Anime: Sakura-sou no Pet na Kanojo

Sakurasou no pet, or also known as the Pet Girl of Sakurasou, is about a teenage boy named Sorata Kanda who attends Suimei High School, a special school for students who wish to polish their skills and talents as artists. This school is always the best place for each student to chase their own dreams. The main storyline starts when Sorata is driven out from the regular dorm due to his irresponsibility, of keeping a wild cat. One of the dorm rules is that pets are not allowed in the dormitory. Thus, begin a new story for Kanda at Sakurasou dorm, a dormitory for troubled students. The series of hardship in achieving a dream while on the other hand full with romantic relationships with each other.

However, it would be a great mistake to simply judge and dismiss this series based upon first impression.

The main star of the series is nobody else than Sorata himself, who is the earnest type of man, absolutely zero experience with girls, and although Sorata is naïve, Sorata always has been caught up in embarrassing situations with every girl. Precisely, our main lead is a person who ends up in sexual situations as well as being easily flustered. Who cannot love this type of characters? Obviously this is your typical type of main character in shows nowadays. Sorata is also a serious type of person; this has been shown since the first episode up until the bitter end of the series. He takes up every matter as something important, which results in problems for himself and others. In other words, his actions are always exaggerated in each situation he faces. This is one thing that I deeply hate about Sorata. Do not involve others in your own pride. This is not a useless statement as Sorata always takes up his pride damn too high which results in hurting others without realizing it. Undeniably Sorata has egos that show in their own class level without revealing too much. I think Sorata is more a gloomy type of guy if he had never met of his loved one – Shiina.

After a few minutes into the story, we’ve got our main girl Shiina who is also known as the pet girl. The way Sorata and Shiina meet is undeniably romantic and full with sorrow, and yet it feels mysterious in its own way as it was a fate. Shiina was born with unparalleled talent who has already made huge gaps between people who work harder to achieve something. A person naturally talented even as a kid, Shiina is already in her own league, but no one tries to become her friend. This results in Shiina almost possessing no emotions, causing problems for her to understand people's emotions. I think Shiina is like a robot or some kind of species of rare aliens at first. Shiina is also apparently unable to handle even simple tasks like dressing herself, and yet the one who helps her is none other than Sorata. This kind of scene is making fan service complete their role in the series. Each character started their unique appearance and in a matter of seconds, makes us interested without being aware of it. While on the other hand, we’re addicted to see the unique side of each of the characters. One of the characters who I think is really special and catches my eye is Mitaka Jin. He has been described as your playboy type of man but his eyes show otherwise with this feels with sorrow. You can see it if you give a really high tense of attention. I even rewatched the episodes just to make it crystal clear. And, yes, my accuracy is absolutely right when the story goes on deeper and tense. I, without any ill intentions to spoil you further, want to say his love story is also the best one in the series.

Shiina always looks emotionless and kind of slow to learn the feelings of emotion. Surprisingly, Shiina does quickly learn the meaning of Jealousy. The girl who successfully helps Shiina develop the feelings is none other than Nanami Aoyama who also has a crush on Sorata. Yes, Nanami is also one of those ‘childhood friends’ who always have a deep relation with the main lead. Nevertheless, all the classmates of Sorata and Nanami already knows Nanami's feelings. On the other hand Sorata is ultimately dense about Nanami's crush on him. Our main character is pretty typical again even in this kind of things. Although this series this series looks like a harem show, but as I stated at my friends before, Harem, at the minimum should at least consist of 3 females trying to catch the main lead’s love. Otherwise, there are only two females who pursuit Sorata’s love. Yes, it is Shiina Mashiro and Nanami Aoyama.

There also one character here looks like a Kuroneko form Oreimo series, the only difference is, and in this series the guy is named Ryuunosuke. Who doesn’t believe and understand in the concept of companion. Deep down to the core he looks like kuroneko from appearances and mentality. Even his cold attitude and sarcastic tendencies of looking down at people before his heart warms up to change. Yes, tsundere type of boy is here. Siamese twins maybe? Surprisingly, he also gets his own love story, though in his case the female is from foreign countries. Which I think defeats Sorata in his own way.

Undeniably, the problems faced by all the characters in Sakurasou dorm is a very first class issue that it is all relative in its own way. The director Atsuko does a wonderful job by linking all the problems to each of the characters. This makes the dilemmas in Sakurasou, successfully present a real and emotional story. All the scenes were well set-up, with a plenty number of sharp characters, playing good roles whose lines pierced through all pretense actions. Thus this series becomes a roller-coaster of emotions for us. Sometimes our feeling rise and sometime we down as our feelings flow the way in the story series. It’s a shame, really when the series has been put to the end. All the characters in the series play up their roles efficiently by making mistakes each times, showing there are flawed human beings who can make stupid and irrational decisions, but is rewarding in the end. Even some scenes where all the characters have been put together is bursting with energy and lively moments up suppressed any other shows.

The series animation is actually great. The art in its own way is already beautiful. With the fabulous Ops and Ed there is no better mark for the series. This series feels like reflecting our slice of life. The world is not what it seems but by leaving behind your old self and taking a leap of faith into the unknown. You find out what you are truly capable of becoming.

My conclusion of the series is 10/10

I must admit, this series successfully made me cry in the end. The bittersweets love and the hardship they have gone through. Just makes you want to cheers for them more until the very end. Even though, most part of the series is a duel between Shiina and Nanami to catch Sorata’s attention. The destiny and fate is just a new beginning for them. In the end, I can’t just describe it easily as I want but I still don’t doubt my feelings as I think this is one of my favorite anime all time. The beauty in the series is outrageous. It is such a tense story right at the start to the unexpected ending we could think of. I love all the characters that make this series such a tear jerker even in the final end.

Review
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (Sakurasou) is yet another ecchi-inspired harem show. It's hard to evaluate this kind of series, as the genre is perhaps the most overabundant in the japanese industry, especially since Love Hina made its impact back in 2000's. However, you can't just dismiss them for being typical ecchi-fests because that would be pointing out that you don't like the genre as a whole and not a specific work.

So, what can I say about Sakurasou? A quick tip: it's worth your time. Another quick tip: it's just more of the same. Yup, this means you won't see anything new here perhaps for the smart introduction of the first two episodes. The show is your basic mix of ecchi elements, lots of cute girls to fit each stereotype, the typical chicken-willed protagonist, a few comical relief cast, happy-be music, annoying voices, etc.

Sakurasou's tale is about Kanda Sorata, a normal boy that is bored with his life and is trying to find its purpose. He moves to the Sakurasou dormitory, a place known for its crazy students with absurdly brillant minds and terrible social skills. Everything changes when Shiina Mashiro, a cute art genius with very little social capabilities, move to the dormitory and it falls upon Sorata to take care of her.

---

1. The harem part
   Sorata is your harem lead and that's it. He is basically what 99% of harem leads are: the guy who is in love, is in his 15~17's yet he can only blush when a girl gets nearby but suprisingly attracts every girl within a mile from him. He is, of course, surrounded by a silent mysterious girl that can't even put her pants, a childhood friend that was always in love with him but never made him notice, a genki girl, a hot teacher, ocasional appearances of a young loli sister that is in love with her older brother, a foreign blond beauty, etc. Hell, it's absurdly basic in all these elements. So it's up to you to say if that means it's safe or boring.
   
   Nice start but quickly drops to basic
   Sakurasou starts quite nicely. Instead of moving directly to the common formula of ecchis, for the first two episodes the show leaves an impression that the crazy students from the Sakurasou dorm are really crazy. People in the school sees them as people with social issues, they are despised, have a terrible fame, etc. Sorata is amidst these freaks and he looks like a normal guy. Sadly, however, is that this is only momentary. After the third episode the show changes the Sakurasou people to total geniuses, masters of comedy, arts, manga-drawing, script-writing, etc. and the despise for them turn into admiration. They go from true crazy guys to normal crazy guys that magically fit in the world. That's sad, because when the show tries to put its crazy cast as normal people, it becomes a standard harem show.
   
   But... it's decent
   Sakurasou slowly turns into standard harem with the increasing female cast. Even from the two male side-kicks, one turns down to look exactly like a miko-default-girl. However, the comedy part of Sakurasou can be quite interesting at some points, enough to make it a decent harem at least. It has mostly basic otaku-comedy with blushing girls, but sometimes smart moves come to play and lots of stupid scenes turn into interesting ones when the cast's dumb personalities shine.
   
   And of course, it has some drama
   Yes, harem shows must be sad at some point. Sakurasou makes a decent use of that, but that may be because japenese authors are very good at such things. They know how to make a stupid teenage scene become truly sad, especially with the cute artwork. It's not tear-provoking drama (well, maybe some people may shed tears here), but it's a good change from the harem comedy and is very well balanced through all the episodes, with two dramatic climaxes in the middle and the end of the show.
   
   A good, but typical harem
   That's the resume. It's a good show if you're in the mood for a harem, but otherwise it's just another show of the genre. Mashiro's dumb behavior can be comical even if absurdly exagerated for a setting that mimics real life, the J.C.Staff animation may be quite average with its light colors and cute character design, the protagonist can be the most typical annoying harem-lead as always, but from all that, the execution is good. Akasaka's lines, Misaki's genki behavior, and a few other moments can prove to be fun and dramatic. A good harem show, but sadly it doesn't try to do anything to evolve the genre or to at least surprise the audience at some point.
   

---

Comments
Sakurasou caught me off-guard. It's rare for me to watch a harem show, especially in these last ten years or so. From time to time I try to watch them, mostly to get annoyed by the stupid protagonists and the overly exagerated luck they have to attract all girls around for no damn reason. But well, that's supposed to be the comical part of it: a nerd boy getting overwhelmed by girls.

Anyway, Sakurasou's has a very decent execution of these basic harem elements. It can be fun, it can sad, it can be just dumb enough to fill time, etc. Of course, being a generic harem means you'll get annoying by high-pitched voices, lots of blushing girls, the mandatory lolis, etc. Sakurasou's cast even look like a bunch of 12-year old girls until they show their cleaveages and put on swimsuits, but heck, 95% of the shows these years can do terribly worse in this department.

Those looking for a harem show to get some laughs may just find it here. But there's very little beyond that.

Crunchyroll calls this the Pet Girl of Sakurasou, which brings up an uncomfortable imagery. For the sake of brevity, I will call this SPK. This is a highly enjoyable series based on a 10-volume set of light novels. I have not read all that much of the light novel series (the tone of which I found somewhat bizarre and a little conventional), but I found that this series did a phenomenal job of adapting the series.

Animation:

SPK is a beautiful looking series, which is all the most intriguing considering that it has an urban setting. There are a lot of great looking series out there but many of them are set in great looking places like some sort of ocean town. Sola is an example that comes to mind. However, there are not a whole lot of series that manage the act of creating beauty from an otherwise unbeautiful thing: the city. Zaku88 has a good point here: There are places where you just have to pause the video and take in the imagery.

The majority of the characters are memorable with Mashiro standing out most of all. I think Mashiro - who herself vaguely resembles the cats that Kanda takes care of - is the best looking character I have seen in all of the series that have come out of 2012. Considering what she looks like in the light novel illustrations, in where she looks like a pretty ordinary - if occasionally confused - girl, this is incredible. Probably the biggest gap in anime-novel design since the work Akio Watanabe (of World God Only Knows fame) did in Bakemonogatari (Senjougahara in the novel illustrations looked absolutely bizarre). I took a look at the work character designer Masahiro Fujii did in other anime and found him having also done timeless, classic works like Zero No Tsukaima and Yumekui Merry. How about that? You never know where talent comes from. The rest of the characters are well designed in a way such that they are memorable. You will not find yourself wondering as to whether or not you have met this character already. This is a big deal.

Both of this in of itself are not a huge deal. There are plenty of series out there that are very good looking. The standards of the new decade have become such that even the worst of the crap that gets put out into the new season have great looking character designs and scenery. So it means a lot more that this sort of stuff is backed with a great story and performances as it is with SPK.

Sound:

The character acting is great. Ano Hana's Ai Kayano does a great job here taking the other side of the temper bar for Mashiro. This is a different role from what she has done for Hyouka, Servant x Service and even Say You Love Me. She takes the same type voice tone in Guilty Crown but ... let's not talk about that again. In SPK, she does a great job. Her Mashiro has a dry boke humor and delivers ridiculous lines in a level tone that is pretty hilarious. And when the mood changes, her voice cracks with a certain twinge of emotion that is absolutely heart breaking. She was the right VA for the role and it is hard to imagine anyone else taking this sort of role.

The rest of the cast is incredibly great as well. This is not a series that requires someone to give the same performance over and over again. People laugh, cry, fall in love, and break their hearts. Again Zaku88 points out the highlights: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka's Kanda does funny, stupid and angry in all the right ways. His voice is also very distinct unlike how it is with many other male characters. Mariko Nakatsu has a phenomenal voice as the Aoyama. Like Attack on Titan's Yui Ishikawa, I hope that she is just at the start of her career and goes on to do some other great roles into the future. Natsumi Takamori is completely 100% unrecognizeable as the dour, dark girl from Another (coincidentally also named Misaki). I like to imagine that it is the same Misaki in both series and that she commutes between both stories every other week, taking off her eyepatch and turning into this crazy sounding Genki-girl.

The music is ordinary and not at all that memorable. It does not stand out on its own but supports the story very well. Writing from my own perspective of having watched the series a bit ago, there are no pieces of background music that caught my attention. The OP and ED are great, following the Toradora formula in taking a happy light tone at the start and then transitioning into something darker and more serious in the second half. I especially enjoyed OP1, with an opening hook that reminds you of the pounding heartbeat you get when you meet your first love.

Story and Character:

I combine these. This is probably the one big series surprise of 2012. In fact it takes on the dream that any author should have with their own work. It starts out with a premise that had the potential of being something real stupid but then unexpectedly transitions itself into something much deeper and more rewarding. But if it were that stupid then this story would never have gotten 26 episodes. The directors knew how to handle this property and they did it well.

It starts out with this premise that Kanda has to take care of this girl named Mashiro, who is an art prodigy. She is great at what she does but otherwise has no idea how to take care of herself in the real world. She is so quiet and foolish that it almost hinges on autistic territory, and I found myself at first uncomfortably taking on these comparisons. Were they aiming to make fun of autistic people? But the best way to fight these sort of comparisons is to deliver a deep, fulfilling and rich story and flesh out these characters from their empty initial husks. SPK did this. Very quickly they advance the story and just as speedily I left behind these thoughts and misgivings.

I read the first volume of the light novel and found it awkward and clumsy in how it handled the story. The author may have been trying to get himself into the right tone and setting. The directors of the anime, well aware that they had the time and luxury to create a great story here, revamped a lot. They were not afraid to mess with the source material to get the best story that they can get. For a non spoilery example, in the novel Kanda is told from the very beginning that Mashiro is a great and famous painter. This is not the case in the anime, where this is hidden from both Kanda and the viewer until the very end of the episode, whereupon it hits you with a lot of force. There was also a whole lot of fan servicey stuff that was taken out from the books, which I think did much in making the story move faster and flow much better.

There are a lot of series that do a great job of creating story and characters on their own terms. For example, my favorite yardstick is always Ga-Rei Zero, which has this ridiculous universe in where you have spirits and monsters but crafts a beautiful, touching and heartbreaking story from it. It just goes to tell you that the best stories happen anywhere. They are great not because of where they are set, but because of the way that bring out our essential humanness. For many series, they have to create this universe and brings us into it. Very few series try to bring a great story into our own world. Even fewer succeed. SPK does. This is the most "real" series that I have ever watched since Hataraki Man (which was depressing in its own way). Barring the ridiculous premise of an art prodigy and what not, it is not hard to imagine a story like this happening in our own real world.

The directors knew from the very beginning what sort of tone and theme they want to hit with SPK: that of growth and togetherness of family. No series does a better job of talking about family and togetherness than Full Metal Alchemist but this is a close second and I give it honorable mention because FMA created its own universe. The challenges and tribulations that these characters go through - which I think people can sympathize with so closely - that there are times when I am not sure whether or not they are talking about the characters or myself. We have all gone through disappointments, failures, and uncertain futures. SPK's characters do the same. They try their best, fall short, and sit in the dark, setting sun wondering whether or not that they are good enough in this world to survive. Just like any of us. These are the same real world disappointments that we all have to live through. It is just part of being human. The way that these people get past it and live to live another day should inspire. They are lonely, bizarre souls lashed together in the midst of the turbulence of a cold, cruel world. Only by holding to each and one another can they survive. Same should be for us.

I believe that SPK has a great story. It is a story that will catch your attention. You will love these characters and want them to succeed. You will keep tuning in again and again to see if they do.

Value and Enjoyment:

This is the surprise of 2012 and worth the time to watch. Unfortunately it did not seem to be such a huge hit and this is probably the last we will see of SPK. This is eminently disappointing because the story at the heart of this series is better than much of the crap that we see dumped into the market. There are a lot of series that make first choice for recommendation but I think this is a good dark horse choice for those who want to see something different and unconventional.

Sakurasou shares many similarities with other shows in the past. It has a protagonist who is close (for better or for worse) with cats, a soft-spoken heroine with unimaginable talent, and a lively group of people living together in a dorm/residence. However, it has a unique mix of elements and execution that far surpasses the majority of average shows and, in my opinion, ends up easily as one of the best shows of the season. While there is a bit of unnecessary angst at times, this is truly a great story about bonding and relying on friends to overcome challenges together. If you've been waiting for a show with strong character bonds as in Ano Hana, a relationship graph as deep as Hatsukoi Limited, and an engaging, exciting plot line then this is the show for you. If you're doubtful, I recommend taking a "leap to outer space".

Animation:
My expectations for animation quality have increased quite a bit in recent years. However, JC Studio has outdone themselves here in producing something that is truly beautiful. There were moments where I literally paused episodes so I could fully take in the eye candy whether it was a stunning, picturesque sunset or Mashiro in a pink summer dress. The show has absolutely gorgeous shading that is most apparent in outdoor scenes, and utilizes coloring effects and even weather to accentuate the mood at particular instances. There is a bit of annoying CGI at moments (especially with Nyapollon given how it was supposed to showcase Mashiro and Misaki's animation) but overall this was completely overshadowed by the rest of the work.

Given how character-centric this show was, a great amount of detail went into the actual characters themselves. This is not your typical one-outfit per character show; expect a full wardrobe (including mascot cat suits) for all the main characters. Furthermore, expect a lot of convincing facial animations to match the VAs' superb performance. Not to say that any of the other characters aren't well drawn, but Mashiro with her glowing, amber red eyes is definitely worth looking forwards to, even more so than her supposedly beautiful artwork (which I think less highly of).

There is one or two action/fight scenes in this show but don't expect any laser beams or large explosions. This is a fairly realistic show about the consequences of one's choices and actions (just ignore a lot of unrealistic driving). There is also a fair amount of fan service as well in this show. However, I found the fan service in good taste compared to many other recent shows. Most of the fan service centers around the craziness of Misaki or the innocence of Mashiro and thus is a perfectly natural fit.

Sound:
The two OPs and first ED are fitting, light-rock pieces that don't particularly catch my attention. The second ED is a slightly darker piece that fits with the heavier mood in certain episodes (though watching the characters sort of makes my neck hurt). The BGM is outstanding as it supports just enough when it needs to and then disappears when it doesn't. In particular, the piano solos, such as when Mashiro first appears are very good.

There is a substantial amount of drama in this show. There is a lot of shouting, a lot of crying, and a lot of laughing. The VAs combined to make this a believable and engaging piece of work. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, the main protagonist from SAO, does a great job of conveying a wide range of emotions. Mariko Nakatsu, a relatively unknown VA, does a great job as the ever-so-slightly tsundere Aoyama. Natsumi Takamori gives a remarkably boisterous performance for the wildly outgoing Misaki. And Ai Kayano does an absolutely perfect job giving Mashiro an innocent and soft voice that complements her personality and appearance. Overall, this is a stellar performance from a very good cast.

Story:
Sakurasou is about a group of supposed misfits who live together in the run-down dorm Sakurasou. Each of the six student residents are special in particular ways and each of them have incredible aspirations considering their age. The story follows the group as they learn, grow, and fail together. It's a great story about nurturing bonds and about coping with one's position in life.

Our protagonist, Kanda, is an average student in practically every way except that he takes care of stray cats (and thus cannot stay in a regular dorm). He finds out that a new resident is about to join Sakurasou and is sent to pick her up. He is literally shocked to find a bijin sitting underneath a sakura tree waiting for him. She happens to be Mashiro, a world-famous painter who seems to excel professionally wherever she tries. However, he soon finds out that she is literally unable to take care of herself and lacks any practical knowledge whatsoever (how to dress, how to behave in society, etc.) and is placed on "Mashiro Duty" by the rest of the dorm residents.

Throughout the show, residents of Sakurasou do their best to bond with each other while trying their best to achieve their goal, whether it is to be a voice actor or game designer. Unfortunately, real life is hard and not everyone is granted instant success. Furthermore, some dorm residents are forced to cope with their failure in light of the utter ease in which the other dorm members seem to achieve success. Characters are also forced to confront their relationships, even when it seems to be at odds with their professional goals.

The story is very well told overall and excels at balancing exposition, comedy and, drama. Each of the characters has their own plot thread that intertwines with those of other Sakurasou residents. The show isn't easily classified as either episodic or arc-based; it rather follows various plot threads (mostly from Kanda's viewpoint) as characters have to cross hurdles and barriers. The story takes a bit of a breather near the 3/4 mark and dedicates a few episodes to further character exposition before hurling into the huge, final climax. The one-episode long conclusion is both fitting and satisfying (thank goodness). Some of the more emotional viewers may want to have a few tissues around for the last few episodes as it does approach Ano Hana levels emotionally.

Character:
While I may not like some of the characters personally, I have to admit that the series does a very successful job of drawing the viewers to them. Some of the characters are a bit crazy (Misaki) but overall the characters and their emotions are very believable. Not only do you get drawn into their problems and relationships, you really end up rooting for their efforts. The characters here definitely do not feel like cookie-cutter characters, each one has ample depth and exposition and have to go through tough, realistic choices. Mashiro, in particular, felt like an extremely unique character. Her strength artistically is perfectly contrasted with her fragility due to her lack of societal exposure. It was very interesting to watch her as she learned to cope with feelings such as jealousy and love, things she never previously thought about as a professional painter.

As for character development, expect it in hearty, wholesome chunks. Throughout the one year time frame, all the characters grow and change as they learn to deal with each other and their own unique situation. Very few series have been able to foster this many dynamic characters successfully; all the development feels completely natural. Furthermore, there are a lot of deep relationships (and relationship strain). While some of the relationships don't surface immediately, the series spends ample time exploring each one in just enough detail; they don't spend so little time as to sideline it as in Photokano, but don't extend it so far as to become boring as in Shana 1-3.

Value:
Sakurasou was a very enjoyable series to watch. It is, in all, an uplifting, entertaining work with an excellent story and believable characters. It does have some crazy moments but these worked wonders to balance out some of the more drama-heavy moments. And yes it does feel like a bit of a harem at times, but the other characters all have motives besides just Kanda. If you are tired of shallow character development and shows with action that goes nowhere, definitely give this a shot.

PROPER MINDSET
So here I am watching this show called The Pet Girl of Sakurasou which is supposed to have some sort of good drama besides being fan service. One minute after the pilot episode begins I am already eye-rolling. We get the usual hentai-premise, a typical boring dork surrounded by hot girls who are all over him for NO FAKIN’ REASON and he is constantly not doing anything with them because it is not a hentai but a comedy. AHAHAHA-oh wait; that is not funny at all. Because all ecchi shows are exactly like that for the past 30 years and this one sure as hell doesn’t attempt to be original in the slightest.

PRODUCTION VALUES
Let’s start with what most of you will think right away. “Hey it’s a J.C. Staff show; time to fap to badly adapted softporn by some light novel.” Because that is the only thing they are ever doing and if any of you think they are anything more than that, I pity you. The production values are as always mediocre all across the board, from the done-to-death character designs, the cloned-into-infinity school grounds, to the jerky animation, the lazily-written songs, and the loose voice acting. There is no way to score the looks of this show with more than the base score.

SCRIPT
I wish I could describe the story to you but I can’t. No matter what I write, you will easily confuse it with at least a dozen other shows which so happen to have THE EXACT SAME STORY. So I might as well make a checklist of all the stuff you get to find in here FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME.
- A completely average, typical, boring everyday high school male who loves to be obnoxious and to make an ass of himself on every chance he gets
- No sex despite all characters being hentai archetypes but nonetheless various excuses to masturbate while watching them not doing it
- A school that is somehow able to violate every rule and law in the world without being nuked from orbit
- A set of characters who you would normally only encounter in Arkham asylum
- Complete lack of common sense
- Pandering of all sorts for losers, NEETs, gamers, bored to death high schoolers

With that in mind, the plot is about a guy in a problematic school full of horny pussies. He gets to stroke them but never to bang them. And I don’t mean the cats! One day the obligatory mysterious transfer student arrives and he needs to take care of her. And by take care of her I mean to do all things one would expect from deviant porn. Yet he never really does anything with her because this is a comedy. AHAHA-not funny. No, really, that girl is completely autistic and you can do anything you want with her. She won’t fight back, won’t be able to explain the situation to anyone else, and is even doing provocative moves on you like she wants it. So why doesn’t he take advantage of her if he gets what he wants, she won’t mind it, and nobody will ever find out about it? Because for some reason, being obnoxious and a loser overwrites your teenage urges. EVEN SHINJI MASTURBATES TO ASUKA!

Aha, but wait, now we are getting to the part where many say the show is very good at. You see that autistic girl is very talented in art and makes the completely average dork protagonist to look like dirt. Not that he already wasn’t with that obnoxious personality of his. So the plot is basically a genius having to rely on a commoner for all the trivial stuff; and by trivial stuff I mean all the erotic fetishes one can only dream of. Because this show couldn’t work as a serious take on the gap between the gifted and the everyday people; it had to be a J.C. Staff show.

Now in all honesty it depends on how you get to see the whole thing. If you perceive it as drama and romance with fan service and comedy then of course it is going to suck monkey balls, since there is a ton of the later aspects. But if you lower your bar ssssssoooooo low to the point you somehow believe that any softporn goofball comedy is a masterpiece if it gently scratches a serious topic, then OMG THE ANIME OF THE MILLENNIA IS RIGHT HERE! THIS IS BETTER THAN SWORD ART ONLINE AND AS WE ALL KNOW SWORD ART ONLINE IS A MASTERPIECE!
… not.

For me? Well I can only place it a bit above a typical run of the mill ecchi comedy, which in turn is a bit above sea urchins and fruit flies.

CAST
Now I know many who loved the themes of the story. It is rather easy to identify with a guy who doesn’t excel at anything and be envious of a girl which was born to be better than you when it comes to important things. It is also cute to see how even the elite can be in need of the nobodies for the everyday things we take for granted. At the same time the show is not exactly doing much with the theme since it is as I said to the most part an ecchi comedy than romance or a social drama. Sorata is so obnoxious and scared of sex that I would hate him no matter how smart he was. And Shiina is basically an emotionless puppet that is ok to sleep with everyone just to get ideas for a shoujo manga; I couldn’t imagine her as nothing more than one of those huge anime pillows.

And then it’s the whole romance aspect of the show. If one can call it that. Beats me how exactly the main two characters fell in love with each other in two episodes if all I ever saw them doing is random ecchi stuff. And I never got how all the chicks with issues always run to cry on the lap of the most boring and obnoxious male they can find, magically falling in love with him. There is literally a guy who has seduced every MILF there is right next to them; a jigolo of comfort who even does it for free. Why don’t they run to him for support; he obviously knows more about girl problems than the loser protagonist. Self insert character bullshit like this totally put me of.

LEGACY
Down to it, the anime is not complete garbage but it is far from a great one. If there is one show J.C. Stuff did right, that would be Toradora. There weren’t such BS there, the romance felt more plausible, the fan service was very toned down. Pet Girl leaves comedy and turns to drama in the second half but it is sort of hard to like the change in the mood. Wouldn’t it be far better if it was a drama all along? And would it kill them to have sex instead of this done to death ecchi jokes? Those things are exactly what would make this anime to be great instead of just another comedy which tries a bit to be good. Not completely garbage as almost anything J.C. Stuff ever made, enjoyable for the casual romcom fans, but not exceptional.

And by the way, the anime is not a complete adaptation of the light novels it is based on. If any of you are thinking about reading the rest of the story in the novels, be warned that they end in a way that infuriated everybody who liked the anime. So yeah, it’s a lose-lose situation.

The premise might seem new, but this show is in the end pretty run of the mill.
In fact, come to think of it, the "genius girl who is socially inept and bad at taking care of herself" has already been done and very well at that. it's called Nodame Cantabile. The difference is this show is all cheap fan-service. aaand that's it.

The gimmick here is to have the "main love interest" (it's a harem show, the entire female cast can be summed up in the word fan-service. But hey, what else is new), is like a "stray cat". She's like a helpless little animal that you have to take care of.

That's the idea anyway. In execution, we get a character with the mentality and charm of a plastic doll. I actually have a cat and she's more intelligent that this human. Literally. You could replace her with a blowup doll and nobody would notice the difference.
'Well, it can't be that bad', you say. Ok, how about this, it is an actual plot point that this girl is not even capable of dressing herself... Yes, she is basically just a living barbie doll. Romance ahoy?

Blow up doll analogies aside, off course nothing dirty ever happens, just the usual "embarrassing" borderline sexual innuendos of every show ever in this genre. And the usual endless "almost" love story that I bet will end as soon as the protagonist actually confess to being in love. Wouldn't it be nice to see a story of an actual relationship for once? Not just the awkwardly drawn out falling in love bit. But I guess this isn't really a show for those who care about character development in the first place.

In any case, at first her cluelessness might get a few awwws. But it gets old pretty fast. In the end she's about as interesting a a piece of plastic. They push this gimmick to a level where it's more awkward and stupid then anything else.

The rest of the cast you can sum up pretty quickly. There is not much depth to any of them.

The Spaz girl. With big boobs and the intelligence of a cardboard box.
Her story is she pines for the playboy. And they have a forced and contrived subplot that's about as pointless as her random outbursts.
She's the quirky comic relief. Her shtick might get a few smirks at first, just for how blatant it is. But it becomes repetitive and predictable.

The playboy. His thing is that he's a pimp. He sleeps with everybody. They try to give him some kind of stoic inner brooding thing for his subplot I think. But who cares. He's the pimp.

The young man protagonist struggling with his studies and the problem of being completely average, you know, that character with absolutely no personality whatsoever that the target audience is supposed to identify with. He's incredibly boring and pointless.
When self-insert characters like this are supposed to drive the plot, you know it's not going to hold up for long.

The girl next door, who's there for the purpose of love triangle. She's harmless, but still boring.

The teacher/landlord? Whatever, she's the MILF with an attitude and she doesn't really do anything.

The "genius hacker" who's a complete shut in. Because we haven't seen that before.
But wait, his twist is that when you finally see him, he looks like a girl! And that's supposed to be funny. I guess.
It always annoys me when writers come up with computer nerd characters without themselves having any real grasp of how computers actually work. Don't even get me started on when they go into computer games ... *groan*

Also they throw in an annoying Loli out of nowhere. Who is only there for the sake of ... yeah. Gotta cover all fetishes you know.
I can honestly understand the moe "cute girls doing cute things" deal. That's fine, I can enjoy an innocent moe show well enough. An adorable little girl is like a puppy. And everyone likes puppies.
But shows like this quickly cross all the wrong lines and goes immediately for panty-shot territory and incest innuendos. And that's just creepy. No matter how you twist it.

The art and animation is fine.
The sound is fine to, but entirely forgettable.
The plot is stupid. Not much else to say. Not much to it.
The love story is pretty standard fair. It can be ok, unless you've seen it a few times already, then it's just mind bogglingly boring.
The humor is not really funny. The drama is limp.
Some of the characters are not really all that bad, but they all fall flat mostly on account of being uninteresting.

I continued watching the series for a while out of boredom alone. But after a while I started realizing these characters could die in a fire next episode, and I wouldn't care one way or the other. So I simply stopped watching and won't look back.

You might enjoy this for some quick fetish fuel. Otherwise, I wouldn't really bother. This has been done already, this show doesn't really stand out in any way.