Akebi-chan no Sailor-fuku

This is a very good slice-of-life anime work with many unique advantages that have greatly increased my rating of it. The script and the way the story is portrayed, even as a slice-of-life work, completely avoids using traditional conflicts or backstories to intensify the plot or the emotions of the characters. For example, there are no tragic backstories, regrettable pasts, or misunderstandings in the entire show.

For the characters, almost everyone is like a blank paper, with only differences in personality and interests. There are no deliberately constructed contradictions in the interactions, such as accidentally damaging items, misunderstandings from unintentional words, impending separations, or regrets from ... a failure. This makes it difficult for the story structure to have exciting climaxes or tear-dropping moments. Moreover, even the feeling of “love” is not used in the show at all.
However, under such a framework, the “innocence” is depicted so sincerely and successfully, with pure positive energy that resonates from the bottom of one’s heart.
Such anime is rare and precious. Therefore, it definitely deserves a higher score.

More specifically on the detail, the focus of the story is almost entirely on “the courage to start and affirm yourself,” which is as same as the title of the opening song: “The moment of a start.”
(The song itself is no doubt 10/10 it's so great)
It’s about the beginning of touching unknown things, the beginning of meeting new friends, and been through moments that make yourself feel shy and embarrassed.
In terms of real life, especially in social environments and schools (Asia more specifically), there is a fear of becoming an outcast, fear of interacting with others, fear of presenting oneself in front of a crowd (clothing, body, voice, and even smell). But once you take that first step, many things are not as scary as imagined. The protagonist demonstrates this process to us countless times in the show in a very energetic way.
This is the real “innocence” of a human in everyday life.
It's a heart-warming moment just by wondering if there were an Akebi-chan in our class.

As for the art part, it is definitely considered a top work of current technology. This show has a lot of large body movements, including changes in the hair and skirt during motion, which are produced very perfectly. Visually, some close-up shots use extremely beautified filters, which are actually quite common in other works, but usually used to express dramatic or comedic scenes. However, in this show, these techniques have become a way to showcase the beauty of the original manga, with obvious changes in the lines and coloring methods, providing a very fresh experience. (Some may not like it though.)
With great quality of pictures, it helps a lot on the performance of characters' expressions. There are so many tiny details on their body movement and the background as they interacting with each other.
In addition, the light and shade of photography technique is wisely used throughout the show. Even if you didn't notice, it provides comfortable watching experience imperceptibly.
It has achieved a certain level of art.
Music as well, they are heavily composed of violin and piano duo with extraordinary balance, sounds classical and elegant but also energetic at the same time, fits perfectly with the scenes.
All of these efforts work out very well for me. The overall viewing experience is satisfying and joyful.

“Beautiful Youth(青春) can be - even without love plot and tears.”

P.S. Another interesting point is that the campus buildings and uniforms of this show are based on Hokkaido’s “iai joshi women’s academy.” You can actually find their real photos of the campus through google map and their website.
From the main gate, cherry trees, classroom corridors, lecture podiums and grand pianos, to the laundry rooms in the dormitories, these scenes are accurately presented, and it is truly beautiful and wonderful place!

This "cute girls doing cute things" anime was absolutely amazing, from start to finish. The animations were top notch and among the top quality I've seen, anywhere. The world this anime draws you into is beautiful, and leaves you wishing you could live in that world when you run out of episodes. After this anime ended, I just kind of sat there, not wanting to start anything else for the time being because it would ruin the mood.

This anime is also flawed. Well, "flawed" isn't maybe the best word for it. It's ambiguously fanservicey in a way that's ambiguously inappropriate.

Akebi ... is a middle school girl who wants to wear her sailor uniform to school and make lots of friends. She's an outgoing, friendly, lovely, and beautiful young girl who spends all her time at school making friends with her classmates, learning more about them, and helping them to overcome issues. She doesn't do that by heavy-handedly trying to psychoanalyze them, she just... is their friend, and it's her friendship that's healing to them. Her world is bright and beautiful, the music is amazing, everything about this anime is beautiful and lovely and cheerful, and if it weren't for one thing, it would be absolutely perfect.

It's an anime about friendship, and the healing power of friendship.

It's also got an amazing amount of highly specific fanservice.

The thing about this anime is that the fanservice is ambiguous. There's nothing about it that pops out at you, and you'll say "that was awful, I'm not watching this!". No, it's far more subtle than that. Two people can look at the same fanservice and take two completely different interpretations from it, one a lot more wholesome than the other. This wouldn't be a problem except this appears to be absolutely deliberate. It pulls right up to the line, and only just *barely* crosses it, if at all. In fact, it's almost masterful how well they sidle right up to that line. Even after watching all twelve episodes and enjoying the *heck* out of it, I wasn't exactly sure how to feel about it. Did I just watch a wholesome anime that celebrates friendship, adolescence and femininity, or did I watch a fetishistic, fanservicey mess that focuses on thirteen or fourteen year old middle school girls? The truth is, I *still* am not quite sure which of those I watched. Because it's so ambiguous, I decided to choose the more wholesome interpretation, but I don't blame anyone for, well, not.

It's actually rather a shame, because without these elements it would be a far better anime. It also wouldn't have the same beautiful atmosphere as it currently does because some of these quasi-innocent elements are core to the personality of this anime.

This was an amazing anime. It really was. It's beautiful, it's well made, the world it creates and pulls you into is bright, happy, and cheerful. And it left me feeling this really weird combination of "iyashikeied" and a bit unsettled.

To this day, I still don't know if it's Yuri. And that, right there, encapsulates the ambiguity that pretty much defines this anime.

So, for that reason, even though I personally rated it highly, I'm rating this "mixed feelings", because it's polarizing. Either you see it as containing implied quasi-innocent adolescent exploration, or as fetishizing early teenage girls. I can't predict which you'll take away from it. So... watch at your own risk, but if you can set all that aside, this is an absolutely beautiful anime that you won't regret watching.

Akebi-san had a brief explanation in her announcement, the girl likes a sailor uniform and wants to have friends. The polished graphics immediately caught my eye, so I decided to go for them.

And yes, the graphics and music in the series were of a very high level. The graphics stay on a consistent level from start to finish. Details of single drops, falling leaves or the movements of figures and the arrangement of fabrics are reflected in the high quality and accuracy. It is a great joy to observe such a detailed image along with well-chosen music.
Character building also adds value. Each of the girls ... in Akebi-san's class has her own unique character, each is different in her own way and we have a chance to enjoy their diversity.

Unfortunately, as the supporting characters are interesting, the heroine is the mary sue of the series. Despite a few shortcomings, she is presented in the series as special and is the centrepiece of everything, and what other classmates thoughts. She’s the force that pushes them to action, but the time allocated to make it unique in the series is too large and clear. The series would benefit if the time only for the side heroes were increased. One gets the impression that the entire class has created a harem and a cult around her. It rejected me and irritated me, the heroine herself didn’t show many emotions apart from the first episode, playing the 'angel' 'goddess' ‘the special one’ in the whole class.

Ultimately, I didn't get much pleasure from the screening being bored with the slow story and the main character. The series may appeal to people who prefer to calmly watch the school life of the heroes and won’t be disturbed by yuri themes.