The Pet Girl of Sakurasou was a Sweet but Uncomfortable Experience

Did you want to live on campus when you went to high school? I did. It sounds so awesome! Being able to pack your things up and get a bit of independence and freedom in your highschool days but without all the responsibility of paying rent or doing everything for yourself. It’s the perfect compromise. That is unless you are judged not admissible for regular dorms and get stuck with all the weirdos and troublemakers in the run down Sakura hall. But you know what, weirdos and troublemakers can be wonderful people. They sure tend to be more fun in any case! Sorata might have wanted to move out of Sakura Hall since the first day he set foot in it, but with the arrival of the mysterious Shiina, things may slowly be changing.

Yeah, it’s a romance anime. I watched another romance anime. But I have an excuse! I really like cats!

I actually have another excuse. I thought The Pet Girl of Sakurasou looked really pretty. And I still do. In fact, after having watched all of it, it’s even prettier than on the first impression. It’s not so much the designs or art style that got me. I mean I liked the designs and art style a lot. You can see it in the caps. I also thought the backgrounds were pretty great and pleasantly detailed.

But what really drew me to the production were those amazing colour palettes and the use of light in the series. Both are consistently beautiful and lovingly rendered. And that, I’m not quite sure is getting across from the screenshots. It just might be something you have to see in motion to truly get. A few scenes had me straining my eyes wide open to take in as much detail as possible.

The rest of the production was good. I would call the voice acting competent but a bit too deliberate for my personal tastes. Just a touch theatrical. It does suit all those eccentric characters pretty well though. I’ll admit that I don’t remember the music and I thought the OP and ED were o.k.

If you’re new here, I’ll give my usual disclaimer. I don’t tend to enjoy romance stories in general and there are some classic romance tropes that get on my nerves. Characters being defined by their relationship instead of their personalities, love triangles, inconsistent emotional reaction – i.e. people getting suddenly very depressed or wanting to break up for no reason I can figure out. That sort of stuff.

And well, The Pet Girl of Sakurasou does have some of those. At least one of those. A love triangle is central to the plot. And the characters do get pretty emotional and have some weird issues with relationships. But I still liked it way more than most romances.

For one, even though the latter half of the show has a ton of tears and the characters do react a bit intensely, the characters stay pretty true to themselves. It’s never to the point where I don’t recognize a character from their reaction, it just seems like a teenager having a bad day. So I felt like I knew these guys pretty well by the end and that is a big plus.

More importantly, though, romance isn’t the only driving force in the series. Indeed everyone in The Pet Girl of Sakurasou has considerations other than their romantic relationships, and arguably more important. They all have their own personal dreams and ambitions that they are pursuing their own sake. In fact, most of those tears and frustrations come from professional disappointments and fears rather than romantic ones. Their relationships were just one aspect of their lives and they spent just as much time worrying about proper friendships, their plans for the future and just finding themselves as people.

To me, that makes the characters more relatable and I really enjoyed the variety it brought to the drama. This is probably because I’m just not that romantic a person. I’m sure that someone who really prioritizes romance and thinks of it as the most important thing in their life might find all these other considerations distracting and resent that they take time away from the romantic plot. To me it made the characters feel more complete and it made me sympathize with their plight more.

In general, I found everyone in the show very likeable. Sure they are exaggerated and can be a bit much at times. It’s a show after all! But I nevertheless enjoyed spending my evenings with them

There is one thing though. I’ve sort of been brushing it aside but I did put it in the title. One aspect of The Pet Girl of Sakurasou can be a bit uncomfortable depending on your take on it. One of the main characters is Mashiro Shiina. She is one part of the aforementioned love triangle and potentially the most prominent character in the show. She’s very pretty and has a tendency to take off her clothes a lot.

There’s also something not quite right with her. The central premise of the plot is that she is Sakura Hall’s advisor’s cousin and that is why she has been sent to live there for a while. She is also not capable of functioning by herself. As in, she is developmentally challenged in an undefined way. She needs someone else to help her dress herself or dry herself off after a shower. She needs help feeding herself or getting to school. Most abstract or complex issues escape her. I’m not too great with kids but I would say she is at the capacity of a 5 to 7-year-old. I have to stress that she isn’t that young. She’s either 17 or 18.

The show doesn’t acknowledge that there’s an issue with her beyond the fact that she’s unusual but everyone panics if she’s left by herself because they do acknowledge that she can’t really function on her own.

At this point, you either see why this could get uncomfortable or you don’t. I was a bit squeamish about it but I got over it. For me, it didn’t destroy my enjoyment of the series but it probably lessened it on some level. Not having seen an alternative version, I can’t really tell. I’m sure that for some this will not be an issue at all and might in fact be part of the appeal. And then again, I think some people will just not be interested in a story like that and that’s o.k. as well.

Honestly, if that doesn’t put you off, then you should watch The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. It’s a very well made show with a lot of things to love about it. As for me. Let’s just say that I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. There was a point towards the middle of the series, where the triangle thing really started to pick up where it took me 3 weeks to get through 2 episodes but that passed and I did like the final arc which was more focused on the kids trying to save the building they live in.

My favourite part was the interactive game at the school festival. That was great fun. I wish I attended a show like that!