Top 10 Anime: Sad Animes (You'll Cry a Ton) Part 1

I've put together a list of animes which had made me cry A LOT, and I would like to share it with you guys... And... I hope you guys would watch some of the animes listed and share with me your thoughts about it. 

**This is a non-spoiler version, and for those of you who have already watched the animes, I'll be posting a spoiler version in which I'll talk about the sad scenes in each of the anime.

So firstly I would like to share my top 10 tear jerking animes. I ranked it according to how much each anime made me cry.

______________________________

Top 10 Tear Jerking Animes

10th: Kotonoha no Niwa (Garden of Words)

Kotonoha no Niwa is an anime animated by CoMix Wave Films who are known for their advertising animes and their anime dramas. CoMix Wave Films have produced a number of famous anime dramas like Byousoku 5 Centimeters. Their beautiful and realistic animation would be sure to take your breath away.

Kotonoha no Niwa is a short movie (around 46 mins long) which focuses on a beautiful relationship between 2 people similar, yet unlikely people. The whole theme of this anime revolves around 'rain' - with the setting, music and even poems about rain included in this anime - this anime sets itself out for a tear jerking story.

As expected from the setting of the anime, CoMix Wave Films will give to you one of the best animation of rain and water you have ever seen. They have really went down to the little bits of details of even the way water droplets reflect under the sun, to the ripples made by the droplets in the rain, and even down to the way water leaves a trail behind them as they drop.

On top of the wonderful animation of the rain - which is enough to get your feels going - the beautiful story line between the main characters definitely made me cry a lot. It is a long way of building emotions from the start to the sudden out-lash of emotions at the end.

______________________________

9th: Charlotte

Charlotte was a light novel written by Maeda Jun, who is known to have written Angel Beats! - an anime which is well known to be one of the saddest anime. So it's not any surprise that this anime would be on the list.

Even though not as sad as Angel Beats!, Charlotte didn't fail to delivery some sad episodes and scenes. Charlotte has the same type of musical layout as Angel Beats! - where, in both cases, singers are involved. They both really did deliver some really sad musics, though sadly for Charlotte, it didn't play out as a strength.

In Charlotte's case the anime just didn't have enough development for the sad scenes to fully develop and unfold itself. Having to rush through certain developments, while dragging on the front half of the anime was a mistake, which I felt could have been made better use into developing the story line itself.

However, despite it not being one of the best it could be, I still did feel that this anime didn't fail to deliver some really sad scenes.

______________________________

8th: K-ON!! (Season 2)

K-ON!! is one of the biggest anime hit in the list of anime animated by Kyoto Animation. This anime would be one of the last thing which most people would expect to see on a list of sad animes. For one reason - it's actually isn't. While K-ON!! itself isn't a sad anime, I still would put this on the list, for a specific episode in the anime which made me cry non-stop.

The character development for this anime was really superb, and soon enough you wouldn't want to stop looking into the daily lives of these 5 characters. A sense of character development would have been formed nearing the middle or the end of the 2nd season of this anime. Which will now bring you to one of the most memorable and sad graduation of all time. Both the character's feelings and the your own affections for the characters would definitely make you burst into tears during the graduation.

______________________________

7th: One Piece

One Piece, as we all know, is the best adventure-type anime of all times. Unshakable and strong since day one. And like most mainstream anime, there are bound to have episodes which are sad. One Piece, in my opinion gave me one of the most saddest scenes in all time. The only down side to this is that you would have to get through 500 episodes, before you would be able to see this. But never the less, a beautiful and engaging story.

Although I did feel that more character development for the 2 characters could have been done to help amp up the emotions. But the reactions and the point of view of different characters really made it one of the saddest anime which had me crying for a few episodes.

______________________________

6th: Code Geass

Code Geass, is loved and adored by many of the older anime fans. Though it's not one to be labeled and 'sad' rather than a 'tragedy', I still fell that it deserves to be in this list. 

The whole show itself revolves around politics and mecha as it's main genre. But really, to me the last episode was quite a bit of a shocker, and I didn't have enough time to embrace myself for the impact before that scene came about. It was a mixed feeling of sadness and triumph. Rather than your usual sad scenes and shows, this show was more about love and sacrifice. It wasn't so much about the sadness of a death of someone, but more of how much one could sacrifice so much - his life, and his name.

Even after the end of the whole show, there is still this lingering feeling of sadness that will never go away. The whole OST for the show will also set you off.

______________________________

5th: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, or in short - AnoHana - is a very well known sad anime that has touched many viewer's hearts. The basis of the whole anime is set to make sure that everyone would try while watching this.

A group of childhood friends parted after the death of one of them during the summer holidays, but she comes back, unable to move on, but only visible to the main character - Jinta. The 5 of them then came back together to help her move on, while at the same time sorting out their feelings.

As many can see from the short summary, it's a sad anime. But it's not only the fact that because one of them died, it's sad, but it's also the addition of all the other character's feelings. Each of them has a story to tell, and each of them bring to us many different feelings of sadness.

Warning: Embrace yourself on the last episode.

______________________________

4th: Angel Beats

Angel Beats!, as mentioned above, is written by Maeda Jun, and was also adapted from a light novel.

Angel Beats! has many mixed reactions; though many would agree that it's one of the saddest anime they have seen in their life, there are also another group of people who said that there is not enough, which is why I only ranked this as 4th.

In my opinion, I think that the stories themselves were sad, and like many, I also feel that it's one of the saddest anime. But I also do feel that it's lacking in character affection. With just 13 episodes, there is just not enough time for a proper connection to be made between the character and the viewers (different for people who fall in love with character at the first sight), which brings out this lack of impact.

I think the secret to this anime lies in the ups and downs of the anime. Because of the huge difference between the sad scenes and the funny scenes, it makes the sad scenes feel even more sad. Though for people who change gears slower, it back fires.

However, I feel that it doesn't change the fact that Otonashi (main character)'s story and the last scene was one of the saddest thing seen in the modern anime history.

______________________________

3rd: Chrno Crusade

Chrno Crusade was one of my childhood anime which I have loved since I first watched it. (though now that I look back, I find certain scenes pretty dumb).

This story revolve around demons and the people who has the power to kill them - either people with special powers or people who are trained in killing them. However, in this rare case, a human - Rosette - and a demon - Chrono - is paired together. Even people who have a deep hatred for demons can to slowly like Chrono. In this story, Chrono doesn't have his horns, which are the source of this demonic powers. So instead of horns, he has to make a contract with a human to bring out his powers. Every time he uses his demon powers, his human contractor's life force would be drained.

As you all can predict how this ends out, but this isn't what makes it sad. There were many different stories in this anime which brings about sadness. Furthermore, the ending of this whole anime - not only the main character's stories, but also the other side characters - really makes you heart break. The story starts out pretty fun, but as you go deeper into the story, the different sides drown you into this deep darkness, before reaching the point of sadness. It leaves you with this sad and emotional darkness lingering in your heart.

And as a bonus, the ending song for this anime is a killer (makes me cry just hearing to it).

______________________________

2nd: Kyoukai no Kanata

Kyoukai no Kanata, another anime beautiful anime animated by Kyoto Animation. Though at first sight, you would least expect this anime to be a sad one. It looks more like an action, slice of life, comedy type of anime. But in the last few episodes of the anime and the movie - Kyoukai no Kanata - I'll Be Here - Mirai Hen, it showcases many many sad scenes which will definitely touch your hearts.

This story focuses mostly on the 2 main character who have suffered through many different incidents because they are different. Having met each other, their feelings for each other grew, and a tear jerking story was born when the 2 of them try their very best to save each other.

Many waves of sad and emotions scenes will come your way starting from the 2nd half of the anime series all the way to the end of the movie.

______________________________

1st: Clannad After Story

Clannad After Story probably went down the anime history as the saddest anime of all time. Produced by Key, who has also produced other popular series with similar art styles.

The starting of this anime probably let a lot of people down, and there will be times where you will be thinking "what the hell am I watching?" but trust me, once you get to after story, you wouldn't regret watching everything from the first episode. And for people who think they should just skip to after story, I'd advice not too. The deep character affection developed between the viewers is crucial, and it can only happen if you watch this show right from the beginning.

All I can say is that I probably cried throughout the whole of after story. I got tired of crying after that. 

______________________________

Photos taken from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Words

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_(anime)

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%91%E3%81%84%E3%81%8A%E3%82%93-6-DVD-%E8%B1%8A%E5%B4%8E%E6%84%9B%E7%94%9F/dp/B0024DGNCK/ref=pd_bxgy_74_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1EQXPDN8YK67BX26HNQ7

http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-864683/one-piece-3d2y-anime-special

http://dcyberanimes.blogspot.sg/2014/07/ars-nova-animes-chat.html

http://arukunews.jp/2924.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Beats!

http://hiwatari-girl-aliandry1.blogspot.sg/

http://www.masterani.me/anime/info/1210-kyoukai-no-kanata-movie-ill-be-here-kako-hen

http://voiceacting.wikia.com/wiki/Clannad:_After_Story

______________________________

3D Animation taking over 2D Animation?!

Basically today I thought I would touch on the topic of 3D animation, since it feels as if the number of anime using 3D animation is increasing over the past few seasons.

I don't know when 3D animation was first used, but I think what had spread the influence of using 3D animation is basically the american culture, vocaloid and budget restraint.

So before I move onto talking about the reasons, I picked up a few anime which as inputted 3D animation.

_________________________

Well as we all know the anime Digimon as our childhood anime, they had already started using 3D animation for the digimons when they evolve into the higher stages. But they didn't really do much with it other then for that few seconds. So I won't go into details.

So the first is Baby Steps which was aired in 2014. Baby steps is a spurts anime which touches on tennis. Even though 3D animation is more useful when they are trying to show more precise and smooth motion, in this anime, the 3D models were used as bystanders, and not for the movements of the characters.

and I don't know why, but it really annoys me when their having a match and I see these 3D models standing there, and it really distracts me a lot while trying to watch the match. It was probably done to save time in having the draw in all the by standers in every frame they animate. I appreciate the effort in actually making people stand there, but I would rather it not be there.

In Prince of Tennis (aired in 2001 to 2005), also a tennis anime, most of the time they didn't actually have any by stander in the frame itself, or just have shadows of people, but when you are actually watching the match itself, you wouldn't even notice. So I actually thought that it was better this way.

 

_________________________

Next would be music anime, and especially anime with piano scenes. Piano scenes are really important to show the fingering on each key to actually bring out that liveliness of that scene. And in animation that would be killing yourself by drawing each any every frame for each finger movement (or even half a finger movement), so it's obviously a lot smoother and faster to use 3D animation where you can actually use motion sensors.

I think it's already well known, but Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso does this for their piano scenes. It was actually mentioned a few times among the voice actors themselves during events and talks that they actually used an actual pianist and recorded it down with motion sensors to get the fingering right, and as a result, you get a very smooth piano scene.

And it's very obvious that these scenes are using 3D animation. I don't know if it's because of the style they actually use to paint on the hands, but it's very obvious, compared to Nodame Cantabile. In Nodame cantabile, even though they also did use 3D animation for the piano scenes, it's not as obvious, and it's hard to tell that it's actually 3D.

 

It's probably confirmed that any anime on classical music, using piano - they would probably use the motion sensors for the scenes.

It was said to be almost impossible to animate violin scenes because of the fact the compared to the piano, violin is an instrument which moves along with the player.However, for Shigatsu's violin scenes, it was done using 2D animation style. But 3D models were used as reference for drawing in the 2D frames. And on top of that, they actually filmed a violinist playing from different angles to use as reference for the drawings too.

And you end up with a ton of frames for just 5 seconds. But I'm sure all of those who had watched Shigatsu was pretty pleased with the animation. Just by the amount of hard work they had to put into a single scene it would really put off the animators, and we should all be grateful for all their hard work, because we ended up with such a beautiful scene and animation.

_________________________

Next up is sports anime. I think I've only seen one sports anime using 3D for their animation, but it's only a little - like a 5 seconds thing? And that anime is Yowamushi Pedal.

Basically they only use 3D animation for scenes where the camera pans out and it shows their back.

I'm actually not too sure as to why they would only do that for the few second scenes, but I'm thinking it's because of the fact that when you pan out the camera and it shows so many people riding on their bicycle, it's actually really hard to coordinate the timing for the movements of the head, arms and legs (and not to mention - hair). On top of that, since it actually shows many difference character, who are riding with different movements, it's actually hard to get the timing correct.

But of course, for sports anime whose movements of the limbs are crucial, 3D animation makes it a lot smoother. This applies to action anime too. As most of you know that during these few seasons, many of the animation uses 3D during their action scenes or well, specific scenes which require a lot of movement (this includes anime like Divine Gate and Phantasy Star Online). Which brings me to my next point - selective 3D animation.

_________________________

Selective 3D animation seems to be the trend in anime these 2 seasons. Since they still want to preserve that traditional 2D animation, yet still want the quality of fast paced movements to be there. A number of animes can be listed off the bat, but I'd be focusing on Rokka no Yuusha.

In Rokka no Yuusha, the monsters (which are also known as 'kyo' or 'fiends') are 3D animated, while the rest of the anime is 2D animated.

Well I didn't care too much about this, because the monsters didn't really play a huge role in the anime, and don't have a lot of screen time. But it really bothered me when there was more character-monster interaction. And the contrast between the 2 when put side by side, was just unsightly.

But on the other hand, I liked the consistency of making all the monsters 3D animated. So I don't really know which is better - using 2D animation for this monster or continue with the 3D animation.

_________________________

Next is full 3D animation, and these are the how anime may look like in the future if everyone decides to using 3D animation instead of 2D. There have been a few 3D animated anime like God Eater and Ajin. But since I have yet to watch God Eater, I'll be talking about Ajin.

Well I don't really have anything against 3D animation, because I really liked movies like Final Fantasy. But for this animation, I don't think I can say it's nice. Instead of giving the anime more life, I feel like it's actually worst off compared to a normal 2D animation - it actually looks a lot flatter. I think this is mainly because of the style of colouring and highlights, it really lacks that depth which 3D needs in order for it to look nice.

Unlike the American animation, they don't actually layer on texture onto the characters and things itself, instead they just colour it normally. So it doesn't really look as glamorous. In addition, the character movements were stiff and it didn't look very natural. This is probably because they are actually using 3D models and moving them, while smooth and natural movement requires motion capture of a moving human being. But whether a not using 3D animation was for the better or worst, I wouldn't know.

But if Japanese 3D animation is going to be heading towards what we see in american movies like Good Dinosaur, I must say I'm looking forward to it, but if it's going to remain in this level, then I don't think changing it for the better. 

_________________________

As we all know, vocaloid has been a huge influence in Japan, because of Miku's popularity, and has also been gaining popularity in other foreign countries. And they have been holding vocaloid concerts, with vocaloids (mostly Miku) being displayed on a large screen and a live band.

Well this Miku hologram is made based on capturing motions made by a real dancing person and then used as 3D animation to make her look as real as possible. Even all their games have a 3D dancing miku. With this, I think that it has spread more ideas on how to use 3D animation, especially seeing how influential Miku is in Japan.

_________________________

But the biggest and most important reason is probably because of the lack of budget animation companies have.

Ever since the rise of the internet and free online videos, the animation group has been seeing a decline in sales and revenue of animation DVDs and CDs. The amplifying of the sale prices of the DVDs are actually backfiring and lesser people are buying it because it's just too expensive. Why would viewers spend a bomb on raw Blueray DVDs (they cost around 60 SGD for 2 episodes) when they can get free Subbed, high quality videos online? As such the revenues earned are dropping and the budget is decreasing.

In 2D animation, the amount of effort put into each frame is very costly, to the point where animators are not getting paid enough, as each frame has to be hand drawn over and over again just to make a few seconds of animation. So to cut down on the amount spend on animating, they use 3D animation which only needs the creation of the individual pieces, after which they can be reused as many times needed. Compared to the 2D animation which needs to get redrawn over and over again. Basically it's a lot more efficient and less costly to use 3D animation as compared to 2D animation.

As to whether 3D animation would replace 2D animation, I think it's up to the fans to decide.

Durarara!! x2 Shou Ep 4.5: Watashi no Kokoro wa Nabe Moyou

Basically this special episode was from where they left off at episode 4, whereby they decided to hold a hot pot party after Celty and Anri were trying to learn cooking.

I was actually thinking what kind of weird special episode were they going to put up, but I ended up loving this episode more than any episode in the main series.

This episode is mainly about past stories which happened between friends, and how their relationship actually came about. Though they only got to talk more about Ryuugamine, Anri and Shizuo. I was actually really interested in knowing how Dota-cchin and his gang came about, but guess they didn't have time for that.

_____________________________________

So for starters, obviously they have got to start with the 2 main characters - Ryuugamine and Masaomi.

Though it was said before from the beginning that they were both childhood friends before Masaomi had to moved to Ikebukuro, they didn't actually tell us how close they were before. So at last, here comes the moment of truth.

The flashback starts with Masaomi going to Ryuugamine's house at 2am (which friend goes knocking on their friend's windows at 2am?!) and well, from the first scene you can tell that Masomi's personality had not changed since then. Though his appearance was from before he dyed his hair blonde.

Young Ryuugamine was also the same as before - hating violence, and trying to stop people from doing the wrong things even though he can't fight.

Well, as expected their voice actors were different, though I did spot Terashima's voice (Togusa's voice actor) in the midst of everything.

_____________________________________

Secondly it was Anri and Harima Mika. Well they did mention before from the start that they both knew each other, and Anri was frantically trying to find Mika when she went missing in the first few episodes of season 1. However after all that, there was only a brief mention that they knew each other. So to what extend their relationship was, was kind of a mystery.

But now it's unfolded that Mika actually saved Anri from a bunch of bullies, and their relationship grew from there when they started hanging out together.

Though expected, both their personality didn't change since then. Anri was still that shy girl who doesn't talk much, and Mika is still a happy go lucky and high tension girl.

_____________________________________

Thirdly is our long waited Shizuo and Tom's story. There was an episode in season 1 (ep 12 I think) which was about Shizuo and his life story - mostly about how he came to be so strong, and how his fight with Izaya started. In that episode, there was a little missing piece which was skipped; which was when did he actually met Tom-san.

It was mentioned before that Tom-san was his senpai, so when he invited Shizuo to go work for him, he just accepted it. But as to how he came about to know Tom-san was a mystery itself. Because it was honestly a hard think imagining Shizuo knowing a senpai from school that easy, especially because I doubt he is in any clubs.

While telling us the story about Shizuo and Tom-san, they actually also told us about how Shizuo's blonde hair came about (I honestly just took it as he just decided to dye it one day, and left it at there). Apparently it was Tom's idea that Shizuo dyed his hair so that people would avoid him. Though when Tom first suggested this, Shizuo was against it saying "I shouldn't dye the hair which my parents gave me." (Awww, Shizu is such a cutie pie).

_____________________________________

Well, so ending the story about Shizuo and Tom-san they were just about to get into knowing more about Dota-cchin and his gang, but...

Well Yumasaki decided to use his awesome Otaku-ness to do a flashback, well while we can never be sure how true his story his (minus the random butler setting), Karisawa decided to turn it into a fujoushi material. And, well, somehow it ended up with random anime cross references - (from the left) Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Ryo-Kyu-Bu! And then it all ended with Dota-cchin being angry.

I'm guessing they are having Index and Misaki grab onto Dota-cchin was because he did mention before that even though he doesn't really like anime-related stuff, he really likes the light novel for To Aru Majutsu no Index. So we have Index grabbing onto his left arm, and sine To Aru Kagaku no Railgun is kind of like a side story (more like an alternative setting) for Index, we have Misaki grabbing onto Dota-cchin's right arm.

_____________________________________

When Shinra heard them talk about random childhood memories, he decided that he wanted to share with them more about him and Celty, but then it was cut short because Celty said she couldn't really remember, though she was just lying because it was too embarrassing.

Being desperate Shinra wanted to call Izaya up to reinforce his memories, but was stopped by Dota-cchin because Shizuo was there.

If only Izaya was there then we could have another Izaya - Shizuo moment again, though Shinra's apartment would be... gone, for good.

Well, I'm really hoping that there would be more episodes like this, especially when they decide to talk more about the main few cast. Somehow it makes me feel nostalgic too.

Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/30187/Sakurako-san_no_Ashimoto_ni_wa_Shitai_ga_Umatteiru

Name: Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru 櫻子さんの足下には死体が埋まっている Beautiful Bones -Sakurako's Investigation-

Status: Completed
Episode: 12
Release Date (for eng subs): Every Friday

Summary:

Shoutarou Tatewaki, a high schooler living in Asahikawa City, Hokkaido, meets Sakurako Kujou, a bone-loving ojou-san who has an ability to analyze specimen. Because of meeting her, he has to accompany her to various cases.

Summary Source: MAL News

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/30187/Sakurako-san_no_Ashimoto_ni_wa_Shitai_ga_Umatteiru

________________________________________

Personal Ratings: 3.1 / 5

Idea: 3.5 / 5
I liked how they played with the title of the anime. There is a famous saying in Japan that “underneath the sakura tree, lay dead bodies” (smth like that), and naming the show in relation to that famous saying just perks the interest of viewers.

I didn’t expect this anime to be the typical kind of mystery shows. I really thought that it would be an out of the box new type of anime. So I was pretty disappointed when I first watched this. But that being said, I actually enjoyed all the mysteries, and after watching this, I suddenly had this urge to keep dig out all my mystery anime and re watch them. So I do think that it is a very good mystery show. On top of that, I did think that the way certain mysteries are made was different from the norm - it doesn’t always involve people dying (like detective conan).

Execution:

Development: 3.5 / 5

I liked how this plot takes the development step by step with each mystery, and how it all end up as one huge case by itself.

Though, I did felt that the mysteries are not completed. Even though they may solve the main problem in the murder, some other point in the shows are not completely answered.

In episode 2, the room of the murdered mother, was found to be filthy and filled with garbage bin. Until the end, they didn’t explained why it was this messy and dirty. Also, they later they said that those were not garbage, but things like unopened canned food which expired. Why would the mother keep something like that?

While it maybe true that the whole motive and purpose of this show is purely just to solve murders based on the bone structures of a human being, I feel that there should be a reason as to why certain things happened, and even if it may not be connected to Sakurako’s deduction process, they should tell us the completed story (maybe they can do that after the ending song).

Emotions: 2.5 / 5

Although the mystery side of the anime was really well done, and very in depth, I felt they were missing on the emotional side of the story. The foundation of the character development wasn’t really there, though I liked how they didn’t throw away characters. The more psychology aspect of the anime wasn’t really there.

During the episodes about the family curse, the grandma’s painting and grandma’s death, and also the last episode about the parting between the two. I didn’t really feel that emotional attachment to any of the character, and felt that they could amplify the intensity of certain scenes. But so far, I really liked how they are going with the story about the serial killer. I feel that I can expect a lot more in the future (if they have a 2nd season - no, wait, - they MUST have a 2nd season).

Planning: 3 / 5
I think that this story was pretty well planned; having all the small cases link to one huge case, and that gradual increase in the involvement of each case held the whole anime together.

Main Character Development: 3 / 5

The only evident character development here is Sakurako-san herself. Though I did feel that there were some inconsistencies with certain traits of her, I can definitely see the character development.

As for Shoutarou, he feels like a character created just for Sakurako to mourn about her little brother. Although at first I really felt that there could be a great development for his character, In the end there wasn’t much development in his character.

Side Character Development: 3.5 / 5

Like some anime out there, this anime picks certain side characters and actually continue to develop them after their cases are solved, and they all play a part in developing the main characters.

I actually liked how they used the characters to link the stories together. It makes the whole movement of the story really smooth, while guiding our train of thoughts together with the storyline.

Seiyuu: 3 / 4
I don't think I was particularly surprised by the cast at all, but I really liked Shizuka's voice (voice actor of Sakurako) here. I think she fits Sakurako down to the bone. It was perfect - her personality, behavior and aura, all nailed. Though sometimes I feel that she was way too consistent with her voice - like there was nothing special about it. But I still really enjoyed listening to her voice.

Enoki on the other hand is a pretty newbie seiyuu (Shoutarou's voice actor). I didn't think he stood out or anything but I guess pretty fitting for Shoutarou. Though I feel that he lacks that natural feel to the character.

As for the side character, some of them I've already about guess which voice actors would act them before they open their mouths, and some of them are really veteran.


OST: 0/1

The OST used here, was pretty nice. They had their trademark music going on when Sakurako does her deductions, like what most mystery shows would have. Even though the music itself is really beautiful, I still feel the lack of emotional attachments in the music themselves.

________________________________________

Art Ratings: 3.5

In terms of animation, I liked it. almost all the scenes were perfectly animated, and the art was beautiful. But not in an outstanding level. In the end there wasn’t really any special colour or trait which they used in their animation to elevate their story line. It was just simply a very nice art and smooth animation.

________________________________________

Similar Animes:

Psycho Pass

In a way I do feel that this story resembles Psycho Pass a lot; in terms of the setting and the genre they picked. Both have a fair share of mystery and psychology. The only huge difference is that Psycho Pass is an action and political-based anime, while Sakurako is set in a slice of life style of anime.

Gosick

They both don't follow the typical mystery style of anime where by the main character is a detective him/herself. However, their setting and story style are both very different. While Gosick is set in a foreign country in a different era, Sakurako-san is set in the modern world.

Kamisama no Memochou

Both similar in the sense that both of them have similar types of cases where it isn't necessary that a person is dead before the case is being investigated. Their settings are the same, but in different age - Sakurako-san dosen't involve high school life. Sakurako-san has a better mystery story line because of the evidence and knowledge background, while Kamisama no Memochou is more on situation-based facts and is more similar to Hyouka.

________________________________________

Recommended for:

Gender: Male & Female

Age: 13 and above

My Ratings: PG-13

Recommended Anime: Winter 2016

Winter 2016

Shoujo:
Akagami no Shirayuki Hime 2
*Nijirou days
Prince of Stride: Alternative
**Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Shounen:
Ajin
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2
**Boku Dake ga Inai Machi
Durarara!! x2 Ketsu
Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri 2
*Hai to Gensou no Grimgar


On-going from Autumn 2015

Shounen:
Haikyuu 2


View List of Recommended animes here: http://strawberryshortcake-reviews.blogspot.com/p/recommened-animes.html

* Highly Recommended for this season (Sequels not included)

Yowamushi Pedal

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/18179/Yowamushi_Pedal

Name: Yowamushi Pedal 弱虫ペダル
Sequel: Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road
Side-Story: Yowamushi Pedal: Special Ride

Status: Completed
Episode: 38 + 24 (grande road)
Release Date (for eng subs): -

Summary:

Otaku Sakamichi Onoda has just entered high school and plans to join the anime club. In middle school, Onoda didn’t have any friends with whom he could talk about anime, games, Akihabara and other otaku things, and he is hoping he can make such friends in the anime club, but he finds out it's been disbanded. In order to reestablish the club he tries to find 4 other people who would like to join.

Since he was a little boy, Onoda has ridden his mamachari—a bulky bicycle with a step-through frame mainly used for short rides, such as for casual fun or to pick up groceries—to go to Akihabara every week to check out or buy otaku things. Fellow freshman Shunsuke Imaizumi and bicyclist, while training, notices a boy (Onoda) riding his mamchari up a steep road.

Freshman and road racing cyclist, Shokichi Naruko visits Akihabara to get some Gundam plastic models for his younger brothers and meets Onoda who catches his attention because of the his cycling skill on the mamachari and later find out they go to the same school. Later on, both Naruko and Imaizumi try to convince him to join the bicycle racing club, but will he?

Summary: http://myanimelist.net/anime/18179/Yowamushi_Pedal

Personal Ratings: 3.5

Idea: 4 / 5

Yes, sports animes are really mainstream and cliche in the anime world, but I have never come across a cycling sports anime. But I guess the recent trend for bikes and wheels have been increasing, thus giving birth to this anime and manga.

The starting of this anime was pretty unique - unlike a lot of other sports anime out there - yet there is still that little bit of cliché in it. It’s a very intense sports anime, but at the same time it incorporates that slice of life genre into the anime.

Overall, when I compare this anime with other sports anime out there, it follows the cliché path down to the little details, yet adding in other elements into the anime to help it go that one step further.

Execution:

Development: 4.5 / 5

This anime slowly introduces the sports cycling to the viewers. Unlike most sports anime; like baseball, soccer, tennis, etc. Cycling, in Japan (and maybe some other countries), is not known as a sport, but more of a mode of transport. So introducing cycling as a sport from the point of view of a normal typical high school Japanese student, who – like many others – uses a bicycle as a typical mode of transport, and slowly explaining to us the difference between the two, really guides the viewers along. Many other sports anime out there lack this thorough explanation, simply because they just assume that viewers already know the rules of the game because it’s so popular. But this foundation actually sets a firm ground for the understanding of the whole anime. Competitions, and basically anytime they cycle on a road racer, are made even more captivating just by this.

This anime has a slow build up, and takes each stage and each step in chronological order. Partly due to cycling’s competition nature, which allows them to do this. They are able to take a step into the different stages of training, and then into the competition itself. In most sports anime, there are a lot of times where competition (matches) and trainings are alternate. However, because cycling only has that one competition, at allows the anime to have that chronological progress.

Emotions: 2.5 / 5

I guess the emotional part for this anime is quite ok. There were parts where u feel the hype and the tension of the characters, but I feel that it still pales in comparison to the better emotional sports anime out there like Ace of Diamonds and Haiykuu. I think that there were many parts which could have had better expressiveness. 

Especially the emotional scenes during the race. I think the main reason why they don't have that emotional impact is because of the pace of the anime and the tension of the characters. The pace of the anime is kept fairly constant, which causes viewers to lose their focus on the anime. The tension of the characters are kept relatively the same, and mainly follows the cliche paths from the mainstream style. So, viewers are already expecting whats to come next, thus the level of emotion goes down.

Planning: 2.5 / 5

Of course, like any other sports anime out there, there is that lack of the flow of proper logic throughout the whole race. Things like stamina didn’t really add up at the end of the race, and each race was a close match, despite all the huge problems and large gaps.

For the first sprinting checkpoint in the first stage, I really didn’t think that they should make Izumida that strong - after all beating Tadokoro despite not being the best sprinter doesn’t make sense as to how anyone else could have beat Shinkai.

Then there is this thing with Midousuji. Logically speaking, he should have been just a little better than Imaizumi, judging from their past races results. But in the race the whole time, Midousuji was like some kind of god - he never get tired despite having race by himself in many checkpoints.

For the enemies in the race is also another problem. Apart from Midousuji, I do not believe that there isn’t any other contestant who are not able to compete with Hakogakou. Certainly there would be other good school from the past contest that had a close match with the campaigns - like the mystery school that won 2nd the last competition.

I did think that the sudden competition with Hiroshima was quite sudden. It felt like they were such an unknown school with no screen time before that, and all of a sudden they appear and disrupt the whole match at the beginning of the 3rd day. I hope that in the 3rd season of this anime, they would appear again.

Main Character Development: 3 / 5

In my eyes, there wasn't really much character development for Onoda, mainly because there isn't much change since the first episode. The only thing that changed was not his personality, but his cycling knowledge.

Of course, along the way there were some development and slight changes due to the situation and the other club member’s words. I feel that even the other side characters has more development than him. But I’m looking forward to the next season, where I hope they would show us more development in his character.

The development for each character doesn’t follow any order; but it being in a random order makes it a lot more exciting and unexpected. Though I did feel that there was some inconsistent development of characters. They seem to only wait to the character’s episode before developing their characters, but I feel that the constant build up of development would be a lot more suitable for this anime - especially for the characters that matter. Most of the characters are pretty much unheard or go unnoticed for most of the anime before they actually decided to use them a section of the race - e.g. Shinkai. But in the end I still felt that they did make it the right choice to select certain characters to develop along the way.

I realised that in this anime, each and everyone of the characters have their own phrase which they always say. It can be a double edge sword; having them do this really reinforce their personalities, and make it easier for the viewers to understand each character within a short period of time, especially for such sports anime which many different characters. Of course seeing it for the first time, it didn’t really felt like such a huge fault, but after watching it for the second time, I realised that doing such thing can really make the anime a little stale - it becomes boring, because there is very little in depth development of the characters.

Side Character Development: 3 / 5

Their characters were really created well. Each and everyone of them have that charm point, but I did feel that the main characters lacked more in comparison to Hakogakou, which is really ironic. Like how Manami has his beautiful glass wings, etc.

Hakogakou - to me - was much better team than the main team. I really didn’t like how they kept introducing new “problems” with occur within the team. And it didn’t make sense for them to win despite all those problems which they occurred in the race.

I did feel that Hakogakou overall stood out a lot more because of the amazing storyline and development behind it. The main characters just pales in comparison. Especially because Hakogakou’s developments occurs during the race and not before, makes it a lot more impactful.

While I did feel that Manami was a character created just for Onoda, I really like the competition between the two of them at the end of the anime.

As for Midousuji’s character. I did think that they picked the right timing to develop his story. Just when the viewers are getting annoyed with his personality and tactics, suddenly dropping a really touching story about him just really makes it unexpected. But I did think that it had more potential to move people more. Especially about the bike (I noticed it’s the same bike that he first bought).

Seiyuu: 4 / 4

I think one of the best choices for this anime was Naruko's voice actor - Fukushima Jun, Manami's voice actor - Yonaga Tsubasa and Midousuji Akira - Yusa Kouji. 

I've known Yonaga and Yusa from many other roles they play in, and I was already loving Yonaga's voice a lot. But yet again in this anime, he surprises me with his voice acting skills. I've never really heard Yonaga use his lower voice in voice acting throughout the whole show. And his voice just matches Manami so well, that it was so natural. Many of the times while I was watching the anime, I find myself getting more and more captivated by Manami because of Yonaga's voice.

Yusa-san on the other hand, I thought I was already very familiar with his voice, because he has a very unique voice, and you can easily identify him. But I've honestly never come across Yusa-san voice acting a psychological character - and a pretty crazy one at that. It was totally different, and it didn't cross my mind that Yusa-san was the one voice acting Midousuji. A very good job indeed; I really love how he was able to portray that level of craziness and creepiness from Midousuji.

Fukushima Jun, on another hand was some one that I didn't know before this. He hasn't really played many roles yet, but he is definitely a natural Naruko. His accent was also pretty clean and powerful. 

Art Ratings: 4.5

Anime art is definitely a lot nicer than the manga art for this series. Overall the character's body types and proportions are kept more to the realistic side.

I liked how there is a mixture of different types of character design for this anime. There is the mainstream anime boys design - Onoda, Naruko, Manami, etc. And then there is also the more funky looking characters - Makishima, Toudou, etc.

I can see that for certain scenes they use a 3D (or motion, whichever you call it) animation and most of the scenes in their usual normal format. Like I always say, I really don't like it when they mix the two types of animation together, because there is an obvious difference between the two of them when you mix when together. But for this, the 3D was really kept the the minimum, and there wasn't really much they could do when they want to show the detailed cycling motion.

Recommended for:

Gender: Male & Female

Age: 13 and above

My Ratings: PG