To stay interesting as a harem anime you need variety and progression. It can’t just be the usual confession bait, panty shots and other cringe repetitive tropes. The best way to keep me engaged is with an interesting story, characters that don’t feel like cardboard cutouts and actually service a purpose, have motivations and personality etc., and an MC that you can support. Amagami’s author got that assignment and has excelled at it. All of the girls get multiple character arcs allowing them to feel fleshed out and the audience to connect with them. Uryu’s motivations and development feel believable and the guy is so intelligent, compassionate and reliable that him having all these girls fall in love with him makes sense. Even with that though, he grows substantially over the course of the show going from someone who’s skeptical of the supernatural and of opening up to others because of past trauma, to someone who’s accepts the things he doesn’t understand and is at peace with the more mysterious aspects of the world. Everything in the story is earned and the progression is very satisfying to watch thanks to the well written story arcs.
For me personally, I only see 2 of the 3 amagami sisters as actual real romance options for Uryu because of the age gap with the third and her being in middle school. BUT, all 3 girls are sweet, loveable and I can understand why people would like any one of them. They might seem like just easygoing girls on the outside, but all of their backstory arcs left me emotional and made me appreciate the smiles they have in present day that much more. Every character in this show is dealing with some sort of past trauma and that makes this shared living situation equal parts fun as it is therapeutic. The sisters help Uryu grow and overcome the pain of losing his mother and he helps them move forward from their respective tragedies and the collective grief of losing their adoptive mother. When you see Uryu do that, you come to understand why the girls fell for him.
The seiyuu line up in this show is immense and they all put in amazing jobs, every character feels so alive and it’s thanks in large part of the voice acting staff! I was left emotional during the climax of basically every arc in the show because of a great performance whether it was from Sumipe or one of the other seiyuu, they were great. The show looks really good, the animation is very solid. It’s a well put together production all around.
I could drone on forever about Amagami, but I think I got the gist of what makes it special across in this review. The girls are great, the MC is smart, reliable and you can see why he’s attractive, the story is well written with a nice mix of character development and supernatural Japanese mythological mystery and it looks great. If you like harems, romcoms or just want a wholesome and rewarding story, this is a watch you won’t regret. It was one of my favourite shows of the year and I will definitely be reading the manga to see where it goes from here.
Amagami-san chi no Enmusubi gets 9 out of 10.
