When Sorata enters the notorious dorm Sakurasou against he eagerly awaits the day he can leave. However, the dorm leader assigns him to take care of Mashiro his outlook on life changes forever.
This is a touching story on the difficulties of acquiring our dreams, and of acquiring love.
Initial Reaction:
J.C. Staff’s art made me thing that this would be another run of the mill romantic comedy. The title really had me on guard since I don’t know if I would name something as such unless it had an ecchi theme. The first few episode entailed Sorata dressing Mashiro, doing her laundry, and just about everything for her. Ahh, so that is why she is a pet. Overall, it seems mediocre at first glance.
Final Reaction:
Sakurasou overcame my expectations with ease, and left an amazing impression. As a college student myself, I could relate to the characters in the show as they struggle to get somewhere in life. The story isn’t complicated, but it didn’t have to be. The character development oozed out of every pore of this show, and I grew to love every single one of the characters.
Sakurasou didn’t take the harem route, nor focus on a single couple. Instead it picked a group of characters, gave them dreams, challenges, and feelings. At times I am surprised that more authors don’t recognize the value of having a cast of characters with equal importance.
Characters:
Kanda, Sorata (Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu):
Sorata starts off as just a run of the mill high school student, but upon seeing Mashiro chasing her dreams he questions what he wants to do. Thus, he decides to become a game creator, and works hard to pursue his goals. While the most average of the dorm Sorata plays an important part in bringing the cast together.
Shiina, Mashiro (Kayano, Ai):
Mashiro arrives from England as a well known artist. However, she desires to become a mangaka, so she ignores all advice otherwise to pursue her dream. Mashiro doesn’t really express much emotion, and also isn’t capable of living by herself. Sorata teaches her to be independent, and helps her relate to her audience.
Mitaka, Jin (Sakurai, Takahiro):
Jin is a senior who is notorious for being a playboy. However, he attempts to hide his true feelings so he won’t who he really cares about. He gives out good advice to sorata and the others all the time. He is childhood friends with Misaki, and writes scripts for her all the time. While people see him as a good writer he does not have enough talent to write scripts for Misaki.
Kamiigusa, Misaki (Takamori, Natsumi):
Misaki is a senior whom is head over heels for Jin. She always is overenthusiastic about everything she is doing, and never runs out of energy. Her animation skills are top notch, and animation studios have hired her before.
Aoyama, Nanami (Nakatsu, Mariko):
Nanami pursues her dream of being a voice actress. Her parents did not consent to her dream, so she works part time to cover costs. She acts as a voice of reason to the crazy members of sakurasou. She is under a lot of pressure to land a acting job since it is her final year of acting school.
Akasaka, Ryuunosuke (Horie, Yui):
I couldn’t even realize Yui voiced him… She did a good job I guess. Akasaka is talented at computer software, and doesn’t have to attend class since he runs a business out of his dorm room. While at first a hikikomori he evolves out of that initial role.
Story:
The viewers take the perspective of Sorata, but it never focuses solely on his part of the story. The story swings naturally between each characters current conflict, and how it relates to the focus of the entire sakurasou dorm. It sets up a perspective of successful talented people against those who are struggling to achieve their dreams. While the feelings of failure are weak at the start they increase as the characters encounter more and more walls.
At first the story evolves around Sorata getting accustomed to the craziness of Shiina who seems incapable of doing anything other than drawing. Experiencing her amazing dedication to her dream, Sorata starts to question his dream in life. The plot always heavily influences the characters which allows the amazing amount of character development in 24 episodes. The most enjoyable aspect of the show for me was that every single member of sakurasou had an equal presence in the show. Designating Sorata as the main character would be correct, but counting anyone else as side characters would not fit.
The show manages to give us Drama, without romantic mishaps, or car crashes. No, instead the story tells us the disparity of chasing our dreams, and the jealously of those who it appears to come naturally to. Nothing is worst than watching 2 people try to communicate their feelings for 12 episodes (nevermind 24), but the romance in the story progresses at a good pace, and sidelines itself the remainder of the plot.Not to mention that there are 6 people trying.
Plus side +:
The characters develop drastically throughout the show.
The characters are relateable, and their struggles touching.
Good voice acting, and animation which communicate the emotions well.
Diverse set of characters, and an appropriate level of humor mixed in.
Minus Side -:
Heavy on development. Requires attachment to the characters.
While everyone stays healthy, the story can be rather depressing to watch.
