Everybody only really likes to see positive and negative reviews. So this is going to be a pretty niche one. Kinda why every review for this show is less than a 3 or more than an 8 and I'm going to be the confuting force and say they're both wrong because it's not good or bad. It's the purgatory of mediocrity that is not bad enough for hell but isn't good enough for even a taste of heaven.
Now I understand why people give this a high/low score
1) They thoroughly enjoyed it
2) They instantly liked the characters so all the interactions were good for them
3) The anime didn't impress them and usually people don't know how to react to something so middle of the road, so since it didn't impress them it was an instant fail in their book.
4) Every video about this show is like a rant, or a about why it's trash but they love it.
I will bring up Oreimo. As the shows have some relation and are made by the same author. I wanna be constructive and see if you can see improvement of the authors work. So there's the preface. Let's get to review.
Story: 2/10
The story is just used to get the characters into an entertaining situation. It is stuffed with episodes that have the theme but a shred of the plot. Like this is nothing to write home about. I am extremely happy this slice of life refused a school setting though, as theyre usually pretty boring and extremely cliche.
The premise is the lead male, Masamune is a light novel writer who collaborates with an artist he discovers is his shut in step sister he very rarely interacts with. His step mother died and the father is out of the picture. Which gives him a feeling of loneliness. This makes Sagiri and Masamune basically two kids who just happen to live in the same house. Masamune has had very few interactions with Sagiri.
Which makes it easier to stomach than Oreimo's romance between siblings. You see with the removal of incest this show loses a very prominent theme Oreimo had which was; what is deemed taboo by society and morality and accepting yourself for who you are and wanting to be what you want. Now I actually like that this theme was removed because even though it gave point to the blood related relationship and the exploration of otaku culture in Oreimo... Kirino and Kyousuke's relationship wasn't written interestingly and felt more like pandering to fetishists. Now the pandering part is debatable BUT Kirino and Kyousuke's romance was unfortunately poorly written. And since Kirino and Kyousuke were so poorly written and unlikable it makes you root against their relationship. As its seen as a very toxic thing that emotionally wounds the cast. It could've been handled so much better.
Something about the story that I actually think is good for now is that Sagiri and Masamune don't get together and that creates more opportunities to expand on the dynamic of the relationship. While Sagiri was cute and they could've focused the show on them working their relationship out. I find the route that was taken to be an entertaining one to an extent. Its not always I get to see a seasonal or light novel be ballsy enough to not force in a romantic relationship that is weak and underdeveloped or not have it happen by the end of the show.
The reason the story still gets a low score is because despite its premise. The love rectangle(?) is the only thing tying the story together. They go to the beach, there's like a one episode long light novel writing tournament, the plot isn't weaved together very well after episode 6...
The drama of the show is kind of forced. For example, Sagiri should cry when opening up to Masa about her mother as she's never let it all out before. Its a sympathetic backstory that justifies why Sagiri lives with Masamune and why she's so shut in and emotionally reserved. It's not handled that well though.
I'd say since its a comedy and comedies stories shouldn't always be the breaking point but it's all very cliche in how it plays out and how Masamune rejects other girls and says he loves another. It's not just a comedy, it's still a story and the plot doesn't really have a statement, the story arcs are usually episode length, the pacing is too fast, and gets side tracked a lot. The finale could've also easily have been the story of Sagiri and Masmune's meeting online or could've been the resolution to the climax which was their meeting but the build up falls to nothing and dents the story very heavily. Feeling empty and giving the story no conclusion. With fanservice filler being disappointing finale. It is just an episode of the girls playing lewd twister for Sagiri and them trying to unclothe Masamune. Like I said this show cannot escape the purgatory of mediocrity. And it is because of the botched final episode.
Art: 7/10
The palette is a very pastel. It's pretty. The art is important to the comedy as the facial animation on the comedic contortion is executed well so the quick sharpness of the visual reaction is funny. The animation is good and it's very clearly made by A1.
A1 is a double edged blade though. As the direction for the scenes and the art sometimes gets cringe worthy. Some of it just being BORINGLY simple. And some of it making me scared someone was gonna walk in. Of course even though I have not fully read the source material, I know these scenes were there so by adapting some of these I cannot blame A1. To get to it... there are several angles that do nothing but show of the bodies of the characters. They sacrifice legitimate scene direction WHICH THEY ARE CAPABLE OF for a nice shot of a girls ass.
It's fan service I guess. I'm not gonna not bring it up too much because even though it is a problem, its clearly intentional. Sometimes the direction is unintentionally lacking too but it's not gonna put you to sleep.
The character designs are all distinct and some give you a bit of a look into the character's persona. Such as Sagiri herself and Elf Yamada.
Sound: 7/10
The voice actors were surprisingly good. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka the voice for characters like Kirito , Otau from Galko, and Hanazawa from Mob Psycho shows how good he is at leading. His acting is great, he's emotive and fun to hear. Akane Fujita despite not having too much experience does great in this role and I'm glad to see her career is only growing. Minami Takahashi is really good to hear again. She's a great actress and I'm glad to see her as a lead in more seasonals. Saori Oonishi was good as Muramasa. (Man its so weird how like all the leads were characters in Galko)
Now to the music:
Eromanga Sensei has a great op and ed. The Op has good direction, good animation, charm, and is very catchy. The ed while not being directed that well and is just Sagiri dancing is a very high energy, cute, and is honestly a catchy song. Like even if I hated this show I'd still dig the music of the opening and closing.
As for the the soundtrack of the show... it's kind of forgettable and repetitive. They have this same song that they always play when it gets "wacky" and it is not enjoyable the 100th time ( and after ) you hear it.
It's played sometimes twice an episode. It doesn't help that the other slower pieces aren't half as memorable as this. There's no flavor to the slower energy tracks. It's very standard for the most part. There are exceptions but stick to the op and ed if you wanna listen to music from this show.
Characters: 6/10
Every good comedy depends on its characters so I feel like this could have broke Eromanga Sensei's back. The main male lead, Masamune is irritatingly dense and it leads to the plot solely being changed from its route because of his irrational ignorance. His dynamic of not wanting a lover but a family is pivotal for the show and makes Sagiri desire to be more sisterly and put her crush on him to the side to make him happy. We understand he wants a family after he believes he is rejected by Sagiri because of his brother status. He sees how unimportant a sweetheart really is to him in this period of loneliness in his life. Although this makes his motivations very confusing and contrary. As he continues saying there's already a girl he loves to characters like Muramasa and Elf Yamada, referring clearly to Sagiri. But I just came to accept that he wants a step sister who is a sister more than a girlfriend.
Masamune himself does have an arc but he begins to stagnate after this and is used more as an outlet for other characters development rather than being his own fully fleshed out lead. It's good the other characters are always more enjoyable than him outside of a comedic situation plus the other characters were also my motivation for continuing the show anyway .
Sagiri Izumi, the female lead, is a good character. Nothing truly groundbreaking but her character does have depth. She's lonely and she's had a crush on Masamune since discovering his self insert story when she was young. She hit up Masamune with fan art and he asked for more. She found the positive reassurance in her art from someone she liked to be very motivational. The conflicts in Eromanga Sensei are handled well when they're not forced in cheap drama. Like Sagiri's mom being dead and her lack of an emotional reaction (like tears) when opening up to Masamune about it. Also I guess Sagiri's perversion is entertaining because you wouldn't expect this young girl to be so hardcore about the woman's body and know nothing about the males. Sagiri also does try to improve herself as an artist for her step brother after seeing he needed an illustration of a voluptuous girl. Since didn't want to lose Masamune, she worked hard on illustrations for him. Therefore in her own mind she won Masamune back.
Sagiri has a few conflicts with Masamune. She hates death because the person she likes isn't around anymore and she'll never see them again. This is clearly because of the loss of her mother. Though never directly stated. To relate this she spites Masamune for killing off one of her favorite characters in his novel. She learns to accept the character won't come back but it encourages Masamune to strive to make a happier ending for the characters. Because in the end death does not mean permanent unhappiness.
She also shames him every time she feels his affection for her is based off physical appearance as her love for him is personal. Sagiri is also immature, she gets jealous and insecure when she's scared Masamune will leave her alone again or move on from her. So her calling out her step brother and wanting his attention may be irritating but it's an understandable and an established part of her character.
In conclusion, Sagiri and Masamune are significantly more likable leads than Kirino and Kyousuke. As they are less tedious to watch, less selfish and less destructive to the more likable characters around them (like Kyousuke was to Kuroneko). Sagiri also on her own is a likable character. I literally have not met a person online who didn't love seeing Kirino get punched.
The most irritating aspects of the Izumi's characters is that Sagiri is easily made jealous but it is justified as she is an insecure 12 year old and Masamune is a contradictory dumbass. A dumbass you understand and sympathize with but still a dumbass. The relationship here is less awkward as they are basically just roommates. But even though Kirino and Kyousukes relationship was poorly written, the sacrifice of blood relation basically makes the only point of the story to be Masamune waiting to get a gf/family.
I want to reiterate while it's on topic... It doesn't have a statement or a controversial theme like Oreimo. Which makes this whole anime blend in to everything else and just feel like there's really no point.
Time for the other leads:
Elf Yamada is the pretentious, eccentric writer of this show and she was incredibly enjoyable. She rarely opens up to people and has developed a crush on Masamune even though he's the one who looks up to her. She is very supportive of him and even though she will still compete for affection she wants Masamune to be happy. Even if it means she loses the love race. She's a character that wants to show her love but will go with the flow if she's losing the race. Despite being rich she really isn't selfish.
Muramasa Senju is secretly a huge fan of Masamune and is introduced during the Light Novel Tenkaichi Budokai. Unlike Masamune and Elf who write for their fans, she writes for herself. The lack of pandering is likely why she has the biggest following of all the main characters. She insensitively intimidates and riles up Masamune in order to get him to write a novel she wants to see him write. She apologized and gives up the competition despite having the bigger following as she understands how much the competition meant to Masamune. She had developed a crush on Masamune and competes for his affection. While she was a cute character she was not as layered as Elf or Sagiri. She didn't get as much exploration either. She has her role in the plot but shes the least fleshed out. Or at least she would've been...
Nothing about this character is likable. She could easily be written out entirely. Megumi is the worst part of this show. She has an incredibly poor introduction that I wish I never saw and she wants to manipulate Sagiri just because she wants more popularity. She acts like she is a whore for popularity sake and talks about how much she loves dick.
Which brings up the last problem and segment of this show and my review.
Comedy: 5/10
The comedy is really trashy. Joking about pornography, and penises, and boobs. And since all the characters are teenagers and Sagiri is a preteen it makes it even more wilder of a ride. This could turn peopple off or since the characters subvert the creepy old male pervert trope in a very basic way it will not effect you. Girls and boys get stripped by a 12 year old pervert girl. This shit gets intense. Now the voice actors make the reactions to a lot of different scenarios funny but the amount of raunchy humor is overwhelming. Like to the extent where you just strap in for the ride. When in the incredibly sexualized situations you'll feel awkward or aroused if that's your thing, I'm judging the anime not you. At least it only happens like once or twice in a single 22 minute episode though. So that's a relief. the voice acting makes the other jokes very entertaining though. It's not all just dirty. But when it wants to be dirty it gets rough.
Enjoyment: 5/10
My personal enjoyment didn't matter in this review. Maybe you'll be more adamant with your dislike of something and it'll ruin the show for you. But personally I enjoyed it sometimes. I like some of the characters, music, character designs
Conclusion: 5/10
I feel like this is probably the most fair and in depth review of Eromanga Sensei you can get. I'm not saying other reviews are invalidated by mine. I'm simply saying I don't feel like anyone has cared enough about the show to write this thorough a dissection. The shows not good but it's not half as bad as people act like it is. I wanna see it get better. It's a perfectly mediocre show. It could've potentially been one of the best of the season or one of the worst. Beneath the lack luster of the show it has some solid characterization, concepts, art, and amazing voice actors. That's about it though. So even though it was flawed it was nice talking about it. Let's all hope that inevitable season 2 gets even more depth or gets even more memorably raunchier.
