Kiznaiver – 03

So this episode was an introduction to our new seventh Kiznaiver who looks to be a roguish shut in with a pendent for self harm. Adding a masochist to a group that shares pain is certainly a dilemma but I wonder just how they plan to make use of him in the plot. Considering that pain is now split seven way between them it’s possible he is unsatisfied with his share of the pain. My previous assumption of him being greed seems off the mark though I still think he has a secret relating to it. The characters even commented on him potentially being a conman who hurts himself to claim insurance payments. This would make sense as Noriko’s labels of new seven sins seem to only refer to the characters on a superficial level where as there secrets are more closely related to the true seven sins. I must call out the start of the episode which immediately deflated the cliffhanger of the previous episode. I found it rather distasteful to be fair as it felt like a cheap cop out. It’s sort of like that episode of Humanity has declined with has a manga creator end each chapter with a twist for the purpose of heightening excitement for the next chapter. This isn’t bad in itself as if done well it can be an effective method of storytelling. But when done poorly it can mess with your storyline as you attempt to end episodes on higher and higher cliffhangers. But then there’s this dishonest method here where you have a character make a revelation just to brush it off as a joke. I am certain that she was in fact telling the truth and just played as a joke to cover her bases though the circumstances are likely not as cold as she makes it out to be. The purpose may be to foreshadow Makis circumstances but there are plenty of ways to do that without teasing a potential conflict between her and the others.

We do learn a number of things about the Kiznaiver system in this episode such as when someone feels pain the others are informed of who it was by a holographic number displayed on their scar. Also while sudden pain is shared, residual pain is not. The end of the project looks to be the end of summer vacation and there’s likely more missions in store for the group. Lastly based on Noriko’s wording at the end of the episode this is not the first time the Kiznaver project has taken place which really gets me curious about the opening scene. My current guess is that Agatha has taken part in the Kiznaver project before and that is the reason for his sensory deprivation of pain. Actually considering his lack of emotions as well it’s possible the previous subjects shared more than pain but emotions as well. The mystery has certainly a lot of interesting aspects to it but Kiznaver is showing some issues. Namely the story is being held up by it’s highly likeable cast and their interactions as the plot is moving at a snail’s pace. We still don’t have a clear idea on just what this show will focus on and looking at these past episodes not a lot has actually happened. FIrst episode had the cast made in Kiznavers, second episode had them introduce themselves and third episode had them chase down the last member. I am not saying these episodes were not enjoyable but now that the plot has started I worry it will devolve into slice of life antics with the shared pain being more of a gimmick. Or Okada will go full Okada and have the cast throw over the top hissy fits about first world problems. What makes this show work is the parts which are distinctly trigger and in the coming episodes I would prefer to have more trigger madness over bland SOL.

~AidanAK47~

Kiznaiver – 02

With the second episode we have some clarity over what Kiznaiver is going to be about and it seems my assumption was correct. What we have here is a kind of Kokoro Connect drama with some trigger style humor. Our characters are placed in a Saw like game where they must reveal their biggest secret or receive a electric shock. Our game master threatened that they would die if they didn’t pass but I find it hard to believe she would kill them in cold blood, especially when she looks to have a fondness for our whited haired protagonist. The situation gets exceedly dangerous but with the humor it makes it hard to determine just how dangerous the situation really is. If the place exploded I wouldn’t be surprised to see all the characters come out unharmed and covered in soot. That is good as it prevents the show from becoming overly melodramatic and getting dragged down with serious tone. What I find most interesting at the moment is the nature of the characters secrets for you see in the first episode Noriko made a comparison between the main characters and the seven deadly sins. At first I thought it was a one off joke as she later goes on to say the deadly sins have changed their forms and suggests alternative names which Agata dismisses as her making fun of them. However what is interesting is that each of the secrets the main characters revealed in this episode related to the seven deadly sins. Tenga is afraid of dogs and hides it for fear of ruining his reputation. Pride. Niko pretends to be eccentric because she thinks otherwise people will be jealous of her. Envy. Chidori is in love with Agata. Lust. Yuta used to be a fat kid. Gluttony. Agata is apathetic towards everything. Sloth. And Maki claims to have killed someone before. Wrath. So you would naturally assume that Noriko is our Greed but there is another member featured in the opening who hasn’t yet been introduced. The mysterious fellow with bandages on his hands. Likely he will be introduced in the next “Mission” and I am willing to bet his nature will have something to do with money. I am guessing he joins the Kiznaver project due to payment.

This episode’s mission acts as a nice character development episode and does act to further the plot. I can sort of understand the logic of this exercise. In getting these people to share their secrets you create a personal connection between them. As the wise Katsuragi Keima said, for people far apart secrets can be superglue. Or in more practical terms, sharing a secret with someone allows people to get closer together. By forcing them to spill their secrets it forces them to coexist with someone else as they can’t leave them alone in case they tell, and in turn that person knows them better than anyone else. Sound logic even if the means to achieve this involve demolition. In tone the secrets are half in slapstick territory and half being deathly serious. For one I find it most amusing that Niko pretends to be eccentric without really realising that she is naturally eccentric. As for Maki’s claims to have killed someone I am fairly certain she is embellishing the details. Her “Murder” was likely something she did indirectly or blames herself for. While I would love it if she truly did murder someone with full intent instead it’s not likely that is the case. THis happens to be another strong episode of Kiznaver and I hope it stays this way after seeing Maigo go downhill very fast. Hopefully Okada’s bad tendencies are all taken by that show and don’t seep into this one. On another note the opening is fantastic and really gets me in the mood for the show. In particular I love the prism styled showcase of the characters. It’s only flaw is that after seeing it I have “Take on me” by a-ha stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

~AidanAK47~

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo Review – 79/100



Teenaged romance shows are a dime a dozen, so it has to take something special for a series to catch my interest. For that, the past Autumn Season was a source of gold. Kamisama Hajimemashita was awesome, Sukitte Ii na Yo was a surprise hit, and Sakurasou also seemed like the series to bring new life in the shounen romance genre. It kinda did, but if you want to stay with that impression, then don’t watch the second half.

Sakurasou really managed to set itself apart with its execution. From the outside it looked like an average romantic comedy, but when you started watching it became clear to me how good the chemistry between the characters was. The banter had a lot of comedic gold in it, and it was full of energy. Scenes were well set-up, and there were a number of really sharp characters in this series, whose lines pierced through all pretense. That made this series a roller-coaster of emotions that was actually really well balanced.

The level of writing really was good there, and consistently so. I can only recall one bad episode, which randomly introduced incest for no reason whatsoever). You’d expect this level of writing to get better as the series goes on and gets more chance to build up, but somewhere along the way it just loses its spark. Especially the final third just misses the energy and wit that made this series so addictive at the start.

The early parts of this series are about hard work versus talent, and working hard towards your dreams, and coming of age. The show ends with a love triangle and a silly subplot about a bunch of dorms being closed down. It totally lacks any kind of impact, and the series ends with a melodramatic ending that is too scared to really resolve anything. The only good parts about the final third is where the creators focus on the themes that made the first half so good, but there are unfortunately too few moments to really salvage the series.

It’s a shame, really. I really endorse series evolving and changing. Doing the same thing over and over gets boring. But if you want to change your attention, you have to make sure that you have something interesting and logical to follow up with. Sakurasou didn’t and just got bogged down in its genre conventions that unfortunately spoiled what could have been such a good shounen romance.
One-Sentence Review: If you are interested in Sakurasou, my tip is to watch until episode 16, and let your imagination fill in the climax, because if you do you’ll get a really rewarding and witty romance series, instead of having to sit through the downer climax that follows…
Suggestions:
Kaze no Shoujo Emily
True Tears
Yumekui Merry

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 22, 23 & 24

Okay, I’m going to combine these three episodes into one entry in order to wrap up Sakurasou. My impression of them is that Mari Okada overshot herself a bit here. Her strength has always been in the way she used melodrama, but the actual climax of this series… yeah.

So the idea of the final three episodes was simple: episode 22 resolved the romantic subplots, episode 23 handled the subplot about Sakurasou about to close and episode 24 was then the epilogue. The best was episode 22. Sure, it was incredibly predictable and had it coming for the entire series, but it was charming enough. I enjoyed that. Been there, done that, but charming.

Episode 23… dear god, what a bawl-fest. I mean, I can enjoy a good cry and all, but that was just too much. It’s in character for Misaki to just hijack something as important as the graduation ceremony. It’s not in character for everyone and his dog to be so emotionally attached to that speech. I mean, that was just total melodrama.

In the past, Mari Okada’s endings have always stood to me as endings that managed to deliver high emotions really well. They were overdramatic, but they were well built up, were believable, and had some variation: they weren’t a bawl-fest from start to finish and had quiet, funny or other moments that broke up the mood. That was like, “Whine whine whine Sakurasou is awesome, whine whine whine I love you all”. There is such a thing as too much love here…

Episode 24, I liked it at the beginning. Until it revealed its true colours as an ending that couldn’t pull through with the decisions it made. The sister didn’t enter the school? Hah! She actually lied to Sorata about her student number. Jin and Misaki go away in order to live their own lives? Hah, they just marry and conveniently start to live next to Sakurasou. What was all of the build-up for? What was all the growth for? I really dislike those kinds of half-assed endings.

So yeah, if I knew what I know today, I would have blogged Kamisama Hajimemashita and Sukitte Ii na Yo for the past autumn season’s Romance shows. But unfortunately, this was something that I just could never have seen coming. Sakurasou lured me in with its 24 episodes, plus its really strong start. It just did not make good use of its second half at all.
Rating: 3/8 (Mediocre)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 20 & 21

Whoa. This episode hit me hard.

Before watching these two episodes, I had lost a bit of my motivation to keep up with Sakurasou because it seemed to head into the predictable finale direction: love triangle angst with forced drama for Sakurasou closing down. It all sounded so “been there, done that”, and seemed so far away from what made this series so good. And then… Aoyama failed her auditions.

Damn, these two episodes had some bleak themes: with hard work and guts alone you ain’t gonna make it, because there will be enough people who also have that. Just because you put in all of your effort, doesn’t automatically mean you’ll succeed, and both Sorata and Aoyama found this out the hard way. With such an inspirational series, I did not expect this direction, but I also really liked how the creators used Shiina here: All the while, she had been inspiring everyone, and yet here it becomes clear why she pushes everyone away: again her art was the thing that got noticed. And she did land the job incredibly easily. Life is just unfair that way.

The one thing I’m a bit iffy about is the plot with Sakurasou closing down and all, but even there this series makes very good points: so what if it’s closed down? You can always find other housing. The main problem underlying here is that people are trying to foce Shiina to give up her ambitions.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 19

Here is where you can see that the source material really has some problems: it’s revealed that the finale of the series will focus on Sakurasou shutting down. The big problem with that: it’s cliched as hell. I know it will lead to character development and all, but it’s just so standard. We’ve seen this and been there. It’s now up to the writers and animators to really make it stand out like what this series has always done. Did this episode provide a good start?

Um…. this episode had me very, very confused. It was just like the first episode… but without Shiina. Ryuunosuke made an appearance, even though he didn’t do that in the first episode. The weirdest thing is that this was a flashback in which nobody seemed to find it strange that things were suddenly incorrect.

This episode: it was a recap of the first episode, and yet it wasn’t. What the hell?
Rating: $#@!?/8 (Wut?)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 18

Let’s talk a bit about the issue of Cheese. Mari Okada, I find her to be a fantastic and prolific writer, but she does have a weakness: the cheese. Drama that is just a bit too overblown. She has had a number of tricks to hide this, though. Her best series combine lots of drama with a lot of great twists that just keep the story changing.

The twist in this episode was Jin proposing to Misaki. That was great. I loved how the creators used the teachers to add a bit of humour there. The build-up to it though was a bit disappointing, and had a bit too much cheese. It’s here where the drama between Jin and Misaki was dragged out a bit too long, when suddenly an entire episode focused on it. The episode just was not witty enough to keep up with it, and it really showed that the two of them are not main character material: they have a nice story but they can’t keep you busy like Sorata and Shiina can when they’re together. The two of them meanwhile were busy with what felt like recycling some of their chemistry in this episode.

Also, Jin. You’re in an anime, so I know that you’ll end up happily ever after and all. But I don’t think your tactic would have worked in real life…

After this we’ll probably also get an episode around Jun. That’s one I’m looking forward to. But please, for god’s sake: do something about Ayoama and that sister. This episode was really building them up to go down the predictable, dull and overused path. Just… do something with it. I am fearing that those will lead to a pretty disappointing conclusion here…
Rating: 4/8 (Enjoyable)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo -17

Putting the sister aside, my biggest complaint about this series so far was Aoyama’s part in the love traingle. I had hoped that as time went on, she’d move on… but no. In fact, this episode shot down my single hope at her falling in love with someone else, when at valentine’s day, she was in trouble, and called Sorata. The guy who had a crush on her… acted as a stepping stone.

And don’t get me wrong, I really like that guy. I forgot his name already, but his dedication for Aoyama is admirable. Which is why it’s all the worse that he’s such a simple character with no chance in hell to go anywhere, the same way in which Aoyama is doomed to be Shiina’s second choice. That in its own would be good, but this show doesn’t do anything with it. Instead this show just continue to develop Aoyama as if she is a valid romantic interest for the sake of drama.

The rest of the episode was delightful as usual, though. There was this nice bit of development between Rita and Ryuunosuke. It is beyond me how she manages to gather the money to travel back and forth between England and Japan for such a long time, but I really liked the gesture. Ryuunosuke’s reaction at the end of the episode also was priceless. Shiina got her moment as well, despite how it took so long thanks to Aoyama. She indeed is miles beyond Sorata and he can easily forget that. That is one point that this episode made that I really liked.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 16

The sister… she has returned. Thanfully, thankfully her role seems to change. This was the first time in which she really abandoned her role of “cheap siscon” and instead just as a normal sister who gets to encourage her brother. Thank you for finally going there, Sakurasou. Having a sister like that is fine. Just cut the romantic hints and you would have had a good character from the start.

Beyond that, Shina was hilarious again, Misaki was hilarious as the bullfrog, and Sorata’s presentation was well done: he didn’t exactly make it, but he got his foot inbetween the door. It’s indeed unrealistic to believe that things just go right, right from one presentation. Still, he was given a chance. And I thin kthat with Shiina’s talent as an artist, he might actually get there.

Beyond that, this episode was just lots of slice of life. In fact, when the episode ended I was surprised that was already over, considering how little had happened. And then I thought back and realized that a lot had actually happened, it was just nearly all small scenes that were meent to build characters. Perhaps not the best that this series has shown so far, but still really good.

Oh yeah, valentine’s day is coming…
Rating: 5/8 (Great)16

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – 15

Aagh! The sister has returned!

She still sucks for being in love with her brother, but nevertheless I liked this episode a lot. We got introduced to Sorata’s hometown and to his parents, which does explain why he felt at home at Sakurasou so much, since his parents are completely weird. I laughed a lot at their antics in this episode, and especially Sorata’s father rocks.

Furthermore, this episode actually did try to make up for the horrible decision that this series made for allowing the sister to fall in love with her brother: what I had been fearing was that she too would end up in the same school as Sorata so that she’d be even more prevalent in this series, but in this episode it became clear that she probably won’t make the entrance exams. This really helped to put things into perspective, and also hinted that she will move on.

Especially in contrast with the rest of this episode, which focused on doing what you love to do for the one you love. Especially in the case of Misaki and Shiina, but the entire main cast has this. It again was full of little details, for example Misaki as she kept playing with the cat when she was down. That was actually really adorable. I also like this surprising relationship between Jin and the student council president. I did not expect that guy to get so much attention in this series, but the two of them work really well together. Now do the same thing with that one guy who has a crush on Nanami.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)