Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is a kind of odd mix. It's a slice-of-life romcom mixture that wants to be funny pretty much all the time, with a somewhat serious undertone. It has its share of outstanding qualities, but unfortunately fails to keep a healthy balance between silliness and seriousness.

The cast diversity is definitely there. All characters have very individual and unique traits which make you feel that every single one of them, despite their oddness, have their purpose and their right to be. It's making a great case for individualism in the otherwise highly conformist Japanese society. It's just... too much over the top. Many characters are exaggerated to a level where it just seems silly. And so become their interactions.

Another slightly disturbing imbalance is the amount of artificially created 'ecchi' moments and intentional innuendos, while the characters struggle even with the most basic displays of emotions. It is not unusual for this type of show, but the discrepancy in those behaviours was, in my opinion, a little too much.

While the storytelling and the animation itself are nothing out of the ordinary and the exaggerated silliness of the show make it hard to immerse or relate, two qualities struck me as outstanding:

1. The soundtrack. Not too aggressive, subtle and beautiful at the right moments.

2. The localization. I watched the show on Netflix, Japanese audio with German subs. But only the subtitles showed a great attention to detail and use a lot of 'urban' and common language. Also the overlay of textual passages, documents, books right in the video was done with a great attention to detail and seamlessly integrated into the overall frame. Not many Japanese shows put that much effort into making them accessible for foreign audiences.

Tl;dr: An overall good, silly and fun rom-com show with certain strengths and weaknesses. Decent watch but not outstanding imo.

The first few episodes were exactly how I expected the show to be: extremely fanservicey and mostly a comedy. However, it slowly turned into more of a romance towards the middle and then slowly turned more into a drama towards the end.

I had heard that this was a bit of a harem, and that turned me off at first, but I ended up still trying this show anyway. In my opinion, if there is a love triangle your story has a foundational flaw, and this show had that too. If one person is picked over others it makes the others feel bad, and if no one is picked it leaves with you with a sour taste from the ambiguity that is present. This show makes it so you care for each of the love interests equally as much, and then ends up having one of the two options that I mentioned.

Also, towards the end it gets pretty sad but if you get through that it gets happy and lighthearted again. This show has far deeper concepts than what you would think from clips or a synopsis too.

All in all, this story is flawed and the ending, while being happy, didn't really do it for me. However, I feel that the great things about this show far outweigh the negative things, even if I didn't talk about them as much (for instance the characters and their interactions were great, and it didn't feel as cliche as some other slice of life anime's I've watched recently) so I would definitely give this show a try if I were you.

The talent and genius that some people have in different areas always generates fascination and admiration. It motivates "normal" people to push themselves to work hard and try to get to that level. But this anime touches with comedy different complex issues of the prodigies and the people around them: In their social interactions, affective relationships and professional activities.

Geniuses and prodigies are eccentric by nature. They have unusual personalities, charismas, reactions and attitudes, which will generate funny moments, dramatic and surprising situations.

A great anime, You will laugh, you will cry and definetelly you will love it.

Two thums up.

The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is a comedy anime that was surprisingly released in 2012 - remember when people were saying that 2012 was going to be the end of the world? Good times. - that cleverly and gradually shifts into a romantic drama anime as the show travels through the 24 episodes it is composed of.

This show has the most absolutely gorgeous and colorful animation style I have ever seen in a Dengeki Bunko anime adaptation, in my opinion. The lighting and coloration in literally every single shot throughout every episode in the entire show was brilliantly vibrant and just completely full of life. I felt like this was really fitting, too, considering this is a show about misunderstood prodigal artists, pretty much.

The storytelling method of the show was extremely clever to me as well, as it initially misleads the audience (including myself) into thinking this will be a simple, two-bit, standard comedy anime, but it eventually reveals itself to be so much more than that. No spoilers, of course, but I will say that, again, this was fitting for a show about artists, as many great artists historically aren't appreciated for their work until many years after the work is made.

I loved this show especially in the original Japanese version, as the actors really sold their characters, in my opinion. However, the English version had its share of good acting as well, most especially in the case of voice actress Skyler Sinclair, who voices Rita Ainsworth, a character who hails from England. Miss Sinclair's performance is one that left me completely starstruck, in my completely honest opinion, as she really sells the character even though she talks in the heaviest British accent I have ever heard.

Within this genre there are plenty of inspiring shows about finding a passion and committing yourself. About pouring all your energy and entire being into something, about the joy of creating something together. And this is another one of those shows. But what sets it apart is that it also deals with, after all that effort, being confronted with failure. Because of this distinguishing perspective (plus the fact that it's simply an all-round well-executed show), it deserves to be on your to-watch list.

Plenty of room is made for romance, or at least the way to a romantic relationship. Looking at the premise and after the first few episodes you might be reminded of other unsymmetrical relationships such as seen in "Clannad" (done badly imo), or "Toradora!" (done very well). Though the show can be classified as a romantic comedy, the romance, though prominent, is secondary to the other themes. That being said, it's handled gracefully and in tune with the bigger theme.

It features a cast of diverse characters, each of them providing a unique perspective and adding something to the whole and each with plenty of depth to explore. Each character and his/her story is unfolded at a good pace, never feeling rushed or forced, and in such a way the individual stories feel intertwined.

The interactions and emotional displays are not always subtle. Of course, it doesn't always need to be. To keep things light you sometimes want some comic book-style expressions. But in this case, at times, at moments where I felt subtlety was called for, lack thereof lessened the impact of said moments. When it matters most the show is still very engrossing and moving, but at times it could have used a bit more subtlety, be a bit more trusting of the audience to be perceptive and empathetic.

There's quite a bit of fan-service in the first few episodes. To draw in the viewers, I'm guessing. As I'm watching more anime, I'm starting to build an immunity to it. If it's your cup of tea, enjoy. If not, don't worry; as the show progresses the focus shifts to more important matters and you'll be less harassed by needless cleavage and panty-shots.

The show may need a few episodes to grow on you (it did for me anyway), so be sure to give it that chance.