Blend S is an anime based on the manga of the same name. The show is similar to Working and Is This Order a Rabbit, where it is mostly work slice of life that takes place in a café/restaurant. The show centres around Maika a High School girl, who got a job in a “wacky maid café” where all the girls plays an anime quirk whetter it’s tsundere, little sister, or an Idol. Which is an interesting concept and they even played with it being that the jokes centre in their clashing personality of each of the character and the quirk they play. Kaho is a sweet heart who has to play a tsundere, Mafuyu is a stone faced mature 20 year old who has to play a little sister etc etc. This is all fine and good but though I chuckle and even laugh once or twice, a level of growth or anything interesting done with it. The jokes in the end were just “ HAHAHA KAHO HAS TITS” or “HAHAHAHAH MAFUYU IS A LOLI”. Which plays in the biggest issue this show has the show lacked so much personality. Though I think the characters are fine, I feel a majority is kind of one note the exception being Mafuyu and Maika. The are a lot of wasted potential here an example would be Kaho and Akizuki, who are shown to have somewhat an on screen romance, but it never went anywhere. Akizuki is a fish eyed weeb whos awkward around women and Kaho is a cheerful beautiful weeb who spends all of her time playing games but is also a massive scaredy cat. They did play with it here and there. But they were forgettable, and the dialogue they share wasn’t interesting. It wasn’t, as funny and intelligent like in Lucky Star where the dialogue felt like satire or as memorable and cutthroat like in Bakemonogatari. Overall it just felt dull. The main character though not completely one note didn’t really grow on me, she was the most boring character I the fray. As her arch of wanting to learn about other culture was barely mentioned and her romance with the manager Dino which had some pretty funny moments such as when Dino was arrested for when he got to close to Maika. Felt manufactured, its your typical “Oh he’s in love with me…. Oh I’m tooo dense to notice hahahah tehehe~” It was disappointing to say the least. The show could have benefited greatly if it stopped emulating popular tropes and instead playing around with it. The beach episode was one of the worst beach episodes; it was just dull and insultingly boring, the side characters were also a huge let down. To the shows credit however, I want bored at least not all the time. Most of the time I feel the show had a little bit charm into it, its dull and repetitive with them repeating the same joke just with a little variety. But part of it has grown on me and some episodes aren’t as bad as the others. I like the part where Mafuyu talks about relationship and her interaction with the cast. I think Kaho and Akizuki though I’ve mention to be kind off dull. I think has some potential into it.
Animation wise, its pretty, A1 picture the cancer of the studio they are can make some good visuals, though not very interesting it’s at least pleasing to the eyes. I particularly like how they animate Mafuyu and Hideri. Character design wise ill give them prop a majority of them I do like. Mafuyu, Maika and Kaho are pretty design though a little uninspired they have interesting facial expressions and overall I find kind of a good blend (Pun not intended) of interesting design choices. Note Kaho is like incredibly hot and Mafuyu is like incredibly cute while Maika is kind of a sweet spot design where it just kind of works.
Music wise its……. serviceable no pun intended. Though its not all over the place like some other A1 shows, it’s definitely not catchy or memorable. It goes for the OP and E. D was kind of disappointed I expected better. Voice acting is pretty good; it features a lot of newcomers, though I do feel the Seiyou for Akizauki and Miu can pretty bad. With Miu a lot of the times I kind of wished she more of memorable voiced, but in the end it felt so boring and even when she’s being a perv she doesn’t really do much with her vocal range. With Akizuki it was ok but anyone could have played this role. If this anime’s goal was to build new seiyou stars, then it failed. None but a few of the cast really showed their range or show how unique their voice. I think the show could have benefited from having Veteran seiyous on the show voicing the supporting characters.
Is it a bad show definitely not there’s moments that I genuinely laugh or even chuckle a little. There’s no one particularly annoying or even insultingly bad. The show is not great or even good. But its definitely not a bad time waster or a good laugh or even an introduction to slice of life that isn’t too slow….. Just don’t expect to come out of it completely satisfied. The show was too busy emulating what was popular it never became it’s own thing and if it wasn’t for the Meme it spawned I don’t think anyone would bat an eye watching it. I came in the show with low expectation and I wasn’t blown away but I wasn’t horrified with what I find. Overall it’s ok; personally check out the show I mention in the first paragraph instead, but if you find the show entertaining I get it, the wacky and warm setting is still welcomed but in the sea of anime this is one that isn’t special or anything. I’m feeling a decent 5 to a Hard 5 on this.
Best Girl: Mafuyu Hoshikawa (Will actually waifu)
Best Boy: Akizuki Kouyou
Best Episodes: Episode 10, 8, 5, 3
Worst Episode: Episode 7, 11
5/10
