Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

[Talon87]

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo or "The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall" is the story about a self-described ordinary young man named Kanda Sorata who lives at a dormitory specially reserved for his private school's most oddball students, a place called Sakurasou (Sakura Hall, or Cherry Blossom Hall). Sorata wound up at Sakura Hall because he took in a stray cat which violated the regular dormitories' no pets policy. He was given an ultimatum: dispose of the cat or move into Sakura Hall. To the surprise of school administrators and the dismay of his best friends, Sorata chose Sakura Hall. Sorata is determined to get out of there as soon as possible and return to a normal life with the other students but rather than finding a home for the first cat he took in he's since adopted six more cats, making Sorata wonder if he'll ever be able to move out of Sakura Hall.

Then one day the teacher posted to Sakura Hall tasks Sorata with going to the station after school that day and picking up her cousin. Sorata is shocked to discover that the girl waiting at the station, unlike in the photo the teacher gave him, is around his age. Her name is Shiina Mashiro and she is a world famous artist who cannot take care of herself, incapable of handling even the simplest of self-care tasks. With the girl's cousin dumping Mashiro onto him once again, Sorata finds himself having to take care of Mashiro himself.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo feels like an interesting blend of some of the most popular romantic comedy anime series of the past few decades while also bringing some new ideas to the table. If that gut feeling is accurate, then this could well be the anime of the Fall 2012 season for me. With nice animation, a fun cast of characters, and some real beauts, it's a series you should check out too!

[Talon87]

Characters: (taken from Wikipedia but edited to cut out anything beyond what we already know)


Kanda Sorata: the male protagonist of the story. He is a second-year student of Suiko, who lives in Room 101 of Sakura Hall. He was kicked out of the regular dormitory after he refused to abandon a stray cat he had picked up. As many of the Sakura Hall residents have outstanding grades and art skills, he often feels plain and normal among them. He becomes Mashiro's "keeper" soon after she moves in to Sakura Hall.


Shiina Mashiro: the female protagonist of the story. She is the resident of Room 202. She is a world-famous artist who transferred into Suiko as a second-year to learn how to draw manga. Although her artworks are widely admired by the world in spite of her young age, she knows nothing other than drawing and has an extreme lack of common sense and living ability. Due to this, Sorata is forced to handle Mashiro's living chores, to the point that he even has to pick out underwear for her or she will go out without them. She is thus the titular "pet girl" of Sakura Hall.


Aoyama Nanami: one of Sorata's classmates. Although she is sometimes harsh with Sorata, she actually has a crush on him, with everyone aside from Sorata having noticed this. Nanami was there when Sorata adopted his first stray cat as well as when school administrators forced him to choose between relocating to Sakura Hall or else abandoning the cat.


Kamiigusa Misaki: the resident of Room 201. Misaki is a third-year-student of Suiko. She is very outgoing and optimistic. Sorata often refers to her as an "alien." She has very good grades and is very good at drawing, but the school decided to send her to Sakura Hall because she spends too much time drawing anime and manga. She is very good at making animation and can handle most work in making one without help from others. She has already sold at least one of her animations to a famous publishing company.


Mikata Jin: the resident of Room 103. Jin is a third-year student of Suiko. He is infamous for being quite the lady killer, dating older women and returning to Sakura Hall later the next morning. Presumably this is why he was sent to live at Sakura Hall.


Akasaka Ryuunosuke: the resident of room 102. Ryuunosuke is a second-year student of Suiko. He is a hikikomori who rarely leaves his room and usually communicates with others with cellphone message or e-mails. To reduce the need to communicate with others, he has written the "Maid-chan" program. He is an expert at computer programming.


Maid-chan: an artificial intelligence created by Akasaka Ryuunosuke as his means by which to communicate with the outside world.


Sengoku Chihiro: the dorm teacher of Sakura Hall and an art teacher of Suiko. Despite being a teacher, Chihiro is lazy and only cares about drinking alcohol and trying to date men. She often gives Sorata improper advice. She is Mashiro's cousin and is the one who arranges for her transfer to Suiko but she forces Sorata to take care of Mashiro due to her own laziness.

[kaisap112]

Episode 2 was...my lord. I'll just direct everybody to this blog-post to sum up the biggest "WHAT THE HELL?!"-scene of the series so far.

Spoiler: show

I was grateful that the scene was not "girl tries to rape guy" but about her work with mangas. She still needs to work on clearly expressing "what" and "why". I relate. x.x

A question to this thread in general: is there an opinion on Mashiro and her, uh, "condition"?

I've seen it referred to as autism. The savant-part is there alright, and I could see how people think it's autism, but even the show descriptions say "she knows nothing other than drawing and has an extreme lack of common sense and living ability". Taking that description for what it is, was she never raised by anyone if she, in her teens, can't put underwear on herself unless screamed at told to do so? And let's not even go to the events of episode 2 where

Spoiler: show

the poor girl was completely unaware of one having to pay for food first instead of just grabbing it and eating it.

[Talon87]

I've been looking forward to this series ever since they first announced it back in the summer. At the time, however, I was skeptical as to whether Sakurasou would be good or not. But given my own impressions of the first episode, given the obvious care that has gone into making this production, and given some of the spoilers I've accidentally gleaned from Wikipedia , it seems that this series could well be the next ToraDora. And that is some mighty high praise considering that ToraDora is, imo, one of the greatest animated romantic comedies of all time.

So what makes Sakurasou so special? Let's start with the characters. Whether it takes place at a dormitory, a summer camp, or onboard a spaceship, every romantic comedy needs a strong cast of characters or else it falls flat on its face. Sakurasou gives us a refreshingly interesting male protagonist who actually has some characteristics which distinguish him from readers for a change. (Thank GOD!) Kanda Sorata is self-described as a perfectly ordinary student ... but truth be told he's not exactly ordinary. Sorata is what you'd get if you took a crazy cat lady and made her a teenage boy who is otherwise quite sane. The guy wound up in Sakurasou because he couldn't abandon this one cat. But then one became two. And then two became three. And before long, Sorata had taken in six cats. Considering that his self-stated goal is to escape Sakura Hall and considering that the only way he can do that is if he manages to find homes for the cats he's picked up off the street, his behavior is ... how shall we say ... "counterproductive"? ^_^; But this makes him interesting! Small as it may be, this one thing makes Kanda Sorata stand out in a sea of plain "insert yourself hero, Mr. Lonely Nerd!" male lead characters in romantic comedies. Takasu Ryuuji (ToraDora) likewise was not a male lead upon whom most men could project themselves 100% and say "Yes, that could be me." With Kanda Sorata's thing for cats, what have we learned about him in just one episode?

• The guy has a soft spot for cute animals.
• The guy is willing to endure personal hardship if it means saving the lives of others.
• Sorata may actually be a bit more odd than he thinks he is and thus actually fits in at Sakurasou ...
• ... which in turn means that he may be a bit more special than he gives himself credit and he may be capable of achieving the sort of professional success he dreams of but currently feels is hopelessly out of reach.

That's fascinating! That's a nice start for our male lead character in a romantic comedy! It's certainly more than we can say for any of the male lead characters in most other romantic comedies which come out these days.

But it's not just Sorata Kanda who's interesting. Our cherry blossom spaceship has an entire crew of oddball characters who for the most part all grab my interest, though admittedly some more than others. We've got a lady killer (Jin). We've got a sexy, dropdead gorgeous milf (Chihiro). We've got a "that friend of yours who is a scary-good computer hacker so you have to be mindful not to piss him off" character (Ryuunosuke). But two of the most interesting characters for me are the Kushieda Minori (ToraDora) clone, Kamiigusa Misaki, and the ri-goddamn-diculous mai waifu physical build plus an adorable personality, Shiina Mashiro. Misaki I've not much more to say about for now other than "She seems like Kushieda and that should make her fun to have around. " But let's talk a bit about Mashiro.

Shiina Mashiro is this series' secondary protagonist and seems like the likeliest candidate for who Sorata will become romantically involved with by series' end. She is stunningly gorgeous from head to toe and has a personality that can perhaps best be summed up at this early stage of the game as "Nagato Yuki except spacier." But I don't think that's entirely fair to either character: Mashiro isn't simply a copy of a character from another popular franchise. In fact, if she were there'd be less reason to be so excited about this series. Mashiro's quirk, the thing that makes her unique, is a pretty bold experiment on the part of the author. She's somebody who cannot take care of herself at all. She isn't mentally retarded. She can talk well enough, quiet though she is, and is able to produce gorgeous works of art requiring a combination of skill and talent. But she cannot take care of herself in even the simplest of ways. When Sorata goes to wake Mashiro up the next morning, he finds her room a disaster. He remarks that it looks like a cyclone just came through here and, quite frankly, it does.

Sorata ends up discovering that Shiina is more than simply a messy person. She fell asleep not in bed but in a pile of clothes under her own desk. She went to sleep naked because, after getting out of the shower, she forgot to dress herself. When Sorata orders her to put on her clothes for school, she forgets to put on underwear. Sorata catches this and throws a pair at her. But she's also forgotten to put on a bra and when Sorata catches this second miss several minutes later, Mashiro softly complains that Sorata didn't tell her to put on a bra so she didn't think to. So just who or what is this girl? Is she incredibly spacey? Is she autistic? Who knows! But it's interesting. It's interesting in part because it's so ridiculous, yes, but it's interesting in part also because it's new. This isn't something I've seen before in a romantic comedy. When was the last time you saw Rain Man x Love Hina?

This post got pretty darn long just talking about the characters so I'll wrap this one up here and talk about the next topic, the animation, next time.

[Talon87]

In the above post, I talked about one of the reasons why Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo grabbed my interest: the interesting cast of characters. In this post I'd like to talk about another reason why this series has been on my radar since the summer and is now one of my most highly-anticipated series this fall season: the character designs plus animation.

First, let's talk about the characters designs. When I first saw the promotional poster for Sakurasou's anime, it definitely caught my eye. Beautiful people animated in the beautiful if simple style I so love. So I decided to investigate the series and what did I find but the original character art.

Oh.

my.

gosh.

"This is GORGEOUS!" I thought. I haven't seen light novel artwork this delightful since Noizi Ito hit the scene with her artwork for the Shakugan no Shana and Suzumiya Haruhi light novel series. (Shana sample, Haruhi sample) Now, I knew better than to get too excited. I've seen plenty of light novels with amazing artwork but terrible stories. (To be perfectly honest I'm not a big fan of the Shakugan no Shana series myself! ^^; ) But this artwork was at the very least its own reward. And if the anime attached to it proved to be just as beautiful? Then all the better for me.

Well, sure enough the anime did turn out to be beautiful. While it's not an extravagant work of art the way that Mawaru Penguindrum tried to be, and while it's not a sparkling gem of technical excellence in the same manner that even a mundane KyoAni offering like Hyouka was, Sakurasou's television adaptation is one pretty-looking series.

When it was announced earier this year that J.C. Staff would be animating the television adaptation of Key's visual novel Little Busters, bbb despaired. More recently he despaired again, begging J.C. Staff to have not squandered all of their budget on Shana Season 3. When Little Busters aired, we saw that it certainly wasn't quite as sharp as Kyoto Animation's Kanon. But neither was it that bad! And with a digital pat on the back I told bbb as much. "Cheer up, friend! This ain't so bad!" Well, I feel kind of like an ass now. ^_^; Because it looks like the budget that bbb was hoping would go into Little Busters and clearly hasn't ... instead found its way into Sakurasou. Much to my delight, the series looks stunning. J.C. Staff has really mastered the art of "achieving much with little." There are few technically impressive cels to be found here. You won't find the glitz and glamour of Kyoto Animation's shinier moments in Hyouka nor will you find hyper-detailed cels like in some of this season's science-fiction offerings. There's liberal use of the paint bucket tool and using as few shades as possible to give depth or texture to things. But it works. J.C. Staff has made it work. Because every time I gaze upon Sakurasou I feel like my eyes are drinking in the purified water of animation. Mashiro is beautiful. Sorata is beautiful. The sunset is beautiful. The train is beautiful. The this is beautiful, the that is beautiful. Everything is beautiful, always, and I never tire of it. I think it's clear just to look at this production that J.C. Staff's animation team is more passionate for Sakurasou than they are for Little Busters: 'cause I think a difference in passion is what has created the visible difference in animation quality. Both shows are animated by the same studio. Neither show displays technical excellence. And yet Sakurasou shines as brilliantly as gold whereas Little Busters feels a bit more like scruffy brass to me. ^^; I feel bad for bbb ... but I am happy for myself that Sakurasou didn't turn out like Little Busters.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I think this wraps up the main reasons I am excited for this series. A fun premise which seems to be invoking the spirit of the greats like ToraDora and Love Hina. An interesting cast of characters (once again, THANK GOD) in a season which is filled with series that have only one or even zero interesting characters in them. A gorgeous girl who seems quite eager to join my personal Mai Waifu 2012 stage and duke it out with Irisviel, Chitanda, and Asuna. (I should note that Irisviel still has this one quite comfortably. But the others are free to try!) And animation that not only parches my thirst but speaks to my soul, animation I myself wish I were capable of emulating in my own drawings. Since the first episode of the program was more or less a "meet the main characters" episode anyway I may skip out on writing out my thoughts for that episode. But I might also do a joint with my post for Episode 02.

As for Episode 02, well, I still haven't seen it. Hadena has dropped the series (WHY? T_T) and what appears to be a superior translation coming out of HorribleSubs is on a delayed release. (Last time they released their episode two days after Hadena.) I don't intend to watch with any group who calls themselves Rori. ¬_¬ And so that pretty much leaves me out of options, last I checked. I've really no idea why more big name groups aren't fighting over this one. gg? Doki? Commie? UTW? Well, UTW I understand because they're winding down operations / passing the torch on to new team leaders now that half of them have gone on to medical school or other professional pursuits. But the others I've really no clue. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, with only one episode that I have seen of it so far, has already so captured my heart that it's pretty much a toss up right now between it and Magi as to which one is my favorite Fall 2012 series.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Kanda Sorata is self-described as a perfectly ordinary student ... but truth be told he's not exactly ordinary. Sorata is what you'd get if you took a crazy cat lady and made her a teenage boy who is otherwise quite sane.

This isn't an exaggeration, is it?

[Char]

I'm really liking this anime.

I can relate to the main character in too many ways haha.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Char

I can relate to the main character in too many ways haha.

And this is exactly why I won't watch it. Sorry. =/ You guys have fun though.

[unownmew]

This is quite the interesting anime. When I went it I was expecting something along the lines of an "in-your-face ecchii, see, look, a pet girl :3 watch the main character take care of her :3 no plot"-type anime, but this one actually seems to have a nice and substantive plot, and the taking care of Shiina part, actually, I'm wishing they showed a little more of.

So, I'm quite enjoying this anime so far. I don't know exactly what Shiina's "problem" is, as autism and other serious mental disorders usually alter the face as well, letting others know that this person is different, but Shiina, she's absolutely beautiful, to the point that I couldn't care if she has mental problems or not, I want to take care of her.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by unownmew

autism and other serious mental disorders usually alter the face as well, letting others know that this person is different

Hold it right there, buddy.

Firstly, autism is not a mental disorder. Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

Secondly, what the hell are you smoking if you think mental disorders change a person's facial features? As someone with depression and Asperger's, I can tell you that neither has changed my face in any way.

Originally Posted by unownmew

but Shiina, she's absolutely beautiful

Are you claiming a person with autism or a mental disorder can't be beautiful? WTF UM. WTF.

[unownmew]

Originally Posted by kaisap112

Hold it right there, buddy.

Firstly, autism is not a mental disorder. Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

Please excuse me then, for categorizing all serious impairments of the brain as mental disorders, while my intention was only to refer to physical retardation-type disorders, which effects a person's mental capacity. As I did clearly state "Autism, and other serious mental disorders."

Secondly, what the hell are you smoking if you think mental disorders change a person's facial features? As someone with depression and Asperger's, I can tell you that neither has changed my face in any way.

As someone who also has Aspergers, I can tell you it's categorized as a high-functioning form of Autism, so the two are indeed linked, even if there is no specific "facial features" that occur in Aspergers like occur in Autism.

Are you claiming a person with autism or a mental disorder can't be beautiful? WTF UM. WTF.

I made no such statement. My post was about "physical" impairments that effect the mental capacity of a person, I was not referring at all to people with purely mental, and treatable, disorders like depression or anxiety.

Anyway, I think you're overreacting, and such discussion here will only hurt the thread. If you take further issue, we can work things out in PM.

[lilboocorsola]

Was about to watch Chuunibyou, letting it load all the way so I could skip the OP... Then I remembered that I noticed Talon didn't mention anything about the music of this series. So against my better judgment, I went and looked up the OP and ED of Sakurasou while waiting...

Oh Godamnit. -.- The ED's final shot is of a circle of people lying on the grass. I am a sucker for that specific kind of shot to illustrate friendship, don't ask me why. >.>; *sigh* Whether this is a warning or a sign I don't know. Maybe I'll check it out at some point. (Just don't expect me to necessarily talk about it if I do.) Will sit with Chuunibyou first and think it over.

[Talon87]

IMO, the music so far has been unremarkable. Not bad, no, but not great either. Nothing really worth mentioning. But since you've asked ...

The opening credits video is mildly fun. The song choice, "Kimi ga Yume wo Tsuretekita", strongly evokes the spirit of ToraDora's second ending theme song, "Orange," further proving that J.C. Staff is definitely going for the ToraDora audience with this one. (Well, go go go, I say! ) (And you know what I only just realized the other day ... ToraDora is a J.C. Staff production. So it's no wonder that 1) they chose to pick this one up, 2) they're putting so much effort into it, and 3) it appeals so strongly to ToraDora fans.)

The ending credits video is okay. Favorite part is the injection of energy when the singer reaches the chorus (around the part you see Sorata dragging Mashiro forward in her animal suit costume). The video portion is pretty unremarkable though I do respect that they kept things in the spirit of the series by having it look like rakugaki animation, considering this is a series about students in art school.

As for the in-series music, ...

• Episode 01, song that plays while Misaki teases Sorata: it's fine? ^^; I wouldn't listen to it on an iPod or anything but it's pretty standard, easy-on-the-ears background music. Reminds me of a visual novel.
• Episode 01, song that plays while Sorata introduces the viewer to the residents of Sakurasou: a fun song for this crazy cast, yes, but again not an iPod song and honestly not especially noteworthy. ^^;
• Episode 01, song that plays as Nanami remembers the day Sorata adopted Hikari: another easy-on-the-ears, reminds-me-of-a-visual-novel, not-for-my-iPod song.
• Episode 01, song that plays as Sorata approaches Mashiro near the station: same.
• Episode 01, song that plays during the hotpot dinner: same except swap out "VN" for "television anime." Textbook anime BG song.
• Episode 01, song that plays during Misaki's video: umm ... ^^; But it does its job perfectly fine for the scene it's in.
• Episode 01, song that plays while Sorata is lying on his bed thinking: same as the others
• Episode 01, song that plays when Mashiro wakes up: another textbook anime song.
• Episode 01, song that plays after Mashiro wakes up: ditto

And that's every song in Episode 01, I think. So yeah. That's why I haven't said anything. 'Cause nothing is bad but nothing is spectacular either. It was very much the same with ToraDora, to be honest. Perhaps J.C. Staff just doesn't have a very talented staff musician? ^^;

J.C. Staff's musician: ;_;

But it's not like it matters. ToraDora, rated by me as a 9/10 on MyAnimeList, is one of the best romantic comedies I've ever seen. It's just awesome. Watched the show two, two and a half times already. Lost count of how many times I've re-watched certain episodes. A wonderful, wonderful series despite not having technically spectacular animation nor particularly impressive music. Appealing character designs and animation, great characters, and a great story = win. And so far that seems to be the very same formula Sakurasou is following. Now, will it last? There's no telling until we get to the end. Some of ToraDora's best moments didn't arrive until after the halfway point. (Episodes 19 and 24, I'm looking at you!) But I have confidence.

Expect an Episode 02 post and replies to Miss Kaisap's eventually. I watched the episode last night. (HorribleSubs finally got theirs out.) It was good.

[big bad birtha]

Huh. Originally I had absolutely no intention of watching this because of J.C. Staff and the fact that it seemed to be another harem. However, due to all of the enthusiasm over it, I might give the show a shot.

I hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot.

[Char]

Episode 3 seemed pretty messy to me. Disappointed. Maybe I'm just imagining things though?

Spoiler: show

A bunch of plot points rushed into one episode. Just stuff coming from everywhere with no real impact, sense, or substance. I was thinking, "Is this really all happening in just Episode 3?"

I liked the sound effect when Sorata got punched in the face

I'm curious to see what happens next though.

[Talon87]

I wanted to submit my Episode 01 and 02 posts together ... but now it's almost time for CruncyRoll's release of Episode 03! So I'm going to go ahead and post what I wrote up almost one week ago for Episode 01. I'll try and get out my thoughts on Episode 02 soon. I still haven't seen 03 as, for now, I'm sticking with the CR translation and that doesn't come out until several days after most of the speedsubbers' releases. I might investigate some of the other groups later since there are a few translation choices in CR's release which make me raise an eyebrow but for the most part I'd say it's a good translation and is overall better than what I started off with.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Episode 1:
I've covered most of my general thoughts for this episode in the posts above in which I plugged my initial impressions about various things like the plot premise, the artwork, and to a lesser extent even the characters. But I'll go ahead and mention a few specific things I really enjoyed with this episode.

Spoiler: show

I really love Misaki. She's beautiful. She's fun. She's funny. Is she a bit crazy? Well sure! But she seems like she has a heart of gold and she's just so fun. And very pretty. She definitely stole the opening scene of the episode both with the cute way she was saying those puns based on the old Japanese "Would you like dinner? A bath? Me?" line women say to their beaus when they come home from work as well as the part where she pretended that she was going to flash everyone only to reveal she was wearing two shirts.

One of the funniest scenes this episode was when Chihiro showed just how crass she can be with her line about having forgotten her sense of decency before she even came out of her father's testicles. Sorata's response of "That's the first time I've ever heard a woman say 'testes' before! @_@" was great, as was everyone else's responses in the office. (All that green tea ... )

Sorata's cats are adorable. Not much else to say there.

Mashiro's looks, behavior, and voice all make for this perfect package that is very fun. It's hard to put into words but I feel like she's a bit like a robot girl -- she seems to have a lot in common with Chobits' Chii, Haruhi's Yuki, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou's Korone, and others, except Mashiro is not a robot. Like Chii, and unlike Yuki or Korone, Mashiro feels like someone who is vulnerable, who could easily be taken advantage of, who needs protection. Like Korone, slightly less so like Yuki and not at all like Chii, she seems to be a bit sexually precocious (see Episode 02 for more of this!). But she's great, great fun and certainly one of this series' big selling points.

[kaisap112]

Got myself around to watching episode 3 at last - and the only part I actually found highly amusing was this.

Spoiler: show

Hikikomori 1 - MC 0

Also, I want more Jin-goodness. Bishie-bias? Maybe? But there's at least one thing I strongly agree with him about:

I only saw actual "MUST LEAVE NOW" from the MC in the first episode, but come on. Who really watched it and didn't think "he'll be stuck at Sakurasou and he'll love it"?

It sort of bothers me that I like pretty much all characters EXCEPT Shiina, who seems to be utterly adored by everyone else who watches this anime.

[big bad birtha]

So I decided to watch the first three episodes of this. I like some things, but some annoy the piss out of me.

The main guy's internal struggle? I like it.

The animator girl? She's amazing.

The main guy's constant freak-outs? I fucking hate it. God damn I wish anime would grow out of this shit.

The conflict between the animator and the writer? I have a hard time buying it.

The main girl? I'm not sure actually. I do like how she's wholeheartedly dedicated to her art. I just hope they give a good reason for her suddenly drawing manga.

Do I like how this show has the JC trademark of shoving fanservice jokes down my throat? Of course not.

I've switched between a cringe and a smile quite a bit in this show. Will this show be the first good show JC makes since Toradora? I can't personally tell yet. I do like the characters for the most part, the humor can be pretty good, and the set-up for everything so far has been pretty good so far. Lets hope no bear hydras ruin it.

[Talon87]

Episode 2:

I really enjoyed this episode. So much so that I originally had a huge review post planned. But I think my plans for the post got so big that I overwhelmed myself and now here I am, sitting on the precipice of CrunchyRoll's airing of Episode 04 and I still haven't even seen Episode 03 yet. ^^; So I'm going to push out a post that's a lot less grand than I'd originally planned but as a result is probably a whole bunch more legible. Spoiler discussion inside!

Spoiler: show

Our episode opens with Sorata having convened a meeting of Sakurasou's residents around the kitchen table. This scene serves the humorous plot purpose of establishing that nobody will take it upon themselves to help manage Mashiro so Sorata's stuck with the task. But it more obviously serves the HRNNNNNGH adorable purpose of showing just how cute Mashiro is. I loved the part where Sorata's blowdrying her hair. The animation quality was wonderful, the body language / character animation was wonderful, the dialogue was adorable ... it lasts all of one second but it's just so awesome! I also HRNNNNNGH loved the part when Mashiro turns to a dejected Sorata and says "I hope we can be friends." Too cute! You are just too cute! >.<

After this we get to see the opening credits for the first time. I'm not too impressed by the song -- it's not bad but it's not spectacular either -- but I do like bits and pieces of the visuals, like the part where they try to knock down the hornet nest or (pictured above) the part where we see them dancing together all covered in paint. Moving right along ...!

The alien says good morning to Sorata, prompting him to push her off. Then Mashiro enters the kitchen and Sorata and Misaki respond accordingly. Realizing they won't have time to fix breakfast, Sorata takes Mashiro to the convenience store on their way to school to grab breakfast, leaving a puzzled Misaki behind holding a cabbage. She stares at it for a bit and then has a "Eureka!" moment. Uh oh ...

Sorata and Mashiro reach the convenience store but Mashiro then shocks Sorata yet again with her unawareness of how the world works when she bites into a baumkuchen without first paying for it. She then offers Sorata a bite.

I really loved this scene a) for all the cute bits with Mashiro munching on the baumkuchen (too cute! ) and b) for the tsukkomi comedy act between Sorata and Mashiro, like the part when he asks her what she did in England and she says "I drew pictures ......................... I drew pictures .................................................. .................... I drew pictures."

This next scene I really do just have to provide all the screencaps for.

Spoiler: show

This scene was great and further sets the tone for Shiina Mashiro's character's comedy value: misunderstandings. If you don't like misunderstanding-based comedies, then Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is not the series for you! Sit this one out and be glad you did! But if you love misunderstanding comedy as much as I apparently do, then you will love this girl to pieces. Awesome, awesome scene.

The middle of the episode treats us to another white-glowy Mashiro pic. She's so pretty and the animators really seem to know it. They seem to be quite enjoying animating her.

Words. Words cannot describe how hilarious this scene was. Shiina may be the apple of my eye in Sakurasou but I'm really loving Misaki to pieces as well. Sure, she may be a bit strange -- okay, she's almost certifiably insane ^^; -- but she's so beautiful, so fun, so vivacious, and she loves Jin so very much. I don't even understand why he doesn't reciprocate. Guess we'll find out eventually. But for now, enjoy some more pictures.

Spoiler: show

Jin, you're crazier than Misaki is.

Next up is the scene where Mashiro asks Sorata to undress for her. Pictures below.

Spoiler: show

The highlight scene of the episode. Funny, strangely sexy, plot and character development-ey, just great. The part where Mashiro asks Sorata why he doesn't play soccer anymore and he explains to her that sometimes in life you just aren't good enough was really great, both because it deals with something a lot of us in life experience and have to grapple with as well as because it serves as a nice foil with Mashiro who is a prodigy at art yet has hit her own personal brick wall when it comes to, of all things, manga. Sorata gave up on soccer because no matter how hard he tried he wasn't good enough. But I think he'll learn via Mashiro that that approach isn't healthy to adopt for everything in life. There are some things worth inching and clawing your way towards even if you'll never be the very best at them.

Depressed Misaki makes me all "" inside. Jin, you've got some 'splainin' to do!

Blushing Nanami was pretty cute too.

The episode ends with Sorata having discovered that Mashiro isn't on the same level as him nor is she even on the same level as Misaki or Jin. No, Shiina Mashiro is a child prodigy in the world of painting. Pictures inside.

Spoiler: show

I already knew about this from the moment I first looked into the series (whoops ) so I guess it was meant to be a surprise but since it was revealed in Episode 02 I guess "no harm, no foul," right? ^^; Sorry for spoiling everybody. Anyway, it'll be great to see what comes of this development.

I'm really looking forward to watching Episode 03. And then Episode 04 soon after that! ^^; As for whether I will continue to watch Sakurasou weekly or not, that remains to be seen. Rewatching ToraDora! recently has reminded me just how excruciatingly painful it must be when watching animes adapted from romantic comedy+drama light novels to have to watch only one episode each week. I think that sort of tension would have not only driven me mad with ToraDora! but would have very likely changed my impressions of the series. And I fear it'd have changed them for the worse. I don't want that for Sakurasou so I'm considering putting it on hold after Episode 04. But seeing as it's thus far been my favorite series of the Fall 2012 season (this despite the fact that I'm nearly two episodes behind now ^^; ) and seeing as others are here showing some interest in the series, I will probably keep watching weekly.

[lilboocorsola]

Did you put that pic outside the box just to tempt me? >.>

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola

Did you put that pic outside the box just to tempt me? >.>

Trolling, trolling, trolling...

Just finished Episode 4 myself, will make a post later because oh Jin-san.

EDIT:

I'll just edit my feelings about this episode right here.

Spoiler: show

This episode's main plot was about the MC officially getting into studying to be a game programmer/developer/something and his final decision to stay at Sakurasou, even after getting rid of most of his cats and upsetting the hell out of Shiina while progressing with the move. This didn't really interest me so much (everybody called the "surprising decision" to stay at the Nut Dorm!).

We almost got information out of the shut-in hikikomori...until the AI(?) he created went ahead and covered the information up. >.< Gah!

But most importantly, JIN AND MISAKI ARE SUCH A COUPLE AND I LOVE IT.

I actually physically cried at this part.




Pretty sure Jin knew exactly what the last one was, although I personally have never heard it before.




Yes, Jin's greatest rival in love so far: a 6-year-old boy.



I teared up here. Just a little. But HNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG!


These two are made for each other, damnit. And if they get together, I bet it'll be the best wedding ever.



...well, until then, I'll enjoy the constant trolling and jabbing.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we've more than covered my favorite characters in the show. Still I'd like to eh, "see" more of the programming genius. He seems interesting...and does that AI-girl have a mind of her own?

[big bad birtha]

To my surprise, episode 4 was a really good episode. This has scored some points for me on the show and I'm a little less on guard. Good job. I also take back what I said about the conflict between the animator and the writer. I buy the explanation given.

Not much, but a little rambling about episode 4

Spoiler: show

One thing I really like is the internal conflict with the two guys. Sure their conflicts are pretty much the same, with Jin's being a little better, but I still like them. Though I wish they hinted a little better at the main guy being interested in making games. The most we got was a shot of him playing an 8-bit RPG.

I dread what might happen next episode. If I'm wrong, then I'll be relieved. However, judging from the next episode preview, the childhood friend will move into Sakurasou. If this happens, we'll be introduced to a bunch of really cliche scenes and "misunderstandings", which I really REALLY hate. Also childhood friend characters are incredibly dull, and something tells me this show's one isn't much better (lets hope I'm wrong).

[Talon87]

I can answer that question for you now, bbb, if you like.

Spoiler: show

She does move in but she has a reason that's been hinted at these past four episodes and has nothing to do with Sorata.

Spoiler: show

Nanami is dirt poor. That's why she's working so many jobs at once. I don't remember if she's in violation of school policy or not -- most schools place limits on how much, if at all, they'll allow their students to work -- but I do recall that her decision is partly financial, Sakurasou being significantly cheaper than the regular dorms.

Source: Wikipedia when I was looking up people's names for the opening post

I've watched Episode 03 w/ CR subs and 04 with *grumble x50* Rori Fansubs. Their translations weren't too bad but on the whole I still prefer CR's product (surprising, I know). For instance, I didn't like Rori's approach with the computer chat in Episode 04, showing all eight messages at once and then we hear IM noises but see no changes onscreen. Boo, don't do that.

I enjoyed both episodes. 03 was solid, 04 was better still. I'll talk more about this next time but I do have one complaint about the series and that's just how emotionally attached Sorata and Mashiro are depicted as being even though they've only lived together for about 2-3 months and we've seen so, so little interactions between them onscreen. ToraDora smartly took its time (and over 20 episodes) with what was obvious from Episode 01. Sakurasou seems to be doing a lot right too but this isn't one of them. I feel like what we saw at the end of Episode 04 would've been appropriate for the series finale or the mid-series finale. Then again, a similar concept was one reason we all praised ToraDora ("They did that in Episode 02!?") so perhaps I'm being unfair here. But I don't feel like the two are quite the same.

Despite what I've just said above, though, I feel like Sakurasou has earned an upgrade from 7/10 to 8/10. Though I'll freely admit that part of that is me just really loving shows like this when they're done well. And Sakurasou has done well with its cast. The only weak link right now is Nanami, that's it. Sorata is interesting. Shiina is interesting. Misaki is interesting. Jin is interesting. Chihiro is interesting.

I'll post more later (I hope! ). One final thing: I wonder whether what we just witnessed is the end of Volume 1 or the end of Volume 2? Length-of-content-wise I feel like it'd be only the end of the first book but big volume finisher-wise I feel like Volume 1 ended at the end of Episode 2 and Volume 2 ended just now. That would certainly match up with ToraDora! in that both series are going to be ten books long and 25 episodes long so you get either 2, 3, or at most 4 episodes per novel.

OH, BEFORE I FORGET! Calling it now:

Spoiler: show

Hikari, Sorata's first cat, gets hit by a car or is otherwise killed or lost.

Calling that now. And if it should happen, no, I didn't read spoilers. Have been meaning to say this since watching Episode 02 two weeks ago.

[Char]

I liked Episode 4. Not much else to say, concluded some stuff yadda yadda.

[Doppleganger]

OK, I started watching this. I heard some enticing views out of other people, so my curiosity picked up. I'd assumed this show to be similar to the Sengoku one Talon saw last season, or Daimao from last year. Perhaps, it's a tad different.

I haven't read much of Talon's review about of indifference/spoiler aversion, but given he brought in comparisons with ToraDora, I need to bring this up. The reviews I stumbled on didn't specifically call out TD, but lead the reader to believe a TD-like scenario. BBB even threw in an approval as of the latest episode.

Having missed out on the TD party, I think I'll settle in my corner and watch this from a spectator's seat.

Episode 1 impressions:

-the main guy is voiced by Kirito, but he quickly shattered my Kirito views by demonstrating he'd become accustom to his abnormal surroundings.
-loose girl (the sleeping senpai) is a walking, nympho stereotype. Her "soretomo" line made me roll my eyes, it's the same predictable cliche thing I mentioned with Chunibyou's opening scene.
-childhood friend has a beautiful voice. Like Kotori in ZeXal, but a different actress.
-the testicle joke flew by my head. When it dropped, I assumed it was troll subs, but then the lunchroom reacted...whoops
-I definitely thought Shiina was flat. Thanks for Takahiro Sakurai for the scouting report!
-loose girl's anime was done by Gainax. It had an Itano Circus and everything.
-obvious parallels between Shiina and the cat Hikari, noted as a "white" cat, the colour Shiina says she is. Main guy's attitude toward the cat can be projected onto Shiina, but not this early, I reckon.
-kind of weird everything is anime-focused
-I heard the word "shiro" in "opal"...is there a significance to that?

...

Anyway, first impression was a positive one. This show has the foundation to be a ball-buster, nice call Talon!