Back to Lanisos's Profile Lanisos's Profile

Just so you know, anyone who happens to read this review, this is my first review ever, so it's a little bit of a special occasion. Before starting, I want to apologise for any big mistakes I may do writing this review since I'm not a native English speaker. Now, without further ado, let's get into the actual review. There will be (what I think it is, but it may not be) a minor spoiler at the middle of the review, which I will mark again so as to stay clear.

Slice of life animes are generally characterised for having a set of characters interact within ... the same environment over and over again, so creators need to be original so as to keep viewers / readers truly invested in whatever is happening in the work. Aharen-san wa Hakarenai, unfortunately, clearly fails in providing a refreshing take on the genre or any way of comedic creativity whatsoever. We are again in front of a common case of the typical school Slice of Life show that actually did quite well in terms of popularity, which is the reason behind people picking it up, I guess. As far as I'm concerned, this anime fails in two very primordial points in order for any work of the kind to actually work as intended. The result of not doing so is a cluster of overly repetitive joke formulas which might take away any viewer attempting to immerse themselves in the world of Aharen. Let's see which two main points I'm refering to.

First of all, it blatantly fails in joke creativity, which is a common issue in SoL animes, but in this case, the matter is even more severe than usual. The formulas they usually use (and this is not a spoiler) are generally the following: either Aharen, using her passivity and funny face, makes a reference to something else (which could be to another anime, for example) or simply emphasizes one of the traits descrived previously, or Raido just makes a whole film over the most simplistic matter, generally concerning something Aharen did (or even not did). While it is true that during the first few episodes the formulas provide a fair amount of laughs (which, let me repeat, it's the end goal for any comedy anime, as the genre implies), the repetition of these make the comedy of the show wear out rather quickly.

Secondly, we have the overexaggeration of things, which is constantly used to crack a smile on us. Don't get me wrong - I really do enjoy a well-done exaggeration, even to a point where a situation is so absurd it just becomes incomprehensible, but when the quality of the jokes doesn't accompany, it tends to backfire, which is the case. The fact that their exaggeration is not only absurd, but also non-constant, as well as coming from out of nowhere, it really puts me off, but this may be just personal preference.

This pretty much sums up the whole interactions between the two main characters, seriously. Both have the trait that, for some reason, they cannot show a sign of emotion on their faces (I acknowledge that, at first, this is kind of funny), both overthink every single tiny event that happens in their surroundings and involving them and both just happen to sit next to one another. Once again, for a slice of life and a comedy, you don't need much more than that, but even then, the conversations they have feel a little meaningless, just enough to help the "joke" progress, rather than actually having a conversation. A more appropriate thing would be hiding the joke inside their sentences so that the chatter between them felt more full.

Now I could just end the review here with a brief statement of each mark and a small TL;DR, but there's something I would like to point out that is quite worthwhile. *Minor Spoiler coming ahead* During the last third or so of the anime, the main characters start to develop their relationship a bit more, which is more than welcome, but that alone is not enough to palliate the issues I've just said and, in addition, this really came out of nowhere (although small signs could be interpreted throughout the show). What makes this last third way better is the small shift in tone and the decrease of the exaggeration, alongside the new, let's say, "plot addition". The two main characters have always been aware of each other in the anime, at all times, although in a more indirect way, but from that point, that turns up to eleven, making their interactions quite more fitting and, honestly, more entertainging to watch. It actually seems like now, they actually have a reason behind the jokes and behind all the reactions. This last bit is what probably saves the anime from being completely mediocre to just being average. *End of Minor Spoiler*

I will structure my reviews like this, first I will talk about what the anime does good and/or bad and, secondly, I will justify briefly the marks.

- Story: 4

I really feel like it's quite unfair to evaluate the actual story of a SoL (since most of them have zero story), so I interpret it as storytelling (which is different from story) and setting. As I've said, the setting is more than enough, but the storytelling in kind of awkward (except for final third).

- Art: 8

I actually enjoyed this anime's art and animation. I strongly believe that this is its stongest point by far as all the colors have a nice palette, character design is ok and the whole animation is fluid.

- Sound: 5

I'm quite picky with this topic. Probably out of I don't know how many songs this anime may have, I probably only enjoyed one song (of course, I didn't go specifically to listen to the whole OST, I only say this as I was watching the anime), but the rest are just passable. In terms to sound, I thing it was ok.

- Character: 6

I'm taking into account the final development, of course. Although their concept is interesting enough for this genre, it is not fully exploited (at least not in a "correct" way) until the end.

- Enjoyment: 4

For an anime of this kind, this is the key component everyone strives for. Yes, it is true that all the other components helps, there's no dennying that, but this is the pillar that can sustain a whole show. Unfortunately, this was not the case for all the reasons above and, therefore, deserves to fail in this category.

- Overall: 5, specifically a 5.4

TL;DR: While the fact remains that this show could serve as a time killer if one just wishes to simply watch two students doing a bunch of random things, this is certainly not enough to mitigate the repetition of jokes and, as a consequence, the unnecessary exaggeration on every little action they perform.