Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata, is an Anime I hold near and dear to my heart. It’s an Anime that has me hooked and is unwilling to let go from its grasps.
Currently, this Anime has a total of two seasons to its name, Season one and Season two. Collectively though, according to MyAnimeList, the Anime is known to 306, 731 people (215,679 in season one, 91,052 in season two). It is also currently sitting at a collective rating of 7.8 (7.68 in season one, 7.92 in season two). Not to mention they aired during the Winter season of 2015 and the Spring season of 2017.
However, today, we’re going to discuss this Anime – or rather read me give my review on this Anime. So let’s begin, shall we!
Episode Count: 12 Episodes
Second Season: 11 Episodes
MyAnimeList Synopsis (Pulled from the first season):
“Tomoya Aki, an otaku, has been obsessed with collecting anime and light novels for years, attaching himself to various series with captivating stories and characters. Now, he wants to have a chance of providing the same experience for others by creating his own game, but unfortunately, Tomoya cannot do this task by himself.
He successfully recruits childhood friend Eriri Spencer Sawamura to illustrate and literary elitist Utaha Kasumigaoka to write the script for his visual novel, while he directs. Super-group now in hand, Tomoya only needs an inspiration to base his project on, and luckily meets the beautiful, docile Megumi Katou, who he then models his main character after.
Using what knowledge he has, Tomoya creates a new doujin circle with hopes to touch the hearts of those who play their game. What he does not realize, is that to invoke these emotions, the creators have had to experience the same feelings in their own lives.”
Story: 8/10
This anime’s story is realistic, light yet humorous. I liked the fact that they make reference to other shows but in moderation, so the show does not feel like a Parody anime, it made me feel like that somewhere, in Japan, the event is happening as I am watching it. It all seemed achievable.
However, we then have the cliché side of Saekano, the one where at the beginning of the episode you can already guess the end kind, the paper cut-out character personalities and the dense yet loved protagonist. But this is where it shines, as you see, Saekano is about a group of otaku and fujoshi personalities trying to make the ‘best game ever’.
This show makes a lot of references to itself and the otaku culture in real life while not being aware of themselves falling into the same category (The blond, twin-tailed, tsundere; the cool and composed senpai or The love rivalry from the protagonist’s childhood friend.) as it seems at first. But the developers intended to make references to itself, this sense of humor, this sense of realism and makes the show relatable.
Art: 8/10
Apart from the realism that the story tries to give, this anime also sets it apart from our mundane world by using the more anime-looking art style instead of taking a more realistic approach. This is to tell the watchers that although the story may seem realistic, at the end of the day, this is still just an anime. Which is good as if the anime was overly detailed and made realistic, I would probably go watch some Japanese television series instead. The graphics are well rendered and I personally did not see any flaws in animation when I was watching the anime.
Soundtrack: 7/10
Saekano’s sound is unique or catching to me. The intro is very upbeat and also has a nice flow to it. Put it together with the fact that it is also very beautifully animated, makes it a win-win in my books. The outro is also really good, I enjoyed it too, it is also very nice to listen to and is pleasing to the ears. Finally, the background sounds blends in well with the dialogue making it feel as if it’s supposed to be there.
Character: 8/10
The characters are definitely where the anime excels the most at. Each of the female protagonists, with the exception of Katou, have an ornate, and well-developed backstory with Tomoya. Throughout the plot, the author slowly elaborates more on the characters as if slowly giving us puzzle pieces to give us the better picture. But due to the anime only having 12 episodes, we never really get to see the full potential character development from all the characters. Which is something I would like to see, a season with more than 12 episodes. Cough, cough.
That’s my review! Hopefully, you guys enjoyed, thanks for readin’ I’ll see ya’ in the next one.
– OOCentral
Twitter: @OOCentral
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One response to “Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata | Anime Review”
I’ll be on the “hold Saekano dear” boat with you. My gravatar alone should be enough of a hint!