Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23289/

Name: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun 月刊少女野崎くん　Monthly Girls' Nozaki-Kun

Status: Completed

Episode: 12

Release Date (for eng subs): Every Monday

Summary:

High school student Chiyo Sakura has a crush on schoolmate Umetarou Nozaki, but when she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says that she always wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help on some drawings. Chiyo discovers that Nozaki is actually a renowned shoujo manga artist named Sakiko Yumeno. She then agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga, they encounter other schoolmates who assist them or serve as inspirations for characters in the stories.

Summary Source: Wikipedia

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/23289/

Personal Ratings: 4.5

I think ever since Shingeki no Kyojin, all the animes this season somehow all turn out to be quite dark and gory. However, this is one of the rarely seen light and comedy anime for this season. So in the midst of all those dark and complex anime (like Toyko Gouls, Zankyo no Terror [yes, their all highly recommended animes this season]), this anime really stands out being the cheerfully light and interesting anime for this season. 

This is probably the first time that I've actually rated a comedy anime this high in my life. I don't usually laugh while watching comedy anime (like Sket Dance or Baka To Test), so this is probably one of the rare ones that I actually laughed. However unfortunately when I re watched this, it didn't really have the same effect as before. But I could still enjoy the anime because of it's interesting story line and the interesting relationship between all the characters. 

Unlike most comedy anime, this comedy anime inputs a certain amount of seriousness to actually make it funny and interesting at the same time. 

Unlike some comedy anime like Sket Dance, where they pretty much throw the characters away after their done with them (and appear again after that when they run out of new characters to put in), this anime actually builds the proper relationship with the characters involved (kind of like Clannad, but using a more serious approach), and make full use of the character's relationship with one another to actually improve and bring the sense of jokes to a higher level. 

I guess that the beauty of this anime actually lies within the level of realities in the situations and jokes. Where normal comedy anime seem to exaggerate too much to the point where it's over and too unrealistic, so people can't really relate with it, and just see it as an entertainment object 

Another huge point would also be that they actually make use of such a cliche comedy story line (slice of life; as you can see from Minami-ke, Baka to Test, Clannad, and Sket Dance), and make it into a unique one of it's own. They also actually take cliche shoujo situations, such as valentines day and other cliche events that occurs in shoujo anime, they were able to twist it in such a way that they actually make it an even more unique situation, and bring out the laughter from there. 

Good and awesome seiyuu used. Many of the seiyuu that voice acted here are my favorite. The only person who I actually didn't know of was the one that voice acted Sakura. However when I searched her it seems like she just started not long ago. Despite being a beginner, I actually really like her voice acting in this anime. Her expressions were all really well expressed in her voice. I'll be waiting for more anime from her.  

Overall, what brought everything together was probably the plot on how Sakura actually met and started to like Nozaki. The consistent plot about drawing or writing manga was also constant throughout the whole anime. It also went into the details also beta and tone, and other tools used to draw manga. Other than Bakuman, I don't think I actually saw another anime that is as detailed. For a comedy anime to be this consistent with the plot, really makes it a good anime by itself. Most comedy anime usually have it as a per episode or per situation style (one very evident anime is Sket Dance, and Manami-ke).

As for the ending, I'm actually quite satisfied with the ending of this anime (if you have read some of my reviews, I'm usually not satisfied with most ending). However, I would totally root for this anime having a 2nd season, because the stories between all the couples within the anime don't seem to have an ending and I just want more of it. And if some of you have realized, in the last episode last scene, there was a shot on another guy which I've never seen in the anime before, so I'm really hoping that there would be a 2nd season. But judging from the fact that they are going to have a 6 episode special, I don't really think that there is going to be a 2nd season.  

Art Ratings: 3.5

I like the art and character design, but sometimes the hair can look a little off and a little awkward (probably little things like the hair line is actually causing that.)

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 12 and above

My Ratings: PG