Sorry for the lateness. A combination of me having many real life appointments and my computer catching a virus lead me to create quite a backlog. Still, now that I’ve managed to finally see this episode, I can again get really surprised at how GOOD this show actually is. At this point this show can pretty much become the best shounen romance in a long while.
So many cliches died today. Sorata definitively stepped away from the other male leads in this episode. Before, he was like them in that he had nothing that set himself apart: everyone else in Sakurasou had something to do, but he had no hobbies. In this episode, he actually realized that, and became fully aware of it. That is so much better than your average shounen lead who is kept bland on purpose and doesn’t even seem to realize it.
Misaki meanwhile. Holy crap, her role here was really good. I really feared that she would be the typical ditzy girl you see everywhere. Well, those ideas ended with this episode as well; she really managed to show her feelings for Jin. Who by the way had the best dialogue of the episode. The guy is subtle: he was obviously pissed in the first half of the episode, yet he hid it in a really good way. It’s still a mystery why he doesn’t just go after Misaki though. My guess is that his pride is in the way, but they just know each other for too long fot htat to be true.
Also, Shiina. I mean, she started out as the typical girl who needs to be taken care of by the male lead. It’s a typical wish fulfillment trope, and yet in this episode she became so much more. She’s just so focused on drawing manga that she doesn’t care about anything else (or so it might seem), but she’s really sharp in her dialogue and she really knows what she wants.
I’m really glad to have decided to blog this series, because there is so much interesting stuff going on. I also don’t mind the fanservice at this point. It’s blatant yes, but it’s part of the characters, instead of just there for the sake of having fanservice. That’s also why I minded that one panty-shot of Little Busters so much: that just had a girl tripped up in an incredibly weird position that made no sense, just for that shot). It also is there to create this wonderful tension between the characters: without it the chemistry between the characters actually wouldn’t be as good as what it is now. That’s what I call good fanservice.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)
i think something is wrong when this show has the same rating as the latest episode of Space Brothers
For this episode, I disagree. This week’s Space Bros was one of it’s weaker (but still strong) weeks in my opinion. But this week’s Sakurasou was very good (all 3 episodes were), so I think it’s deserving! Space Bros is more mature and relatable (and maybe to your tastes more) in terms of content but that doesn’t mean it has to be rated higher than Sakurasou if Sakurasou’s being excellent.
This episode impressed me a lot, circumstances considering. Who knew that an episode with generic setups such as “A and B go on a ‘date’ while C/D/E spy on them and misinterpret everything” and “X and Y talk while they think Z is sleeping, but Z is awake” could be so successful?
I hope nobody missed the one dark (wet) splotch on the Jin/Misaki article in the ED sequence. The awkward moment and exchange when Nanami leaves to go back to work was great too. Misaki’s usual off-the-walls energy feels so much more real after some of the scenes here. Same goes for pretty much the whole cast.
My guess on Jin is something more along the lines of an inferiority complex, rather than pride. To me that fits better with what he says about Misaki being a genius, as well as his conversations on the phone and with Sorata in this episode.
I hard to look over the ED like 5 times before I finally caught the splotch you were talking about. I figured he was anguished but I didn’t know he was actually crying.
I love how this show does the Toradora thing where we are introduced to cliched character types, only to subvert it completely and make them very well written characters. Except Nanami. I hope she gets more developed other than token tsundere.
These developments were hinted in episode 2, but I didn’t expect them to pull them out so quickly, and execute it so brilliantly. Here’s to hoping this becomes the next honey and clover with great character development and themes(but in a shounen setting with fanservice).
PS: Is it just me or does anyone get the feeling that the tech guy will turn out to actually be a girl? Character profile on ANN spotlight and the anime website points seems to agree. Either that or he’s just a really feminine guy.
He’s not feminine.
He has long hair because he doesn’t go out(no chance for him to cut his hair).
He’s definitely a guy.
At least up to volume 6 of the Light novel.
You can’t call a girl “Ryuunosuke” can you?
Wish there was a translation available for those magazine articles. Might bring some more context to Jin’s feelings.
Hm. I wonder if he’s feeling he can’t keep up with Misaki so he should let her go rather than keep her tied down below her potential and is anguished about it?
I agree about the fan service how it’s part of the characters. In a lot of shows the camera just finds its way around their body and gets right in their asss. But here it feels acceptable for some reason, maybe because it’s funny.i loved the conversations all the characters have with each other and how connect differently. It’s actually a really good show but I’m not surprised.
Fanservice? Does it need to be spelled out how it works (doesn’t work)?
Here are some obvious modes of “bad” fanservice, which are not used here (yet). I’m probably missing some others:
1. Questionable camera angle — an atypical angle that also does not correspond to any character’s field of vision
2. “Bonus” scene — bath scene, shower scene, changing scene, beach episode
3. Improbable method of exposure — a character trips and flashes undergarments, clothes shred like paper while fighting, etc.
4. Shallow fanservice character — potentially includes characters of main cast, if rarely handled in meaningful ways or dialogue
The more the setup is contrived and the less it contributes to understanding any character or building any scenario, the worse it sticks out.
It’s mostly the same story for gratuitous action scenes or whatever else people throw in.
It is definitely a pleasant surprise. Everything is quite well done, and the characters are really showing themselves here. Shiina did surprise me in this episode. Her words were sharp to the point I felt uncomfortable for a moment. Its great fun, and maybe a little something more. I’m looking forward to what more this show has to offer.
Isn’t it obvious that Jin lost someone important to him a long time ago? And that women are just a scapegoat of some sort? And he doesn’t want Misaki to be a scapegoat too? Ah. Maybe I’m wrong but that was my initial impression.
I say Jin’s problem is quite simple. As we has seen of him so far he likes to sleep around. So I believe he is somewhat protecting Misaki from himself. Believe that if he did give into his feelings and go after her that eventually he would betray her.
Man that makes so much sense. Maybe I was over-thinking it.
I thought he might be sleeping around to try to fill the gap he’s feeling over not being able to sleep with the one person he really wants to sleep with but that might be too cliche.
Dropped after first episode, picked it up after your high reviews of this series, greatly enjoying it.
ahh, there are still bits that niggle me, like the overreaction and the gratuitous getting nakedness of it all, but I like Jin and Misaki, and I think it’s true about how it’s taking the cliches and subverting them, by going in different direction than what you’d expect… well I guess need to see more episodes to make sure it doesn’t revert to type.
I loved the quiet moments a lot, some anime go OTT with music with the emotional scenes, I loved how this anime went the opposite way and emphasized the emotions with quietness.
@over seer Great spot on the tear stained magazine.
Jins case is one of self-imposed tragic hero trying to protect the girl he loves from himself. It’s probably a mixture of feeling inferior, and also fear that a sexual relationship would ruin everything?
If they toned down the whole over reacting to everything, I would rate this a lot higher
I’m not sure if you’re referring to Sorata’s shouts as overreactions, as funny as I find them at times, it bothers the hell out of me how in this, and many other shows, the male lead acts all shy and “proper” when girls are semi naked around them or just in any situation where if they took a step forward something would happen. It’s so unlike how a regular teenager would react. It’s silly, and sends the wrong message to the kind of male audience this shows have, this is not how they should act around girls.
It only serves to further cement their inability to engage real life women, it tells them pretty girls will gush over you if you’re very nice and proper and wait for something to happen, something very far from truth.
That aside, I’m mildly enjoying the show, mostly because of Sorata’s voice actor who I find does an amazing job, and Jin and Mizaki who I find way more interesting than the unrealistic leads, why can’t a character like Jin be a lead on one of these shows?
It’s so unlike how a regular teenager would react. It’s silly, and sends the wrong message to the kind of male audience this shows have, this is not how they should act around girls.
Hm. Maybe that’s how they want a regular teenager in Japan to react. Instead of what you’d otherwise expect.
Out of curiosity, how would you ideally like to react a teenage boy to react to a female dormmate suddenly barges into his room naked? And what you’d realistically expect, assuming there aren’t any incriminating witnesses present to affect his behavior. XD
Haha, I guess you caught me there, I did indeed implied that there’s a right way to react in these situations.
Basically where I’m coming from is that, I see a lot of people on anime boards and forums idolazing 2D female characters and becoming very bitter against real life girls, and it’s due to this unrealistic portrayal of them in these shows. Girls, and generally, people like these, don’t exist. And I find it so sad to embrace and hold on to this fantasy so strongly. I think we could get a better appreciation for other people and girls in real life if only there were shows that portrayed them a little more realistically, without sacrificing interesting settings and characters, not only that but I think we could also better identify with the characters and obtain better stories out of it….
And to answer your question, I’d probably expect them to stare and just turn his eyes away nervously, and maybe laugh about it after it’s over, either that or if the girls just walks around like it’s no big deal to her, I would expect it to pretend it’s nothing big to him either just so he could go on “the view”.
I see a lot of people on anime boards and forums idolazing 2D female characters and becoming very bitter against real life girls
I wouldn’t pay much heed to these guys. They’re probably just gushing over adolescent fantasy fanservice. They might poke fun at real girls but not too seriously. If they are, think of them like that guy from a certain episode of 30 Rock (the one with James Franco). On the girl’s side, what do you think of those cosplayers who wear those anime-girl masks or wear big-eye makeup? And what do you think they think of them?
And I find it so sad to embrace and hold on to this fantasy so strongly.
Sounds like the Brady Bunch. That’s entertainment. Whatever connects the work to the audience.
if only there were shows that portrayed them a little more realistically, without sacrificing interesting settings and characters
Now there’s a challenge. Realistic yet interesting (or at least, original) and within the boundaries of political correctness.
Boundaries aside, I think in this case, the fanservice was used as a hook to lure the audience into misjudging Shiina as just another moe fanservice platform, only for the tables to be turned. Ok. Now she’s Van Gogh, and there seems to be a method or at least a reason for her madness. Enough to take her a little more seriously? XD
so even generic cliched shounen otaku-bait fanservice shows are somehow lauded these days as long they decide to interject a generic and ultimately meaningless soap opera script about teenagers and their problems that don’t matter to anyone? congratulations for achieving the depth in writing and character background of melrose place.
this is just looking for love in all the wrong places. it boggles the mind as to why people are so desperate to find meaning and substance in a medium and more specifically in this type of genre when it is CLEARLY not suited or designed to accommodate it. if this show is somehow now ‘better’ just because it decided to ‘break convention’ by introducing some bland melodrama, then your expectations for a story have been lowered to a frightening state and the cause of which is turning a blind eye to the world outside of anime.
putting faux leather seats in a honda civic doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a honda civic and not a luxurious car. there is nothing wrong with driving a honda civic, as it’s a very good car for what it is, but don’t try to make yourself feel better by pretending it’s a mercedes when it isn’t and will never be.
Do I give a shit? People can like what they like.
Akari Mizunashi isn’t a person who bashes those whose OPINIONS are different from her! Akari is a cheerful and peace-loving girl who understands that people have differences that should be respected! :(( I refuse to believe that you are Akari Mizunashi!
I kinda share your opinion, I feel dreadful when I watch these shows and realize what a stupid fantasy they’re selling to deluded otakus.
But at times, like with this show, when I see a positive opinion from psgels or someone else, I check the shows out, sometimes, I’m able to enjoy some aspects of them, like the comedy here. This show has some funny moments, and despite being conscious about how farfeched most story and characters are, you can enjoy some of its ideas and how they realize them.
I’m somewhat unable to do this with more serious shows unless they’re the real deal, since there’s no comedy to be enjoyed, I’m way more demanding about its quality on story, characters, setting, etc. Case in point, I tried Zetsuen no Tempest, and I just can’t get past that mage stranded in an island is, referring to her underwear every other dialogue line she had. And of course a hot oneesan has to be after them…sigh. There’s only so much I can suspend my disbelief…I feel like these characters are out there in 100 other shows already. What ever happened to shows like Ghost in the Shell, Berserk, Shigurui…etc, are realistic adults on an interesting setting portrayed anymore?
I wonder what would happen if psgels ever watched the wire. I’d really like to see his take on a really good character driven show.
seems like my car analogy just totally didn’t connect and/or were not even given thought.
obviously people are free to like whatever they like, because obviously you’re gonna watch or consume any media for entertainment first and foremost. in fact there is nothing more I can condone than enjoying whatever you enjoy for the sole reason of simply liking it or having fun watching it.
that type of appreciation is not something objectionable and certainly something I would post about. raining on other people’s parades is an activity where nothing of value can be gained. I’m instead objecting to the fact that, especially in anime, we become deluded into thinking that a show like sakurasou is delivering some sort of universally worthwhile or quality story/narrative/dialogue/character background. rather than just admitting that you actually enjoy something of questionable integrity, this is attempting to tack on value to a show simply to defend the meaningless notion that one has very high standards and taste to be admired.
as was mentioned above, comparing this show in terms of the qualities praised to a series like the wire really feels like a joke. however, that is not to say that sakurasou is of no value simply because it is not as brilliantly written as the wire. in fact personal preference and taste can make any show more enjoyable than the next irregardless of quality.
my point was not to kid ourselves into believing that sakurasou is a quality show that has finally gone where no fanservice shounen show has gone before breaking all the rules and finally adding substance in a genre where it is usually absent. it may in all likelihood just be a show that subtly improved upon a tried and true formula and failed to fall into some of the more common pitfalls that this reviewer normally is turned off by.
I was really surprised by the first episode, good in almost every way. The second one was quite disappointing. Now I feel somewhat indecisive about this third episode; the production values were really bad in some scenes, specially in layout (this is normal, though) and the over-dramatic plot didn’t feel well justified because of a story that seems to be rushing way too much (specially in the relationship of the two main characters). One the good side: things are actually happening, there’s a real plot instead of just slice of life, and it looks like Sorata is going to stop moping around, at least for now.
(So far) This season I’ve only watched this, Little Busters! and Chuunibyou: Chuunibyou is being consistently entertaining (even if it’s only a comedy), and Little Busters! is quite a mess, so Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is maybe not the most consistent thing (at least in my case), but it’s definitely something to look forward.