The story revolves around the main character Sorata Kanda, who is forced to shift from a normal dorm to an eccentric dorm called Sakurasou, filled with delinquents, in order to keep his pet cat. The very (insert weird/annoying words here) personalities of his dorm roommates make Sorata tempting to leave, but then suddenly a super hot girl named Mashiro Shiina moves into Sakurasou. And... Mashiro seems to lack any common sense or knowledge of anything really - except painting/drawing which is she a master "artist" at. Anyways, Sorata is sort of forced to take care of Mashiro and help her out with the everyday tasks of life. Gradually, the dorm begins to become more livable for Sorato when more friendly and not-too-weird residents move in. And so... our romance triangle/comedy/touching-story begins.
Personally more than anything, I found Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo to be one of the most genuinely fun and touching shows to watch. This was a beautiful romance show that ranks somewhere near the top of my top anime list and you don't see someone like me whose into deep, psychological, horror, historic say something like that. More than anything, Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo is a story about the bond made between friends and all the wild times and the real and unexpected emotions that come with them. A big theme or concept in this story is one of "dreams" during youth. Mashiro asks Sorata (and others), "What do you want to be?" Everybody has their (probably outrageous) dreams and they may very well vary from age to age. As a child we probably wanted to be a Pokemon master, or a superhero. As a teen maybe we wanted to be a world famous actor, or artist or basketball player. In college people change courses/majors quite often in order to find something that suites themselves. What a person's dreams are will come to define that person's identity as who he/she is. But many people end up giving up on their dreams because they believe that "it's too hard", or "I can't possibly do it". Hope is something that's hard to come by unless there's some kind of motivation or reason. The main protagonist Sorata is like that. But he finds his motor, and sense of hope in Shiina Mashiro and this "story" of this rom-com truly reached out and grasped my attention/heart. You know how people always say practice makes perfect and hard-work always pays off? Well is that honestly true? The show serves as a simple but great watch and has its own morals to share at the end. Reminds me of my high-school, college days. A great, tender feeling indeed~ If you want a purely enjoyable rom-com then Sakurasou is the one to watch. The ending leaves the show "unanswered". I hope there's a season two, but as of now it doesn't seem like there will be which is very depressing considering they left it a cliffhanger with no concrete pair-ups and an introduction of a new character at the very very end.
Out of all the slice of life anime series I've seen, Sakurasou definitely has one of the most memorable and adorable set of characters. Shiina Mashiro is probably my favorite female character from a romance series. At the beginning Mashiro seems like shes just there for fan service but as the story progresses she helps others find and reach out for their dreams. She maintains the happiness, purity and innocence that children should have during their youth. She seems all dumb (she's pretty clueless) but she honestly does have a deeper understanding of life/the world. She learns common sense and the meaning of friendship and love. She is the driving force of the other characters as well as the show itself. Sorata gets a lot of hate - blah blah blah for being dumb sometimes, but that's so oversold. Sorata is who he is, and he stays true to his character throughout. The other characters all played specific funny roles and added lots of enjoyment/comedy to the show. Although.. Yuuko Kanda was a pretty stupid and useless character... Anyways, a lot of shipping pairings will be shattered, but oh well that's what romance stories do. The developing friendship chemistry (and romance) between the characters was just beautiful to watch. As I'm writing this review I'm starting to realize just how much I really liked Sakurasou's set of characters. I wish real life could be this simple, innocent and fun.
The sound in the show were pretty good. I don't really like all "cute"- openings very much, but both of Sakurasou's openings were enjoyable to listen to - I liked them both. The endings were decent as well. The voicing crew did a marvelous job with each character's tone; fit their personality and looks perfectly. The dynamic voicing of each character certainly brought more "life" to the characters. It might sound cheesy, but I could feel the emotions that the characters wanted the audience to feel~ Heh... Anyways the animations were out of the roof, very colorful. J.C staff truly animates romance stories well. Bravo. Production quality was consistent throughout the entirety of the series - backgrounds were well portrayed. The weather as well - lightning which was beautiful - nature was beautiful - fireworks were beautiful - Animals were beautiful - Mashiro's art was beautiful, And... Shiina Mashiro was beautiful~
What more is there to say, someone like me who doesn't even like romance stories that much absolutely loved this. I'm sure those of you who love romance stories will love it even more than I did. I'd probably give the series a 10/10 if it wasn't for that unsatisfying ending, but don't let that stop you from giving this show a try, it's in my opinion the best slice of life story I've seen in a long time.
