Seiren

For high school students like Shouichi Kamita, university entrance exams and the future are common concerns. It is also during this time in life that a mysterious emotion that vexes people of all ages may begin to weigh upon one's mind—love.

At this point in his teenage years, Shouichi finds three girls he could see himself having a future with: the ever-cheerful Hikari Tsuneki, who teases Shouichi without mercy, but actually has a softer side; the competitive gamer, Tooru Miyamae, who has difficulty communicating with others; and Shouichi's childhood friend, Kyouko Touno, the sometimes immature shoujo manga enthusiast. Seiren follows Shouichi's relationships with these three girls across three separate arcs, as their feelings grow from mutual interest and blossom into something more beautiful.

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Asari, Ryouta
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Tomioka, Tetsuya

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Kobayashi, Tomoki

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Motoyama, Satoshi

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Tokoro, Tomokazu

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Opening Theme

"Kimi no Hana (キミの花)" by Hanako Oku

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Ending Theme

	1: "Shunkan Happening (瞬間Happening)" by Hikari Tsuneki (Ayane Sakura) (eps 1-3)
	2: "Akaneiro ni Kakushite (アカネ色に隠して)" by Hikari Tsuneki (Ayane Sakura) (eps 4)
	3: "Muteki no Megami (ムテキの女神)" by Tooru Miyamae (Shino Shimoji) (eps 5-7)
	4: "Kimi to Yozora to Fortune to (キミと夜空とフォーチュンと)" by Tooru Miyamae (Shino Shimoji) (eps 8)
	5: "Koi no Theory (恋のセオリー)" by Kyouko Touno (Juri Kimura) (eps 9-11)
	6: "Futari Fuwari ra (ふたりふわりら)" by Kyouko Touno (Juri Kimura) (eps 12)

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Mar 28, 2017

GuyInTheShadows

Not Recommended

Alright, since all the reviews here are full of bullshit and too long to read I had to make one of my own. The anime had potential but at around the first girl they messed up bad, it was a major turn-off and since then it only got worse. The anime is really cliche and generic. It's awkward and boring. The main character is useless like in most of the anime these days. I don't recommend it, but if you are bored and you have nothing better to do with your life then it sure is a good way of wasting your time.

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Mar 23, 2017

84DaysWithout

Not Recommended

This review contains mild spoilers.
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Seiren offers an insurance policy against the inherent risk of harem anime. You don't have to worry about best girl getting her heart torn to shreds by some milktoast dude choosing the worst possible option. Instead, the milktoast dude chooses every single option in different timelines. Everybody wins!....or do they?

What Seiren gains in having multiple routes it loses in meaningful character progression. You won't feel the ultimate satisfaction from watching two lovers grow together over a dozen episodes nor is there any conflict to set up an emotional payoff. This problem is further compounded by boring character designs barely distinguishing ...

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Mar 23, 2017

themegamancave

Not Recommended

Teenage hormones are a powerful thing. The trials and tribulations we went through in our adolescence involving relationships and such can seem trivial by comparison to our current lives, but when we were in the moment they seemed so monumental. Whether it was timidly asking a girl out for the first time, or the lucidity and nostalgia of a summer romance, not much can compare to our teen years. Seiren randomly popped up on my radar before the winter season started (probably due to the plethora of attractive female character models), and after its conclusion I can assuredly say two things:

As a married man in ... my late twenties, I am clearly not this show’s intended audience
Being a teenager is awkward, and it doesn’t translate to quality entertainment

“Seiren”, meaning honest in Japanese, is just that. It tells three girl-centered anecdotes from highschooler Shouichi Kamita’s life, a life in which there are plenty of perverted inner monologues and awkward exchanges with females. The writing is actually pretty accurate given the subject matter, but it doesn’t make the anime any better. Kamita gets nervous around basically every girl he meets (surprise!), with a relatively introverted attitude and a love for gaming. He’s also not that great of a student, or good at pretty much anything he does.. So he’s essentially the anti-Gary Stu character. Each story gradually develops a teenage romance, one scene at a time. Although the result of each relationship is often disappointing or lackluster, the buildup is the real focus of the writing.

As boring or predictable as Seiren is, the writing is quite accurate. Whether it’s the slow burn of the romance itself or the fickle nature of Kamita’s female counterparts, the writers nail teens in a nutshell. Awkward, irrational and hormonal. That’s not to say that Seiren has a “good” story, because there’s only so much enjoyment one can have in watching two people fumble over themselves for 20 minutes at a time. There’s lots of eye-rolling to be had here. Not to mention the melodrama is thicker than Chun-Li’s thighs. Oh, and the constant blushes emblazoned on the face of Kamita and his peers is mind numbing.

The main problem I have with Seiren is that the subject matter is just, dull. There's quite a bit less comedic dialogue than a normal slice of life, and the relationship building and love scenes aren't nearly as strong as a romance anime. It's essentially having the worst of both worlds, which for entertainment’s sake, is never a good thing. Would you want to watch a show about your awkward teenage years with lots of missed connections, social inebriation and awkward conversations? I think not. It's why we get older and grow up (at least some of us do), and I can't imagine many of us would care to relive that profound age of existence. It'd be one thing if the relationships “went” anywhere, but again they are stifled by abrupt changes in the way someone “feels” about moving forward. That or the writers play out “what-if” scenarios in which Kamita succeeds in his apparent life goal of becoming a school bus driver. I can't make this stuff up.

Character wise, Seiren makes an attempt at creating diverse and complex characters. Unfortunately the anime falters in this respect as well. Although Kamita represents an awkward high school teenager decently, this is the same old character trope we've seen time and time again. He's virtually indistinguishable from some other SoL protagonist I've seen in the past, and the repetition is really starting to get tiresome. Tsuneki is quite easily the most dynamic character in the entire series. She's popular, pretty and wants everyone to know it, most notably Kamita… who for some outlandish reason she acts like a tsundere to. Apparently all it takes for her to fall for him is a few gauche interactions at a summer study camp and him accidentally popping a boner in the men's washroom. But this sizzling romance is quickly extinguished when Tsuneki makes the abrupt announcement that she wants to pursue life as a chef… which evidently can't involve boys whatsoever.

Next up Tooru Miyame, or as I like to refer to her: every teenage pizza-faced nerd’s unicorn. A hot girl that plays videogames, and is actually good at it? Not to mention that she’s single and ready to mingle with our main protagonist? Ok, this one is straight up in fantasyland. Through my time in YouTube I've actually met some decent looking girls who are into gaming, so that part’s not entirely out of the question. The most implausible factor is how easily she is drawn to the charismatic Ken doll himself. The writers attempted to use the two character’s common interest of video games to create a relationship between them. The result? Unbelievable at best. They even go as far as to paint a future with a child involved at the conclusion of the arc. This is just bad writing.

Lastly, we have the obligatory “young crush”. Every guy that's ever become a senior in high school can admit to having an interest in a younger girl. That's just how testosterone works. In effect, the storyline is probably the most believable of all three. A cute underclassmen shows up, is extremely impressionable and wants to experience the elusive romance she's read about in teenage manga. The result is a morally questionable relationship that is never meant to go anywhere and spawns a “what if?” scenario of its own. The least entertaining of the three arcs, but probably the most believable. It's a shame they saved it for last.

The animation and art style in Seiren is attractive in some scenes and dull in others. The inconsistent nature of this plagues the side characters because their models are virtually carbon copies of each other. This could make for some confusing moments in the series where you're not entirely sure who's talking at a given moment. Luckily the girls are pretty cute, which is what I think initially brought me to the show. It's okay, but we should be a bit more detailed in 2017.

The sound is pretty atrocious. Neither the opening or the endings were really that convincing in making me want to watch the show, in the background music is virtually absent. The voice acting is mediocre, and really could've benefited from having a big-name actor accompanied to the anime. It was like listening to the lite version of your standard slice of life series.

Unless you're a glutton for punishment, or really enjoy watching teenagers stumble over there words professing their love for each other, I would say avoid Seiren at all costs. It can be quite boring at times, and there isn't anything in service to take your mind off of things. Combine this with blend art in nonexistent music and you have a recipe for a snoozer. this is not a show I can recommend to anyone, and is possibly the worst series I watched this season. As always, thanks for checking out the review and be sure to look out for my other winter 2017 reviews this is not a show I can recommend to anyone, and is possibly the worst series I watched this season. As always, thanks for checking out the review and be sure to look out for my other winter 2017 reviews!

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