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Aug 16, 2023
As it was put in another review, this is basically just a series of episodic OVAs following the previous season.
Interactions between Hayato and Ui are quickly thrust to the side as the former winds up in various lustful situations with the other characters (they try to get through all the characters this way, this season, for some bizarre reason), and any progress the two made in the last season - especially that near the end - is thrown out the window to effectively put everything back at square one. They are much less intimate this time around, shock horror.
Besides this it's essentially more of the
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same, so if the relationship between Hayato and Ui didn't interest you in the first place then you'll probably enjoy this season as much as you did the last.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 13, 2022
Personal feelings aside, I'll keep this short. Essentially, this season carries on seamlessly from the previous season - same animation, music, voice acting and general tone. One thing they seemed to do away with was the ecchi quality of the first season, not that it had much prominence there either - so no nudity and half-time eyecatchers this time around. Anyway, as a light, high school based comedy, this series does fairly well. It's nothing you won't have seen before in such arrangements, but Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga sukunai is nonetheless a fun watch through both seasons. If that's the type of thing you're after,
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I'd recommend trying it. This is a series more than that though, and it's at this point I become less eager to recommend it.
Yeah, don't watch this for the romance. Well it's your call, but having seen it through to the end, I personally wouldn't rewatch this series purely as a result of how the romance plays out. I'm aware a large portion of romance fans favour satisfying romances, even if there isn't a happy ending - I'm certainly in that camp, at least - and Christ is the romance in this series anything but. As throughout the first season, romance is more or less left to simmer. That is to say, for most of the runtime, nothing really develops beyond what we already knew regarding how certain characters feel about Kodaka.
But okay, the first season was based more on romantic subtext, hardly aiming to develop any such relationships - at least beyond a certain point - and that worked fine. However, that direction works because it sets the expectation that eventually, romance will see a place in the limelight. Bear with it, it implies. So you wait and wait, and... wait, this is the tenth episode!? How will all this romantic potential between characters tie together in just three episodes?
When romance finally begins to get the anticipated spotlight in episode ten, it feels like it's too late. Surprise surprise, it is. At least, the story doesn't bother trying to cram it all into three episodes. Instead, it draws upon the plot point you thought had been succeeded long ago - friendship. As soon as the club members were all present in the story, this theme seemed all but redundant. Sure, they hadn't yet acknowledged it, but as far as anyone could be concerned by this point, they're all friends. Although resurfacing occasionally, this theme began to lose its grip more and more as romantic expectations increased through the story's progression, so when it suddenly tightens in the final straight, I was left thinking "what was the point in the romantic setup?".
So, that's the romance. There are other things usually covered in reviews but I didn't really set out intending for this to be so thorough as to cover all bases, so onto the summary. First, this season specifically. As mentioned, it carries on well from the first with perfect continuity, but leaves far too many loose ends. Now, the series overall. If you're seeking romance, look elsewhere. If you're interested in this series for anything besides that, you'll likely find this a fun, engaging watch, but since romance is an inescapable aspect of the plot, you'll end up having to face it one way or another.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 10, 2021
It seems unfair to pit Serien against Amagami, given it's ultimately its own show, but since it's a good point of comparison and perspective, I'll do it in this case.
Seiren is essentially a continuation of the Amagami SS experience, with its own cast but the same setting, yet it feels lacking in comparison. The pacing of Amagami was fairly fast in order to accommodate the use of different character arcs, yet whether it's Seiren's pacing or just what feels like longer build ups to romantic developments, something about each arc's progression here makes them sort of tedious to watch, in a way.
[mild spoilers
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in this paragraph] As an example, the ending of the first arc subverted the expectations I held of a show succeeding Amagami in that the protagonist and romantic interest did not end up together etc etc, but more than that, their reunion after the typical Amigami-style time skip, usually used to present developments in the characters' relationships later down the line, seemed to instead be used to inspire some vague hope of romance between Shouichi and Hikari, and felt incredibly underwhelming, certainly considering the earlier scenes seemingly building up to some sort of payoff.
Amagami had a second season furthering the relationships in the various routes, which felt like a nice bonus, but Seiren is a show that would benefit more fundamentally from something like that, almost needing that kind of development. It's almost a given that an anime revolving around separate short arcs would struggle a little when it comes to fleshing out and developing characters, and this is something that's not only particularly noticeable in Seiren, but also to the detriment of the investment I could find to offer each arc.
One thing I'd say is that the animation, maybe more specifically the characters, was pretty good. Characters look like they have a bit of dimension to them, and there's more of a style to them than can be said for other anime, their faces having a slightly 'natural' edge to them, if that makes any sense at all.
By and large, Seiren is pretty unspectacular, but if you're not too fussed about character development and just want some short slice of life ish stories to put on, then it might be worth considering. I have to say, though, I'd recommend watching its predecessor first or instead, even if they aren't fully linked, as it tackles the same style, only more effectively.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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