Shuffle!

There are going to be SPOILERS. So, if anyone has not seen Shuffle!, but want to read this review, then know that you have been warned!!! In the beginning, Shuffle! looked like it was going to be really crap, although it turned out well and the ending was great! The first few episodes are a typical Japanese series of "supposedly improbable coincidences" along with a lot of classic Japanese hallmarks like being really over-the-top. It features a believable main male protagonist (Rin) who is just an ordinary boy and stands out quite a bit against all that is going on around him. Why? Because Rin is actually quite normal! He has a childhood friend staying with him who cares for him like he is her own and has romantic feelings for him (another trope). The girl is really nice (so she is definitely not going to be my favorite character). When they go to school together, they always get ambushed by a member of the girl's KKK fan club (an over-the-top Japanese trope, anyone who has seen the movie The Machine Girl and the version of "clan of grieving parents" in this show are not going to be surprised). She has a friend in her class who is a typically lecherous horny idiot who spouts off in a pseudo-intellectual way all the time and is generally just a hormone-driven asshole (I immediately and intensely despised this character). The sad thing is that the rest of the male characters behave in a similarly moronic manner (and so the normal behavior of our hero stands out all the more). Then there is the girl who immediately goes on about the size of her breasts (again, a standard trope). However, I agree with her opinion that some men prefer to grab them. Some new students turn up in the main male protagonist's class (the transfer student trope is the greatest of all!!!), and by sheer (supposedly improbable) coincidence, they are the two girls the main male protagonist met the day before! The girls seem nice and interested in him (even though I am not really interested in them yet). Of course, they are used to the fact that gods and demons have been around in their world for ten years. Still, again, this goddess and demon just happen to be the daughters of the rulers of both dimensions, and they have both come here to see our main male protagonist, thinking he might be a suitable husband for them. I did not think there was more to it than that, so I could not consider it silly. The first episode, therefore, has three girls in the harem. The fact that the girls moved in right next to the main male protagonist was something I expected from the moment they showed up, and I remembered how there was a discussion about everyone moving out of the neighborhood and seeing a moving truck. We are also introduced to Asa during the first episode, a girl from the senior class who tips her hat to the main male protagonist. She is fun, playful, and slightly kinky (yes, this is a girl I like right away!!!). The second episode is kind of a copy of the first, only in some aspects, it is three times worse. The main male protagonist suddenly has members of three crazy fan clubs around him; his snotty friend is three times creepier and really made me want to go out and murder someone. So, Jeoffrey considered dropping it for the first time. What about the male protagonist who runs away and is unsure of his feelings? Or rather, he does not want to face them at all? We are going to give him a “Lolli-pop” as a reward! Yes, the male protagonist meets a Lolita girl by chance, and she unexpectedly knows the main protagonist. Four girls in the harem. I expected this trend to continue in the third episode; however, there is a change! It is time to start taking care of the harem, developing relationships, and letting the main protagonist go from girl to girl like a bull in a China shop and with the emotional determination of a eunuch, occasionally experiencing a little intense moment, and carry on like this for the next few episodes. There is also comedy, humor presented in the style of classmates, fan clubs, and interaction with other girls. By the sixth episode (which was admittedly pretty good because of the "Lolita girl" time), I wondered if this was going anywhere. In the seventh episode, they added another girl, and to my delight, it was Asa-senpai! Five girls in the harem. Well, I am going to hurry up and finish now because I cannot imagine anyone reading this far. By the middle of this anime series, it becomes kind of a poor romantic comedy with jokes that I did not find very funny. Then suddenly, it started to change; all the great flashbacks started turning into real narratives that were darker, not as cheerful and playful, although still good and interesting. Even the individual characters started to change, which surprises you. Even the main protagonist realized that five girls are enough, even though he could only fall in love with one of them. Just from the middle onwards, it turned into a romantic drama full of twists and turns with a decent narrative and character development - just exactly what I like. Then, the conclusion is just great! So the first third deserves two stars, the second third deserves four stars, and the last third deserves five stars, which makes the final rating what it is. The ending is just great, and so everything is more than good. 6.7/10. (12/19/2016) (less) (more)