There is this anime called
Sakurasou. Now I'm not exactly sure what I thought of this show. Okay, this
paragraph is going to be a bit of story-time, so skip to the next one if you're
just here for the review. So I went through this phase. it was a bit, okay
a huge bit of denial. I told myself that anime was for kids, and that I should
do the totally more mature thing which twelve year-old kids with grammar as
good as Justin Beiber's track record is, and play violent gory video games with
the substance of a spoon. Yes, I'm still slapping myself for this, please
forgive me. Last Spring, when I got back into it, one of the first anime that
caught my attention was Susei No Gargantia. However the second anime that caught
my attention was the Pet Girl Of Sakurasou. Keeping in mind that when I was
younger I watched none of this kind of slice of life moe stuff. The closest
thing that I had to moe slice of life was Higurashi, and well...So needless to
say I was blown away when I first started to watch this show. Everything about
it was amazing...and then episode 21. But I'll get to that later. In any case,
I stopped watching it for a while. Now I finished it. The end. What the hell
was the point of this? I don't know!
Pet Girl of Sakurasou is a 2012
anime that actually came out around October. It depicts the life and times of
Sorata Kanda who is forced to live in Sakurasou Hall, a hall of what seems
like...reject geniuses? I mean it's not that much of a surprise, Leonardo Da
Vinci liked to cut people up, Gengis Kahn killed innocent women and children,
and Charles Dickens liked to use morgues and crime scenes for inspirations. So,
I don't know. Sorata is the owner of a gigantic amount of cats, and is forced
to live in the dorms because of this.
Animation-- Animation is astounding.
Do you want me to say more? it's developed by JC staff, who are responsible for
many great anime such as; Shakugan No Shana, Familiar of Zero, Chibi Vampire,
and last but not least, my favorite anime of 2013, Hentai Prince and Stony Cat.
Let me put it this way. The anime does not recycle frames like it’s some kind
of climate change freak who believes that they have done their part to save the
world by throwing a plastic bottle into a bin, before driving off into the
sunset in their gas guzzler mk. 5679. Animation is fluid for the most part.
It's also surprisingly colorful, with environments being a huge highlight.
Since one of the characters is actually an artist, we have some nice artception
going on as well.
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| Insert Mirai Nikki reference here |
Plot--Okay, so how is the plot? You
ask me. My first reaction is to slap you in the face, point to the tags, and
yell 'it's a freaking slice of life!' And yet I can't. First of given JC
staff's track record, when their anime is tagged slice of life, it's never just
slice of life. Shakugan no Shana, mix of slice of life, Familiar of Zero,
fantasy elements, Hentai Prince and Stony Cat, no spoilers, but go watch it
now! Oh and as for Chibi Vampire, the title says it all. The plot in this anime,
however has nothing supernatural about it. Instead it presents some of the best
drama i have seen in an anime to date. The first four episodes of the anime
have more character development, more emotion, and more heartfelt moments, then
your average 13 episode anime. No screw that, more than your average 25 episode
anime. Actually I'm going all the way. If were talking about anime like Naruto
or One Piece, then it accomplishes more character development in the first four
episodes than an entire 500+ episodes. After the first four episodes, it starts
to settle back down into its nice slice of life roots. It gets some nice
moments from there, including some interesting romantic scenes, some comic
relief, and other fun moments. Here characters don't really progress that much,
and the pace of the show slows down. Don't get me wrong, it is still damn good,
but it just doesn't live up to the first four episodes. Then we get to episode
twelve and...Okay it seems like the author was like 'oh hey i had some character
development before, so let's do the logical thing, and make shit so depressing
that it would make a baby cry tears of blood.' From episode 12 all the way to
21, these characters could not catch a fucking break. Just when it finally
started to get better around 21, slam! The biggest of all depressing crap
happens, and we spiral back into a hole of despair. Seriously, I'm fine with
having my heartstrings pulled once and a while, but this anime said screw
pulling a few strings, and proceeded to rip my heart out. I mean I had to look
in the mirror a few times to make sure I wasn't a midget with posture problems,
whose skin was coal black had eyes as yellow as a British guy's teeth, and
squiggly antennae that may or may not pick up FM.
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In
case you didn't get the reference to Square's homage to HL3. Actually I guess
I can't say that because, unlike HL3, Kh3 actually has a freaking release
date!
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At episode twenty one, I
formally dropped this anime. This anime become so much of a soap opera, that it
felt like I was five years old again. You say the word 'damn' once and...No!
Not the soap! I didn't mean it! Stop! Please! nbwhbJGde Anyway my lame jokes
aside, this really did become a soap opera. Some of you like that, and that's
cool. For the rest of us... Let me put it this way, soap operas are a major
source of street crime, the president of Venezuela said it himself. However, the anime made a full recovery
around episode 21. Yes we all knew it was coming as soon as the heavy stuff
dropped on us like Hulk Hogan, but it had just as much, no even more of an
effect on me than the first four episodes.
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Sound--OSTs are nice in this. Are
they as good as the DA DA DA DA ost from Outbreak company, of course not.
Nothing could top that utter masterpiece. It's still damn good music. It
doesn't get repeated enough to that it's distracting, but just enough so that
you recognize it when it comes on. Let's see voice acting. Well I have to give
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka credit. You know how I feel about SAO, or maybe you don't,
I still have to review it...However in this anime, he's fantastic. Yes his
solution to everything seems to be shouting, so much so that you might as well
call him Dovakiin and be done with it. More hating on SAO, jesus I really need
to get that review out so I don't sound like an ignorant asshole with a big
mouth. In SAO Matsuoka, in my opinion duh, did not get the chance to really
shine. I got the calm voice, and lots of shouting, but not so much of the
performance he puts on here. I can't really explain it, just watch it and
you'll know what I mean. The other voice actress worth mentioning is the little
sister. If you don't know all ready I feel obliged to pronounce with full
fanfare whenever anything related to Hentai Prince and Stony cat comes up,
soooo guess who the voice actress for the little sister is? Anyhow the only
other voice actress I feel obliged to mention is Shiina's. I didn't like her
that much at first. She's silent, and shows as much emotion as a wooden plank,
this couldn't be to set up contrast for when she finally breaks down is it?
Yeah the contrast is sharp, and by the flying spaghetti monster, is it an
amazing performance.
I'm actually taking it back, these Ost are not simply nice, they're freaking amazing!
Characters--hold on allow me to
compose myself for a very objective deconstruction of exactly what the
characters are and how they fit the---JESUS GOD, THE CHARACTERS ARE SO FREAKING
AMAZING! ALL HAIL HAJIME KAMOSHIDA! No really, the characters are really
amazing. Due to the fact that there are too many, and I'm already running out
of audience's attention span like the U.S. is money, I won't analyze all of
them.
Sorata--One of the best characters I
have seen in any anime period. Why? Sorata is believable. He is not the
ridiculous blockhead commonly known as I.C.H.I.K.A. I wish I had an acronym for
that one but whatayagonnado. The best part about him is that he is human. He is
not the god who does everything right every time--to I even have to point on
the contrast between him and another one of Matsuoka's other roles? He screws
up, he gets angry, and he hurts people he cares about. In the end he pushes
through it, even with all of his insecurities. He is not the super shonnen
badass, Mr. perfect that Kirito is, nor is he the complete and utter wimp
Shinji is. He is human, and therefore unique.
To show you the true extent of Sorata's character
Ryūnosuke + Rita-- I love these
characters. If I was doge, I'd be all WOW, Much funny, Many sugoi des, but I'm
not. Unfortunately I am not a cat typing on a keyboard, I'm just a dude with a
computer. This dude on this computer says that this pairing is awesome, as are
both of their characters. Really, though I love male tsundere. He manages to be
strong charismatic, while still delivering some really heartfelt moments. Rita
is equally as good, bringing out heartfelt moments, as well as comic relief
like they were a rabbit in a hat.
Romance--Very simply put the romance
in this show is not over. it hasn't completed yet and therefore I cannot pass judgment
on it. However, seeing as the characters feel like real, if really wacky,
people, the romance here measures up to that. There are a lot of moments in
this series where you will be squeeing, or if you want to keep that masculinity
up, slowly nod you head in approval.
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Is this show worth watching? Yes, it
very much is worth your time. Even though that depressing arch was not exactly
the best I've seen in recent memory, it still had a positive effect. Even though
I gripe about it, the depressing moments did hit home. Character design is
among the best I've seen in an anime, art is impressive, soundtrack is very
good and overall this anime is not going to be forgotten. It is not one of
those watch and forget anime. It will stay with you long after you finish. A
very strong recommendation from me.
Thank you for reading my review. If
you liked it, or clicking the like button is somewhat of a hobby, drop a like,
follow or just spread the word around. I'll siya next time!
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