I've watched most of Sakura Trick. Yes, it is shoujo-ai. Yes, that influenced me watching it. No, I probably wouldn't have watched this particular show if it was guys. Yes, I would watch a different type of show if it was Yaoi. No, I also wouldn't have watched Sakura Trick as it is without it coming highly recommended. Can I discuss what I want to discuss, or do I have to answer even more trite questions I know will pop up? Thanks.
I haven't watched all of Sakura Trick yet (two episodes left), but I'm already terrified of reviewing it. Not because of the above slew of things questioning my moral integrity, but because I simple don't know how to treat it. You see, Sakura Trick aims quite low, but hits its target perfectly. It's stuff like this that made me originally make this a videogame-only blog. A videogame being too simple is a criticism in and of itself, even if it pulls what it does perfectly: I find Samurai Gunn to be utterly boring because it has too few mechanics, even if said mechanics are pretty much flawless.
However, it's not the same case with TV, anime included. Something like Sakura Trick is very, very simple. There's barely any character development, and what's there is just there to facilitate the show being as relaxing as it is. And it really is. After destroying my brain with the ruthlessly dark Mirai Nikki, watching Sakura Trick is a welcome break, a palette cleanser before I move on to another "real" show. It's inoffensive, pleasant, and entertaining, and it's good at being those things.
Yet, if I follow my category system, Sakura Trick would score pretty low. After all, character building is limited to a few familiar stereotypes and the story is pretty much non-existent. I could only reasonably give it somewhere around a 5 in both categories, not to mention the points I'd have to take away for the couple flaws that do exist, which would plummet Sakura Trick's overall score quite low. This is partially why I created the enjoyment rating, but I still feel bad penalizing a show for having no character evolution when it never pretends to.
This is why I feel my anime review system isn't really up to scratch, but I struggle to find one that's better. I could give a single score at the end, giving a series what I think it deserves, but this seems like putting way too much power on my subjective opinion of the series. Besides, I much prefer the idea of categories, simply because it's a lot more interesting to think about and I am writing these for fun, after all. But then we run into the problem I'm struggling with: A series can be technically sub-par, but still achieve what it intends just fine. Should I then rank series on what I believe they intend to achieve? This doesn't seem fair at all, because at that point I'd be ranking Sakura Trick very close to the almost perfect 10 that I gave Mirai Nikki, which is by no means a fair comparison: Sakura Trick is nowhere near the level of Mirai Nikki. It honestly seems like an unachievable goal: I want a numerical system (because that's fun), that's category based, doesn't punish unambitious works for their unambitiousness, yet leaves a visible gap between well-pulled off unambitious pieces and the greats.
Sakura Trick is by no means a seven or an eight. It's not ambitious enough, and just simply doesn't do enough. However, it's also definitely not a five or a six: That would be underselling just how well its light-heartedness comes across, not to say anything of the joy that permeates everything that happens in the show. It's a show that doesn't aim to be anything groundbreaking, and executes its intentions perfectly, and this leaves me absolutely perplexed.
I don't know if I will write a review of Sakura Trick, since I definitely fear it. In case I don't, and even if I do, here is my recommendation: Sakura Trick is a good palette cleanser, a quick little show to watch between two more significant or impactful things that will make you smile and then allow you to move on to never really think about it again.
I haven't watched all of Sakura Trick yet (two episodes left), but I'm already terrified of reviewing it. Not because of the above slew of things questioning my moral integrity, but because I simple don't know how to treat it. You see, Sakura Trick aims quite low, but hits its target perfectly. It's stuff like this that made me originally make this a videogame-only blog. A videogame being too simple is a criticism in and of itself, even if it pulls what it does perfectly: I find Samurai Gunn to be utterly boring because it has too few mechanics, even if said mechanics are pretty much flawless.
However, it's not the same case with TV, anime included. Something like Sakura Trick is very, very simple. There's barely any character development, and what's there is just there to facilitate the show being as relaxing as it is. And it really is. After destroying my brain with the ruthlessly dark Mirai Nikki, watching Sakura Trick is a welcome break, a palette cleanser before I move on to another "real" show. It's inoffensive, pleasant, and entertaining, and it's good at being those things.
Yet, if I follow my category system, Sakura Trick would score pretty low. After all, character building is limited to a few familiar stereotypes and the story is pretty much non-existent. I could only reasonably give it somewhere around a 5 in both categories, not to mention the points I'd have to take away for the couple flaws that do exist, which would plummet Sakura Trick's overall score quite low. This is partially why I created the enjoyment rating, but I still feel bad penalizing a show for having no character evolution when it never pretends to.
This is why I feel my anime review system isn't really up to scratch, but I struggle to find one that's better. I could give a single score at the end, giving a series what I think it deserves, but this seems like putting way too much power on my subjective opinion of the series. Besides, I much prefer the idea of categories, simply because it's a lot more interesting to think about and I am writing these for fun, after all. But then we run into the problem I'm struggling with: A series can be technically sub-par, but still achieve what it intends just fine. Should I then rank series on what I believe they intend to achieve? This doesn't seem fair at all, because at that point I'd be ranking Sakura Trick very close to the almost perfect 10 that I gave Mirai Nikki, which is by no means a fair comparison: Sakura Trick is nowhere near the level of Mirai Nikki. It honestly seems like an unachievable goal: I want a numerical system (because that's fun), that's category based, doesn't punish unambitious works for their unambitiousness, yet leaves a visible gap between well-pulled off unambitious pieces and the greats.
Sakura Trick is by no means a seven or an eight. It's not ambitious enough, and just simply doesn't do enough. However, it's also definitely not a five or a six: That would be underselling just how well its light-heartedness comes across, not to say anything of the joy that permeates everything that happens in the show. It's a show that doesn't aim to be anything groundbreaking, and executes its intentions perfectly, and this leaves me absolutely perplexed.
I don't know if I will write a review of Sakura Trick, since I definitely fear it. In case I don't, and even if I do, here is my recommendation: Sakura Trick is a good palette cleanser, a quick little show to watch between two more significant or impactful things that will make you smile and then allow you to move on to never really think about it again.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario