Sakura Diaries Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-07-17 (updated 2010-07-07)
• 3.5 stars out of 5 (?)

A nosebleed comedy meets Melrose place, Sakura Diaries is sexually charged but tempers the titillation with honest emotion and real substance. The result is an emotionally messy, romantically involving romp that is more than it first appears. Among its most impressive features are how much erotic mileage it gets out of a minimum of action--it's hardly modest, but for all the overt come ons, there's little nudity and almost nothing explicit shown. Other strengths are how involved the characters are--particularly a number of more realistic minor players--and how the situation comedy set-ups frequently play out in ways both less funny and more emotionally messy than you'd expect. It does well visually on a limited budget, and features a number of impressive performances in both English and Japanese, though the dub makes drastic changes to the story and characters (the changes feel quite natural, but it is nothing like a literal translation).

In all, Sakura Diaries manages to be funny, racy, and erotic, all without marginalizing itself by being too silly or dirty. More surprisingly, it also develops into an emotionally affecting romance. If you can handle the frank, adult, and occasionally fairly extreme material and enjoy slightly quirky, mature laughs along with romance and honest emotion, Sakura Diaries is definitely worth a look.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-07-17 (updated 2010-07-07)
• 3.5 stars out of 5 (?)

A nosebleed comedy meets Melrose Place, Sakura Diaries is sexually charged but tempers the titillation with honest emotion and real substance. The result is an emotionally messy, romantically involving romp that is more than it first appears.

Sakura Diaries is not modest--the camera stares along with Touma, and it pushes some limits in early episodes. But, while deserving of ADV's 17+ rating, it gets a lot of erotic mileage out of a fraction of the action of a hentai series.

For all the overt come-ons, there's little detailed nudity and almost no explicit sexual activity. It's interesting, then, that Sakura Diaries feels so much "dirtier" (that's not exactly the right word, but it'll suffice) than any number of mainstream series that feature an abundance of nudity and crude jokes. This is partly because the realism of the characters and situations brings the sexuality a lot closer to home. The characters also don't hide behind flirtation or innuendo--when they throw themselves at each other they mean it.

The other reason is that Sakura Diaries is honestly erotic instead of crudely titillating. Instead of volumes of casual nudity, the (visual) eroticism is both more pointed and more suggestive. The Japanese word is "chiralism"--it's as much what you can't quite see as what you can. Touma catching a glimpse of underwear under a skirt, for example, has more impact than a scene full of casual nudity.

The basic story, like most romantic (or erotic) comedies, is nothing new, but there's more to it if you look past the humor and formula.

On one level, it's symbolic of the uncertain path from youth into adulthood in Japanese society, illustrated though three social groups: Urara, the high school student willfully growing up too fast but still clinging to an idealized version of reality; a group of easy-life college students on the fast track to adult success and excess; and the cram-school students stuck in the middle. This framework provides a sort of parallel for the romantic and emotional progression of the characters, but is interesting on its own.

One of Sakura Diaries' strengths is its touching look at the oft-derided "losers" in Touma's no-win situation. "Ronin" like him fall between the cracks of Japanese society, out of high school with nowhere to go but a desperate last-chance shot at a good college and a dead-end service industry job waiting for those who don't make it. While more relevant in Japan, most of us can relate to being in a situation with nothing but friends and dogged determination to keep you from throwing in the towel entirely.

The characters on which the story rides are notably more mature than those in your average anime comedy, and not just sexually--many, particularly Mieko and her friends, have more or less believably adult personalities. Similarly, the amusing lesser characters are weird or quirky in a way that makes you feel like you know people like them. Even the apparent caricatures often aren't--Mashu, the super-cool player, and the cram school's resident guru both have much more to their outwardly superficial personalities than I expected. Mieko, likewise, seems to be playing Touma for what he's worth, but you (like him) could almost be convinced that there's more to her than that... and there is.

The two main characters--Urara and Touma--are actually somewhat less realistic but equally interesting.

The "hero" (really a complete loser in many ways) supplies the bulk of the comedy in the series thanks to his penchant for wild flights of fantasy and overdramatic internal torment. His reactions to Urara's over-the-top come-ons may be ridiculously dense, but they're also plenty funny and the comic timing is spot-on. On the other hand, he has a bit of Everyman in him--dreaming big, failing miserably to attain those dreams, yet still desperately clinging to his idealized fantasy world. He also gets so carried away with things that he's rather hard to empathize with, although acting like a jerk and realizing it in the morning is something most of us have done at some point.

Now, if you can't stand anime guys who run from the woman who's throwing herself at them and chase the one that's not worth it... well, Touma takes it to a whole new level. Nonetheless, his non-relationship with Urara is one of the most memorable parts of the series.

The series' closer attachment to reality takes Urara's rather extreme methods from initially farcical to almost sad. She's so willing to (almost) naively put herself into degrading positions for the benefit of a more or less worthless guy that it's hard not to feel sorry for her. Certainly, her pain is far more palpable through her superficial smile than it would be were she traditionally melodramatic.

On the less realistic side, her not-exactly-socially-acceptable methods don't quite fit with the rest of her personality. Similarly, her occasional bouts of modesty, though not entirely unbelievable, have more to do with making the plot work. Still, despite Urara's apparently simple character and some incredibly cute moments, her personality and emotions are more realistic than they seem at first blush and her upfront sexuality is rather more erotic than similar stuff in many sillier series with the same theme.

From the beginning it seems obvious where the series is going, and that the journey will include a few touching moments, a few raunchy ones, and a lot of situation comedy. As it turns out, the situations are often as emotionally messy as funny, and it slowly evolves into a touching yet uncomfortable romance. It's a little like real life--not as silly as a normal comedy, and not as much raw emotion as a shoujo series. Instead there's a remarkably mellow balance of racy situation comedy and awkward moments, with a foundation of honest emotion.

The series does weaken a bit at the end. For the most part the pacing is relaxed, maintaining an even-handed flow and never rushing or pushing a situation to develop too quickly. However, while the conclusion isn't hurried by any stretch, it doesn't wrap up at the same comfortable pace. For the sake of balance the earlier episodes could have been tightened up a little to leave more breathing room at the end. The conclusion is also a bit unsatisfying. This seemed intentional, but a few extra minutes would have been nice.

Visually, Sakura Diaries does well on a limited budget. The generally attractive character designs are creative: The supporting cast features several appropriately odd-looking yet realistic folks--almost good-looking but unshaven and disheveled cram students, super-studly players, and more. Urara is just cute, but Mieko is an old-fashioned anime beauty. The character animation suffers from budget constraints, but it is quite nice on occasion. The simplistic backgrounds are too heavy on light pastels for my taste, but they are realistic enough to capture bits of Tokyo flavor.

The background music isn't significant one way or the other--quiet and light. The opening theme is a simple, very pretty tune sung (by Takako Kuwata) to a mellow acoustic guitar riff that captures a little too much innocence, if anything. The somewhat more lively end theme (also by Kuwata) is similarly laid-back and pleasant.

The Japanese voice cast offers a variety of believable and (mostly) well-acted minor characters, and good chemistry between the three leads. Individually, Urara (Kyoko Hikami) is chipper yet fairly believable, and Mitsuaki Madono is hilarious as Touma--normal guy on the surface, studly and overdramatic when he's talking to himself, and properly goofy when hit with reality. The subtitles, although not quite perfect in terms of accuracy (the newest release remedies this), follow AD Vision's "fan-friendly" style with occasional use of "-chan" suffixes, a nice touch given the setting.

In English the casting is somewhat different (Touma is much more nasal and Urara sounds by turns a little more mature and a little more annoying), but the voices work equally well, and the two leads are acted marvelously. Unfortunately, Mieko is a little stiff in English--not on par with the rest of the cast.

However, the English version is basically a different show. The writing is funny and makes sense with the visuals, but details small and large are changed in just about every scene. The basic progression of the story of course remains the same, but the topic of several scenes is changed and the characters are significantly different. I'm not complaining that much, since the alterations make it feel quite natural in English and the overall experience is enjoyable, but on the grounds of literal translation the dub fails completely.

In all, Sakura Diaries is an interesting and somewhat unusual racy comedy. It manages to be funny, rather edgy, and definitely erotic, all without marginalizing itself by being too silly or dirty. More surprisingly, it also develops into an emotionally affecting romance. It's certainly not for younger viewers--the material is frank, adult, and fairly extreme on occasion--and it's not the sort of thing everyone will enjoy. But if you like slightly quirky, mature laughs along with romance and honest emotion, Sakura Diaries is definitely worth a look.

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Has some things in common with most love comedies, but probably the most similar overall to Golden Boy. It also bears a number of similarities to Welcome to the NHK--older characters, frank sexuality (though Welcome to the NHK is not an erotic comedy), and a humorous concept that develops into something more emotionally substantive. It's also rather like a very raunchy Kimagure Orange Road without the psychics in terms of emotional tone, particularly the OAVs and the New KOR movie.