monahan.kyra - 2013-09-05 09:15:30

Sakurasou captures your heart without doubt. The story is undeniably beautiful. It helps you escape reality for a bit and makes you want to be with the people inside the anime. The animation is beautifully made, especially the characters. The love story is cute and funny as Mashiro and Sorata develops more feelings for each other. The story line is beautiful but what I hate about Sakurasou is that when you finish it is that you feel like you've been left hanging. It seriously needs a season 2. Needless to say Sakurasou has everything you need if you're looking for comedy, romance and drama? Watching the anime makes you want to watch it more and more by the minute; it also gives you the chills every time and makes you get attached to the anime itself.

zgrimes - 2013-08-19 06:23:25

A classy review.

heaney.lillie - 2013-08-07 04:07:59

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo was a big surprise to me when I went to watch it. At first glance it appears as some crappy Slice of Life anime, but while I was watching it, I couldn't help but get attached to the characters and the setting.

But a fair warning to anyone interested in this title: If you do not like the protagonists, this anime will not appeal to you. This is only because the plot is very heavily carried by the characters. They are driving the story along.

petra.dare - 2013-07-26 03:26:04

(Here's the first ending theme for your enjoyment and to get a feel of the soundtrack)

You can only watch so much school romance comedies before the repetitiveness and the lack of creativity becomes increasingly more apparent. It's not like I have a dislike towards the school genre at all, I find the genre perfectly enjoyable. Yet sometimes the lack of innovation that goes into the genre is problematic. Thankfully, Sakurasou plays perfectly into this picture.

One of Sakurasou’s most redeeming factors is the atmosphere from the characters/ setting. The atmosphere the series is set in is extremely refreshing to watch. Sakurasou is not a typical setting like an average group of friends or a school club. The setting instead is known as Sakurasou, a rather different dorm that is home to individuals that are quite “unique” yet extremely talented. However, it’s in this sense that Sakurasou offers a large and diverse, and while rather cliché, cast that provides a lot of depth and humor.

Most noteworthy is our oblivious and rather emotionless female lead Mashiro, a girl who has for all her life painted pictures and has no clue how to take care of herself. Mashiro is incredibly dense and oblivious to basically everything. Yet this is what makes her such an interesting lead, and why her character overall works well with the over exaggerated actions of the male lead in charge of her, Sorata. The two create one of my favorite dynamic duos, and give a great comedic aspect that many slice of lifes lack. The rest of Sakurasou's residents are also add to the chemistry and play a vital role in this series, ranging from the tsundere friend who also likes Sorata, Nanami, to the random, jubilant, and talented animator Misaki. They all compliment the duo well and have their own meaningful back stories.

And while I was enjoying the characters, I was fearful of this anime just in the sense that it had 24 episodes, which always suffers from pointless fillers that make the plot feel static. However, Sakurasou was able to deviate away from its rather shallow plot and characters into a meaningful story.

While the first few episodes were pretty light-hearted and consisted heavily on fan service, episode four was one of these first indicators that showed that even a show like this can have depth, and displayed drama and development that some series take 12 episodes/finales to reach. The introduction of Sorata’s ambitions at the start to be a game maker contrasts beautifully with Mashiro’s brilliance as an artist. While Sorata faces the hardships and realities of being a newbie game maker, Mashiro eases her way to the top as new manga artist. And Sorata experiences those feelings of when somebody is better than you, no matter how hard you try.

Jealously. Hatred. Frustration.

I found it to be quite relatable and understandable. Does one give up if they can’t be successful at something? Or is there something beyond failure? Many of the characters of this series meet this question and ask themselves the same thing.

That being said, Sakurasou’s pacing is pretty solid, allowing it to nail its melodrama while also maintaining its comedic feeling. While I’m not a huge fan for melodrama because it’s always overdone and cheesy, I felt a lot of drama in Sakurasou was on-level and believable. The balance of comedy and drama, switching from serious moments to ones full of sexual innuendos and jokes, really helped the pacing out. The comedy is revolved around the character’s personalities, so if you have a liking towards all the characters, you’ll enjoy the sexual and awkward moments of Sorata and Mashiro or the embarrassing outburst of Nanami.

As you would expect, you’re going to have your moments of fan service and perhaps overdramatic moments to the point where it’s silly, but I don’t think it really deters the series as a whole. Yes, sometimes the fan service is a bit silly and unneeded, but as long as we’re not getting panty shots every 5 minutes, it doesn't affect the series as a whole. As the series progresses into a more serious mood, the quite attractive scenes of Mashiro fade out (sorry if you enjoy them). And yes, Mashiro is a love and hate character. If you hate her, you probably won’t like this series.

Technical wise, J.C. staff did a solid job, I like the soft colors and the simple character designs. Big round of a hand to the newbie director. The music is simple and relaxing, blends well with the series as a whole. The openings and closings feature catchy songs, but nothing really memorable.

End result? Something that catches you off guard. A romance comedy with a unique feel that truly hits home. Great atmosphere of characters and cast, and solid pacing that intertwines comedy and drama. If you’re a romance comedy fan, by all means watch this if you want something with a change of pace.

Sakurasou no pet na Kanojo was quite the ride and I’ll sincerely miss this series. I'm hoping for some form of a sequel. Thanks for reading my block of text, and if you survived this far, please leave any comments or criticism on my profile so I can improve my future reviews.

morissette.kellie - 2013-07-03 21:34:20

The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is very very relate-able and enjoyable on a Toradora level. Anyone who is/has been/ will be in the studies of the arts will enjoy and appreciate it even more so.What it’s about: Sorata is your average nobody with a big heart who, due to his acquisition of a stray cat, is dumped into the notoriously zany world of the dorms at Sakurasou Hall until he finds an owner. Unfortunately, he seems to have given up finding an owner and has only taken on more cats as time has passed. Then Mashiro arrives. To add to the already insanely varied residents of the hall, she is a girl from England who is an artistic prodigy that has no concept of social norms or how to take care of herself. Needless to say, Sorata begins to take care of her as one would do for a … well… pet. This is a story following the day to day life of the hall’s residents; their friendships, romances, issues, and struggles with the real world.Art: Though perhaps not THE best I’ve seen, the quality is up there, and considering it’s all about art in the first place, it kinda has to be anyway. 8/10 Characters: Very relate-able, very diverse, and lots of fun. All are remember-able and show some sort of growth throughout the series. Designs are well done for almost always sticking them in uniforms. 9/10Music: Pretty good. Nothing too amazing, but it’s used well, and the OP’s and ED’s always managed to get me to bob my head. Enjoyable, but not remember-able. 8/10Story: The story might have been slacking a bit at first, since it was mostly intro for all the characters and the hall trying to figure out what to do with Mashiro, but as the characters began their own struggles and friendships grew, things got a lot more interesting. The second half did seem to start becoming almost too plot driven in that it almost started taking away from the characters, but in the end it turned out to be enough of an emotional wringer that it didn’t matter. It has a definitive end, but it was definitely left open for a possible future season which has me on the fence. Since so much has been settled and changed, unless it’s handled well, it can only go downhill. 7/10Some points I found good/ bad/ interesting:1.)It was a real life approach to the romance between a caring guy and a hopeless girl. (Extreme yin yang of social aptitude and talent.)2.) Lots of real life struggles, and the characters didn’t always ‘win’. Not your typical approach to an anime where typically hard work will always pay off.3.)The love triangle was well handled and believable. It wasn’t really one sided or a ping pong match between the interests. It was more of a tug of war; it generally stayed in place, but the tension kept growing until one side caved in to defeat.4.)The last arc seemed too haphazardly thrown in and drawn out, but led to a very good, emotional ending.I feel like the staff had fun reliving their college days with this one. Between master painters, manga artists, voice actors, video game programmers, script writers and anime producers its like they were creating a version of themselves and showing all the struggles they had to endure to get where they are today. Having been a part of this culture as well I can certainly relate more than the average person probably will, especially when it comes to those all nighters and the 3 hour naps before your final exams. However, as much as I can picture every character of the cast as almost an exact replica of someone I’ve met along the way, I’m pretty sure even those of you who haven’t been exposed to the zaniness of the art students can find something/someone relate-able to each of them as well. What’s great about this show is the wide range of cast it carries and the depiction of all the real life struggles the characters have to go through. They don’t all just get free passes through everything and aren’t invulnerable which is something I give major kudos to the creator for. You’ve got extroverts, introverts, geeks, ladies men, socially inept geniuses and struggling caretakers. They all manage to mesh and balance perfectly which is essentially what Sakurasou Hall is all about: the bond between a bunch of oddballs from all walks of life who don’t quite fit in with the norm.Now, if you’re into action… this probably won’t float your boat that well. This is more of your slice of life with character driven episodes and love strings galore. And the last quarter or so of the season will definitely pull at your heartstrings for better or worse. It’s a fun little ride with some comedy throughout and something towards the top of my list that I would recommend to almost anyone. Just... don’t choose Plan C. ------------- In Depth Review Contains A Few Small Spoilers------------------------------Surrounded by "***Spoiler***" Continue Reading-------------- -------------------------------At Your Own Risk-------------------------------------What do I think about the characters?Sorata: A good natured main character out to help anyone he can to a point it makes it a fault. A lot of the jokes are on him for misunderstood intimate occasions. I see him as the ultimate wish fulfillment character for any girl who wants a “good boy” or caring husband. He is by all means mediocre, and we get to see him struggle through all the issues there are for an average person trying to get into the professional workplace. I found myself wanting to whack him upside the head for being so damn dense at times, but I suppose it helped keep the suspense up between which of the girls he’d choose since it led to making it seem solely dependent on the girls to come up with a way to confess to him.Mashiro: On the other hand you have the completely beautiful yet hopeless girl that can’t even dress herself trying to learn what love is and understand why everyone else isn’t a genius like her. What she wants, she gets simply because of her talent. It’s fun to watch her slowly learning and becoming more human throughout the show, but sometimes it also feels like she’s just not even trying. I almost expected a few episodes to make it out that she was just trolling someone with stupidness to get her way. She’s just not all that relate-able to most, and at times she’s written in a way that almost feels as if she’s there to alienate the audience as well to keep the suspense and shippers balanced on the Nanami side. But there are also those cute moments of helplessness and innocence that call Sorata to her side and make you melt down and say “they should be a couple”.Nanami: An average girl forcing herself to live by her own means. She puts everything on her shoulders, and refuses to let anyone help her with her burdens. Though it’s always nice to see this sort of thing, she doesn’t know her own boundaries and often winds up finding it backfiring horribly. She’s very determined, but is a complete tsundere so when it comes to anything about love she quickly becomes wishy-washy and shy. It doesn’t help that she’s also extremely jealous and obviously has a crush on Sorata from the get go. You often see her and Sorata in the same light; going through the same struggles of mediocrity and such, and they would clearly work out as the perfect couple. However, they always seem to be pulled apart or set back whenever something happens with Mashiro, and she is constantly reminded that no matter how close they are, Sorata just never quite cares as deeply for her in the same way. The last half of the season made me wish she would find it in her to grow a backbone and confess, but she never really does.***Spoiler*** Instead, she objectively looks at the situation and decides it’s better to save their friendship and herself from a very likely heartbreak to back down. I don’t exactly know why, but she won a lot of kudos from me on that one.***End Spoiler***Misaki: The crazy “alien”. She’s an anime artist who is so energetic, so raunchy, so… eccentric that you can’t really help but laugh at her character alone. Mostly played for comic relief, you kinda just wish she was your friend to see what kind of crazy stuff she might drag you into. Of course her and Jin have had a long, drawn out “relationship” if you could really call it that. She is always smothering herself all over him, and though he pretty much shoots her down every time, you can tell that he does really care about her as well. Though she is very determined to make him hers, she is constantly reflecting on why he won’t just accept her and for the last half of the series, it almost gets overdone to the point you wish she’d stop moping and go back to her usual crazy self. Jin: Misaki’s love interest and all around ladies’ man. He is the cool, calm, collected one that everyone seems to go to when looking for answers from someone a bit more mature. I never really cared for him all that much, and he became such a mess of a character towards the end that I couldn’t even really follow his motivations. He liked Misaki; he didn’t want to hurt her, but never seemed to stop doing it. ***Spoiler***I could see possible fears of a long distance relationship since he was going to a different college, and the pressure of cold feet trying to propose, but he wound up being another numbskull who didn’t know how to react when it came to confessing true feelings. ***End Spoiler***Ryunosuke: Your typical anti-social computer genius with a fear of girls. The first half you never really see him; the only interaction he has is through Maid-chan, his personal messaging AI. He manages to deliver a lot of hard truths to the characters because of his general disinterest of empathy and way of looking at things in a calculating black and white manner. His growth is very clear, even if it doesn’t get very far from where he started. He begins going to more classes, stays out of his room more often, and begins showing a little more empathy towards the rest of the cast. I suppose having that bombshell Rita making advances all over you just might do the trick for anyone though.Rita: Plot device and support character. Not much to say.Chihiro: Obviously a desperate female who is a teacher and overseer of Sakurasou hall. Not a whole lot of screen time.Yuko: Plot device and comic relief. Typical jealous little sister with a brother complex.

kuhn.christy - 2013-06-22 14:14:19

Out of all the series that came out during 2012 there is not one that surprised me as mucht as this one, having the old consept of a romance story and turning it into one of the most fun and moving stories that I have ever seen. It might not be as moving as series like clannad are but it did move me to the edge of tears and could make me laugh at the same time. This is a wonderfull example of how an anime can teach you what is important in life. I still have high hopes for a second season because if this will be the standard for it than it can only be great!

mohr.donna - 2013-06-07 20:14:01

Whenever I start to watch a new anime series I always look at the genres and brainstorm some simple thoughts of what type of show this could be. So for this show before even watching it these were the 3 ideas that came to mind.1. A bunch of girls congregate around 1 guy, and this guy is normally very shy and “uncool” as we may speak. This category could sometimes fall under the genre of “Harem” (To Love-Ru)2. The guy is a complete pervert who chases after those “eye candy” girls that stand out and call for attention. (Sunabouzu [Desert Punk])3. The guy is a complete pimp who all the girls like and he gets with all the girls he wants. (Hagure Yuusha no Estetica [Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero]). There are very few wishy-washy moments and it is normally straight to the point.As it was seen from the beginning of the show, this one defiantly is under category 1, but this show is not a Harem at all. As the title says this show is going to mainly revolve around a girl named “Mashiro” and a guy named “Sorata”.Story:The plot of the story is quite simple. Sorata is designated to take care of Mashiro. We know this is a typical romance show so we as the viewers don’t hope for much because from the beginning we have a good feeling of what the outcome of this show is going to be. But there is more! Lucky for us aside from this being about Sorata and Mashiro, a huge part of this show is also about confessions and people being heartbroken. In a way this show tries to take a real high school environment, but show a different perspective of what life is really like.Artwork:I honestly don’t like talking about this much because unless the artwork of an anime really sticks out and has its own personality, I will most likely see it as “mediocre” or “average”. That is the category this anime falls under, it has its “WOOOAAAH AWSOME” moments and then there is also those “sure whatever lets just continue the show”. This anime artwork is just very simple and I don’t mind it, but I am not going to praise something like this.Sound (OP/ED):I honestly think that most shows do a really good job at choosing opening theme songs and ending theme songs. Most of the time I have not been disappointed by them and I find that for this show the songs were very fitting. The opening song is just very full of energy and spunk, which is something this show has a lot of. The ending song I am absolutely in love with! Like the transition that they managed to do from the ending of an episode to this song is always amazing and brings warmth to “my” heart, I don’t know what others think but this is just my opinion. Characters:Well I kind of already introduced the 2 main characters in my opinion. But just to add on to where I started in the beginning this is obviously a love show, so there is going to be many characters who fall in love.Misaki: She is just an overly energetic girl who does not accept “no” as an answer. Her energy levels are just on another levelNanami: She is childhood friends with Sorata and the rest you will figure out soon after…Jin: Honestly he is just a player who loves to mess around with girls. That is all there is to him.Honestly though, especially for this show you kind of expect, or already know that the main characters all tend to fall in love with each other and have their own stories, it is now just the who/when/and what happens that you are looking forward to.Enjoyment:I enjoy many shows, actually more like 95% of the animes I watch but does it mean it is good? Not at all! So I will say, I do enjoy this show but what do I really think about it? Its kind of just like your typical Romantic shows. Everything happens either during Christmas, Valentine’s day, or at the festivals. Like why can’t they make a show that all the confessions happen at such a predictable time, for me it just ruins the moment a lot. Like I am hoping to find a Romantic show that just goes out of the ordinary and uses more creative methods to show people confessing their feelings to each other. Like I wont criticize this show for just being the ‘follower’ and going with how most romance shows are, but when will a show manage to break the chain and start a new one?Would I recommend this show for others to watch? Ofcourse! It is to me a very light hearted romantic comedy show that has a good flow to it, but is like your typical romance shows. I personally find nothing special about this show, aside from the character Mashiro. She is a very unique, dynamic character that just makes this show soo interesting to watch. Like in our lives we don’t really imagine taking care of someone to that extent who is our age. Maybe if they were younger than us or a senior that is fine, but someone who is in highschool (or whatever grade they are in), this is almost unthinkable. But that is what makes this show so interesting to me, being able to see the kindness that some people are able to go to, and how far they are really willing to go for what/who they care for. I do consider this show to be a bit different from the typical “helpess girl meets overly-friendly guy who them takes care of her”. The storyline isn’t far off from that but the ONLY difference is the extremeness of this case and how much help is actually needed.Also, when I am watching an anime I like to see if I can pull out life lessons that people could learn from and the biggest one is “always give it your all for everyone and never leave someone out”. This relates to school also, don’t leave people out because they are a little different; just try to accept everyone for who they are, not for what you want them to be.Well that’s it folks! If you have any questions or comments please just send me a pm or write on my wall, I will try my best to answer to the best of my power! I will accept any type of feedback on to how to better improve my reviews, but please be constructive as well!Overall Grade: 7.5

cecile30 - 2013-04-25 23:33:47

Sorata lives in the weirdest dormitory ever built. All of the tenants are completely out of their minds; his goal is to get the hell out of there and live a "normal life". Suddenly, a beautiful new girl moves in, Shiina Mashiro, and their encounter will change their lives forever.

Sakurasou is not your ordinary slice-of-life anime, it really holds up well throughout all of its 24 episodes that narrate the lives of the students living in the Sakura Dormitory. That's all there is for the story, actually. We watch the characters work towards their respective goals. The main character, Sorata, has an amazing growth along the way, finding a new goal to strive for (programming a video game) and working hard to achieve it. 

What makes this story so good are the characters. They are just too good. There are no "bad" characters that drag the plot needlessly. All of them are well balanced and really fun to watch. Misaki, for instance, draws storyboards for anime and is wildly obsessed over her childhood friend, Jin, a screenwriter who sleeps around with women practically every day. Then we have Nanami, my favorite; she wants to become a voice actress, and works really hard to do so, but sometimes she works too hard and it backfires on her. 

Alas, they are supporting characters, the main ones are Sorata and Mashiro and they convey the main theme of the series. You see, during the first episodes Sorata decides to make a videogame. He recieves some advice from the hikkikomori Ryuunosuke and works really hard to complete his pitch. Parallel to this, Mashiro arrives in Sakurasou. She's a weird and fun girl, a running gag in the series is the fact that she's not that used to the world (dressing up, cooking, even talking normally to people). Her goal is to draw manga, and has amazing talent. 

Now here's the thing. Besides some minor themes in the series, the main theme quietly becomes "the difference between talent and hard work". Sorata has to work hard, he has no talent whatsoever, but really wants to succeed in his goal. Mashiro already has impressive talent; so much that this actually pushes away people around her. 

There are other themes in the series, but I go with this one since it's quite real that sometimes hard work is not rewarded, while talent doesn't even need to make an effort at all to succeed. We've all been there, that point where all our efforts seem to have been for nothing. This "real world" approach makes Sakurasou so relatable, even if the characters have such unusual aspirations.

Since there are many more good things about this series, let me end with some low points. The story feels repetitive from time to time, with that feeling of deja vu lingering around; and sometimes the plot feels like its stalling itself on purpose. But this only happens a couple of times. Another complaint of mine is how Mashiro seems to move aside the whole second half of the series. I didn't mind so much since Nanami is my favorite, but it felt kind of weird for the direction that the final episodes took. 

I absolutely loved these characters, and the comedy was perfect. On the technical aspects, I have no complaints; great animation, suberb voice acting, and neat effects. Also, a moderate level of fanservice gives it its own appeal. Here's to hoping the rest of the novels are animated.

Favorite Character: Aoyama Nanami (I love it when she talks in Kansai dialect)

Favorite Song: "Days of Dash" by Konomi Suzuki

murray.norval - 2013-03-31 01:07:14

Sakurasou no pet na kanojo was without a doubt my biggest surprise of 2012. The synopsis, PVs and every bit of information were hinting as a bad show full of fanservice with plain characters, and I was expecting an insta-drop after three episodes. The fact that JC Staff (who is making a lot of average/bad animes lately) was in charge of this one will doing Little Busters, was making me even more worried.  But in the end, my prejudices turned out to be wrong. 

It is a story about Sorata, a second-year living in a special dorm called Sakurasou, who is for problem children. Through Sorata, we will discover the other members of the dorm who are all very unique, and who are fighting to be successful in their studies. Using a lot of dramas, the creator want to show that while some people are born with talent and don't need to work to attain their goal, the others can still do it by working hard and not losing the motivation through the obstacles. 

While developing this theme, there is a lot of romance going on. I was totally afraid of this point because of the characters who were looking cliches, but in the end it was not that bad, the character-development helping a lot, and the characters being betters than expected. This said, I do think that keeping a love triangle was a bad idea when it is sure than Mashiro will win in the end.

The visuals and animation were a pleasant surprise. Using flashy colors it was really pleasant to look at your screen during your episode, and some scenes were gorgeous. 

The only bad points of Sakurasou were the fanservice at the beginning of the show, who was totally forced and pointless, and a few episodes (3-4), who were really worthless compared to the rest of the show. It's really sad that these episodes were there, ruining the rest of the anime, and lowering the score of the anime by one point. I could mention the OST too, because it was really forgettable and it could have been way better.

You should really give this show a try, as it was one of the best slice of life/comedy of 2012, only second to Natsume Yuujinchou. 

immanuel.bailey - 2013-03-14 05:13:48

I had been looking for an anime to watch and had no idea what to expect when starting it. All I had was a title: "The Pet Girl of Sakurasou". Nothing more, as I hadn't bothered to read reviews. It started off as I had initially thought. "Oh, it's a harem-style anime, kind of like the title says..." But I'm okay with that, so I kept watching.

Boy was I wrong. Within the first few episodes, it took several sharp turns away from the standard harem formula and focused less on failed attempts at dating and more on character development. There was hardly any fan service, and there was definitely a semblance of plot.

The characters became realistic (though they are all "geniuses" in one way or another) due to the fact that not everything went their way. They grew, and felt relatable. They still weren't exceptional characters, but at the very least, they weren't unrealistic.

The animation is to be expected of such an anime, and doesn't diverge at all from the classic anime formula. The music is bland, and the first opening theme is simply horrid. However, despite the mediocrity of these elements, it was hard to put down.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking for an anime that isn't quite what you'd expect.