Sakura-sou no Pet na Kanojo

"Everyday was the same. Deep down, I felt bored. I wanted to blame someone for my being bored." - Kanda Sorata

The very first line in the anime coming from the protagonist himself. Frankly, I felt exactly the same after watching the first dozen episodes of Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo. J.C. Staff, a studio which animated numerous titles such as Toradora, Zero no Tsukaima, Toaru Majutsu no Index, now it's Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo or in English, 'The Pet Girl of Sakurasou'.

Story? Kanda Sorata was told to move to a place called Sakurasou, a dorm where the problem students dwell in. One day, Shiina ... Mashiro, a genius, moves to the Dorm. And so, Sorata's dorm mates given him the task to take care of Mashiro. So there ya go. You can probably predict the outcome of the show before you even watched it.

Sakurasou is a somewhat-more-than-generic romance/comedy anime. So, what are the common features of rom coms? Generic protagonist lives alone, story set in high school, extraordinary female protagonists, transfer students, probability of the transfer student living next door, childhood friends, imoutos having brother complex, beach episodes, protagonist is a chick magnet and lots of other distinctive features. It's those shows where you watch simply because you're too bored. Sakurasou is no exception.

However, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is slightly more different than the usual. While it does have most of the features mentioned, but this time the protagonist lives in a dorm, filled with problem students and Sakurasou have a slightly better plot...and I guess that's pretty much it.

Since it's a romance/comedy anime then you're expecting some humor. Regrettably, the "comedy" part is appalling. Sakurasou provides the viewer with lots of humor throughout the series, but none of them were hilarious. All in all, Sakurasou fails to be entertaining in terms of humor.

In most cases, ecchi scenes and fanservice in these kind of anime are tolerable, as long as there are few but if too many, it affects the quality of the show. Indeed, I knew there were going to be ecchi in the series, but Sakurasou has more than expected.

Finally, it's the story. Sakurasou starts off as boring, tiresome, especially the beginning and it may also be the biggest flaw of the anime. Brace yourselves, because boredom strikes very early. The starting episodes may give a bad first impression to the viewer and some may even stop watching the series solely because of that. Sakurasou is one of the few anime I've watched that left a terrible first impression.

However, once you've covered the dull early episodes, at one point Sakurasou eventually starts becoming more intriguing later on(if it ever does for you). Personal point of view: I might have enjoyed Sakurasou more if it only had 12 or 13 episodes, not with 24 episodes. Why? for me, it starts becoming more interesting roughly at episode twelve. Some of the characters' past were interesting to watch such as Shiina Mashiro's however the enjoyment only lasted for couple of minutes. Sakurasou did have some memorable moments; both happy and sorrowful, but most of them were in the middle or near the end of the series. Luckily, the ending was pretty decent. Not the best ending I've seen, but still it's ok.

Character? I'll show you in a list.
These are the characters who dwell in Sakurasou Dorm.
Scores are out of 5. Lowest(1) being Hated. Highest(5) being Loved.

Kanda Sorata:(1/5) Boring male protagonist; essential in most rom coms. Now, only more irritating.
Shiina Mashiro*:(3/5) Female protagonist. Neutral.
Aoyama Nanami:(3/5) The common tsundere type. I feel sorry for her at the end of the series.
Mitaki Jin:(3/5) Looks like he lost his virginity years ago.
Kamiigusa Misaki:(2/5) Energetic, noisy type.
Akasaka Ryuunosuke:(3/5) A Hikikomori.
Chihiro Sengoku:(3/5) Dorm teacher of Sakurasou.

A couple of supporting characters.

Kanda Yuuko:(1/5) She has brother complex. I'm not surprised. Most of the imoutos nowadays have brother complex anyway.
Rita Ainsworth:(3/5) Kawashima Ami...is that you?

From the list above, any scores below 3 means they're disliked. None of the characters were interesting. Of course, all of the scores above are just my opinion. Though, it's nice to see character development going on.

*In some of the scenes, Shiina Mashiro really reminded me of Akemi Homura, a character which I really love in Madoka Magica. Perhaps the last two episodes of Madoka Magica are simply too memorable...

Art/Visuals? Overall, it's great. Colors are bright and artstyle is gorgeous. Backgrounds are nice and Shiina Mashiro's artwork are incredible.

Sound? Voice acting is pretty good(Sorata yelling almost every time is rather aggravating). OP and ED are all J-Pop themed songs and I've only bothered to listen to them once. I do like J-pop songs, but only selected ones. There's some very beautiful background music being played during the sad scenes.

Conclusion? Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo isn't the worst rom com I've watched and its far from being the best. To sum up, it's pretty average, despite the number of flaws it has. Unfortunately, Sakurasou just didn't live up to my expectations. Not even close.

"This area feels weird, it's been throbbing hard since that time."
-Mashiro Shiina, Episode 12

My god, everyone seems to have a total hard-on for this show. Why? Nearly every previous review for this shit has been a 10. Is there something I missed while watching this? Seriously, what's so amazing about it?

So characters: you got your generic numbnuts male protagonist who's usually too fuckin' scared to say what he really means, a schizophrenic or something, a generic tsundere, the generic sex-crazed pervert character, and some other annoying chick. Sounds great already!

The setting: 1700's France? No, fuck you, it's a school. What did you expect?
Ok, to be ... fair, it's more of like a special arts school or something, but it's still, nonetheless, a school.

So what is this show about? I dunno, friendship? The wonders of growing up? Fuck, if I know. All I know is that this did NOT need to be made into 24 episodes. What was the point of it all? The main plot can be easily summarized quickly:

>guy lives with crazy people
>girl comes to live with crazy people and becomes the guy's friend
>fanservice
>another girl notices and gets upset
>she comes and lives with them
>occasional bullshit argument
>cousin or whoever comes to take first girl away
>doesn't
>happy ending?

Did that really need to go on for 24 episodes? Does everyone who enjoy this actually think this is a good plot? Am I really missing something? (No, fuck your useless bullshit subplots)

Maybe I wouldn't be so pissed about this if it wasn't so long and everyone would shut up about it. So many times, people have this on their top 10 romance anime lists and I just don't believe it. What's to like about this?

Two more notable things that pissed me off:
1. At times, this shit really felt like a harem and I personally despise harems.
2. The main protagonists announce their love at the very end. It's misery. You watched the show for an accumulated 12 hours, and all you get in return is some sappy bullshit. It's not worth it. It's never worth it.

They say the journey is better than the destination, but not if the journey is equally bullshit. This was a waste of time, a forgettable experience, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm upset to have seen this..

From all the Slice of Life, Romantic Comedy last year I've seen, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo was by far the best.

But that in of it self doesn't say much about the Quality of the show, does it?

Let me first sum up my overall impression/emotions with the show.
I laughed.
I cringed.
I was touched.
I felt connected.
And I recommended it despite it being just another JC Staff School Anime.
...
Why?

That's what I'm going to explain to you now.

Story:

The plot revolves around a young male named Sorata Kanda who is attending an art school. He has the habit of picking up cats and caring for them. His dorm though doesn't allow pets, that's why he moves to Sakurasou the dorm for trouble students.
Early on he is tasked to keep an eye out for a talented girl (Mashiro) who has trouble of dealing with everyday tasks and socializing with people, but otherwise is a genius artist.

The premise sound generic at first. A ordinary highschool boy meets mysterious girl. But it goes far beyond that. The story revolves around the problematic of overcoming your own jealousy.
How to continue doing what you do, even though you find yourself in a world where there is always someone better than you.

I personally felt really attached to this concept since it is something that drags me down often as well. I gave up on many things because more talented people stepped into my life. It's hard to struggle with the hatred that occurs inside you when you deal with these people.

About the event that happen otherwise isn't much to say. We have a lot of fanservice, comedic situations, a lot of drama and also some romance.
The pacing is rather slow since it turns more serious later in the show, which is sad since a lot of people might have given up by then with the overall generic-ness of the show.
But we get a lot more later on.
Romance, Drama and a rather satisfying and mature ending.

Overall the Story isn't particular deep or anything but well founded and relateable.

6/10

Animation:

What can I say about Sakurasou... well it does look average. There is no crazy choreography or battle scenes. No amazing fluidity. But it has an overall nice artstyle.
Light colors, very warm, many oranges and reds were used. The backgrounds looked good but not outstanding.
The character designs, though generic "moe" were well made and distinct.
I personally liked them.
The quality was overall good and kept its standards.
And that's it.
Sakurasou is not an animation-heavy show. It doesn't rely too much on fancy visuals but also looks pretty and modern.

7/10

Sound:

As voiceactors we get... *drumroll*

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka; aka Kirito from Sword Art Online.
This is a hit or miss, if he bothers you because you didn't like him in SAO well.. but bad.
I personally like Matsuoka, he is a fresh new voice talented and gives the Beta Male MC of this area a different voice than Kaji Yuki...

Besides that I didn't find anyone particular outstanding but mention able would be Mariko Nakatsu, for voicing a voice actress. Must be weird hah!
The rest did a good job. The voiceacting is modern and natural overall.

The soundtrack is fitting but not rememberable. It just works with this type of show, has a good variety but isn't the kind of music I'd listen to outside the show.

The same is true for the Opening and Ending. Though the second ending had a nice beginning which was sometimes used effectively.

Sound isn't really the strongest Point of Sakurasou but also not bad in any way.

5,5/10 ~ 5/10

Characters:

Oh boy, I could say a lot about the characters, but I try to keep it short.

Lets start with the good.
Sorata Kanda starts off as a submissive beta male as we all know them from various school anime. But later becomes more depths. He by far was the most interesting character of the show because he dealt with the crushing feeling of failing and dealing with someone who doesn't fail. His overall nice personality is questioned many times by a dark and cruel side of him he internally fights.
He often snaps and shows real human emotions, and behavior.
While the rest also starts of as your typical school rom-com cast:
- The childhood friend who is in love with the MC and also is a tsundere
- the emotionless girl that also has some weird crush on the MC
- the genki oppai girl always up (but here sometimes down)
- the gigolo/perverted friend. though more on the mature end
- and all the other side characters you can think of
But everyone of them shows in the progression of the show real problems, and crisis.
Of course you have to deal with stereotypes for the most part, but they are overall a good relatable cast, which have their flaws and never feel too one sided.

It's also funny how characters become more likable the further the show progresses. It is evidence of character progression.
Someone who has seen many Rom-Coms in his life might probably not open up to them, but for people who are fairly new to the genre they are a great cast!

8/10

Value:

Though there might be a second season I doubt it will. A rewatch is also unlikely, but not impossible.
I do recommend this show though, and I already did!

I will keep this anime for a while in the back of my mind but it wasn't anything life changing. Though for 2012 it was one of the better shows.
It's also nice to see that JC Staff does something that isn't just meh and Light Novels are not all shit (SAO).
But personally I like LN and their adaptations for the most part.
But to be honest. With all these School anime they have one flaw.
The likelihood this will have any effect on the industry or might be something regarded a gem in anime later is very low.
That's why it can only get a ...

2/10 (but this does not include my enjoyment!)

Enjoyment:

I fairly enjoyed the show. It looked nice, but not outstanding, the soundtrack was fitting and the Voiceactors did a good job.
The premise and plot was interesting, and the character drama meaningful enough to be taken seriously.
Well but with all of these shows it never exceeds to be really serious, which is okay!
I had fun, was looking forward to next episodes even if I sometimes was raging over some things like once...

"I modified your post [sakurasou forum link to my post], because it was offensive and contained too much profanity."

That was me raging hard. Something that meant I took the show serious enough.

7/10

Overall I give this show a 6/10 because it manages to be above average and was entertaining as well as gave me some insight on my own personal feelings. Nothing deep or life changing but a nice take on something we probably all once felt.

EDIT: Fucked up with the studio name. Sorry, my dear J.C.Staff.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo: The Masterfully Crafted Cringefest

Sakurasou is one of the most hyped romance anime series made in recent times. A lot of people think that it is one of the best shows ever made, and the amount of 10’s in the review section is overwhelming. However, while this show is certainly above average in several aspects, Sakurasou isn’t even close to being something which deserves all those Masterpiece-ratings, and for a variety of reasons, such as bad writing, shallow characters and cringe-inducing, awful drama, which completely stomped my happy thoughts about this ... show after the first cour.

Let’s start with some good things.

**START OF GOOD**

I see people praising this show’s art a lot, and it certainly is very good. I liked the character designs: the characters were distinguishable and pretty unique in their appearances and were drawn pretty nicely. The background were alright, the animation was fluid and crispy. JC Staff continues to impress me with their art.

The sound was decent, too. Nice OPs, nice EDs. It is nothing to write home about, but the soundtrack does its job well, it nicely accompanies the action on the screen. Nevertheless, it failed to impress me as a standalone piece of music, it’s not one of those OSTs which I can listen to without context.

**END OF GOOD**

Because of the next paragraphs I’m going to become hated by a lot of people, I’m sure.

The show serves nice as a comedy, however it fails in a category which is supposed to be main here - romance. Romance is one of the worst parts of this show: it’s unbelievable, it’s cringy, it’s just poorly written. It’s SO bad that you care about the romance of the side-characters more than about the mains'. And that’s not even the worst part about Sakurasou.

The author knows how to write decent comedies, but when he dwells into the drama category, he ultimately fails. I’m going to be honest with you and myself: I enjoyed the first half of Sakurasou. It is genuinely one of the funniest shows I’ve ever watched, and only because of it I can’t say that Sakurasou is plain bad. It shines in the beginning, only to be consumed by the black matter of unbelievably bad drama in the end.

The amount of melodrama is about the same as you would find in your typical show for teen girls. Something bad happens unexpectedly, which affects everyone, everything suddenly goes to ashes, the main characters decide to save something valuable for them, one of the characters makes a speech, everyone cries, mains win. And while sometimes it certainly works, unfortunately, Sakurasou itself fails to execute this trope somewhat originally. It just pulls this trick out of the blue and leaves you with a constant situation of you having a palm on your face. Furthermore, when the writer REALLY had a chance to execute a drama properly, he screws up again. Several times.

The characters are not THAT bad though, however they are zero-and-a-half-dimensional, especially mains. The protagonist-kun just screams «I’M AN AVERAGE JAPANESE STUDENT», the main girl is just meh as a whole, also we have an English bitch, a hikki, a gigolo, an alien girl and a light tsundere, who actually is the most entertaining character in the whole series. They aren’t that bad-written, but they are certainly nothing deep.

I tried to enjoy this show. I honestly tried. Yet, the lack of good writing and the bullshit drama ruined Sakurasou for me.

A normal harem anime, nothing special. Typical characters, not plot-heavy, and just fun to watch.

The first 4 episodes showed great potential, and led me to believe that this might be the harem anime that breaks the norm. It was one of my favorite anime I had watched, until 'Aoyama Nanami' was introduced. This character, for me anyway, mixed with the plot sent the show into a fiery spiral towards the ground. She is outright annoying. If this character was not introduced, the show would be much better.
I'm not joking.

I give Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo a 5/10

High school rom-coms are a staple of anime these days, it seems we get at least three or four each new season. Granted, the target demographic of most anime is high school students, the rom-com is fairly safe genre (there are some tried-and-true plots and character archetypes that can at least guarantee modest success), and the fairly light demands on animation undoubtedly save money ( you can reuse the same backgrounds and the movements of the characters are usually simple). So from a production company's standpoint a show of this genre is a sound business decision, but in a genre this popular it can be ... hard to stand out. Does 'Sakurasou' achieve this feat? (OK, you can see my overall score up in the corner so my opinion is probably not hard to guess).

'Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo' is licensed by Sentai Filmworks and can be legally streamed on Crunchroll.

-Story-

One life tip you might hear a lot is that multi-tasking is counterproductive, that trying to do too much can actually cause you to accomplish less overall. 'Sakurasou' is a series often compared to 'Toradora!' and the latter certainly tried to do too much. 'Sakurasou' went with a much simpler focus and ended up doing better overall. Not stellar, but still better. "Average guy finds himself in a situation where he is innocently living in close contact with a number of beautiful women- hilarity and fanservice ensues" wasn't new when Love Hina used it a decade ago, but premises are cheap anyway, so let's look at the execution. The first half of the show is about as generic as it gets, mostly relying on creating situations where Sorata will encounter Mashiro in various states of undress, or Mashiro will say something loaded with sexual undertones without realizing it. The second half does improve, going for a more interconnected plot and having a distinct theme ("How do you handle being an average person in the presence of a genius- somebody who will probably always be better than you no matter how much effort you give?") and it even manages to create some emotional moments when various characters encounter adversity. Genre cliches still abound, and the final arc is pretty generic and without any kind of romantic conclusion (this show is adaptation of the only the first part of a series of novels) but points for having at least a few bites of substance.

-Art-

Pretty, with numerous bright warm colors. The palette looks like flavors from an ice cream shop (odd way of describing it, but that's the best way I can think of). The animation quality is fine and I don't really have much else to say.

-Sound-

Mostly light and happy J-Pop. I still listen to the first OP on YouTube from time to time, so points there. The OST is fine for the show, but nothing to write home about. The voice actors all seemed to fit, with Mashiro's abnormal personality coming through well.

-Characters-

Sorata is a thoroughly average, hapless nice guy- dime a dozen in this genre. He's there to be an Audience Surrogate and that's what he does. Then you have the mysterious girl in Mashiro, the romantic foil in Nanami (who did have the most interesting arc, being the most devoted to what she wanted to do but also encountering the most difficulty- I was definitely rooting for her by the end) the best friend who's far more outgoing, the teacher who doesn't act remotely responsible enough for the position of Community Leader, and a couple oddballs for comedic effect. Cut and dry standard fare. They have their moments of being entertaining, I won't say these are botched characters, but they're still playing close to the archetypes. The highlight of the cast is the computer genius recluse Ryuunosuke- I have a personal preference for snarky characters who are perfectly willing to ruthlessly cut through another character's BS right in their face and give them the cold hard truth regardless of how they feel about it.

-Enjoyment-

I came to watch an enjoyable romantic comedy, I got an enjoyable romantic comedy. No complaints here.

-Overall-

Pretty animation and a little substance to plot save 'Sakurasou' from complete mediocrity, but generic characters and an inconclusive romantic ending keep it from being anything more than just a bit above average. I've waffled between giving it a 5 or a 6, so... 5.5

This series was the hype of 2012 to 2013, and I can understand why, it is a series that tackles issues that are usually touched upon in typical school anime, but in a much more in-depth fashion. We all at one time struggle with the challenges of competing with other people, especially those more talented than us. Sakurasou is the essentially the name for Sui High School's dorms which are exclusively reserved for Arts students. While exclusively means hard to get into, it also posses a lot of challenges for residents. Sakurasou doesn't have a cafeteria, cleaning staff, or any other rules, rules which the ... School originally thought hindered the creative process. Basically it is a run down dorm, where the students are responsible for all the chores, including meals. These are critical features which attract our main characters to Sakuarsou. Kouhai-kun, sent to the dorm because he was found keeping a pet cat in main student residence, Aoyama, moved there to save money on rent, since most of it was going to Voice Acting School, Shiina Mashiro, the extremely talented painter who is literally not capable of doing anything for herself, and Jin and Misaki, I really have no idea why they are there, other than the reason that they are Art students.
So now the stage has been set, you have a ratty, old dorm, and a girl who is barely able to get dressed, add on top of that a whole mess of cats, courtesy of Kouhai, and the adulterous Jin, his admirer Misaki. What you are about to witness is a group who will probably have the wackiest year in their careers. Now I know that my reviews, if you can called them that, are usally filled with spoilers, and I feel like I could divulge a lot, I'll stop myself, since the story at Sakurasou is filled with heart-ache, rejection, failure, and misery. What I particularly love about the story was how it tied into each and every character, a feature that is usually missing from most anime, save between the two love interests. Here when anything happens to one of the characters, the others are also affected, by it for good, when they celebrate with the iconic Hot Pot, or for worst when they consolidate each other, and encourage the other to work harder, and keep their eye on the ball. The story is something that is both cliché and unique at the same time. You have your high school setting, a couple of love triangles, and a ton of ecchi, but at the same time you have characters that are so unique and memorable, that each of them is fully fleshed out by the end of the series, this is something that I feel quite passionately about, especially in the realm of Slice of Life!
Now let's discuss the characters, Kanda Sorata, or Kouhai-kun as Misaki calls him, is the main character, his place is our eyes into the world of Sakurasou, a world where no sane person has returned from. Sorata is shown as an average student both creatively and emotionally, he draws the love interest of one girl in particular but fails to recognize it as love, even when see is clearly advancing towards him. Creatively, he is a cry-baby, the lower rank classman, who always complains about how the other kids are better than him, but never actually puts forward an effort. This might be spoilers, but he is a tool, he literally takes out his anger on his friends, frankly speaking I would not want to be his friend, or should I say punching bag. Sorata's jealousy is something of an over-arching theme, but it is such an integral part of his personality that I can't like him at all.
Aoyama Nanami, the beautiful, glasses wearing brunette, you can already tell who I give my vote to for best girl, hell she could be my waifu! Aoyama is a charater that I see myself as, hardworking, and willing to give up enjoyment to reach her final goal. She is strong, independent, and as stubborn as they come, you have no idea how many times I wanted to hug her super tightly, and tell her to calm down, she's going to be fine! Her work ethic is how she shows her love towards the people around her. She is notorious to pushing herself too hard, and probably has damaged her body a ton, due to stress and exhaustion. The theme that Aoyama portrays in the show is chasing your dreams, she has gone against her father's will to come to Tokyo, and enroll in a Voice Academy. I could literally rant about her for so long, but that would basically ruin the whole story for you. The other characters I feel need the story to describe them, so I will not engage in an analysis of them.
Finally, on to the enjoyment factor. Let's put one thing start, Sakurasou as far as I could tell was not a romance, it was a High School Slice of Life, and with that you had basically a harem, with the exception of Jin, who is a really strangely developed character, doing basically a 180 degree near the end of the series, a girl who needs the main character, a stronger girl, and an adult who is trying to find herself, I feel like I have just described a Key Anime. Regardless of that, Sakurasou is a show about coming together, with friends, those at the same level as you, and those not. Friendship is not a temporary affair, it molds you into a different person than you were before. It was about going against all the odds in life, and accomplishing your goals, and when you don't make it, just get right back up, and try again. Do I feel the show was extended further than how long it should have been, yes, the romance was just there to tease you, and thought many people with object to this, the final state of the characters is something I really can't deal with. The ending however was probably the best an ending for a school type anime can be, there is hope that the traditions that Misaki and Jin showed Aoyama, and Sorata will continue to live forever, and that's what Sakurasou is. A place where you can come to make friends when you are the outcast, the genius, or the overly excited. I did get an attack of the feels in this series, but it was mostly due to the pain I felt for the characters, which the story was not at all talking about, other than that, they do seem to cry a lot, but for minor things, such as losing a competition, I guess at my age I've come to realize that either you win or you lose, and with that being said Sakurasou is a good show, and you should take the time to watch it, but there really isn't the level of drama that I enjoy, other than that it is a wonderfully put together show, that I enjoyed, the soundtrack for example, the opening and ending themes were just awesome, but on a scale of other shows in the genre, Sakurasou fell short. In essence, the focus of the show was school, and not the romances between the characters, which is more of what I would have liked to see. This leads me to give this show a 6/10, since it was good, and did everything right, but I'm not going to jump on the hype train and say there was a lot of drama, because there really wasn't just a lot of “what ifs”.

As a person who loves slice of life, romcom animes this series was really a disappointment for me.

After all the recommendations and "This anime is a great romcom!"s, I was looking forward to watch it but I ended up with a OK anime.

First of all, I gotta say that art&sound is really good, from first to last episode but sadly art&sound itself can't save a show. Storyline is quite simple, male protagonist has a teenage life crisis and meets a girl who's gonna change her life in high school. But what's wrong with that storyline right? It can still be good! But the problem is ... in the characters. It's like they followed a anime storyline chart.

-Stupid, quite useless but girl's favorite male protagonist, CHECK. [Sorata]
-Soft, kind, cute female protagonist, CHECK. [Mashiro]
-Tsundere, CHECK. [Nanami]
-Playboy, CHECK [Jin]
-Noisy, energetic, extremely positive girl, CHECK [Misaki]
-Anti-social, cocky and isolated boy, CHECK. [Ryuunosuke]
-Sexual teacher, CHECK. [Chihiro]
-Sister with a crush on her brother, CHECK. [Yuuko]

I gotta say Mashiro was my favorite character because I simply love soft, neutral, naive characters. Nanami & Mashiro are probably the most complicated characters in the show, but we see no character development. It's the same with every character.

And male MC is just annoying and the show would've been better without him.

In the end, it's a watchable show but I wouldn't recommend it while there are better school romcoms out there. It's quite average but if you watched the best and the good ones and now you're looking for an another one, go for it.

What happens if you take the immature, loud and emotionally dysfunctional boy of a shounen and put him in a romance/drama? Well... not good things.

-

I watched Sakurasou about a year ago when I was on a roll of drams like Toradora, Anohana etc., but I dropped it after a few episdes because the writing in general was meh, but more importantly because the MC was absolutely unbearable. Now I picked it back up because it's written by the same guy that's writing Bunny Girl Senpai, which supposedly is very well written (not watching until it's finished), and I hoped it might get better over it's ... duration since I'd watched just ~1/4th of it. Well no, it didn't. I really hope my main issues with Sakurasou don't carry over too heavily to Bunny Girl, because I was looking forward to that show based on the things I'd heard.

-

This show might have the most annoying, least charismatic MC of any show I've ever watched, and that's a huge problem when the show is basically a semi-harem, where the girls all cling to him and the guys all respect or admire him.

This guy not only has absolutely no social tact, no empathy and understanding of social situations & others' feelings, so sense of humor or wit, no self control, no ability to mask his feelings or constrain his reactions, gets surprised and flustered by the same things every time, and screams and shouts obnoxiously at any chance, but he's even petty and cruel at times. This guy has literally zero redeemable qualities, and yet everyone loves him which makes it REALLY hard for me to empathize with any of the characters.

The other characters are also nothing to write home about, with many of them being overly wacky or caricatured, to the point where they don't really fit in with the (sometimes) serious plot(s). The main girls seems to be a romanticized autist which probably brings with it it's own issues, but I'm not gonna bother with that.

The writing in general suffer from heavy cliches and shallow emotions, and like a lot of anime have fan service that's played as slapstick humor (which is made even more unbearable by the MCs terrible reactions (this dude literally has no reactions other than shrieking and putting on a shocked face, or sighing dejectedly)). The overarching plot isn't terrible tho, it's more the writing style, dialogue and characterizations that bring it down.

I often get the feeling that a lot of the scenarios in this show is like in one of those sitcoms where all of the main actors have clauses in their contract that they need to have a minimum of X minutes of screen time every episode, regardless of whether they're relevant to the current plot; often the rest of the cast will just drop out of nowhere into a scene with 2 or 3 characters to comment on whatever they were talking about/doing (mostly while in the Sakura dorms).

The art and sound was decent, nothing that blew me away or anything, but more than ok-.

(Sorry for excessive parenthese use)

I started watching this anime after seeing a YouTube video about the top 10 romance anime's. So I came in with high expectations because the images and short clips the YouTube video showed interred me and looked cute and something I would enjoy. Off the bat the first few episodes I already liked where it was going. But I have to say personally I hated Shiina and wanted her to die tbh. She was worse than Lightning from Final Fantasy. Or Angel from Angel Beats. She has no character development I don't understand how anyone could find a character like her interesting. She expressed no ... human emotions or feelings. Right away she seemed liked a spoiled rich girl who needed a nurse to take care of her because all her life she had things handed to her because of her natural talent. I never shipped her with Sorata because she had no emotions or feelings she wasn't Human. I was hoping for an actual romance anime here and I Shipped Aoyama with Sorata but nothing happened there at all I hated it. Sorata only liked Shiina because he's a stupid high school boy thinking with his penis and not with his head.

The animation is fine. Character designs, for the most part, walk the line between cliched and genuinely individual, but I'd give them most of them, with the exception of maybe Sorata himself. Jin, too, but his foil, the nameless Student Body President, saves him from this. It's worth noting, though, that Mashiro and, curiously, Chihiro, are both masterpieces of design. Mashiro is one of the few leading female characters that actually do look as beautiful as everyone in the show insists they do (most of the time, they're honestly indistinguishable from the rest of the characters); and the interplay between Chihiro's eyes and her hair ... is kind of cool, as well.

The background art is kind of cool, possessing this very, very oversaturated quality that livens up the atmosphere of the show and goes nicely with the motif of colors that's brought up a couple times and sort of serves as the metaphorical background for the show as a whole. Notably, there's a parallel there between the world they live in and Mashiro's art, which also veers toward the extreme end of color saturation. On art, though, I thought it was interesting that Shiina's art was so vaunted. That kind of stuff can be difficult to represent, and on the whole, the show isn't about her art, so it doesn't really matter what it looks like, but seeing the paintings of hers that are shown, I doubt she would ACTUALLY make it all that far in the professional art world, outside of local competitions. Nit-picky, I know.

The music is there, I guess. Some of the singing in the opening themes goes a little bit out of tune here and there, which I like, being the pretentious avant-gardeist that I am. Other than that, the music never really asserts itself here. In the end, I can't think of a single time that music really added to a scene. The voice actors fulfill their roles dutifully (watched in subbed form), with the best performance going to Shiina and the worst probably to Sorata (he yells a bit too much).

OK, now that that's out of the way, I can write on some of the actually important aspects of this show. I don't write reviews usually, and I doubt many people are reading this, but I feel like my opinion is more relevant here than usual, because as an artist (specifically, a composer, but a "creator" nonetheless), I feel like this anime misses a few marks in portraying a realistic artistic struggle.

On the most surface level, there does not exist a world where the entire arc of one's career is going to be determined by one audition, and frankly I can't see why Sorata didn't enter his game design plan into somewhere more around the area of 3-5 different competitions, which is what I (and many of my colleagues) do. It's usually worked for me. This is addressed at the end, when some of the characters resolve to continue working toward their goals. I was surprised that Chihiro, or someone, at least, didn't intervene and inform Sorata or Nanami that, yes, there are indeed other game design competitions / voice acting studios out there. Anyway, who really cares about that, other than me, apparently?

The various struggles - self-worth, overworking oneself, the feeling of constantly being behind - are pretty much universal, not just artistic, but the way the show addresses them is, I suppose, fairly true-to-life. There are a couple threads that are picked up that aren't really explored fully - Sorata, for example, begins to take his anger out on Mashiro, forcing her to conform to a more "normal" life, but then he just stops, and everything's okay, I guess. The most satisfying arc in the story is Misaki and Jin's story, and everything else just sorta goes on and ends without much satisfaction. What can I say?

Here's where I regret what happens in Sakurasou: it has the chance, and fails multiple times, to address themes that deal with the characters specifically. Here's the litmus test: if you replaced all the characters with engineers, and rather than an art school, it was an engineering school, would you notice the difference? Probably not, To Be Honest. Some of the motifs would change; characters would adapt slightly to account for their new careers; but overall, nothing much about art would be missed. Sakurasou needs to seriously level with the actual struggles facing actual artists. Sure, these are naive high school students, but a few are, apparently, some of the leading artists in their respective fields, so I'm thinking the show should be going into some of this stuff:

1. Sure, we get backstories as to how some people got into art, and these are relatively convincing. But there is the perennial, and paralyzing, question of why to continue. What are these characters' ultimate goals, other than self-fulfillment?

2. Very rarely is the struggle of originality dealt with. Frankly, Sorata's games sound like afterthoughts, just things thought of to carry the plot forward. We never see him struggling with the creative process; we never see him trying to think of ideas; we just see him magically produce an idea and a pitch, but that's all fill-in-the-blank stuff. How does Rhythm Battler represent him personally?

3. Mostly, art is done in solitude, at least the type our heroes are doing. Yet we don't see too much of that retreat; when characters are found alone doing their creative thing, someone always walks into the room. But that loneliness - and the way that what you're working on sort of takes over your life for short periods - is never shown. Why?

These are all based on my own experiences, but I've heard from others who've had the same problems. I'm sure there are others that the show could explore, but, you know, there are a couple.

Given that Sakurasou is art and was created by an artist, I'm surprised at the lack of attention paid to the way the characters engage with their own definitions of art. The show works fairly well as a character study, but I feel like it would've been a more convincing, vibrant show if it had explored some of those questions a bit more.

[SUMMARY]

Sakurasou revolves around a second-year high school student named Sorata Kanda who lives in Sakurasou, the dormitory for problem children at Sorata's school. One day, Mashiro Shiina—a cute girl who happens to be also a cosmopolitan, brilliant artist—moves into Sakurasou.

Sorata thinks to himself that he should protect Mashiro from the weirdos at Sakurasou, but Mashiro has a surprising secret: she has no idea how to take care of herself. She gets lost if she goes out, and her room is a complete mess. Sorata's dorm mates designate him as the "master" of Mashiro, and thus, an ordinary boy and a brilliant girl must live ... like "a master and his pet."

[COMMENTARY]

After watching Sakurasou a few months ago, I thought it was a good show, after a while and after speed-re-watching some stuff to brighten my memory I got mixed feelings about it.
One cant simply describe how much I love the romance genre, specially when it has such elements like "Drama", and comedy isnt bad if its well executed and the tone shifts are actually balanced.
Sakurasou was a weird experience for me, it took the ecchicomedy boy and cute helpless girl and added some drama towards the end.
I dont mind this, but sakurasou, oh dear.
The show starts as badly and generic as it gets, it has the haremecchi vibe and the characters are quirky and fun loving, nothing happens other than "Oh yes I got to take care of Mashiro" hey awkward sexually sugestive scene end, next episode.
After the first 12 eps, finally something happens that changes the show drastically, it goes from a generic harem to a dramatic coming of age tryhard, dont get me wrong this was a huge step from Sakurasou, some characters actually get somewhat fleshed out and get development, like Sorata, however other characters like Misaki and Ryunosuke had little focus on, still this was the short lived golden part of Sakurasou, Sorata becomes a decent character, and we also have Jin who also got pretty decent development, Mashiro doesnt really change, she is still pretty much emotionless and awkward, but the tension scenes between her and Sorata were really something I wasnt expecting and they were pretty good. The show keeps going like this for a while, Sorata gets mad at shina and he really wants to improve himself and doesnt want to be left behind, the show does a decent job at exploring the themes, even if it feels rather forced for most part. after that we reach the end of the show, if you thought the melodrama was jarring this is where it gets a bit over the top.
It gets too cheesy, no cheese isnt bad, but when its prompted in a somewhat realistic situation it is very awkward and it ruins the experience. The gradution scene is very controversial, some think it was horrible others liked it for "the feels", but personally I think that despite the cheese, it was a pretty solid ending and it works for this kind of show. To end it here I thought Sakurasou was a breath of fresh air, and it easily stands out in the pile of generic crap out there even if its trying to be it half of the time, but it was never anything beyond that, still the show was fine and I recommend you to watch it but dont go there with high expectations, if you are looking for something more serious I appoint you towards shows like NANA or Kare Kano.

I always know that romance has some heartbreaking moments and fun moments like trust, betrayal, jealousy, fun, etc...

This anime I know is about building friendship and learning how to understand people through troubled times. I always see this in most animes nowadays. Even when it comes to "There is no shortcut to success, hard work pays". I always see this in most animes.

Harem anime can be a love-triangle or so. I wouldn't know.

I was recommended by one of my friends to watch this anime.

The problem is I don't think the comedy in the anime is as funny as Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai and not ... only that, I really couldn't relate to the characters well enough. I just only relate them to a certain extent. I liked how the characters put in their hard work to achieve their goals.

I really don't mind the voice acting because I am really fine with the voice acting.

I really enjoy an anime which has characters which I can relate well like "My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU" and also has some lifelong learning experiences like "Baka & Test". However, Sakurasou no pet Kanojo didn't have these qualities. The characters are bland and boring.

If this anime is condensed to 13 episodes then I will have a better chance of liking this anime or hating this anime.

The name, Aoyama Nanami has almost the same pronunciation of the name Ao Nanami (Yozakura Quartet).

I also like the art and animation especially the ending song "Prime Number" by Asuka Ookura. The ending song was very catchy and I love it.

To me, this anime takes it on the easy route and just say "Never give up". Yes, it is very easy to say such a thing and this quote was used a lot of times. Sometimes can get very irritating.

I'm sorry, people. I have already seen a lot of slice of life comedy animes and I already had my fun in Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai. I really, really tried to like this anime, but in the end I just have mixed opinions on this.

I neither liked nor hate this anime which is given a 5/10. I just have a mixed opinion. Remember, different people have different preferences. That's cool if you like this show. I really appreciate your preference.

[Second Thought]
I realised that Aoyama Nanami is the most annoying character in this series. She is whiny and a crybaby. She keeps blaming herself when things don't turn out the way she wants. Let me tell you, I have seen anime characters who have gone through worse situations than she ever would and they never cry and complain. They really handled their situations way better than her.

Not only that, the main guy is just bland and forgettable. I have forgotten who his name is. To me, Mashiro is a stoic character and she is also a bit bland.

Jin is the most likable in this series who is calm and smart but he doesn't leave me much impression.

I just don't understand why girls cry a lot in most anime nowadays just because of a mishap. There are girls who had mishaps and yet handled them very well and strongly. They also don't rely on people for help. I prefer girls who are strong and not cry like Revy from Black Lagoon.

Even though this has bad comedic component, or that has triangle, it contains one moral, that is described to viewer through drama.

Comedy based on awkward situations that referred to main female character — Mahiro. More than enough dirty jokes in first half. Second half better, because there's less stupid humor for 12-13 olds. So i don't recommend this part.

Drama
Drama based on two directions: romantic, career.
1)Basic love triangle, nothing to say.
2)Career drawbacks. There's no easy path for main characters. Hard work doesn't have recoil and someone with a talant always will be better than you. This worldviews main character obitains through tears and sweat. This like ... when we have a typical overpowered isekai main charachter that gets all that they needs, but it turned upside down.

Romance
Not so bad, but compared to goats in this jounre, it's nothingness. So we have 2 paralel lines with main and minor charachters, like in "Kaguya sama: Love is war". There's nothing to say without spoilers

School events
Cultural festivals, summer festivals, cristmas. In one word — chicé.

Graphics kinda good.

Conclution
For me is hard to write a rewiews on common slice-of-life romcom. Nothing to say. There's no inspiring, exiting moments, probably because of jounre. That was made for fun, so it might be boring if watch 3 or more series per day. For better enjoyment i recommend to chil. I set mixed fellings because of this jokes in first part, that might dissapoint viewer.

After watching Rascal does not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, I thought I would look at some of the other works of this author. I was encouraged by the high popularity ranking, and seeing this was the only other major anime adaptation the author got, decided to give this one a shot. Unfortunately, Sakurasou was written and adapted several years before Rascal, and it is obvious that one was taken on by a far more mature and experienced writer than the other.

That's not to say it ended up being bad, per se. The plot was fine, the animation looked nice, the OP was somewhat generic ... but with some touch-up could have easily been fantastic, and the humor was never gut-busting but could be decidedly clever. if you think you will like this anime, than you almost definitely will. I just see how much better it could have been, though it has been swallowed by the tides of the many anime like it and forgotten to time.

The first thing that bothers me is the fanservice. I always dislike fanservice, but I usually accept it as part of the industry and don't bother to make note of it. However, it is particularly jarring here; it always distracts from the point and never matches the tone of the scene, though it does get rarer later on. I also feel compelled to warn you, there is some mercifully rare sister stuff, which crosses a line from "uncomfortable but some people like it" to straight up not okay. I mentioned Rascal does not Dream earlier, which handled that sort of thing far more acceptably, showing some growth on the side of the author.

Secondly, to the romance, it feels to shoehorned, being probably the thing dragging this show down the most. It's so frustrating, mostly because of the love triangle they create between our male lead Sorata, the female lead Shiina, and Soratas' friend Aoyama. The love triangle has been overused in all media, not just anime, so seeing it used here is a detriment. But that's just the thing-it doesn't feel intentional, more like it stumbled into existence thanks to indecision! I'd like to compare to the show Love, Chunibyo, and other Delusions. In it, our main character shows minor hints toward a secondary character, so I was fully onboard wanting the two to get together. However, LC&D quickly removes that as the two actually get to know each other, showing the crush to have been superficial at best, and quickly builds a far more interesting romance between the two leads instead. This was done well! Despite my initial bias toward one romance, I was completely swayed to become convinced in the other instead. THE SHOW MADE UP ITS MIND. Even Rascal does not Dream did this-though the female lead isn't my favorite character by a long shot, I still agree with how the romance ended because they played it convincingly.

The Pet Girl of Sakurasou instead is indecisive. A good love triangle might have served to at least raise tension or invest me, but this one just dragged the story down due to the weak relationship building. This leads me the other major detriment: the characters. Of the main plot, Aoyama was the only interesting character. Sorata was our typical fill-in protagonist; you know the type, overly polite, brown or black hair, no defining features other than maybe an antenna hair, only exists to move plot forward, and generally the victim of whatever shenanigans occur. Shiina's inexpressiveness could have been handled better than it was. It feels like she was either cute and sweet during emotional moments or cute and clueless during comedic ones, with no nuance or gradient. I would have preferred a standard Kuudere rather than this fake one. Aoyama had obvious development and a serious flaw about her low self-esteem, so of course I root for her crush on Sorata to pan out, despite it being obvious that this is not going to happen. Either I am invariably disappointed at this romance, or I just don't take interest in one of the main points of the show. I'm not trying to be the shipper who gets angry at the writer because their waifu didn't get the guy, honestly. I just feel the relationships were handled poorly and I have lesser interest in these main characters.

Well, things are getting negative, so time to say some nice stuff. The other side characters are pretty interesting and funny, though somewhat limited by their "thing." I genuinely enjoyed the B-plot between Misaki and Jin because of how it expanded the two of them out of their chiches somewhat. Ryuunosuke was an absolute joy to have on the screen and felt the most original. The setting was better than normal; sure it was still high school, but it focused on the dorm life, at least somewhat of a breath of fresh air.

Ultimately, this show is too tropey to get anywhere. it resembles too much of the rest of the industry. It exemplifies average, thus the 5 rating. It's the best the standard could be(a 5.5?), but it isn't anything special beyond that. I'll repeat myself in saying you should watch this if it interests you, but I don't think it will impact you strongly if you do.

This anime...

was very average.The story isn't that great, and the characters were bland.I don't know why this anime has a 8 on here; maybe this was different compared to the other animes that came out at the time?Either way, its just generic.

Ending was bland too.I don't know if this is another case of a anime with a different ending from the manga, but I hope that's the case.

The only good thing I could say about this anime is that the music and art are ok. I'm not really into the music that's in most anime, but if that's your case you might enjoy the OP ... and ED from this anime. Same thing for the art. Other then detailing and animating, I think that art is subjective enough that I wouldn't really complain about the art in most anime. Sorry that I suck at reviewing and English, I just suck.

“The Pet Girl of Sakurasou” is what happens when You create a cast of characters with potential and instead of polishing them You just let them loose in clichetown.

Ok… let’s get one thing out of the way. This show is classified under “drama” and “romance”. It’s pretty much bullshit. The drama is lacklustre and romance almost non-existent. It tries, I’ll give it that, but fails to deliver any kind of emotional impact on both fronts in the last stretch. It’s just a slice of life show with elements of comedy, drama and a little bit (and that’s me being generous) of romance.

We experience the show ... from the POV of Kanda Sorata. A boy forced by circumstances to live in Sakura hall - a dorm deemed a den of troublemakers. Kanda himself is a generic hero - overly kind, only shows something that resembles a spine when it comes to his friends problems and pretty much the worst character of the show. There are moments when the show makes You hope that there will be something more about him but… nope. Even in the way he reacts to his lowest point he’s still lukewarm at best.

Along for a ride we have a cast of… pretty basic characters for an anime. Those are just a little better than usual. Not great, but above the median.

Mashiro Shiina - a world famous painter with a boner for drawing manga, despite the fact that a lot of people want her to get back to fine art. She starts off as a socially inept, awkward girl but during the show she learns about infatuation and friendship. She’s the second worst character of the show and that’s because her change doesn’t bring a real change to her actions and interactions.

Nanami Aoyama - Sorata’s classmate and probably the only character in the show that could pull off a normal member of society act without a problem. She’s hard working, helpful to others and… has a crush on Sorata, because of course she does. Granted I think her and Sorata dynamic is one of the best in the show.

Ryuunosuke Akasaka - the least original character of the show and yet one of the least annoying. A 16 year old shut in, computer whiz suffering from gynophobia. He’s the voice of logic for the entire show. Despite being kind of a dick he doesn’t shy away from helping the residents out. He even gets Sorata started on his journey of becoming a game creator. To make it easier to avoid contact with people he communicates mostly by text and even created an AI that takes care of most of his interactions.

Misaki Kamiigusa - a hyperactive, loud and chaotic girl with skill and talent in creating animations. She starts out as the most annoying character of them all but ends up as one of the better ones. Mostly because of the fact that she shows more than one side of herself in more than just one type of situation, like the rest of the menagerie. She has a crush on Jin, is pretty open about it and doesn’t get why he would reject her.

Jin Mitaka - a cool headed playboy who has a crush on Misaki but doesn’t want to confess before becoming someone worthy of being with her. Probably the flattest character of them all when it comes to personality.

Now, despite the fact that the characters lack originality they make up for it with their interactions. In a vacuum they would be just another bunch of anime characters but what really sets them apart and elevates the show as a whole are the interactions between them. Except Jin. He’s pretty much the same all the way and has the least amount of interactions with his contestants.
Now.. despite the fact that I just threw some shade on him, one of two most interesting dynamics in the show is Jin and Misaki. Her trying to make him hers and his manoeuvres to avoid that and yet keeping her within arms reach are pretty solid. Yes, it becomes repetitive rather quickly but the tension between them is probably the most solid romance in the show. Too bad it’s mostly played for laughs 90% of the time.

The dynamic I just couldn't stomach is the main “romance” of the story - Sorata and Shiina. That’s a total train wreck. He’s basically her handler trying to put any amount of sense into her and fails most of the time. She’s needy, annoying, causes trouble for him and the show still wants me to go along with the romance here? That’s a no for me. In the history of dumb choices for a romance this one would be in the first 5.

The rest of the dynamics are pretty solid. Yes we mostly see the dynamics between Sorata and others but not only. The characters play off each other well and You can really buy the fact that they live together. The only thing that's missing is more conflicts between them. I get it, it’s an anime that wants to sell You the “We are all friends” myth but that’s what is holding it back. I lived with a lot of people under one roof. Trust me. No god damn way they would all be this nice to each other for that long. There is room in this cast for more conflict but the show does everything to avoid it. Friends have disagreements and fights. That doesn’t make them less of friends.

Despite that the show is trying to have drama in it. The problem is that the drama is lazy. Apart from the drama between Misaki and Jin, the show mostly tells us why the situation is dramatic. It does not show it. Someone didn’t do well in a casting and has fears that the last 2 years of hard work goes down the drain? Awesome. SHOW ME THAT. For the whole show we don’t see the hard work. We don’t get the build up. What we do get is just the payoff - a crying character… twice in one episode! The show wants us to care about something that we don’t really see. I guess “Show don’t tell” doesn’t apply here.

The comedy isn’t much better. It’s mostly based on the characters being loud, obnoxious or exalted. Nothing subtle or original.

I don’t even want to touch the subject of romance. The best one is between Misaki and Jin… and it’s still just ok. The “main” romance between Sorata and Mashiro is done terribly. The characters don’t have any real chemistry between them. Most scenes are just Sorata taking care of a lost, helpless child.

Despite all that, the show still has some charm and it could be worth the watch just for the interactions between the cast members. It’s just not as good as most people here think it is. Still a solid watch.

The plot of "Pet Girl" revolves around a group of outsiders that got themselves banished from living in regular student dorms. Instead they live together in "Sakurasou", which is where the school's problem childern reside. The story starts, when a new student: Shiina Mashiro a world-class professional painter joins the group as she followed her newly found calling to be a manga artist to japan. Similarly to Mashiro all the main characters have a background in a somewhat artistic field, be it writing, drawing, acting, animating or programming. Together they all visit an Art school, so the protagonists are essentially a bunch of artists. As ... the story unfolds we follow these misfits around their lives, get acquinted to their wishes, problems, ambitions and last but not least insecurities.

As it's typical for a slice-of-life the story relies heavily on the charm of its main cast. Especially the main protagonist – Sorata Kanda – is obviously designed to be relatable. He is unsure of himself, his abilities and his place in the world and personality-wise rather mild-mannered and considerate. Over the course of the story he struggles with his calling and a reoccuring theme is the unfairness in the distribution of talent. Hardworking and diligent but ultimately untalented characters see themselves next to much more naturally gifted people, which causes a lot of friction among the main cast. This is in fact THE theme of the show, which is the driving force behind most of the main conflicts. (Good news: They don't take the easy way out.)
Overall the cast is amiable and their friendship comes across as genuine as the characters harmonize well with each other. Clichés are mostly avoided and implemented well if used.

The characters are sometimes very emotional and consequently the drama might seem constructed if not forced at times but this can be understood in the context that sakurasou is the home of a group of artists, which maybe tend to be more emotionally oriented and sensitive. Mostly I could not really relate to their problems or why the characters form an opinion or make a certain decision, but this happens very often.

Another very big point in the show is romance (duh..). Personally I found the romance parts to be well-written to the point of being genuinly endearing at times. However I can see, why some would claim it was cheesy; sometimes they really lay of thick. If typical shy-cutesy anime romance is not for you, then you will probably not like it.

The comedy part of rom-com is well done as well. The humor is light and family-friendly and the snarky comments of the protagonist made me laugh a couple of times. Still one should keep in mind that the story goes more in the direction of drama rather than comedy. The humorous moments might be sweet but they are few.

From a technical point of view there is little to say. The animation is good but not oustanding and the music is pretty forgettable as well.

A decent school romance series revolving around the daily lives of a group of high-schoolers and their struggles. The premise is not something new but the series manages to maintain your anticipation for what is going to happen next.

In the beginning there were some profound moments that gave an initial impression that the show has potential to turn out as something great. However, after a while the drama started becoming extremely repeatitive and forced. The main character has quite a lot of spastic moments, and he quickly becomes one of the most irritating main characters ever. Moreover, his unrealistic inability to get simple hints when ... it comes to romance is over the top and drags the show unnecessarily for so many episodes.

The comedy and slice-of-life moments are decent and quite enjoyable. However, the meagre character growth combined with a weak ending for a 24-episode long series render the show indifferent. It is a significantly degraded version of Hachimitsu to Clover.

After seeing all the rave reviews on MAL and going into this knowing it was written by the same author as Bunny Girl Senpai I went into this with high expectations only to be floored by how truly appalling this series was. Bear with me as I explain why I gave it such a low rating. I honestly dont get why people give this show such high praise.

The Story:

Sakurasou Pet No Kanojo to me can be best described as a well wrapped turd by the studio only for you to slowly open it and get a whiff of the stench of generic plot and ... terrible story to offend your senses.

The first episode opens with Kamiigusas panties right in the MCs face, big red flag already starting out. Sorata leaves his regular dorm and joins Sakura hall because muh kittens, he then meets Mashiro who is somehow autistic (probably) and a genius at the same time.

Sorata wants to be a game developer only to end up inevitably failing because who wants a music game with mechanics marketed towards a bunch of 8 year olds?

He also yells at Mashiro to work harder and not slack off then gets mad at her anyways when she gets a job as illustrator at the company he was applying for because she drew the illustrations in his game. I mean ofc she was going to get hired shes exceptionally talented you dolt. This was your idea after all.

I also don't get how he apparently loves Mashiro but ignores her to run to Aoyomas aid breaking promises with her multiple times.

The story claims to be a romcom but it seems to do a terrible job at being funny or serious as it cant seem to stick to a theme it executes both of these terribly most of the time. Whenever something serious is supposed to happen the mood is killed instantly by trying to be comical.

The characters:

I really can't stand Sorata, hes either always angry or screaming and throwing a temper tantrum whenever things don't go his way. He also spends 90 percent of the story either yelling at Mashiro for 90 percent of the story or ignoring her. Real pathetic MC.

Kamiigusa never shuts up and is either really hyper or extremely depressed, there is never any in between. Really annoying

Nanami is your generic tsundere side girl type who has no horse in the race for the MCs affection despite the show trying to convince you otherwise.

Ryuunosuke is your extreme recluse, as sad as it is I found myself actually liking him more than most of the characters and he was the only character in the show to remotely have a point on anything. Sadly it seems no one listens to him at all. What a shame. He seemed to get the most meaningful character development.

Then theres Mashiro, the blonde who is a savant at painting and drawing manga but has zero social skills and has difficulty looking after herself. She has a monotone voice. Probably the only interesting character in the show other than Ryuunosuke.

The verdict:

While the studio did an excellent job with the opening, ending and the animation the story sadly is trash. I would recommend you watch Bunny Girl Senpai instead that show is much better and it appears the author learned from his mistakes from this show.