Sakurasou review
* Kimi ga Yume wo Tsurete Kita - The lyrics by themselves are not that good, and the melody by itself is not that good. Yet, when combined into the song, it sounds pretty nice and different in its roughness compared to other OPs. It also sets the character for the entire show.
* Days of Dash! Fantastic song! It exemplifies the show's themes of romance and finding one's goals in life and working towards them without giving up.
* OP2 and ED2 signaled the show's shift to mostly drama in the second half, and I can't say I liked them as much as OP1 and ED1.
* The second half of the show was slower, dreary, and heart-breaking at times.
* I didn't really care for Jin and Misaki and their romance that much. Jin's inferiority syndrome was understandable, but the way he expresses it by romancing other women and ignoring Misaki was asshole behavior (exceeding Hyouka's Satoshi's similar issue). Misaki herself was the engine that drove the Sakurasou residents foward, but her story basically revolved around Jin.
* I found Yuko to be damn annoying. She's almost entirely for comedy, lacks the depth of the other characters, and detracts from the tone of the show.
* Sorata's personal conflict with his inadequacy due to all the failures and being surrounded by people who are all demonstrably more skilled than him is an issue that anybody can identify with. Hyouka touched on the same theme, but Sakurasou took it as its full theme. Sorata is slightly disturbing as a main character though. Considering his circumstances his anger and frustration is understandable, but the way he expresses it and took it out on Mashiro a few times skirts the abuse line. Kudos to him for getting over it and not learning not to give up.
* Mashiro is very cute, but needs a bit of character growth. The way the show presents things, she already knows her goal and works towards it to the exclusion of almost all else; her struggles and decision-making all occured prior to the story. Her growing romance with Sorata is there, but since the show only covered up through volume 6, it's not complete. The save Sakurasou subplot seemed at first to be tailored to developing her, but it turned out to be a group project for the residents.
* Nanami, also very attractive. She's the hard worker and the underdog, making her a perfect match for Sorata even if it's obviously not meant to be. It's too bad the show timeskipped over her talk with her parents after failing her auditions, that would have made for an interesting discussion.
* Rita is my favorite of the girls. She's basically an ideal compared to the others: being playful like Misaki, the frustration of being upstaged like Sorata, working hard like Nanami, and having all the practical and social skills Mashiro does not. She knew what she wanted, and went for it. Of the blonde, blue-eyed, and [large-chested] anime characters I've seen, she easily tops the list.
* Ryuunosuke needs a bit more development. We know his past, but at the present his role is basically to save everybody else when there's trouble.
* Despite being pretty depressing with Sorata and Nanami's failures, the show ended on a high note with the characters resolving to continue on (and presumably having success in the future.) The only true failure would have been to give up.
* Whoever wrote the synopsis for the show before it aired presented it as a generic quirky romance, and mislead me into not intending to watch originally. Thank god I followed anime blogs to see its quality (and read Wikipedia for the spoilers on what the show was really about) and picked this up.
* Those nationalist otakus sabotaging the show's sales over very minor details- FUCK THEM.
Score: 9.5/10 - It's my second favorite show of 2012, right behind Hyouka. Most of the issues I had are a result of not being a complete story. I am very much hoping for a second season to complete the series to the LN's end. (Once again, FUCK those otaku.)