About an otaku with a dream:
To create a new game
That puts all else to shame
And produced by the girls from his team
One day he met a girl dressed in white
It was a case of love at first sight
Except instead of love
It was rather kind of
Like he wanted her soul's copyright
She would model for the female lead
For the game; he made sure she agreed
But despite interests joint
To just get to that point
There was one more thing that they would need
So he then asked with all of his heart
If his tsundere friend could take part
Since under a fake name
She'd gotten tons of fame
For her professional hentai art
Lastly the top student of his grade
With the plotline, he asked for her aid
But as he came to see
What she wrote up was the
Most ridiculous script ever made
So at last the circle was created
Which made the protag oh so elated
However although he
Did not care 'bout 3D
All the girls thought of him as their fated
So they did everything that they could
To ensure that the game would be good
And when there was a chance
At him they'd steal a glance
Whilst pretending to work as they should
Overall it was touching and cute
But there's more where that came from to boot
If you thought that was it
Please calm down for a bit
That was still just the very first route!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Saekano; quite possibly the most positively surprising show of the season.
First of all I would like to say that despite the ecchi tag; the fanservice in this show is very light (other than episode 00). In reality, Saekano is much more similar to shows like Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai, OreImo and Outbreak Company as it has a character cast mainly consisting of otakus, and it consistently parodies and makes fun of today's anime industry as well as the eroge market as a whole.
In case that wasn't clear, the story is about your typical high-school otaku named Tomoya who has a dream of creating "the ultimate galge" that can touch the hearts and souls of everyone playing it. In order to do so he seeks the help of his tsundere childhood friend Eriri who secretly works as a hentai doujinshi artist on her spare time, as well as the so-called "smartest girl in school" Utaha who is a famous romance light novel author. Together they form a doujin circle and seek to create a homemade galge in order to fulfill Tomoya's dream. As the icing on the cake however, Tomoya also recruits his completely plain and emotionless classmate Megumi to join the circle, with the intention of "training" her into becoming the model for the game's main heroine. It's a very silly concept that doesn't take itself seriously whatsoever, but as a result it's surprisingly entertaining.
If you're well-versed in today's anime industry, along with all the moe and ecchi shows that come out these days, then you'll probably like this show a lot because the endless references and parodies of it are absolutely hilarious. If you also happen to play visual novels, then it'll be even better still. I familiarized myself a lot with this anime, and as a result it almost never failed to put a smile on my face.
Over time, there are some moments when the show gets a bit more serious on the romance/drama front but it still keeps it fairly light and doesn't go past the point where it starts feeling cliché. This pleased me a lot, because Saekano is truly at its best when it's being non-serious, light-hearted and just plain fun.
All-in-all, out of all the various comedies, harems and other simplistic shows of that nature from the Winter 2015 season, I'd definitely have to say this is the best one. This is mainly because a) it actually feels fresh and not overused by any means, and b) it's actually extremely funny.
If you like moe and/or ecchi shows, play visual novels or just like to have a good laugh, then I'd recommend giving Saekano a shot. You probably won't regret it.
