Dreams and Failure: The Pet Girl of Sakurasou Review

Being an artist is difficult. Ignoring the fact that art is hard to do in the first place, there’s always that lingering feeling of inferiority to other artists. I feel like this all the time with my writing, as there’s always those writers I feel I’ll never be better than. I of course quickly shut myself up, as that’s not inherently true. But for others, that feeling never goes.

This is exactly what we’re shown in The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, or Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo in Japanese. It was produced by J.C. Staff and was directed by Atsuko Ishizuka, who recently directed No Game No Life, who knew? It’s a romance anime that focuses on the life of the residents of Sakura Hall, and the many troubles they face. And damn do they face troubles.

Story

Sorata Kanda really wants to leave Sakura Hall. Because he kept a cat in the regular dorm without the officials knowing, he was forced to go live in Sakura Hall, a dorm known for housing many eccentric figures, all with their own talents. Sorata, however, seemingly has no talent. He does eventually try to get into game design, but started out with nothing to him.

The anime starts with Sorata being told by the dorm advisor Chihiro Sengoku to go pick up her cousin Mashiro Shiina, who is transferring to their school all the way from England. When he finds Mashiro, she asks him a strange, yet important question.

“What color are you?”

Sorata takes Mashiro back to the dorms, and he feels that he’s made a bad impression on Shiina, that she must think of him as being as crazy as everyone else in Sakura Hall. That is until he see’s Shiina’s room the very next day, which looks like a tornado affected her clothes and her clothes only, and that she’s sleeping naked under desk covered by clothes. Oh yeah, and that she’s an aspiring manga artist. It turns out that Mashiro cannot take care of herself at all, and knows almost nothing about common sense at all. Sorata is forced to help her get ready every morning, and the stage for this roller coaster of a story is set.

The story for The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is a damn unique one. I haven’t seen a more unique story, even Heaven’s Memo Pad’s isn’t as unique as this (Obvious exaggeration is obvious). When was the last time you’ve seen a story about the lives and romances in an eccentric dormitory for an art school that touches upon issues like talent gaps and depression from repeated failure. I have not seen anything of the sort other than this. Actually, now that I think of it, Hidamari Sketch is a happier version of that…

Before I go into the themes I mentioned, let’s go back to Mashiro’s question. Sorata answered with iridescent, but what on Earth does that mean? Is it just one of Mashiro’s many ridiculous questions and statements, of which you could write a book of quotes for? No, of course not. The question’s too strange even for Mashiro. So, what does it mean? Well, that’s simple: “How are you feeling?” Colors are usually associated with feelings and moods, like red being mad, and blue being sad. So asking someone what color they are is a not-so-straightforward way of asking that question.

But what does an answer like “iridescent” mean? Well, iridescent, as Sorata described it, is a somewhat rainbowish color. It’s a weird color.

It’s that color you see in oil on pavement.

It’s incredibly random and confusing looking. And because it’s so confusing and strange, I think Sorata’s answer means that he’s not sure how he’s feeling; he doesn’t know what color he is. The way he is through the whole show only supports this, he seriously doesn’t know how he should be feeling in most situations. He goes from being depressed from a failure to feeling worse about what he said to Mashiro in his depressed state. He’s not sure how to feel, he knows even less about what he should do.

The story of The Pet Girl of Sakurasou goes over a very important problem in the creative industry: talent gaps. Talent gaps are simple, there is a huge gap between people with inborn talent and those with not much talent trying to get better. Most of the residents of Sakura Hall have lots of talent, and almost inordinate amount in fact. But there are also those who have a small amount of talent, heaps of potential, and lots of disappointing failures. Gaps in talent generally lead to something we don’t want creators doing, and that’s quitting. You see a person who is so full of talent you can never see yourself doing as well as them. That thought leads to quitting, and that’s the worst thing that can happen in this industry.

I cannot say I have not been plagued with this thought, I have countless times. But I have learned to stop myself when I thinkt hat. That’s what’s also learned in Sakurasou: if something is making you think to stop doing what you love, then shut yourself up and keep moving forward. There is nothing you can’t be good at creatively if you work hard at it, because even those with inborn talent had to learn how to do their craft. While that’s not clearly stated in Sakurasou, it is stated that the talented also struggle a lot. They have to deal with the pressure of their fans expecting more constantly, and expecting consistent quality from you.

Overall, Sakurasou is just a really good story. It flows extremely well, portrays a meaningful story flawlessly, and is just incredibly written. Nothing really can downplay it, except for maybe the love triangle. But love triangles are everywhere, and to be honest I don’t mind them. But to some people, love triangles are just awful, so that could be a problem, as this particular love triangle makes it so Sorata’s feelings are confusing sometimes (Just who the hell do you love?!). But sometimes you have to appreciate the literary significance the infamous love triangle has, as its been around for as long as romance/dramas have been.

Characters

Sorata Kanda, at first, is the character who least wants to be in Sakura Hall. Being, as I like to call him, the Over-reaction King, he tries to shun and hate the insanity of Sakura Hall, when in his mind he just doesn’t want to admit that he actually fits in perfectly. Sorata desires to be a game developer, and thus starts to work hard on pitches for a company to try to achieve this goal. What he tries to escape from, however, is the feeling of failure. To Sorata, failure is the worst and most painful feeling he could ever deal with. He experienced it once, and he never wants to experience it again. However, Sorata forgets he’s new to the industry, and in the industry, there is no such thing as “getting it on the first try.” And that leads to one of his problems in the anime that he has to solve, his inability to realize that he will fail. But that’s not his only problem. His other problem is his feeling of inferiority to Mashiro. When he discovers Mashiro’s past as a contemporary artist, we start notice that he sees himself as lower than Mashiro, and so starts to bash himself because of that. An important statement made in the show is that the super talented destroy all of those who are around them with their talent. Whether that’s true or not is a discussion for another day. This very notion is seen throughout the show with Sorata, and it takes an inordinate amount of time to get over it. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that after the show he still has that problem, because it’s not really possible to get rid of such worries as “Will I ever be as good as her?” if “her” is your lover.

Speaking of lover, let’s go on to Mashiro. I’m just so good at this transition game, aren’t I? (Don’t answer that)

Mashiro Shiina is, in short, my favorite character in the series. Out of the fucking way Nanami, Mashiro is the ultimate waifu in this show. So, back to being serious, why is Mashiro so great? Well, let me give you some background on something I like to call the “Anime Autistic Characters Theory”, or something I just made up while writing this. Basically, this theory analyzes any character who are shown to be amazing at what they do. It looks at the character and analyzes them for signs of Autism, like becoming great at something relatively quickly, and signs of difficulty in social situations. Yui from K-On is someone I accept as part of this theory, but mainly only because of how quickly she became good at playing guitar and her inability to do much else. She doesn’t have social problems at all. Well, sort of.

“Now what does any of this have to do with Mashiro? you may ask. Well, of all the characters I have tested with this theory (Which isn’t much, I must admit), Mashiro is the one to fit it the most. She’s only good at art and nothing else, as a lot of characters would fit with. Though, it is impressive that she went from the contemporary art style to the manga art style and managed to perfect both, while being in exhibits for painting and having a serialized manga at the same time. But it isn’t just that, she acts almost emotionless just about all the time. Mashiro rarely has a change in expression in this show other from her nondescript, difficult to read expression. When she gets thrown into social situations, she doesn’t know how to act and says things that can be taken out of context, and when she falls in love with Sorata she doesn’t know what she’s feeling, leading to her one day straight up asking him to “teach” her about love. She doesn’t understand feelings of guilt and depression, and has not felt the pain for failure. In a way, that is her problem, but it isn’t easy to solve a problem related to something you’ll never experience.

Mashiro wants to understand failure though. Whenever she sees someone feeling down about a failure, she doesn’t know what she can do to comfort them. When Mashiro Saw Sorata feeling down about the failure of his games pitch, she couldn’t say anything because she has never experienced that pain. She only failed a contest for her art once because she didn’t end it well, but she didn’t feel like she failed. The manga that lost the competition got picked up by a magazine and was serialized, so she didn’t fail. Does she learn about failure ever? I don’t know. Possibly she never did, she most like never failed again. But what do I know, it is possible.

Can we talk about Mashiro’s manga for a bit? Mashiro’s manga is called Nanohana Hall (Or Nanohanasou I assume), which already makes it obvious that it’s based off of Sakura Hall. This manga is important in reflecting Mashiro’s thoughts in the best way she can: through her art. In fact, her art is usually used to show how she feels about certain events that are transpiring, such as Sorata saying that he’ll leave Sakura Hall, which incidentally is the ending to Mashiro’s manga, except Sorata is a girl and not named Sorata. During the confusion about Misaki and Jin’s relationship, Mashiro says that in her manga they are together, but that she’s confused about what is really the case. As for the ending painting…well, I will not spoil it for you, but I’ll show you a glimpse of the scene for it.

I won’t get too spoilery, I promise!

Nanami Aoyama desires to be a voice actress. Her family doesn’t approve of her decision, so she stormed out of the house to Suimei, the school everyone goes to in the anime, to pursue her dream. Nanami is an incredibly independent girl to the point where she overworks herself. Nanami doesn’t accept any help from anyone, feeling that if she relies on others too much she will have to admit to her parents she can’t take care of herself, which would essentially shut down any other chances at becoming a voice actress.

If you think you know what Nanami’s problem is, then congrats! You get a catgirl cookie! Hell, I’ll even throw a whole catgirl into there! In all seriousness, it’s really clear what Nanami’s problem is if you think about it long enough. Nanami needs to accept help when it’s given or offered. He stubbornness get annoying to the other characters whenever they offer help, because most of the time she denies any offers (It’s annoying to me too, no matter how many times I watch this anime). It affects her later when she overworks herself and gets a high fever on the day of her voice acting school project. But despite that, it still takes a long time for Nanami to learn.

Misaki Kamiigusa is a third year student who as already tasted success when her animated short was aired on television and was adored by many. Misaki herself however is anything but a serious person. Misaki is an energetic girl who goes at everything with the intent to work hard, succeed and have fun in the process. She’s also just a tad bit insane and has no shame in how she acts, and she’s stubborn. She’s also in love with Jin Mitaka, who I’ll introduce later.

You know that stubbornness thing? Yeah, that’s her major problem. Miskai may show off her love to Jin, but when it comes to saying anything to him she refuses to. When she has the chance to talk to Jin for the first time in a while, she tries to back out. She refuses to look her true feelings in the eye, and instead tries to run from them.

“I start by thinking, ‘I need to tell Jin how I feel! I can’t live like this anymore!’ You understand? ‘But I’m scared. What if he rejects me?’ ‘Well I guess it’s not so bad the way things are now. I get to be with Jin…’ ‘But I want to be closer to Jin!’ ‘Jin’s dating other girls. What am I going to do if he goes away’ Which brings me right back here [Points at Teddy Bear marking the start]. I’ve probably gone through it a hundred times since middle school.”

-Misaki Kamiigusa.

She does this through the whole anime, to the point where she pretty much has to be smacked out of it. But when she breaks out of it, it really pays off.

Jin Mitaka is a playboy. Well that should get your attention. Jin also strives to be a scriptwriter that meets Misaki’s standards for her animes. He is one of the cases of inferiority in this anime, but rather than letting that get to him like Sorata, he instead uses it to drive him forward. This acceptance causes him to be a helpful character to Sorata, who usually goes to Jin for help throughout the anime, sometimes not even realizing it. Many of the anime’s events would not be possible without Jin’s advice actually. Sorata would have left Sakura Hall if not for Jin, even though in that case he was pushing Sorata to leave to make him think about what he actually wanted.

Jin is not without problems though. No, in fact he’s a highly problematic guy. Jin’s playboy nature stems from his love for Misaki. He never wants to hurt Misaki or do anything to her to ruin how she is to him, so he messes around with other women. At a later point in the anime, he attempts to withhold proposing to Misaki in an attempt to distance himself from her. His desire to keep things the same between them is what hurts Misaki, who just wants to be with Jin, and it hurts himself too.

Ryuunosuke Akasaka is a hikikomori (look it up) programming prodigy who only shows his face halfway through the anime when Nanami arrives at Sakura Hall, but was always present through his AI component Maid-chan. He likes tomatoes, is deathly terrified of women, and is harsh in his words. Ryuunosuke has the unresolved problem of always going for the simplest option no matter how terrible that option is. He also tends to be very rude and always seems to say what comes to his mind, as mean, untrue, or even true that is. His words though usually do have a good point to them, and in reality he means well with what he says. Sometimes.

Rita Ainsworth is the bane of Ryuunosuke’s existence. Well, he does get used to her, sort of. But what’s the fun in not saying something silly. Rita is Mashiro’s friend from England, and the first thing we see her try to do is take Mashiro back to England. Rita and Mashiro used to paint in the same studio together, which is a highly important plot point. Due to Mashiro’s artistic ability, the studio gradually lost more and more people, and Rita quit art because of that. The immediate issue we see with Rita is her denial of actually liking Mashiro, her denial of her own artistic ability. But through Ryuunosuke’s harsh words and Mashiro’s admittance to enjoying painting alongside her, Rita’s issue is resolved. Rita also fall in love with Ryuunosuke in the end, and their relationship is absolutely adorable.

Every character is flawed, every character suffers in some way. The way Sakurasou shows these talented characters and their flaws gives off the message that even the seemingly flawless are just as flawed as everyone else, sometimes even more so. The flaws these characters have make them seem more alive, more human. It’s just fantastic character writing, and creates so unique interaction between them.

Art and Animation

For a show all about art, it might as well have good art, right?

We are very fortunate that is the case. In fact, Sakurasou is absolutely gorgeous. The anime uses a very bright color palette, which gives each scene a very uplifting flair. The best looking scenes are the ones at sunset, where the brightness gets toned down just enough to give the exact mood necessary for the way everything looks under a beautiful sunset. And it’s usually at this time of day in the anime where things either go horribly wrong or just right. The colors used are what usually set the mood needed in a romance anime like this one. After all, drama cannot work without the right mood.

Another part of the art that is great is the art within the anime. I mean the paintings and drawings that are shown. One thing that always impresses me about artists is their ability to show an entirely different art style within anime. In this case, it’s with Mashiro’s art. Not only is Mashiro’s manga art style different from the anime’s, but her paintings are as incredible as the characters say they are. The paintings manage to show off the contemporary art style perfectly, right down to the brush strokes used. It’s just wonderful how they did it.

The animation is just so fluid. There’s just the right amount of movement to make each scene feel alive and look fantastic. the animation, unlike some other animes (*cough Mekakucity Actors *cough cough*) actually pairs well with its art and doesn’t bring it down. Beautiful art should be paired with just as beautiful animation, and Sakurasou has just that.

Music (With a Super Special VA Part!)

A good soundtrack take the anime’s mood and uses it to make a scene memorable. Sakurasou does music exactly right. The music is composed by Yuzo Hayashi, who did the music from Hachimitsu to Clover, another romance anime that I have yet to have watched. The soundtrack is mainly upbeat tunes, but for the truly important scenes there are truly wonderful songs. But even so, the upbeat songs do stand out. Sakurasou at points is a very silly anime. i know I’ve been showing it as a serious anime, but it really is a ridiculous show.

Pantsu

And the music complements that well. Actually, no matter what the scene is the music is there to make it all the more pleasant. Every song in the soundtrack is just so calming and sets a perfect mood when used. Instead of having a single song that gets reused often there’s a wide variety of songs used accordingly. That’s how it should be done, right?

Both openings are absolutely incredible in every way. Both fit with the exact moment in the anime they are shown, and holy crap did neither of them get old ever. I never skipped either opening once, and just enjoyed them both to death. Their presentation is fantastic, and they give you the exact idea of what the show is like. An opening for an anime should never try to be what the anime is not, and it’s good that this was understood by the people behind both OPs. The EDs are good, Days of Dash especially, but neither of them really made me want to watch them. EDs rarely catch my attention, with exceptions like Nichijou’s first ED and that Kill Me Baby ED (You know the one, you’ve probably seen it referenced somewhere at least).

I don’t usually like to write about voice acting in my reviews. I acknowledge good voice acting when watching or discussing an anime, but I generally don’t write often about it. It’s not something I’m good at writing about. Nut I would feel terrible if I didn’t mention Mashiro Shiina’s voice actress, Ai Kayano, in this review. Ai Kayano’s work can be found in Heaven’s Memo Pad, a personal favorite of mine, as well as Ano Natsu de Matteru and more recently in Food Wars, Your Lie in April, and Saekano’s Utaha (Another personal favorite!). But god, how did she pull off a character who starts out as emotionless so flawlessly? Not only did she pull off a perfect emotionless tone, but she got the transition between emotionless Mashiro to confused-and-in-love Mashiro exactly right. Her tone completely changes in the second half to the point where it’s crazy to think that she was once emotionless. It’s just seriously good voice acting to be able to do that to a viewer.

Ending

I want to split this between the two endings, the episode before the last, and the actual last episode. Now if they merged the first half of the last-last episode with the first last episode, the ending would have been acceptable. Sure, it would be a bit “Read the light novel”-y, but it would have at least been conclusive with its characters. The episode before the last was actually pretty damn good. The story concluded nicely, and the characters we wanted to see together got together in the first half of the last episode. If you wanted Nanami to take Sorata’s heart in the end though, then you have both failed me and were terribly disappointed.

But god, the latter half of the last episode. One thing you should never do in anime is introduce new characters in the last episode, especially if it’s story-based. If there was an OVA it could maybe be acceptable. After all, Seitokai Yakuindomo did that, and that’s a fantastic anime (It’s very much inappropriate though, be warned). But my god, there is no continuation to this anime at all! It’s been two years since Sakurasou aired and there’s still no sign of a second season. So why, why did they end it like this? It’s a goddamn disappointment, which pains me to say because I absolutely love this anime.

I guess there’s still the light novels, right?

Conclusion

I love The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. It’s been one of my favorite romances for so long, and my opinion has yet to change on that matter. In fact, upon rewatching it for my review I had watched it four time. I just love and enjoy it so much. In all of my rewatchings I never got bored with what I was watching, it’s just that good. It shows off the struggles of its characters so well, and it being about artists is just beyond relatable. Sakurasou paints a picture (heh heh) of the struggles and failures an artist must overcome flawlessly, and failures an artist must overcome flawlessly, and I honestly cannot praise it more. It’s brilliant, which makes the ending more depressing. But looking past the ending, the journey is worth it. The Pet Girl of Sakurasou gets a 9.13 out of 10.

9.13/10

Absolutely Brilliant