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"Don’t tell people to disappear like it’s nothing. Words can hurt people! And you can’t ever take them back. Even if you regret it, you can never take them back!" - Jun Naruse.

Word. A very powerful tool. Given the right circumstances, words can mend someone’s broken heart when phrased correctly. But those same words can also become sharper than the finest of blades, causing deep invisible wounds. To brew a nuclear bombarding the first thing that is required is words. Then again words can also stop that potential war. On one side, words can be a signature of peace but on the other side ... those very words can be the signature of massacre. Speak the right words at the right time and you can get yourself a happy family. But start talking inconsiderately and you drive that healthy family apart. All because of a few words. Powerful indeed.

Jun is a very cheerful and dreamy kid with a potential of talking relentlessly. A born chatterbox as her parents described her. One day she saw her father coming out of the castle of her dreams located on the top of the mountain (it was a love hotel by the way if you haven’t guessed it already) with a woman (who is not Jun’s mother for obvious reasons) and happily reported it right back to her mother who was coincidentally preparing lunch for her husband at that very moment (‘Thank you for your hard work’, it said on the lunch box). Predictable things followed and Jun’s father blamed his kid daughter for the inevitable (not surprising coming from a douche-bag).

That blame hit Jun pretty hard. She ran out of the house and met an egg. That egg told her all the potential troubles her words could cause and suggested that she zipped her mouth up for good if she wants to have a castle and prince of her dreams (it was actually her aim in life) without any troubles. So scared Jun’s mouth was shut by an egg and she stopped talking for good.

Jun stopped talking. Not because she was mad. It was not a moody brat’s retaliation against her parents who wouldn’t by her the toy she wanted. No. It wasn’t that she wasn’t speaking. She couldn’t speak anymore. She was traumatized and that trauma led her to the egg that sealed her voice. Of course the egg wasn’t real, just a product of her sub-conscious mind out of the shock which she had to create in order to justify her actions. She sub-consciously gave herself reasons to seal her words from the world. A very normal reaction from a child her age.

There was a reason to imagine an egg here as well. Japanese beliefs. Some believe that if you can’t say the words you want to say to someone then speak those words to an egg and that egg will hold those words for you. Jun offered her words to an egg and had it take care of it for her.

Fast forward a few years and Jun is now in high school and no one in her class had ever heard her speak before. She along with our main male protagonist, Takumi Sakagami and two others, Natsuki Nito and Daiki Tasaki gets choosen as committee members for Community Outreach Program and decide to do a musical. Jun couldn’t speak anymore and just trying to say a few words gave her an acute stomachache. One day when she wanted to deny her position as committee member and wanted to talk to the teacher about it, she over hears Takumi singing a song about the egg business and thought he was looking right through her (it was really a coincident, nothing more). Jun here found her prince. Takumi Sakagami who can somewhat understand what Jun was going through. Takumi was the one who suggested that Jun try talking through singing as it might not trigger the curse. And needless to say that worked because the egg told her to refrain from talking, not singing. This motivated Jun to try even harder, push herself even further to break her curse, break the egg that contained her voice and she was gradually reaching that point.

Motivated Jun started writing story for the musical. She wrote the story. It was her story, story on her life. It was realistic and great. The team members turned that story into a musical and presented it in front of their audience. But things happen in between.

Here I’d like to point out the team that worked on this movie. Led by Mari Okada, it was the same team that made AnoHana. Now I may be biased about the results because of this little fact. AnoHana being the very first romance anime I watched holds a special place within me and still is one of my favorite animes. So the team that produced this movie may get a biased opinion from me. Still, this movie maybe drama based but it’s definitely not the load of teen drama (that deals with nothing but complicated romance and love polygons and whose dialogues are way too hard to understand) everyone makes it out to be. The drama here gives the characters their developments. Tasaki being an asshole to Jun at the beginning realized how much suffering she had to endure and how hard she is trying to get over it and express her true. This caused him to see the light in his own issues with the baseball team. He was finally able to come out and say what he wanted to say to his teammates and juniors of his baseball team instead of just bossing them around to make himself feel better. And poor Tasaki fell in love with Jun (well, Duh!).

Not only Tasaki but the members of the committee, our prince Takumi and Natsuki were also influenced by Jun’s actions. Takumi and Natsuki used to date each other in middle school but things didn’t work out between them because Takumi didn’t reach out to her because of his barrier. Natsuki thought Takumi now has feelings for Jun because he obviously cared about her. Somehow the night before the musical Takumi and Natsuki started talking about this and Takumi decided to tell her his true feelings.

Yeah, unrequited love wasn’t something I was expecting out of this movie. Actually at first it seemed impossible. Jun found salvation in Takumi. When everyone else was making fun of her Takumi was the only one who encouraged her. How can Jun not end up with Takumi? But that’s exactly what happened. Natsuki still had feelings for Takumi and Takumi reciprocated that. And guess what? Jun heard it and got her heart broken and got confronted by that egg again. That egg said it was time for Jun to say goodbye to her words because she was trying way too hard to express them. Not through words but through her heart. Anyways, Takumi came to her rescue and made her break the shell she had built up around herself. Jun can finally speak again and she sang in front of a hall full of audience. She finally spoke the words of her heart.

Jun’s words come directly from the bottom of her heart. The words she told as the story of the musical, the lyrics she sang in front of the audience, in front of her mother are the words she wanted to shout for a long time. Those words define Jun’s heart. Thus making them the anthem of the heart.

The fact that Jun got over her curse kind of gave me "A Silent Voice" vibes. The way Jun got over her fear of speaking was very similar to how Shouya got over his anxiety and fear of looking others at the eye. In fact I'd say "The Anthem of the Heart" is the closest thing to "A Silent Voice". Both in terms of plot and art style. By the way, if you still haven't watched "A Silent Voice" then please watch it as well. That movie is on a whole different level.

Now back to the topic at hand, the whole unrequited crush thing was a surprise factor for almost everyone who watched this film without getting spoiled. And this surprise was not something they wanted so it triggered a lot of people. But I’d say this ending gave the movie more meaning. Instead of forcing a happy ending to make the audiences satisfied they decided to go with the ending that gives more credence to the songs. So I’d say it worked out pretty well.

Jun is just so cute. Even after she stopped talking she carried the same energy she had as a child. Although forced to reserve herself she still contained the aspects of the extroverted girl she once was. Her expression allows the viewers to read her state of mind even though she wasn’t speaking a single word. Her expressions are really well defined here and mixing her childish nature with those expressions makes her a very funny character. Both to us and the characters around her. Props to the animators. Aside from this, the art wasn’t something that catches your eyes because given the setting there was very little need of that. The art suits the theme. Very 'A-1 Pictures' like.

Jun tells her story through a musical. The songs they presented here tells the story of her life. So the performance was one of the key moments of this movie. Takumi once mentioned himself that he can’t write original songs on his own. He just puts some lyrics to an existing music. And that’s exactly what the class did for their performance. The songs performed here are not original in terms of the music. They are remakes. Remakes that are actually pretty good. Instead of writing original musics for that last show, the sound directors did what Takumi does and presented remakes that suits the show perfectly.

When Jun made her entry into the performance she was singing a song “Watashi no Koe”.

Haven’t heard such on-point, contextual song that strikes right in the kokoro in a long while. The lyrics are perfect. The timing of the song, the environment that was built up around it and the fact that Jun sang that song herself infront of a full house just goes to show her misfortunes and the guilt that crushed her. When she was down about her lost voice and struggled, everyone around her were rejoicing at that very same fact. The lyrics of that song really hits man. At first I thought that this music was original but it wasn’t actually. Here’s the original song in case you are interested.

The last two songs (well it was actually one music but the lyrics were different) Jun and Natsuki performed simultaneously just gives more support to the ending they pulled off. Jun’s story had two endings and the songs depict each of them. Jun finally broke her cage but she couldn’t have done it alone. Takumi supported her all through this and he was the prince Jun always wished for. When she finally regained her voice she thanked him for everything. She embraced her past which made her who she is now.

Words can both help and hurt people without you even realizing it. Jun learned this the hard way. But this doesn’t mean that just sealing your voice shut will do you the trick of not hurting others. The important thing here is not to compress what you’re thinking. Speak up. That’s the lesson I learned from this movie. Yes, it may not always be pleasant for you or the others around you and you might get hurt in the process but cooping it up will just make the situation even worse. Express yourself. Be it via words or songs or arts. But do it.

In the end, it was a great movie in my opinion with a bittersweet ending given to Jun (I’m a sucker for bittersweet endings). This movie definitely had its share of issues like those few minutes of Jun getting rejected on the face by Takumi when he went to rescue her wasn't really necessary I'd say but ... well, screw that. It’s still an awesome movie to watch. And Jun’s way too cute so there’s that. Now go check out the movie.

What being can be more terrifying than the corpses that feed on your blood in the middle of your sweet dream and drain your life away? Are there any creatures like that?

There are.

Humans.

Yes. Humans. That’s the truth I got from ‘Shiki’ in the most brutal way possible.

About the context of the story.
I doubt there is anyone who hasn’t heard about Count Dracula. The concept of the vampires in ‘Shiki’ actually comes from that and almost imitates that. That is, the vampires of ‘Shiki’ are almost like the ones in Dracula.
...
In the quiet, peaceful, remote village of Sotoba, people suddenly started dying. One by one. The local doctor of that village and one of our protagonists, Toshio Ozaki, struggles to find the reason for their sudden deaths. “What’s causing their death?” He notices the strange similarity in their symptoms and concludes that -

There is an epidemic. He was so bent on it that he overlooked every other possibilities.

But again, he was the one who found out what’s causing the deaths.
Yes. He was the one who proved the existence of Shiki.

Now about the Shikis.
Shikis are vampires. Plain and simple. The name given to the vampires in this anime is Shiki. This name came from a novel written by another one of our main characters, Seishin Muroi. Shikis live in a mansion called Kanemasa in the village. The villagers don’t know this fact, obviously. Shikis feed on the blood of the living villagers. And once a Shiki has bitten a human they kind of become hypnotized and follow the order of that Shiki unconsciously. Ultimately when enough blood is sucked out, they die. But after death two things can happen. Either the deceased remains deceased or that deceased wakes up as a Shiki.

Seishin Muroi is the young priest of Sotoba and also a writer. He writes novels. In one of his novels he mentioned Corpse Demon and named them ‘Shiki’. One of his fans, Sunako Kirishiki, apparently the head of the Vampires, likes that term and renames their kind as ‘Shiki’.

Now, last but not least, Yuuki Natsuno. A high school student and other prime characters of this series. He was another one who was suspicious about the things going on in the village. Megumi Shimizu, a local and his classmate who desperately loves Natsuno, one day died. But Natsuno spots that dead girl a few days later because apparently even after death she was stalking him. To make sure what was going on Natsuno decided to dig up her grave and when he did that, surprise surprise,

It was empty.


Now what makes ‘Shiki’ so amazing?

Every creature wants to survive in this gruesome world. And most will do whatever it takes just to do that. Shikis are no exception (I am considering them a different species). Shikis feed on human blood. But for what reason? Do they want to do that? Most of them, No. They don’t want to drain the blood of another human being, much less their family members. But do they have a choice here? No, they don't. They have to feed on human blood otherwise they will die. Some of them might prefer to die rather than sucking blood out of their family. Then again, the will to survive is a brutal thing. That will will force you to do some things you will never imagine doing normally. That’s exactly what happened here.

Some will consider the Shikis as villains of this show. Well obviously. They were killing HUMANS after all. They must be evil. Right?
They are evils. But from whose perspective? From the perspective of humans. Yes, humans decided that the Shikis were evil because of what they were doing. Which pegs the question, “Were the Shikis wrong?”
No. I don’t think they were. They were only doing what they had to. They were only trying to survive here.

Humans show their true color when their backs are against the walls. Their deepest, darkest nature is exposed when their life is on the line. ‘Shiki’ is one of those rare animes that pointed out that fact. Instead of sticking to the principle of I-won't-do-that-goes-against-my-morals and taking the easy path, the characters here take the natural route and that route is not easy in the slightest. They take the path of darkness and despair, path that goes against every fibre of their being but still they take it. Because that path is their only chance of survival. When Toshio Ozaki discovered the truth behind the deaths he was desperate to find a solution. He needed to experiment. And he experimented on his -

Wife.

Toshio’s wife became a Shiki herself after being bitten. When Toshio realized that he researched on how to kill the Shikis on his wife. He tried various different methods. Long story short, he tortured his wife brutally. Even though she was no longer a human, does that justify Toshio Ozaki’s actions?

I think it does. Toshio Ozaki is also a victim here. He was also trying to survive and trying to keep the village safe. So he was also forced to do whatever he did.

The last couple of episodes of this anime are the most chilling episodes I’ve ever seen. The final showdown - Humans vs Shikis. Toshio exposed a Shiki in front of everyone at a festival. He gathered capable individuals to fight back. And most of them did. The Humans destroyed the Shikis in One Night. One Night. What took Shikis months to build the humans finished in a single night. The piles of corpses who were once human beings were made. What caused it?

The fear of getting eradicated. Up until that point, the Shikis had the upper hand but the combined willpower of humans turned the tables instantaneously. Their fears turned into power, their anger turned into desperation. This is the capability of humans when they need to live.

Humans are more horrifying than the blood sucking monsters. There was one scene that stuck with me, that proved this statement. In desperation the Shikis also pointlessly fought back a couple of times. When one was captured naturally they swung around their hands and feet. During those times some of the humans also got injured by the Shikis. Guess what the others did. They killed those humans too. “What if he also turns into a Shiki? What will we do then? It’s better if we kill them now when we have the chance.” A human will never turn into a Shiki just from a scratch. Yet they killed them. Brutal. But isn’t that what most of us would have done in a situation like that?

So who is the real villain here? Who knows.

The anime ‘Shiki’ proves one big, harsh fact.

“THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST”

Everything else of this anime was just as convincing as the premise was. The art and music department played a huge role in making this anime so much horrifying. The moments where the art went from colorful to black added more fear to the audience’s minds. The portrayal of Shikis here was solid. The style of the art perfectly blended with the setting of the story.

And about the soundtracks. Yasuharu Takanashi is a genius. The soundtracks he composed and their perfect placements along with the art made everything more than good enough.

‘Shiki’ is one of a kind. The kind of atmosphere it builds is rare in horror animes. You just don’t get horror like this nowadays. It had a message worth understanding. So, in the end, ‘Shiki’ is so far the best horror anime I’ve seen and will most definitely recommend it to someone who is looking for a ‘True’ vampire show. Now, give it a shot.

P.S: There's a couple of special episodes, 20.5 and 21.5. Make sure you watch them as well.

Shoujo. A genre often overlooked by the masses for a number of reasons. Girly shows. Yeah, that's what most audiences think shoujo anime are. Most shoujo stories often feature an innocent love story (might be too innocent for heaven’s sake). So it’s not a very relatable story (or so people think). On top of that there’s always the problem of the anime adaptation being unsatisfactory. Perfect reason not to watch a shoujo, right?

Well, not always.

I do agree that most shoujo anime tend to be a bit cutesy and often cheesy, not all are like that. Take ‘Nana’ for example (took a while to get ... to the point). While most romance animes deal with adolescents and their newly found feelings, ‘Nana’ dives right into the adult world and rather than focusing on the cuter side of a relationship, this anime draws out some of the darker aspects and the harsh realities behind them.Nana isn’t a story about couples paired up by the heavens. No. It’s more than that.

The word ‘Nana’ means ‘Seven’ in japanese. The apartment 707 is where everything started for our main characters - Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki. Both of them meet unexpectedly one day and thus their journey through life begins. Nana Osaki aspires to establish her band in Japan while Nana Komatsu just wants to live her life happily with her boyfriend. But everything doesn’t go as planned in life and they find themselves in difficult situations where they rely on each other for support. Symbiosis.

The story that ‘Nana’ tells us is realistic in every sense of the world. It’s not a tale of true love that developed in high school. It’s about the mistakes one makes and hardships one goes through in the first stage of adulthood. It paints the picture of a regular life of a person rather than the one that person dreams about. You will be able to relate to those characters (especially if you are a girl). So Nana is different from the usual shoujo anime you are used to watching. It’s completely different. The darker yet natural themes of this anime might just feel like a fresh breather, a change of pace.

The characters here are a reflection of ourselves. They were written based on the public like us. The naive Nana Komatsu who falls for everything and anything is easy to find. Aside from adding humor to the story, this naivety of Nana Komatsu depicts the naivety of us in general. In contrast to Nana Komatsu’s cheerful and innocent personality, the mature side of Nana Osaki adds a totally different vibe to the plot. She is hard working, passionate about her dreams. A woman with a very intense personality. She may not look it but she is actually really caring about her friends. The relationships shown here are not too hard to find if you carefully look around. The characters portray not only love and kinship but also despair that might often lead to some unwanted developments. The other characters of this story are also loveable and unique in their own way. Every major character in this story represents one part of ourselves. Combine them and you get the whole picture. Long story short, the characters are superb.

‘Nana’ is also amazing in the music department. I mean it’s a music anime where one of the main characters forms a band and her boyfriend belongs to a band over which everyone in Japan goes nuts. So naturally the directors thought hard about this section. The soundtracks here are captivating to say the least. I wished for that fictional band Trapnest to be real. Their songs like ‘A Little Pain’, ‘Starless Night’, ‘Shadow of Love’, ‘Recorded Butterfly’ in the voice of Olivia Lufkin were just perfect.

" Travel to the moon
The dream where you first appeared fades out
The light of the star,
I longed for is taken away

The smile I had to forget
in order to be strong,
For sure if we're together, we can take it back. "

Even after all these years, these songs hit differently.


So after all of this, is Nana perfect?

No. It certainly is not.

Like every other anime, this anime also has its share of drawbacks. The Art for starters might be one of them. The animation, I’d say, might not be up to mark. But it definitely is not bad enough to sleep on the whole show. The quality of art might be a bit frustrating but the cinematography delivered by Madhouse will make up for it. It's that good.
One more thing might be the ending of the anime. It was quite abrupt. The manga was still ongoing at the time the anime ended so it felt a bit rushed. Just for the record, the manga is on hiatus for the past 12 years. Still waiting for Ai Yazawa to come back to her masterpiece.

In the end, ‘Nana’ is very much different from the shoujo you love (or maybe hate) so much. Definitely worth watching in my opinion. If you feel a slight bit interested, do check it out. This anime might change the opinion you have on the Shoujo Demography. Now then, have fun watching!!

PS:
Nana Osaki is a famous character. There is one character in 'Golden Time' who identifies herself as Nana, talks like Nana, dresses like Nana and aspires to be an intense singer just like Nana.

What exactly is happiness? How will you go about determining the factors of happiness? Is it money? Is it the moment you fall in love for the first time? Perhaps it is your friends and family. All of it? Or maybe, none of it? A simple question yet an unanswered one.

Whenever we fall into a bit of a pinch, or whenever we are ‘unhappy’ about how things played out, we make a fuss about how life is being really unfair to us. Many of us think, “I don’t want this crappy life. It doesn’t have any meaning. I wish I’d die.” But, is life really ... so cheap that you can throw it away just like that? We always tend to forget that no matter how much of a hard time we are having, there is always someone who is going through an even harder time. Sure, life may have thrown a few rocks at some point but is it always going to be that way?

Kusunoki, our average delusional protagonist who, as a child, thought that he was going to be someone famous when he grows up. Relatable? I’m sure it is. But life isn't so eager to make him famous yet. Talented kid going to a barely average college, part-time jobs that hardly makes any money to support himself, that’s how his life turned out at the age of 20. Relatable again? Yeah, for a lot of us. Then Kusunoki was given a chance to sell his lifespan for money depending on many different factors, the factors of happiness. Since he wasn’t happy in his life, he was given a bare minimum for his 30 years of lifespan, leaving only 3 months to live.
Then appears another main character, Miyagi, our observer. Observers are given the duty to observe anyone who sells their lifespan and has less than a year to live. Initially hostile and cold towards Kusunoki, she gradually warms up to him because of many different circumstances.

A lot of things change when your life is suddenly cut short. People start to understand their surroundings better. They begin to clear the mysteries that fog up around them. They start looking for happiness, true happiness. They change a lot over that short period of time.

There are things people can achieve when they have someone important in their life. Having someone who you can relate with, who understands you can change you for better. That’s what happened with Kusunoki. Kusunoki represents us. Deep down we all are Kusunoki in one way or another. He wasn’t able to find happiness at first. His delusions clouded his judgment. But having Miyagi by his side changed his views on life. He found happiness only he can find. He found enjoyment in the smallest of things. Visiting his homeland, staring at the starry sky, even just talking with Miyagi. In the end this encouraged him to do something. And guess what, he was able to do something. Kusunoki used to draw when he was young. But he stopped at one point because he couldn’t find the meaning behind it anymore. Having Miyagi broke the long slump he was in.

A simple enough plotline yet so much to think about. “Three Days of Happiness” is a novel that doesn’t answer the questions rather makes you think about those questions. Makes you think about life, raises the question ‘how much is life truly worth?’ Or ‘is it worth something at this point? How to make use of this precious thing I was given?’ The story was very beautifully crafted, keeping the emotions of the readers in mind. From the very start of the story there was a uniqueness to it that caught attention. The characters were accurately written. The pacing of the story was perfect. Gives you just the time you need to think about everything that has happened. The words were very carefully chosen that directly hits, and puts an emotional impact on the readers.

There is a manga adaptation of this novel. A great one in fact. Most of the readers read the manga adaptation. But I highly recommend you read the original source. A very few people have read the novel. The novel has a different feel to it. It captures the audience, encapsulates them and makes them want to read further and further. So even if you have already read the manga, give the novel a go as well. You might be able to uncover some new themes you weren’t able to before.

Bittersweet. That’s the only word I can think of to describe this beautiful piece of work. The ending makes you feel empty at one side but also makes you emotionally stronger. The author came up with something really sensitive and delivered it in the smoothest way possible. So in the end, an easy 10/10 for me. No questions asked.

This review contains minor spoilers.

Romantic comedy or shortly known as rom-com has currently become a very widely popular sub-genre in the anime world. A wholesome romance with a good comedy deserves to be a recipe for a chef’s kiss. Perfection. Well, that perfection is hard to achieve. Something just remains missing. something vital. But every once in a while we get to witness something that may not be perfect but very close to it. ‘The Pet Girl of Sakurasou’ was that something for me. A perfect blend of sweetness and cracking laughter.
Sakurasou in English means Sakura Dorm. As you can already guess it’s ... about a dormitory and its residents. Sakurasou is not just a normal dorm though. It’s a destination for problem children of the school. So not many people get to stay there. Out of all the inhabitants, Kanda Sorata, our main male protagonist, seems to be the only ‘normal’ kid. This hard-working, kind, and gentle soul was given the task of taking care of a transfer girl. An easy job. After all, just how much trouble can a grown-up high school girl cause for you? Yeah, wrong. Shiina Mashiro, our girl, is a girl who can’t even dress up by herself for the love of her life. This is one of the reasons that makes Sakurasou …..well, Sakurasou. If you have seen any number of romance animes then you know what’s going to happen next. So yeah, Sorata becomes Mashiro’s guardian, and those two along with other dorm members - Nanami, Ryunosuke, Misaki, Jin find themselves in a number of situations and work their way out of it, making us burst out in the process.
So, why should you watch ‘Sakurasou’ of all anime? For a number of reasons actually. The delivery of the story was magnificent. The comedy was epic. And what made those comedies epic were the characters.
Yes, the dynamic of the characters is the best selling point of this anime. The characters were written so brilliantly that it made the whole series worth everything.
First of all, Shiina Mashiro. She is a goddess. Need me to say anything more? Seriously, I can’t even put Mashiro into words. She’s just awesome. Her mostly expressionless face, childish acts, and way of speech is a cure for depression. I mean, just look at her ‘Plan C’. You can’t help but roll at that.
Next up, our gentle soul Kanda Sorata. A nice kid who gets upset whenever he sees anyone in his dorm doing something stupid again. Sorata and Shiina’s chemistry is entertaining as hell on one side but heartwarming on the other. It’s as if those two pairs were made for each other.
Then, Akasaka Ryunosuke. A shut-in game developer who almost never leaves his room for school but whenever he does he eats an apple in the class and codes. Badass.
A romance anime without a love triangle is rare. You can probably count their number with your hands. This wasn’t an exception either. Aoyama Nanami was that third vertex. But ‘Sakurasou’ doesn’t let the love triangle take the driving seat so our Nanami isn’t a pain-in-the-butt annoying jealous girl either. She is the type who understands and helps our main character in whatever way possible.
Kamiigusa Misaki is the quirky,loud and way too energetic senior in the dorm. Completely contrasting with Mashiro, she totally lightens the mood with her intensity. Her idiocy brings laughter, sure, but she is a member of Sakurasou after all. So our other members often get a handful dealing with her.

Spoiler starts

This anime is very funny. One of the best of its kind. But it does have its fair share of touching moments. The members of Sakurasou are like family members and Sakurasou is their home. The last arc of the series directly pointed out that there are much more sentiments attached to this than we initially thought. The Graduation episode at the end hit really hard. I mean, you would never expect Misaki of all people to give a speech that will bring everyone to the verge of tears. Imagine the amount of emotion that can back such a moment. And Misaki was graduating herself from Sakurasou on top of that. It makes an already fantastic story even better. Who said rom-com can’t make you tear up?

End of Spoiler


Enough about the story and characters. Animation, music of this anime is great as well. Given the story and settings, I’ll say the animators did a really good job with the art.
Sound wasn't bad either. Even though I don’t quite remember the OSTs, I certainly remember the openings and endings. They were really well made, both visually and the lyrics. Again, Aketagawa Jin rocks.
So ….. ‘Sakurasou’ passes in those departments with flying colors as well.
Now there is one more aspect I’d like to add aside from the usual ones. The Voice Acting. Boy oh boy. The Voice Acting was absolutely BRILLIANT. Kayano Ai (Mashiro), Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (Sorata) Takamori Natsumi (Misaki) all just nailed it. Hands down.
All in all, I really really enjoyed this beautiful show. And I also don’t have any complaints about it either. If you are a fan of comedy, simple story, young love, brilliant characters, heartfelt moments then by all means, go ahead and watch it already. Highly recommended and who knows, you may have just found a new gem for yourself.

Spoiler-less Review:


The Grisaia series, consisting of two anime series and a movie in between, is somewhat different when it comes to harem romance anime. While most harem series tend to follow a rather comedic path, Grisaia approached it in another way and kinda broke that rom-com trend. Now I’m not saying this in a negative sense or something like that. If anything, this fact made this anime worth watching. After watching those stereotypical animes where the girl blushes while fantasizing about in how many ways she can hold her crush’s hand or the tsundere girl just keeps being … well tsundere, it was a nice ... change of pace to watch yet another harem anime like Grisaia. Now, I’m not saying that Grisaia doesn’t have shy or tsundere girls. It’s a harem anime, so of course, it does. But I’ll get to that later.

STORY:
The story is about a boy Yuuji Kazami who just transferred into a new, big school and gets surrounded by a bunch of all categories of girls. Sounds cliche? It does. But what changes that cliche here is that those girls and Yuuji himself are the only students there in that school. For various reasons, that school can be attended by only students who have some ….. issues. Those issues of the girls are what drive that first season forward. To me, the first season is still cliche. It’s just a generous young man helping out his fellow classmates by doing some rather dangerous and unexpected things. Those rather unexpected materials are what sets this series apart from the rest of its genre. The first season is mostly designed like a visual novel, you know like those arcs we see. In Grisaia each arc features one of the heroines of the plot. Well, Grisaia is based on a popular visual novel of the same name, so the arc concept is not surprising. It’s just the transition here is clearer than the rest.
Things get unique starting from the movie. This is where it breaks its tradition. The movie and the first 4 episodes of the 2nd season deal with the backstory, a tragic and brutal one at that, of Yuuji. Honestly, I feel like the backstory or backstories are the most interesting feature of the plot. The rest of the season returns to the current timeline again and this time it presents us with some nice actions. Actions aren’t something one would normally expect in an anime tagged as harem romance. So it came quite as a surprise to me too. And the actions weren’t bad at all.
Although it is supposed to be a harem romance anime, to me one thing it clearly lacked was the romance itself. Yuuji looks like the kind of guy whose heart is made of stone, which makes perfect sense given his cruel upbringing. Romance isn’t something I would expect from a character like him. So yeah, there weren’t many romance materials in the equation, much less harem elements. Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any at all. There are a few later in the second season.

ART:
The art of this anime was okay considering the plot. Nothing too flashy like NiseKoi. It was all right for my taste.

MUSIC:
The music was decent as well. Some of the emotional ones were the best. As I would expect from Aketagawa Jin. The way they were positioned and timed was perfect and seemed to hit right where it should.

CHARACTERS:
Characters. Characters in this series are what I have the most complains about. Aside from Yuuji, all the characters are more or less bland, which was very disappointing. Male lead as the most famous character isn’t something I’m used to watching. And the girls. Females are what makes a harem anime interesting. A heated waifu war is what I would expect. Nothing of that sort was present. But, but ... since this is not a formulaic harem, I would overlook that . Still they are bland. There are tsunderes, shy girls, and whatever other types you call it here but none of them had features that stand out. So yeah, the character department failed, some points are deducted and it is yet another reason this anime doesn’t feel like a harem anime.

ENJOYMENT:
About enjoyment, it certainly wasn’t a masterpiece level work and has its fair share of shortcomings but it was worth watching. The backstories of the main characters are interesting and the delivery of some sensitive subjects via those main characters is commendable as well. And there's action too.
So if you are looking for a break from all those cute, captivating, female eyes and still wishing to watch something ‘not shounen’ with a good plot and a few fights, why not give Grisaia a try? It may not be all that bad for all you know.