Just like in life, if you expect one thing and get something else, you're bound to be disappointed. Watching this with an open mind, you will realize that Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka is actually a very entertaining and funny anime. Like most slice of life school comedy harems, a premise is presented at the beginning of the show, which is usually far fetched but bound for some form of entertainment. If you read the anime summary you'll get the gist, but it does generate enough laughs and surprises to keep you entertained for 12 episodes. An amazing feat that many fail to miss is that 8 of the 10 characters get relatively large amounts of airtime for every episode. With that, the story seems to progress relatively quick and seamless. Sometimes you won't realize the episode is over before you know it.
A big reason you get sucked into this anime are the character-types and voice actors lined up for this show. Alot of A-list seiyuu like Rie Kugimiya, Aya Hirano, and Wataru Hatano, headline the cast of characters. Big fan's of seiyuu like these, will be surprised at how well they lend their voices to these characters. Its inevitable that one will grow attached to one or some (all?) of these characters. Yeah yeah, you've seen these character types everywhere else, who the hell cares? The whole point of having these character types is to have a great chemistry between all the characters and this exceeded my expectations with flying colors (whatever that means). Fang-tan, ahoge-san, and company are all there, the comedy is pretty good and and the drama is just as good as well. The drama doesn't show itself too much to get in the way of the comedy aspect of this series but it is a warm welcome from the 'incomplete' dramas like the ones that never come to fruition (Honey and Clover, 5cm/s, etc). Characters progress perfectly fine in this story. You'll feel happy for some and sad for others, that is the nature of drama. In other titles that may get annoying but its perfectly fine in this series. One other thing that I highly enjoyed about this series is that the main character in the center of the harem, Junichi Nagase, was actually not a bad guy. Sure he might have his moments, but overall he was very outgoing and more "realistic" compared to most other male harem leads. Even the scenes when he's battling his conscience were especially funny.
The production value is actually very high compared to your typical anime. The art design hardly ever faltered and never felt like a rushed product. Some people might be put off by the floating hairstyle of some of the girls, but I didn't mind it one bit. The details they put in to all the characters including the background characters is something to be commended. Every scene is filled with either characters or static objects. What does that even mean? That means when there isn't a close up of characters talking to each other, theres usually a large amount of detail to panning or zoomed out shots. Passed out cooks in a kitchen, well placed furniture in Minato's room, or Nagomi''s computer setup are good examples that show enough detail to keep every scene busy and with some depth. The art is far form being perfect but for what its worth, it more than does the job. On top of the great voice acting and art direction, they even have character music cd's available for each character and even give previews of their songs in the form of a new ending song for each episode. Sure it may be a gimmick, but you can't deny how great they can sing and how they managed to conjure up a few dozen songs just for this show. There are also a few drama cd's to supplement your fix of akane-iro after you're done with the series. It seems like the producers thought of everything short of a video game for this show.
I never felt this was a waste of my time or got annoyed by the characters. Actually this is one of the more complete cast of characters that I have seen (out of 400 titles). I don't think I need to mention Code Geass, Hayate, TTGL, and Death Note but I will anyway since most of those characters made me rage at how many of them left many cliffhangers or a feeling of "needing something". Despite being a typical harem comedy anime, it's the small things that kept me wanting to watch more. The segments of Junichi's conscience and the analogy between Junichi's parents and the gang's current situation were pretty funny imo.
As far as slice of life/harem/comedies go this is easily one of the better ones. Its compete in almost every way. Great character chemistry and seiyuu Amazing amount of detail (down to the nipple, har). All crammed in a 12 episode package. What is not to like? If you don't like harem comedy this will obviously become fodder for low scoring. Especially for the fools who try to find seriousness in comedy... THEY WILL LOSE THE GAME.
Hell, hearing Rie Kugimiya say "Stop licking already and eat me" is well worth the price of admission.
One of the best lines is uttered in this anime too: "If you want to dream, go dream while you're sleeping" Priceless.
