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Apr 29, 2024
As someone who read (most) of the original visual novel it was based on and wasn't a huge fan... this anime adaptation of Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai was... mildly better, but barely?
Anime adaptations of visual novels (and well adaptations of anything) tend to mostly be used for advertising the original visual novel, and at least for me this anime was mostly better for one thing: actual good pacing. (if a bit fast at times)
The main problems I had with the visual novel were that it too slow paced, even for a slice of life heavy visual novel, AND most of the characters were boring. I could
...
take maybe one of these issues if a VN eventually gets good but having both made the original VN a struggle.
Thankfully the anime had the decency to skim past a lot of the cringe stuff of the original visual novel like forcing the MC to crossdress multiple times, Nagis obnoxious humor, and Ureshino's dumb "femdom loli" tendencies.
The anime also competently gets the main characters' personalities down well and adapts SOME of their backstory melodrama into the plot. They at least introduce the library clubs goals, introduces the Shepard magic, and has a clear beginning, middle, and end and ties up things well for a 12 episode anime. One of the big flaws I had with the original visual novel was how long it took to even introduce the Shepard "magic", especially since you had to finish a side route to see more.
However, despite the improvements the anime made, they can't fix a lot of issues I just have with Daitoshokan as a story no matter the medium. As said earlier, I think the characters are mostly forgettable archetypes. Most are at least not bad (outside Nagi who I find more annoying more often than not), and at least have kinda interesting backstories, but I just don't care much due to their incredibly basic personalities. The only character I legit like was Kanasuke (which thankfully seems to be the majority opinion). She is very goofy and has by far the most interesting backstory. The anime may make it seem like the characters' backstories were rushed but honestly... they were also THAT short in the original.
I think the story in general would just be better if it focused much on these character focused backstories instead of a mediocre mix of those plus this Shepard magic plot that had a really boring pay off, both in the VN AND Anime. Instead we got a half-assed mix of both along with mostly mediocre characters. If it weren't for the anime's fast pacing, I would likely have dropped the anime.
However, one big flaw with the anime specifically... is the weird way they implemented the harem romance. In the original visual novel, there were proper buildup about how the main girls have feelings for the main characters but only get their dramatic romantic payoff in their respective routes. In the anime? It implements A LOT of these romantic payoff scenes including multiple kissing scenes but the main character Kakei never really 100% chooses a girl by the end. The anime mildly prefers Tsugumi, but there's so many scenes where I'd be like "wait but she kissed him but now there's romantic tension with this other girl now?". Sadly this flaw is partially due to the visual novel's structure and the animations clearly trying to keep the spirit of it, but imo they should have just went all in on the Tsugumi romance ending since the animator's clearly preferred her.
Overall, the anime adaptation of this story is watchable, but it can't really fix many of the flaws I had with the original outside pacing. It's still a mediocre mix of slice of life melodrama with a mediocre execution of magic related to memories and seeing the future.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 25, 2023
(For anyone coming from the anime and want to start with the manga-only content, you can start with chapter 68.)
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is a mix of comedy, wholesomeness, and a little romance that may not appeal to everyone but very much appeals to me.
The premise of Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is simple. Both Raidou Matsuboshi and Reina Aharen are two characters who both start off having trouble making friends at their new high school. Raidou for being tall, and imposing with his stoic face. Aharen for being shy due to having issues at a previous school for people avoiding her for having a habit of getting
...
too physically close to friends. Raidou and Aharen happen to be put in the back corner of the classroom, hit it off with Raidou accepting Aharen despite her quirks, and they slowly become BFFs.
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai at its core is a quirky comedy story with most of the comedy around the main duo. Reina Aharen is... quite different. She's very stoic and blunt, initially starting off talking so softly that almost no one can hear her, with Raidou trying to think of creative ways just to consistently interact with her. She's also openly willing to cling to Raidou's arm when walking together, and will walk into school in weird ways either with her hair sticking up or just wearing some outfit that's kind of out there.
Raidou himself is definitely weird as well. On the surface he's similar to Aharen, a stoic and deadpan but ultimately nice open-minded guy. However his open-mindedness harbors a VERY vivid imagination. A lot of the humor has Raidou essentially making up some strange story in his head about Aharen whenever she walks up to him in an unexpected way. For example, if she were to walk in with her hair all messy he would assume she's secretly a metal band singer complete with hand banging. After his personal fanfiction of the chapter is over, Aharen proceeds to immediately correct him on what's really going on, which is usually something pretty normal.
A good amount of the comedy is around the deadpan quirkiness of the two's interactions. A good amount of your enjoyment of the series will be if you can handle their quirks for 160+ chapters. Thankfully I quite enjoyed their quirky interactions since the comedy is very unique.
The unique comedy isn't limited to those two though. There's a decent amount of likable and funny side characters who take part in the quirkiness. To give an example, there's a chapter where every character interacts with each other like they're in a dramatic play that persists till the end of the chapter. There's a teacher character who seems to enjoy the "poignancy" of Raidou and Aharen always being physically close together that she gets constant nosebleeds from seeing. While Raidou has the highest amount of vivid fantasies, a few side characters match him in turns of how imaginative these fantasies turn out.
If the series was just this comedy I think it'd just be pretty good. However what makes Aharen-san wa Hakarenai amazing and my current favorite manga title is the surprising amount of excellent wholesomeness.
As early as chapter 1, one of the major themes of the series is communication and friendship, despite someone's quirks. After Raidou accepts Aharen despite her initial fear of scaring him off, Aharen gives a direct, genuine heartfelt thanks of Raidou accepting her with a blush on her face. This was the moment that really hooked me on the series. While not as frequent as the comedy, Raidou and Aharen consistently mutually giving each other little heartwarming exchanges on how much they appreciate being around each other, and always trying their best to give back to the niceness the other did, is what really makes me love this manga and kept me hooked chapter to chapter.
The wholesome friendship themes are not limited to the main duo either. A recurring female side character, Riku, who appears later on in the manga, has similar desires like Aharen to want to make friends but goes through own mini-arc of enthusiastically appreciating the little moments of hanging out with others. There's a very late chapter about how a certain character is hiding her interests from other friends for fear of being judged. However, through a pep talk from someone else, not only was this character able to publicly sharely the interest with no shame, that characters' friends ended up making a new hobby. These are just a few examples but there's plenty of wholesome side arcs among the various characters in the story.
I mentioned at the beginning that there's a little romance in the series. While minor compared to the comedy and friendship, this aspect is still done excellently.
The main duo actually get in a relationship relatively early in the series, a huge upgrade compared to other slice of life and even more romance focused series. There's no harem stuff, no wimpy simpy main character, and the couple is fairly communicative. One thing that people may consider a flaw is that since romance is a minor aspect of this series, there's not much overt development or drama. In fact the main duo's interactions are mostly the same as when before they got together: the mix of quirky comedy and wholesome interactions, and they take their relationship kinda slow.
However, this was not an issue for me as there were more subtle ways on how the relationship changed their interactions, which adds on an extra layer of excellent wholesomeness. There is a later chapter where Aharen lightly giggles about how she was able to finally get a reaction out of Raidou since he's generally very stoic. There is also a chapter around the common "indirect kiss" trope in many anime and manga series. Since the couple are already together at this point, this indirect kiss part just makes it a goofy aspect to their relationship, instead of the usual cringe jokes usually done in harem romance series.
But that's not to say the romance doesn't have an arc. Far from it. The end of the manga has an amazing conclusion to the romance, in one of my favorite chapters in the manga, which is saying a lot cuz I have a lot of ones I really like.
I've gushed a lot about this series, but it's not without its flaws.
As much I generally love the comedy, I unfortunately thought Raidou's imagine spots got a bit too repetitive and predictable as the series went on. The other recurring jokes have enough variation where I still thought they were hilarious, but Raidou's imagine spots ended up getting a sigh instead of a laugh from me more often than not. It's unfortunate since Raidou is a cool guy and has some great jokes not related to imagine spots. It's to the point where I skimmed pages where it was just more of his typical imagination stuff and only just looked at the goofy Aharen outfits.
I'm not into the whole 'trap' (aka male -> female crossdressing) joke thing, so when a character was introduced purely for the trap factor I was heavily annoyed. This is unfortunate since that character is actually likable enough otherwise.
While we're on the topic, while I ended up not minding the middle school side characters, they easily could have just been limited to 3-5 chapters at most. They were easily the weak links as far as recurring characters go.
Even with these flaws, they do not prevent Aharen-san wa Hakarenai from easily becoming a personal "peak fiction" of mine. It has just about everything I want:
* Really unique and goofy comedy that has almost none of the typical overused tropes of many comedy in anime and manga.
* Really simple yet wholesome themes around friendship and being yourself.
* A couple that gets together relatively early enough to have actual romance screentime.
* Very solid main duo who could carry the manga on their own.
* Mostly likable recurring side characters that give some nice variety of interactions and jokes.
Really the only thing that could have made this series better if there was a whole arc about the characters being college or even adult age. I've watched and read so much Japanese fiction; I'm done with the country simping for high school stories.
The icing on the cake for me is that Reina Aharen, the main heroine, is now my personal favorite anime and manga character. She embodies all the glowing praise I have for this manga: delightfully unique and weird, hilarious, wholesome development, and good interactions with every character.
If you're interested in the series based on the premise, I would suggest trying out the first 3-5 chapters. If you like it and don't mind seeing 160+ chapters of similar content, just with more characters and romance added on as the series goes, I highly recommend it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 19, 2022
The Aharen anime has what I consider a fairly rare mix of features for a slice of life. Iyashikei or wholesome anime isn't the rarest genre but it's fairly uncommon and it's mixed with a kind of... weird dry humor style. Speaking of weird, usually when you think of weird characters in anime they're usually from bombastic, over the top comedy anime. In Aharen though? Most of the main characters are certainly quirky, a few characters even comment so but since it's still a relatively down to earth slice of life it feels like they got as quirky as 'normal' school kids could be.
And you
...
know what? That's what made it great. Raidou and Aharen, the two main characters, are certainly a quirky duo. Raidou is a nice guy but also has quite the imagination and can be a bit dense. Reina Aharen has 0 sense of distance, and could easily be mistaken as bein on the spectrum. But she's also a good nice quiet person, and is doing in what her eyes is a way of being useful and making friends.
Most of the anime revolves around the two of them and their quirky interactions. There does tend to be a kinda expected conversation flow between them. Either Aharen gets too close and Raidou comments on it. Aharen is doing something, Raidou is imagining her doing something super crazy, but it turns out Aharen is just doing normal things. The humor style around that CAN be a bit predictable but it can be pretty funny. Thankfully there is a decent handful of side characters as well, who provide their own comedy when needed to break up the flow.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, this is still a iyashikei or wholesome slice of life anime. This aspect of the anime, in my opinion, is easily the best parts, and what make the show for me. Since Aharen is a relatively quiet and kinda strange person, she doesn't exactly have a lot of friends. Thankfully Raidou is not only nice to her but partakes in actively hangs out with her. Any moment where the two do something nice for each other, or Aharen makes a comment or face showing how much Raidou means to her are easily my favorite moments in the whole show. This show is worth watching for these alone, though the comedy is still decent otherwise.
This anime SHOULD be a much watch for wholesome slice of life fans. Sadly based on in its MAL average score I've determined many people consider this "mid" and therefore have bad taste, considering other slice of life shows that are either higher rated, more highly watched, or both.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 28, 2021
NOTE: If you want to watch this series make sure you've either watched the anime and/or read the original visual novel for Kanon, Air, Clannad, Little Busters, and Rewrite. Or at the very least, make sure you're OK with spoilers from any of them. The first episode alone specifically has the most spoilery scenes from each of those 5 series.
Kaginado at its core is a parody comedy series. It takes characters from 6 different series: Kanon, Air, Planetarian, Clannad, Little Busters, and Rewrite, and puts them in the same school while making lots of jokes and callouts to the character personalities and development.
I quite like
...
the overall presentation of the show. It uses a chibi style that works well with the characters' designs and the overall goofy parody nature of the show. Every major characters from the above mentioned series get at least 1 speaking part, and most of them get their original Japanese VA back (minus a few who had VAs pass away since their anime or VN).
The idea of getting characters from different series interacting with each other was a nice treat. Whether it was the Marine Life Alliance of Fuuko, Ayu, and Shizuru, the main protagonists having a secret meeting with bags over their heads, a Kotori vs Yukito duel, or many heroines interacting at a school swimming pool. I quite enjoyed seeing the interactions of characters who would otherwise never interact.
Unfortunately Kaginado has 3 major flaws for me:
1) The overall length of the series. Each episode is only 3-ish minutes each. With this many characters to cover, many only get maybe 1-3 lines at most. And with this season only being 12 episodes, it seems like a gigantic waste and unfairly balanced. A few characters appear in almost every episode like Sunohara or Shizuru while characters like Komari get 3 speaking lines in only 1 late episode despite being one of the more popular and important heroines of Little Busters.
2) This one is up for debate but I thought the parody comedy was... hit or miss. If you watched Carnival Phantasm, a parody of Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night, I'd say the comedy style is similar to that. Some jokes were funny and clever, but others... I just thought were very cringe. Basically a lot of the humor was exaggerating parts of characters' personality or story to use for comedic purposes. That can be good in theory, but many times in this show, it was maybe... too exaggerated? It had that anime parody style of characters YELLING THEIR JOKES. I don't know how else to explain it.
3) Modern KEY series past Rewrite are not referenced at all. Kaginado is supposed to be a celebration of KEY's main works, with its parody jokes and whatnot. However, only the main series mentioned above get any speaking lines. If you were hoping for major appearances from Angel Beats, Charlotte, Harmonia, Summer Pockets, or The Day I Became God, you're SoL. It's possible we may get a season 2 with these series, but I thought the fact these series weren't even directly referenced at all was a big waste.
In conclusion, Kaginado is a tough one to recommend. You have to be a pre-existing KEY fan of all their earlier works, you have to be OK with a parody comedy style that exaggerates character personalities, and you have to be OK with a series that essentially adds up to just a little under 40 minutes total. If these criteria are fine with you, definitely at least give it a try. If not, I'd check out something else.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 11, 2017
NOTE: Be sure to watch the original Amanchu! anime before watching this OVA as this is a direct sequel. Watching at least one season of ARIA would be nice too but is not necessary. This review won't have any major spoilers for any series.
Amanchu! is one of the uncommon Iyashikei / healing / relaxing / feel-good slice of life anime. These shows are light on comedy and drama compared to other episodic shows but still find a way to create situations that provide character development and events that make the main characters happy which in turn makes the viewers feel warm inside.
If you haven't
...
watched the original Amanchu! anime, it's a show about a shy girl named Futaba who's moved to a new city and has trouble making friends. An energetic girl named Hikari (nicknamed Pikari) gives her a nickname Teko and introduces her to the diving club which causes Futaba's life to slowly change.
As for the OVA itself, it is a worthy sequel and feels just like every previous episode. Without giving away too much of the plot it relates to how Futaba/Teko's childhood friends from her original hometown visit her since they're worried about how she's been adjusting to her new life. It's a really nice story about the importance of old and new friends.
For those who have watched ARIA series (Aria the Animation, Natural and Origination) you may or may not be aware that the original author, Kozue Amano, wrote both the original manga for ARIA and Amanchu. Futaba/Teko's childhood friends are based on Akari and Aika from ARIA and have similar personality traits, character designs and even the exact same voice actresses! The characters are different enough where you can differentiate from them the originals and they have their own interesting personalities that relate to Amanchu's story.
As someone who considers both ARIA and Amanchu two of his favorite series ever, having a cameo like this was a really nice treat! Hearing the original voice actresses was nostalgic. The characters/story was different enough that this episode would still be very enjoyable even if there was no reference to the original ARIA characters here. It helped to make this one of my favorite references/cameos in anime/manga I can think of.
The art style is nice and bright, fitting for the relaxing/healing nature of the show. Anytime the characters go diving the animators show how nice it would be to dive that deep underwater, showing all the cool surroundings and how everything looks really nice.
The OP and ED are the same as the original anime, really chill and fitting for the series. The BGM within the series is also really good and fitting for the series. Lots of light instrumentals that fit a relaxing show about a diving club.
If you liked the original Amanchu! (and possibly ARIA series) be sure to check out this OVA as it's one of my favorite episodes in the whole Amanchu series to date.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 17, 2016
Type of Doujin: Vanilla Harem
Potential Charm Points: Assertive Girls, Lack of Really Large Breasts, Childhood Friends, 1 Orgy/Groupsex scene
----Story Premise----
A guy named Yuuki used to live in the suburbs with his little sister and a group of 3 female childhood friends (who were all sisters). He moved to the city for 5 years but has slowly got exhausted with all the people he interacted with. At the suggestion of his sister, he decides to come visit his childhood friends in the subrubs for summer break.
During dinner time he learns that they all missed him and through a casual mention by the mom, all of
...
them are still virgins. All the girls react differently to this statement: one running out the door, one saying she's "ready" anytime and another saying that she'll never forgive Yuuki for doing anything to her family.
And thus begins a string of sex scenes...
----Art----
The art is pretty solid for a doujin. Every character including the MC has a decent amount of detail and all the girls are cute. There is even a good amount of detail put in the backgrounds.
While there is unfortunately white censoring per the norm of Japanese pornography, everything else is drawn and detailed well enough for me to say that the art overall is good, both during sex scenes and outside of them.
One thing to note about the characters' proportions in this series is that none of the girls have DD/DDD/E+ size boobs. In fact this is one of the handful of hentai harems I've seen where all the girls have relativity realistic proportions besides all of them being lolis or something.
----Characters----
As mentioned in the the first part of this review: one of the charm points in my opinion is that the main girls are pretty assertive. In every sex scene in this series, one of the girls is always the first to make a move. All the characters have different personalities so the ways they approach it are different.
The MC's sister is the most direct, followed by the oldest girl who even notes how manly the MC has gotten. The loli is very shy while the middle sibling is a bit on the tsundere side.
There's a small twist relating to one of the characters that you'll find out in the last chapter.
----Personal Enjoyment----
I personally liked this doujin a lot. It fits many things I like to see in Japanese 2D pornography.
I've never been a big fan of unrealistically large breasts, so it's nice to see a good variety of proportions on each girl without resorting to the ridiculously sized boobs you see in many hentai.
I always like it when the girl is assertive but in a vanilla way (no BDSM or random fetishes) and there are a good variety of sexual positions (with my personal favorite: the cowgirl being used in every chapter!). I've also vastly preferred girls being fully naked in each sex scene and this doujin delivers that in spades. I'm a sucker for childhood friend romance/lust which was done well with 4 girls here.
I'm not usually into how orgy/groupsex scenes are done in doujins but I thought the way it was done in the last chapter was pretty hot.
----Conclusion----
Outside the assertive childhood friends and orgy in the last chapter, this is yet an otherwise vanilla harem series with no standout fetishes or over the top plot or powers.
If you're looking for a nice vanilla doujin with assertive childhood female friends, a lowkey story and good art I believe this is a great one to pick up.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 31, 2014
Before you read the K-On! Highschool it is highly recommended that you either read the original K-ON manga or the first two seasons of the anime.
The general tone of K-ON Highschool is very similar to its prequel: a light-hearted slice of life comedy written in a 4koma/Yonkoma style. It also does not have much a plot, the main premise of the story is basically a group of girls hanging out and having fun with their club. If you prefer your manga to have a solid concrete plot this isn't the manga for you.
K-ON Highschool takes place after the original series. It stars Azusa Nakano who
...
is now the president of the Light Music Club (Pop Music Club in the official manga translation) and how she has to get new members and continue the legacy of the Light Music Club.
Ui Hirasawa and Jun Suzuki, her friends from the previous series, have already joined the club and the 3 of them need at least 1 more member to make sure their club doesn't get shut down. (In Japanese schools you need at least 4 active members in order to be considered a club.)
Thankfully, they are able to find and recruit two new members: Sumire Satou and Nao Okuda. However, the two characters don't have any musical experience before joining so the new Light Music Club will have some unique obstacles in this manga.
While the general tone and humor are very similar to the original series, with a brand new set of main characters (Azusa and Sawako aside) this series is able to create its own new and unique funny quirks and jokes without copying a lot from the original series.
Azusa is the serious one who wants the club to always be practicing, Ui is the very caring and responsible one, Jun is the somewhat lazy one, Sumire is shy and nice but has a goal of wanting to get back Mugi's old tea set and Nao is the stoic one who is really good at studying. Sawako is still the same lovable adviser with a love of cosplaying.
The group's dynamic and interaction is different enough from the original series to not feel like a total clone of it. Regardless, the interaction between the main characters is amusing and very enjoyable, just like the original series.
The one main flaw I have with the series is how short it is. The series covers 6 months of in-universe time in 14 chapters, which isn't bad at all. However, unlike the original series where you have 50+ chapters to get to know the 5 main characters, I feel like the series could have at least 10 chapters longer.
This is especially bad for the new characters Sumire and Nao. While they are very likable characters and you get a basic feel of their personalities, I feel like I could have gotten to know them even more.
Despite that, this short sequel was quite enjoyable for what it is.
If any of the following apply:
A.You liked the original series
B.You wanted to see what happened with the Light Music Club after the main series
C.You just want a manga with fun happy times
then I highly recommend this manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 9, 2013
Before you consider reading "Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: The Different Story". It is highly recommended that you either watch the original anime series or read the manga adaptation (both called Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica) due to the Different Story not only referencing events from the original but it was pretty much written under the premise that the reader has seen the original.
That said I will keep spoilers to a minimum for both the original and Different Story so both people who are familiar with the original series and those who aren't can still read this review.
Now onto the actual review:
-------------------
Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: The Different Story is actually
...
BOTH a prequel and alternative universe of the popular Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica series.
The premise of both Madoka Magica and the The Different Story is pretty much a darker take on a "Magical Girl" setting. If you've seen or read a magical girl series like Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon or Precure you know magical girl series are usually happy/optimistic series with tons of friendship/love speeches aimed at kids (not this is a bad thing).
The Different Story takes a darker and somewhat more realistic approach on the genre, with the big question being.. "Is it really ok to take on the responsibility becoming a magical girl just for one wish?"
Despite the fact that this manga is called MADOKA Magica, the title character Madoka Kanme is only a minor character in the Different Story. The actual main character is Mami Tomoe, a character who only got a little bit of screentime in the original series.
The art style in this series is very good and detailed. It comes very close to the style of the original series. The action scenes are decently detailed for a manga though not quite as good as they are done in the original anime.
The first 4 chapters serve as a prequel to both the original series and the rest of "the Different Story". Mami Tomoe is a somewhat experienced magical girl yet keeps it a secret from all her friends at school. When not at school she tends to be a bit lonely.
That all changes when she meets Kyouko Sakura, someone who has just recently made a contract to become a magical girl. Kyouko is quite inexperienced with fighting so Mami gives her advice to defeat the witch (the "enemies" of this series) she was fighting and helps her defeat it. After that they become friends and begin to fight alongside each other. However, after a while certain complications begin to rise and the story really starts to kick in.
The rest of the series mostly explores Mami Tomoe's character answering questions like "What does she really fight for?". Kyouko Sakura also gets a bit of development but not quite as much as Mami.
There are 4 other characters who are quite minor compared to the Mami and Kyouko but still play a decent part of the series. Sayaka Miki and Homura Akemi are magical girls who appear later on in the story. Madoka Kaname, the title chraracter is someone who is deciding whether she wants to be a magical girl or not. Kyuubey is a little cat-like creature who gives girls the power to become magical girls.
The rest of the story is a bit hard to explain without spoilers but if you're really interested to see a more unique take on a magical girl series that explores bonds with others on a somewhat deeper level than most of the genre then you should definitely check this manga out.
For those who have seen/read the original series and either:
A) Wanted more of Mami and Kyouko
AND/OR
B) Want more of the Madoka Magica series in general
then you should most definitely give this manga a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 5, 2012
The second season of Maria-sama ga Miteru or Maria-sama ga Miteru Haru is a continuation of the first season.. a story about the members of Yamuyuri Council, the ordeals they go through in making the school a better place and their relationships which each other. While the show is generally episodic, there is a fair amount of drama (with a little of it being melodrama) and character development which are the show's strongest points.
However, the DVD-only specials of the Maria-sama ga Miteru Haru are almost the complete opposite of it as far as the mood and themes go. The specials are very light-hearted and comedic.
...
If you are expecting the specials to be exactly like the actual series, you might be disappointed.
The art style is probably one of the things that stick out about the specials. While in the actual show each character has relatively realistic-ish proportions, everyone in the specials are basically chibi versions of themselves.
Each special episode is very short (no more than 2 minutes including a very quick opening and short credits) and contain multiple scenarios. All of them parody random scenes taken from the actual second season.
Basically each scenario pretends like the main characters scenes are getting "filmed" and decide to show some outtakes. The dialogue/actions in the scenes start off like how they were in the original show but either someone messes up a line, exaggerates an action or emotion or something really random happens that messes up the "take".
While I admit that some of the parts were kinda funny, I thought a whole bunch of the scenarios and outtakes were a bit too cheesy for me to enjoy more.
It is worth noting that to fully enjoy these series you should watch the whole original Maria-sama ga Miteru Haru series before watching the specials so you can understand the scenes and jokes better.
If you liked the original series and are looking for a fun parody of some scenes of the original series you should definitely check these out, you may like them more than I did.
If you haven't seen the original second season (or even the first) and are interested in an episodic-ish show with pretty good drama, character development, and interaction you should definitely check those out before watching these specials.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 8, 2011
Hidamari Sketch x SP is a two episode special of the still-continuing Hidamari Sketch series.
Just like every season before this one, these specials do not have a big plot or any big drama and instead focus on the daily lives of 6 art school students who live in the same dormitory.
If you aren't a fan of slice of life shows where nothing happens (shows like Lucky Star or K-ON) then these specials (and the series) aren't for you.
If you are interested in this, it is highly recommended that you have watched the first 3 seasons of Hidamari Sketch before watching these specials in order to
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get properly introduced to the characters and the general format and setting of the series.
For those who have seen the past 3 seasons and have at least liked the series a whole, I would definitley recommend seeing these specials.
The art is great and colorful as always and SHAFT continues to use their quirky animation style.
If you enjoy seeing Yuno's cute naivety, Miyako's energetic craziness, Hiro's girly worries, Sae's voice of reason, Nazuna's shyness, Nori's fun sarcasm or just the interaction between the 6 you have no reason NOT to watch these specials. Yoshinoya, the quirky childish teacher gets a little screentime for those who like her as well.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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