Anime: Ore ga Ojou-sama Gakkou ni "Shomin Sample" Toshite Gets-sareta Ken

One day, a normal high school student named Kimito is randomly whisked to an unknown location by a bunch of macho men and told that he would now live and study at a new school. The new school happens to be only for prestigious children of high class families, and specifically only for girls. However, apparently the students here are completely out of touch with "normal" society and have no clue how to deal with guys. Thus, the school decided to introduce Kimito as a "sterile" sample (think like a vaccine) assuming that Kimito only likes macho men.

The guy being transferred to an all girls school theme is nothing new anymore; we've seen it countless times in other shows such as Infinite Stratos, Unlimited Fafnir, Blade Dance of Elementalers, and Maken Ki. This show differentiates itself by focusing less on action and more on comedy, poking fun at cultural differences between the statuses and really abusing the viewers by repeatedly showing macho men and flashing "gets".

If you're looking for a light, comedic harem for the season then this is one of the contenders. If you're looking for more action, you might want to jump over to one of the other many action-based harems of the season. As for me, it was decently entertaining though the story ended up a lot more open ended than I'd have like.

Animation:
The animation style comes across as soft with light saturation and overly-blushed character cheeks. Backgrounds are often simple and usually blurred; expect fairly average production values in general. Silver Link may have gone a bit cheap overall with this work, the OP and ED sequences use mostly static images stitched together. The heroines are all easily distinguishable, though I kept thinking that Aika reminded me Inaho from Maken Ki. One small annoyance is that all the other girls at the school look way too similar to each other, granted they don't really play a part in the story. Another small annoyance is the drawing inconsistencies if you really pay attention to it. Expressions were fair overall, don't expect too much depth to the facial animations.

There is action only in the comedic sense as Karen swings her sword wildly causes massive collateral damage everywhere (though I have no idea who pays for it) but apparently doesn't cut people; this creates sort of a female version of DxD Issei's clothes shredder. There is a fair amount of ecchi with your expected onsen mishaps and accidental encounters. There's also a loli who repeatedly strips herself for no real good reason. Kimito does profess his love of the zettai ryouiki at least to the viewer but still gets embarrassed like most normal harem leads. In all, the ecchi isn't very heavy, especially given that the massive amount of macho guys kind of balances it out.

Sound:
The show starts with a playful OP that grows addictive with each successive playing. The ED is more of a standard fare light rock piece. The BGM uses a lot of light orchestral and piano pieces, which fits with the high-class lady environment.

The VA cast is really fresh, all the main heroines are relatively new. Likewise, this is the time I've seen Atsushi Tamaru as the lead protagonist. The performance was average overall. It is a pretty good series to watch if you want to practice listening to keigo though.

Story:
Kimito has no hope; his parents have literally sold him off to be a guinea pig at a school in an unknown location. If the school finds out that he isn't technically gay, then he loses his genitals. If he wants to leave the school, then he'll be under house arrest the rest of his life to protect the ridiculous secrecy of the school. Though maybe it's not that bad, he's surrounded by innocent, virgin daughters of immensely rich families that he could marry into and become a househusband or something. Given the uniqueness of his situation, he quickly becomes everyone's center of attention; everyone is curious about the amazing feats that "commoners" have to endure (like putting on their own clothes, using a mobile device, etc.). A particular outcast, Aika, approaches Kimito and creates the Commoner's Club so that she can learn the ways of the common folk and become popular too. Other girls soon join in and thus there's your harem.

The show is pretty light throughout with a quick introduction of harem members in sequence followed my many slice of life episodes where Kimito introduces some facet of a commoner's life. There is a bit of tension towards the last two episodes that follows a very predictable sequence and yields a very "common" conclusion. If you want an involved story, you're going to be a bit disappointed here. If you're looking for some decent romance beyond simple jealously cat fights, you'd do best to look elsewhere as well.

Character:
This show follows a pretty safe pattern used by other shows and thus has cookie-cutter characters with some frosting. Aika is your standard playful and clumsy friend, who happens to be a bit aloof with others. Reiko is your perfect lady candidate with a competitive flair. Karen is your fighter tsundere who hides a love for overly cute things. And Hakua is the randomly stripping loli who happens to be a scientific genius. Oh, and Kimito's maid Miyuki who at least seems to despise him at all levels.

There isn't a lot of character tension as, well, obviously the girls have no choice but to fall in love with him as there's no one else to choose. Relationships and characters in general feel static and, strangely, a lot of screen time is taken up by Miyuki and Eri who don't really contribute much to the central plot; perhaps they have larger roles if there's a sequel much like Anna in K?

Value:
Shonin Sample is a fair entry to a crowded category. It isn't really standout in any way but isn't so bad that I'd drop watching it. There was a bit of wasted potential but, well, given the ridiculous nature of the setting I guess it isn't too much of a loss. The show has decent comedy and a lively group of characters but it lacks polish and really any defining characteristics. It's a lightweight comedic harem to tide you over till the next show.