Sakura-sou no Pet na Kanojo

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.

You sometimes have that anime, that you don't realise you had so much fun watching until you finished it? That was the deal with Sakurasou for me.
Plot 9/10
The plot tells a story of a teenage boy named Kanda Sorata. For keeping a stray cat in his dorm, he is forced to move to Sakurasou, which is basically the nut house dorm. The anime begins with him being bored. And right off the bat we know, that something is going to happen to make him un-bored (is that even a word?). The thing to end Sorata's boredom is Shiina Mashiro, a girl that moves to Sakurasou. ... She can't do any of the basic things herself, for example dressing. Sorata gets put on Mashiro Duty, and for that moment on, it's up to him to take care of the girl. Sounds interesting enough. The first 5 episodes or so are filled with ecchi scenes, but once you get through them, the plot takes a more serious route. The show itself is about talented people. We have : the voice actress, the mangaka, the computer expert, the script writer, the anime maker, etc. The plot focuses on all of those people chasing their dreams, falling and getting up. At one point, the results of all the competitions, auditions were predictable, and that was what kinda annoyed me. Neverthless, this show was about struggling for your dreams, about finding love and making memories. The plot bought me entirely, except for the predictable results of the competitions and auditions.
Art 9/10
THe art in Sakurasou was so pretty! The colors were really flashy and bright, the whole show bursting with blues, pinks and purples. But rather than hurting the eye, it was really pleasant to watch. The animation was very... lined. But that was in no way a problem. In fact, it gave the show a warm vibe, contrasting with the cheerful colors.
Sound 9/10
The music itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The OP's and ED's were very catchy and fun to sing. Even the second ED, which I hated so much, played on repeat in my head. The OST's were played in the right moments: the sad, emotional ones in the feely scenes, the happy, party ones in the cheerful scenes. The seiyuu's did a FAB job. Each of them fitted perfectly in his/her role. Ai Kayano made Mashiro sound sort of like Kanade from Angel Beats, but it fitted just fine.
Character 10/10
All of the characters in Sakurasou were unique. There had to be at least one character that you loved (Misaki) and at least one character you hated (Aoyama). But no matter which characters they were, you got so hella attached to them! All of them had their flaws and good sides. I think that if it wasn't for the characters, I wouldn't have enjoyed Sakurasou as much.
Enjoyment 10/10
This show will make you take out the tissue box, will get you laughing out loud, going "Aww", and give you a ton of other emotions. You won't regret any of the 24 episodes you spend watching this anime. It was enjoyable as hell, funny and overall just nice to watch! Anime is supposed to entertain you, and Sakurasou fits this bill perfectly.
Overall 9/10
It was a little predictable. Mashiro could be sort of annoying with her poker face. [SPOILER] We didn't get a Mashiro and Sorata kiss. But those are only minor flaws that this anime possesses. And you don't mind them at all. I strongly recommend Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.
"I believe in panties"~Shiina Mashiro

Alright, Anime with commedy and romance are common to us. But, Sakurasou is diffrent, i feel from 3 first episode ( The Third One ) makes me speechless. i have high expectation that this anime have DRAMA - in genre's.

well, the storyline is about kanda sorata the art students. He live in reguler dorm, but because his habits ( cat Maniac ) he cant leave cats alone and that's why he transfered to Sakurasou Dorm. in sakurasou there are many people with BROKEN Characteristics but very talented ( i wonder they are exists ). And then sorata meets someone that he never expect ... before, Shiro. She is very calm person ( Actually She is EXTREMELY CALM ) and sorata has job to take care for her. Shiro's identity is Famous International Artistic. And then the Story begin.
this is my General Point ( from my Point Of View )

- Art 8
- music 9
- Storyline 9

and i will keep update this review until this anime done airing.

"I believe in panties." -Shiina Mashiro Episode 11

Updated for the last episode, thanks for following! ;)

To be honest, I've seen this anime about 4 months ago on the anime's to watch list back in 2012, but I had skipped over it thinking it was another standard harem. However, this is one of the best anime's I've seen, combining comedy, romance, unrequited love, an innocent girl, girl looking guy, crazy girl, and light fanservice all into one.

Story 9/10: The plot of the story doesn't sound all that interesting by itself, but what really shines is how each character will interact with the story. Though it's a ... bit predictable, each character throughout each "arc" will encounter a problem that takes the collaborative efforts of everyone to push through it.

Slight spoiler, but toward the end the story really touched my heart, and was very emotional. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending, and I'm quite impressed at the ending. (someone pointed it out that it's based on the light novel or something, but nevertheless it is still an amazing story). It's one of the few animes that has actually left me with goosebumbs as the series finished.

Art 7/10: The artwork that they show in the anime itself is amazing, showing some amazing computer artistry. However, the characters themselves are fairly normal, with the only exception being Mashiro imo, who has the "dont care" look about her.

Sound 7/10: I hardly ever pay attention to the sound in the anime, so take this part with a grain of salt
Nothing amazing, nothing horrible.

Character 8/10: Mashiro seems to be the only character that develops at all, but all the characters fulfill the roles that they are in fairly well. Akataka is amazing in his own right, however, being the anti social person he his, but still having a unique personality. However, Jin is the real gold gem among all of them, having such humorous dialogue that goes really well with Mashiro's actions.

UPDATED VERSION: I feel the need to amend my earlier review on the character. All the main characters, par Jin, Misaki, and Chihiro-sensei, have developed throughout the anime. I think that no anime is good without some sort of character development, because without it I feel like I've walked in a giant circle and remain unsatisfied. However, Sakurasou fulfills my desire for change, and really left a lasting impression on me.

Enjoyment 10/10: I could hardly stop laughing between all the gags in the shows. I won't spoil anything, but Kanda's reactions are hilarious.

Overall 9/10: Fairly standard slice of life ish anime (sorry if I'm wrong, just tryig out some new lingo) but amazing in its own right. If you enjoyed any comedy romances, then this is an amazing pick up.

Update: The anime honestly has been one of the most shocking, influential, and touching anime that I've ever watched. The feeling I had toward the end definitely left an impact on me, and I wish that they would add a sequel or something of the like, as I'd love to see what would happen later. However, I doubt this will happen, as it ended on a solid and satisfying note.

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

“What color do you want to be?”

With this strange question starts the story of a couple of “problem children” at Sakurasou. A dorm for students who have violated Suiko (a.k.a. high school affiliated with Suimei University of the Arts) policies, Sakurasou shelters a diverse group of students each with a unique personality. As a result, there isn’t one day that the dorm stays quiet, and the students are free to express their creativity without worry of getting kicked out.

At the start of the story, everyone starts on an empty canvas, each with a brush that has yet to be dabbed in any specific "color." ... As viewers follow along the process of each character realizing his or her dream and pursuing that dream, it starts to become clear who they are, or what “color” they paint with. With its many heartwarming as well as heart-wrenching moments, this unusual group of friends at Sakurasou all together paints a masterpiece that will leave the viewers smiling from start to end.

(Below I provide the “pluses” and “deltas” of the show. Pluses will signify the positive aspects of the anime, while deltas will signify aspects of the anime that could have been changed or improved upon.)

Pluses:

(+) Overall message: The world is unfair. Those who are gifted are acknowledged and those who cannot keep up are left behind in the dark. Sooner or later, the feeling of frustration, depression, and helplessness will overcome anyone left in the dark, pulling them further and further back. The main protagonist, Kanda Sorata, suffers the most from the unfairness of this world, and cannot help but vent his anger out on others and blame others for his misfortunes. However, the anime sends out a positive message for those who suffer like Sorata, and that is to accept the fact that the world is indeed unfair and face the failures head-on instead of trying to run away. The anime reinforces the fact that failure is but a stepping stone to success, and there’s no need to become discouraged from it. Seeing Sorata overcome his struggles and move on with his life to tackle his next challenges is emotionally satisfying and surprisingly inspirational. Sorata proves that being optimistic and never losing sight of what you want to do will eventually lead to better results. With such a deep and meaningful message for the young demographic, it’s hard not to like this anime.

(+) Character development: Everyone in this anime has a goal that they want to reach. The anime shows the process of each of them trying to reach that goal, while they constantly go through struggles. And along that process, viewers see the characters gradually learning, maturing, and becoming better people overall. As much as I would love to expand on how each character changes throughout the series, I’ll leave the joy of watching each of them change to the viewers. The developments are perfectly paced so that they help viewers naturally develop deep connections with the characters. Towards the end of the anime when time inevitably drifts them apart, there’s a strong sense of bitter sweetness because one side of you is happy for them and the other is sad that they’re moving on.

(+) Realistic emotions: The emotions expressed and experienced by the characters as they go through their individual development are all too realistic and relatable. The fun yet exhausting nights of working on a project or practicing for a competition, the anxiety before an interview or presentation, the joys of getting accepted, and the frustrations of getting rejected – these are all experiences that all of us have experienced at one point or another in our lives. And some of the emotions that we express during these times are not pretty. This anime delivers the raw and ugly emotions such as jealousy, anger, bitterness, and hopelessness. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is indeed darker than it seems. The anime is not about the characters starting from the bottom and making it big within 24 episodes, but about people starting from the bottom and struggling to make it big. Such is the stark reality of society right now, and the anime teaches the painful lesson that people who think determination and hard work are all they need to reach their goal are overly naïve.

(+) Well-developed ending: Unlike most anime whose ending comprises of both the climax and resolution of the story, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo manages to space out the climax and resolution over the last three episodes of the series. As a result, the ending is perfectly paced and not rushed at all; the buildup of emotions leading up to the climax is perfectly delivered; and the resolution is overall satisfying and doesn’t leave the audience wanting for more.

Deltas:

(-) Fan service: Anime productions often seem to feel a need to please the fans with underwear scenes, cleavage shots, and sexual innuendos. As enticing as these scenes are the first few times, the fan service quickly becomes stale, repetitive, unnecessary, and uninteresting. If anything, fan service hurts the value of the anime because it demonstrates the desperate measures that the production took to maintain or gain popularity. Sadly enough, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is no exception. Expect a lot of underwear scenes, cleavage shots, and sexual innuendos whenever the anime isn’t trying to be serious.

(-) Stereotypical characters: When it comes to school-life + romantic comedy anime, nothing bothers me more than seeing the same personas fulfilling the same stereotypes. For example, there is always the overly enthusiastic character that usually brightens up the mood. There is always the quiet one with an emotionless face or a soft-spoken voice, and these characters tend to be airheaded, socially awkward, gifted with a talent, or all of the above. There is always the hardworking one that often works his or herself to the point of becoming ill. There is the overly cynical or critical one that says what is on his or her mind, but doesn’t mean it in a bad way. There is the tsundere, or a typical girl that is tough as nails, but emotionally sensitive. And of course, there’s the average male or female protagonist that is overly optimistic and unnaturally oblivious to the idea of romance. Of course, these stereotypes are simply some of the most common personas that I see in a school-life + romantic comedy anime and thus might not apply to a lot of school-life anime that I have yet to see. However, at some point I, as a viewer, will get tired of seeing the same persona, with more or less the same backgrounds, and more or less the same problems. Having said that, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo fulfills MOST of the stereotypes mentioned and thus their personalities felt familiar at best and not really interesting. What kept me interested in the characters was the realistic side of them, the side of them that tries to reach their goals.

(-) Lack of Art: As an anime about students at an art school, there is an unsatisfying amount of artworks shown. Also, as an anime that explores the world of painting, voice acting, anime, manga, and gaming, the anime only touches upon the surface-level knowledge of each world. However, the lack of art and the knowledge doesn’t take much away from the anime. This delta is more of a personal complaint, because the anime seems to only be TELLING how hard the characters work and how passionate they are, rather than taking the time SHOWING these things through artworks that characters produce.

(-) Depth of the relationships: There are romantic relationships developing left and right between the characters, so it is quite difficult to take all of them seriously. There is only one relationship in this anime that is explored deeply, and that is the only relationship the viewers should have been introduced to (namely, the Jin and Misaki couple). The other relationships take the focus away from the anime because they are neither realistic nor relevant (to the main story). For example, there is nothing more frustrating than an oblivious protagonist failing to notice two girls trying to get his attention. Many times I had to skip through the scenes that show the “progress” of the protagonist’s relationship with each of the two girls, simply because the conversations, the reactions, and the progress of the relationship seemed too cliché and superficial. Not to say I disliked the characters, but I preferred to see their serious side more so than their awkward romantic side. (If you’ve grown jaded from the harem-type anime, you’ll know what I mean).

Overall: Although Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo fails to escape the stereotypes of a typical school-life + romantic comedy anime, the masterful development of the story and the characters, along with several enjoyable and hilarious moments, is enough to make this anime a must-watch.

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Review by MAL criteria:

(This section will be kept short because I will simply be summarizing some of the points I made above)

Story: 9/10

The masterful development of the characters as they pursue their dreams, along with the various emotions that they express or experience, are very relatable and real. The story is perfectly paced and tries to deliver a positive message for those troubled like the characters.

Art: 9/10

Even if I complained about the lack of art in this anime, I could tell that the production spent countless hours trying to perfect the additional artworks while having to animate the characters. The watercolor artworks, the 3D rendering portion, and artworks for games were all beautifully done and with great detail.

If that wasn’t enough, some of the scenes in this anime were drop-dead gorgeous and stunning. I will leave the surprise for the viewers, but don’t underestimate a school-life + romantic comedy because of its school-life setting.

It goes on without saying that the characters are well-designed and beautifully animated. The style of characters is kind of generic and simple, but each of the characters have distinguishing features that make them unique.

Sound: 7/10

The soundtrack is nothing too special. Most of the tracks are short so that they fit a certain situation or mood in the anime. Both the openings and endings are your typical upbeat cheerful songs that are catchy but not quite noteworthy.

What gives the sound at least a 7 is the perfect voice acting, especially when the actors express realistic emotions like sadness, anger, bitterness, hopelessness, and jealousy.

Character: 8/10

Although all the characters are well-developed and lovable, they still fail to be 100% relatable due to their cliché personas of a typical school-life + romantic comedy anime.

Enjoyment: 9/10

There is not one moment when I felt bored while watching this anime (maybe except the cliché romantic scenes). The anime elicited out of me various emotions, so a lot of the times I found myself laughing one moment and then choking up the next.

8.4/10

...an ordinary boy and a brilliant girl must live like "a master and his pet."
- Thus ends the synopsis for The Pet Girl of Sakurasou(Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo)

Reading such a synopsis, and noting that the genre was another comedy + romance, I saw another brainless anime with a typical anime guy getting a lot of girls, a typical dumb-blonde, etc. at first.
You see, I was getting tired of seeing the same romcom animes again and again, and this is the reason I've been putting off from watching this series for so long. The only reason I decided to watch the series was because of ... its unexpectedly high rating.

However, I couldn't have been more wrong about this series, which I am happy to give a 10/10 rating, putting this series up there with SnK, SAO, and CGLR in my humble opinion.
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is another masterpiece by J.C.Staff and I would compare it to their other great anime Toradora!, which has a similar feel.

Now, I shall stop my useless babble and get right on with it:

Story: 9/10
To be honest, in the first few episodes I had my doubts. The anime starts out with a guy moving in to a dorm, which happens to let students to do as they please, and then an attractive+clueless girl. Oh, and did I mention that the girl also happens to be dumb to the extent that the guy needs to help her get dressed, check that she's actually wearing underwear, dry her hair and stuff? There's also the typical nekos(cats) that keep appearing everywhere.
However, I still had to give a 9 out of 10 because the story turned out to be very good.
I won't go over the plot again (you can find that in the synopsis above or just google it or whatever), but the story sure has some very touching moments in it, and despite being a romcom, the story explores various themes in depth.
The pacing is great, and not too unrealistic as well.
There still were some parts of the story that were a bit too cliche (not much, but some), which is why I docked one point :P

Sound & Art: 10/10
The director of this anime is known to have deep interest in both music and art, so maybe her influence helped out here?
Well I don't know about all that, but my point is that the artwork of this anime is very pretty and the characters are also drawn nicely.
I also liked that the artwork was mostly bright and colorful.

The sound was also great.
I liked the OPs & ED, and the background music was always fitting and pleasing.
The voice actors were very passionate (especially a certain alien) and the way they talked had me laughing quite often.
Therefore, 10 out of 10 for sound as well! (mainly because of the great VAs)

Character: 10/10
I've somewhat mentioned this in the "Story" section, but anyways: The characters are pretty realistic and are interesting. Each character is unique and has their own interests and goals. They all have some flaws which they themselves recognize, and they will each face problems because of this, which they eventually learn to accept or overcome.
There is some nice character development here, and many characters has changed drastically(for the better i think) throughout the series.
Like most anime of this genre, the characters decide the quality of the anime, and I have to say that the characters were very well thought out indeed.
10 out of 10.

Enjoyment: 10/10
Because of all the reasons above, I give this anime a 10/10.
The anime sometimes made me feel happy, sometimes sad. There are those nice tear-jerking moments, and then those hilarious moments when one of the lovely characters does something stupid.
Another good thing = No unnecessary fan-service (Nope, sorry for those ppl just looking for naked women in animes, but people don't "accidentally" kiss or get their clothes torn or whatever in this anime).
There is some nudity here and there, but it's explained in the plot as due to the Pet Girl's lack of common sense or courtesy.
Overall a very enjoyable and commendable anime.
10 out of 10.

Has there ever been a time while watching anime where you, the viewer, dislike a part of an anime that is objectively very well done? For me, that is the case with Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.

Normally, romance shows generally don't have much to talk about story-wise, as they are more or less completely character driven. And even though Sakurasou is more or less completely character driven, the story holds up on it's own fairly well. What I liked about the story is that it never takes too long on a particular topic, but fleshes each topic out enough to give it weight and ... meaning. They managed time and pacing really well in this aspect.

One of the best aspects of Sakurasou is it's themes. One such theme is failure.
When a character fails a particular goal, you feel so much pain for them because of the amount of time and effort they put into that goal. Themes such as this make Sakurasou feel very relatable and close to home.

The characters in Sakurasou is easily what you pay to see when watching this anime. What I liked about these characters was that, at the beginning, they seemed very generic and arc-typical. You had the quiet girl, the tsundere, the cheerful bouncy girl, and so forth. However, each character is so much more than just that.

Let's start off with my favourite character, Mashiro. She has easily become one of my favourite female characters in anime. Mashiro is an extremely phenomenal artist, to the point where she leaves everyone else in her dust. However, she lacks basic everyday knowledge, such as washing or putting on clothes, cooking, etc. She is an example of the quiet girl archetype done wonderfully. Although she is quiet and seemingly emotionless, she cares deeply for the friends she meets, and shows that eternal bond of friendship through her emaculate paintings and manga drawings. This is going to sound kind of misleading, but she is the indirect cause of a lot of the conflict in this show because of how great she is at painting, as she is a character that keeps achieving her goals whereas many other characters fail, which leads to jealousy, another theme shown prevalently throughout the show. But the lengths she goes to correct what her position in the world has done to her friends leads to some of the more emotionally powerful scenes in the anime. One last thing that made me love Mashiro as a character was the few times where she struggled to come to terms with her feelings. Those moments were truly interesting to watch, and makes Mashiro even more dynamic.

Kanda Sorata, the main male protagonist, is a lot less gifted that Mashiro, and has to work tremendously hard to achieve his dreams. What made him interesting was his relationship with Mashiro. When Mashiro succeeds in her dreams, he fails in his, and he, at points, shuns her as she is on a whole other level than her. On the other hand, he looks up to Mashiro as a sort of goal line; something to keep him motivated to complete his goals. However, what I really liked about the relationship was how balanced it was. While Mashiro helped him with motivation, along with other things, Sorata was always there when Mashiro needed help with social aspects of life, creating this kind of give and take relationship. Their bond created from leaning on each other was fantastic.

But this is where I dislike the series. It was the objectively good thing I was talking about. The love triangle between Aoyama, Kanda, and Mashiro. The thing is, Aoyama is a great character in her own right, and the love triangle does work. Aoyama is also someone who has to work hard to achieve her goals, and sometimes fails in spite of her hard work. In this aspect, Aoyama and Kanda understand what the other is going through. This is the main problem I have with the series. Both Sorata's and Aoyama's relationship is developed, and Mashiro's and Sorata's relationship is developed. When the anime ends, there is not a clear line of the romantic outcome that should have taken place. Both of these relationships are very enjoyable to watch, but it leaves the viewer muddled and confused.

The other relationships are handled nicely in my opinion, albeit to a lesser extent. Jin and Misaki's relationship had a good feeling to it, and had a nice message behind it, but it left a lot to be desired. I feel more time could have definetely been put to flesh out their relationship more. This goes the same with Ryuunosuke and Rita's relationship. Their relationship is focused on even less, but it had a great plan for success. It's just that that plan was never fully acted upon.

This is more of a nitpick than anything, but it would have been nice to give the characters reasons for their dreams. Why did Sorata want to be a game designer? Why does Aoyama want to be a voice actress? This isn't that big of a deal because their passion for their dreams overcomes this minor gripe, but it still would have been nice.

There isn't a lot to talk about art and sound wise. The art had a very refreshing feel to it, as there was this pinkish gradient to everything. I know it sounds weird when I phrase it like that, but trust me, it looks good. The actual animation is standard fare. Romance shows aren't known for having bountiful amounts of movement.

One thing I will say about the sound was the voice actress of Mashiro's character. From the first few episodes to the last few, you could tell the growth of her character just by the emotion being slowly brought in episode to episode by the voice actress. Great job there.

The actual music was pretty good, but I was much more focused on the story and characters than the actual music. It worked, but there isn't else to it outside of that. The opening and endings where definitely better than most, though.

One last thing presentation wise. Ryuunosuke's character design and voice. It is VERY MISLEADING. He looks like a girl with really long hair, and even has a female voice actress, but he is indeed a dude. It was a little jarring at times to be sure.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo was a great reminder of the potential a romance show can bring. In a day and age where there is so much fanservice and little depth to shows of this nature, it is refreshing to see a fairly new title such as this one with so much emotion and depth. This isn't to say that there is no fanservice in this show, because there is plenty, but it get's toned down later in the series when the more dramatic scenes start to roll out. Same goes for the comedic aspects as well. You watch this show for the characters, their relationships, the drive they have for their dreams, and the emotion they bring. Some scenes almost brought me to tears at how emotionally powerful they were. And speaking of, the ending of the show was fantastic. I won't spoil it to you, but if you have seen Angel Beats, think that but much better. However, the romance itself, although fleshed out, feels confusing as, by the end of a show, their is no clear romantic conclusion. All in all, if you like romance shows, this is one you cannot miss; it is truly fantastic.

The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is very very relate-able and enjoyable on a Toradora level. Anyone who is/has been/ will be in the studies of the arts will enjoy and appreciate it even more so.

What it’s about: Sorata is your average nobody with a big heart who, due to his acquisition of a stray cat, is dumped into the notoriously zany world of the dorms at Sakurasou Hall until he finds an owner. Unfortunately, he seems to have given up finding an owner and has only taken on more cats as time has passed. Then Mashiro arrives. To add to the already insanely varied residents ... of the hall, she is a girl from England who is an artistic prodigy that has no concept of social norms or how to take care of herself. Needless to say, Sorata begins to take care of her as one would do for a … well… pet. This is a story following the day to day life of the hall’s residents; their friendships, romances, issues, and struggles with the real world.

Art: Though perhaps not THE best I’ve seen, the quality is up there, and considering it’s all about art in the first place, it kinda has to be anyway. 8/10

Characters: Very relate-able, very diverse, and lots of fun. All are remember-able and show some sort of growth throughout the series. Designs are well done for almost always sticking them in uniforms. 9/10

Music: Pretty good. Nothing too amazing, but it’s used well, and the OP’s and ED’s always managed to get me to bob my head. Enjoyable, but not remember-able. 8/10

Story: The story might have been slacking a bit at first, since it was mostly intro for all the characters and the hall trying to figure out what to do with Mashiro, but as the characters began their own struggles and friendships grew, things got a lot more interesting. The second half did seem to start becoming almost too plot driven in that it almost started taking away from the characters, but in the end it turned out to be enough of an emotional wringer that it didn’t matter. It has a definitive end, but it was definitely left open for a possible future season which has me on the fence. Since so much has been settled and changed, unless it’s handled well, it can only go downhill. 7/10

Some points I found good/ bad/ interesting:
1.)It was a real life approach to the romance between a caring guy and a hopeless girl. (Extreme yin yang of social aptitude and talent.)
2.) Lots of real life struggles, and the characters didn’t always ‘win’. Not your typical approach to an anime where typically hard work will always pay off.
3.)The love triangle was well handled and believable. It wasn’t really one sided or a ping pong match between the interests. It was more of a tug of war; it generally stayed in place, but the tension kept growing until one side caved in to defeat.
4.)The last arc seemed too haphazardly thrown in and drawn out, but led to a very good, emotional ending.

I feel like the staff had fun reliving their college days with this one. Between master painters, manga artists, voice actors, video game programmers, script writers and anime producers its like they were creating a version of themselves and showing all the struggles they had to endure to get where they are today. Having been a part of this culture as well I can certainly relate more than the average person probably will, especially when it comes to those all nighters and the 3 hour naps before your final exams. However, as much as I can picture every character of the cast as almost an exact replica of someone I’ve met along the way, I’m pretty sure even those of you who haven’t been exposed to the zaniness of the art students can find something/someone relate-able to each of them as well.

What’s great about this show is the wide range of cast it carries and the depiction of all the real life struggles the characters have to go through. They don’t all just get free passes through everything and aren’t invulnerable which is something I give major kudos to the creator for. You’ve got extroverts, introverts, geeks, ladies men, socially inept geniuses and struggling caretakers. They all manage to mesh and balance perfectly which is essentially what Sakurasou Hall is all about: the bond between a bunch of oddballs from all walks of life who don’t quite fit in with the norm.

Now, if you’re into action… this probably won’t float your boat that well. This is more of your slice of life with character driven episodes and love strings galore. And the last quarter or so of the season will definitely pull at your heartstrings for better or worse. It’s a fun little ride with some comedy throughout and something towards the top of my list that I would recommend to almost anyone.

Just... don’t choose Plan C.

------------- In Depth Review Contains A Few Small Spoilers-------------------
-----------Surrounded by "***Spoiler***" Continue Reading--------------
-------------------------------At Your Own Risk-------------------------------------

What do I think about the characters?

Sorata: A good natured main character out to help anyone he can to a point it makes it a fault. A lot of the jokes are on him for misunderstood intimate occasions. I see him as the ultimate wish fulfillment character for any girl who wants a “good boy” or caring husband. He is by all means mediocre, and we get to see him struggle through all the issues there are for an average person trying to get into the professional workplace. I found myself wanting to whack him upside the head for being so damn dense at times, but I suppose it helped keep the suspense up between which of the girls he’d choose since it led to making it seem solely dependent on the girls to come up with a way to confess to him.

Mashiro: On the other hand you have the completely beautiful yet hopeless girl that can’t even dress herself trying to learn what love is and understand why everyone else isn’t a genius like her. What she wants, she gets simply because of her talent. It’s fun to watch her slowly learning and becoming more human throughout the show, but sometimes it also feels like she’s just not even trying. I almost expected a few episodes to make it out that she was just trolling someone with stupidness to get her way. She’s just not all that relate-able to most, and at times she’s written in a way that almost feels as if she’s there to alienate the audience as well to keep the suspense and shippers balanced on the Nanami side. But there are also those cute moments of helplessness and innocence that call Sorata to her side and make you melt down and say “they should be a couple”.

Nanami: An average girl forcing herself to live by her own means. She puts everything on her shoulders, and refuses to let anyone help her with her burdens. Though it’s always nice to see this sort of thing, she doesn’t know her own boundaries and often winds up finding it backfiring horribly. She’s very determined, but is a complete tsundere so when it comes to anything about love she quickly becomes wishy-washy and shy. It doesn’t help that she’s also extremely jealous and obviously has a crush on Sorata from the get go. You often see her and Sorata in the same light; going through the same struggles of mediocrity and such, and they would clearly work out as the perfect couple. However, they always seem to be pulled apart or set back whenever something happens with Mashiro, and she is constantly reminded that no matter how close they are, Sorata just never quite cares as deeply for her in the same way. The last half of the season made me wish she would find it in her to grow a backbone and confess, but she never really does.
***Spoiler***
Instead, she objectively looks at the situation and decides it’s better to save their friendship and herself from a very likely heartbreak to back down. I don’t exactly know why, but she won a lot of kudos from me on that one.
***End Spoiler***

Misaki: The crazy “alien”. She’s an anime artist who is so energetic, so raunchy, so… eccentric that you can’t really help but laugh at her character alone. Mostly played for comic relief, you kinda just wish she was your friend to see what kind of crazy stuff she might drag you into. Of course her and Jin have had a long, drawn out “relationship” if you could really call it that. She is always smothering herself all over him, and though he pretty much shoots her down every time, you can tell that he does really care about her as well. Though she is very determined to make him hers, she is constantly reflecting on why he won’t just accept her and for the last half of the series, it almost gets overdone to the point you wish she’d stop moping and go back to her usual crazy self.

Jin: Misaki’s love interest and all around ladies’ man. He is the cool, calm, collected one that everyone seems to go to when looking for answers from someone a bit more mature. I never really cared for him all that much, and he became such a mess of a character towards the end that I couldn’t even really follow his motivations. He liked Misaki; he didn’t want to hurt her, but never seemed to stop doing it.
***Spoiler***
I could see possible fears of a long distance relationship since he was going to a different college, and the pressure of cold feet trying to propose, but he wound up being another numbskull who didn’t know how to react when it came to confessing true feelings.
***End Spoiler***

Ryunosuke: Your typical anti-social computer genius with a fear of girls. The first half you never really see him; the only interaction he has is through Maid-chan, his personal messaging AI. He manages to deliver a lot of hard truths to the characters because of his general disinterest of empathy and way of looking at things in a calculating black and white manner. His growth is very clear, even if it doesn’t get very far from where he started. He begins going to more classes, stays out of his room more often, and begins showing a little more empathy towards the rest of the cast. I suppose having that bombshell Rita making advances all over you just might do the trick for anyone though.

Rita: Plot device and support character. Not much to say.

Chihiro: Obviously a desperate female who is a teacher and overseer of Sakurasou hall. Not a whole lot of screen time.

Yuko: Plot device and comic relief. Typical jealous little sister with a brother complex.

I still remember the time when I was waiting for the release of this anime. It was one of those that I was most looking forward to. For me, it seemed very good and a bit more original than all the "weird dorm" anime. Now that I've finished it, I can finally see whether it was up to my expectations. And I can tell you that it was exactly what I was expecting from this anime, but better. At first, I wasn't expecting so much from it but I was expecting something at least as good.

The plot is concretely about a "special" dorm, a ... little different from the others. Up to that point, you're thinking "meh, already and often taken"
Even if the beginning looks pretty stereotyped, it's still "masked" by the humor that makes me laugh a lot, so I thought it was forgivable and that the side "included" was well covered. However, the sequence the events is the same. The "déjà vu" feeling is still there, and the same humor is always used, and as a result, you get tired of it. The same situations keep coming up, the same scenes and again the same humor.. It gets boring around episode 7-8, and I was thinking "But when is it gonna start for real?".

After some pretty "ordinary" episodes (for some of you, involving "torture" and "perseverance") we start to see an interesting plot. For the few times in Slice of Life anime, the main character, or even all the main characters actually have a goal. They're not only living their student life – they really care about their future, and it's not as grand as it may seem. So we’ve got an anime with at least a degree of realism, even if it doesn't look that way (especially with that kind of humor). And the future of our character isn't all that bright: in this anime, we also have good things happening, but mostly bad ones! There is drama to it all the same, even though it's not often very "powerful".

What I truly liked in this anime, is that I had the same feeling of "Clannad" while watching the 23rd episode : They ensure that the characters are having good times together, and that, even if these moments are ordinary, the characters are happy and live normally together. But in the end, they ensure that these feelings and emotion are delivered forward to make you regret to not being able to see more. That's what I felt in the end of Sakurasou (even if it's not on the same level as the one Clannad that thoroughly made me cry).

The graphics were nice, the sound and all the things that go with it weren't perfect, but they didn't bother me. The first ending with the song is the one that marked me the most  (And I was very pleased to hear it a last time in the end)
The story first goes slowly, but it's worth it! The characters all have real personality and have their own story, as well as their own future. The characters are so well workedout ! The only problem was that, it was too “copy-cat” in some scenes, the plot was sometimes cliché and the end seemed like, "We take new characters, and we do it all over again! ". They could've done better on that point.

In short, Sakurasou managed to really give me the "shivers" properly, and far exceeded my expectations.

I really wanted to like this show. The main characters are fleshed-out and likable and the show doesn't fall into the harem trap where all the girls end up having a thing for the main character. The "main girl" (of sorts) is a cute denpa-character that offers a few laughs and several very cute moments.

Despite having everything one would think it takes, this show still just had episode on episode where I found myself checking how much was left. I can't really put my finger on it, but even as a person that can easily breeze through a mediocre harem I found this show lacking ... in ability to engage me in any way (and it tries, perhaps too hard at times).

I'd personally give this one a miss. There are plenty of other good shows in this genre around.

"Ordinary high school boy meets special/gifted high school girl. They fall in love." It's that simple... while not being that simple. Allow me to explain in my review of Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.

Synopsis/Overview: Sorata Kanda, the male protagonist, is an ordinary high schooler with no special talents, average looks, and is just going through the motions of life with no real goal. In contrast, Sorata's roommates all excel at something.

One day Chihiro (a teacher at Sorata's school and dorm supervisor of Sakurasou Hall) tells Sorata to pick up her cousin, a transfer student from England named Mashiro Shiina (female protagonist), and bring her ... back to Sakurasou Hall. Sorata does as instructed and the next morning Sorata realizes something about Shiina... she has no clue how to live on her own and needs constant help and guidance. And so begins the relationship of "master and pet".

Story - 9
The story is good, but far from innovative or original. As explained in the synopsis, an ordinary high school boy meets a special high school girl. Not original. Boy has to take care of girl who is incapable/barely capable of living on her own... I believe a recent very popular high school rom-com took this approach as well (Toradora). Again, not original. Hmm, why did I give it a 9 then? Why not a 7 or a 6?

So while the most basic premise of Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo may not be unique or even creative, it does have 1 thing very few high school rom-coms REALLY explore... self-discovery.I'm not just talking about shallow emotions, I'm talking about questions like "What am I really? What am I good at? What can I become?" One of the major plotlines in the story apart from the romance, relationships, and the everyday life of the people in Sakurasou is also Sorata's frustration and feeling of ineptitude and how he struggles to find a goal. That is why I give it a 9, because it's fucking real.

Art - 10
JC Staff, by far my animation studio. I have 0 complaints as far as art is concerned whenever they work on an anime. Loved the art in Nodame Cantabile, Maid-sama, Toradora, etc etc. I'm no art connoisseur so I won't pretend to know a bunch of technical terms, all I can say is the simple "I love the artwork and animation JC Staff brought to the show". Art, for the most part, is purely subjective. I enjoyed it a lot, others may not.

Sound - 9
Not a big sound guy, as it's not horrible/repetitive, and as long as the voice acting is believable, I'll most likely be favorable. I really enjoy the opening and ending to Sakurasou. Other than that, nothing really stands out to me. Voice acting is good, no complaints here.

Character - 10
I'm going to as blunt as possible. The reason I'm giving Character(s) a 10 is because of Sorata Kanda. The supporting crew (everyone but Sorata and Mashiro) are entertaining and multi-dimensional. With that being said, they borrow a lot of common themes/traits popular among similar animes, but it's also a very daunting, underestimated task of making a truly original AND interesting supporting character(s), so I don't really mind that much. I won't go into much detail, or really any at all, about Sorata's and Mashiro's roommates/peers, I'll leave that for you to discover. Now on to the main course.

Sorata Kanda - Sorata is, as previously described, an ordinary high school boy with no particular specialties. He is nice and always willing to lend a helping hand, but at times can become frustrated at others. The source of his frustration is really just his own issues, being particularly good at nothing while being surrounded by talent. His frustration, self-discovery, and romantic feelings take off when he meets Mashiro, whom at first he is tasked to take care of, but later begins to enjoy of his own will. Sorata is interested in video games, both for personal enjoyment and later aspires to be a video game creator. Sorata is the kind of character you root for regardless of the situation and circumstances, and I rarely ever find myself doing that.


Sorata is probably one of the realest anime characters I've ever seen and that makes it all the more interesting that he's surrounded by, relatively speaking, unbelievable characters. To make a popular parallel, although I haven't seen a whole lot of Melancholy of Haruhi, he's similar to Kyon.

Mashrio Shiina - Unaware of most things other than painting and drawing, Mashiro is the oblivious, mono-toned, extremely gifted heroine of the Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo. Mashrio is a world-renowned painter who comes to Japan to become a manga artist, something she's new to, but shows she excels very quickly in the world of arts. While being extremely gifted and brilliant at art, she is a complete dunce when it comes to even the most basic form of living. She doesn't know how to clean her room, wash her hair, and gets lost on her own; however, throughout the progression of the series, she begins to learn how to live on her own, little by little, thanks to the help of Sorata. Mashiro is interested in Sorata, and with his help, she slowly breaks out of her emotionless, hapless shell.

Mashiro Shiina has some pretty unrealistic qualities, but at the same time, she's very interesting and can show genuine, believable feelings such as loneliness, love, and joy.

Enjoyment - 10
I love this series, it's definitely one of my favorite... although I wish they turned down the ecchi/fanservice a little. Some scenes are completely unnecessary and only exist to satisfy some fan's ecchi needs or whatever. With that being said, there really isn't a lot of it so it doesn't derail from the show itself so it's okay. Other than that, not only do I have no complaints, I look forward to watching this show the SECOND it airs every week. If a show elicits that kind of a response from me, it's an automatic 10 in terms of enjoyment.

Overall - 9

Toradora 2.0 delivers in a bigger and better way. I can see me giving this series a 10 when it's all said and done, but for now there isn't enough depth and the ecchi-esque air of the show detracts from what is really could be, a masterpiece.


1st review plizz b gentle thxthx

(This review was written without reading any of the manga and having watched 12/24 episodes [episodes available at the time of the review])

Whenever I start to watch a new anime series I always look at the genres and brainstorm some simple thoughts of what type of show this could be. So for this show before even watching it these were the 3 ideas that came to mind.

1. A bunch of girls congregate around 1 guy, and this guy is normally very shy and “uncool” as we may speak. This category could sometimes fall under the genre of “Harem” (To Love-Ru)

2. The guy is a complete pervert who chases after those “eye candy” girls that stand out and call for attention. (Sunabouzu [Desert Punk])

3. The guy is a ... complete pimp who all the girls like and he gets with all the girls he wants. (Hagure Yuusha no Estetica [Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero]). There are very few wishy-washy moments and it is normally straight to the point.

As it was seen from the beginning of the show, this one defiantly is under category 1, but this show is not a Harem at all. As the title says this show is going to mainly revolve around a girl named “Mashiro” and a guy named “Sorata”.

Story:
The plot of the story is quite simple. Sorata is designated to take care of Mashiro. We know this is a typical romance show so we as the viewers don’t hope for much because from the beginning we have a good feeling of what the outcome of this show is going to be. But there is more! Lucky for us aside from this being about Sorata and Mashiro, a huge part of this show is also about confessions and people being heartbroken. In a way this show tries to take a real high school environment, but show a different perspective of what life is really like.

Artwork:
I honestly don’t like talking about this much because unless the artwork of an anime really sticks out and has its own personality, I will most likely see it as “mediocre” or “average”. That is the category this anime falls under, it has its “WOOOAAAH AWSOME” moments and then there is also those “sure whatever lets just continue the show”. This anime artwork is just very simple and I don’t mind it, but I am not going to praise something like this.

Sound (OP/ED):
I honestly think that most shows do a really good job at choosing opening theme songs and ending theme songs. Most of the time I have not been disappointed by them and I find that for this show the songs were very fitting. The opening song is just very full of energy and spunk, which is something this show has a lot of. The ending song I am absolutely in love with! Like the transition that they managed to do from the ending of an episode to this song is always amazing and brings warmth to “my” heart, I don’t know what others think but this is just my opinion.

Characters:
Well I kind of already introduced the 2 main characters in my opinion. But just to add on to where I started in the beginning this is obviously a love show, so there is going to be many characters who fall in love.

Misaki: She is just an overly energetic girl who does not accept “no” as an answer. Her energy levels are just on another level

Nanami: She is childhood friends with Sorata and the rest you will figure out soon after…

Jin: Honestly he is just a player who loves to mess around with girls. That is all there is to him.

Honestly though, especially for this show you kind of expect, or already know that the main characters all tend to fall in love with each other and have their own stories, it is now just the who/when/and what happens that you are looking forward to.

Enjoyment:
I enjoy many shows, actually more like 95% of the animes I watch but does it mean it is good? Not at all! So I will say, I do enjoy this show but what do I really think about it? Its kind of just like your typical Romantic shows. Everything happens either during Christmas, Valentine’s day, or at the festivals. Like why can’t they make a show that all the confessions happen at such a predictable time, for me it just ruins the moment a lot. Like I am hoping to find a Romantic show that just goes out of the ordinary and uses more creative methods to show people confessing their feelings to each other. Like I wont criticize this show for just being the ‘follower’ and going with how most romance shows are, but when will a show manage to break the chain and start a new one?

Would I recommend this show for others to watch? Ofcourse! It is to me a very light hearted romantic comedy show that has a good flow to it, but is like your typical romance shows. I personally find nothing special about this show, aside from the character Mashiro. She is a very unique, dynamic character that just makes this show soo interesting to watch. Like in our lives we don’t really imagine taking care of someone to that extent who is our age. Maybe if they were younger than us or a senior that is fine, but someone who is in highschool (or whatever grade they are in), this is almost unthinkable. But that is what makes this show so interesting to me, being able to see the kindness that some people are able to go to, and how far they are really willing to go for what/who they care for. I do consider this show to be a bit different from the typical “helpess girl meets overly-friendly guy who them takes care of her”. The storyline isn’t far off from that but the ONLY difference is the extremeness of this case and how much help is actually needed.

Also, when I am watching an anime I like to see if I can pull out life lessons that people could learn from and the biggest one is “always give it your all for everyone and never leave someone out”. This relates to school also, don’t leave people out because they are a little different; just try to accept everyone for who they are, not for what you want them to be.
Well that’s it folks! If you have any questions or comments please just send me a pm or write on my wall, I will try my best to answer to the best of my power! I will accept any type of feedback on to how to better improve my reviews, but please be constructive as well!

Overall Grade: 7.5

This light-hearted romance comedy revolves around a dorm for problem-children, with the acceptance of one normal person, who is forced to stay there because he has a streak of bad luck and ends up with a number of stray cats under his care, and just because they can, the forbid cats in normal dorms.....

Anyway, the story for this anime is unique and enjoyable, as well as cute and sweet. A amazing artist moves to Japan to start a manga series, and just as luck would have it, her aunt is the manager of Sakurasou, so she moves in there. No problem right? WRONG!!! She has ... never had to be independent due to her up-bringing, and she does not even know how to dress herself, and just because all the other people there are mad, it is left to Sorata to care for and run this persons life.

The art in this anime is my favorite type, lots of happy, bright colours, lots of detail and lots of miss-coloured objects (blue trees anyone?)

What really makes this anime special are the characters, the crazy, funny, retarded, mad, carefree characters. Sakurasou houses all kinds of people, from contract programmers, to animators and script writers, manga artists and voice actresses, they have them all. All these characters are special and unique, making them just right for this anime.

This is a love and laughter anime, for making a person feel good, even on a horrible day =)

So, I recently watched this anime. I went into it not really knowing what to expect, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised! I breezed through all 24 episodes in just two days, and it isn't too often an anime keeps me so hooked I have to marathon it nowadays, especially a school anime.

Why is Sakurasou so god damn brilliant? Well, for starters, let's discuss the story. It starts with a kid named Sorata Kanda getting kicked out of his school's regular dormitories for keeping a stray cat. He is presented with the options of either getting rid of the cat, or moving to ... Sakurasou - the school's dorm for problem children. Because Sorata cares so much for his cat, he chooses the option of moving to Sakurasou, a place of which he plans to escape from. One day, a girl named Mashiro Shiina moves to Sakurasou all the way from England, and it turns out she is completely dependent on other people.

I must say, out of all the school anime I have watched so far, Sakurasou probably has the most unique plot - it's completely different from the many basic romance anime that don't feature much besides kids going to school and falling in love. The story is very well constructed and I feel the producers handled all six of the main characters perfectly. I would have liked to see a bit more of Ryuunosuke as he isn't even properly introduced until episode 9. That said, he is a shut-in so there is an obvious, acceptable reason for his lack of appearances.

The show contains some hilarious moments, some extremely sad moments and some truly great scenes.

Now onto the next point - the (absolutely brilliant) art style! At first, I thought the art seemed pretty standard for modern anime, but as I continued watching, I realised just how beautiful it actually is... The art, the animation, Shiina's paintings, it's all great! In fact, I'd go as far as to call it some of the best art I've ever seen in anime. I especially love the eyes as I can really see the emotion in them.

Oh, where do I begin to talk about the characters!? I loved them all so much! They are all incredibly well written and if it weren't for them, I seriously doubt I would have enjoyed Sakurasou so much. Sorata and Jin are both pretty ordinary guys. Well, sure, Jin was a bit too obsessed with women, having four different girlfriends at the same time, but let's face it - an obsession with girls isn't too abnormal for man, is it?

Ryuunosuke is a slightly awkward shut-in, programmer and a genius of sorts. He is a very interesting character who tends to communicate via email or text message. Despite creating Maid-chan, a female AI, he strongly dislikes women.

Shiina is very cute. Her inability to care for herself leads to its fair share of problems, but it is easy to tell her heart is in the right place.

Misaki is completely crazy, to the point where she is commonly referred to as an 'alien'. She loves creating anime, and she also loves Jin.

Aoyama works ridiculously hard, largely due to the fact her father did not want her to follow her dream of becoming a voice actor. She obviously cares very deeply for Sakurasou and it's residents and is frequently offering to help out with chores.

Now, unfortunately, I didn't find the sound in Sakurasou to be quite as good as other factors. While there isn't anything particularly wrong (in fact, it's all pretty good!) with the music, sound effects or openings, it doesn't contain anything I'd really want to listen to again. It's good enough, but I feel it lacks uniqueness. Overall, the sound isn't bad; it's just not particularly excellent.

As for enjoyment, I feel it's a thoroughly enjoyable show for anyone who enjoys comedy or school anime, or just cute stuff in general. There are lots of emotional moments, and finishing it made me sad because I didn't want it to end. As I stated earlier, I finished the entire show incredibly quickly. Each episode left me wondering what was going to happen next. It sure has been a while since I watched an anime as enjoyable as Sakurasou.

Overall, I feel this anime deserves nothing less than a rating of 9/10. A very enjoyable watch!

I've been trying to figure out why this show resonated with me so deeply. Because it did. I'm still thinking about it now, as a matter of fact, even though I finished the final episode last night.

I'm thinking about Sorata and Mashiro, about Misaki-sempai and Jin. Aoyama and Ryuunosuke. These characters that meant nothing to me just a few short days ago, but now evoke strong feelings in me. Why do I love these characters so much?

I think it's because even in though they are somewhat caricatured, they are so human in so many ways. Their experiences remind me of my own when I was ... young, not so long but seemingly forever ago.

They remind me of what it was like to love for the very first time; that awkward, heady romance that dies ever so gradually as you grow up and grow jaded. They remind me of what it was like to have friends back then-friends that you could only make when you were young. The kind that you don't have to think twice about trusting.

And even more than these memories of the past, Sakurasou evokes this sort of wild inspiration in me, the everlasting call throughout the series to "try your best", even if you fail. Even though the chances are that you will fail. Because eventually, if you're quite lucky, one day you will succeed.

How could an anime create so many feelings in me? How could 24 23 minute episodes give me so much hope and such drive to push on? This can only lead me to believe that this show is a masterpiece. A beautiful representation of everything entertainment should be. Shows should create these feelings in us. That should be the point.

Do you want to feel again? Do you want to remember?

10/10 across the board.

"Character cannot be achieved in ease and quiet, Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
-Helen Keller

Ambitions, It's Sakurasou's main theme and I personally think it strikes home to just about anyone who has life goals. Upon first impression, Sakurasou is your ordinary Rom-com harem with a dense boy as a protagonist with quite a bit of fan service from time to time, but dig deeper and you'll see just how well made this anime is.

Lets start with the art and music.
The overall animations look pretty detailed and quite beautiful at times. As a Slice of ... life anime that has a considerable amount of talking, the background is always something pretty to look at. The music is no exception, the piano OST's sets the mood quite well in the entire series and is quite pleasant to listen to.

The characters.
When I'm trying to find a good main character in an anime, I always try to look out for conflicts, not just with other people, but with themselves as well, as it would (most likely) make good character development, and to cut things short, all of the main characters in Sakurasou have quite the character development. Every single one of them has this inner conflict that will result in pretty emotional, and at times moving events throughout the series.

Lets talk story.
Sakurasou is a slice of life, which is pretty hard to make a reasonably appealing story to make of it. There is no specific goal that the main characters try to get to from the beginning; but rather events that make the characters try to reach a certain goal. Liking this type of story is really just up to personal preference, but Sakurasou does have an interesting story to people who quite enjoy it. Don't expect slow pacing in this anime as well, problems and conflicts usually get resolved in 2-3 episodes and a new event comes anew.

?
Fan service. Its an on the fence point, but it has to be said nonetheless.
The Lines the characters say can also be something that can be rather cheesy or annoying at times.

Enjoyment
This anime made me laugh, cry and generally grow with the characters as the story goes and satisfied me with its conclusion. most of the questions of the story are answered in the final episodes of the anime and made me applaud at my monitor, with my sister walking in my room midway, asking herself what is wrong with his brother.

I went into this anime under the promise that all is not as it seems. That what started as quite banal, somewhat annoying, rather tasteless... and frankly off-putting could turn into something beautiful. Something you'd remember.

24 episodes later (and after marathoning the last 5), my cheeks are sore from smiling like an idiot for so long. And I'm feeling more than just happy I gave it a chance. In fact, I'm feeling a lot of things. But mostly, its satisfied... a little inspired... and touched.

In a way, that journey... that transformation is representative of the story of Sakurasou. And in retrospect, I would ... not have it done any other way. Other reviews say that Sakurasou starts shaky, and turns into something wonderful later on. I say that this anime knew exactly what it wanted to be from the get-go... even if you wouldn't like it, it stuck to its quirks and celebrated them. I'll just say right now, this is not some weird perverted harem romcom, even if it comes across that way at first.
This is the story of a dorm seemingly for misfits, who for some reason or other needed a place to escape the harsher world outside, and pursue their dreams away from society's captiousness. Or... they just needed a place, really.

Sakurasou though is a strange habitat, eccentric... and to put you in a prepared state of mind as you enter this show, I'm going to tell you right off the bat... its a place where its almost completely OK for a boy to be given full responsibility of a girl who can't do much of anything for herself aside from paint(including cooking for her and helping her ahem...dress herself), another hyper-charged girl to go rampaging around and (among other things)practically flaunt her sexual availability, a laid-back average looking joe to score attractive(sometimes married) chicks seemingly every night and a computer savant to construct a maid-themed AI to handle virtually all his social obligations. There is also gratuitous, cringe-worthy fan service and many many (all narrowly avoided though! phew)sexual situations. Well, you know where I'm going with this. You'd be forgiven for wanting to leave... but that's where it starts getting fun. How you don't want to. How SnPnK makes you absolutely fall in love with every single one of its quirks, or at least, make you accept them even if you don't like them. Because you love it as a whole. The story is full of twists and turns, and is as real of a life journey as you can put its curious cast of characters through. Its sincere, realistic(for the most part) and relatable in the struggles, situations and feelings it portrays. There is lots of strife and it reveals the makeup of each character it introduces, and along the way, you see them all grow, learn and become closer together.

The strength of Sakurasou, as you'll find, lies entirely in its cast, their evolution and their interactions, which were full of a certain charm, and chemistry. They may not seem like a realistic bunch, but by the end, they felt that way. I couldn't help but grow attached. Each of them have many different facets to them, which all develop as the show goes on. Though they admittedly may be very weird, their trials and emotions, their thoughts and fears... their love and friendship, they resonate with many of us. Their passions and their aspiration to succeed seem genuine and infectious and sometimes you can picture yourself in their very shoes as they face joy and disappointment alike. Their conflicts and insecurities come across as quite lifelike and sometimes made it hard to choose a side because you can empathize with both so much... Perhaps I'm biased, I admit(you can probably tell as you read this review) but I found myself relating to them quite a bit, and got unexpectedly emotional during the scenes which showed them each at their very most vulnerable.

I should mention that the voice acting, while pretty well done almost everywhere else, really carries through in the important moments. I didn't like the MC's voice much, but even he delivered when he had to. Great performance by the VAs, and the music and sound effects were very appropriate as well. Never quite taking away the spotlight, but noticeably enhancing the immersion. The fade in effects to the EDs were also a nice touch.

At its heart though, Sakura no Pet na Kanojo is a pretty silly series. It never loses that spirit for long or tries to. But its serious and emotional moments always seemed just as natural and effortless as its silliness. That charm is ever present. Maybe I should've stepped back a bit before writing this review to present a less biased view, but IMHO, the in-the-moment impression is the most honest, and that's all I'm trying to convey here.

That isn't to say Sakurasou isn't without its flaws. I disliked the character Ryuunosake Akasaka(to be fair, he never was really trying to be liked) and his romance felt very forced and pandering to an asocial audience. The panty-shots and underwear shots were somewhat unnecessary and became tedious. And the art while well-drawn and sometimes very cute was very average when compared to shows from the same time-frame. I also disliked the fact that since the show is about art, none of the things produced by the characters seemed particularly impressive, even though they acted as if it was.

All in all, this show is well-worth your time despite the bad first impression, and is a welcome respite from the monotony of the harem and high-school romcom genre. This is definitely one of the better ones and I have to give it a 9(great) rating overall.

First time to do a written review of an Anime, Please bear with Me


When I first saw the poster of this anime, I wanted to watch it due to the cuteness of the characters named Mashiiro, and Aoyama. The first part of the anime was full of fanservice without much development among the character especially Sorata (Main Protagonist), wherein He was given the duty of taking care of Shiina who can't take care of Herself.

As the story revolves around 6 Protagonist: Sorata Kanda, Mashiro Shiina, Nanami Aoyama, Misaki Kamiigusa, Jin Mitaka, Ryūnosuke Akasaka with the Supporting characters: Chihiro Sengoku, Rita Ainsworth, Ayano Iida. Wherein the ... characters are situated within the Dorm named "Sakurasou" wherein story is just the daily life of the residents with their own set of unique talents

But as the anime progresses, the development among the characters starts to build up. The insecurities of Sorata which isn't given much credit in the first episodes are being developed slowly by the talents of the "Great Painter" Shiina; Jin who has been secretly fond of Misaki and is trying to prove himself worthy to be with Misaki has his own deal of inner conflicts due to the extreme talent of Misaki. The addition of Aoyama to the residents of Sakurasou initiated another big step in the development of the anime due to the similarities in experience (hardship and Hardwork) between Aoyama and Sorata. The anime may be characterized to be a Drama and Slice of Life due to the deepness of the portrayal of Human Aspects.

The Anime portrays the hardship and difficulties in life, the unfairness that divides great talent and diligence/ Hard Work. For me, the anime's character portrays the state of society today which divides the hierarchy among the poor and the rich, may no be in terms of money but in terms of talent and resources. Due to the deepening of characters within every episode you can't seem to skip watching the episode upon release. Every episode in itself takes the story into another level, showing each characters developments, successes, failures and inner conflicts which adds to the serious theme of the Anime

So if you like Angel Beats, Ano Hana, Maybe you will also like Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.

I was relatively new to watching anime at the time of starting this show. I had only finished watching around 2 shows prior (summer 2013). At the time, I was also going through a stint of being jaded and slightly "depressed." Interestingly enough, I found some sanctuary in this medium: anime. Watching SNPNK might have amplified some of my emotions. My opinion might be biased, especially because i was new to anime at the time of watching this, but I firmly believe this is one of the best--if not the best--shows I have seen so far.

Bare with me, as this review may be long winded ... and incoherent at some points. This is more for my personal reference, just to get my thoughts down. I quickly wrote down chunks of information&descriptions without comprehensively proof reading. Therefore, this review may be a bit flawed in regards to the construction of a review and might not be well fleshed out. I'll edit parts over time.




First off, i would like to discuss fan service and this show.

People say the show is riddled with improper fan service (e.g. panty shots) or that the fan service gets in the way of the show. The thing is, TONS of shows have fan service. It is almost a staple of the anime industry. It is the norm now (not saying that the "norm is good"). Plus, there isn't even loads of fan service. Like i said, "I was relatively new to anime at the time of watching this show" so the fan service was not off-putting--almost as if it was shock humor, which made me go "omg what is going on; this show is ridiculous" with spurts of laughter in between words. Thus, this fan service experience was not overdone, nor generic, and basically added to the hilarity of the show.




Art & Animation is fantastic. Smooth, fluid. not lazy.

I love the way J.C. Staff animated everything and how they portrayed all the expressions and actions of the characters. Some people might say it isn't anything special, that the expressions are all generic, but i would strongly say otherwise; in fact, there are many animes that have a different style and evoke different expressions. For example, golden time has quite a different approach on expressions. It is nice, but i much prefer the way Sakurasou did it. It was perfect. The expressions were spot on for the situations at hand. The art quality was fantastic. Many people argue that the quality is "standard" and they would not "expect any less", but there are lots of shows even now that seem to get "lazy". The animation is, from what I recall, fluid and not stagnant. There weren't many "still frames" and it was very well-made. Some studios seem to get "lazy" in their approach. Honestly, I wouldn't want any other studio to have animated this show.




The voice actors were memorable and perfectly fitting (with shiina maybe being an exception)

I loved the voice actors. Their emotions were well executed; their characters were realistic; their acting was spot on. Shiina's voice was the only issue. I understand it was supposed to be melancholy and monotonous to fit the role of the character, but i just did not like her voice; though it was somewhat more enjoyable when she did express some emotion, in the 1 or 2 scenes of the whole show. Nevertheless, it would have been a flawless cast, in my opinion, if shiina had a different voice.




I really connected with the story-line/characters and thought it was enjoyable and realistic.

It hit home. I empathized with their situation and sympathized with the characters. The storyline and plot was realistic and modern. The main character wasn't impervious to defeat; he was real and didn't get his way all the time. But that is not to say that the story was perfect in my eyes. I do wish the story played out a little bit differently, and I do wish that Nanami got with Sorata. I wish she weren't so sad. You can say i got really attached to the characters and engrossed in the show lol, but i digress. There was a good amount of drama throughout, and it was balanced with a good portion of comedy.




Quality sound and memorable music.

I loved the OP's & ED's. Days of Dash, to be specific. It stuck with me for weeks. It brings back all the emotion and intensity that i experienced during this show. The song is so nostalgic. No other anime's OP/ED can compete with Sakurasou's, in regards to how memorable and enjoyable it was. Few shows made me WANT To listen through the whole OP and/or ED. Few animes had catchy&interesting enough OP/ED's. Granted, many of the animes i've watched have interesting OP/ED's but a select few stood out from the rest and was on a whole 'nother level.
All of the music was well placed and did not get stale&old. I don't believe any of the pieces played throughout the episodes became overused. The music was fitting and enjoyable.





Story:9
Art:10
Sound:10
Characters:10
Enjoyment:10
Overall:10

I loved Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo. This was such a great show.
I personally found this show near perfection, and it will be, and always will be, near the top of my list of the best and most enjoyable anime.