If you’re like me and read reviews or look at the rating before deciding to watch an anime, then this one is probably going into your Won’t Watch list.
Allow me to change your mind.
Make no mistake, a lot of the criticism Saekano has received from the other esteemed reviewers on this page is justified, if you can look past the sarcasm and occasional shouting. First of all, it doesn’t help that it’s a harem anime; a trope that has so oversaturated the industry that it’s becoming difficult to tell the good from the bad. With any harem anime also comes the inseparable problem of character development. The premise for each of the heroines falling in love with Tomoya can be pretty weak in some cases, and how exactly do you make 5 uniquely unforgettable heroines without falling into the trap of standard characterizations – tsundere, kuudere, yandere, dandere or just dere? To the less discerning viewer, Eriri, the quintessential childhood friend (another trope), is no doubt a typical case of the former, while the remainder of the supporting female cast round out the list in some particular order. Tomoya, whose voice actor people know better as Kirito rather than his real name, seems at sometimes to exist only to act as a foil for the rest of his otaku circle, even though he’s supposedly the director and main character of the story. This is likely to turn off those who cannot stand weak protagonists in the tradition of Amano Yukiteru. Watching Saekano inevitably invokes flashbacks and inferior comparisons to similar better anime that have gone before (before the lolicons took over the world) such as Sakurasou, Bakuman and even Kaminomi so that the end product might taste a bit stale to those who have been around for a while.
But what’s wrong with that? The individual elements that make the story may be borrowed, but the finished product is in this author’s opinion one of the hidden gems of an otherwise nondescript Winter 2015. The story combines the best elements of those anime I’ve named above – the creative struggle in Sakurasou, but lazier, like Welcome to the NHK! and cheekier, like Kaminomi. The entrance of Iori halfway through the series provides a tangible villain for the viewer to root against, which I thought was a nice touch. The humour ranges from cheesy (Nisekoi) to witty (Gintama) and isn’t afraid to venture into the sexual realm (Bakemonogatari). Tomoya may be your plain old straight man character, but much like Shinpachi, he's absolutely integral to the series's lampshading and occasional breaking of the fourth wall. This anime knows very well that it's full of cliches and doesn't hesitate to bash itself over it.
Most importantly to me however, is that it's still not clear who will emerge as the eventual victor that wins the heart of this completely clueless otaku, if anybody does. It's not like Nisekoi where they can throw in any girl and you know they're just wasting time before Team Chitoge triumphs in the bitter end. I am going down with the Onodera ship.
Eriri is obviously Chuunibyou’s Dekomori reborn, but her role as the one-dimensional tsundere lasts only up till episode 9. Utaha is your eccentric femme fatale senpai but with a soft side and also a dark side – kind of a poor man’s Hitagi Senjougahara. Even Tomoya can be cool when he wants to be. Ironically, Kato – the titular boring girlfriend – is to me the most interesting of the lot. I haven’t seen a heroine with such a lack of(?) or lazy(?) character – even the rest of the cast can’t agree which she is. Her deadpan responses to everything made me both irritated enough to want to throw my laptop out the window and tickled enough to want to collapse from laughter. She has to be doing this on purpose. I don't know who the hell Yasuno Kiyono is but she should definitely get bigger voice acting roles in the future.
For audiophiles: The OP and ED are both all right, but do check out the Asterisk DnB remix of Sawai Miku’s Colorful. 2 weeks in and I'm still playing it on loop. The OST also contains a rearranged version of Bill Withers’ Lovely Day, and when it came on I felt both incredibly happy and lonely knowing that I might be the only person who noticed. Love that 70's-80's R&B influence though. Slightly less obscure: a cover of Gurren Lagann's OP in the final episode which gave me a spontaneous erection I will not apologise for. My fellow anisong lovers will understand.
When all is said and done however, it’s likely that Saekano will go down as one of those niche anime where you either drop it at the first episode or see it through to the end. You'll either love or hate the characters; dry humour and tasteful ecchi is not for everyone. The only people who can appreciate otaku culture are, well, otaku. But if you’re left with nothing to watch since Shippuden ran out of fillers, why not give Saekano a try? You don't have to pick up To Love-Ru Darkness just yet.
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