While this show isn't a master piece (score 9-10) objectively speaking, as it does has its flaws, I thought it was a very decent shoujo anime that should have deserved an 8 or 8+, so this review is sort of to argue about how I personally think the score should be higher for this show. Though legitametly speaking nobody is actually going to read this (sadly), so I am basically just putting my thoughts out. Well enough of the introduction and let us proceed.
Story:
Score: (objectively: 8) (personal: 9)
This shows overall as well as minor plot structure is nothing new and quite simple. The over-arching story being: shy (&cute) girl meets nice bi-shounen, bishounen falls for her, and she falls for him. The heroine through the bi-shonen gets to know new people, and in each encounter she faces drama and grows in character.
While the story is quite typical I found the playout of it to be quite good. While all the arcs are quite stereotypical in which heroine meets bad girl, then drama, heroine then befriends bad girl, makes bad girl good, and along the way the heroine also grows. I thought the sub arcs were executed quite good. All the sub arcs were quite fast and the heroine always quickly overcomes the social situation she faces. Leading to the audience never being quite bored.
Another thing I liked about the plot is that 65% of shoujo manga/anime take a long time for the main male and female to get together but in this show they got together quite early. So from the get-go of the show we got to see the pair experiencing the hardships of dating. Rather then a bunch of time being wasted on the pair trying to get together.
The plot of this show was not perfect though, as previously stated it is quite the typical shoujo story line, so yes indeed some points off there. And also while the short story arcs made the audience less bored, at the same time due to their short duration I feel like the story of the sub arcs as well as supporting character of the arcs were not developed as well. Though to the credit of the anime, they did show enough to make the plot flow and make sense.
But anyhow speaking of characters..... Let's transition to the next segment.
Characters:
Score: (Objective: 7) (Personal: 8)
Well let's first talk about the supporting cast as I feel that will be easier. Well the thing is, there isn't that much to talk about as they were all the typical side character tropes. Given the short duration of the arcs for these side characters they weren't developed as much, and we didn't get to know them so indepth. Only one side character was more of an overarching villain so was developed and flushed out more.
But in my personal opinion just because the supporting cast is typical that doesn't mean I have to rate the character segment of the show down. While the supporting cast may have been typical, there was nothing particularly bad about them. And to their credit, there were moments in which one of the side characters did play quite the decent role of supporting the main pair, so much so that she once called out the male lead for being a dick (really liked that part personally).
Anyhow the show's main focus is on the heroine (and the male lead) so that is what I'll be judging the character segment mostly on. The heroine was also quite a typical shoujo heroine character, but personally i found her to be appealing. She had a good, honest personality making you want to care for her and watch her story. And through out the anime compared to other shoujo heroines she didn't whine as much and always faced her problems quite fast. Her character also developed a significant amount.
If we simply focused on the heroine character I would've given the character segment an 8 but due to the problem with the supporting cast and the male lead I gave it a 7.
So regarding the main male, well I don't particularly like him. Throughout the show he was portrayed as your typical nice guy and despite being the main male character, in contrast to the heroine, his character did not develop at all what so ever. In fact the only ripples we see in his nice guy character is when he became a hypocrite or insensitive ass. And hence causing me to dislike him and lose enjoyment on the show. Therefore lowering the character segment score from 8 to 7.
Art:
Score: (objective & personal: 8)
This is a slice of life shoujo show so you aren't going to be seeing some crazely well animated fight scene, and shouldn't expect it. But through out the anime the animation was smooth and nothing to complain about.
The backgrounds for the show though was done quite nicely and due to this their were some nice frames that would make for great wallpaper.
Moreover I personally like the character design very much. Some shoujo anime like to overdue their "shoujo aura" and make the character design sort of exagerrated in a shoujo sense (for example with the eyebrows and lips) (shoujo fans know what I am talking about), this show doesn't do that making the characters all quite pleasant for the eyes. The character design isn't sooo shoujo that it scare off non-shoujo fans and hence is pleasant as stated.
Music:
Score: (Objective & Personal: 7)
The only part of this show that I was not entertained by was the OST, and if we were only going off the OST I would've marked the music segment quite low. In the OST for the show there wasn't any outstanding tracks nor could I say it added or complimented to the show. Basically OST was bland and hence bad.
But the saving grace were the themes songs. The OP was quite nice, but most of the ED was great.
The ED was done by Suneohair and that should say enough. I've known the band from other animes and I like them. I am not particularly knowledgeable about music so I can't give an indepth reason to why it's good but well I'll just say I personally liked it a lot.
Enjoyment:
Score: 10
I personally love the shoujo romance genre, so to me the plot being a typical shoujo romance is not a minus but rather a major plus. The usual main problem I have with this genre is whether the heroine is annoying or if this was a plain reverse harem show (which I dislike). But for this anime the heroine wasn't annoying nor was there a reverse harem. And hence I loved it and enjoyed it greatly.
Overall: 8.6 if I average the scores but objectively speaking I'd say more of an 8.1.
This show isn't very very unique or has a special twist or super indepth an story that would make it one of those legendary shoujo manga/animes. But it isn't downright bad or unenjoyable in anyway.
For shoujo fans that watch a lot of shoujo anime and have or finished all the classics I feel this could be a very decent addition to the repertoire. If you enjoy the genre there is nothing particularily bad that should turn you away from the good old same old.
And even for non-shoujo fans too, there isn't anything to dislike about the show so much so that you can't enjoy it.
So hence I definitely thing the shoujo should bottom line have an 8 score, given that for the typical MAL-er, a show being below an 8 means being shit.
For those who have read so much of my shitty writing to this point I appreciate and thank you very much. Hope you have a nice day too haha lol
