Considering that an article on this very site, written somewhere around the end of last season, has already declared this show to be a "miss" at its halfway point (real professional work there, guys, next time you should just rank animes based on their announcement PVs), and that most viewers have already decided to drop the series in favour of the latest pseudo-hentai, harem LN adaptation, it might be far too late for me to write a review about this piece of work, killed before it ever had the chance to show its values, but I believe that Sakurada Reset deserves better.
First, let's acknowledge
...
reality, the show is not the second coming of your local salvation-based deity, it is definitely not for everyone. If you believe that anime, as a genre, should be solely about unadulterated entertainment of the most vulgar degrees, little girls fighting each other to the death, cow-titted, blonde onee-sans snuggling up to virginal heroes of godlike powers, or whatever the fuck you people see in those Eromanga-senseis and whatnot, then you'd do best avoiding this series, you will only be disappointed and will possibly whine about it being boring, confusing and seriously lacking in infantile erotic tension.If you, however, think that this is one of the greatest mediums to give an experience equally stimulating visually and intellectually, capable of opening your eyes to completely different points of view, then I highly recommend the series.
The story itself is about presenting the numerous way the people of Sakurada relate to other's and their own abilities, and how encounters with one another influence personal growth. It's not a world-changing great adventure or a hard struggle between embodiments of good and evil, even the larger scale events are given a personal grasp, as they are significant to the individual, but only mere episodes for the world in which those individuals exist.
And that's where the main focus lies, the characters. Again, if you are looking for the usual character tropes and typical over-the-top voice acting you get from My Little Tsundere Princess Sister And The Magical Academy Of Lightshow Battles, then you will most definitely find all the characters boring and empty. Each and every member of the cast is constructed in a layered fashion, first only providing the means for a surface-level understanding of their personalities (and that's the point where most viewer gave the series a 2/10 and quit), only to open up for us as our eyes into their world, Kei, begins to unravel the circumstances that lead them to this point in their lives, our encounter with them changing their views significantly, later appearances showing glances of their growths by the end of the series.
In tandem with the aforementioned narrative focus, the characters of Sakurada Reset all act and emote in very human ways, they show subtle expressions while talking with normal tonality, the same way as any of us would in given conversations. Hell, one of the main point of the series is how the characters develop as they interact with others, the dialogues' unfolding nature serves this purpose perfectly, especially in Haruki's case, who goes from an extremely cold and emotionless presentation to become one of the most vibrantly expressive characters of the series.
Spoken lines do tend to be somewhat slow-paced and very philosophical in their nature, the characters often discuss thought experiments and theories in detail, and that too might be one of the reasons for the hasty abandonment of the series by those who mainly use philosophy books (provided that they ever held one in their hands) to find every single mention of a phallus, but in my opinion, they work in context, expand the narrative and fit the more contemplative tone of the series.
Another complaint aimed at the show was its visuals. Without going on a rant or a needlessly long-winded analysis (like I kinda did in the last section), it seems to me that these arguments could be connected to, yet again, the large masses' expectations. This is neither the diabetic world of moe animes, neither the visual orgies of a Shinkai Makoto or ufotable project, the colour scheme is a very relaxing one and the designs are in no way flashy or complicated. Despite all that, I can state with all honesty that the visuals are perfectly satisfactory. They don't draw attention away from the dialogues, are pleasant to look at and even without jaw-dropping animation, the proficient work of David Production often manages to create captivating imagery through the simplistic beauty found in the carefully composed frames.
There are many more to talk about when it comes to this series, but I don't think my dreary essay here is not the right way to approach the matter. Rather than that, I would like to encourage every single person who took their time to read this review to join the conversation and discuss this anime. I've been tastelessly positive in these (not so) brief paragraphs, there are many positives and negative to be found here, far more than I ever cared to mention, but I believe that all of that should be said and seen by many more than the few who humoured this narcissistic nerd for the time of a review.
If I could ask one thing from you, dear reader, I would like you to look beyond the premature denouncement and check out this anime, form your own opinion about it based on what you actually get and not on the popular trends that exist on an entirely different side of the medium!
Give Sakurada Reset the chance it never got, the chance to give its audience the experience it meant to!
Sep 13, 2017
Sakurada Reset
(Anime)
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Considering that an article on this very site, written somewhere around the end of last season, has already declared this show to be a "miss" at its halfway point (real professional work there, guys, next time you should just rank animes based on their announcement PVs), and that most viewers have already decided to drop the series in favour of the latest pseudo-hentai, harem LN adaptation, it might be far too late for me to write a review about this piece of work, killed before it ever had the chance to show its values, but I believe that Sakurada Reset deserves better.
First, let's acknowledge ... Jun 19, 2017
Frame Arms Girl
(Anime)
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Watch it if you
- like overpriced plastic toys and commercials about them - think that half-done animations are the future - already had your skull acquainted with a power drill - have an undying infatuation with panty-shots - REALLY like overpriced plastic toys and commercials about them DO NOT watch it if you - think that an audience deserves more than a full season of commercials - wish to see unique characters interact with each other ... May 21, 2017
Fukumenkei Noise
(Anime)
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[NOTICE: I actually love alternative rock music, this review is not a statement against the genre itself, but the bafflingly awful and musically flawed nature of this specific anime. In short, I like this kind of music, but the songs here are objectively bad]
Watch it if you are - deaf ... |