What it’s about: Sorata is your average nobody with a big heart who, due to his acquisition of a stray cat, is dumped into the notoriously zany world of the dorms at Sakurasou Hall until he finds an owner. Unfortunately, he seems to have given up finding an owner and has only taken on more cats as time has passed. Then Mashiro arrives. To add to the already insanely varied residents of the hall, she is a girl from England who is an artistic prodigy that has no concept of social norms or how to take care of herself. Needless to say, Sorata begins to take care of her as one would do for a … well… pet. This is a story following the day to day life of the hall’s residents; their friendships, romances, issues, and struggles with the real world.
Art: Though perhaps not THE best I’ve seen, the quality is up there, and considering it’s all about art in the first place, it kinda has to be anyway. 8/10
Characters: Very relate-able, very diverse, and lots of fun. All are remember-able and show some sort of growth throughout the series. Designs are well done for almost always sticking them in uniforms. 9/10
Music: Pretty good. Nothing too amazing, but it’s used well, and the OP’s and ED’s always managed to get me to bob my head. Enjoyable, but not remember-able. 8/10
Story: The story might have been slacking a bit at first, since it was mostly intro for all the characters and the hall trying to figure out what to do with Mashiro, but as the characters began their own struggles and friendships grew, things got a lot more interesting. The second half did seem to start becoming almost too plot driven in that it almost started taking away from the characters, but in the end it turned out to be enough of an emotional wringer that it didn’t matter. It has a definitive end, but it was definitely left open for a possible future season which has me on the fence. Since so much has been settled and changed, unless it’s handled well, it can only go downhill. 7/10
Some points I found good/ bad/ interesting:
1.)It was a real life approach to the romance between a caring guy and a hopeless girl. (Extreme yin yang of social aptitude and talent.)
2.) Lots of real life struggles, and the characters didn’t always ‘win’. Not your typical approach to an anime where typically hard work will always pay off.
3.)The love triangle was well handled and believable. It wasn’t really one sided or a ping pong match between the interests. It was more of a tug of war; it generally stayed in place, but the tension kept growing until one side caved in to defeat.
4.)The last arc seemed too haphazardly thrown in and drawn out, but led to a very good, emotional ending.
I feel like the staff had fun reliving their college days with this one. Between master painters, manga artists, voice actors, video game programmers, script writers and anime producers its like they were creating a version of themselves and showing all the struggles they had to endure to get where they are today. Having been a part of this culture as well I can certainly relate more than the average person probably will, especially when it comes to those all nighters and the 3 hour naps before your final exams. However, as much as I can picture every character of the cast as almost an exact replica of someone I’ve met along the way, I’m pretty sure even those of you who haven’t been exposed to the zaniness of the art students can find something/someone relate-able to each of them as well.
What’s great about this show is the wide range of cast it carries and the depiction of all the real life struggles the characters have to go through. They don’t all just get free passes through everything and aren’t invulnerable which is something I give major kudos to the creator for. You’ve got extroverts, introverts, geeks, ladies men, socially inept geniuses and struggling caretakers. They all manage to mesh and balance perfectly which is essentially what Sakurasou Hall is all about: the bond between a bunch of oddballs from all walks of life who don’t quite fit in with the norm.
Now, if you’re into action… this probably won’t float your boat that well. This is more of your slice of life with character driven episodes and love strings galore. And the last quarter or so of the season will definitely pull at your heartstrings for better or worse. It’s a fun little ride with some comedy throughout and something towards the top of my list that I would recommend to almost anyone.
Just... don’t choose Plan C.
------------- In Depth Review Contains A Few Small Spoilers-------------------
-----------Surrounded by "***Spoiler***" Continue Reading--------------
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What do I think about the characters?
Sorata: A good natured main character out to help anyone he can to a point it makes it a fault. A lot of the jokes are on him for misunderstood intimate occasions. I see him as the ultimate wish fulfillment character for any girl who wants a “good boy” or caring husband. He is by all means mediocre, and we get to see him struggle through all the issues there are for an average person trying to get into the professional workplace. I found myself wanting to whack him upside the head for being so damn dense at times, but I suppose it helped keep the suspense up between which of the girls he’d choose since it led to making it seem solely dependent on the girls to come up with a way to confess to him.
Mashiro: On the other hand you have the completely beautiful yet hopeless girl that can’t even dress herself trying to learn what love is and understand why everyone else isn’t a genius like her. What she wants, she gets simply because of her talent. It’s fun to watch her slowly learning and becoming more human throughout the show, but sometimes it also feels like she’s just not even trying. I almost expected a few episodes to make it out that she was just trolling someone with stupidness to get her way. She’s just not all that relate-able to most, and at times she’s written in a way that almost feels as if she’s there to alienate the audience as well to keep the suspense and shippers balanced on the Nanami side. But there are also those cute moments of helplessness and innocence that call Sorata to her side and make you melt down and say “they should be a couple”.
Nanami: An average girl forcing herself to live by her own means. She puts everything on her shoulders, and refuses to let anyone help her with her burdens. Though it’s always nice to see this sort of thing, she doesn’t know her own boundaries and often winds up finding it backfiring horribly. She’s very determined, but is a complete tsundere so when it comes to anything about love she quickly becomes wishy-washy and shy. It doesn’t help that she’s also extremely jealous and obviously has a crush on Sorata from the get go. You often see her and Sorata in the same light; going through the same struggles of mediocrity and such, and they would clearly work out as the perfect couple. However, they always seem to be pulled apart or set back whenever something happens with Mashiro, and she is constantly reminded that no matter how close they are, Sorata just never quite cares as deeply for her in the same way. The last half of the season made me wish she would find it in her to grow a backbone and confess, but she never really does.
***Spoiler***
Instead, she objectively looks at the situation and decides it’s better to save their friendship and herself from a very likely heartbreak to back down. I don’t exactly know why, but she won a lot of kudos from me on that one.
***End Spoiler***
Misaki: The crazy “alien”. She’s an anime artist who is so energetic, so raunchy, so… eccentric that you can’t really help but laugh at her character alone. Mostly played for comic relief, you kinda just wish she was your friend to see what kind of crazy stuff she might drag you into. Of course her and Jin have had a long, drawn out “relationship” if you could really call it that. She is always smothering herself all over him, and though he pretty much shoots her down every time, you can tell that he does really care about her as well. Though she is very determined to make him hers, she is constantly reflecting on why he won’t just accept her and for the last half of the series, it almost gets overdone to the point you wish she’d stop moping and go back to her usual crazy self.
Jin: Misaki’s love interest and all around ladies’ man. He is the cool, calm, collected one that everyone seems to go to when looking for answers from someone a bit more mature. I never really cared for him all that much, and he became such a mess of a character towards the end that I couldn’t even really follow his motivations. He liked Misaki; he didn’t want to hurt her, but never seemed to stop doing it.
***Spoiler***
I could see possible fears of a long distance relationship since he was going to a different college, and the pressure of cold feet trying to propose, but he wound up being another numbskull who didn’t know how to react when it came to confessing true feelings.
***End Spoiler***
Ryunosuke: Your typical anti-social computer genius with a fear of girls. The first half you never really see him; the only interaction he has is through Maid-chan, his personal messaging AI. He manages to deliver a lot of hard truths to the characters because of his general disinterest of empathy and way of looking at things in a calculating black and white manner. His growth is very clear, even if it doesn’t get very far from where he started. He begins going to more classes, stays out of his room more often, and begins showing a little more empathy towards the rest of the cast. I suppose having that bombshell Rita making advances all over you just might do the trick for anyone though.
Rita: Plot device and support character. Not much to say.
Chihiro: Obviously a desperate female who is a teacher and overseer of Sakurasou hall. Not a whole lot of screen time.
Yuko: Plot device and comic relief. Typical jealous little sister with a brother complex.
