Reviews for Special A (6.41)
Zaku88
Miyao Yoshikazu
Nakahara Kiyotaka
This is a slice-of-life anime about seven geniuses and their not-so ordinary lives. The show is mostly based on humor with hints of romance/friendship/action as well. Certain parts of the se...
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- Unrated
05.06.2011 21:15 - direct link
(rs8033)
This is a slice-of-life anime about seven geniuses and their not-so ordinary lives. The show is mostly based on humor with hints of romance/friendship/action as well. Certain parts of the series were fairly well done but the lack of focus (the protagonist role somewhat rotates between the seven) left the series with a feeling of incompleteness (much like Shuffle! Memories).
If you've got nothing else to watch then this is not bad. Don't expect it to blow you away though.
Animation:
At first, everything looked really nice. Then you notice that the people have really long, slender limbs, which is distracting at first but tolerable. Colors are a bit washed out but only a minor annoyance compared to the limbs. Other than that, the show is well done. When supposedly touchy-feely moments occur, snow-flake or lace-like patterns show up around the corner of the screen (seeming to suggest shojo?).
This show is free of fan service and ecchi moments. A nice break considering that I just finished Kanakon and Shuffle... Overall, it was well done but I think it could have been polished some more.
Sound:
Ow... the OP/EDs hurt my ears... This is one of the few series for which I actually skip the intro/outros on purpose. The actual BGM in the series isn't that bad but nothing special either.
VA's are really good (esp Hikari) and give some vibrance to the show.
Overall: Music 2/5, VAs: 4/5
Story:
This is a story about seven really smart friends (six of whom also happen to be ungodly rich) and their lives in high school. Basically, they are known as the Special A. They have special uniforms and go to class in a greenhouse (why?). Actually, you never see them go to class for the most part. They just sit around chatting in the greenhouse and occasionally Akira will bring some treats or coffee.
Each of the characters have a few episodes dedicated to character development though a good half of them focus on Hikari and her competition with Kei, who is always ranked #1.
The majority of the episodes just show the seven doing crazy antics and not-so ordinary extra-curricular activities such as traveling to Hawaii. However, most episodes do contribute to the plot (though some only minimally). There are a few supporting characters whose roles are not really apparent until near the end of the show.
The pace of the ending does not match the rest of the show (it is somewhat sudden) and the falling action is somewhat pointless, essentially rolling back the series to the status in ep 1.
I think the execution of this was probably one of the weaker elements of the series. People who are more plot-driven may drop this series due to the fact that not much happens.
Character:
This series is somewhat unique in that I couldn't really tell if it was more plot-driven or character-driven. Whenever I think one is dominant, the next episode pops up and contradicts what I thought prior.
Anyways, as previously mentioned, each of the seven main characters gets a fairly large amount of character development. Or rather it's more like character explanation. Sometimes an entire episode is used just to explain a particular trait of one of the characters, such as why Jun avoids girls.
More intimate relationships do build between some of the SA but the story behind these seem half-baked. The obvious one from the beginning of the series is that between Hikari and Kei. Kei is always #1 at everything which means Hikari is always stuck in second place. The two have been rivals since they were little kids but apparently Kei likes Hikari, who is too dense to realize it (sigh...).
Don't expect the series to be too realistic. For instance, the characters will randomly be able to memorize entire textbooks with photographic memory. A large portion of the SA also possess unbelievable strength and stamina.
Overall, the characters are portrayed fairly well though they are too hard to relate to at times. The series really didn't get me too interested in any particular character.
Value:
This series implied a few things that somewhat irked me. For instance, all the smart people = rich people, implying that money buys brain power. Also, despite being the smartest people, we often find the SA in a disorganized state and resolving supposedly simple problems in very odd, extravagant ways. Not really what I'd expect from geniuses.
As for actual series quality, as I was saying before, some parts were good but others were quite poorly executed (the pain...). For its length, you can find better series out there. If you're into the dense, hard-working girl trying to best a guy who likes her, Kaichou wa Maid Sama is a much better watch.
If you've got nothing else to watch then this is not bad. Don't expect it to blow you away though.
Animation:
At first, everything looked really nice. Then you notice that the people have really long, slender limbs, which is distracting at first but tolerable. Colors are a bit washed out but only a minor annoyance compared to the limbs. Other than that, the show is well done. When supposedly touchy-feely moments occur, snow-flake or lace-like patterns show up around the corner of the screen (seeming to suggest shojo?).
This show is free of fan service and ecchi moments. A nice break considering that I just finished Kanakon and Shuffle... Overall, it was well done but I think it could have been polished some more.
Sound:
Ow... the OP/EDs hurt my ears... This is one of the few series for which I actually skip the intro/outros on purpose. The actual BGM in the series isn't that bad but nothing special either.
VA's are really good (esp Hikari) and give some vibrance to the show.
Overall: Music 2/5, VAs: 4/5
Story:
This is a story about seven really smart friends (six of whom also happen to be ungodly rich) and their lives in high school. Basically, they are known as the Special A. They have special uniforms and go to class in a greenhouse (why?). Actually, you never see them go to class for the most part. They just sit around chatting in the greenhouse and occasionally Akira will bring some treats or coffee.
Each of the characters have a few episodes dedicated to character development though a good half of them focus on Hikari and her competition with Kei, who is always ranked #1.
The majority of the episodes just show the seven doing crazy antics and not-so ordinary extra-curricular activities such as traveling to Hawaii. However, most episodes do contribute to the plot (though some only minimally). There are a few supporting characters whose roles are not really apparent until near the end of the show.
The pace of the ending does not match the rest of the show (it is somewhat sudden) and the falling action is somewhat pointless, essentially rolling back the series to the status in ep 1.
I think the execution of this was probably one of the weaker elements of the series. People who are more plot-driven may drop this series due to the fact that not much happens.
Character:
This series is somewhat unique in that I couldn't really tell if it was more plot-driven or character-driven. Whenever I think one is dominant, the next episode pops up and contradicts what I thought prior.
Anyways, as previously mentioned, each of the seven main characters gets a fairly large amount of character development. Or rather it's more like character explanation. Sometimes an entire episode is used just to explain a particular trait of one of the characters, such as why Jun avoids girls.
More intimate relationships do build between some of the SA but the story behind these seem half-baked. The obvious one from the beginning of the series is that between Hikari and Kei. Kei is always #1 at everything which means Hikari is always stuck in second place. The two have been rivals since they were little kids but apparently Kei likes Hikari, who is too dense to realize it (sigh...).
Don't expect the series to be too realistic. For instance, the characters will randomly be able to memorize entire textbooks with photographic memory. A large portion of the SA also possess unbelievable strength and stamina.
Overall, the characters are portrayed fairly well though they are too hard to relate to at times. The series really didn't get me too interested in any particular character.
Value:
This series implied a few things that somewhat irked me. For instance, all the smart people = rich people, implying that money buys brain power. Also, despite being the smartest people, we often find the SA in a disorganized state and resolving supposedly simple problems in very odd, extravagant ways. Not really what I'd expect from geniuses.
As for actual series quality, as I was saying before, some parts were good but others were quite poorly executed (the pain...). For its length, you can find better series out there. If you're into the dense, hard-working girl trying to best a guy who likes her, Kaichou wa Maid Sama is a much better watch.
