Living life is like being in a constant fight with life itself. Life will fight unfairly and when you get knocked down it won't wait for you to get back up, it'll just keep hitting until you eventually die. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo shows this very well.
The anime starts off very stereo-typically, very similar to other animes of the same genre. A main character that has lost his or her way in life, and seeks to find meaning or something he/she is talented at. A genius that befriends him, a big brother who gives him advice, a big sister that cheers him up, a logical genius that helps him with objective thinking, and a childhood friend that encourages him to keep working hard. The story is very well written, with great plot twists all around and just reinforcing the idea that life is unfair, it won't wait for you, and if you want to survive in this harsh world, then you need to get back up and hit it with all you've got. The story is written in a very unique manner, I can't dive into it very much because I don't want to spoil anything, but I just have to say, the story alone without any music would still grant this anime at least an 8/10 in the overall rating. The story is just so strong and so well written, I hope to see more from this author.
The characters are developed extraordinarily well, a big problem with this genre is that most anime won't bother to show the weakness of every character, and you get some characters that are deemed "perfect", and that's just not right. In this anime you really get to see everyone's weaknesses seep out of the masks they hide behind, and you can appreciate and relate to everyone.
The art really made me feel what was intended for the anime. It goes back to the basics, using bright colors to make a warm feeling and using dark colors to make a lonely and cold feeling. I feel that the art goes further than that though, there are many subtleties that you could pick up on that really affect the atmosphere of the anime, and I believe without the art, the anime wouldn't be as good as it is now.
For sound, I might just be new to the genre, but I thought the music and the sound effects they used were very supportive of the scenes that they used it for. The comedic music or comedic sound effects really made me laugh combined with the action in the scene, and i'm sort of soft when it comes to piano music, but I have to say, the main piano theme they used for this anime made my eyes water and my heart heat up. Anime in this genre really need to pay special attention to the background music, because it is a huge supporter for the scene at hand, and this anime did it perfectly, with a slow melody, they effectively emphasized sorrow and depression, and changing up the music, they managed to hit all the emotions extremely well and accurately. I think this anime has some of the best music i've ever heard.
Overall, I enjoyed this anime very much, I give it 10/10 in enjoyment, but I can't rate it overall 10/10 because even though I think it's one of the best anime that came out this season, 10/10 is reserved for legendary anime, and even with all of the great ideas it presented to me, I feel it's lacking a certain creativity. I hope you enjoyed my review, I hope to be writing more.
