The Pet Girl of Sakurasou

Within this genre there are plenty of inspiring shows about finding a passion and committing yourself. About pouring all your energy and entire being into something, about the joy of creating something together. And this is another one of those shows. But what sets it apart is that it also deals with, after all that effort, being confronted with failure. Because of this distinguishing perspective (plus the fact that it's simply an all-round well-executed show), it deserves to be on your to-watch list.

Plenty of room is made for romance, or at least the way to a romantic relationship. Looking at the premise and after the first few episodes you might be reminded of other unsymmetrical relationships such as seen in "Clannad" (done badly imo), or "Toradora!" (done very well). Though the show can be classified as a romantic comedy, the romance, though prominent, is secondary to the other themes. That being said, it's handled gracefully and in tune with the bigger theme.

It features a cast of diverse characters, each of them providing a unique perspective and adding something to the whole and each with plenty of depth to explore. Each character and his/her story is unfolded at a good pace, never feeling rushed or forced, and in such a way the individual stories feel intertwined.

The interactions and emotional displays are not always subtle. Of course, it doesn't always need to be. To keep things light you sometimes want some comic book-style expressions. But in this case, at times, at moments where I felt subtlety was called for, lack thereof lessened the impact of said moments. When it matters most the show is still very engrossing and moving, but at times it could have used a bit more subtlety, be a bit more trusting of the audience to be perceptive and empathetic.

There's quite a bit of fan-service in the first few episodes. To draw in the viewers, I'm guessing. As I'm watching more anime, I'm starting to build an immunity to it. If it's your cup of tea, enjoy. If not, don't worry; as the show progresses the focus shifts to more important matters and you'll be less harassed by needless cleavage and panty-shots.

The show may need a few episodes to grow on you (it did for me anyway), so be sure to give it that chance.

Has everything..you want to see ... friendship..love.. jealousy when friends go ahead as well as the sense of competition... everything...just watch it and you'll know what I'm talking about...atlast.... I'm gonna say it's great.

Loved it, everything is perfect & yes indeed all the novels need to be covered we NEED a SECOND SEASON :)

U know what when u realize that there is someone for u to take care,to talk,to make fun,to encourage and lastly to love u will feel like the most happiest person in the world...and that person here is Kanda Sorata...but finally i thought that he would have confessed with Shiina but unfortunately it ened with a kiss..From this anime i assure that u will end up with tears at the last..

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is a kind of odd mix. It's a slice-of-life romcom mixture that wants to be funny pretty much all the time, with a somewhat serious undertone. It has its share of outstanding qualities, but unfortunately fails to keep a healthy balance between silliness and seriousness.

The cast diversity is definitely there. All characters have very individual and unique traits which make you feel that every single one of them, despite their oddness, have their purpose and their right to be. It's making a great case for individualism in the otherwise highly conformist Japanese society. It's just... too much over the top. Many characters are exaggerated to a level where it just seems silly. And so become their interactions.

Another slightly disturbing imbalance is the amount of artificially created 'ecchi' moments and intentional innuendos, while the characters struggle even with the most basic displays of emotions. It is not unusual for this type of show, but the discrepancy in those behaviours was, in my opinion, a little too much.

While the storytelling and the animation itself are nothing out of the ordinary and the exaggerated silliness of the show make it hard to immerse or relate, two qualities struck me as outstanding:

1. The soundtrack. Not too aggressive, subtle and beautiful at the right moments.

2. The localization. I watched the show on Netflix, Japanese audio with German subs. But only the subtitles showed a great attention to detail and use a lot of 'urban' and common language. Also the overlay of textual passages, documents, books right in the video was done with a great attention to detail and seamlessly integrated into the overall frame. Not many Japanese shows put that much effort into making them accessible for foreign audiences.

Tl;dr: An overall good, silly and fun rom-com show with certain strengths and weaknesses. Decent watch but not outstanding imo.