Genre: Romance, Harem, Comedy, School, Supernatural/Magic
Based in a world where the doors to the World of the Demons and Gods have been opened, our main character Tsuchimi Rin seems to be a regular highschool boy living a regular highschool life. Wait! Demons, Gods, regular highschool life! Yeah, not really. He lives with his old childhood friend Kaede. One day, out of the blue, Scia, the daughter of the King of Gods and Nerine, the daughter of the King of Demons, appear in the human world and are truly in love with Mr. Rin. To make things worse (or better), he has a friendly and playful friendship with another student Asa, and another encounter with a rather silent and mysterious girl, Primula. All five girls seem to be in love with him and it is his job to balance the emotions of the girls.
Story and Plot:
Story:
Now, I didn't put "slice of life" as a genre for the sole reason, that it is not a genre stated on http://myanimelist.net/. Having said this, excluding the slight supernatural aspects of the show, which I must say play a pretty important role in the overall plot, it is really a "slice of life" anime that deals with the difficulties of highschool love-life. Secondly, the description on "myanimelist" also states that this show is an ecchi. I'll be the first to say that it really isn't an ecchi. There is some mild nudity, but this is usually just uncensored and has nothing to do with pleasing the fans. In fact, I think only one scene has mild nudity to be specifically fanservice and it is a really short scene! My point in saying this is that hopefully the ecchi genre of this show doesn't discourage anyone from watching this great show. Also, I am not knocking "myanimelist's" genre choices, I am simply stating my opinion of the show's genres. Anyways, the show does have a pretty basic, but well executed premise as a highschool, harem, slice of life type of show.
Score: 3.7/5
Plot:
The first few episodes focus on each of the 4 (technically 5) girls that like Rin. Each of the girls gets their own episode explaining how they met Rin and why they like him. These episodes are mostly humorous while still being good at explaining that girls' situations. The next episodes introduce some problems with having 4 (or 5) girls in love with you at the same time. This is when the dramatic aspect of the show starts kicking in and this is what might separate it from other highschool comedies. The dramatic appeal of this show continues to develop through smaller character arcs, while the biggest arc begins to reveal itself all throughout these small arcs. The pacing wasn't bad at all, as the episodes were mainly spread into character arcs. There were some good character arcs and it was a pretty well executed plot.
Overall: Well paced, Well developed, Well dressed.
Score: 13/15
Sound and Animation:
Sound:
Having recently relistened to some of the OST on YouTube, I actually think that Shuffle! has a pretty good OST. The songs are big and lively during the comedic moments and slow and beautiful during the sad ones. Really not too much to say here once again. The opening was very enjoyable and I think it was very well done. The ending was good for the show, I suppose, but didn't really fit my tastes.
Overall: Just another good and fitting soundtrack for a show.
Score: 7.5+0.4 (great opening) =7.9/10
Animation:
This show is pretty well animated. The colour scheming is varied, though not at the level of extreme colour quality. The animation is well done for a 2005-06 anime, with only some parts being slightly less appealing. The frame/rate of the show is also pretty fluent, but sometimes the design of some more minor details can be depicted poorly. The range of the camera and the scaling also should some problems.
Overall: Solid animation with some minor flaws.
Score: 7.2/10
Characters:
When it comes down to it, most good shows have good characters. This show, though brings out many anime stereotypes, achieves this goal. Honestly, I think that the least developed out of the main cast is the protagonist, Rin. He doesn't really get too much development on his backstory, he just develops as a person through the story. All the girls get their stories explained and they also develop throughout the story, with one of the girls getting better development than the others. To be quite frank, the character that I feel develops the most is Primula. After her arc, she changes into a completely different person, and you can really see the changes that she has made as a result of her love for Rin. The other girls are also well explained, with each of them getting their own unique twist and problem. The greatest news out of all of this is that in the end Rin ends up with one of the girls and it becomes a somewhat conclusive ending with few questions to be asked. Whether or not there should have been an "After Story" for this show is all a matter of opinion.
Favourite Girl: Asa
Second Favourite Girl: Scia
Least Favourite Girl: Kaede (man this girl is craaaaazzzzzy!!!)
Overall: Some anime stereotypes, with great character development and likable characters.
Score: 18.3/20
Enjoyment:
I freakin loved this show. I liked all the characters and I felt this show did a really good job with its fanservice. It didn't really have too much fanservice, so the fanservice it had, though not very well placed, was definitely excusable and fun to watch. The characters were obviously great and well developed and the atmosphere did a good job of changing with the mood of the show. (whether it be drama or comedy arcs) I developed a connection with the characters and really felt their pain and enjoyment. One thing I didn't really enjoy was the lack of possible censoring. The show has many opportunities to block out explicit content of naked girls with background objects, but is doesn't. I suppose that this was to make it a more real and touching experience, but I felt that they should have been censored/blocked in order to allow more people to watch it. Though, it the shows defense it is a Seinen-esque show, so it should only be the older crowd watching it. Anyways, there isn't too much to fault here.
Overall: Great Romantic-Comedy-Slice of Life, that can be enjoyed by almost any fan of these series.
Score: 27.3/30
Ending:
The ending was definitely in my opinion exaggerated. It definitely didn't have to be that emotional. And I also didn't understand why it was the wrist and not anywhere else. Having said this, the ending is really good if you can overlook the exaggeration and very emotional and satisfying. The greatest part is that he ends up with one of the girls in the end.
Overall: Besides the slight exaggeration, a very strong, emotional, and conclusive ending.
Score: 8.5/10
Scores:
3.7/5
13/15
7.9/10
7.2/10
18.3/20
27.3/20
8.5/10
Total: 85.9/100
Conclusion:
Definitely a strong and well executed anime. I suggest this to anyone who doesn't mind mild nudity and likes these comedic-romance-slice of life shows. It is a great ride of emotions and the only things I could have wished for would be an "After Story-esque" sequel, better animation, and a second opening.
Thanks for reading this, somewhat short review actually. As always I hope you enjoyed it and Like, Comment, Follow, And CYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment