Story(9)
Sakurasou is about a boy named Yanda who goes to a special school that has an art department for gifted students as well as dormitories for the students to sleep in. Yanda used to live in these dormitories like any other student, but gets in trouble for keeping a stray cat he found on the street. Problem students at this school get sent to Sakurasou, a dormitory home specifically just for them to live in in a home-like atmosphere. Though Yanda doesn't like it at all, he agrees to live in Sakurasou, but only until he finds an owner for the cat so he can leave. However, as Yanda finds more stray cats, the more he can’t help but bring them in and give himself even less a chance of ever leaving. Yanda feels like he’s the only normal person in the dormitory and wants to leave as soon as possible.
Eventually, Yanda gets handed the duty of taking care of the guardian’s niece, Shiina who while may be a very talented and famous artist, doesn’t understand how to anything else but paint. Because of this Yanda has to take care of her, almost as if she is a pet.
The writing in this show is probably its strongest point. Every minute of this show was entertaining to me and I never really got bored are uninterested. I was hooked from the start and remained hooked throughout the whole experience. The story is very entertaining. There’s a lot twists here and there and over all everything always just went together nicely.
The show to me feels a lot like a blend of “Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!” and “Nagi no Asukara” which is a good thing for me because I love those two shows. It has a lot of the same sort of humor as Chuunibyou and a lot of the deep emotions as Nagi no Asukara. What you're left with is a show that’s not only funny, but also very emotional. While this is a romantic comedy and there is definitely a lot of comedy here, there’s also a lot of romance and deep feelings here as well that are handled extremely well.
There is one thing I will note though that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but just something that I found a little strange, and that’s the pacing. Well not specifically, over all the pacing is great, but I there are many episodes in the middle of the series that feel very, if not too climatic, like a last episode sort of deal. More in particular, there’s one of these that comes within the first 3 or 4 episodes of the show and it just felt kind of weird to me. Again, they are still written great and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, just something that kind of threw me off a bit at first and feels like it comes a little too soon.
Overall, the writing is fantastic and as previously mentioned, probably the strongest point of the show.
Art(9)
The art of Sakurasou is very good. It’s a very bright, colorful, and cute style that was very nice to look at. The animation was also very well done. Though I suppose the character designs aren't anything completely unique, they’re still very solid.
Sound(8)
The sound department is overall pretty good. While I wasn’t that into the first and second opening or even the second ending, the first ending song is amazing and beautiful and I watch it everytime it comes up. In terms of background music, is pretty solid as well. Lots of fitting songs, lots of good emotional music. The voice acting is also solid as well, providing a lot especially in emotional scenes.
Characters(9)
Characters is another thing that Sakurasou just does so well. All the main characters are extremely likable and entertaining as well as very deep and human.
Enjoyment(9)
I loved this show the whole way through. This is probably the fastest I've ever finished a 25-ish episode series. Though I would have liked a bit more romance with certain characters, I still loved almost every minute of this show.
Overall(9)
Outstanding. High ratings in every category. I highly recommend giving this show a shot. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
