THE REVIEWS Episode 48: Saenai Heroine No Sodatekata (Saekano: How To Raise A Boring Girlfriend) (Anime & Movie)
Final Episode of Season 2
Oh, hey. I see you have arrived here today. Just in time for the last episode of 2019, and the last episode of this season.
Today, I’m going to tell you about one of my favorite animes. Saenai Heroine No Sodatekata, also known as Saekano: How To Raise A Boring Girlfriend, or just Saekano. Before I start on this, I’m going to explain what animes are. Anime is hand-drawn and computer animation originating from or associated with Japan. The popularity of animes has rose quite drastically, as people all around the world know about it. That’s all I’m going to say about it. I’ll get straight to the main point: the review of this series. This is going to be a short review, because I don’t want to spoil too much.
I have first discovered this anime through a website. Not reviews, not from people, not from advertisements. It’s from Pixiv. In case you do not know this, Pixiv is a Japanese website for artists to exhibit their wonderful illustrations and get feedback through a rating system and user comments. From there, I have seen people draw one of the main girls of the series (also known as Utaha Kasumigaoka), and I got to tell you: she really looks super cute and pretty for a 2D girl. So, I got interested and went to watch Saekano. For your information, this isn’t my first anime I’ve watched. But still.
Saekano is a romance-comedy and harem light novel series made by Fumiaki Maruto. It has received a manga adaption, and an anime adaptation. The story, you ask? Tomoya Aki is the average hardcore otaku who is really obsessed with anime, manga, visual novels, and more. One day, during his part-time work, he met Megumi Kato, which inspired him to make the best visual novel ever. In the midst of it, he pulls Megumi, along with two other girls in the same school: Eriri Spencer Sawamura and Utaha Kasumigaoka. Both of them are famous celebrities behind the schoolgirl mask: Eriri is a professional adult-themed illustator under the alias Eri Kashiwagi, while Utaha is a up-and-coming novelist who writes books under the pen name Utako Kasumi.
Story wise, this is really solid. I am able to understand most of the plot, and enjoyed it throughly too. Not a lot of plot holes, and very, very, very little clichés! The jokes made here…are really fantastic. I laughed a few times, and it’s really good. I don’t get some jokes, but asking the Internet does help me.
Characterization. Holy moly, is this remarkable. Although this is a romance and harem comedy show, and the jokes are the main thing, the characterization is surprisingly awesome! Eriri is shown as this emotional tsundere, who is yearning for Tomoya’s love. We’re given a glimpse of her life, ranging from family matters to her otaku lifetsyle and her R-18 drawings. Yeah… Utaha Kasumigaoka, although usually a quiet person in school, is more proactive in front of Tomoya, Eriri, and Megumi. She is also in love with Tomoya, whom she shows her story to all the time until he said no.
Megumi Kato is your typical normal and boring girl, with almost zero presence in anyone’s life. She sure looks like the least interesting when put against two beautiful girls, but that is what makes her stand out the most. As a dull girl, we expect her to just take in things as it is no matter how bad or good it is. We expect her to have deadpan reactions. However, not only is she cute and pretty, as the show progresses, she shows emotions to her close friends, who are Tomoya and Eriri. Really strong emotions. Smiling, crying her heart out. Like a real human. She holds things in, but bursts in front of Tomoya when she’s unable to do so. Like a real human. She sympathises a lot and puts in a lot of hard work, and gets disappointed and sad when Tomoya didn’t confide in her. Like a human. She is so supportive she goes out of her way to help her friends. She is also the only girl that stood by Tomoya and supported him all this time. Such loyalty. I love that. Megumi Kato is a true character development. From a monotonous girl to a supportive, understanding, hardworking girl. That’s why I relate to her, and I like her. This character development is one of the reasons why I love Saekano.
In terms of music, this is some new shit I’ve never heard before. The theme and ending songs are cool, but then here comes the main characters singing songs. Never really heard of it yet when I first watched this. I know you are going to be like “What about Disney musicals?” Saekano makes their own songs, and then the characters sing it. It is awesome.
The animation? Astounding, amazing, impressive.
Saekano…has a lot of fanservice. In fact, it’s on a whole new level. It’s a lot to say the least. Close-up chests shots, legs shots, face shots, you got everything.
Now, let’s move on to the anime seasons and the movie. The first season came out in 2015, and the storyline is pretty intriguing. Characterization of the characters are great too! The show let us know about the characters themselves and the reason behind every of their actions, even if it’s not obvious. Not obvious, that’s what I like. It takes a lot of knowledge from watching rom-coms and/or a story writer to understand what they’re trying to do. And once you know, you’ll be like ‘Ahh, that’s why! Sounds logical and reasonable!’ And of course, you’ll feel satisfaction. The animation is top notch, and the music is great too!
The second season is where I kinda liked the series more, because it portrayed more of Megumi and her personality than the other girls. In this season, she hit us with her emotions, and that’s where we all found out she’s keeping all the bad stuff to herself and she can’t hold it in any longer. Good story plot as usual, better animation, and even better music! And more characterization!
The movie. Ahh. It has, yet again, smooth animation, great development of characters, and great story plot! It follows the light novel very well, and the music is awesome too! There is even a completely original epilogue, and it has such a satisfying ending. I went to watch the movie twice, and it did not disappoint at all!
Overall, Saekano is really great. The two anime seasons and one movie really warmed up my heart and I really enjoyed watching this so much. I’ve even written fanfictions about it. And one’s coming out next year. XD. I suggest you can try it out and watch it.
