Adieu, adieu; parting is such sweet sorrow. Aharen-san‘s anime adaptation is over. I am no longer required to maintain the blog’s weekly reviews. This allows me to be fully open about my thoughts and feelings, without worrying about future content.
Episode 12 Synopsis
Finally, the nature of Aharen’s and Raidou’s relationship is revealed. A touching end to an otherwise uneventful school year between two mysterious people. They also host a tea party, and they grow flowers.
Actual Review
We will start with the last episode, before we go through the entire thing. Not that anyone who has read the whole thing is missing much. Episode 12 is similar to anime’s “dramatic ending” attempts. It features blunt communication of emotions and a more serious tone of finality. Aharen-san did this in Episode 11 to a mostly positive result. It was the fact that the episode brought the couple closer together, even though they had been stuck together for nine episodes. Instead of asking questions like a normal person, ask anime. You are welcome to anime.
This finale, perhaps as a joke or omission, decided to reverse the relationship between the main couple and revert it to the time before the camping trip. Ooshiro presses Raidou to confess his true feelings for Aharen and they finally “truly” begin a romantic relationship. It’s a mystery to me why they didn’t address this earlier than the finale. However, a cynical view suggests that it must be in the finale.
See also: When Will Lycoris Recoil Episode 11: Release date?
Disclaimer: I don’t remember if this was the way it was handled in manga. I believe the camping trip established their relationship status. They simply spoke about it when asked rather than Ooshiro making it into an anime-esque duel. I’d criticize the manga if the anime simply took the manga as it is.
The episode’s events are on autopilot, except for the 10-minute scenario. Raidou creates many exaggerated scenarios about Aharen’s behavior. It almost feels like an attempt to call back to the more traditional formula that anime used. Aharen attempts to show appreciation for those around her. Even the teachers, who were rarely shown to her at all during the series. It was kind of strange. Certain things are not subject to change in this medium.
A series-ending festival of cheerfulness, which doesn’t harness much energy unless one truly loved the series. Aharen, Raidou and Ooshiro, if not mentioned, are horribly underdeveloped. The attempts at humor are extremely hit-or-miss. There’s also a lot of presumed closeness that is not shown in detail.
This is what I think killed the adaptation. It was a lack of direction. We are expected to accept the situation as it is. Emotionally stimulating moments can only be seen in the context of the main two. They are also featured in a lot of screentime and have an affinity for each other. While others don’t have the same benefit, they are treated as a “close-knit” group even though they aren’t.
The animation is also quite poor. While the animation is decent in most aspects, it’s not great. One will have to accept the mediocre character models and animation throughout. Felix Film, the studio responsible for this project, was established in 2014. Their lack of experience is evident. They have previously worked on the Nekopara anime adapt(s), and assisted with Daitoshokan, and Urasekai Piknic. This is not a very impressive history. Although it was cliché, this shot was cute.
The anime was not particularly bad, at least in my opinion. Vocal performances were generally excellent, with Takuma Terashima, perhaps best known for Shiroe in Log Horizon, as Raidou my personal favorite. Although many of the characters were deliberately monotoned, there was plenty of opportunity for them to exaggerate their tones depending on the situation. Raidou’s audible panic when a child threatened to call the police on him for “harassment” was very enjoyable.
All this information is now clear. I have spoken out many times about how anime extends jokes to ridiculous levels, effectively ruining them before the punchline gets to them. Aharen-san‘s humor is more suited to a fast-paced approach, and the manga makes it easy for readers to read at their own pace. It also has better art.
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Also Read:Fanfare Of Adolescence Episode 13 review and Ending Explained: What’s happened?
Conclusion
If you are at all interested in the series, read the manga. There are many technical issues that make the anime less effective in terms of humor and charm. Although I don’t think the manga is a masterpiece, it makes for an enjoyable package. This is a dull movie with poor animation, slapstick humor, and a poorly developed supporting cast.