Seiren: Season 1/ Episode 1 "Decision" [Series Premiere] – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_hKXW7zKMw

Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Trying to figure out what you are going to do with your life, when it has been guided by teachers and parents more than yourself, is daunting. Luckily there are always friends to guide you, and many a potential love interest to distract you.

The Introduction

Shoichi Kamita is no wiz at school or popular with girls. He is average but likable. Hence why Hikari likes to tease him and Ikuo helps him with his studies. But with college around the corner, and the expectation to know what he is doing with his life, Kamita can no longer just let others guide and direct him. In the first episode, he decides to start taking the reigns and rather than spend the summer in the sun, enjoying his youth, instead he decides to do a two-week summer seminar with Ikuo. Hopefully boosting his chances for a quality higher education institute.

Highlights

Everyone Seems Likable and Potential Matches for Kamita

Kamita, by all intents and purposes, is generic. He is an everyday kind of guy, easily identifiable with because he is a blank slate. He doesn’t have a dead parent, financial troubles, or anything like that. All his friends and acquaintances seem to find him likable and while the only different between them all is how they physically look, we get enough of a taste of their personality to wonder what he’d be like as their boyfriend. Heck, even in terms of Ikuo, Kamita’s male best friend, their relationship is so admirable you want the anime to take things there with him too.

On The Fence

Damn Near Everyone is Generic

After watching shows like Amagami SS, Le Fruit de la Grisaia, and Yosuga no Sora (which, if interested, just know its climaxes are NSFW) over the years, one thing I expect is that the girls should seem different. When I say different, I mean beyond what this show does with the main difference being the character’s hairstyles. I’m used to different personalities, interest, ways of treating the character, and Seiren doesn’t have that. Which, I know, perhaps that is a lot to expect from episode one, especially when working with 20 minutes, but is it wrong to expect more?

I mean, and maybe this is some false memory nostalgia more than anything, in the anime mentioned, in the first episode you were given vibrant personalities, all of which you started to anticipate the lead’s relationship with. Not just because one was taller, had a cute ribbon, or something on the physical side of things, but mentally they all brought something different. One was more mature and presented an almost coming of age story. Another was dealing with a hard time and their love blossomed through trust and being something stable in their chaotic lives. Another wanted to be seen past her title, past her beauty, and I could go on and on.

With this show, though, again noting it is but episode one, it just seems so light and fluffy. Which bothers me only because that’s not what fits my interest. As noted in the Everything, Everything book review.

Overall: Mixed (Stick Around)

This will either be a breezy romantic comedy which hops from one girl to the next, and we watch Kamita awkwardly fall in love, with some degree of changes, or it could be something more. As of episode one, any hope and expectation comes from past anime experience. On its own, though, Seiren feels like just another anime. One which you watch this season and forget the next. Not because it is bad, but because it didn’t try to be exemplary.

Things To Note

You’ll learn more about these characters in the video linked above than you will in the first episode. Though, to be honest, I don’t think we even met 3/4 of them in episode one.