Review of Sakura Trick

Sakura Trick (2014)
5/10
Fuwa fuwa time
20 April 2016
(+10 points if you got that reference without looking it up).

What I'm trying to say is; the show is fluffy. But sadly, only that; fluff.

This was my first time watching something of the "yuri" genre, being redirected here from another sappy, but enjoyable show. Curious to see how they would handle a girl-girl scenario without turning it into hentai smut, I decided to give it a shot. But before I started I lowered my expectations, foreseeing plenty of pitfalls. I guess it turned out better than I feared, but not as good as I hoped.

The show often seems like a badly written fanfic, with scenes that feel very artificial. "Oh no, I've tripped and now I'm touching your boobies! Oh well, let's make out." Perhaps not that bad, but not by much. Not to say it doesn't have its sweet moments, it does, but overall it just doesn't feel natural. The protagonists' first kiss feels rushed and forced. What follows are tired scenarios to create opportunities for them to kiss again (with a quota of 1 per episode), and a bit of story squeezed in between.

Said story doesn't have much substance. There is no sense of progression, all relationships more or less stay the same between the first and last episode. There is no tension, no real hurdles to overcome. There is a bit of a story arc involving the older sister, but the situation is pretty much held in stasis the entire length of the show, not affecting the main characters, and then quickly resolved the last 20 minutes or so. It just goes from one fluffy moment to the next. The show's storyboard must have consisted of Hallmark cards.

Sure, the girls are cute. Some more than others. Ironically I found the two main characters the least appealing (both felt rather bland and the smaller one (Yuu) got on my nerves by acting like a petulant child most of the time. Were they going for a Lolita vibe? Or perhaps the show just subscribes to the idea that invoking "moe" means adding a touch of mental disability) while the characters I enjoyed the most were those with the least amount of focus on them; Kaede and Clementine - oops, sorry, I mean Yuzu.

The girls are innocent, unfortunately the show considerably less so. Starting with the opening credits, followed by a continuous series of shameless crotch-shots and views of bouncing bosoms throughout the series, the show tries very hard to undermine the very innocence that is supposed to be core of the story.

The humorous portion of the show is entertaining, but fails to hit the mark a bit too often. Luckily it features some nice animation, with the occasional quirk in storytelling, keeping the show fresh. This is probably the saving grace which made me finish watching the series.

I ended up watching the whole series, but objectively can't give it more than a 5/10. But still, if you're in the mood for some pink, aimless fluff (and some gentle girl-on-girl action), go ahead and give it a shot.
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