Oreshura Anime Review

Would anything come to mind if I were to say Oreshura? As much as i would love you to say “OH ITS THAT COOL ANIME THAT CAME OUT LAST JANUARY WOW I LOVE THAT SHOW” I know that that may not be the case. That of course is the point of this review. In fact seeing as the story of this anime isn’t complete, the purpose of this review is to get another season. Sooooo, guess what kind of recommendation I’m going to give for this show. Oreshura is a 2013 anime developed by A-1 pictures known for their work on Sword Art Online, one of the more popular anime of 2012-2013 as well as Birdy the Mighty decode, and various other works. Simply put they have a good history of solid if not brilliant looking animation quality.

Animation- This shows! I mean it is a slice of life, so the flat out amazing fight scenes in anime such as Birdy the Mighty and SAO are not going to be seen here. The anime does however set itself apart from its competition with its colorful and vibrant art style. The Anime in general has a bright artstyle. In terms of character animations, they look good and cute. They aren’t in the realm of a studio that specializes in Slice of Life like Kyoto Animation, but they fit the role that they were intended to fill nicely. I have to give props to the hair animation in particular. It may not have the physics of HOTD’s breasts, but it certainly looks good. Where does this anime excel in animation, that would be during the hilarious fantasy scenes. But I’ll get to that later. These sequences fit into the anime fluidly and feel distinct enough from the rest of the anime, without departing from the tone the anime presents itself with.

Story-Slice of life, need I say more? Actually i think i might have to. You see there isn’t as much of a plot in this anime as there is a concept i really like. Eita is a kid who doesn’t want to get involved with love for fear of it becoming too much of an obstacle in his goal of becoming a doctor. Things take a turn for the worst when Eita loses his notebook, which contains all his fantasies. Now be honest. We’ve all dreamed of being some cool looking superhero who gets all the girls ( Or boys, if you’re a girl or swing that way) and defeats all the bad guys with a gritty battle cry and a solid Kamehameha or two. Eita is the same, his fantasy self--or past self as he likes to put it-- is a Wyvern fighting badass known simply as Burning Fighting fighter. He is of course surrounded by beautiful girls who could not be more in love with him if they tried. Yeah this is true for the real anime too. Anyhow, Eita becomes entrapped as the most popular girl in the school holds him her fake boyfriend, using the notebook which houses his fantasies as hostage. You see she gets asked out so often, she wants someone to have someone to get the suitors away. So Eita is the answer. I won’t spoil anything, but like any good slice of life, it has some pretty good character developments toward the end. Speaking of which—

Characters-- A slice of life has to have good characters. Does this anime have them? Yes and no. Let me dissect this. I mean you have the childhood friend, the Tsundere pulling a Tsukiko on us ( if you get that reference I will love you forever), and two abnormals. One could be described as the quiet one, but her true role is to act as the counterpart to Eita’s Burning Fighting Fighter. Let’s be honest, whoever thought of the name Burning Pudding Princess, deserves a medal. It’s clear that each of the characters have something more to them than meets the eye even though it may not be explicitly stated. This is only my interpretation, but it seems to me that Himeka seems to attach to Eita as a way to make up for what she is lacking. Where as he is bold and outspoken, she is quiet and self conscious. Yeah that’s a little far fetched, but hey I need to try to feel smart sometimes. None of the characters are overdeveloped and none are underdeveloped. Each gets a fair amount of screentime. Even the main heroine has something more to her. All of the characters serve and play into comic relief. Eita serves as straight man with the rest of the wacky cast, and also as comic relief when he dons his Burning Fighting Fighter facade. Masuzu serves as comic relief with her sharp tongue reminiscent of Senjougahara from Bakemonogatari. She also will read from Eita’s Journal at various points throughout the anime. These sections are fantastic, and as i stated previously got the majority of the laughs from me. Not only did it bring back memories of my own fantasies, but the sequences also parodied other more serious Harem, Action Anime, as well as genre concurrent stereotypes. I’m not going to describe all the other characters, not because they’re not good, but because I don’t want to bore you to death with the sheer amount of text. Okay maybe its because i don’t want to write anymore, but that’s not the point! The point is that all of the characters are good!

Romance--Here we go! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! Romance! The Romance in Oreshura is interesting. I mean it doesn’t follow the Harem rule sets of fan-service for the main, served with a little fan-service and with a petite amount of fan-service for desert. Instead it opts for the emotional route, something I appreciate a lot more. What I mean by this is that interactions between characters are either comedic without fan-service being involved, and that the other scenes are more serious moments that you commonly find in Anime. At the same time however it is a Harem anime, which does mean there is going to be a ridiculous amount of girls vying for Eita’s affection. Now at the top of this post I mentioned that this Anime isn’t finished. So what that means is that the Romance in this anime has not been concluded. However from what I’ve seen so far, I must say that the Romance is good. maybe it’s just that it’s a harem anime, but I didn’t find myself as invested in the romance as I did other romance anime of 2013, such as The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat, or Susei no Gargantia. However i will say that the feels hit fast and hard toward the end of the Anime. The only other moment that stood out to me for the Romantic nature of the scene was during the end of the Tsundere’s episodes.

Sound--Well hate to leave this review without a climax, but I dunno about the sound. I mean the voice acting is good all around, with Ryōta Ōsaka doing exceptionally well throughout, and the voice actor for Masuzu being very good as the superior Senjogahara. As for soundtracks, none really stand out to me. This isn’t a bad thing, i mean at least it didn’t distract me from the anime, but it didn’t stand out either. Oh and that opening. After watching it 13 times I feel as if my masculinity has been ripped straight out of me.

Soooooo, I give this Anime A hearty recommendation! If you’re looking for a fun slice of life Romantic comedy, you’re in luck! Just don’t come in looking for a satisfying conclusion. Then again who knows? Maybe if enough people watch it we will get another season (HINT HINT)

Anyway Thanks For Looking At My Review!