Monday 30 December 2013

Anime Review - Oreshura

"Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru", "My girlfriend and childhood friend fight too much", Oreshura, is a harem-like romantic comedy anime, released in 2013 January-March, produced by A-1 Pictures, known for Sword Art Online, Black Butler and Fairy Tail. Oreshura is a bowl of fresh air, as it is nice and relaxing, while being good. It looks generic and it is for the most part, but there some things that are a bit different. Let's get to it.




Story
Oreshura follows our protagonist Eita Kido, a new highschooler who lives alone, is working very hard to become a doctor and is completely anti-love. He is very smart and a top student at his school. One day, the beauty of the class, Masuzu Natsukawa, after noticing that Eita is the only free boy at school who hasn't confessed to her, decides to make Eita her fake boyfriend, to dissuade the boys from confessing anymore. Eita is, at first, totally against, but Masuzu starts blackmailing him with his own notebook, which was inadvertently sent to a book store and Masuzu found it. In that notebook, are all the embarrassing delusions Eita had in junior school, and that he tried to forget. He definitely doesn't want the notebook to be exposed and, as a result, he accepts to be her fake boyfriend. His childhood friend Chiwa Harusaki, who has a crush on Eita, quickly learns about that and of course get upset. So, right here, the meaning of the title is revealed. But of course, this isn't the whole thing.
Masuzu creates a strange club: "Maiden Society For Performing Your Own Life", to help people getting more popular. At first, only Masuzu, Eita and Chiwa are members.
Two others major characters appear later on: Himeka Akishino, a girl with many delusions just like Eita had before; and Ai Fuyuumi, the tsundere and student comitee member. Both harbor feelings for Eita too, of course; and they both join the club later on. Something I LOVE about this anime, is that ALL 4 girls confess to Eita. Everyone of them. Most of the time, we hardly even see 1 girl confessing. Even in To Love-Ru, only 3 girls out of 14 have confessed. Here it is 4/4. Credits for that!
This is an anime I really enjoyed a lot. It is a calm and relaxing show, that made me feel comfortable through all the episodes. It certainly isn't unique, but I felt nice watching it. It has a comfortable atmosphere, not something you find much nowadays.




Characters
Compared to other romance harems, Oreshura doesn't have many characters, which adds to the calm impression and feeling I got. Despite being few, they were pretty enjoyable and likeable. We have:
  • Eita Kido, the anti-love protagonist. After his parents divorced, found new companions, and abandonned him, he decided to despise romance, which he does. Now, that doesn't mean he is a romance brick; actually, he is one of the very few romantic comedy protagonists, who understands that girls are after him; high credits for that. He is a top student at school, and decides to become a doctor, due to some events. He is calm, analytic and serious. In the past, however, he had many delusions, which he tried hard to forget. When he gets very emotional, it is possible he reverts back to his delusional self for a short time. Comedy guaranteed.
  • Masuzu Natsukawa. Like Eita, she is anti-love, because she is sick of having constantly all the boys confess to her. She is one of the biggest bitches in anime history! While she is beautiful and seems kind and nice, she is actually sarcastic, selfish, arrogant, bossy and even cold sometimes, while toying with people for her own amusement. However, there is a reason behind that. But, even with all that, I don't hate her; but I certainly dislike her. She does have emotions and her funny moments, too, so it compensates.
  • Chiwa Harusaki, Eita's childhood friend. She is a short, cheerful, energetic, funny and very cute girl, who adds joy and funny moments to the series. She has a crush on Eita since a long time, but she really started showing it, after Masuzu's appearance. She is my favourite character of the show.
  • Himeka Akishino, a mostly silent and shy girl with delusions just like Eita's. She believes hard as steel that she was Eita's girlfriend in a previous life, and tries to "regain" Eita's affection in her "present" life. She is very funny and cute.
  • Ai Fuyuumi, the tsundere of the group. She is a member of the school hall comitee, who is serious and strict when doing her job. At first dislikeable, I started to like her more and she became cutter, as more of her dere side was showing up. She harbors feelings her Eita, of course.
There also a few supportive characters like Eita's aunt, Eita's best friend and Masuzu's little sister, who's also a bitch.
Though generic, they are all great and enjoyable characters, with matching personalities, that didn't make me bored a single instant.



Sound
For a generic-looking harem romantic comedy, the sound and music is this anime is pretty good. Not an epicness, but still very good. It matches the different scenes very well, either they are relaxing, funny, energetic or dramatic, especially the music playing when Masuzu is activating her bitch mode. The opening "Girlish Love" is nice, cheerful and catchy, while the ending is also catchy and beautiful. The voice acting is done very well, with each voice matching each character very well. Noticeable voice actress: Ai Kayano, who voices Ai Fuyuumi, who became more popular after voicing for Shiina Mashiro (Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo).



Animation
Being produced by A-1 Pictures, producers of Sword Art Online, it was evident the animation would be good, and it was. Smooth, colorful and beautiful, a good job was done. The characters aren't of the best detail, but their expressions are well done. I also noticed, that they all had a sort of cuteness to them, which isn't a bad thing.



Final Verdict
Story : 7.5
Characters : 8.2
Sound : 7.1
Animation : 8.1
Enjoyement : 8.8
Total : 7.94

Oreshura is a nice romantic comedy, with enjoyable characters and a story that is good for a genre like that. It has its own small unique things, and combined with appropriate music and good animation, it becomes a nice show to watch. Like I said, it is a bowl of fresh hair, as it is relaxing and entertaining. Romantic comedy fans should check this one out.


This ends my 5th anime review. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to comment, if you want to express your opinions. Thank you for reading.



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