Girlfriend (Kari)

Have you been feeling sleep deprived?
Have you been feeling restless when trying to sleep?
Have you previously experienced insomnia?
Have you awoken up feeling tired in the morning?

If you answered, “yes" to any of these questions, look no further, there is a solution for you. It’s called, “Girlfriend (Kari)! The most sleep-inducing anime ever with cute characters, narrating you to sleep.

Now, what does “Girlfriend (Kari)” contain, one might ask? It contains four essential components: 1) no progression, 2) lackluster characters, 3) placid sounds, and 4) cute designs.

1) No Story Progression: Story progression is overrated. Who needs it? We don’t ... need an overarching, complex story with depth. Yeah. We just need to focus on the cuteness factor and their daily lives at school, that’s it. Don't worry about it.
2) Lackluster Characters: The budget called for cute, bubbly characters with little substances, it’s the most important factor. We don't need to learn about their past, or their backstory, or how they became cute. We just need to know that they're cute and they all love each other. Again, don’t worry about it.
3) Placid Sounds: Can you hear me, now? No, that’s because I’m whispering and most of the girls do this. They like to talk in a sweet, low tone voice because they act cute. Furthermore, the background music enhances their cuteness by adding quiet and relaxing music. Again, don't worry about it.
4) Cute Design: The most important component is that every character is overly sweet, cutely drawn, and slightly moe and appealing. Every character, especially Chloe Lemaire, has a cute facial expression with lovely smiles. Do worry about it. Because, you will be affected by how cute their smiles are.

Now, a word with some previous customers:

Viewer A – “After watching the first 10 minutes of Girlfriend (Kari), I was able to have a good night sleep. And I haven’t had a good night sleep in over three days!”

Viewer B – “The nice, quiet, whispering sounds helped me sleep like a baby.”

This anime may differ from viewer to viewer, some may sleep within the first couple of minutes, others within a few episodes, and remember do not overdose on viewing.

Updated: 13, July 2016


If you are curious as to what happened in twelve episodes of Girlfriend (Kari), simply multiply that number by zero. This adaptation was as flat and uninspiring as anime come, with all characters of significance assigned popular archetypes. Distinctive personalities were nowhere to be found, ignored completely in favor of these simplified archetypes and their associated cliches. I would relate this viewing experience to watching a bird attempt to fly with a broken wing. It truly is a shame, considering the string of accolades and talent decorating this assembly of seiyuu veterans.

Despite the girls being second-rate individually in complexion, their group chemistry ... was commendable. However, their collective resilience would remain grounded by the lack of a definitive nucleus to rally around. However, if any character was a leader worthy of mention it would undoubtedly be Chloe Lemaire. I had no idea the seiyuu behind Sakura Kinomoto (Cardcaptor Sakura) could cool the pace down with such quality French! Her one-two punch of tone and wordplay made for quite a few shining moments, but with all due respect their was no chance at salvaging this wrecked ship.

Girlfriend is the adaptation of a dating simulation game for mobile phones in which you date the girls of Seiou academy. This might trick you into believing this series is about romance and structured a la Amagami, but in reality Girlfriend is a school comedy composed of individual episodes featuring different main characters (and often side characters) that have daily life, friendship or reaching your own goals as central themes.

While there's nothing particularly wrong with it on a surface level, I found Girlfriend to be an exceptionally bland rendition of the school-set slice of life category. The issues lie in its structure, as standalone ... episodes with generally no recurring characters are unable to enstablish the necessary emphatic link with the viewer, with the characters theirselves being no more than one-dimensional tropes and the individual stories often being a mere display of said tropes. It's harmless and not particularly horrible, and it will likely please the moe enthusiast, but it will hardly leave an impression on anyone else.

It seems like every single time Silver Link decides to go anyway near the slice of life genre, nothing good comes out of it. This studio is quite far down on my attention list, nonetheless I gave Girlfriend Kari a shot...and it backfired on me.

This show embodies the ultimate Slice of Life cliché of “nothing ever happens” and gives more fuel to those who won´t even try to watch the genre anymore because it is simply so unfathomably boring. In twelve episodes, it tells twelve stories without any deeper significance about the normal high school life of a bunch of girls who apparently ... attend a school where boys aren´t even allowed to say a single word, let alone participate in clubs. Why didn´t the writer just make it an all girls school??? Seriously, it takes Girlfriend BETA eleven episodes until a male person is finally allowed to speak. However, since this show is extremely episodic, I can´t rule out that you will find at least 2-3 episodes you will enjoy for some strange reason.

What´s bugging me the most though is the fact that at least half of the characters are actually pretty lovely and likeable. If that wouldn´t be the case, I would have dropped this series in the blink of an eye and rate it even worse. Girlfriend Kari introduces you to quite a lot of cute girls and you will for sure come to like one or two of them, but this isn´t even a good thing since you will just pump your fists in anger that these characters aren´t starring in a better show.

In my case, this girl was Chloe. I found her so adorable that I constantly wished she would be part of…let´s say a better harem show for example. But no, all her potential goes to waste in a totally meaningless series instead. Props to her voice actress anyway, it is not easy to speak your native language with a foreign accent. It sounds really cute.

At the end of the day however, Girlfriend Kari is just not a good anime even if you are a Slice of Life fan (like myself). So unless cute girls doing cute stuff is your guilty pleasure, stay the hell away!

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

There's a certain allure to a simple life. Going about one's everyday things without a care in the world, merely strolling along at a leisurely pace, not having to worry about the tragedies that exist. Waking up, enjoying what occurs, going to sleep, and repeat. It's a cycle that only contains the more trivial issues in retrospect. While normal people are unable to obtain such ease, the girls of Girlfriend BETA have. And their lives are no more difficult than a literal walk in the park.

STORY

Girlfriend BETA stars nearly forty (yes, 40) different girls who attend a local ... high school. Many are given the spotlight, some are merely looked at, but they all have one thing in common: their lives are steady.

As a slice-of-life show, BETA fits the genre perfectly. Almost too perfectly. The anime does nothing more than follow one or two groups of girls in an episodic manner, showing the audience a small issue that needs to be dealt with. Kokomi worrying about her weight, the student council running the cafeteria, and the music club trying to create a new song are as passive of problems as they come. The show isn't attempting to elicit massive drama, it isn't looking to be extremely funny, nor is it evoking strong emotional responses. It's nothing more than teenage girls hanging out, having fun, and smiling along the way.

One of BETA's presumed strong points is actually a weakness: the size of the cast. At approximately forty unique girls, there almost literally is "someone for everyone." And while that is fine to an extent, other, smaller concerns arise. With such a large number of people, it becomes nearly impossible to properly keep track of: who is in what class, which friends know one another, who is older, the names, who does what, etc. So, when the anime shifts from being about the occult club to the literature club, a dissonance due to the sudden transition from one group to the next is created. This causes the anime to be "difficult" to follow. Switching up the perspective in a show is fine, but the way in which BETA handles it -- assuming the viewer understands and associates with everyone exactly -- only hurts itself by becoming more confusing and subsequently uninteresting to watch. This is merely because one never has the chance to become attached to any particular character. As such, constantly switching the focus causes the events to feel standalone and disconnected, forcing upon itself a series of stories that one doesn't care for.

At the same time, each arc has some life lesson attributed to it in order to give the anime some deeper meaning. But another stigma is found, and it derives from a similar issue that the cast had. And that is the amount of themes the show attempts to explore. The spread-out nature of what the show tries to convey diminishes the overall impact of the many, many life lessons it throws out. Learning to never give up, balancing risk versus reward, relying on others when needed; these ideas are all well and fine. But when they are delivered on a per episode basis, instead of being given an appropriate amount of time to manifest the message or let it sink in, it's replaced by the next arc's motif. There just doesn't exist enough weight behind the individual themes themselves to make the overall package even close to purposeful.

ANIMATION

In terms of art and animation, BETA has (once again) a little something for everyone.

The art for the anime is somewhat better than it is first perceived as being. Much of what is found within is modern and generic in terms of camerawork and composition. Although, despite revolving around the school, the characters actually visit quite a few different locations, such as traditional Japanese homes, cafes, libraries, shrines, etc. While the amount of detail usually varies from minimal to adequate, lighting effects are incorporated, as are weather effects.

The character designs are rather hit or miss. Reiteration at this point, but the problem is that due to the overwhelming amount of girls, an entire spectrum is played with. From the Plain-Jane looking Kokomi to the half-and-half colored Hina, the designs range from simple to crazy. As such, some are appealing to look at while others will make one scratch their head at the decision.

The actual animation is rather weak, due to the sheer number of girls that are on screen at any given time. Characters usually only use mouth movements when speaking, and hardly ever use their bodies. This is mostly due to the slice-of-life nature, where nothing incredible is going down, but it's fair to say that the animation is simply uninspired.

CHARACTERS

There are just way too many characters in BETA to go through; all of their descriptions and what they represent could fill out its own article. Instead, the focus will be on the "main" five.

Akane is the school's announcer, making it her duty to bring news about events and the students to anyone who will listen. Her friend and co-host is Tomo Oshii, and her own beauty is unbeknownst to her. She loves to help out other people when she can, exemplifying a person whose voice and actions both speak volumes.

Fumio is the resident librarian. As such, her knowledge on topics and subjects is vast, often providing insight or corrections to others when needed. Feeling insecure about her ability to express herself, Fumio's best friend Erena gave her the push she needed to have the self-esteem she's always wanted. She personifies a princess, calm in demeanor and proper in etiquette.

Mentioned briefly, Erena is a bundle of joy. As an avid photographer, she is constantly found trying to take snapshots of the girls on campus and elsewhere. Wanting to be friends with just about anyone, she never seems to let up or back down. At the same time, her hobby of visiting cos-play events is a secret known only to her. Her cheerfulness and affable personality make her a joy to have around, regardless of the situation.

Technically not Japanese, Chloe is a transfer student from Europe. Her long golden hair hides her rather hazy brain. She is always misinterpreting facts and misusing phrases, demonstrating just how out-of-touch she is with the culture she finds herself in. Her accent and smile make her loved by all, and she loves to explore everything that Japan has to offer. Due to both her status as a foreigner and her quirky behavior, she is perhaps the most unique among the girls, demonstrating that just because one is different doesn't mean that that person is forced to the wayside.

Last but certainly not least (and my personal favorite) is Kokomi. As a gymnast, her body and beauty are nearly unmatched. Quiet in speaking, mild in manners, and kind in actions, Kokomi is the perfect girl, woman, and daughter. Her troubles with gymnastics give her the opportunity to connect with the other girls, gaining wisdom and help from them that she could not have received otherwise. For her, she values the relationships she has around her, cherishing the friends she has been lucky to have.

A lot of these interpretations for the characters aren't verbose at all, and that's the point. The characters are as cookie-cutter as they come. They have to be, because, reiterating further, the large cast makes this an inevitability. Each girl has one simple trait: Miyoshi is a model, Isuzu loves flowers, Kise is a scientist, etc. The main characters see a bit more breadth, as described above, but even then it's almost nonexistent. Nobody within the cast is complex, deep, or even remotely memorable. They're all there to simply fill a one-dimensional role from time to time.

SOUND

The OP is weird. It's sort of cute with its trip-ups in the lyrics and the girls singing alongside and behind the main vocalist. The beginning and nearly-end are quick and fun, with the little "Ahh!" being easy to follow. It's not an amazing piece, but it fits nicely with the anime overall.

The ED slows down, becoming the smooth stroll that the anime exudes. The soft piano, whispering vocals, and calm violins make the arrangement very mellow. Once again, the lyrics are playful, making the song rather cute.

The soundtrack contains almost entirely mood pieces. Clapping-beats and whimsical chimes are found all over, making many of the tracks rather generic. However, there is one very catchy tune: the one-note piano with accompanying flute. The tempo it sets makes it extremely easy to bob one's head.

Voice-acting sees a wide range of actresses taking part in the show, with any and all voices to be heard. While there were no standout performances, just the massive amount of work behind the voice acting is commendable. A special shout-out goes to Satomi Sato as Kokomi Shiina.

ENJOYMENT

With show like this, one of its major facets is in being cute. Making the girls act adorable whether they are being scared in a dark room or eating a melon bun. And to this end, the anime succeeds somewhat. It's annoying to read at this point, but with so many girls, it allows for someone to find at least one girl they can get behind or support. The vast majority will be unappreciated, but as long as someone has anyone to watch, then it's fine. I personally enjoyed Kokomi and Kanatsu, mainly because of their looks and infectious happiness.

Besides the plethora of girls, there isn't much else. The show is never funny, and most of the cast is only seen once or twice, just enough to get their stereotype across. Sexualization of the characters is low, but many of them appear to be rather gifted when it comes to their measurements. Finally, there do exist some yuri undertones, but they are never explored or taken too seriously.

Girlfriend BETA is an anime filled to the brim with women, and not much else. While what goes on within is tame, its overabundance of cast members weighs itself down instead of keeping it afloat. As the name implies, it just doesn't feel like a final product.

SUMMARY

Story: Bad, super slice-of-life, wild focus, too many themes

Animation: Fine, okay art, varying character designs, bad actual animation

Characters: Bad, stereotypes galore

Sound: Fine, okay OP, okay ED, okay soundtrack, average VA work

Enjoyment: Bad, a few cute girls to be found

Final Score: 3/10

Girlfriend(Kari) is your typical slice of life show that aired in Fall 2014 which puts you into a soft and a fluffy atmosphere. It obviously has high budget, judging from its content, however, it is left unnoticed by most viewers because of its genre, slice of life and school. This anime mainly focuses about daily lives of high school girls added with some blend of moe and light fanservice.

Some consider this anime as trash, moeshit, or even pure garbage. But the anime itself isn't that bad, it has a very satisfying ending.

Story - 4 - Decent

GF has no particular story at all, it is ... like episodic and repetitive, featuring cute girls in their daily high school lives every episode and a bit of friendship thingy.This anime only takes things lightly,so stay away from this if you want some serious drama slice of life or something.
For every episode they have those little problems of their lives and help each other, then for the last minutes of the episode they wrap things up making a conclusion.
My only problem is that, why don't they just set the story in an all-girls school instead of an open school for both men and women?

Art - 9 - Great

From Silver Link studio, they present us cute character designs and having a light fanservice. It is of high quality and top-notch, the backgrounds were nice and pleasing to the eyes, fitting the mood of the anime.
Every girl is detailed and we can distinguish them from each other from their character designs.

Sound - 9 - Great

With over 30+ characters in this anime, I must say they did a great job to portray each characters' voices. I can't just ignore the voice acting of the characters. Superb.
The Opening, Tanoshiki Tokimeki, by Neuron Creamsoft(which I believe is performed by the cast), is good and kinda grows in you. It fits well with the anime.
The Ending, Hareru Kana by Kokomi Shiina, the main lead of this series, is very calm and pleasing to the ears. It's just so cute, that cutesy ED is rare to find these days. It blends perfectly with the anime's heartwarming atmosphere.
The BGM were also nice, adding to the mood and atmosphere of the show, but didn't stand out nor bad.

Character - 8 - Very Good

As I have mentioned, there are 30+ characters in this anime, however, there are five main characters that gets most of the screen time of course. There are varieties of girls in this anime, some may be generic, some may be unique, and some are pretty entertaining.

Enjoyment - 6 - Fair

I have to admit it, but this anime is really boring at times and does not live well to your expectations. I guess comedy is one of the things that it lacks. But I think it is normal for a slice of life show to be like that. Sometimes I consider this to be a pain to watch because it is so boring.

4+9+9+8+6=32/7=7.2

Overall - 7 - Good

I don't know why but this anime has its touch that it makes it something quite special. For those who wants to watch this, sure, it is worth watching, but be reminded that this is quite boring and you might drop it. I think it was a good way to promote the video game, and it didn't do anything bad.

This is also a good anime if you something that is heartwarming, cute girls doing cute things, or if you want to pass time and add another entry to your list. As I have said above, I think it has a very satisfying ending and still worth watching.

"Girlfriend (Kari)" (GF) is a slice of life anime, it's a healing type anime. This means the goal of the anime is to make you feel good. Every episode will contain a little story which ends well. There is some mild humour/drama to keep things a bit interesting, but don't expect amazing or long stories. This is basically all it contains. So if you're looking for action, a comedy, a drama or anything romance/love related you don't have to watch it. Also practically the whole cast consists out of girls. Slice of life, friendship, cute girls doing cute things and short stories are the key ... terms for this anime.

Story
There's no general story in the anime. Instead every episode is a short story about some event. Usually it's about something an event/situation inside the school. Since it's about events it doesn't exactly follow a specific character around. This makes it more approachable for people who don't like one character. It's possible that if you don't enjoy one episode because you don't like a specific character, you might like the next one. The series start in the fall, you get to see a couple of events till the end of the year.
A couple of examples of events/situations are, a girl trying to figure out how to get control her weight. In case you wondered why this would be interesting, it's not really. However through her actions and interactions she'll bond with people and work together with them, which is heart warming in the end. A second example is a story how 2 seemingly polar opposite girls became friends. Although they had nothing in common, they met and through the circumstances they become best friends. Ofcourse there were some set backs which makes the little story a bit more interesting than "I came, I conquered".

Characters
Almost the entire (active) cast of GF is made up out of high school girls from the same school. According to MAL there are 5 main characters. I would say that the five mentioned on MAL have more screen time than the remaining characters. But since there's no actual character followed as main character, all the girls sort of all feel equally important every time a new episode starts. The about 35 "non-main character girls" or so have less screen time and tend to move around in groups a bit more. This results in them having seemingly shallower characters. Some of them (or groups) will get a spotlight in certain episodes while others are only following a supporting role.
This results diverse episodes, which make episodes still enjoyable even if you happen to not really like certain characters. Even if you don't really like one of the five main character girls, you don't follow them every single episode. Also every girl has a different voice actress, this is pretty nice since there are lots of different girls. I personally think it makes the girls more diverse.

Art, the art is OK. It's not amazing, but typically what you expect to see in a cute girls doing cute things type of anime. With lower than average details. Basically, what you see is what you get. There's not a lot on the screen so basically if there's no reason for a prop to be on the screen, it's basically not there. There are no eye candy unused water bottles on tables for example. Counters are neat and don't have anything on them. So you shouldn't really expect exceptional art. I would say it's not above average of what you would expect in 2014. The animation is sort of not that great too. A lot is rather static. When something does move it might not move very fluently or natural. If you're not easily bothered by this, I think it wont pose a problem.

Sound
The sound is good. Voice actresses sound different, music plays at the right times so it doesn't fall silent. The music sounds how you expect it to sound and usually enforces the atmosphere, but it doesn't ever reach the level where I would say "wow this sounds amazing". But that's not needed, the music fits and does its job.

My general experience and opinions on the anime
I think that most of the little stories were really nice to watch. I did like some characters more than others, so episodes containing more girls I liked vs characters I didn't really care for would obviously be more fun for me. But every episode was fun to watch. The conclusion of each episode would always give me the feeling I wasn't wasting time. Eventhough it's predictable at times just experiencing the stories was good enough for me.

The next section will be a comparison with similar healing anime. So you can see how I think GF relates to them.

The Aria series (the Animation, Natural and Origination) and Non Non Biyori are better in my eyes. Aria follows a couple of characters going on "adventure" or experiencing something amazing every episode. Aria had a nice and consistent pacing which fit the anime perfectly. It also had music which stood out positively enforcing the mood/atmosphere a lot better than GF. Also Aria was more touching in general while like in GF not trying to go overboard with drama. Aria was a wonderful experience, whereas GF was merely very nice.
Non Non Biyori is similar to GF in cuteness in art style. It also is comedic, but Non Non Biyori does the comedy better. Non Non Biyori also has more screen time for the characters giving them a deeper character.
Both anime have a higher emphesis on art. Both of them have tried to put the scenery in detail. While Aria is older and the art I guess outdated, it was good enough for me to fill in the amazingness of the scenery with what they provided me.

But all hope isn't lost! It's still better than some in my eyes! Keep in mind that I haven't finished Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka? (Gochuumon), K-ON second season and Hanayamata. Actually all 3 of them have the same reason why I haven't been able to finish them. They all try to shove down your throat that the girls are cute and moe. This is reflected in what happens in the anime. In Hanayamata for example there's this girl that keeps tripping over and falling flat on her face. If it happens it's fine. But when it happens for no reason it annoys me. Secondly they put the emphesis on it and put it in the center of attention. While it might not be annoying to some of you, to me it seems as if they're trying to hide their lack of content with some kind of filler. Again this might not be bad if it's used in the right context or change the mood, but when it happens so something happens it annoys me. GF doesn't do this. In GF the girls all do what they normally would. Do they do it in a cute way? Well the director lets us decided wether we think it's cute or not. This makes the show a lot more enjoyable for me. So basically GF let's us decided what we think of things rather than forcing us to adopt his opinion.
K-ON! is a step up in art and story compared to Hanayamata. Gochuumon is a a couple of steps up in art compared to... well anything else mentioned but story-wise it's not that awesome. But unfortunately I couldn't deal with the "I present you lots of cuteness, accept that it's cute and deal with it" attitude. So if you're actually fine with an overdose of cuteness you might like the 3 above mentioned series (and Kiniro Mosaic) better than GF.

Reasons to watch:
Wanting to enjoy a relaxed 20 minutes and feel good afterwards.
Liking cute girls.

Reasons not to watch:
Effectively no plot.
Low progress.
Low development of characters.
No top quality art.
Sometimes not fluent animation.
Not liking some voice actresses.
Predictablity.
Kokomi's overly sized udders (I still don't understand why her breasts seem so huge).

I hope you got an idea wether you should watch it or not. In the end it really boils down to wether you only want to relax and watch that episode and feel good at the end, without any expectation of grandness.
Anyway my final verdict for GF is an 8. This means I enjoyed it quite a bit. There are definately better things out there, but I don't regret watching Girlfriend (Kari).

Well someone has to do the dirty work around here,heh? And that someone has to be me again, right?

What can i say about Girlfriend BETA other than i don't know what to say..Or rather there is nothing to say cause this anime shouldn't exist in the first place. It's a waste of time, a waste of money, it's just a waste.

To examine what went wrong with this clusterfuck of an anime i went to my favorite place. No not the strip club, i mean google, the all knowing search engine. And there i found many interesting things such as guides to suicide by pills or ... bleach and how painful each route is. Then i remembered that i had a review in the workings and immediately stopped clowning around and went to youface or whatever and found a large collection of music albums. This went on and on and on until i was bored eventually by all the free stuff and decided i needed a drink, so i went to my nearest mart and bought several bottles of gin. Then as i was slipping in my drunk hat i had an epiphany..I really wanted to look up recipes for weed cupcakes. Which is unfortunate cause i've lost all means of contact with my dealers so...I went to check what this piece of shit is all about.

Turns out that GF BETA was a very popular smartphone game which for worse or for even worse got an anime adaptation....I know very well what goes through your mind right now..How could a smartphone game EVER get adapted to anime?

And the answer to that my friends is memes..Yup memes. Didn't quite understand it my self but it seems that one of the girls is French and an idiot(well duh)and some other idiot picked up on it and turned it into a sensation. Well tide pods and people setting fire to themselves is a sensation these days, should we write an anime about them too?

The game itself is a mobile dating sim and that's ok, people can do whatever they want with their lives, who am i to judge? Personally i would chop my gentleman's vegetables before i ever reached that point but whatever.. Anyway, whatever character development-i suspect-happens in the game then. That thing in the game might be ok and fine and dandy, but in the anime it works very much against it and that comes down to the vast amount of girls featured. It gets to the point where you can’t remember their names, what they do, who they're friends with and so on.

And then is the story itself or rather the complete lack of story. It's cute girls doing silly cute shit all the way up to -11 of boredom scale. I've seen my fair share of SOL and i can tell you straight away that this anime is has them licked. And what with the characters being so bland and boring and with no story to back them up.......Better take a nap or indeed take many many pills and sleep eternally. Honestly i have seen elsewhere every frame of every scene 100000000000000000000000 times and that's far from my idea of entertaining.

And even worse than that is because of the vast cast and the 12 eps run there is different shit happening all around the place with no actual flow to it. After litterally one ep of this and you will faint from blood loss from all the head scratching. Now if they had picked up at least 5 or so characters as the main focus and just let the rest of them lying around on the screen it would be better imo. But that's just hypothetical talk cause there is no main nothing here. K-On had much of nothing too but it had focus, it had a goal, a purpose, something to grab the attention of the viewer and most importantly it had animation...Which this doesn't.

As with every other problem in this show the root of it is to be found in the cast. There were instances where there would be 12 girls on screen and the screen would be of course static..Care to imagine how many times that happened? Once, twice maybe? Don't bother there is no purpose in doing so. At least they took some time to refine the characteristics of the characters themselves. Kudos for trying there.

So scenes infested with boring wide shots, quality that drops faster than the French airforce, generic characters, no story, no backbone and by the looks of things no boys..Yeah even though this is a co-ed school i only remember seeing 3 boys and they were doing nothing..Abso-fuckin-lutely nothing..Not even uttering a damn word. And this is based on a dating game..Or is it? You see this is also a rythm game, whatever that is..But there was no wide array of songs..Maybe 3 in total?

Look i understand the appeal the game had because it featured the one thing the mindless teenager wants..High school girls with huge tits or even better lolis with open legs or something. This is no reason to take this game and turn it into an anime cause that supposedly would bring a rain of cash. I admire the effort cause admittedly bringing 100 or so characters to life is a bitch. But the effort alone means nothing to me if the anime itself is total crap. Anime is watced by millions of people for one thing...ENTERTAINMENT..And this has none of it in spades.

I like to consider myself an expert in the field of cute girls doing cute things and I can honestly say that this is the worst one I've ever seen. Even Glasslip doesn't compare with how bad this is.

Story wise this doesn't have anything. It's supposed to be about school broadcasts and interviews, but it spends very little time on these and doesn't even give any real insight into them. Rather than using it as a foundation to build its characters and comedy off of like Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka? uses the cafe setting and K-On! uses the light music club this anime instead ... treats it as if "activity" was just one of the slots it has to fill and chose interviews. Anime can be fine without a story, but without some kind of obvious direction it just feels pointless. Not only did they not give it a story they also didn't do anything in place of a story.

The animation is very bland, which is to be expected from anime like this, but the imaginary in this is particularly uninteresting. The facial expressions don't say much and nothing in the design gives it anything to separate it from other anime. The characters are cute, but in a really standard way that only really works for anime that are either trying to parody cute anime or are just shorts trying to get people's attention. Akari Amari had a somewhat interesting design and Chloe Lemaire's design worked well with her voice and character of being a French girl, but neither were given enough personality for these designs to be put to good use of any kind. This does have a fairly large cast for such a short anime which can explain why the characters look and act similar, but I still don't accept this as an excuse.

The background music is unmemorable and the theme songs were generic. They did have some good voice actors, but some of them have such similar voices it can be hard to tell them apart when they're speaking off screen or when you're just not paying attention. For an anime that is supposed to be about audio they did very poorly in that department, although not exactly any worse than they did on anything else. They also had some stuff about idols which had understandably generic music.

The characters all severely lack in personality. This is my biggest problem with the series. Most slice of life anime rely on good characters with good chemistry simply hanging out and allowing their interactions to be enjoyable, but since all of them either just had a small personality trait allotted to them or weren't given enough screen time to warrant giving them any personality at all even this doesn't work for them. As the one thing that's supposed to be good in these anime it's disappointing to see them fail at even doing a good job with the characters. I understand that trying to characterize 71 characters in a span of 12 episodes isn't an easy task, but it's not like they even tried. When bad things happen to the characters it's hard to even feel bad for them see who they are exactly still isn't clear. After spending five hours with the cast they still all feel like strangers.

Enjoyment comes from many places and this failed to excel in any of them. Most anime will choose a couple elements to focus on, some will be strong in many different areas, and some will attempt to be good in every way but end up not doing as well as they expected. Not only does this not feel like there's any one thing it's focusing it doesn't do anything better than average at all. It's mundane in every way. All of the problems I pointed out wouldn't be enjoyment killing on their own, but since there isn't a single thing this anime even does moderately well there isn't much of anything to find enjoyable. You could make the argument that it's relaxing, but there are anime that do that job better while also doing well in other areas. This anime even gave me an acute sense of "what am I doing with my life?" after I finished it which is certainly a negative experience. There is no reason I could ever imagine recommending this anime to someone for. It is a complete throwaway show in every aspect of its existence. The animation isn't bad enough to laugh at and the personalities aren't insulting either, it's all just extremely mundane and boring.

Girlfriend (Kari)/(Beta)

An anime about a large cast of high school girls living out their lives. Yes, it’s very slice of life and yes, the girls are all absolutely adorable.

It’s really hard to talk about the cast of girls, in 12 episodes we meet at least 20 different characters, heck it’s probably over 30. There are a lot of girls so it makes it incredibly hard to remember even 1/4th of them. Fortunately for the viewers, there are only a handful of girls that are focused on; such as the beautiful gymnast Kokomi Shiina, or the French transfer student Lemaire Chloe. These two girls ... are in most episodes and make it easy to remember who they are. We also have Sakurai Akane, Mochizuki Erena and Murakami Fumio, more girls that appear in most episodes.

The best way to describe Girlfriend (Beta) is to imagine Kiniro Mosaic, take away all the really cute scenes, make the characters look older and slow the pace down; you end up with Girlfriend (Beta) and it’s actually a lot of fun. The episodes are in an episodic form, the stories are all very much drama-free and relaxing, and the girls are adorable and very cute. There are heartwarming episodes and it’s all very much a feel good show.

One of the great things about the anime in general is how all the girls feel different and most of them are cliché free. We don’t have one girl who’s the smartest, the best at sports and is also coveted by both the purest form of love and the boys, things like that don’t exist. Every girl has some type of flaw, though things of that nature are never really explained in-depth either, you have this sense that the girls are multi-faceted, which is an absolute huge + to see in any type of anime. If you watch Girlfriend (Beta), it’s because you really want to slow down time and just enjoy the girls and their antics.

As a note: there are no ecchi scenes and no skin is unnecessarily exposed, it’s safe for kids to watch! Another note: The cast consists entirely of girls, no male exists; well they do, but they never talk and are just drawn in the background to give “life” to the school, but it’s about girls and the show is probably aimed for girls too; which makes the title for the anime weird, you assume Girlfriend (Beta) will consist of dating and things like that, but nope, the title comes from a mobile dating sim game; just using the source for the characters for the anime.

The art style, well it’s very simple, I guess bland even. The colors are cute though, and the girls are drawn in a way that makes them look extra cute, blemishes and all, so very attractive. In-fact, even with the simple backgrounds, the girls alone make up for it entirely, which I think is really important, since there are so many of them too. The animation is of decent quality too I believe; once again, because there is no focus on the background art, it’s all about the girls and as such, works really well. I can’t say I had any issues with the animation while I was watching.

Music: I’d go with average - good. I can’t say I remember much of the music that was played, aside from the OP and ED, and when the OP is used mid episode. There is BGM involved, but I think most scenes can live without it and none of the scenes required much either, it’s a really slow anime so…. music could have taken a back seat and I’d still enjoy what I watched. Though it doesn’t mean the music is bad either, just that I didn’t notice it as much as I probably should.

Overall I really enjoyed Girlfriend (Beta). It reminded me of Kiniro Mosaic, we have a student who speaks in broken Japanese (Still one of the cutest things ever) and the slow pace of the show in a high school setting was really nice and relaxing. The cast of characters are great and because they’re not full of clichés, makes it easy to appreciate them all. I also liked the variety included; there was even an android girl! How cool is that? (Very)

Well this show honestly only has one redeeming quality... It's cute as hell. Like honestly the cutest thing you'll ever watch. Allthough it's not the most memorable show you'll ever watch it's pretty funny at times and there isn't a minute where you don't feel the need to let a huge awwww.

Don't get fooled by the romance tag this show gets everywhere though. Cause there is none ^^

Not perfect but as the whole thing is just about 4,5 hours total still worth watching.

Also this Anime has made me question my emotions cause there it made me cry at times by doing nothing exept be ... adorable ^^

Just the epitome of cute girls doing cute things. That's all there is to sum the series up. If you want to watch it for romance or deeper plot, stop.

You might have known, but this series is an adaptation of a simulation game of the same title. However, it didn't go in the direction of Amagami. Since the cast of that game was far more than Amagami, I can understand why. But then, I can't shake off the feeling that this whole 12 episodes are just to make more money for the game.

Never the less, I was in the mood to watch something lighthearted ... and this fits perfectly. It was generic in most field and even pretty bad when it comes to story line. But I still enjoyed it since every episode was designed so you come to like the girls better. And heck, it's cute girls doing cute things. What can be wrong with it?

Well, a lot can. That's not the case with this Anime though. It's just as I said, generic and even forgettable. So much I kind of started guessing the voice actresses participating in this Anime, which was kind of fun. It didn't affect my assessment, just to say.

Summing it up, again, it's a mediocre, generic series about cute girls doing cute things. Each of them have a set of field and archetype to fulfill, and you will likely find a girl you like among them.

Story: 5. Everyday life. Nothing big happens. It goes off from home, and come back home by the end of the day.
Art: 9. Well, it's, again, cute girls doing cute things. Of course they are going to be cute. However, background and other places on it was nicely done too.
Sound: 6. Not good, not bad. If anything, was on the better side.
Character: Not good, not bad either. But as individual, you are likely to find a girl of your type.
Overall: I was going to put it 5, but since I remembered about some series I dropped and what I evaluated them, it got to 6.

Overall enjoyment: Pretty good. Fitting as I wanted something lighthearted from all the saving the world happening.

P/S: Murakami Fumio-chan is my best girl here.

An anime in which literally nothing happens. Supposedly there are some girls, supposedly they have some problems of their own but you don't give a shit about them. This is one of those anime that I watched on acceleration x2 and wouldn't you guess, I embraced everything that was going on there. This anime is so slow, tedious and boring that even speeding up and giving the pace of the plot development (which isn't here) a kick doesn't help, although I won't say, it saves a lot of time.
There's no waifu material here, and even the funny French girl who however tries to pull this ... series along doesn't save it at all, and drowns along with the other chicks in this boring shit.
Do not watch this, please