Perhaps the main problem of Sasami-san, much like Hataraku Maou-sama, is that it suffers from an enormous identity crisis. Is it an ecchi comedy? Is it an introspective commentary on hikkikomori shut-ins? Is it a dark, plot-centric epic battle between the gods? All and none of the above. There are certainly points where it tries to be humorous and then inexplicably and suddenly decides to take itself seriously and somehow expect us to do so as well, particularly during the mother arc. And, occasionally, it will mix the two—rather inappropriately, I might add. As just one example, the art and animation shifts into a comedic style during what was supposed to be the tense, climactic finale. If this show was more decisive and chose SOME direction with the plot, either as a full-blown ecchi comedy or a dark and edgy conflict of gods and secret organizations, it would have fared much better. Some shows can handle having serious elements sprinkled with comedic relief, but Sasami-san clearly showed an utter incapacity to do so.
Like most Shaft works, the art is consistently inconsistent. At times I cannot help but marvel at the sheer beauty and creativity of the way some things are portrayed, such as the light filtering in Sasami’s room which makes it look like it’s done entirely by watercolors (I’m a sucker for Shaft backgrounds); yet, I can’t help but laugh at the utterly lazy and uninspired art and animation that occasionally found their way into some scenes.
This brings me to my next point: the characters. While the character designs themselves are not necessarily bad, I would not call them “good,” either. Most look average at best, while the worst offenders are dull blobs. Not only are characters superficially unremarkable, but the personalities underneath are nothing to write home about either. You can immediately guess the personality of each character simply by their designs. Some might consider this to be a success; however, I disagree in this case because, frankly, the personalities are disappointingly stale. Most characters are not original or interesting in the least, almost every single one being a generic rehash of established archetypes we see in every other anime. If you can predict a character’s every decision simply because of a strict adherence to their archetype, something is wrong. Beauty is not merely skin deep here.
Sasami-san is a show easily forgotten with virtually nothing special about it. It makes me worry about Shaft's upcoming attempt at the manga Nisekoi. Will it become a Monogatari, or will it, like Sasami-san and Dance in the Vampire Bund, join Shaft’s ranks of mediocre anime adaptions? Let’s cross our fingers and hope it’s the former.
