in the tournament for money to save her fellow orphans, that would’ve been more emotionally compelling. Her relationship with Ayato is as unimaginative as you would expect. The only development happens at the climax of the first arc where Ayato saves her from a villain with robots which makes her completely in love with Ayato. This changes nothing about their dynamic except for the fact that they decide to team up for the tournament.

Another major character that’s introduced in the second arc of the show is Toudou Kirin. She’s the third or fourth main heroine of the series after Saya is introduced. Her entire character is about overcoming her dependent nature and lack of confidence, but it’s executed in the most on-the-nose way possible. Her main goal is to prove her father’s innocence and her uncle promised to help her achieve that goal if she works under him. The main conflict is that her uncle is abusive and Ayato wants to help her to become more confident in her abilities or whatever. The way Kirin’s conflict with her uncle resolves itself doesn’t really make sense to me. First of all, what does her uncle even do that benefits her? Like they never demonstrate why Kirin needed his help. It’s not like her uncle trains her swordsmanship or anything. The only thing he does is scold her or abuse her physically. Then Ayato hangs out with her and tells her what she needs to do and she gets over it instantly. You could argue that the reason Kirin is so dependent on her uncle is because he’s the only family member left whom she can rely on. This argument would work only on the assumption that her uncle provides something she needs. He’s not emotionally supportive nor does his strict discipline benefit her. It would have been much better if the reason Kirin has to obey her uncle is due to being blackmailed or something. Aside from her lackluster character arc, Kirin’s just a kouhai, loli-bait with big boobs whose sole purpose is to become another part of Ayato’s harem.

Here comes the most pointless character out of the main cast, Claudia Enfield. It’s such a shame too when she’s voiced by my favorite seiyuu ever, Touyama Nao, who is most notable for her roles as Kirisaki Chitoge from Nisekoi and Yuigahama Yui from Oregairu. In Asterisk War, she plays an onee-san, “ara ara” type character which is pretty unusual when compared to her other roles. Touyama’s performance itself is pretty decent so the problems only reside within Claudia as a character. She’s literally in the show just to give exposition or give fan service. Besides those, she’s just horny for Ayato 24/7 for no fucking reason. Other series have this trope, but in Asterisk War there’s not even an explanation as to why she’s into him. At least with the other girls there are reasons why they’re in love with Ayato, not good reasons but still reasons. Towards the end, it’s revealed that the weapon she uses gives the user visions on how he/she would die and that’s hard for her I guess. It doesn’t add anything to her character or serves the plot at all so who the hell cares. I mean sure it might come into play in ss2, but who cares enough to watch that far into this series. The only way you can enjoy this character is to turn off subtitles every time she shows up and just listen to Touyama Nao’s soothing “ara ara” voice. If you know Japanese, well I’m sincerely sorry for you.

Last but absolutely not least we have Sasamiya Saya who is the sole reason why I didn’t drop this show after episode 2 or 3. She’s the best character in the entire show not because she’s well-written or that her character motivation is interesting. She’s the best character because she’s just so god damn adorable. I like her design quite a bit and her personality is also great. I love her deadpan reactions to everything and her dialogue isn’t as bad as the others’. Her character isn’t anything innovative, but it’s executed adequately enough that it doesn’t bother one bit. In addition, I adore that she’s very blunt and straightforward when it comes to her affection for Ayato. It’s such a nice change of pace compared to Julis and Kirin. My only problem with her is that she’s sidelined a lot in the series and her only major moments are when she meets the girls with strong robots and an episode where she trains with Kirin as partners. The first one sets up her rivalry with one of the robot girls, but it doesn’t amount to anything in this season. The second one develops Saya’s relationship with father and her motivation a little better. Other than her and Kirin’s first fight in the tournament, she barely gets any more significant screen time and this frustrates me to no end. It’s pretty unfair how the secondary heroine doesn’t receive any major story arc, yet Kirin does.

Now that I’ve covered the main cast of characters, I would like to address my number one problem with this series, its dialogue. I am aware that on-the-nose writing is prevalent in the anime medium. But in a show where nothing stands out at all, this problem becomes even more blatant. An example of a series with poor dialogue that’s overshadowed by everything else is Demon Slayers. Characters will always just explain what’s literally happening or what they’re feeling which is already obvious. It’s another case of writing that fails to show instead of tell. Nevertheless, Demon Slayer still manages to elevate itself with likable characters, an interesting world, and beautifully crafted animation. So without any redeeming quality, Asterisk War’s dialogue is a nightmare to sit through if you take it seriously. Characters will prattle on and on about expositional bullshit or explain their entire character arc as if they had a copy of the script beforehand. Another issue with the dialogue is that it’s predictable as hell. There are too many instances of me correctly guessing what the characters are gonna say next. It’s like they copy pasted every generic line that has ever been said and assigned them to the characters based on archetypes. I’m not asking for Oregairu’s subtextual absurdity. I’m only asking for something with even a fraction of subtlety and nuance.

Aside from everyone mentioned above, there’s no one else noteworthy since the side characters are all either one-note or outright forgettable. The only exception is the antagonist of the season finale, Irene Uzaiz, even then she’s not that interesting as an antagonist. Her main characteristics are that she’s a badass and wants to protect her sister. I only remember her because every time she needs to power up she has to suck her sister’s blood ‘cause she’s a vampire. For some reason, the first time they did it her sister had to unbutton her shirt even though the next time they did it her sister didn’t need to. I bet it’s only in there to add more fan service which is clearly what the show is in shortage of. If random fan service is all you got to keep my attention, then you might as well just go all out and make Interspecies Reviewers.

Asterisk War is as anything one would expect from a light novel adaptation by A1-Pictures: lifeless, unoriginal, and boring as hell. Needless to say, if you’re new to anime, then perhaps the unoriginality isn’t that apparent to you. Still, from a standard storytelling perspective, it’s not even compelling enough to be engaging. Needless to say, if you’re someone who’s into a show about a self-insert, op main character with girls fawning over him like files to a garbage can, Asterisk War is perfect for you.

Overall:

Story: 4/10
Everything is told through boring dialogue and exposition. What’s happening on screen are either characters standing around talking or running around fighting in the lamest way possible.

Art: 5/10
Dull, pale color all over. Characters look like they are stock character designs, but I guess it doesn’t hurt my eyes and Saya looks good enough.

Sound 5/10
Serviceable I guess? I don’t remember any of the soundtrack and the openings and ending are generic as hell.

Character 3/10
Everyone else but Saya all sucks. They manage to be more generic and tropey than I ever anticipated.

Enjoyment 5/10
The only enjoyment I got was shitting on it while watching or whenever Saya is on screen. Other than that? Nothing.

Overall a 4/10 experience.

Contains Some Spoilers:

Through an interesting premise and amazing execution, Happy Sugar Life manages to get me super invested in a narrative about a high-school lesbian that kidnaps an 8-year old in the name of love.

Happy Sugar Life is a story about love that springs from a twisted perception of that very concept. Our main character, Satou is the personification of this very idea. She grows up in an environment that has only shown her the ugly and twisted perspectives of love which ... results in Satou being in a state of confusion and emptiness. Before the beginning of the anime, Satou aimlessly searches for the true meaning of love since she most likely refuses to accept her own family member’s definition of love. Her search primary includes her and her best friend, Shouko, going around sleeping with various people. Nonetheless, she fails in her attempts to fall in love with anybody and continues her feeling of emptiness until the fateful day she meets a young girl named Shio.

Although Satou’s state of confusion and emptiness is not the main focus of the anime and only serves as her backstory, it’s essential in understanding Satou’s character and her motivation throughout the entire series. The focus of this anime however, is Satou’s journey of maintaining her very own definition of love despite how morality and societal perception may contrast it. Happy Sugar Life is a psychological thriller drama that deals with Satou trying the best she can in preserving a happy life with a lost 8 year-old child, Shio. Satou’s main conflict is simply dealing with keeping her happy life with Shio a secret as well as individuals who attempt to pry into her life. This show excels creating interesting dramatic scenarios that feel very organic despite their absurdity at times. There is always rising tension that keeps me unable to stop watching in order to find out what happens next.

Aside from our yandere protagonist herself, there is another main character who is also an integral part of the story. Shio, the love of Satou’s life, represents innocence that has been tainted by the cruel reality of her family situations. Being young and impressionable, her traumatic experiences have made her lose memories of her family and instead seek love from Satou instead. Shio’s relationship with a byproduct of Satou’s unresolved need in finding her own meaning love and the horrible situation Shio has endured during the early years of her life. Despite not being exactly moral, their relationship is something genuinely endearing and not portrayed as something completely terrible. Though the show does address the flaws within their relationship, the flaws are something that compel Satou to learn and grow which is a part of her character progression. Their unnatural, strange relationship is what generates the very enticing drama of the narrative and it’s fascinating to see how it evolves over the course of the show.

Besides our main couple of the series, the other cast members are mostly very interesting and relevant to the overall narrative. Asahi, Shio’s biological big brother, who is strangely portrayed as the show’s main antagonist who serves to be Satou’s foil. His main motivation in the series is simply to find his missing little sister so they can be reunited once again as a family. Yet, because of the show’s unique ste-up, he is supposedly not really the hero of the story despite being one of the most morally just characters in the show. Though his goal seems noble to most people, it’s implied later on in the show that his longing for his family to one again is almost an unhealthy delusion for the past that has already been long broken. Frankly, I really rooted for Asahi the most in the show, but I do understand why he would eventually fail to really reunite with Shio as a family once again. He is truly a tragic character.

Speaking of tragic characters, Satou’s best friend, Shouko, who may have ended up even more tragic than Asahi did at the end. Shouko is perhaps the most normal out of everyone from the series. She is used to being particularly minor as a character until she comes in contact with Taiyou. Then after being aware more and more about Satou’s relationship with Shio, she represents the ordinary path for Satou which is a gateway towards Satou’s potential redemption. She truly wants to understand and help Satou by preventing her from committing anymore horrible deeds. Nevertheless, Satou rejects Shouko’s offer of redemption and gateway towards ordinary life which leads to an inevitable outcome. Another important note about her is her brief relationship with Asahi. Shouko’s decision to get involved with Asahi’s situation is perhaps the greatest thing to ever happen to Asahi in a long, long time. She becomes Asahi’s only resemblance of hope left and reminds him that this bleak world does contain some good people after all.

Our last member of the main cast we have Mitsuboshi Taiyou, probably one of the most entertaining characters to watch on screen because of the unlucky stuff he has to go through several times. In terms of narrative relanvancy, he plays a part as a somewhat minor obstacle for Satou and Shio’s relationship since he never comes across as a real threat to Satou. On the contrary, He becomes someone whom Satou can easily take advantage of which further contributes to his misfortune. Mitsuboshi is a character who is completely influenced by his misfortune and traumatic experiences with horrible adults which cause him to develop his own twisted obsession. His obsession with Shio stems from his desire to be purified and cleansed of his trauma. He perceives Shio as a path towards salvation because to Mitsuboshi, Shio is the purest form of innocence. He even out right calls her an angel. Regardless of how much effort he puts in, he always ends up being manipulated, violated, threatened, and indirectly rejected if he ever meets Shio again. For some reasons, it’s hilarious that a guy is tortured by others because of terrible luck that he kind of brought upon himself.
Besides the main cast of characters, we also have a few supporting and minor characters that do serve legitimate purposes in the stories. Two of them I want to highlight are Shio’s mother and of course, Satou’s aunt. Both of them are vital aspects of the main couple’s past and their foundation as characters. Shio’s mom’s backstory influenced Shio to become a lost soul that she used to before meeting Satou. Meanwhile, Satou’s aunt’s entire characterization is the very reason behind Satou’s main motivation in the first place.

Unlike Shio’s mother however, she is such a monumental presence in the series since her appearance does not only occur during flashbacks. Her introduction late in the series honestly terrifies more than anything from this show. Satou’s aunt is hinted many times prior to her actual appearance and identity remains a mystery until the reveal which makes her introduction that much more impactful. She is the embodiment of Satou’s entire internal conflict, the disgusting and false conception of what love is. After observing for the entirety of her childhood, Satou absolutely despises her aunt and tries to find her true understanding of love. Being the embodiment of all the ugly aspects of love or perhaps in this case it’s plain lust. Out of everything Satou encounters, her aunt might be the most challenging and terrifying to overcome.

Although I have discussed in length about the characters, I would also like to mention a few other elements of the series. The visuals in this anime are pretty standard at first, but as the show goes on it utilizes interesting and abstract visualization during scenes of characters displaying their psychological breakdown. For example, Satou always feels extremely fulfilled whenever she is around Shio she would imagine a jar of candy being filled. The greatest instance of visuals however, has to be the episode that details the backstory behind Satou’s previous apartment owner. The entire episode is told through the perspective of the previous apartment room owner and we only see and hear Satou from a first-person perspective. To be able to convey the guy’s emotions through mostly visuals, sounds, and words was a nice change of pace compared to other episodes. The soundtrack works well for each scene it’s used, but not many of them really stand out to me. One piece of soundtrack I noticed is the one that sounds a soundtrack from Bleach which really surprised me big time.

The only downside for this anime is perhaps some of the supporting characters in the series are not utilized to their potential. The teacher character I believe is mostly there a minor obstacle for Satou and doesn’t really get to do anything more as the show goes on. Him being a perverted sex offender doesn’t play a role in the overall narrative and his relevance was mostly trying to find out more about Satou and eventually being caught. Another character that is similarly under-used is the underclassmen who falls in love with Satou. Though you could argue that her purpose is to further Satou’s internal conflict which I agree with. However, I simply think she could have been integrated a little more. But overall, the anime is full of great characters.

All in all, Happy Sugar Life is a love story that originates from a place of an unfortunate and distorted mentality. A tragedy that keeps thrilled from the beginning until the very end where you witness characters with conflicting motives going against each other. Two individuals that want nothing more than to secure a place where they are allowed the liberty to embrace each other no matter how society would view them. A tragic tale where they both fail to properly carry out their love and affection as they face the consequences of their actions and decisions. This anime is truly a fascinating, exciting, and unique ride from start to finish.