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10 notes that I wrote after the first episode of the show.

1. Besides this piece of writing, there would not be any further comments on IS. I might rant on Facebook, but I would probably not to do so.

2. The reason that I would not write anything for IS is that it does not need any review. Simply put, nobody would care if IS had got any actual plot or not. The first episode already proved my point by having the French and The German (that’s my acronym for the characters inside this show.) eating Crapes, The Male (yes, there is only one ... male) and The Chinese, The French and the British outdoor, or The Japanese’s door being knocked while she was having a shower. Anyone counting this as serious drama should have their brain checked, and yet many watched joyfully every week.

What? Oh you mean Phantom Task? Someone stealing an IS from the school? Who cares? At least not the script writer.

3. Main plot of IS: a bunch of girls and a boy having operations.

Please feel free to interpret and imagine what kind of operations was being referred to.

4. Another clue showing that there would not be any serious bits inside the show: by comparing the ED of the first season and the second season, they just look the same aren’t they? It could be summarized as a bunch of girls running around and more girls running around on the 2nd version.

5. the Correct way of reviewing this show should not be in ordinary points. It should be count as “X out of the 10 Moe”. For episode 1, I originally give 7 Moe, since my favorite character didn’t showed up. There are also some new settings that probably they won’t even used again so that’s another 2 moes.

6. This Show lacks any actual drama. The one thing that it doesn’t lack of is the original script writer Yumizuru Izuru

7. The most interesting factor of IS isn’t about the characters. IS is a good indication of How light novel publishers trying the best to hang on to popular writers. Even thought his new novel “Afterschool Battlefield” received loads of bad reviews and he was being kicked out of his old publishing company, his still got another publishing deal. It reflects the competitiveness of the light novel industries nowadays.

Also, the reason that IS is able to sell well is not because it is a well written novel, nor because that Yumizuru is a good writer or a nice person (in fact, he is an ass). It is all because that IS had a good illustrator. Since everyone are buying light novels without any chance to read the content (At least, this is true for Hong Kong and Taiwan), the illustrations, cover pages and popularity of the series are often the key component for consumers to decide whether they would like to purchase or not.

8. Rather than reading the novel or watching the show, the true battlefield Is in Comiket and Doujin. Have I not told you that C85 already started? BTW I like Chika Arimura.

9. Since I was in college studying English and we do have an unbalance portion of boys and girls, I can surely tell that Harem is all just a dream.

10. if Ichika dies, I will give this show a 10. Oh never mind, it will never be that way.

- This is a Edited version after the show finished
- This contains a small amount of SPOILERS.

As this is not a very complicate show, I would go straight into business. By no means was this bad show, but this is not something stunning/moving either; despite a rather attractive background and seemingly innovative setting, This is a mediocre show: It is not really that innovative, Not really that corny, not really touching/entertaining and not really humorous, but Instead it stucks right in the middle of everything.

Despite a clear vision as they attempt to innovate by adding Galgame Elements into the plot, adapting some sort ... of “Love-Meter” into the show and makes a parody show about Galgame, It goes nowhere beyond that. The setting was nowhere near complete, for example you never know what the Ratatoskr does besides helping Shido to date and helping him to make his choices, which seems to be everything that this seemingly huge organization does.

Despite a rather innovative approach of adapting Galgame Cultures into anime backgrounds, the core elements (Like the screenwriting) that hide inside the Galgame setting are the wrongdoings. The pick-up lines are incredibility cheesy and old fashioned. Rather than dating, most of the time it almost seems to be some sort of social worker trying to help the wellbeing of the applicant, along with some quite heroic actions that you could certainly live without because you’ve probably seen it too many times – to be exact, four – as every single segment ends with shido trying to man up and save the girl.

And, surprisingly, the best part of the show comes not from the main plot, but from the side elements of the show – which is the jokes and some of the characters. Tohka Yatogami’s four episodes are not very interesting. However, those tiny bits between Tohka and Shido after her episodes were more then enough to show the relationship between Tohka and Shido. Tohka is the only one that had showed growth and had thought for the others at the final episodes. Besides Tohka, the rest only serves as jokes and side dishes that were not very important. Origami took a major role in the show, but whenever she comes up, she would be only doing three things: trying to kill somebody, ask for Shido’s care, or act as some sort of joke. The rest was either not potray entirely and had to wait till second season (like Kurumi), some was just not very interesting and act as a joke/insignificant plot device throughout the whole series, like DEM, AST, Mana, Yoshino and so on.

To conclude my short review, I would say that Date Alive attempts to be joking but act serious (by using a joke to cover up the serious bits), but it becomes the other way round and turned into something that is seriously joking. It might be interesting if they actually manage to pull it off (what they are trying to be), but a show like this is probably just outrageously ridiculous and had turned into some sort of funny show that somehow sounds stupid. I would say that this is an entertaining show, since some of the episodes actually made me laugh hard, but probably that would be my biggest (and my only) compliment for them.

PS: It is said that the second season would be much better. Many of the fans from the original novel series actually recommend me to read the novels. I would consider that as an option as the original series is something quite big. If you manage to find a copy, I would suggest you to do so.

Understanding the jokes of a comedy/Parody is the key to fully appreciate a comedy. It would be impossible for me to go on without showing you the following example:

HK Student A: wow, the new student leader was elected for just 700 votes! That's soo low.
HK Student B: At least it is better than Mr.689*

This is what the show's all about.

The biggest problem for any non-Japanese to understand the show is the parodies of the show, which is what it's all about. The show included a lot of Japanese culture Neta(s)/Parodies that paid tribute to Classic anime/shows (That includes Posture, Lines, Character names, Scenes), ... Call of Cthulhu (and any other related works), Songs, Pop Cultures, Japanese law, News, Fiction or TV personalities, with the help of word plays, a considerable silly plot (that you could almost said as nonsensical at times.) and a bunch of characters that think of nothing besides having sex with Mahiro.

It is perfectly normal for a non-Japanese Citizen to misunderstand or even get none of the show. Nyaruko is a show created for the Japanese audience and it would do very well for the locals, and it does not intent to go further than that. From an execution POV, You've got to say that they actually manage to squeeze a lot of things into an episode: From Rider show Parodies to Galgame Scene Tributes, It only gets wilder and crazier on their second season. To achieve such a scale of squeezing so many things into one single 23 minute episode is an admirable effort and probably hard for an audience to understand most of the jokes, But the sub-Groups are always there to help.

What? You’ve just say that the sub-groups can't even figure them out either? God bless you then.

Technically, this would be and should be an enjoyable show. But it is not.

A comedy show is all about laughing. A comedy show that can't make you laugh is NOT a good show and Nyaruko Fail at times. While Nyaruko and her friends are doing their absolute best of being silly and dumb on every episode, the parodies that you've missed would eventually get into you and you will be feeling strange. You will feel like that you missed out something that the show's trying to offer - since this wacky show is only completed with some more crazy tributes, and you are only watching half of the show, missing the another half.

I am not trying to complain if there is anything wrong with their decision. This is nothing wrong at all: just like an American writer would writer for the Americans, Chinese would write for the one's living in China, so as the show intending to be watched by local Otaku that had an extensive knowledge on Japanese Culture. It is WE that are wrong if we attempts to think "why am I not understanding any sh*t of this thing this is so difficult I am just going to cut this crap off"

Despite I don't really get the show at times, I am still giving the show a 6 because of the following reasons:

1. The show does nothing wrong. It is a fun show and there is nothing wrong with the plot - despite being whimsical and eccentric at times. Nor does it do anything really right, or even good.
2. In a technical POV, They manage to squeeze so many things into an episode, which is something hard (despite it is difficult, almost too difficult.) to do. Imagine you have to use lyrics from 30 different songs to create a script that is meaningful and fun to watch. You will scratch your head and eventually wave the white flag. And that’s only the beginning for this show.
3. I do watch a subbed version that gets most of the Parodies explained.

At the end, it is a good show. I would not suggest you to watch if you didn't have a good sub group to help you understand. It might be strange, but a good sub could definitely help you understand better, especially for this one.

6.

Ps:
1. 689 means the Chief Executive......whatever, I would rather not explain.
2. If you are asking "Where the F*ck is the character review". I would say NO. I am not your daily reviewer that talks about every aspect of the anime. Instead I only discuss the parts that were most controversial or I found something special among the others. I mean, what's the use of me writing "Mahiro is a Japanese boy that is kind and generous at times" and "Nyarlathotep is a white hair loli that would like to make love with Mahiro" and I would then say "well I love the characters." WHY SHOULD I WASTE TIME TO WRITE SOMETHING WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY GOOGLE THEM.
3. Except some very very special cases, if I am the reader of a certain anime review, I would think: WHO CARES IF YOU LOVE THE CHARACTER OR NOT. This is a review and I should be critizing the show, not spending times circling around. I need to know how REALISTIC they are.
4. Do you think gods from Call of Cthulhu in reality are really "REALISTIC"? At least you've got an unbeliever here
5. I guess anything comes AFTER the jokes in a comedy show, right? How could you possibly called a show a "comedy" if it is not amusing at all?

I am truly surprised by how low the score is. I am usually rating way lower then most of the rating, however I do find the average rating of this Anime to be low.

Yes, it is a 5. But it is a strong 5 and would very likely become a 6 someday. This means that It is better then some of your more celebrated shows, like Accel world, Angel Beats, Guilty Crown, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, Sacred Seven.

so now you might be wondering why am I award a Five, right? as usual, I am going to defend my rating and my POV, with SPOILERS ... ALERT.

for me, the biggest flaw of the show lies in a few aspect. First and foremost, the art. I am not happy about the art not ONLY because it is horrifyingly bad, but also how unnecessary the producer would think their gimmicky "revolutionizing" ideas would pay off. It still amazes me that how someone would think these gimmicky ideas would sale, especially nowadays, you have got to have MOE, HAREM or some FIERCE FIGHT to sale (peaking at Sword Art Online). Playing Gimmicky doesn't and would NEVER work.

besides the Gimmicks, the still motions of scenes, or the landscapes are actually AMAZING to say the least: In detailed, stylish, realistic and generally unique. The character's arts, however, are a complete mess. there are NO shadows when a character had her/his facial expression. It was beyond the level of Unique or even style - it is really unacceptable at times.

also, consider how slow pace this show is, it is really hard for me to give the show credits. there are a incredible amount of time that was spend on internal dialogues, Monologues, reading Baudelaire. I am not saying I don't like Baudelaire - In fact, I like reading poems. It is just not the right thing to do in an anime like this. Think about this: What would you think if you buy your ticket to watch an hour show, and the actor's been reading and reciting Shakespeare's sonnets with a mere linkage with the show? if you are not sleeping, congrats. you are a true hipster.

so now you've got two things going AGAINST the show. it doesn't seem to be a 5 at all, right?

My first defend for a 5 is the plot. despite the plot is slow-paced, it really got into the detail thought of the character. it builds some of the more memorable character of the season, and you might be amazed how a total of 3 people can create such an intense drama. It would be easy to sum up their relationship: Nakamura holds the secret of Kasuga. Kasuga Likes Nanako. The secret would blown up the relationship between Nanako and Kasuga and Kasuga's doing whatever he can to prevent the leak. I am trying to keep the secret - but I would have to say it is a Naive, or even a silly secret that could have been resolved since the second episode.

I am not done with proving my scores yet. I do agree that the plot of this thing is sometimes silly and Naive, but when you add the personality we had into the mix, everything seems to run smoothly. Since Kasuga is always doubting himself and suspecting the others, even though he can get over and handle the secret in many ways, he can't: not because he didn't, but because he was doubting himself and suspecting the others of knowing the secret. such kinds of "doubt" were vastly available upon Kasuga's development as a character, and you can find lots of good example showing how he doubts the world and his friends, even Nanako at times.

Nakamura could also been summarized as someone that loves to watch drama. she's not interest in interferring any of Kasuga's business. however, she believes that everyone had hidden their true identity - which was evil behind them. She attempts to "strip off your mask" and does actually no harm to the people around her......that is, upon now. Nanako is the simple "girl-next-door" kind of character that is an obedient student. she does no harm as well......at least upon the airing of the sixth show. I am NOT trying to suggest anything, 'cause I actually have no idea, just thinking and hoping my predictions would come true.

To add on, the Sounds of this show is perhaps not the most thrilling sounds that you've ever got, but it is special. Ambient/Drone/Minimal music were rarely used as anime soundtracks; from what I remember, Lain was one the shows that I watch that used some. still, considering how good this anime complements with the peaceful, sometimes intriguing Drone Sound, would probably be a pleasure to many music fans.

further more, their opening and ending is really unique. I am not a fan of the opening track, but I do appreciate they change their lyrics every time they choose a different protagonist to sing. the new lyrics certainly complement and suits the character well. the Ending was actually a real BLAST for me. despite it is Pop, it comes with an arrangement featuring orchestra and Glitch elements on their vocal that these things actually goes well together. The vocals sound so much like a Vocaloid that freaks me out the first time. The auto-tuning only adds to the creepiness of the song, which makes it stands out and unique among the general anime song. It might be somehow inappropriate for me to do a review base on the TV version, but I think these elements should be accurate when the full version's out.

Consider how special this show is, it might appeal to someone who enjoys dark humor and twisted fantasies. 2ch had a slang called "独男" (Dokuo). that means males that were single and can't social well with females. such terms were usually equivalent to Low self esteem/Nerd/geek/Virgin, and sometimes Otaku. Understanding that kind of culture will kind of help you to understand and appreciate how interesting and how "strange" it is for this show to happen. I am probably one of those "Dokuo" and I could only jealously watch the show every week. But well, what can you complain? It's a good life, and you've got a show that is great - At least it has some kind of logic and a neat portrait of characters, plot-wise and character-wise.

If you are still not convinced, you just can't get used to the art, skip it then. It is not that big of a deal. But please, don't call this as "bad" - this is certain not the all time classics and not one of the year top 5s, but watching and saying "YES" to this show is nothing to be ashamed of, since this is not that bad of an anime either. If you still feel like complaining, you've got loads Harem acts waiting for you to get their ass kicked - now MOVE and press ALT+F4.

5.5.

First of all, I would probably include some spoilers. As in many of my forthcoming entries, you have my WARNING of SPOILERS ALERT.

Comparing to your standard Harem/Sci-Fi/Action/Love Comedy/Comedy /Youth Drama shows, you have the biggest freak show in town.

The show "My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU" could be simply put as a nerd called Hikigaya desperately trying to avoid making friends. For some unknown reasons or even past histories that I still don't understand/get it, he is desperately trying to OBJECT the idea of having friends or joining a club. He might have a better life if he would just act and join a ... random club and showed up once in a while, He refuses to.

He is not rejected by the society. It is just himself quitting the crowd. Like what I did.

You've also got a girl called Yukinoshita. There are almost too many "TOO" to describe this girl: she is too good at her studies; too honest when she speaks; too stupid to speak so blunt; too strong that doesn’t even need to rely on the others; and probably too good to be true. And I too, had such "friend" surrounding me. He is my English literature teacher. A good friend of mine, an ass at times.

The second girl called Yui also applies with a few "too". Quote from Frank Ocean, "Too many white lies and white lines". She is too weak. Too good of a girl. One thing that she is not "TOO" is her social skills. Just the right fit to survive.

I don't know who she is at my life. Hell knows.

You've also got a Chuunibyou Otaku called Yoshiteru. He, like many, is fascinated with the idea of writing light novels. He had a dream. A Dream of becoming the top selling light novel writer in Japan. The thing he doesn't know is that he could not write: his writings are sloppy and full of grammatical mistakes. But well, who cares?

to surprise you, this is not a slice-of-life show.

You never had a otaku friend that would write like this and still doesn't get his, or her literature/language teacher beating him up; You never will find anyone as useless as Hikigaya to win a tennis match against the Ace of tennis club; You might heard some, but you might never find anyone struggling with their tutorial fees, (or you might not even found one in the US, but it is something easy to found in Hong Kong). And you might probably be able to find anyone as stupid as Hikigaya trying to avoid a relationship. You might never find a woman trying to seek advice from a man on how to bake cookies (Instead of searching YouTube) that is trying to please a guy - usually man does that.

At times, this is not a slice-of-life show. While the solutions are raised, problems are not instantly solved (like the scholarship case), but they move on. The show does a good job of discovering solutions, not at actually helping to solve them. Scholarship case was one of the more abrupt endings of the show: the idea of Scholarship was raised, but the difficulties of getting a scholarship were ignored. It was, at times, making me feeling incomplete and quite empty.

At times, the show does feel shallow, sometimes circling around. There is an excessive amount of irrelevant scenes, such as maid café scenes. Shopping scenes. Useless talking scene. At times, it even attempts to preach: Episode 1’s did have a debate on the definition of youth and try. It is a good effort of including such ideas in an anime, but it is poorly presented in the dialogue form: there are many talks but no walks. It might be a right choice in a novel, but it would not apporiate for something like this to happen in an anime: Visual-wise, the animation at that time was considerablely boring, consisting only two guys speaking and switching position. Plus, It leaves the audience unsatisfied as they never do what they claimed they would do.

At times, freaks do shine. Hikigaya was the best character of all times: he is just like me and I hate myself. He's able to come up with some great solutions at times, like the tennis game. But he's trying very hard to do a useless escape. Stupidity has no boundaries, but I love him. At least I am not a good student as he does. Yoshiteru is a freak and he shines. Yukino was the genius of the group but she wasn’t the one to be shining. Freaks, Nerds, genius, or just even some normal person working for their love ones, deserves to have a chance to shine.

Freaks do deserve a chance to shine. So as the show.

6.5