Shuffle!

NOTES:

First review ever, so don't be too angry if it's not as good as you'd like. :)

This is a review for people who are looking to watch the show/interested in overarching details.

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I'm going to try and be as absolutely forgiving to this anime as I possibly can be, because for the better part of the series, I enjoyed the living hell out of it.

However, after investing my psyche in a story about a supposed harem contest between what you could call a flock of girls (three of which happened to be supernaturally-inclined), I got a serving of the most unnecessarily dramatic and overly played ... formula that the writers could have come up with, and for that, I have to call this anime what it is: contrived dreck.

On with the review!

The ART was amazing - really over par for the time in which it was drawn. Sometimes when the characters' faces would be at different angles, I was a bit upset with the hasty way that the animators would kinda just slap some facial features on there and really not care about where they ended up, but hey, it's a cartoon first and foremost so I can't really be too judgmental about that. The backdrops, the animation and the visual stills were really well done, so I gave it an 8 overall.

The SOUND was also well done. Seiyuus portrayed their characters just how I would have thought they would have sounded, and the emotion was definitely where it needed to be. I never watched the OP/ED, but from what I did get just by not being able to be completely accurate with my video position bar, it sounded like every other cheesy harem anthem, so I can't really call it out for that (maybe for lack of originality - I digress). The music was largely forgettable and didn't really sound as though it was a large part of the budget, but it added to the mood when necessary and wasn't overtly unwelcome - gave this category a 7.

Here's where I get nasty.

The CHARACTERS were stereotypical, unimaginative, overly dramatic and largely disappointing. To avoid spoilers (and the rage that would spill into my writing from thinking about their personas in-depth again), I'm going to simply give an overarching synopsis of why I felt the characters could have been about 178,000 times better than they were.

In most situations, the characters played their assigned role - by about episode 7, every character you were introduced to had their persona already laid out flat, and you or I could have written the dialogue for them from there. This is not what upset me the most, as it is what those of us who watch the harem/rom-com/drama genre have come to expect in terms of character depth (which in and of itself is kind of a travesty - I digress).

What really pissed me off about the writers' lack of imagination is that they tried to cover it up by throwing curveballs at both the characters and the viewer that were ABSOLUTELY contrived and COMPLETELY irrelevant whilst still trying to remain in a genre that they had forsaken long before then. A note to the writers on this: when you write a character the same for 2/3rd's of a series and then decide LET'S CHANGE THEIR PERSONALITY BECAUSE WE CAN or some other bullshit, this does not "make things fresh" or "add intrigue" - you'll get some "what the fuck" factor and it infuriates most involved viewers.

Some would argue that the twists thrown in add to the atmosphere and that the drama was necessary - to these people, I say "Did you watch the first half to two-thirds of the show?" It is both DISMANTLING to a plot line and VERY UNSETTLING to see a show go from overly cute and bubbly to downright nasty in the span of an episode. There's no build up, and over the course of the past twelve to thirteen episodes, you've given me nothing but panty shot after panty shot mixed in with an un/fortunate situation thrown in every now and again - now you slap me in the face with an overly serious situation that rivals Jersey Shore levels of what these writers would call dramatic plot movement WITHOUT maintaining the cuteness you'd been stringing me along with for the past FOREVER? M. Night Shayamayamyamaymayamalan could write better twists, AND at least he'd have the decency not to lie to me for 15 episodes about it. It's like the show tried to emulate what another show (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, a FANTASTIC dark comedy) did, but they forgot to tell their viewers.

Another thing is screen time: at one point in the series, the two most important girls to the story up to that point (those who are vying to marry our male lead) completely disappear without a word from the other characters as to what's going on with them, even though ; this would have been acceptable and even welcome had it been for an episode - maybe two, but it literally happens for about three to four episodes, and when they finally DO come back into the story, they've been relegated to overtly stereotypical dialogue and AT BEST an auxiliary character role. I gave the CHARACTERS category a 4 because before the writers decided to screw up the roles and give every character some atrocious character flaw, I actually enjoyed the stereotypical interactions.

Finally, the STORY. This is probably where I find the most wrong with the anime, and also where I have the least to say - simply because, the one and only thing I found atrocious about this story is that there really wasn't one, and they were trying so hard in the beginning to present a coherent comedic romance.

With a few, very MINOR exceptions, there is no such thing as 'missing an episode' with this series; because of the way that the writers decided to introduce character flaws and try to add what they thought were appropriate levels of drama, they completely destroyed what semblance of a plot line they had and any interaction at all before those points becomes absolutely meaningless - not to mention the LITANY of re-uses of written lines and plot devices to try and maintain said levels of what they thought was "drama". I gave the STORY category a 5 as well, simply because for the majority of the beginning of the series, I was enjoying what could be called the plot.

OVERALL, I found this series to start fantastically strong but finish with a bitter taste in my mouth, an underhanded and unwelcome attempt to become a different genre, and characters that (as time went on) became more and more unbearable to watch. Had Shuffle! stuck with the rom-com/harem-style from start to finish, this could have been another fantastic addition to the genre (and not to mention some super pantsu shots) - instead, the writers tried to add depth where it wasn't necessary, drama where it wasn't wanted, and twists that not only made the characters dull and used, but also overly self-righteous and sometimes downright stupid.

Hope you find this review helpful!

Story:
This is where Shuffle! excels the most. There are at least 4 or 5 arcs packed into 24 episodes, so by the time you finish, you can’t say you didn’t get your money’s worth. I was hesitant about watching at first, but this anime can’t be judged by the impression the first two episodes give, because there’s a whole lot more to it. Every episode you learn a little more about a certain character, which makes a good incentive to continue. Most of the plot is filled with twists, but some episodes (especially the last few) are predictable.

Art:
This anime looks much older than it ... really is. I don’t know if it’s because of the shading or choice of colors, but the characters look really flat, which takes some getting used to. If I had to make a comparison, I’d say this anime looks like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. What I do like is that the animation is very fluid. It’s like watching an oil painting in motion. The backgrounds and lighting effects are especially nice.

Sound:
The OP and ED themes immediately became one of my favorites the first time I heard it. It was hard to stop listening and sometimes I found myself humming them. The BGM on the other hand is a whole different story. Most of the tunes sound like something out of a 90’s video game. Again, it makes the anime feel more dated than it really is. Although I guess you could call it nostalgic if you want to, since the characters are in their teens. It’s unique, but definitely not for everyone. Even worse, it gets repetitive pretty quickly, but at least the right tunes are always played at the right time according to what’s happening on screen.

Character:
Rarely have I seen characters with this much personality. Both the male and female characters are nicely developed (no pun intended). The girls are beautiful on the outside, yet they each have their own set of flaws. I’m sure everyone who watches Shuffle! will find a favorite character -- mine’s Kaede, followed by Primula. XD But I wish some characters would have had more screen time. It seemed two or three girls took over the show while the rest of the cast was placed behind, which is really unfortunate.

Enjoyment:
I recommend everyone to watch Shuffle! because there’s something for everybody -- comedy, romance, happiness, sadness, and even good fan service. Shuffle! is downright funny, but will have you on the edge of your seat just as often.

Overall:
There are many harem animes out there, but Shuffle! is one of the few that does it right. As I mentioned above, despite its looks, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill anime. If you’re looking for a good romance, a light-hearted comedy, or just something with a bunch of twists, Shuffle! is one anime that you won’t forget about anytime soon.

Tsuchimi Rin is a high school student who attends National Verbena Academy. He spends his time with childhood friend Fuyo Kaeda and Shigure Asa. One day, two beautiful girls from the world of gods and devils transfer to his class and another artificial life form moves in with him. All 5 girls love Rin. Now he has to decide who will be the one he spends the rest of his life with.

Story & Characters (8/10)
The story of Shuffle! is yet another twist on the romance/comedy genre. While staying traditional to the harem style scenario, Shuffle! adds magical elements and outstanding character development into the mix. ... The favoritism of the childhood friend scenario seems to play prominent in the series and all of the characters have their good points. This is great when trying to create characters that you can get attached to, however it does make it rather difficult to choose a favorite as you don't want to see any of them get hurt. Also, because the characters all seem to have some sort of promise, it makes the balance seem slightly off. Still, it's a minor complaint. Fans of such series as Ichigo 100% and Sister Princess will find it easy to grasp Shuffle! as it stays with the traditional multi-girl style without becoming too ecchi in the process.

Art (9/10)
The artwork was originally conceived from a dating sim game of the same title. Thus all of the character designs are very crisp and the execution is quite capivating. The backgrounds are lush and continue to flow steadily with every scene but you find almost all of your attention on the characters themselves. The males are portrayed accordingly the the females are all beautiful in their own way. As far as the traditional harem genre is concerned, I have found Shuffle! to maintain some of the best artwork.

Sound (9/10)
The music in Shuffle! is outstanding to say the least. The intro song "You" but YURIA is a fastpaced song that is well coordinated with the intro animation. The lyrics also give off a sense of desperation from the singer which promotes well with the female leads in the anime. The ending theme "Innocence" is slower and more peaceful than the intro, but the lyrics continue to grasp the series well and will leave you wanting more. The song tone and lyrics are well delivered as well. Follow the series into the OSTs, and you'll find quite a bit of music to keep your ears happy. "In The Sky" is another prominent song that emerged from the game and you will find it to be an excellent piece if your a fan of the traditional music in the anime. The normal background music isn't anything to snear at either. Without being too prominent, the background music is soft and blends well with the animation scenarios at hand. The variations are kept to a minor note but are still distinctive enough to embrace the situation.

Overall (9/10)
I feel that the overall aspect of Shuffle! was quite enjoyable. The humor of the series is rather clean for the most part and the overall story flows nicely from episode to episode. Unlike a lot of series in the same genre, Shuffle! has captured me with its lack of filler episodes. Every episode seems to play nicely into one another even if only to show the tightening bonds betweem the male protagonist and one of the female leads. There are also a few story arcs that are thrown into the mix to keep the flow straight forward and on task. There is a small span in which Nerine is the primary focus of the male lead, then there is another with Sia as the focal of attention, then you will find a lot of tension with the Primula arc that has yet to be completed. Throughout the series, they manage to keep your interest captivated with a different scenario. The execution of the art is by far superior to that of other titles in the same category and the music only serves to smoothen the delivery of it all. Taking everything into account, Shuffle!'s crisp artwork and excellent soundtrack with leave romance/comedy fans planted in their seats and asking for more. So, I would totally recommend this anime who like these kind of genre or to people just starting out.

Let me just explain that when I picked up this anime, I had just finished watching AnoHana, and was hoping for a light-hearted romance/comedy/harem to let my brain settle before delving into another intense anime. But Shuffle! was NOT as easy-going as I was expecting. So although this anime was good, it was not what I was expecting, and therefore I may be a tad bias in my review.

Story: 7

As far as the story goes, I liked the idea of Gods, Demons and Humans all living together. I'm a fan of the comedy/romance/drama/harem genre. And I like how they tie magic into the whole ... series. So why am I only giving the story a 7?

Let me try to explain my thinking with a simple episode breakdown:

Episodes 1-12ish: Character building episodes. Really basic. A simple problem each episode that is resolved by the end of the episode, and reveals bits and pieces of each characters personality. Although these episodes are essential for the rest of the anime, they do tend to drag on a little. So I wasn't a big fan of that. NOTE: The atmosphere in these episodes are light and romantic, standard for the genre.

Episodes 13ish-16ish: An arch is given that takes all attention off of the main plot(Rin's love life) and focuses on one character(Primula, who is not fighting for Rin's affection). Although the arch wasn't bad, it was a complete and sudden change of atmosphere, from light and romantic to dramatic and magical. This again isn't a bad thing, it's just not what I was expecting from the show. ANOTHER NOTE: Throughout this point, the anime did a really good job of keeping me guessing as far as who Rin would choose, which is surprising. In this kind of anime, it is usually painfully obvious which girl the main character is going to end up with. But in Shuffle!, i thought I had it narrowed down to one of two girls, but I was completely wrong. Which is a big plus for this anime.

Episodes 17ish-24ish: ALL. HELL. BREAKS. LOOSE. An obsessive girl with the inability to move on + a guy who is ready to move on + a whole lot of tears + one character being hospitalized + a late game suicide attempt + somehow a happy ending = My brain falling apart and me repeatedly asking "what the hell is going on here?" The anime plunges into emotions, drama, and painful flashbacks at a pace that left my head spinning. Again, I love emotion-filled romance/drama animes(like AnoHana), but I had JUST finished AnoHana before watching Shuffle!, so these episodes were NOT what I was expecting/hoping for from this anime.

Overall, the story didn't have any major holes in it, and it all wrapped up nicely without leaving me feeling overly rushed. Had I been expecting the ending to be so... dark... then I would have gladly given the story a 9, but whereas I was hoping for a lighter watch, I only gave it a 7.

Art: 8

As far as I know, the anime had pretty good art for an anime created in 2006. The series did go a tad overboard with fan service, but I'm a 17 year old guy, so I'm not complaining.

Sound: 8

Again, as far as I know, the sound effects were pretty good for an anime created in 2006. The opening song was rather catchy, and the end song was nothing spectacular, so an 8 here seems fair.

Characters: 8

This show had a terrific cast of characters. Each girl had their own unique background story, so even though each fell into one cliché or another, they still felt fresh. Primula was one of those characters that won't be forgotten easily, just because of how adorable she is.

I did have one big problem with this anime though; Rin, the male lead. It was downright annoying how 99% of the people around him would do ANYTHING to get closer to him. It was just obnoxious. It's impossible to put into words how much I detest Rin. BUT, aside from my strong hatred of Rin, all of the other characters bring something cute/unique/hilarious to the table, so I give it an 8.

Enjoyment: 7

Again, my enjoyment is heavily affected by how different the show was from what I expected. But I still enjoyed the show quite a bit, so a 7 seems fair enough.

Overall: 8

This show has a little something for everyone; whether it be the romance, comedy, drama, school life, magic, or fan service, you name it, this anime has it. I definitely recommend this anime to anyone who is willing to deal with an annoying male lead in exchange for a pretty darn good romance/comedy/harem/drama/school life anime.

P.S. This is my first review, so if you have ANY feedback(good or bad) just send me an email/message/whatever, and I will try to make my next review better. :)

10 years ago, the realm between the Gods, Demons & the human world was irreversibly opened, giving an excuse to add the supernatural/magic to Shuffle!; the humans, demons & Gods inevitably come together as a lot of the demons & Gods migrate freely into the human world, changing the Shuffle! world forever.

You may be off-set by hearing the general overview of the series, but demons/gods & magic don't play as big a role as one might think by simply seeing a review. In fact, there are only 2 serious/emotionally-driven scenes where they use magic in this series and neither are against any adversary/foe and both ... are in the more-to-the point second season.

Shuffle is probably one of the better harem anime. The first season has a lot of comic relief whereas the second is much more serious comparatively, though both have their pros and cons. The first season is more about character connections than it is the main plot which, you'll find, is very necessary when watching Shuffle!

As stated, the second season is much more emotional and in depth story-wise than the first with one of the more emotional arcs (12-15) coming at the beginning of the second season. Basically, the first season is much more involved with character development and the second with story.


The animation quality was excellent. On the more unique side of things, the character design/clothing for each main character changes a lot throughout the series and you can't grasp any character in one outfit for long, further adding to the variety of the overall series. For those who prefer to watch the dub, don't hesitate as Shuffle! is one of the better English dubbed anime and each of the characters voices fit nicely.

I enjoyed the series a lot more than I thought I would by initially seeing reviews of it and I expect anyone who watches it with an open mind to do the same, though I can see if it really isn't your style. In short, my Shuffle! experience was great and I wouldn't change that much. The fan-service doesn't interfere with the main plot, though there are a few ecchi situations.

Overall rating of the series: 9/10. Exceeded expectations.

Shuffle wasn't an anime I was ever keen on watching to be honest. Partly because of Nerine's ears and partly because it just didn't appeal to me. I ended up watching it because a friend gave it raving reviews and I just couldn't believe I'd ever been stupid enough to pass it over.

Before I get on with the review, I'm going to have to give out two warnings:
1) This anime will repeatedly threaten to compromise your manliness, if you're a guy.
2) This anime also contains one of my favorite characters and she was the one who awakened my inner lolicon. She could do the ... same to you.

Now for the review.

Story - 9
Unusually for a harem this anime had an abundance of story. Whilst it lacked a plot that stretched throughout the whole 24 episodes, each heroine had a few episodes that was dedicated to her with minimum interference from the other female leads. This makes a nice change from the usual constant squabble-fest of other harems which, whilst entertaining enough, do get a little old. Even the filler episodes served to let the background characters take center stage for a little and to see how they are going about their business. The ending is also one of the most satisfying in the harem genre. Shuffle covers just about every genre going, so don't be put off by the word 'harem' because it is so much more than that.

Art - 9
I'm giving the art a 9, even though it is the area of Shuffle I have the most beef with. Particularly with the character art. Some characters are visually superb, such as Reena and Sia. Then you have a character like Asa who walks around with hair that looks like a huge chunk of green and Kaede who has hair so glaringly orange it would make oranges cry. These are minor faults and are just the result of me having high standards so I'm not going to be petty and lower the score for it.

Sound - 9
The opening theme, You (song name, not you you), is one of my favorite theme songs in anime to date. The music seems to fit the events and emotions of the anime no matter what is happening, which, considering how diverse Shuffle is, is pretty impressive. I won't give it a perfect score because nothing about the rest of the sound is really memorable to me.

Characters - 10
Just to be clear, I do not like all of Shuffle's characters. The daydreamer Kareha being the main culprit and the main Rin, not far behind. This isn't because they are bad characters though. I don't like them purely because of one or two minor things they do/did that irked me.
The rest of the characters are just..... amazing. They all have a past that, thanks to the dedication of episodes specifically for them, are explained in enough detail so we feel we know the character without their pasts becoming the dominating theme. I think the creators did very well juggling character development from the past and character development in the present. They are hardly 'generic' either. You do have the normal generic types of girls found in harems but each come with their own twist in Shuffle that really brings a breath of fresh air to the genre.
And Rimu. I have to give Rimu her own paragraph. I defy you to watch this and then to not like Rimu. She fills the 'emotionless loli' role but still somehow manages to convey emotion. Her background story is heart wrenching to watch. I was genuinely concerned about her, a fictional character. She is just such a lovable character. Cherami Leigh's performance as Rimu is nothing short of spectacular.

Enjoyment - 9
I enjoyed Shuffle immensely. It's a new type of harem anime, it's diverse and interesting, the fanservice is kept to an absolute minimum (maybe once or twice in 24 episodes.) You cannot help loving at least one character. It's a horrible analogy but it was similar to betting on the horse races. I had my favorite girl and wanted her to be chosen over the other by Rin (or win the race, in other words.) It was definitely enjoyable rooting for my favorite.

Overall - 9
All the reasons why this is just a great anime to watch are ^^^^^ up there.
I might've given it a perfect 10 but for one or two itty bitty issues here and there which some people would ignore but I can't. This is purely personal preference though. Also the fact I have so much to say about an anime I last watched in March gives testament to how... memorable this is.
Definitely one to watch.

Shuffle! is a harem anime that suffers from ADD, depression and drunken incoherence. The original opening concept is actually pretty interesting. This universe has your standard Earth and humans but also openly welcomes Gods and Demons which are basically elven looking humanoids. The King of the world of the gods and the King of the world of the demons each have a daughter and the one who marries them will become the ruler of the gods or ruler of the demons. Naturally, these girls are in love with a Japanese loser from highschool. Yeah, that makes for a pretty interesting concept right? not super original ... but damn entertaining... throw in some additional girls and you have a recipe for an amazing anime, right? Wrong. While the premise is good, its execution fails so spectacularly that it is almost hard to believe.

The whole entire premise that would make it interesting is almost instantly dropped. It becomes a simple "confused feelings" anime and this main character manages to literally ruin several lives in the process. I have never EVER seen a main character who I hated more due to his thoughtless and selfish nature that they wanted to come across as innocent. It was hard to stomach. I wont say who he ends up with but needless to say that the whole "Becoming king of the gods or king of the demons" is almost never mentioned again and the kings are rarely seen past the opening episodes. What a damn waste.

If this anime wanted to be what it ended up being, then fine... but why introduce the element king of the god or demon world at all? I have no problem with the main character ending up with whoever but it could have been done much better.

This anime tries very hard to be as ridiculous as possible with the character personalities. You have characters who start to go insane, literally, out of the blue... and degenerate into a completely different character, doing things uncharacteristic of their pre-established personalities and then by the end going back as if nothing had happened.

There is also a lot of pointless drama. I don't mind drama, hell I like it if its done right... but here it is not... at least not towards the second half. I guess that is what it comes down to thought. The series gets progressively worse, to the point where it seems like one director was fired halfway though and another took their place and wanted to re-write the entire story.

You can find better.

And if you liked Shuffle! fantastic. I didn't. My review is based on that basis.

STORY: Great concept. Unforgivable execution.

ART: The animation was pretty good. Nothing to write home about but overall it was fluid and nice. I don't have any complaints but it didn't blow me away or anything. The thing that stood out were the eyes... in a good way.

SOUND::The opening theme is awesome. I liked it a lot. The rest though isnt memorable. you will forget it in T-minus 30 seconds.

CHARACTER: Uhgg... no. Just no. I have never seen characters that are more all over the place in terms of personality.

ENJOYMENT: Very little but what little I did enjoy, I enjoyed quite a bit.

OVERALL: I personally found little enjoyment out of this title, but the stuff I did enjoy was pretty good. I couldnt get passed the fact that they managed to be so all over the place with the story. Virtus Signum gives this a 4/10. Below Average.

It's been almost six years since I've finished this show, and I can still say with certainty that this show was terrible. The only thing I liked was the opening (which is a banger by the way) and it's OST, but overall the show made me want to blow my brains out. The reasoning behind every character in this show made me actually want to fucking grab my old Medion computer and throw it out the window.

This show actually brought out a deep hatred from within me which I never knew existed and made me realize that shit anime actually exists in this ... world, and I had just witnessed it's end. How this show even got past the 5-star mark boggles my mind and made me realize what too much anime might do to my brain, leaving me a brain-dead shell of my former self wasting my time watching shit harems like Shuffle.

In a way you can say this show saved me from becoming what I now fear most, and since I have gone on to broaden my horizons past anime and have gone on to become a happier person because of it. This show turned me off from harem anime for life and I'm better off without it, leaving a deep distaste in my mouth I still feel to this day; shit. Turn around and never come back, forget this page even existed and go watch better shows like Clannad and Ousama ranking, you'll thank me later.

Overall: Putrid Trash with a bad execution, but good music.

I disliked Shuffle! so much that it has prompted me to write my first review. That does not mean that you will dislike it, but if you've seen one harem anime, you might end up being bored by Shuffle! The review will contain some minor spoilers, but nothing major or explicit.




Story: 3
Let’s start off with the premise. In a world where Devils, Gods, and Humans coexist, a mediocre guy has 5 girls fall in love with him for pretty stupid reasons. Sounds like your standard harem tromp with a supernatural element thrown in. This premise had so much potential; the interactions between the three worlds ... and their inhabitants could have been developed and fleshed out instead of providing fillers and needless drama (24 episodes were more than enough for that). They could have answered the question about how the gates between the three worlds opened (God knows they had the time to do that). However, we never even get a glimpse of the world of Gods, and just some episodes where we get to see very little of the world of the Devils. The differences between the three races are never specified, except for the fact that Gods and Devils can use magic. I know it's a harem, but adding these elements would not detract from the original story. Some of the developments in the story seemed to happen just for the purpose of drama and they were so easily resolved (read: cliché) that it made you wonder why they occurred in the first place. After around 11 episodes, the anime starts feeling a bit too much like a visual novel, with the MC doing each girl's route (with annoying numbers of pantie shots thrown in each). I know it is a VN adaptation, but it felt TOO much like a VN compared to other adaptations. I will admit, some developments the final episodes were surprising (the good kind) and they made sense within the framework of the story.


Art:
The anime is a bit dated, so I cannot really comment on the art. If you're used to new anime, you might get a dated feel from the art, but it isn't bad to look at, though the character designs take some time to get used to. Could have been better if they spent the budget on something other than pantie shots.

Sound: 7
I really liked Shuffle!'s OP, and the ED wasn't bad either. Other than that, the sound wasn't anything special.


Characters: 2
The characters are what make or break an anime for you, and in my case, they made me dislike Shuffle!. I've seen enough harem anime to not expect originality from them, but still, let’s get out our stereotype checklist. The pervy friend with the glasses: check. The cheerful, happy go lucky one: check. The subservient one who will do anything for the MC: check. The shy one with the manners: check. The loli: check. The emotionless one who eventually shows emotions: check. The one who likes getting physical: check. The intrusive parent(s): check. Other spoilery clichés: check. Clichés and stereotypes aren't necessarily bad if done well. They aren't done well in Shuffle!. Two of the girls have essentially the same back story. Every girl calls the MC kind.... but the MC is actually kind of a dick. He is indecisive and the annoying thing is, because of his MC status, he essentially resolves everyone's problems by himself. He is pretty selfish in some respects; he leads on the girls for most of the story because he wants things to remain the way they are. They couldn't have made the girls more passive and one-dimensional in terms of problem resolution, and the loli feels more like a side character. At a certain point in the story, I thought he had chosen a girl, but no, by the magic of a badly written story, all that had happened between them was essentially forgotten. A pretty horrible MC, even by the standards set by the harem genre.


Enjoyment: 3
The reason I finished Shuffle! was because I actually sorta enjoyed the first 10 episodes. After that, it slowly degraded, and then I was in too deep to stop watching, since I wanted to finish the story. I'm the type of person who will end up marathoning a whole anime on the weekend if i don't control myself, but I ended up finishing Shuffle! in 10 days, and I only finished the last 5 episodes in one go so I could be done with it. The ecchi is overly abundant, badly done and detracts from the story. Hope you like striped panties if you've decided on watching this anime.


Overall: 3

To conclude, Shuffle! is an anime with a lackluster story with potential which pulls you in the start, and some of the most boring and pathetic characters you might see in an anime. Its sound and art might be its redeeming features, though I wouldn't watch an anime solely for those two things. I haven't watched a lot of anime, but even I found Shuffle! annoyingly clichéd. I didn't hate it, hate is a strong word, but I came pretty close. To conclude, except for the fact that it actually ends conclusively, Shuffle! might just be everything wrong/boring/annoying about the Harem genre, especially if you've already seen a few anime already.

Plot twist after plot twist after plot twist, I guess that's why they called it Shuffle!

I'm not quite sure how to start this review, I guess I have been on a dizzy joyride of emotions like a teacup that won't stop spinning on a theme park ride, but I digress.

Shuffle! is a classic anime of romance, comedy, drama, and for the first time ever, for me personally, a harem. I have never watched a harem anime and I'm glad I started with Shuffle! I don't actually know what harem means but I guess it's essentially 1 guy, 5 beautiful girls that would equal a variety ... of romantic outcomes. Forgive me if I got that wrong but I guess that's what it could have been.

Anyway, enough of me rambling on, let's get into the main brunt of the review and why I have given this anime a high score of 10/10

Story - 9/10 (Spoilers Ahead)
The story of this anime I was unsure of, it didn't sound like something I would be interested in, but how I was wrong, god damn. To begin with, we are introduced to 2 main characters, Rin Tsuchimi and Kaede Fuyou. Rin is a simple young high school student attending Verbena Academy. He lives alongside his childhood friend Kaede who goes above and beyond in looking after Rin.
She literally does everything, from cooking, cleaning, clothes washing, food shopping, you name it, if it's a daily task, Kaede is on the job. I truly felt sorry for her, waking up so early to cook breakfast, waking up Rin, and getting him ready for school when Kaede is only a childhood friend. In some episodes, Rin was taking advantage of Kaede and that was truly pissing me off, almost to the point I had to stop watching, as I couldn't stand Rin's selfishness anymore.

Rin and Kaede both attend the same school and on the first day back, they are introduced along with myself, to 2 new transfer students, called Sia and Nerine. These 2 girls share a personality between them, Sia is a daughter of a god, and Nerine is a daughter of a demon. They both have supernatural powers but mainly Sia just hit's her father with a chair when she gets embarrassed and Nerine goes explosive mad with magical energy, I guess that's where the comedy part lies.

After school, Kaede attends a cooking club with the smart cook Asa who is teaching Kaede everything she knows about cooking so that Kaede can continue producing great-tasting food for Rin. Rin then walks home by himself that day and stops by the supermarket only to bump into Sia who is struggling to decide on what meat packet to buy, Rin helps her out and thanks Rin for the help by calling out his first name.
As Rin is walking home, he hears a girl singing on a park swing and listens in, only to disturb her and that girl turns out to be Nerine. Rin compliments her on her singing voice and Nerine thanks him in return by calling Rin by his first name, but how did both Sia and Nerine know Rin's first name when he only just met them?

Rin continues to walk home and stops by the video arcade to put his mind off the bizarreness of that day. While in the arcade he sees a girl trying to win a claw machine game and offer's her some money to pay for a go, however, Rin doesn't have enough cash on him and apologizes, Rin continues to walk home. Her name, by the way, is Primula, a young girl who is part of the demon world but you would need to watch the anime to learn about her backstory, not going to spoil it here.

As the story goes on, the anime branches out with a variety of romantic backstories with all the characters, and each backstory is truly well written and detailed. It just makes you want to watch more and more.
The number of emotions that went through me while watching this anime was truly inspiring and I just didn't want to stop watching it.

There are times I just wanted to choke the fuck out of Rin as in some episodes he treated the only girl who showed respect, love and cares towards him, Kaede. Rin treated her with a disgusting attitude and I just wanted to fucking.... you get it.

If I had to rate the girls, this would be my take;

Kaede - Lovable girl with a bubbly personality and would be there for my every need. I would treasure her, respect her, help out as much as I can and she is definitely waifu material. Guess you could say I'm simping for her, xd.

Primula - A adorable young girl with a loving presence about her but she needs to learn the major things about love and romance first, she's far too young to be having a boyfriend let alone the thing that revolves around love and how you can show that to the other sex, you know what I'm talking about

Sia - There are 2 sides with Sia, the shy, unconfident girl then the other side, the slutty, in-your-face type who puts you into embarrassing and almost regrettable situations, but hot damn, is she cute when she's on that side. :wink:

Nerine - Not much I can say about her, I think she is the same as Sia's first side and I would say she is a lovely person to talk to if you are down in the dumps but other than that, not much else to say.

The hell? I've gone way off topic here, I guess I just tend to waver in a random direction, I didn't really talk much about the story. I guess since there are 24 episodes, there is a lot to talk about so all I can say, is to watch the anime and find out for yourself. The story was great, truly something different and I would recommend this anime to anyone who likes the same sort of thing as I do.

Now, lemme stop this section and move on.

Art - 10/10
Without question, the art in this anime is truly well done. It's almost as good as Kyoto and I won't be saying that if I didn't mean it. The art and animation were truly well done and it deserves to be 10/10.
Change my mind.

Sound - 10/10
The music and sounds in an anime is a key aspect on what makes a scene the way it is, a happy scene, a cheerful soundtrack, a sad scene, a slow mellow soundtrack. Shuffle! is certainly up there with the soundtracks, each scene no matter how sad or happy the scene was, the soundtrack complemented the scene well if only I knew what they were called so I could listen to them on a daily basis, hmmm.

Character - 10/10
What can I say about the character, after all, they were drawn beautifully and I only wish I had at least one of those girls in my life but I keep forgetting, this is a fictional story and it's not real, but how I wish it was. I would love to live my life forevermore with Kaede or Sia, my heart just sings for those two. The character design was fabulous and every change of clothes the girls had to wear was certainly not a letdown.

Enjoyment - 10/10
Can't you tell with the rating, of course, I enjoy it, I would recommend this anime to anyone and everyone to loves anime just as much as I do. Yes, I'm only just starting my journey, but I have fallen deeper into the fucking rabbit hole that anyone else has when they first started watching anime and you would need a fucking 200 ft long rope to haul me out of it. Anime will and is now part of my life and it will never disappear nor will I grow out of it. I'll introduce my children to it, and they'll hopefully introduce their children's children into and anime will live on in my life and future.

Overall 9.8-10/10
I kinda went off-topic slightly with the enjoyment section and I hope you don't mind but overall Shuffle! was almost masterpiece-like, not truly up there with the other romantic animes I have watched but is certainly in the mix. If I had to give my end all score for Shuffle! it would have to be 9.8/10.

End Comments
Fabulous anime, really enjoyable, I need to start watching more of these but the only time I have to watch anime is either during the day when I feel tired after working the breakfast shift at the hotel, or when I feel wide awake at the end of the dinner shift but need to go to sleep for the breakfast shift in the morning.

So for me right now it's kinda difficult, but that's my problem, not yours.

Anyway, brilliant anime, really enjoyed it and can't wait to watch my next series, hoping it doesn't disappoint.

Thank you very much for sticking around and reading this long review, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

cryyptt_ <3

This is an anime that will cause you try and drown yourself in a pool of bleach. It is completely awful to watch, more painful than driving rusty nails through your eyes. School Days is a better anime than this in that at least some of the demented characters get killed. This anime, sadly, doesn't have this wonderful ending.

Story: An indecisive dumbass attracts a bunch of dumbass females. The plot here is literally the indecisiveness. That's not a story, that's shit.

Sound: Unfortunately there is sound, I wish it was silent with no subtitles or anything.

Character: Amazing character development as to how fucking stupid they can ... be.

Enjoyment: Alcohol tested, it fails.

Shuffle! is a truly great harem in the world of anime. It certainly had the potential to be a masterpiece if it wasn't for the overly unrealistic setting. Then again of course, it's not something these type of animes worry about. Most harems have an unrealistic setting that would not be possible in the real world. Therefore, you're either going to like or hate this anime straight away.

The story might seem cliched ie. one guy x lots of girls = suspence and drama (+ the occasional fanservice). That's not the case in Shuffle! however. This anime manages to suprise us all the time with ... things we wouldn't expect to see in it after watching a few episodes. Having watched quite a few harems myself, I expected the same old routine... guy wakes up, guy goes to school, guy meets dozens of girls. Girls fall in love with the guy, guy doesn't know what to do but somehow he "accidentaly" ends up groping all of them.

I was pleasantly suprised that Shuffle! decided to reverse the roles and in fact it's the male lead getting groped... and not accidentaly. Very similar to how it was done in nagasarete airantou, albeit with less nudity.

What most Harem animes lack is comic relief. Every anime needs it. Even death note had a few scenes which were designed to make the viewer laugh. Shuffle! doesn't disappoint. A lot of characters in this anime were made just for that. Like the "defense forces" for example. As it turns out there ARE actually jealous men in this anime which is definitively a first. I've never seen a jealous guy in any other harem anime that I've watched. It's usually something like "ohh yeah that dude... meh who cares." Out here it's more like "GAH! he's got all the girls, let's get him!" which also suprised me.

So what are the defense forces? Organised groups of adult (and not so adult) men who try to capture the male lead with the intention of executing him in various ways. Of course, they always fail miserably.

The characters are awesome. We have Rin Tsuchimi, the prontagonist of the series. He's an average highschool dude, with one exception. He's a powerful chick magnet. What's more (and this is where total unrealism I mentioned earlier sets in), most of the girls that are interested in him are either demons or gods. Rin shrugs off the girls' advances most of the time which just makes them more daring and determined. Add to that the fact that most of the fathers and mothers in this anime want their daughters to get intimate with the male lead (wtf) and... wham, you have the perfect recipe for "what the hell did I just watch" moments.

Sound is really nothing special, just your average anime music. There is seriously nothing I could write about on that. Well no, there is one thing - the opening is very long, it probably constitutes 15% of every single episode. Likewise art is good but it's not super awesome... or even awesome for that matter. It simply is good. No mistakes or anything but it's not breathtaking.

Enjoyment is probably what this anime is about. It's not one of those "teach you a lesson" or "tear-jerker" animes, it's simple here to entertain you. That said though, you're gonna have to get used to the unrealistic setting and simply focus on the story instead. A bit like in "ah my goddess". Anyway, I encourage you to take a look, Shuffle! is a fine addition to the Harem genre.

Great anime, great score.

Shuffle! was something that I went into with very few expectations. I generally don't watch older anime for a myriad of different reasons, but shuffle! did interest me for some reason. The plot seemed kinda out there for what you generally get in a romcom and it was that reason alone that made me decide to start watching it. I will say this much about it, if you are tired of the same formula in romcoms and want something a bit different then shuffle! might be the anime for you. Not only is the world it takes place in different, but how they go about ... with character development and even who the MC actually ends up with are quite un-expected and interesting because of that. It's an anime that has genuine plot twists. Some stuff you can see coming, but some of the bigger events that take place genuinely catch you by surprise and that's always something I welcome with open arms when it comes to the anime industry.

Story- A basic rundown of the synopsis is this " God, demons, and regular humans now co-exist together. The kings of both the demon and god realm move into houses next to the MC and want him to marry either of their daughters." That is the setup for the plot and imo it does follow some of the basic tropes of "girls move into the mc's house or next to him" but what makes it interesting is his connection to either of those girls. Not only that but they're the daughters of the king of demons and gods respectively and with that comes some unique circumstances. Those aren't the only girls he has a connection to, but they're the ones that are presented to us at the start. Where things progress from here are rather...well fundamental I would say. It does for a while follow a basic path that most romcoms take, which is fine, afterall you can't exactly get a connection the characters and care about them without anything happening, but what I loved about the story is the fact that it doesn't stay on this path for long. It lets you get to know and care for the characters, it gives them enough time to get to know the MC and most importantly it gives all the characters enough motivation to pursue the MC for different reasons rather than just "Daddy said I had to". Where the anime gets really interesting though is after it strays from this path. Certain events take place that leads to a sort of second arc where the dynamic of the show changes and that is where the good and memorable parts of the show happen.

Art- I'm not gonna lie here, the art and animation in general is fairly generic despite the type of universe the anime takes place in. I feel like they could have done more to emphasize the kind of world they were in. One gripe I do have is that they don't show nearly as much of the demon and god worlds as they should have despite them seeming very interesting from how they're described. It's not bad by any means, but this is one of the animes that would have benefited a lot more from having better art design. It's serviceable.

Sound- The sounds assets and design are good, but nothing really original in my mind. It does what it's suppose to and the music sets the mood, some of the tracks are actually quite good to be honest, but there weren't any tracks I would say were mindblowing. The intro was the best piece of music in the whole anime imo.

Character- To me the characters and rather un-predictable plots twists are what make shuffle! a memorable show and experience. The characters in shuffle! have true character development, not all of them, but some of them truly change for the better or worse throughout the series. To me what really made the show interesting was who the MC actually ended up with, not only that but how much the character he chose developed. A character I didn't care too much for all of a sudden became someone that I cared for deeply. The only bad thing about romcoms with multiple girls are that the enjoyment of the show can hinge on who the MC ends up with. I can see why some people wouldn't like the girl he chose and that could ruin the show for them, but the bottom line is that Shuffle! has a great cast of characters all of which are well fleshed out and portrayed. Each girl does get a fair chance with the MC, there are even times when you think that he is gonna end up with some of them, but ultimately I think he makes the right choice.

Enjoyment- The enjoyment of romcoms hinge on you liking the plot and characters. If either of those fall flat that usually makes for a bad experience, who the MC ends up with can also determine if you enjoyed the show or not. The setting of Shuffle! while quite unique, could be seen as something that would be a turn off for some people. The characters on the other hand I think are objectively well made and well portrayed, not everyone is going to like a tsundere character for example, but that doesn't mean a tsundere character isn't well made and well portrayed. I enjoyed the setting, plot, and characters ton in shuffle!. Combined with some genuinely surprising plot twists and developments along with pretty good pacing and amazing writing makes for a great experience in my opinion. It's entirely understandable why some people wouldn't like shuffle!, but it's worth giving a shot if the premise of it sounds intriguing to you, it's also worth giving a shot if you want something a bit different from the standard romcom animes.

Overall- Overall shuffle! was a great experience for me and I really enjoyed my time with it despite me going into it not expecting too much. I would reccomend this to people that want something a bit different from the romcom genre.

Shuffle! is one of those little diamonds in the anime world. From the start you think its your average harem with a dumb guy and girls all yearning for him with a bunch of comedy and randomness thrown in. But Shuffle! did something that a lot a harems don't... its keeps a lot of secrets.

Throughout the show new secrets, twists and pure surprises are revealed. one of the main being which girl he would pick, from the start you have no idea who it will be which I think is brill.

It also has some very dark parts to it, especially in the second half of ... the show that really do take you by surprise.

Overall this is a great series for anyone, not just us harem lovers, it bring such a different feel to a harem and I do believe its one of the more unique harems out there and possibly one of the best too. My overall rating is a solid 9.

-We have to warn them Lord Byron..

-But do we?

-Whatever do you mean my Lord?They will die,we have to warn them

-Sure we can do that or....We cannot do that and go for some alcohol induced orgies with Lady Lilly

... -Can i bring some friends?

-Sure you dirty dirty SOB.

Now that was my attempt to write a war era porn novel and it is disgusting.Which is also funnily enough the case with SHUFFLE!But before you go any further,are you underage maybe?If so please leave cause i swear a lot!But even if you don't i'm not gonna rat on you!

Oh come on Dion you're surely being your usual grumpy self and everything reminds you the pain of existence and the dark days of humanity...I wouldn't bet all my money though on this horse.Plenty of reasons for that and i'll try my best to be as graphic as possible in order to save you from this nightmare.

Shufflle is a harem-ecchi-pantyshotseverywhereyoulook kind of anime you see.That means that it's bound to be the same as every other harem-ecchi-pantyshotseverywhereyoulook anime..And mostly it is.Apart from some minor details it's exactly the same dietary plan.

Storywise we have Rin the male MC who is constantly drowned in ladyjuice for reasons unknown to man.Some say it's because he's a nice lad.But as long as i remember it was always the abusive bastards that had hordes of pussies waiting to jump them.But then this is anime so everything goes i guess.Maybe the fact that he lost his parents when young has something to do with it?...You know,"poor little Rin come rest your dick on my huge tits to wash the pain away"...

Then there's Kaede the childhood friend who just so happens to have the hots for him..What a big fucking surprise,right?

But then in the dark of night they came..Gods and devils came down from the skies claiming their daughter's right to ride Rin's dick.Ferocious battles ensued and Rin being the noble warrior that he is took every pussy in the land in his fort and had his way until every single one of them died of childbirth.What a man,what a guy!

Anyways it's the same format we're used to in this type of animes.Minor changes come in the form of Rin not being a complete and utter bitch(still can't decide who to bone though)and that the second half is where the story changes direction and goes a tad dramatic.Now when i say a tad i mean hell breaks loose..And that duality is also a big problem.

It's the same issue i have with other animes..That sometimes forced over the top drama.Ok they wanted to give some weight to various characters..That's fine and dandy..The way you handle it will make it either go with the flow or ruin the flow and end up in the sewage system.

For me the only arc that felt genuine and had real substance was Kaede's.The way it was presented was on the money.The atmosphere,the use of music,everything went down as smooth as a 5 yr old's ass(Yeah that's a Catholics ref)

Wait now Dion...This doesn't sound so bad..It is though,cause the way the whole thing is handled from start to finish is like trying to mate a labradoodle with a shark.Might be fun to watch at first but after a certain point things are gonna get messy,to say the least.

Then there's the bulk of the thing,it's 24 eps long!Honestly i could do with half that and the anime would be much better and much more easy to digest.

Animation was,much to my surprise very solid and pleasant.The panties were so real i could almost smell them and the titties were so beautiful i swear i could lick the clean through the screen.

Another pleasant surprise was the music which,ok most of the time was cheesy,but when needed it was there to enhance the experience.VA's more than decent.

Overall all the first half has to offer for is girls going "I want to take care of Rin",coupled with "comedy" born from the arguments as to who will take care of him with some splash of antics from various fan clubs the girls have.

In my honest opinion Shuffle isn't fit for human consumption,but if you want to watch it be my guest..Don't say i didn't warn you!

Alright, lets dive right in.

Story: 9/10

I think the story was very well executed, and while the beginning seemed slow, the story's progression and enjoyment ramps up, and it doesn't make all the characters sappy. It had a good mix of tragic and happy, and I think I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. The romance's presence is very remarkable, but not so much that other important things are covered up.

Art: 7/10

Since this is an anime from 2006, it has the "old style" art, which, to be frank, is not one of my favorites. It doesn't have any vibrant colors, definite lines and vectors, or robust art ... style of a lot of modern anime, but it isn't bad either, and the story more than made up for it.

Sound: 7/10

Again, not amazing, but not horrible. It was good and served its purpose, no more, no less.

Character: 9/10

Amazing character development, they were each unique in their own way, and had their own set of problems. They didn't really follow any kind of trope, and how they marked each character's uniqueness was very well done.

Enjoyment: 9/10

While I was bored at first, it served me well to get through as the story and character interactions got better and better and more intense. I very much enjoyed the ride that this show gave me.

Overall 9/10

Very well made, and very fun. Not a lot of post-coupling action, but the build is very well executed. I would recommend this to a lot of people.

Welcome to Robert's Too Late Reviews! Working from the dubbed version. Today we have a series that started off a bit slowly, but as it comes into the home stretch, it quickens it's pace dramatically, and ends with quite the bang! Shuffle! would have been a solid 9 in my book, if not for a few flaws. Even so, this is one series I'm quite glad I experienced. Let's shuffle down and look at the good, and the not so good features of this anime!

Story: 8
The primary reason that this isn't a 9 is the fact that in the early goings, it did seem like ... your forgettable, run of the mill harem anime. I came into the title, thinking after about 3 episodes that I was looking at a '6' rating at best. However I was far off base, though it took getting close to the midway point for me to realize this. Once the basic setup of the story was taken care of, the series dives into the meat of things, and really begins to move. Now, this *is* in fact a harem title, so we do have 5 different girls seriously vying for the main character's affection, with the stereotypical 'loli' character that while pining for him has no reasonable chance of coming out on top.

Each girl, even the loli of the group, has their own character arcs. They all seem to get fairly close to winning the main character's complete devotion, though only one girl actually does. That is another HUGE kicker about Shuffle!, the fact that he does actually pick a girl to love exclusively, none of this open-ended crap we see nearly everywhere else. On the character arcs, we get some pretty interesting storytelling, though there are some flaws to be found. For example, two of the girls share a very similar motivation/circumstances. The mechanics of each arc are varied, though the end result of them are pretty much the same. One girl's issue has a positive spin to it, and the other's has a kind of troubled setup, but in the end, when summarizing the arcs, it's quite easy to say 'well both girls have 'x' going on...'

The arcs also include some serious issues such as health problems that create dangerous situations for the girl in question, along with a girl that does an abrupt about-face behavioral wise, that is pretty jarring and initially seems out of place, but when examined from a psychological point of view makes perfect sense. These arcs, and the resolutions to them, are not always the happy-go-lucky outcomes that are so prevalent in this genre. Some of them have very serious consequences, and are not hand-waved away so easily.

These arcs are the meat of the show, as we get to know about each girl and her relationship to the main character in greater detail. Another interesting detail that Shuffle! carries that isn't the standard boilerplate harem trope is that not every girl has an equal chance with the guy, nor do they push that every girl is equal in his eyes. Yes they are all swooning over him, but throughout the series you can see fairly quickly which girls have a shot, and which ones don't even have a snowball's chance in Hell of ever being Mrs. Main Character. Oftentimes in this genre we see the main character stringing all the girls along, and never moving in any decisive manner towards choosing only one to be with. This series does not do that for the most part. The main character is kind, but clearly doesn't return the intense feelings most of the girls express to him. Instead of saying 'I love you' to each girl during their respective arcs, we actually do get him saying 'thank you' when some of the girls actually openly confess to him.

Another interesting factor, from my position at least, was that I didn't see his final choice coming at all. The story makes it easy to make assumptions about who's in the real running for his feelings, but beginning the series I did not guess the girl he ends with at all. It's not out there, I mean it still fits well into the story and is not a pitch from deep left field, it was just a bit surprising, which is pretty important for the harem-ish type shows to pull off. If you can see in episode 3 who the main character is going to end up with in episode 24, it can be pretty much a waste of time and a serious bummer. A nice change of pace is found here, and that's always welcome in my book.

Now to some flaws. A flaw that kind of bugged me was the fact that during each girl's character arc any girl that wasn't directly related to that storyline pretty much disappeared. Sometimes there's several episodes some of the girl's are pretty much completely missing from. Understandably you can't have all of the girls in his face and still tell compelling plotlines for each girl, of course. But with each girl openly declaring their love of the main character, and at least paying lip service to the fact they are supposedly not giving up on him loving them back, regardless of which girl he's interacting with most at any given moment, it seems odd they wouldn't still show up enough to indicate that they aren't ready to give up on his love. It's like Girl #1 says 'Oh it's Girl #2's turn to be the center of attention, so I'm going to just quietly sit in the corner for 3 or 4 episodes and not say anything.' Naw, in the real world all the other girls would still be flirty and engage with the guy, if they were still competing for his affections. Perhaps not in an open battle for him, but in a 'hey baby when she lets you down, come running to me' kind of way.

The synopsis tells us that we're dealing with some of the girls being supernatural creatures, the daughter of the King of Gods, and the daughter of the King of Demons and all, but another flaw is the use of magic in the story. It really feels tacked on, and is only used to prop up weak answers to some of the questions brought up in the girls' character arcs. Kind of like: 'why is this bad thing happening to whichever girl?' 'because magic!' Magic isn't really used at all outside of the crisis moments in the character arcs, and it seems like they could have left it completely out and gone with other causes to the problems the girls face and it wouldn't have hurt the story any at all.

Finally, while there are some interesting developments and attention grabbing events in the second half of the series, we are still dealing with the most part very cliche base characters. There is of course the childhood friend in the harem mix, the requisite loli character, the overly nice girl, the somewhat competitive girl, and so forth. And also another staple of the harem genre appears: the main character is as interesting as watching paint dry for most of the series. He's overly nice to all the girls, until the end run he doesn't do much to discourage any of the girls, even the ones he knows he's not interested, from loving him. He doesn't string them out on purpose, necessarily, but like most harem guys, they get strung out regardless. Then of course he plays the fool, with the whole 'oh my God, I didn't realize what I was doing!' which we've all seen a bajillion times in this kind of series.

Art: 8
I liked the way the series looked, loved the green-haired girl, and the overall flow and character design. The art also does a very good job of indicating the emotions of the characters. For example there are a couple of times throughout the show that have characters being in pretty dire duress, and it clearly shows in their faces. This is a detail that many anime overlook. When a character is in really bad shape, they *look* it, and we don't have to have any reminders dialog wise to indicate this. So overall, I found it pleasing to the eye.

Sound: 8
The opening theme is just freaking awesome, I love it! The ending one is pretty good, but not something to jump around about. The sound effects are really well done, and they didn't overuse the comedic 'boings' and 'booms' and other tired sound effects, so we had a good balance there as well. The voices, save for the main character, are all awesomely done, and feature some heavy hitter voice actors as well. The cast includes names like Brittney Karbowski, Monica Rial, and Vic Mignogna which all do a great job with their respective characters. Though the voices were from several well known actors, they aren't phoned in. The only voice that really reminded me of other roles the actress has done was Monica Rial as Asa. The problem there is Monica has a very distinct (and cute!) voice when she is playing high school and/or young characters. Otherwise, the acting was quite enjoyable.

Character: 9
Now I know I have already knocked the main character for his blandness and all, but he's not the only character in the show, and the girls more than make up for his typical shortcomings. While the character types are somewhat typical, they are played enthusiastically and are given enough uniqueness through their origins as gods or demons or are other forms of life. As said previously, the entire cast really gets to shine as the story slides into the separate character arcs and we get to spend time with each girl in a more exclusive manner. When examined close up, they hold together well as characters, and we're not left with gaping questions and plot holes that are common in this genre.

Another interesting thing is the fact the girls all have somewhat justifiable reasons for carrying a torch for the main character. Oftentimes in these kind of stories we get no clear motivation for the lovelorn girls beyond 'love at first sight'. These girls' motivations, while not always very original, are well written and actually make a little bit of sense, and are not left with them fawning over the guy for no reason at all.

On the comedic side of things we have the King of the Gods and the King of the Demons both making appearances quite often and usually to their respective daughter's chagrin. The God King is always hungry and making a fool of himself, embarrassing his daughter who isn't above smacking his ass around with furniture or other blunt objects. The Demon King is a bit more laid back and less over the top than his counterpart, though he manages to embarrass his daughter quite often as well. However, oddly enough, we see parent characters for all the girls but one, and the one we don't see would have had the largest impact on the main character. It's an odd little thing, that everyone else's mom or dad show up but not the one closest related to both the main character and one of the girls.

Enjoyment: 9
I honestly wasn't expecting much at all from this series when I began it. Taking a cursory glance at review scores beforehand indicated that many reviewers were not in the least impressed by the show. I decided that I'd go ahead and give it a spin because I do enjoy the harem genre and am willing to tolerate the more cliche elements, probably better than some other folk. So I started it and hung with it. I was really thinking a '6' at best for most all the first half of the show. But when it took off, it took off well, and I found myself looking forward to watching each episode. I'll even own up to the fact that the last 3 or 4 episodes put tears in my eyes. This is one of those series I'm very glad I said 'eh, lets give it a try' to. And the ending! What a kicker! The last 3 or so episodes were worth putting up with all the typical harem junk of the first 6 or 7 episodes. For me, it was worth the time invested to experience the story.

Best Girl: the green haired Asa. She is cute as a button, played by one of my absolute favorite voice actresses, and has, by far, the best character arc in the show. I adored her hair color, the cut, the voice, the personality, and the resolution to her storyline immensely. Top notch!

In closing I do recommend Shuffle! in general, but with the caveat that you will have to sit through a bit of typical harem stylings, but there is a point to it all. If you can tolerate the general setting up of the story, you will make it to the good parts soon enough. You may find, like I did, that every episode led to thinking better and better about the show. It may not be for everyone, but if you're down for this genre, then I believe you'll have a genuinely good time. Also, natural green hair should totally be a thing, let's see if we can get Elon Musk on that too. Thumbs up!

Hello everyone!

Now let's review one of Navel's masterpiece of visual novels translated to anime.
It is a school life anime, but even with some extraordinary features from some characters, very, but very little of this aspect is used. So little in fact these "powers" just appears sometimes in the story, so a little slice of life is present. Romance is the main emphasis of the anime, and no, the main character doesn't save the world here (not directly by any means).

--Story--
How everything begins, and why everything happens. (Skip if you already read synopsis)

Rin is a typical high-school main character, living under the same roof as Kaede ... since they were children. In his school, humans aren't the only one who studies there, but also boys and girls from both heaven and hell, which some also happens to be Rin's friends, like Asa, his senpai from heavens, and Mayumi, another childhood friend who came from hell, dedicated to be journalist. A certain day, two girls, one from heavens and another from hell, joins the school and automatically wants to be together with Rin. Their fathers, kings of heavens and hell, go to the school too, and says Rin have to make a choice. Either he chooses one of those girls to marry, or they'll destroy the Earth itself.

Lots of love affairs, gossips and indecisions begins from there on, but I won't mention then or else I'd be spoiling the anime...

--Time exploitation--
Some animes makes time pass faster when watching them, and some do the opposite.

Shuffle stands a little between in this case. Having the average duration of 24 episodes, filler scenes are inevitable, but if you played the Visual Novel, you'll find out the anime follows most of the script of the game, so it isn't as bad as you might think. The anime itself, in the beginning, dedicates a whole episode mainly for each one of the main girls at a time for introdutions, then following with a brief series of episodes (basically 2 eps for each) telling a bit deeper about the girls, some secrets of them, their past and how they met Rin in the childhood and made them follow in love with Rin, and finally, Rin's decision, followed by the final chapters about the couple. After saying all this, you can say the anime doesn't stop for long, so yeah, it exploits time well, but could be a little shorter.

--Story and Characters Evolution--
Story (usually) grows as time passes, but how about the characters?

Tough topic. After the "introductory" episodes, the story evolves at slow steps until Rin make the decision for himself, so the story is mostly intact after the first episode until quite late in the anime. The main girl's "arcs" (meaning, on the episodes dedicated to them and their past/secrets) only serves as a background for who's watching the anime and who the watcher would pick in Rin's place, since it has a single ending only. Then you'd say "Isn't it time wasting, seeing the other character's backstory then?". Yes, but I'd consider this marketing plans to support all the other Shuffle!-branded games, audio and drama cds, mangas, radio novels, and so on, where you have multiples endings and stories about if he'd chosen other girls.

In other words, the characters remain static on most part of the anime, except on rare occasions and in the final chapters (I'll tell later).

--PERSONAL Opinion--
Exactly what it means. What I think about the anime ^^

Shuffle! is that love-or-hate kind of anime for me. At the time, I loved the anime, and I've played to VN later. For me, I didn't faced the character's backstory as "time wasters", because you end up sympathizing with the girls, and on certain moments, with Rin, since he has to decide only one from 5 girls and also having his own tragic backstory told in the anime. The best aspect of the anime, indeed, is the final chapters. In most animes, the girls would still be hitting on Rin after he made his choice, but here, all the others go on, some easier than others, changing their shyness and dreams, searching for other guys and just remaining good friends with Rin (girls: friend zoned!!).

It's really a mix between unreal and realistic anime, not because of the presence of magic and heaven/hell population, but as for the girls' static behavior along most of the anime. It's just sad. Sexual content is really short and present mostly on the first episodes to crack a laugh, but after this, it's very serious. Character design is full of details and decent motion, and even with static characters, each one has her own personality, so you'll end up falling in love for at least one of them, even on secondary characters (Kareha-senpai *-*)

As bad aspect, not to mention the obvious again, the music could really need an improvement, except for the opening theme, that alone made me watch the anime. Maybe if the anime didn't followed the game so strictly it could have been shorter and better, but again, I don't consider these aspects major flaws

-- Score and Recommendation--
Final score to me and to what people I would recommend.

8.5/10.0

If you like romance/school-life/slice of life animes, without a doubt you should watch this. For the others, only if you have the patience to wait the story reach its climax or have played the game before (it has translations to english ^^)

Shuffle was an anime that changed the way I look at anime forever.

Shuffle was the 4th anime I had ever seen(school days being first, boy was that a mistake, and a few really ecchi ones). I came in looking only at the romance factor and the 18 and over rating. What I got on the other hand was an anime that would forever live in my "Hall of Fame" Animes so to speak.

Story - 10
The story was unexpected, and that I believe made it even more magnificent. Prior to this I had seen titles like Omamori Himari, Kiss X Sis, and HOTD. They were ... animes that didn't lack a story line, but didn't have a suprising or "hanging-on-the-edge-of-your-seat" story line that Shuffle! has. It made me realize that anime isnt just big boobs and panty shots. I also like the fact that its all HUMAN emotions. The drama, the romance, the joy that they all experience is all realistic and I could easily see it happening in real life(except the whole angel demon thing). I also re-watch it and LOVE the fact that he choses a girl in the end. No the crap in every other harem in the world where he decides that he'll just love all of them equally.

Art - 10
I am no art expert, but I thought it was done really well. The characters were well done and are all rather unique. The backgrounds were well done and everything looked crisp. Its exactly what I look for in "good art" in an anime.

Sound - 10
Once agian I am no expert. But I found myself listening to the OP and ED when the episode began and ended. By about episode 14 I had most of the OP memorized and decided that I had to have it on my iPod. I listen to it to this day(I watched this about 1 ago ago).

Characters - 10
The characters were by far my favorite part of this anime. Just about everyone had an amazing backstory.They were all compelling and a couple of them brought tears to my eyes. The main character is your run-of-the-mill super nice guy who helps everyone and is to dense to realize six beautiful girls love him. But theres something about him that makes him different, maybe the way he talks or the way he does thing makes me like him even more. All the other characters seem to be once agian your overused and cliched(tsundre, loli, childhood friend, shy girl, energetic)characters. But they put a twist on all of them. And by twisting these cliched personalities, you get somthing unquie. Something that makes you want to know more about them and why they ae like that, all of which are answered.

Enjoyment - 10
I enjoyed this anime immensley. It brought joy, saddness, and the wonder if there would be something as great as what I had just watched. It opened my eyes to a new horizen of anime. No longer stuck in the "if its ot ecchi, its not good" phase I went through.

I reccomend to anyone, no matter what genre your into.

Team Sia for life!

For all of you that have read the bad reviews for this anime, please don't let it judge the show for you. Watch it for yourself and see how great/horrible it is.

As for me, I enjoyed this anime from start to finish. It is definitely a harem anime but what surprised me the most was the amazing character development.

Story - 9
The story wasn't perfect, but it caught my attention right from the start. I am not going to lie, but it does start out like any other harem anime. Although, I can't blame it. I mean, how else are harems supposed to introduce ... characters?
As the story goes on, you will learn the other side of each character that you will never expect from them. At certain points, you will tell yourself, "Pft, I bet the story is going to continue like this!" Later on, you will definitely have a different perspective.

Art - 10
Beautifully made characters and romantic scenery. I like how they actually gave meaning to each place the scenes take place in and eventually use them at later episodes to emphasize/develop characters.

Sound - 8
I guess it was okay. The dub actually wasn't bad and had a lot of famous voice actors from other dubbed animes (the good ones).

Character - 10
As I mentioned from previous points, the characters are very well developed and you will see so many unexpected turns as the story progresses. It is true that the main character's decisions/actions aren't always quite soothing to the mind and heart, but later you will appreciate him. The ending satisfies all fans of each female character so it won't leave you angry (or at least raging if you're a die-hard fan of a specific female character).

Enjoyment - 10
By now, I think everyone knows what I will rate this category. The story flowed so well, from easy-going to romantic and finally dramatic scenes. All the characters have traits that everyone will love! You won't be disappointed with any lead character. If by chance you get disappointed in the middle of the show, please finish it first before getting mad at them. ;)

Overall - 10
Outstanding. I will recommend to any fan of the romance/drama genre! Also, I will surely revisit this anime in the near future!