Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo.

This here is a doozy. An incredibly dense, emotional story that has several girls who are in a literary club, while at the same time coming to terms with their burgeoning puberty. All of this has the nice bow on top of Mari Okada's melodramatic writing style, which seems to be the space she is most comfortable in.

I liked this enough, but I in no way think it was Mari Okada's strongest outing or a very worthwhile show. Primarily because it is far too textual for my taste. This anime is just a string of girls falling in love while also trying to get laid. ... Sure there are other things that happen but 99 percent of the show and its ethos can be wrapped up in that. This is where I come to my limitations as a reviewer because if you relate to the specific dynamics between these characters and all of the drama, awkward and conflicting feelings therein than you are going to love this. No discussion to be had, no need to overanalyze, that is really all there is to it. You like what you like and I totally understand why it can be so cathartic for a writer to have the insight to feel like she is speaking directly to YOU. I get it.

My problem is that I just don't find that type of very on-the-nose writing particularly enjoyable or artistically engaging as a viewer. There is a character who struggles to come to terms with her feeling for her childhood friend and works up the courage to tell him. There is also a character who has been emotionally traumatized by being groomed by an older creep, also a character who is a little underdeveloped physically and tries to blackmail her teacher into making her feel special. These sort of generalizations of the plot is sure to make fans of this show angry, due to the fact that all the details and nuances of these character relationships are what makes the show. However, to be frank I just didn't really care that much. For the life of me, I can not understand why people are trying to hold this up as emotionally intelligent when it is so full of suffocating drama.

If I was a hardcore shoujo fan I would actually be quite offended by this show because it gives the genre such a bad look. This anime transforms from being a rather comfy, positive message of girl companionship and bonding to really trite and horny boy/girl relationship drama.

This show is awesome, but not many people will agree with me.

I think the main reason I enjoyed the show as much as I have, is because I watched it at the perfect time, the time where I was also thinking about such things. I really love how the characters change a lot about their views and personalities over the span of the anime, and I don't understand why people call this an inconsistency in character. People change, they always have, and always will.

This show is also incredibly unpredictable in a good way. You could never know what was gonna happen, how the ... characters were gonna act in a certain situation and it really encourages you to want to know more about them, as weird as it sounds. The more you watch the show, the more you understand their actions and thoughts and root for them. I was really just at the edge of my seat rooting for the characters at all times.

It is a rollercoaster of emotions where you cry in one moment and laugh your ass off in the next.

There is one thing I would like to critique however, that being the last, perhaps second to last conflict in the show(no spoilers). It went way too quickly and had no breathing room to develop wich led to me just straight up not understanding why the character felt that way. I think why they did it was obvious, that being time and money constraints but it really hurt the show considering it's relevance in the plot. It is a REALLY important plot point and it just pisses me off that there wasn't enough time to develop it properly.

But another thing I appreciate about the show, are the inherent flaws the characters have. For example, one of the girls is so obsessed with her love interest that she eventually ends up black mailing them into love, wich is very fucked up, and it sounds weird to call this a pro. But I love how all characters are just a little stupid like people are at that age. It makes you want to know how they overcome their problems and fears.

And the ending was downright perfect.
It wrapped up the story so well and made me feel so happy for the characters.
I can only recommend this show. If you don't like it, I understand, but I love it.

Thank you for reading!

~Murasaki

Basically a teen love comedy, except you turbo boost the teen part. And honestly it isn't as bad as it sounds.

I was actually surprised by how in depth the story and some of the characters were. There was real conflict and the characters weren't just superficial blobs of cliché. Of course this is no masterpiece, actually it's very far from that, but it was still somewhat enjoyable nonetheless.

What makes this show 'unique' is its focus on the chaotic frustrations of the teenager. What is sex? Am I sexually attracted to person A? What does that mean anyway? Are some examples of "teenage frustration and ... confusion."

However, while I was surprised about how good the show was, It isn't great. The story was interesting, though often times it was disappointing. There are a lot of these intense moments that end up not leading to much, which ended up being very much average, with some spice.

If you read the description and thought, "yeah, that sounds kind of interesting, but it sounds edgy" then definitely give it a go, as it is genuinely interesting to a certain degree and not as cringe as you might think. There is quite a bit of it though I mean what do you expect, the description has 'sex' and 'highschool' in it.

If you enjoy being stressed out and watching unrealistic situations with deplorable characters, then this show is for you.

To be fair, the actual design of the characters and the sound design around them is fantastic -- it's what initially dragged me in. This show is very pleasing on the eyes and ears. Also, the voice acting is outstanding! I was blown away with some of the performances of the voice actors and actresses in this show. They truly carried it. They are expressive and emotive, and the art brings their acting to life.

Also, the story itself had a lot of potential. It was a bit ... different from the typical drama/slice of life-type shows you see for high school anime. We learn about the trials and tribulations associated with budding youth. All the things we get wrong growing up are represented in one way or another.

But the major intolerance is with the characters of this show. My god, are they all truly deplorable. It's really, really, really bad... and I mean bad.

We have: a psychopathic soon-to-be-author with zero realistic character traits other than her crushing depression; a tyrannical know-it-all who only becomes lovable through a complete 180 (now look, I get that Sonezaki *becomes* a good character, and maybe that reflects how we learn in our youth... but she's the only semi-redeemable one out of the bunch); a clichéd beauty whose indelible good looks make her inarguably perfect on the outside, yet so predictably sick and twisted due to a completely ridiculous origin story (started off meaningful, turned ridiculous); a totally forgettable character whose main trait is to be occasionally cute and supportive to drive plot, yet cause several nuisances to the other characters that she just harped over being sweet and sincere; and ah yes, let's not forget our main character! an egocentric, self-interested, narcissist whose main goal in life is to fuck her essentially-brother (onii-chaaan kyuun! ...blergh) without taking a single second to step back and evaluate a situation. This, not to mention the fact that she fails to observe any notion of privacy or personal space, and has a grand habit of jumping to the first victimizing conclusion her brain arrives at.

And, oh yes!

Sweet banana pancakes up my ass, let's talk about that ending. What in the- I don't even- words cannot describe... The show finally manages to get some sort of cohesive plot, and then the show ends in the most half-assed, cooked up, savior-fantasy-esque ending I could've possibly thought of. I want to know what crack the writer's were smoking when they came up with the last episode. These men ran out of film time and that much is all to clear. Good lord. I can't speak to certain points without giving away spoilers, but just know that it is ridiculous. The show was heading toward a natural conclusion, and just veered into another dimension.

Look, I don't write many reviews on here because I know many people don't care. Maybe you look at the top rated review and give a couple others a glance, just to get the feel of audience reception -- many don't even get that far.

But if my review can save just one... just ONE person from wasting their time on this show, then I'll sleep soundly tonight. The only reason I'm not giving this show a 1/10 is because it would be a disservice to the fantastic voice acting cast and art/sound design. Hats off to that... somehow you've managed to polish a mighty mighty shit.

Upsetting. Relatable. Cringy. Enlightening. Reassuring.

I was asked to give a one-word review, which is a rather uncomfortable request for a rather annoying, loud-mouthed person like myself. I feel more than one word, and yet either one of the words above would have told the story of these women to me.

Sports and academics were my only thoughts in highschool. As a girl, I would witness other girls shy away from changing jerseys on the field, while I willingly played with guys and did not care about the difference in our bodies. I felt distant from my peers, who were dating and holding hands while ... I was enthralled with the rush of adrenaline on the field. But slowly, it crept up. The same confusion lost feelings and displacement that Sonezaki and the gang felt, soon reached me in my last year.

While Sonezaki was drawn to books, I was drawn to the field, but in both our last years, this time in our life outlined the existence of romance. [However, for me conversations on ees-ee-ecks happened more in University]. In fact of all the characters, Sonezaki's interest in ees-ee-ecks, self-consciousness and easily irritated disposition felt the most relatable. Her behaviour was outrageous and yet at the same time I felt myself saying "ah, me too". During the time I grew closer to my friends, I noticed feeling immense appreciation and I could not easily differentiate between the various forms of love that crossed my mind. I related to her growth because I also struggled between wanting physical closeness, feeling pretty, feeling needed --- all of it was a mess. Still, like Niina, I chose to accept that I loved. I accepted that I too can feel love and I too need to grow. Her pain of being groomed from childhood was cruel and unjustified, and something I felt deep discomfort towards. Not her decisions, but the adults in her life that abandoned her. But, I find myself relating to the lack of adults who could lead me, who could have helped me yet was left alone to come to a conclusion.

Like Niina, I too questioned if I was only curious or truly developed feelings but no adult existed to clarify these emotions for me and the adults that did exist were selfishly influencing me. And like Niina, as a result I was blunt and I hurt others during my process. I was inconsiderate, confused and selfish, and like Momoko I was upfront with my feelings, knowingly and selfishly wanting to share my excitement for understanding romance. I did not know how to accept love, nor how to ask for it. Yet over and over again, I was welcomed and given a space at my age to learn. Despite my problems with Milo-sensei, my friends were my milo-sensei. In all my confusing questions and problems, I was given a space like Hongo to learn. I had the privilege to feel loved in many forms, and that is more than I could have wished for. I may not have had this experience in Highschool, but that’s fine.

This was going to be a rather more technical response to the quality of the show but perhaps this is also telling of the quality present in the show. It brings out your most vulnerable and a show that can pull out such complicated emotions and memories, a show that can be that human, deserves the praise it received. I commend its writers for balancing humour with such intangible, difficult-to-swallow experiences and pain. Truly an honest inspection of the human and definitely needs a specific genre such as coming of age.

At first, I didn’t know how to feel about this show, but truly that is what you should feel. More than cringe, this show in one word would be Wakaranai, as in I don’t know. Because high school is just a bunch of I don't know with a side of love. A wonderful, hilarious, frustrating meal of a bunch of women who just don’t know, and learn that it’s fine. True to Kazusa’s words: You may not know what you want but there's comfort in knowing that no one else knows either.

Conclusion:
Objectively good story. Technically a very good anime. People who are not so experienced with different types of people and relationships can probably enjoy this series. But for me the story was unbearable. It felt like watching NTR (I dislike NTR). I am too radical to just sit calmly and watch this series. The frustration made me roll on the floor. It almost gave me brain damage.


Explanation:

Art and sound were very good.

Characters were ok. The main characters were quite good imo. They acted in a expected/realistic way.
Some were likeable and some were hateable.
...
I couldn't bear the interaction between my preferred characters and the bitch-characters. Though the connections between the characters were built up quite well during the whole story. The development of the characters was above average. The relations between the characters where evolving in every episode. The shit thing for me was, that the bitch-actions had more "extreme-shining-moments" than the other ones. And there was a lack of radical characters who could solve the unbearing status quo.

The anime had too much weird japanese stuff in here, I suppose at least:
(Spoilers)
- Dull boy character with black hair and lack of experience. Typical passive guy. He couldn't even fap properly when alone at home. (Objectively he was ok. But too pussy for me.)
- Old school directors who force stupid rules on their students. "Status and appearance over humanity". (At least they were portrayed in a comedic way.)
- In this point I am not sure if it is typical for japanese. Albino girl got sent to fancy pedo albino teacher by parents. Parents might have wanted their albino child to be fancy too. But albino child just got brain damage. They just let their child alone with a man who probably has a high level of "status and appearance" without checking if hes pedo.

I personally liked Momoko she develops into S-Tier. I kinda wish that she has some special spanking fantasies with albino girl.

Edit after watching final episode: Well made and satsifying final episode. But the way to it was still painful.

Following the trend of almost every new anime,there are always going to be romance and isekai animes. More often than not, there are going to be a lot of just terrible adaptations and bland story lines mixed in with the good ones.
So, is this show a good shot at a romance? Not exactly. No.
The MC is pretty average, nothing to comment on her, just a typical shoujo girl in love. Then, the rest of the cast isn't actually that bad, with no signs of just boring one liner characters. Then, why did this show suffer? Well, the plot kind of just sucks. This anime, ... instead of having one romance, has multiple subromances. Nothing new here, but it's executed so poorly. That is, the other subromances. They're not really given a lot of time, and they all seem forced. Especially the fight over Izumi, it seems extremely forced and shallow. While I'm not going to say who falls in love with Izumi, all you need to know is that she falls in love with him with about 2 scenes of interaction. It doesn't make sense, and it seems that the only reason this conflict is there is to get in the way of the main heroine(btw thats definitely the only reason why this happened). The other girls' romances don't seem to have much depth either. The writer girl's romance actually feels the most in depth of the subromances, but that doesn't speak for much, as the other romances are so bland and boring. It's like the author had to put every girl with a romantic interest or else the story wouldn't be complete. While I actually don't mind multiple romances going on at once, it should be executed with intention and it should make sense. This story is just, kind of terrible. The main romance is actually not so bad, it's pretty developed. Unfortunately, the supporting cast and their subplots and romances are just terrible, and drag the show through the mud.
And... of course, there IS the interesting premise of the show. Girls think about sex, and they're going to be aggressive about it. Or is it? Eh. Not really. The girls in the show act normal, the only difference is the emphasis on sex that doesn't usually happen in shoujos, so I guess I can give it that. It doesn't seem that bad, but it's more of a gimmick than anything else, I'd say. It's not terrible, but also not exactly super useful.
Conclusion: The story goes pretty awry halfway through the show, and ruins the show. Nothing to see here.

This is a spoiler free review.

"Not quite a rom com, yet not quite a romance either."

In an industry that has been trying to tackle the phenomenon of coming of age for many years to come, this show does what no other show can seem to do in the genre.

What you have as a whole is a piece that can be uncomfortable and awkward at times to watch, but comes together as a whole to set the tone for a topic that is difficult to approach in general, Sexuality.

While many shows seem to tackle the issue from the male perspective, the show brings a refreshing perspective ... to what appears to be a one sided issue in a gender neutral manner. With that comes a lot of enjoyment behind the very real and relatable moments in the show. Everything from frustration to estacy is depicted in a light and warm, yet direct manner.

This is not some work of fantasy, but rather something that focuses on empathy and real connections as an overarching theme, behind the light-hearted layer that is relationships during the coming of age period.

A true hidden gem of the season overshadowed by many top tier, more popular shows this season, but definitely a show that is worth your time. Honeyworks does a great job again with the animations and the color, rounding it off with an excellent OP as they always do. As a big fan of hidden messages, the OP does bring out what the experience the show wants to give, and the lack thereof of the experience the show wants to give.

TL;DR
The birds and the bees, the cold hard truth in an easily digestible show that can be painful to watch at times, but in a good way.

This anime is fucked up in so many ways to the point where you actually enjoy it somehow:

Story:

It’s about girls who want to learn more about sex life and the way things go is just really a big miss but somewhat enjoyable at the same time

Art:

Really liked the art style and it was mostly on point

... Sound:

Okay i guess ?

Characters:

Fucked up that’s all i can say

Enjoyment:

Idk why but it was fun and heartbreaking at the same time

Overall:

If you’re looking for a heartwarming anime then the first 6 episodes are certainly is but after that it’s heartbreaking

O Maidens is unfiltered Mari Okada from beginning to end. And that is precisely why this has been such a divisive series. You either hate it, or you love it (as I did). But to understand why that is the case, we have to take a look at how Mari Okada approaches melodrama, and how this anime is a perfect example of Okada’s best and worst qualities.

First, let’s start with the bad things. That would probably be... the dialogue? Look, Okada's dialogue is like listening to peoples thoughts. With that I mean that is like the characters that she writes always say exactly what's on ... their minds, but without the filter that allows a normal person to really know what is normal and what is not normal to say. This results in a lot of scenes where it feels like people are not talking like real people would. Though Japanese society is very different in culture to any other country, I still feel the dialogue in Okada's works is a bit exaggerated. You'll know what I mean if you watch the first few episodes. Also, as most people are aware of, Okada is known for writing melodramas. That means big emotional outbursts and people screaming out their feelings, resulting not only in exaggerated emotions, but also in exaggerated situations. You will see what I mean by that in the last few episodes.

After all I just said, is easy to understand why anyone could not like Okada's work, and mostly this one, that displays many of those issues. But I still feel like it’s worth watching. Why? For the same reason a lot of people still like Okada.

Now, let’s talk about the good things. And that is obviously the characters. Is funny, because I've always thought that to write great characters you need great dialogue. But Okada is kind of an exception to me. Why is that? Because Okada has a tremendous understanding of how human emotions work, especially adolescence emotions. Every character in O Maidens comes from a very different background, has very different worldviews and experience throughout the run of the anime very different situations. Each of them truly feel like they could be a protagonist in their own story, but by colliding each story to one another, it elevates each one of them even higher than they ever could if it were just the story of “one girl".

And the dialogue is, well... unfiltered; as is Okada. This gives room not only for a few over the top scenes and turn of events that are as ridiculous as they are hilarious (because yes, great part of the comedy in O Maidens comes from just how ridiculous it can all get), but also for incredibly frank conversations between the girls sometimes. Kazusa's problems are universal, and I think anyone could relate to her insecurities, but all of the other characters have at least one scene where there are great observations on their own very unique perspectives. Sugawara saying that men always decide on your personality just by looking at you when you're pretty, without taking into account the real you; Sonezaki getting infuriated by discovering that you cannot change who you are in middle-school when people have already decided what to think of you; Momoko experiencing the difficulty of coming to terms with her own sexuality when she’s surrounded by crushing heteronormativity; or Hongou being unable to tell the difference between the media she has consumed about sex and love which shapes her understanding of relationships and social rules, and the way things really are (I'll talk about that a bit more later).

All of this incredibly sharp observations on very different personalities and situations wouldn't be possible without the Okada touch. That unfiltered dialogue that wouldn’t work in any other story. You could say that it’s a flaw that plays in favor of the shows priorities. In a way, it defies all we're taught about "show, don't tell", but it tells such interesting, important and true-to-life stuff, that I don't really care about it. Okada's writing is always a bit ludicrous, but it always has this balance of silliness and thoughtfulness. What she has to say is very real, even if the way she says it isn't very realistic. (btw, I believe that's why her style works more on fantasy settings, because we can suspend our disbelief more easily than in this kind of stories; a good example being her movie "Maquia")

As for the male characters... this is where it gets tricky. I feel like the only relatable male characters are Izumi and Amagi, and the only one of those that actually plays an important role is Izumi (whom is really complex, and even though he makes a lot of bad choices, his actions are always understandable). As for the rest… they’re obviously the main reason why this series has been so controversial. First there’s Saegusa, a character that is blatantly portrayed as a pedophile in the anime, and is the former abuser of Nina, and while she claims that he never laid a finger on her, he obviously said some things that deeply affected her way of thinking and her self worth. Then there’s Yamagishi, a professor that becomes the advisor in the literature club the girls are in, if only because Hongou knows a dirty secret of him that could get him fired; they also get entangled in a very unhealthy relationship in which she is hitting on him, and he doesn't do much to stop her from doing some very inappropriate things for a girl her age, even though he could and he very much should. And oh wait… I forgot Sugimoto. Sugimoto is just kind of an asshole.

Now, there you have a proper reason why anyone would actively dislike this show. Mostly Saegusa and Yamagishi. But, just to be crystal clear here, the anime NEVER encourages the behavior of this characters. Listen, this are things that are cringy in a way that is beyond awkward, but the anime portrays them as the negative things that they are. And as hard as this is to accept, this things happen in the real world. More people that you would normally think of have probably suffered from abusers, be it physically or psychologically. And the “girl that falls in love with the teacher” is something as clichéd as it is realistic. If you’ve ever been to school at all, you’ve probably heard some stories like that.

Saegusa himself is nothing in the story more than a psycho that manipulates Nina to fulfill his own twisted curiosity. The relationship is obviously harmful to Nina, and it’s very clear from the start all of the weight she is carrying in her shoulders because of him. While he never “touches her” in a physical sense, he’s the reason of all of her insecurities, and these are portrayed with upmost empathy. I feel like is so important for a show to tell this kind of stories. They are unpleasant, yes, but they need to be spoken of. The fact that there is a pedophile in the anime doesn’t mean the show is promoting that kind of conduct, but rather it's creating consciousness around how hard it is to overcome this kinds of things, and how downright harmful and perverse it is.

As for Yamagishi and Hongou, they’re both portrayed as deeply self-loathing people who wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing if they didn’t hate themselves so much. And Hongou herself is just kind of confused as to what love and sex really are, because she’s been conditioned by the literature that she's consumed in her life, which is, to put it bluntly… porn. She’s obviously going to have some distorted ideas about relationships, love and sex, and that is partly why she gets into such an unhealthy and awkward situation. But as I said, the series demonstrates this with the utmost empathy towards its characters. It never asks you to feel good about what they’re doing, but it makes you understand “why” they came so low in their lives to be doing it. And by doing it, I mean they just play a kind of “will-they-won’t-they” game throughout the story, because the series never goes as far as to make them do something that they’ll regret later. And that I have to admire.

For a series about 5 girls that want to know more about sexuality and sex, the series is surprisingly restrained in what it chooses to show, and I wouldn’t take it any other way with the themes it deals with the storylines of both Houngo and Nina. Their stories never reach any outcome that would convey the wrong message. I don’t want to spoil anything, but again, the series portrays these relationships as toxic as it can, without delving too much into adult content territory. Is an incredible balance to achieve, and that is the main reason I would recommend this to almost anyone. As I said, this stories should be told, and they’re not comfortable to watch sometimes, but this series balances that by being restrained about its heavier themes, and compensates it with other three different stories that are more upbeat at the same time, so it never feels too heavy handed, neither too light hearted.

Though, wait… Momo’s story isn’t so upbeat. And I wanted to get here. Momo’s story is something I’ve been wanting to see in an anime for a long time. Most of the times that an anime portrays a gay character, it will probably make several other characters gay. This isn’t to say that I dislike those shows (I really liked Given, and literally everybody there seemed to be gay), but the story of the gay character that isn’t reciprocated isn’t something that I see a lot in anime, and is also something that isn’t too far away from reality. Momo’s realization of her own sexuality is followed by sense of isolation that is never truly resolved in the series, and that is only heightened by Sugimoto’s role in her story. Sugimoto represents everything wrong with heteronormativity. How he misinterprets Momo’s politeness for true attraction, and then blames it on her for not being clear about her emotions, implying that she is somehow weird for not feeling attracted to him. Is infuriating, and is true to life. Momo is a great character, and her story is something that I really appreciated in the series.

Speaking of which, O Maidens usually speaks about good intentions creating misinterpretations. I think that also applies to the series in a meta-sense. Many people didn’t like how it handled its themes, even though I doubt Okada was approaching them from a mean-spirited angle. That’s just not her style. I think people just didn’t like how frank it all sounded. I said how characters sometimes don’t speak like a real person would in O Maidens, but Okada herself never went to school (she was a truant), so she’s writing here about a very specific time and place she never really got to experienced. By knowing that, is enough for me to forgive some of the most glaring issues about dialogue and unreal situations that happen in the anime (and again, it’s a frickin' romcom most of the time, so just try to laugh along when it gets ridiculous), but it also surprises me how much she got right about the social dynamics and insecurities a teenager goes through in school. Okada really, really understands people. And that is the main reason why I loved O Maidens.

Each character has a great character arc. (I didn’t mention Kazusa’s nor Rika’s storylines, not because they aren’t well made or good, but because they’re the characters that go through the most normal conflicts a teenager goes through, and I wanted to talk more about the heavier, more controversial aspects of the series, and why I actually liked them). Not everything is resolved smoothly at the end, but it shouldn’t be, because life isn’t like that. Nonetheless, characters grow and learn every single episode, their mindsets and perspectives changing as they learn more about others people’s thoughts, sometimes through those frank conversations, and sometimes through their literature club activities. Because, in the end, literature is about that. Is about seeing something through the lenses of someone else, and learning empathy because of it. And as the series progresses, each character grows closer to a better understanding of the people around them, and a better understanding of themselves.

And I’d dare to say that so did I.

Look. Going into this anime, I thought it was going to be a harem, but was pleasantly surprised finding it was about 5 different girls, each going through a different situation, with a different boy (of course excluding the love triangle)

The first episode had me hooked, and I was excited to see where this anime would go. Man, do I have some regrets. This anime started going really, really downhill after episode 8. I could stop at episode 8, and feel totally okay. After episode 8 there is so much drama and I am not here for it. I came for wholesome content, I quickly ... found out that this ain't it.

The art is nice, sound as well, the voice actors do a great job. The characters are okay, I find myself growing annoyed with most of them as I continue watching, though.
I enjoyed this anime only to an extent, and once I stopped, I found myself skipping over most of the anime because I couldn't watch it.

If you want to watch a feel good anime, watch the first few episodes, and please stop yourself once you start feeling overwhelmed. Man do I wish I did.

edit: I watched the last episode today, and the ending wasn't too bad. Overall, I still didn't like a lot of the dramatic plot.. but on the bright side, my ship worked out.

^ sorry i'm not really good in english but i wanted to write a review^

- story [9]
- art [7]
- sound [9]
- character [8]
- enjoyment [9]
-overall [9]

honestly this is rare to me to see an anime with an interesting story that is about teenagers curiosity about sex and love these days, the plot is pretty exciting also the development between the characters' relationship makes it even better.
...
i liked the difference on each character personality and how they met their "crushes" especially hongou and her teacher.

generally my point is this show is really good and must be watched even if you dont like the "slice of life" animes i'm sure this one will change your mind!

I just finished watching the series, after having it sit in my to watch list for months. What can i say... the idea i had about the show was completely different from what the anime actually IS. To be honest, i found it very mediocre. The story, the characters, their actions and behaviours felt so... unnatural to me. Sometime they even made me angry. I dont think they handled neither sexuality and teenager sexual desire in a fair way. The anime view on homosexuality is... is it even a view. I wouldnt recommend this show that much, especially to people who dislike age difference and ... uh, also trigger warning for p*dophilia (which is also, somehow, excused in the show... i know, crazy).

Op & ED were decent, animation is... fine and the character design is cute, i cannot deny it. I really wanted to give it a 6/10, but the final 2 episodes were just SO BAD i had to settle for a 5/10. Too bad, because i had high expectations for this show, i really thought it was gonna handle teenage sexuality in a more relatable way.

Huh. Another Okada Mari anime? Time to break out my bingo board and see how quickly I win.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQoTsk4uxOIa9LMx55LPRkHsdDeawgb4IQ42oep_pBFwTNtVWz_

2 episodes. Literally 2 episodes in and I got bingo.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS AND IS QUITE LONG

O Maiden's in your Savage season is a coming-of-age anime that got people hooked on it's more mature, grounded themes of sex and youth. While not the first anime to do so and certainly it won't be the last, Maiden's is an Okada Mari anime and oh boy do I have to emphasize that. This anime screams her writing. Whatever your enjoyment of this series will be depends ... almost entirely on whether you like her writing style and its quirks. Let's dig into the anime now to elaborate on what I mean.

This anime is a melodrama. Almost offensively so. I separate melodrama from simple drama on the basis that in melodrama, characters do stupid things and make silly decisions to fuel the story, not out of a want for an actual logical flow. This anime has characters do incredibly stupid things that can only be done in anime. I mean, seriously? The creepy pedo director? He's literally only there to provide a point to expand more melodrama. The whole teacher-student subplot? Melodrama too. And I swear that these girls have not had their sexual education course yet even with them in highschool. This anime is not a realistic depiction of highschool girls (and boys) in any sort of realistic setting.

The pacing of the show is all over the place. I was somewhat surprised that the girls never actually work together all the time and the anime instead takes its time looking at each characters and their struggles in their own individual sup-plots - and they often jump around between each one almost at random. This breaks up the pacing a lot. I'm fine with this as long as the show gives me characters to care about. The show's major problem stems from this in that it expects you to empathize with each character but they never really give much reason early on to get you to like them or cheer for them. The 5 MCs don't really have particularly outstanding traits outside them being misfits who have an unnaturally high encounter-rate with sexual-related themes in their daily lives. The anime never explains how or why they've gotten together as a literature club to do the things they do (reading soppy romances) and it doesn't give us any sort of motivations early on so it throws you into pretty heavy character moments without much foundation. This is NOT helped by the fact that this anime is incredibly long-winded. Seriously, 4 episodes in and they've barely actually done anything to advance the plot since the anime loves taking its sweet time on things that don't really matter or they drag scenes on with long-winded dialogue when they should be setting the characters up. Oh well. I've certainly gotten used to this level of distracted writing by Okada and I pushed through but here it clearly sank a lot of people.

The characters themselves aren't actually too important in the grand scheme of things despite being a character-driven show. How much you like them depends on your tolerance towards having sex jokes thrown at you every two minutes. As I've said before, none of them are particularly stand-out. We have the club-president Sonozaki Rika who sees all sex as a deviant act. We have Hongo Hitoha who is a novelist (but that's not important) who is struggling to write any sort of sexual scenes. Sudou Momoko, Suguwara Niina, and Onodera Kazusa make a trio of first years who provide the spiciest of the melodrama. The anime initially starts primarily as a comedy that is riddled with the sex jokes you've seen in every other anime but blown up in scale. The melodrama comes in as soon as there is any sort of serious interaction with *sigh* the male characters. I don't know man. The male characters in Okada Mari shows are never really the best but Maiden's takes a pretty hard-line stance on things without it even knowing. I failed to find any sort of reasonable traits in the male characters other than for being fuel for melodrama and for being half-emasculated most of the show.

There really is no reason for me to care about any of the relationships the characters are in when most of them don't have much of a personality. And that's only for the actual couples. If you're the sod who got written to be pared with Momoko, not only are you melodrama-fuel but you're also a one-note arsehole. Seriously I never really gave much thought to Izumi or the teacher since they were pretty predictable. This entire show is, in fact, pretty predictable since you just have to think about what character action will cause the maximum amount of melodrama. Although, to be fair, that scene where Suguhara goes "SIKE that's the wrong number!" on poor little Kazusa in episode 8 was absolutely hilarious. The dialogue itself is so obviously Okada Mari. It's adapted from her manga and so the dialogue would probably have fit in a manga's panel-and-speech bubble format but it doesn't work out too well in anime. It's too tedious to listen to a character talk about their sexual and emotional desires and I forgot a lot of what people actually said (ESPECIALLY THE GUYS).

As the story progresses it consolidated itself and really starts to pick up. Disregarding the stupid way the relationships come to be as well as the creepy pedo guy, we really start to get a good look into the inner workings of the characters. The main themes of the show also manage to rise up from the muddy initial pacing. I gotta say first; this show gives an almost unfair amount of time and development to two specific characters - Hongo and Suguhara. Really, the other three are almost shafted out to the way thanks to them and I wouldn't have it any other way. Both of them have hidden complexes related to their sexual identity and were clearly the best characters of the show. Suguhara has a complex over her high sexual appeal and relating it to her "growing out of childhood" and emotional romance. She struggles to find and maintain any sort of fulfilling emotional relationship. She only has two friends - Kazusa and Momoko - and knowingly does things that pushes them away in an Okada Mari-style NTR attempt. Her actions, while very much geared towards causing more melodrama, were dynamic and emotionally impactful since she was a genuinly well-written character. Hongo has a far more subtle case. So subtle in fact that I'm almost sure she was almost somewhat forgotten about by Okada and Masahiro. Her complex is a similar to Suguhara's in that she never has had any sort of relationship likely due to her appearance and aloofness and thus aims, and struggles, to write any sort of erotica to fill her hole in her heart. It's a damn shame she isn't given more screentime. Their character arcs felt the most complete by the end and it felt that there was genuine thought given to the development of both of them.

They basically carry the anime since the rest of the cast (especially the guys) really don't do too much. I actually enjoyed Kazusa's and Izumi's arc but it was let down by Izumi being poorly handled. He really doesn't get much room and acts incredibly passively like the rest of the male cast. Seriously when the only guy who is actually making an attempt to impact the story is the creepy pedo guy you know something is up. Momoko is a pretty decent character but I really wish she got more screentime as well. I completely predicted the prediction her character arc was going to go (I know you know) from episode 3 and I would have loved to see it played around with more. Sonozaki was meh. She completed her arc as soon as she got paired with her Okada Mari-issued boyfriend which was very early on and nothing in their relationship stood out from literally any other romance anime. The teacher was somewhat interesting but suffers from both the passiveness of Izumi and the limited screentime of Hongo. He has some lines about highschool girls and his ideals but they're never explored in detail which was a shame. This anime really doesn't know how to pace itself and its characters. Overall the characters are fine (except the creepy pedo guy who's seriously just there to cause melodrama and nothing else). You'll either love them or hate them depending on your tolerance for the Okada Mari style (I'm starting to use the phrase "depending on your tolerance to X" a bit much now).

As I've previously described; this anime is not realistic at all. But I really don't believe realism was the point of this series. It's an ANIME for crying out loud. We have an anime about boys turning into borderline homoerotic Kappas that aired just last season. It's almost like an experiment of Okada Mari where she attempts to conceptualize themes usually frowned upon by Japanese society. Seriously, who couldn't laugh at the absolutely hilarious 11th episode when the arsehole authority figures went full Tari Tari and put a blanket ban on non-platonic relationships between the students. In a goddamn HIGHSCHOOL. Absolutely crazy and hilarious and would never ever work out in real life. The amount of contrivances that happen just to further the plot is also hilariously high. The long-windedness of the story is likely a result of Okada trying to fit was much stuff as possible. I would certainly like this anime to have at least 2 more episodes or just cut down on the unnecessary dialogue to develop it's characters. Seriously, Okada was stuffing this anime with more themes than it could handle. Thankfully it's not that much of a mess since it simply cuts off stuff abruptly whenever it moves on to the actual meat of things (which is a problem in and of itself I guess). Going back, I really think people should view this from the perspective that this is some sort of experimental work from Okada. It's so full of her quirks its impossible to judge it without really taking her into consideration. This is exactly why I said that you'll love this anime or hate it depending on whether you like her style of writing or not. Masahiro Ando clearly gave her a large role (similar to Nagai Tatsuyuki whenever he pairs up with her) and she grabbed it fully.

Final bits I can't bother writing paragraphs out for:
- The animation is, like the pacing, pretty all over the place. Did people actually work on episode 5? There was so much off-model and crappily-drawn STILL FRAMES in that episode that I can't believe they had much time to animate and check it. The rest of the show suffers from inconsistent animation especially with the character models. Thankfully it gets much better by the end.
-By god do I love the voice acting. Anzai Chika fully understands Suguhara as a character and Kouno Hiyori put forth a great performance for a newbie seiyuu. The other girls were pretty good too and it's pleasing to hear Kurosawa Tomoyo's voice again.
-Really, that creepy pedo guy is just...why? It'd be fine if he was given more backstory and a reason to care about him but he hardly gets any screentime. The anime never explored what could happen with a character like him running about which would have been pretty interesting. I harped on him a lot in this review but that's because he's representative of this anime's inability to draw interesting situations out of pretty big opportunities.
-*siiiiiiiggghhhhh* give me something to care about the guy characters. Izumi's only traits are that he likes trains and that he's sexually attracted to beautiful woman. Wut? Literally any guy would do that and I don't understand why the anime makes such a large fuss about it right up to the final episode. We live in a world where "10/10 would smash" is not meant to be taken seriously for Pete's sake. And really? In front of your girlfriend? You just don't say that shit you know?

So my final thoughts on O Maiden's in your savage season? It's surprisingly alright. There's so much that irks me (and certainly did so for plenty of people) but I can see why this show was hyped as it was early in the season. It really isn't my cup of tea but I give it a "6" score since it does things better than other similar shows (and I gave the same score to Golden Time and have similar feelings to this for that show) and because its vastly better than some of the scores I gave "5" to. It has its problems with pacing and it's inability to make meaningful relationships to care about and it's not very well-written; but it does pay attention to its characters quite closely. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably forget this show and its characters and I've watched far better romances and coming-of-age anime but this is fine for what it is. It's certainly not well-polished nor do I care enough about it to check out the manga but I would like to see this sort of thing with it's themes expanded upon in another anime. Okada Mari, right after directing a movie, is penning a manga so I'm interested to see her next multi-media approach.

Thanks for reading if you've reached this part.

The show isn't that much of an easy watch. To me, there are many moments that can be cringe-inducing, and uncomfortable. But...that is exactly how it's like to grow up. You start feeling the changes taking place in your body; your hormones start acting up; you may start picking up on things that you hadn't before, etc. For all intents and purposes, that is where the show shines. Growing up sucks. Let's all be honest with that statement.

How each girl copes with it is also different. The protagonist of the series, Kazusa Onodera, is absolutely terrified by the concept of sex, but it becomes ... even more complicated when she realizes that she was in love with her childhood friend Izumi Norimoto. However, I feel that because of her mind being too preoccupied with the latter, that often comes into conflict with her progress in forming a relationship with Izumi. This is one of my main gripes about the series because while it's apparent that the Izumi x Kazusa relationship will take up a majority of the plot, especially how we now have a third wheel coming into play, but because I find nothing to latch onto, I can't bring myself to care for whether they become a couple or not.

Niina Sugawara is considered the crane of her class because of her fair appearance. There's some interesting things to her such as her having taken an acting class or how she can read into people's deep desires, but there is also something...disconcerting about her. Later episodes give more insight into this, but she is still a pretty weird girl. Unlike with Kazusa, though, Niina is more open to her wants and desires which often led her into receiving attention from creeps.

Momoko Sudo is Kazusa's childhood friend who also shares her fear of sexuality. At first, I felt that there wasn't much to her character, but one of the later episodes implicates that Sudo may be shifting towards having feelings for unconventional people, judging by her interactions with Niina. This might prove to be interesting.

Rika Sonezaki so far is my favorite character. The president of the literature club, Rika at first comes across as a prickly young lady who judges other girls as being harlots. Yes, while she started off being unlikable, it is actually her interactions with another student Shun, and she started to develop. I'm serious, the ending of episode 5 is one of the most beautiful moments I have seen in a long time.

Lastly, there s Hitoha Hongo who is an inexperienced author who also writes more...lewdish works. Because of her inexperience in regards to sex, her writing can at best be taken as the writing of a middle-aged man. I am so far loving her interactions with her teacher. Of course, nothing comes out from that, but it is nevertheless sweet. There are other characters such as Izumi who has a deep, deep love for buses and transportation (to the point that the first episode ended with the memorable WTF moment); Yamagishi who became the advisor of the literature club reluctantly; Shun, a young man who treats Rika with dignity; and others.

The opening and ending themes are also fairly good. Voice work's good. The animation is also decent. There are some moments where it feels that the animation and lighting are delicately crafted. Overall, the show is not necessarily one of those must watch of the season, but the growing up aspect of it really resonates.

O Maidens in Your Savage Season: Yet another one of those romance anime that seeks to be a little bit of a shocker. However, unlike many before it, this really does deliver in most of the right notes.

Story & Characters: O Maidens in Your Savage Season is a romance anime that fits in line with a coming-of-age storyline. Our high school literature club is comprised of five girls: Kazusa, Niina, Hitoha, Rika and Momoko. Together, they read steamy novels aloud to each other as they slowly discover what sex and love are, with the focus of the series more-so focused on the ... former. One thing leads to another as our main cast of girls try and discover what it means to be in love feels like. This series wants to go much further than some other series before it have, with stark themes around love, in all its forms, and are shown and talked about extensively.

It's really hard to nail down a simpler plot line because this series is simple in concept, but incredibly complicated as you drill down further and further. Even though our main cast share the same space, and throughout the first half, the similar thoughts, they split off heavily afterwards. So while they may seem too similar at the start, they really do have strong branching paths afterwards. What I like about that is this series really doesn't spend too much time at a time with what most people would consider one "main" character. It seeks to try and split time between all five.

Kazusa is probably the "most" main character we have, but I'd argue her storyline is probably as vanilla as this series has to offer. She's lived next door to her childhood friend, Izumi, for as long as she can remember, but she starts to question if she's actually attracted to him. Not only that, but she also wonders what it would be like to make love with him - something she's thinking of, even though they aren't dating. Sure, it sounds plain, but because her character overthinks every aspect of love, it's actually quite entertaining. Niina's storyline is much more complex, and while it's different, I don't love the way they went about it. Early on, she's as curious as the others about what sex is, but her way about this is incredibly questionable. The warning signs of what she does are all there, but she doesn't come off as someone who thinks things straight through. I will say, it adds to the dark tone some of the episodes take late in series and it's actually quite tense. Hitoha isn't just in the literacy club because it's her hobby, but her passion. She wants to be a novelist one day, but during a meeting with an amateur writing publisher, they question her first-hand experience of their topic, love. This causes her to seriously think about how to get experience in the topic and seems desperate to do so. It's not even that she wants to find love, but force it. Unsurprisingly, she's very nervous about it, but like Niina, goes about it in a way that's questionable at best. Rika's the club president, and has a way of speaking that just shouts literature club. It's very formal and almost sounds like an audiobook. Which is good because she might be the most innocent of our club members. It's a good mix for the rest of her members because their interests don't always jive with hers. Finally, Momoko has the least meaningful screentime of the five, however, her story blossoms right near the end. However, it's perfect for this series. I would have liked to see more of her in the series in general because while you always get what she wants to say about her opinions on love, it's not fully brought out until the end.

This series does an incredible job at keeping the pacing moving. The first episode might drive away some audience members, but past that, this series just keeps pushing the pacing more and more, leaving each episode off on a cliffhanger. Like most anime, some cliffhangers don't amount to much, but some very much do, and that made me try and watch this series in a hurry. Still, you never feel like you're missing details, which is where some quicker anime tend to lose some audiences.

Weaving in side characters is something this series also does very well. Sonoe is a classmate that has very little screentime, but I liked her because while she clearly has her "group", she wants to try and be a good classmate to everyone anyway. Her few points regarding love are brought up and isn't wasted time either. Hisashi Saegusa and Tomoaki Tamagishi also enter the picture and are the only adults that have a significant amount of screen time. Even though adults are suppose to be the steady hand when it comes to the idea of sex, these to fit into the series because that's not always the case. This series needed adults when talking about the obvious controversial topic, and I felt like they do that well here.

The main question to comes to mind with a series like this is, have our characters grown up at all? Did they find the answers they were looking for? Quite honestly, I can't really say, and that might be why this series can feel incomplete to some. Sure, some of our characters have closure, but it's kind of arbitrary. There's one short arc at the end that focuses around the school and while it starts off well, the finale does feel a touch rushed. The post-credit scenes answer a few questions, but not everything. That may be the one flaw in an otherwise fantastically written coming-of-age series. (Story: 9/10, Characters: 8/10)

Art: This series looks really good, which I didn't really expect. Colours pop at times and get really dull in the darker times. I also noticed that many also aren't solid, so much as shaded, and it stands out really well - most noticeably with clothing and hair colour. The one drawback is that the "patterns" on the flat surfaces don't move with the objects on screen, so it can look odd if you're watching in full HD. It should also be noted that while the topic this series goes over are pretty stark, they do keep the visuals to a pretty tame level. (8/10)

Sound: The OST was surprisingly strong during certain times. You never expect a ton from a romance series, but this one had some strong tracks, especially during the tense moments. Otome-domo yo was the OP, by CHiCo with HoneyWorks and it almost feels like a march into something very exciting - which fits this really well. I wasn't particularly moved by the ED, Yume Cinderella by Momo Asakura, but it wasn't too bad. I actually couldn't reliably find who the VO directors were for this series - it might be Kyle Colby Jones and Christine Auten - but they've assembled an amazing group here. Brittney Karbowski (Kazusa) is obviously a master in the industry and her character's frantic nature is a perfect match here. I'm not sure where this performance came from for Avery Smithhart (Rika) and Juliet Simmons (Momoko), but they were amazing here. Both have had performances that I haven't been super high on before, but they were fantastic here. The general VO direction here was exceptional, something that always tends to worry me with Sentai works. There's actually a fair bit of a swearing in this series too, something that's not found in anime much these days. (9/10)

Overall: O Maidens in Your Savage Season is an uncovered gem when it comes to romance series that push the boundaries. More than Scum's Wish, Citrus or Domestic Girlfriend. It asks the question about what sex is, without giving the answer up so easily, and instead, wants to tell you that it isn't so straight forward. And that's what makes it so good. (9/10)

Human psychology and emotion are some of the most complex things anyone can study. It’s impossible to know exactly what someone thinks or feels at any particular moment and the difficulty is only increased exponentially when someone reaches middle/high school. “Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo” yo is a show that tries to give us a small glimpse into the minds of what some of these people might be thinking and how it can affect their relationships.

Tl;dr This is one of those character-driven shows that doesn’t tell a story with some overarching storyline. It throws some people into a pot and justs lets them loose. The story ... is so delicate that there really isn’t much else I can say that wouldn’t be a spoiler… so spoiler warning if you read past this.

Y’know what I’ll just skip straight to the character side since that’s really the high point of the show

Character: 10 Simply superb, more on the exaggerated side but this is a work of fiction, I Don’t think anyone’s looking for REAL people in their ANIME.

Despite most characters being a bit exaggerated, all the characters have distinct personalities and really cover a large range of human emotions and identities. They get into seemingly real situations and act according to their own character. For example, a certain character begins to regret a relationship their in because their partner doesn’t care about them, a real situation that ends with real action. Of course, these situations are several times more complicated than just one sentence but the point is that the characters in this show feel like they have actual lives and we’re just peering into a small portion of it. That’s probably the most you’re going to get out of any fictional character in any form of media.

Story: 10 The characters carry the story and they carry it high.

I know I just said there wasn’t an overarching storyline but just following the literary club members live out their lives in their own relationships is really entertaining. This is probably the prime example of a “drama” anime, I’m probably annoying some people by praising the story as much as I am but this is one of those shows that you really just experience rather than watch.

Art: 9 Breathtaking visuals with extremely impressive animation

I really can’t say much but just look at the opening credits… that’ll paint you a pretty accurate picture of what the rest of show’ll give.

Sound: 8 Man do I love that opening…

As I said before “Man do I love that opening” the rest of the ost is pretty forgettable but works really well with the dialogue so you don’t really hear it but you’ll definitely be able to notice if it were missing.

Enjoyment 9… not much else to say about that

Overall: 9

This show was REALLY close to being a perfect 10 and its shortcomings doesn’t distract it from its strengths. I’d recommend this show to anyone who can stomach a little awkwardness because as anyone will tell you, high school was a REALLY awkward time.

A plot where teenagers descovering and dealing with sex is not a trully original, but it's not bad at all. In the beginning, there are so many surprising and illarious scenes.
Unfortunatelly, the main couple has dissapointed me. You can keep going with the anime, but their relation is a quite boring (Izumi is almost a ghost). In the other hand, the secoundary characters are so more enjoyable. I think they're always trying to prove themselves. They have more realistic, dramatic actions.
If the anime could focus on their secoundary characters, of course could be 9/10, even more.

The end of the serie was a little bit terrible, ... they made a great mess. I felt like 'that could be ended at the episode 9'. So ... it's a good serie, funny, sometimes unpredictable, with so many good secoundary characters. [7/10]

This is probably the most controversial anime to air this season. Some calling this a hidden gem. Some calling it a disaster. And from my point of view, they're both right.

Araburu was that one anime I got really hooked to about 4 episodes in. One twisted moment after another, one pull on my heart after another, this show just refused to let me go. As cliche and unbelievable some of the characters were, one cannot deny that this is a beautiful, and also really messed up, story.

It's not common in these forms of stories to develop such a complex romantic situation so well, as well ... as resolve it, in a span of 12 episodes. The amount of growth each character experienced was immense, to the point that I would not accept the massive change in some of these girls had I not seem the show. The execution of development was really impactful; every single moment had me thinking about it, whether it was the actions or emotions of all the characters.

So why is it that such a strong story and show fell flat?

Simply put, predictability. The immense amount of cliches used in the story killed it to the point that some people would easily predict the next development. I did too. But it still didn't take away from the overall enjoyment, and the occasional twist made up for it.

In the same sense, the ending. It was the most predictable part of the anime. I knew who ends up with who, what happened after, even before I watched it. The ending is arguably the MOST important part of the anime; it's what sticks. It's what you think of in a plot driven story. And it's what makes or breaks it.

And it broke it for me. My preemptive rating of 10/10 at episode 10? Gone.

I would still recommend the anime to anyone who asks. But it's no longer in my mind, a masterpiece I would hold for many years to come.

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo is a show that takes the subject of love and teenage woes and unlike many that have attempted to do so in the past, portrays it in a wonderful package that is both entertaining and compelling.

While the story is fairly overdramatized, in this show it's not an issue because it's not about the story, it's about the characters in it. Each character is lovable, compelling and even relatable if only a little. I am by no means a Japanese highschool girl and I never will be but the show has a way of making feel every little bit of the ... characters' emotions through them despite this. The utter mess that is the story in this show to the untrained eye may just make it seem like a bad story but as I stated earlier on, this is a character-driven story. The journey these girls take is like a metaphor for the emotions they feel, the complete mess of emotions, sadness, happiness, heartbreak and confusion. The show manages to lay it all out in this jumbled mess on a silver platter and then ram your face into it all so that anyone can feel the emotions of these characters regardless of who they are, are you a middle-aged man working in an office? Who cares, because this show will make you feel like a young Japanese highschool girl so you may as well throw away your masculinity the second you click the play button.