My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Review
Warning: The following review may contain spoilers. If you wish not to know some events in the story, or simply don't wish to find out what happens in the series, please leave the page, since I don't want to damage a watching experience for you
With that said, thank you, and onto the review:
Normally when I think of school comedies that people ask me about, I would normally recommend Haganai, Lucky Star, or Azumanga Daioh. All of these are great school comedy shows, but Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh have a more slice of life format.
After I finished The Devil Is A Part Timer and Cuticle Detective Inaba, this was recommended for me via Hulu. So, along with Blood Lad, I decided to watch this series. What did I think about it?
Ehh............. Meh.
I don't regret watching this series, but at the same time, there are only a few things memorable about it. And while some of the characters are great, and the story doesn't go all wonky, just some parts of this show just weren't that exciting.
Not to say I HATED this show, but it wasn't AMAZING either. it was just a mixed bag for me.
So, let's go into the show's story:
Story
Our story begins when the main character named Hachiman is asked (well, mainly forced), by his language teacher to join the service club due to his negative idea to youth. After being led to the room, he meets the club's only member, Yukino Yukinoshita. Yukino isn't the most approachable girl, as she's often set on one thing, but isn't too up her high horse.
The Service Club provides help for students on anything relying to problems that students are facing in there social life, and explores them psychologically. One of there first customers later joins the club, and majority of the story is often helping out with new situations, such as the culture festival, or critiquing a novel made by one of Hachiman;s friends.
Basically, this story is mainly a slice of life. And to be honest, some of the service club's help can be interesting. But sometimes, I felt that the show could have used something more exciting. Majority of them were in that regard, but sometimes the pacing isn't the best, as I felt that the culture festival planning might have been pushed one extra episode. I do like how the main characters deal with the situations, but not all of it is going to be jaw-dropping or remarkable.
The Service Club is mostly effective. Thanks to Hachiman's quite unique aspect on life, his analogies are often funny and do help with the story a bit. But some of the events just might not keep everyone engaged.
Let's go to the characters.
Characters
The characters on the other hand do manage to help bump up this show from being dull, as at least majority of the characters have some sort of personality that makes them unique and fresh.
I'm going to talk about each member of the Service Club, since one event that they experienced was all connected.
Let me start with the main character Hachiman:
Hachiman is almost a typical loner anime character, but he does have something interesting about him. His main idea about youth is that it's just a simple illusion created by hypocrites, for hypocrites. He's not really keen on the idea of making friends due to this reason, and as is such, isolated from majority of the world. He also thinks that he is very insignificant, and will take blame for others if needed.
When he is advised to join the service club, Hachiman isn't really keen on the idea, even though his language teacher hopes that being in the club will at least change his personality. It does in some way, but Hachiman still has the ideas of youth circulating around in his head, for better or for worse.
On this first day of high school, Hachiman was accidentally hit by a car while trying to save a dog. This had him miss three weeks of school, After realizing that Yui and Yukino each were connected in these events, he distanced himself from them, but later re-connected with them when misunderstandings were clear.
I find Hachiman an enjoyable protagonist. He isn't terribly stereotypical like other male protagonists, and also isn't dense. He has a state of mind about himself, even if it's negative. I find his point of view incredibly entertaining, and if the creator had done him anyway differently, let's just say he wouldn't really be memorable.
Let's go to Yukino:
Yukino is the most envied girl in school, possibly due to the fact that she is pretty cute. However, she is often not in the friend crowd, due to her not liking other girls looking up to her instead of improving on themselves. Thus, this and other qualities, (such as being from a wealthy family) gives her the nickname Ice-Cold Beauty.
She is the only member of the Service Club until Hachiman joins her.This helps her with some things, as she doesn't really have to do anything by herself anymore, but she still only sees him as a acquaintance after the cultural festival, and not as a friend.
Her personality also shows somewhat disgust from the naivete for some people, mainly Yui, and often shows it, though I never caught it. She doesn't also like anyone talking about her family, as it upsets her. And in the past where the 3 characters all connected, she was actually in the car that hit Hachiman. But we aren't sure who drove it.
I like Yukino, but only due to the fact that her cold personality isn't as drawn out, that you won't feel anything for her. I like her interactions with Hachiman, and how sometimes she can be brutally honest. I find her very interesting, and at times, you might sympathize with the fact that she might be someone you can encounter later on in life, and hopefully can become friends with. And when I say hopefully, I mean hopefully.
Let's move on to our last member, Yui:
Yui is in Hachiman's class, and actually was the Service Club's first customer, asking them to help bake cookies for someone. (Like say, Hachiman perhaps?)
The main reason as to why she connects with Yui and Hachiman so much is that she's a bit insecure in the personality department. She is often afraid to express her feelings, due to being worried about losing friends. She connects with both of them because they are able to express there feelings so easily. I think I can easily relate to this, because the friend who got me into Black Butler also helped me improve my confidence.
Due to this, after her first experience, she starts to attend the Service Club, though Yukino sort of objects earlier on. And her relation to the first day of school event was that her dog was the one that Hachiman. Since then, she has had feelings for him.
I really liked Yui as a main character. The main characters of this series are stereotypical, which makes this anime have some interest. Yui is super sweet, and often is realistic in her feelings for Hachiman. I would really want her as friend if she existed in real life,
Other characters include a member of the tennis club with a feminine appearance, Yukino's childhood friend who is popular due to his kindness, a popular girl who has a very arrogant personality, a fujoshi, a classmate who's mistaken to be a delinquent, Hachiman's language teacher, Hachiman's friend who is easily the best character in the entire show, and a complete bitch who has no likable qualities in her personality. Who loved it in episode 12 when Hachiman told her off? *raises hand*
When he is advised to join the service club, Hachiman isn't really keen on the idea, even though his language teacher hopes that being in the club will at least change his personality. It does in some way, but Hachiman still has the ideas of youth circulating around in his head, for better or for worse.
On this first day of high school, Hachiman was accidentally hit by a car while trying to save a dog. This had him miss three weeks of school, After realizing that Yui and Yukino each were connected in these events, he distanced himself from them, but later re-connected with them when misunderstandings were clear.
I find Hachiman an enjoyable protagonist. He isn't terribly stereotypical like other male protagonists, and also isn't dense. He has a state of mind about himself, even if it's negative. I find his point of view incredibly entertaining, and if the creator had done him anyway differently, let's just say he wouldn't really be memorable.
Let's go to Yukino:
Yukino is the most envied girl in school, possibly due to the fact that she is pretty cute. However, she is often not in the friend crowd, due to her not liking other girls looking up to her instead of improving on themselves. Thus, this and other qualities, (such as being from a wealthy family) gives her the nickname Ice-Cold Beauty.
She is the only member of the Service Club until Hachiman joins her.This helps her with some things, as she doesn't really have to do anything by herself anymore, but she still only sees him as a acquaintance after the cultural festival, and not as a friend.
Her personality also shows somewhat disgust from the naivete for some people, mainly Yui, and often shows it, though I never caught it. She doesn't also like anyone talking about her family, as it upsets her. And in the past where the 3 characters all connected, she was actually in the car that hit Hachiman. But we aren't sure who drove it.
I like Yukino, but only due to the fact that her cold personality isn't as drawn out, that you won't feel anything for her. I like her interactions with Hachiman, and how sometimes she can be brutally honest. I find her very interesting, and at times, you might sympathize with the fact that she might be someone you can encounter later on in life, and hopefully can become friends with. And when I say hopefully, I mean hopefully.
Let's move on to our last member, Yui:
Yui is in Hachiman's class, and actually was the Service Club's first customer, asking them to help bake cookies for someone. (Like say, Hachiman perhaps?)
The main reason as to why she connects with Yui and Hachiman so much is that she's a bit insecure in the personality department. She is often afraid to express her feelings, due to being worried about losing friends. She connects with both of them because they are able to express there feelings so easily. I think I can easily relate to this, because the friend who got me into Black Butler also helped me improve my confidence.
Due to this, after her first experience, she starts to attend the Service Club, though Yukino sort of objects earlier on. And her relation to the first day of school event was that her dog was the one that Hachiman. Since then, she has had feelings for him.
I really liked Yui as a main character. The main characters of this series are stereotypical, which makes this anime have some interest. Yui is super sweet, and often is realistic in her feelings for Hachiman. I would really want her as friend if she existed in real life,
Other characters include a member of the tennis club with a feminine appearance, Yukino's childhood friend who is popular due to his kindness, a popular girl who has a very arrogant personality, a fujoshi, a classmate who's mistaken to be a delinquent, Hachiman's language teacher, Hachiman's friend who is easily the best character in the entire show, and a complete bitch who has no likable qualities in her personality. Who loved it in episode 12 when Hachiman told her off? *raises hand*
Animation
The animation for this series was done by Brain's Base, who is also known for animating Penguindrum, Amnesia, and Kamigami no Asobi.
The animation for this series isn't OHMYGOD AMAZING! It's just average, which is a little disappointing. Though the character designs are pretty cool and look very good in settings, the animation just won't wow some people who expect some unique animation.
I did like it though, but there's better animation out there.
Sound
The score for this series was composed by monaca, who had also worked on the scores for series such as Aikatsu!, Nyakuro, and Working!
This is the first time I've heard of this composing group, so I was very curious to see how it would turn out. Majority of the score in this series is pretty cool, I like some of the slower tracks, but there's one with some cool instruments and some effects that was memorable. Overall, the score does have some pretty good moments in it that people will appreciate.
The opening, which is sung by Nagi Yanagi, is perhaps one of the most heartfelt anime songs that I've heard in recent memory. It's not the best opening I've ever heard, but Nagi's voice is beautiful, and helps make the theme very memorable. The ending, which is sung by the two main female leads, isn't as strong, but is pretty good nonetheless.
Though this show was released in the US in July by Sentai Filmworks, it surprisingly was not packaged with a English dub. They might later on, considering that dubs for Special A, Mayo Chiki, Nyan Koi, and many others have popped up these last two years. The sub is still pretty good though.
Highlights include Takuya Eguchi, Saori Hayami, Nao Toyama, Mikako Komatsu, Marina Inoue, Nozomi Sasaki, Ami Koshimizu, Ryoka Yuzuki, Aoi Yuki, Nobuyuki Hiyama, and Mai Nakahara.
This is the first time I've heard of this composing group, so I was very curious to see how it would turn out. Majority of the score in this series is pretty cool, I like some of the slower tracks, but there's one with some cool instruments and some effects that was memorable. Overall, the score does have some pretty good moments in it that people will appreciate.
The opening, which is sung by Nagi Yanagi, is perhaps one of the most heartfelt anime songs that I've heard in recent memory. It's not the best opening I've ever heard, but Nagi's voice is beautiful, and helps make the theme very memorable. The ending, which is sung by the two main female leads, isn't as strong, but is pretty good nonetheless.
Though this show was released in the US in July by Sentai Filmworks, it surprisingly was not packaged with a English dub. They might later on, considering that dubs for Special A, Mayo Chiki, Nyan Koi, and many others have popped up these last two years. The sub is still pretty good though.
Highlights include Takuya Eguchi, Saori Hayami, Nao Toyama, Mikako Komatsu, Marina Inoue, Nozomi Sasaki, Ami Koshimizu, Ryoka Yuzuki, Aoi Yuki, Nobuyuki Hiyama, and Mai Nakahara.
Verdict
As a whole, I do think this show had a lot of good moments. But, if your looking for a really good slice of life show with very good moments, I suggest you look elsewhere. I still found a lot of heart in here, and perhaps other viewers found this series better than I did.
I recommend this series to people looking for a realistic slice of life story, if you're bored one morning, or are just looking for something to relax your mind.
Score: 7/10
Positives:
Great characters. (well, except one)
Interesting interactions.
Sub-par animation.
Great audio, plus opening theme.
Negatives:
Story isn't the most motivating.
Some parts may bore viewers.
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