Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Review (no spoilers)
Genre: Harem, Romance, Ecchi, Comedy, School
Premise: 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.
So, I finally finished both seasons so here is my review of the anime.
Story: Pretty basic and cliche at some parts and slow at certain times, but overall, the story itself, especially in season 2, is where it really kicks off. I gotta say I feel sorry for the people who stop watching at season 1 because dang, season 2 I was able empathize a great deal and the characters got way more development. In particular, you get to see them develop artistically and push themselves emotionally. Not that season 1 was completely dry but season 2 was much more compelling, heartfelt, and inspirational.
One thing I’d like to note was this show LOVED to break the fourth wall and making fun of itself. I found this so refreshing and delightful because it was like saying to me “yea yea we know we’re basic af in some ways but we ain’t ashamed about it”
Art: A-1 did a pretty spectacular job. There are certain artistic components I really want to point out.
1) Close-Up Framing
Excluding the obvious choices to get close-up shots of the girls’ curves, they use the shots to express a particular emotion or action without revealing the entire character. For instance, in this shot, they exhibit the emotion of frustration in her fidgeting with the phone. They weren’t simply using the face as a crutch for emotional expression. Rather, they were able to focus in on other parts of the body to express what the character was feeling.
2) Colored Shots
This is a regular stylistic choice I found in both seasons where they line the character rather than in black but in a specific color. See example below:
As you can see, her eyelashes, hair, face, etc, are lined in teal. I personally like this choice to do so as it peeks the audience’s attention and the choice of color can guide a particular response from the viewer. Another example is shown below.
3) Tilted Shots (term not necessarily correct)
This was another consistent stylistic shot found in both seasons, Instead of shooting the individual straight on, they framed it so that it was diagonal. Example shown below:
As you can can see, the lines in the frame are diagonals which are often used in photography and cinematography to create movement. This was used to again peek the viewer’s attention and also make a long dialogue scene more interesting to watch.
Characters
They sure got all your female archetypes taken care of for your typical harem. BUT and emphasis on the BUT, the character’s development doesn’t stop there. Personally, I highly enjoyed Katou’s character. She was probably the main reason why I kept watching. I didn’t quite understand her yet her blunt, dry humor caught my attention. She was refreshing. Her purposeful, initial weak presence further accentuates the development she goes through in season 2 to the point where i’m like “damn you go girl.” Tomoya is your hardworking, passionate protagonist who is dumb as a nail at times. Honestly, he really annoys me at times because of how dense he is. But all in all, he’s a lovable otaku. Eriri is your typical tsundere who really shines in season 2. Utaha was the least appealing to me but she still has her moments.
Sound
All the music was satisfactory and I never found it overly cheesy. If anything, I was surprised at the quality. The voice acting was superb and I have nothing to complain about.
TLDR
So, being a female fan who is quite fearful of ecchi, harem anime due to how its tendency to portray women as servile, thoughtless objects (just my personal observation), I was deeply hesitant on watching this anime. But I chose to for two main reasons. 1) I like main protagonists with black hair with glasses (l o l) and 2) It’s about a project centered on creativity and artists coming together (a k a gotta love me that artistic inspo)
I’m thankful to say my ultimate takeaway is I do not regret watching this anime and it was really was insightful of what it means to be creator. It was a lighthearted watch that got me laughing at the end of a hard day. I do advise you not to watch this in public because your friends may judge you when a close up shot of boobs come up. You have been warned ;)
Today at therapy was really hard. I was sitting here crying, and generally being miserable, when I felt a nudge at my knee. I looked down to see that Zeus, my service dog, was doing his job… and brought me a potato.
it is very hard to cry with a gift of potato.
I think these days I’ve been quite lonely. It may be due to my impending post college life knocking at my door. Or maybe the cause is my terrible grades at my last semester. Whether it be a multitude of factors or just one, the loneliness impedes into my daily life.
Therefore, even the small amount of joy I receive from anime, manga, fan art, and fan fiction is so precious. It’s a safe place. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not my entire world for I do enjoy many things in life. But, being part of a fandom and enjoying another person’s creation is a different kind of blessing. Seeing how everyone has been impacted by a creator’s hard work to put this story to life is amazing!
So, please don’t just simply judge fans. Don’t ridicule fans and mock their loves. Everyone has those precious past times that give them encouragements to keep walking on this arduous path of life. Instead, respect what they love and maybe even ask why they love it so much.
You know those days when life smacks you in the face and you go falling down. And then God's like "I GOTCHU" and then you like "WOOOAHHH" as He pulls you bac...
I wanted to make it short cover because I know that it’s hard to understand the beauty of hymns, especially if you don’t go to church or don’t believe in God. (Which is totally a-okay!) I really like this hymn for the words ,and it just feels really cozy. I hope that makes sense and I hope this song gives you a warm hug on days when you feel like you can’t go on :_)
