REVIEW - Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (2012)

You know, it's been a long time since I saw an anime that made me laugh and cry so hard that a good comedy I think is hard to come by (although maybe that has to do with my love for Horror anime. 2012 only had 2 very good anime in my eyes. One being the often overlooked and very good Another, and the other about a dysfunctional school dorm in Kanto, Japan (I SPOT POKÉMON JOKES COMING).

J.C Staff's absolutely hilarious Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.

Sakurasou takes place in Kanto, Japan in the late end of the year 2011. The story focuses on the titular Sakurasou dormitory for Sui High School. Sakurasou is where the "special" students of Sui High go to. Enter Kanda Sorata, a boy with no standout features, a typical male student personality and a tendency to get caught in some really awkward situations. He is in Sakurasou as he in possession of -get this- a CAT. This causes the school principal to exile him from the regular dorms to Sakurasou, where he is determined to escape from. Unfortunately for Sorata, a really dumb blonde, a few cats and a whole bunch of weird people stand between him and his desire to escape. While not very interesting, I will say that the plot itself is definitely unique. If there was ANYTHING I could compare it to, it would be the lighter parts of Higurashi but even that doesn't even do Sakurasou's plot any justice. It's not amazing by any means, but it's well thought out, albeit a bit formulaic. 

Your reaction to me not talking about Mashiro

As with any anime, Sakurasou has it's characters to bring it along on it's way to the plot climax, and here are certainly a few very good characters to talk about....and unfortunately, Shiina Mashiro won't be one of them. Sorry, I only talk about the main and my personal favourite in this section! Although, Shiina is the source of a lo of the comedy in this so please, don't just take my word for it when I say she's one of the funniest characters J.C have ever produced.

Kanda Sorata

So, we have a 16 year old male with an addiction to the internet who like to collect retro games and also has Splash Wave as his ringtone. I am a 16 year old male with an addiction to the internet who likes to collect retro games and has Splash Wave as his ringtone.

Ooooohhh Boy.

Kanda is our main protagonist and as mentioned above, he doesn't really have any standout traits when the anime starts. He's just a typical teenage boy with a soft spot for cats, hence why he's in Sakurasou. He can be a bit daring at times, and often finds himself in tandem with Shiina as she has no clue how to handle anything and he's been dumped with the task of handling her. My only big gripe with Kanda is that he is very oblivious to others feelings for him, which is a perfect way for me to segway into my next character...

Nanami Aoyama

Talk about soul crushing....y'know, if Clannad and it's amazingly tortured cast didn't exist, I would put Nanami up as my all time favourite female protagonist in a non-horror anime. She has a very, very big crush on Kanda and is determined to become a voice actor no matter what, and while she never does make it big, it's her determination that makes her one of the best. She is strong enough to try her best even if she's ill and is the source of all of my fan-fiction heartbreaks (WHY CAN'T NANAMI X SORATA BE REEEAAAL). Even though she's not the main female lead, her love for Kanda is way more genuine than Shiina's apparent love for him (God knows what Shiina knows about love). She is not one to be overlooked.

Remember in my review of Angel Beats! when I said it was "one of the all time best" in terms of animation? Sakurasou is the best looking anime I have ever seen in my life. There are no flaws with this colourful and vibrant anime. It's got a nice saturated feel to it, colours blend well and characters move around at a solid framerate, It's simply perfect.

Sound is the anime's only large flaw. Only one track stood out to me and it wasn't any of the opening or ending themes. I dunno what happened here but something obviously went wrong in the composition department. It's extremely underwhelming.

Overall, weak soundtrack aside, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is one of the best pure high school comedies around. It's unique plot, great characters and SUPERB animation all make it one of the best anime's you will ever see. Trust me, it's one for the ages.

Story: 7

Characters: 10

Animation: 10

Sound: 2

Personal Enjoyment: 8

FINAL SCORE FOR SAKURASOU NO PET NA KANOJO: 7.9/10