Let's get started.
This time around there will be four categories that I will score separately and collect their averages to give a final score out of 10. The categories are, Story, Characters, Production and Enjoyment. I decided to remove production from the bigger category of Enjoyment, because I feel like it deserves its own section and also because, just because the production value of an anime is high doesn't mean it is enjoyable. Please tell me if there is anything else I should change, this structure is still a work in progress.
Story: 3/10
There was no overarching story in Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, referred to as Akagami from now onward. Each episode or a pair of episodes has its own conflict that in the end builds up the characters as individual characters and their relationships with other major characters.
Though having episodic stories does not automatically mean that the anime is bad with story, though to have it done right, a very unorthodox method of storytelling has to be used. I am referring to the classic anime Mushishi when I say this and the exact opposite would be that thing called Nisekoi, in which episodic stories do not work out, even with an overarching story line. Akagami however did not tell its tale in the way Mushishi did and did not have a main plot. Everything just happened, one after another.
There almost isn't a story for me to score, and in all honesty I gave the story a score of 1 when I first started writing this review. I increased it after realizing that the main focus of this anime is to build a relationship between Zen and Shirayuki.
The building of Zen and Shirayuki's relationship is actually kind of weird. The relationship itself is actually very nice but the way it developed, and how the writers decided to play it out, is a bit wobbly. I have to assume that there are a lot of timeskips in the 12 episodes of this anime. Though there is no significant mention of them, it did feel like a lot of time had passed after each side arc. The way that played out, was quite confusing, and it would have been better for them to state how much time had passed in some way after each event that took place.
This actually ended up causing a bit of problems for me when it came to character and relationship development. I did not know for how long had Shirayuki and Zen known each other for by the time Zen ended up confessing his feelings. I would assume that it was months, but no information was given and because of that I couldn't asses the type of relationship Zen and Shirayuki were having.
I could talk a lot about how bad the story component of this anime is, but to put it simply, there was no clear cut story to this anime. It was episodic, in the type that Slice of Life anime are written.
Characters: 8/10
I knew that the story of this anime was going to be very... shit, at around episode 5, but I continued watching the show for two reasons. One being the characters and the other being the production value, which I'll talk about later. There are three main characters of the show; Prince Charming, Disney Princess and Obi the G.O.A.T.
Shirayuki, is the lead character. At first glance and at an overall look she is an extremely generic Disney princess type of character. Ordinary village girl, that happens to be very beautiful and kind, and ends up having the prince fall in love with her.
But the thing is, Shirayuki's character is so extremely generic that at this point it is done on purpose. You would expect here character to be just your average damsel in distress type of character, but then all of a sudden she does something unpredictable. For example, the time she jumped from the top of the tower into the water below, or the time she made a good escape attempt from her kidnapper.
This makes Shirayuki a very interesting character to watch. Not only that but in nature Shirayuki is a normal girl, she jokes around, she gets angry, learns new things, gets embarrassed and basically behaves like a normal person would. Which also makes her a likable and relatable character for some.
Then there is her Prince Charming; Zen. He is again a typical Disney Prince, that likes being out of the castle exploring rather than sitting in his castle signing papers and being served high class tea. Though unlike Shirayuki, Zen doesn't throw loops in that character structure of every Disney Prince. Instead Zen is like Shirayuki, a likable and relatable character.... most of the times.
But of course, Obi is the best character of the show. Not only because he is absolutely hilarious, loyal but he also doesn't give a shit about any thing at all. There is a lot of mystery left unsolved for Obi by the time this season ends, but I do expect it to be explored more in upcoming seasons.
What's really amazing about Obi is that he is slowly falling in love with Shirayuki. But it's different than Zen. Originally it seemed as though Zen fell in love with Shirayuki for her looks, which isn't something I would want to complain about, but the fact that Obi is falling in love with Shirayuki slowly because of her actions, puts shame to Zen (sorry this is just me talking about my favorite ship).
The supporting characters in this show are surprisingly good for only 12 episodes running time. That's mostly because they were all made to be likable characters and most of them follow tropes in anime that everyone sees quite often, and because of that we can fully understand the character's personality without even seeing much of them.
There were no characters that I felt needed to be explored more, which I feel is always a problem in short, seasonal anime. Each character was given enough time for what they were worth and how interesting they were. Obi being the only exception, who didn't get enough development, but I am fine with it because it adds mystery to his character and gives me something to look forward to in new seasons of this anime.
Production: 8/10
The animation for Akagami was amazing. Even among the marvelously animated shows running this season, I always get impressed by the art style and animation that Akagami offers every episode. The art style in the first episode reminded me a lot of a Hayao Miyazaki film, especially the way the backgrounds were drawn, but it slowly faded away from that and everything started looking more computer drawn, though still well done.
The VA for Shirayuki was the only VA that stood out from the show. The way she handled the comedic scenes vs the serious scenes always matched the type of character Shirayuki was. And if you already didn't know the VA for Shirayuki is Saori Hayami who has also done some other amazing voice acting roles and is also the one who performed the anime's opening theme.
The opening and ending sequences for the show are just average, nothing that stands out.
Enjoyment: 6/10
Because of the episodic nature of the show, there was a point where everything became boring. There is a point in the show where you realize that everything that is happening is most likely irrelevant to everything and will never be mentioned again. Also the redundant use of Shirayuki's morals about her path, got to the point where it was annoying to listen to.
Other than that, I did feel the need to come back to the show every episode. To enjoy the characters and the beautiful animation that Akagami offered.
Final Scores:
Story: 3/10
Characters: 8/10
Production: 8/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Total: 6.3/10
