Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata First Impressions

Today I watched episode 00 of Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata (abbreviated Saekano), a new effort by the A-1 animation studio. Now, you might argue that I can’t write a first impression because it is episode zero, but I felt like talking about this show. To be perfectly honest, the show starts off with some very typical fanservice and clichés but its dry with doses of meta sense of humor came across as the highpoint, at least for me. The show goes overboard with fanservice and sexual humor but in a sense it is so overt to the point of caricature – somehow that blend lends itself to entertainment. I’m not sure how. I enjoyed the show, though admittedly the subject matter though presented in a clever manner is a bit flat. What still weighs most on my mind is the need for an episode 0. This material seems self-explanatory, making an episode 0 seem purposeless.

 Like your normal modern A-1 anime, there is a ton of beautiful backdrops. From the bath house to the bamboo-lined roads near the bath house to other settings, the pulchritude is easily visible. In particular, the water is drawn well enough to create that realistic image of a reflection. One painting that I was likely using as a frame of reference featured ships at sea but with an intricately painted ocean that showed many details, including the reflections of the ships. At the same time, detail is not effectively used for characterization, thus the show is pretty but with uncomplicated characters. See the image to the left for an example.

The music served more to add to the atmosphere rather than serving a more sophisticated role. At least the music did not work against the show. In fact, the use of music in some cases added to the humor, especially when the characters were playing – and completely failing at – ping pong. In that case, the rather derpy music supplemented the lighthearted atmosphere. I will say that the opening and ending themes were completely mundane and forgettable in my opinion. The show as a whole doesn’t have very memorable music but overall I would say it adequately supports the show. Furthermore, the music provides pleasant listening, which is another strength of the show.

One glaring weakness of Saekano so far is the story. The otaku main character Aki-chan (shown to the right) is working on creating a doujin dating sim that the circle hopes to present at Winter Comiket. As a result, nothing in particular happened for most of episode 0, but I realize that I am far too early to make that call. After all, this episode set the stage for what would happen later. I do not have that much to say on the story because so little information has been presented. There are not yet any interesting side-conflicts or intricacies, making the story too simple. A conversation between Aki and Kato about Kato needing to act more like a “main heroine” reveals the flaws underlying this story as presented. So far Saekano is simply Aki forcing them to follow his demands and not understanding the desires of his circle, which simply does not make for interesting story.

Similarly, the characters so far have provided either fanservice or humor, with the exception of Aki, who tries to direct the dating sim project. Though one could argue that each character is fulfilling the role they would play in the dating sim, the result still is a lack of true characterization. The straw-haired girl and the purple-haired girl constantly spar through a lot of the episode, which establishes the only significant relationship seen so far (see the images to the upper left and lower right). Through these arguments, the two girls are clearly shown to be friends, albeit in a very confrontational manner. The other characters, except for Aki and Kato towards the end of the episode, lack chemistry, which makes everyone else fade in importance. Both of these characters do function mainly for fanservice and humor but together they represent something more impactful than everyone else combined. I am glad that we get some notion that the characters have some history, at least over the past 6 months in the show. Characterization, in short, comes together too late into the episode for me to be satisfied.

The show is quite funny because it mixes both meta and slapstick humor into something not quite unique but not quite hackneyed either. As someone who enjoys slapstick humor, I especially enjoyed the ping pong scene where the straw-haired girl and purple-haired girl fight for domination of table tennis but in the end both of them lose; both somehow manage to be hit with balls, which is even funnier. (A depiction of the straw-haired girl getting hit by a ball is shown to the left.) I realize that this approach isn’t novel but it was fresh enough for me to enjoy it. The meta aspect of the comedy was also entertaining, at least in my opinion. Throughout the episode, the characters keep talking about anime tropes which they themselves are fitting, so I got a nice dose of some dramatic irony. I also enjoyed the purple-haired girl’s quip about the use of long narrations to introduce a show (shown at lower right)

Overall, I enjoyed this episode and plan to continue with this series. I hope that the story develops and that the characters achieve true chemistry. Then the humor and pretty visuals would be given a scaffold on which to grow – similar to the way tissue engineering an organ would work. I anticipate that this show will improve but that the humor will remain the high point, at least for me. Oh, and straw-hair is my favorite because she is reminiscent of a teenaged Hakase from Nichijou (shown below).

Rating: 63/100

Works Cited:
"Hakase "Professor" Shinonome." MyAnimeList. Evolve Media. Web. Accessed 9 Jan 2015. 

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata. Perf. Ai Kayano. A-1 Pictures, 2015. Anime.