Amagami SS
I have always had a soft spot for romance anime, and Amagami SS fit the bill magnificently. The combination of the music, artwork, and story line really made Amagami SS one of the better anime that I have watched a long while. The premise of this anime revolved around Junichi Tachibana, a slightly perverted high school student, whose bad experience with a girl on a Christmas Eve two years ago, leaves him with feelings of inferiority towards women. Presently, we find our young protagonist spending his days looking at porn mags with his best friend, an energetic rascal whose luck with women isn't exactly all that great. From this point onward, the anime begins to take a unique twist, as a series of hypothetical episodes begin to take shape.
The number one aspect about Amagami SS that really impressed me was the structure of the anime. It was set up in a series of four episode long arcs depicting the protagonist falling in love with a different girl at the start of every arc; a series of hypothetical relationships if you will. He would feel an attraction for the girl in question, pursue her in some wacky and zany manner, and express his love for her and (depending on the girl) he would get an immediate response that normally ended on a good note. At the point where the two fell in love, time would rewind itself back to the beginning of the series; to the point when he had been stood up on Christmas Eve. Events would then conveniently play out so that he fell in love with the next girl in ‘line’.
A variation among the arcs added a bit of a flavor shot to the anime. For example, one of the arcs received a comedic voice over, a feature not seen previously in the anime, whereas another arc portrayed the girl being pursued as the protagonist (as opposed to being the secondary character). It was interesting because I did not know what to expect in the next arc. I suddenly found myself excitedly guessing what surprises the next arc had in store for me. I also found myself wondering who Junichi would pick next in his ever constant pursuit of love. If you already watched this anime, you’re probably calling me an idiot for trying to guess who the next girl was going to be, because the intro clearly depicts all of the girls lined up in a row. By the third arc I’m thinking “0hhhh, the intro has them lined up in order.” That was a duh moment if there ever was one.
Here’s something funny. After the first two arcs I thought that Amagami SS was going to take a turn on the ecchi side. I was led to this ridiculous (clearly) conclusion because the protagonist made a habit of kissing the first two girls in the most peculiar fashion. The first girl received a nibble on the back of her knee, mainly because she wouldn’t allow him to kiss her on the lips, but partly because Junichi had always wanted to do that with a girl. The second girl was gifted with a tonguing of the belly button. That’s where the perversion stops, but one could clearly see that, at least in the first two arcs, Junichi's constant reference to porn magazines had distorted his mind in the most perverted of fashions.
The closing themes really made Amagami SS quite unique for me. It was interesting because as each girl received her turn to fall in love with the protagonist, they sang the closing theme. Some were colorful with a catchy tune. Others had a darker feel to them due to heavy winter colors and a melancholy tune. I believe that the ending songs reflected all of the girls' personalities. Originality always receives a thumbs up in my book.
I simply loved the music. If an anime has a flute theme of any kind, I’m all over it, no matter what anime it is. The constant flute themes in the background really tickled my fancy. I was also impressed with the artwork (what doesn’t impress me, right?) Amagmi SS had a high production value that gave it a nice, clean, pleasant look.
Still, despite all of the greatness that made this show what it was, it was the romance that really won me over, so quadruple thumbs up in that regard. With a smile on my face I’m giving Amagami SS 8 out of 10. I highly recommend this one to romance fans (of course) and to any anime fans who love originality in their shows.
