Encouraging You to Keep Up the Hard Work. (Reviewing The Pet Girl of Sakurasou)

Hello, hello, it has been a while. That is most likely my own fault. The anime I watched for this

review was 24 episodes long. Normally a run through of something like that would take four days, but with the presence of school work to keep on top of, I found it very hard to actually find time to sit down watching anime.

Speaking of which, I have officially started The Otaku Club in my sixthform alongside two of my

anime loving friends. The sign up event went amazingly- we had three sheets full of names. The actual turn out on the day was pretty impressive too. Even though another event was going on at the same time, around 20-30 people showed up and we all watched the first episode of Ao No Exorcist. Hehe, call it ambitious, but I think it would be cool if the population of this community could double or triple in size. 

How awesome would it be if some others in the club played Pokémon or Smash Bros.?

I would love for The Otaku Club to at last for a couple years. Heck, me and the other people in charge were already considering who would be good candidates for next years leaders when we leave the school. That isn't going to be decided any time soon though if you were curious.

But enough about that,

Let's talk about The Pet Girl Of Sakurasou.

After being kicked out of his ordinary dorm for looking after a stray cat, Sorata Kanda is moves into Sakurasou, the dormitory which houses the strangest and most troublesome of students. A year after getting used to his life at the loony bin household, Sorata is tasked to look after Sakurasou's newest resident, Mashiro Shiina, a world renowned artist who has no idea how to look after herself. Sorata even has to help her get dressed in the morning. The story revolves around the daily lives of the occupants of Sakurasou as they grow and mature.

It is not very often when you can find something amazing when you are not intentionally looking for it. The Pet Girl Of Sakurasou is one of those kind of things. My intention of picking it to watch at the time was so that I would have some kind of calm period after being hurled into worlds fool of ecchi and fan service. Ecchi-ness is present, and things do get frustrating, but if you stick with it, then you will find some gold. I honestly was not expecting how much I would fall in love with this anime. 

Starting small and simple, the art in this anime was absolutely gorgeous. Being based in a university of the Arts, you would not expect less when it comes to amazing visuals and sounds. What is unexpected is the vastness in styles and colours this one little anime has compacted inside of it. And most of it comes from two of the main characters, Mashiro and Misaki Kammiigusa, both genius artists. I am in awe of such prettiness they can create and completely jealous of their skills.

The almighty power of friendship.

If you have ever seen the things I tweet while I am streaming through an anime, I often use the term "warm" to describe my happiness regarding the anime's story, characters, or general mood. I think The Pet Girl of Sakurasou has had me use that term the most so far out the anime I have reviewed for this blog. Characters develop so well- they mature in ways that actually make you feel for them. The story is paced so that you have both your typical over-the-top funny moments and also your heartfelt, tear jerky moments exactly when you need them. If you are looking for a drama filled journey of self discovery with lots of cats along the way, look no further.

The fist represents life.
Sorata's face represents Sorata's face.

What really impacted me about The Pet Girl of Sakurasou was the question of "Does hard work really amount to anything, or is being talented and skilled the only way to make something of yourself?" I myself feel like I am surrounded by amazingly talented people so much of the time, that I feel quite frustrated at how I think that I am no where at their level. That is why I felt Sorata was very easy to relate with and a character I want to be like. He is a fairly ordinary person living with some of the most talented people ever, but through all his own hard work and failings, he matures into someone who strives to persevere even when life is unfair. Heck, every single character in this anime is forced with difficulties life was throwing out at them, yet they plowed through. The Pet Girl of Sakurasou gave me hope in that hard work does amount to something.

Now onto the stuff that bugged me:

Tired of using pixels?
Try using Censorship's newest product:
Hair!.

Mashiro Shiina. I had no idea if I should have loved you or if I should have hated you. How can someone as talented as you be so completely useless? You can paint entire worlds just from your imagination, but you can't even put on your own clothes?! It seemed very sweet and innocent at first, much like a helpless kitten, but it got really irritating really quickly. Being incapable of doing everything on her own, except art, Mashiro had to resit several tests. However, due to her incredible ability to retain everything she has seen, thanks to her many years studying art, she was able to receive 100% of the marks for all her retests. It's almost as if Mashiro is the complete opposite of what this anime tries to convey about hard work.

That being said, her abnormal behaviour does make living in the real world a struggle, so she finds it very difficult to read the atmosphere and people's emotions. She has to work hard in learning how to deal with, what can be assumed as normal, social interactions and endeavors. 

"It's called a butt..."
(I need to watch Finding Nemo again.)

I mentioned this earlier: something else I found quite irritating about this anime is, probably due to my main objective of avoid it completely, was the amount of ecchi and fan service which was present. It is kind of funny how I intentionally looked for an innocent comedy romance to balance out the amount of boobs and abs on this blog, only to be met we more perverted hi-jinks. Though it did not take away much from the story, it was very off putting when it was obviously present.

Overall, The Pet Girl of Sakurasou was an absolute pleasure to watch. I am actually quite glad it took me a while to stream through this anime- it made me appreciate its story and the messages it would show. I think I found another one to add to my personal list of anime I label as "Masterpieces". I hope this feeling of warmth continues for as long as possible.

I give The Pet Girl of Sakurasou a rating of 8.9/10 metaphorical punches from life to your face. Remember that hard work does amount to something in the end. Never give up. Ew cheesy.

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Well, that ends this batch of anime. 

Join me next time for a month of horror! 

Bwahahahahaha!! *cough* *cough*