Coming from the creator of White Album,  Maruto Fumiaki it is without any doubt that Saenai will contain a lot of fluff material to move it along.  The harem genre is quite popular with this author and I’m curious to see how he’s going to shift away from this style with the original animated work Classroom Crisis.

Saenai  utilizes various female characters and classify them in different “moe” roles all based around the male lead of the story.  It’s a generic setup where the follow through is very creative.  It’s a sly narrative jab at portraying a slice-of-life school setting about a high-school otaku that wants to create the very scenario he’s living out.  Without even realizing it himself!

Eriri is a yandere–  she is soft and cute on the outside but on the inside is a twisted ecchi doujin writer that strikes Tomoya even at the slightest perverted glance.  Her personality ultimately solidifies her part in creating the Blessing Software doujin game.  Utaha is on the other end of the spectrum–  she’s a mayadere and a kuudere rolled into one.  She seeks approval and praise from Tomoya but will make a game out of it for him–  most of what we’ve seen between the relationship between Tomoya and her has been an intellectual torment.  I’m really glad the mangakan didn’t sideline life outside of doujin creation because there are so many layers of these characters that can be tossed around that can go wonderfully right or horribly wrong.

A-1 Pictures nod to SHAFT can greatly be seen especially here where there is this combination between heavy-combatant witty dialogue with subtle tongue-and-cheek conversations that seem forcefully restrained.  Tomoya being the chosen reviewer of Utaha’s romance works is undeniable proof that this show is indeed neglecting this even further.  It’s as if Sanaei is deliberately avoiding strong sensual expectations from these girls–  this does in fact work out decently.  However, this style could end up being stale if its overused especially when we’re working with a 1-cour series.  It’s also been recently announced that Sanaei will be receiving a second season.  Switching scenarios up will be crucial in making this series “less boring”.

Tomoya becomes flustered when he sees Megumi with another young man–  his realistic motivation in establishing her as the true heroine of his game [or life in this sense]  is clearly into focus considering how he backs this up by asking her out on a date!

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 7/10

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