The main premise of the anime is Catarina avoiding its tragic ending. At various times the premise is lost (as in the holiday episodes) so that the anime can reach 13 full episodes, some questions remain open (what does Sirius have to do with Catarina to hate her in the beginning? Who was the person who saved Catarina and Sophia in the ruins with wind powers in episode 7?), but those characteristics do not matter if we compare with the grandeur of this anime.
1- First of all, it is an isekai. It is not just any isekai, but a mixture of fantasy and slice of life. It is not an isekai with monsters, knights, wizards, scenes of fight and action, but a fantasy world in which the characters live normally, attend school, have happy days together as teenagers. Can you imagine a mixture of slice of life, only in a fantasy universe? And on top of an otome game theme (cute boys, girls with a strong personality, light romance).
2- Second, at different times the narrative gave us information that would normally be obvious, but was subtle in the right way. For example, when Catarina remembered the gameplay, the male characters made statements to Maria. Catarina unwittingly made these statements to Maria. Result? Maria fell in love with her, just as she would have fallen in love with the male characters. Another example, in an attempt to escape the tragic end, Catarina was kind to everyone and helped them with their personal problems (prejudice, discrimination, insecurity, bullying), and this help was just what they needed to not become the characters of the game, but successful people and passionate about Catarina.
3- Third, the presence of LGBTQ questions. The anime has a certain question about always thinking about couples being formed by men and women, Mary asks "Does the person I want to date need to be a man?". In addition, Mary, Maria and Sophia have a passion for Catarina, at different levels.
4- Fourth, my favorite type of "end" is present in this work. That ending in which the villain does not need to die to correct his mistakes, but rather to repent, to be forgiven, to have a second chance and everyone to be friends in the end.
The/If someone didn't like the fact that Catarina didn't "choose" someone to date, the premise of the anime was not that. To have an idea, we are talking about a comedy anime with parody, an example of a scene was in episode 8 when Catarina's greatest desire was to eat a lot of sweets instead of dating one of the people. Whatever, we are not talking about an otome game, but an anime that parodies this game genre. All the time the anime showed itself in this way, in which the power of friendship could solve anything, however absurd the problem was. This end was expected.
Let's go to the notes:
History (10/10)
The anime parodies isekai, parodies otome game and parodies traditional romance. Despite the predictable scenes, the anime broke many standards.
Art (9/10)
Ordinary art, very well done animation, beautiful characters, like an otome game should be. There is nothing extraordinary about the beauty of the characters, they are similar to each other, so I didn't give 10. The scenarios are beautiful.
Songs (9/10)
Very happy opening theme. The anime is comedy, so happy music is appropriate. Besides that this song is memorable, the artists sing in different musical tones and the instruments are very varied (even organ and classical music) because anime is a mixture of genres: isekai, fantasy, comedy, romance, slice of life. .. Therefore, music also has several subgenres. The ending theme is ok but does not exceed the opening.
Character (9/10)
In the end, they are all passionate about the main character, just like in the otome game. The difference is that she was not expecting this. Another difference is that they love Catarina for different reasons.
Overall (10/10)
This anime entered my favorites not only here on My Anime List, but in my life. This anime mixes my favorite genres in the same plot (fantasy, slice of life, romance, friendship, comedy), has my favorite anime ending and the main character is the type I like the most: the one who is willing to help others .
I don't think I need a second season because the end of the first one was very good, but if so, I'll be there to watch.
