Saekano (Saenai heroine no sodate-kata) (2015) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	More…-Web previews for each episode Trailer-Promotional videos More…-Textless Opening Song More…-Textless Closing Song Trailer-x 4 for other anime releases
Rating
Year Of Production	2015
Running Time	297:95 (Case: 325)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kanta Kamei
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Yoshitsugu Matsuoka Saori Onishi Ai Kayano Kiyono Yasuno Sayuri Yahagi Chinatsu Akasaki
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	Hajime Hyakkoku

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, after episode 12

     Tomoya tries to enlist Eriri and Utaha to help with his game but their response is initially chilly, even more so when Tomoya discovers that the girl he saw amid the cherry blossoms is in fact his quiet and unassuming classmate Megumi (Kiyono Yasuno), who has been in his class for a year although Tomoya had never noticed her! Nevertheless, Tomoya is convinced that Megumi is the model for the heroine of his game, every boy’s perfect girlfriend, although she needs a bit of coaching on her personality and individuality. Megumi is prepared to be enlisted and although Eriri and Utaha are not so happy with the choice of heroine they do set aside other projects to help. Not that things go smoothly; there are deadlines, artistic differences, jealousies and romantic situations as the girls vie for Tomoya’s attention. And, to Eriri’s chagrin, two other girls appear who challenge her for the clichéd role of childhood friend / love interest: the younger illustrator Izumi (Chinatsu Akasaki), who idolises Tomoya, and his very sexy and very vivacious cousin Michiru (Sayuri Yahagi), a girl band member who reluctantly ends up composing the music for the game.

     Saekano (Saenai heroine no sodate-kata aka Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend) is based on the light novels by Kurehito Misaki and is every nerd’s delight and fantasy; an anime about anime, light novels and video games with lots of humour, in-jokes and in-references, a nerd in glasses surrounded by delectable girls competing for his attention and an anime style that has the camera panning over long female legs, peering up short skirts, adding panty shots and curved breasts. That the series succeeds in general is because it is so totally self-aware and tongue in cheek, full of stock characters and stock situations but where parents are totally absent. Spending a night with a high schooler? No problem! For characters we have clichés: the geek with glasses, Tomoya, disdainful of girls but seemingly irresistible to the super intelligent, super beautiful and super cool Utaha, the bubbling blonde buddy Eriri and his vivacious and sexy cousin Michiru. The only female seemingly almost impervious to Tomoya’s enthusiasm and charms is the dull and boring Megumi, who is perhaps the most reasonable and matter of fact person in the show. Saekano also has a dreamy style of animation, and flirts between “real” and “game” animation by sometimes reverting to game graphics in the middle of scenes.

     Saekano aired on TV in Japan between January to March 2015. This release, Saekano: Complete Series contains episodes 0 – 12 on two discs. It proved popular: a second season was announced early in 2016 while a PS Vita game was released in April 2016.

Video

     Saekano is presented in the original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1, in NTSC format and 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a dreamy style of animation with generally soft pastel colours, drifting pink cherry blossoms or white snowflakes and green trees. However, lines are firm, the blacks solid and shadow detail fine.

     The English subtitles are a clear white font. They are sometimes at the bottom and sometimes at the top of the screen, sometimes both at once which requires rather fast reading. The subtitles are burnt in. I noticed no errors.

     The layer changes are not noticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps is the only audio choice.

     The audio is surround encoded but the surround activity is mostly limited to music and occasional effects, such as rain, although they became more active during the music performances in episode 12. Dialogue is clear.

     The music by Hajime Hyakkoku is varied and reasonable effective.

     This is anime so lip synchronisation is approximate.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Disc 1

Textless Opening (1:32)

     The opening song without text.

Textless Closing (1:32)

     The closing song without text.

Web Previews

     Previews for the next episode. They are quite long, ranging from 0:54 to 1:49 in length, and are quite funny with the cast complaining about things or getting stuck into each other.

Disc 2

Promo Videos

     Two trailers for the series (2:07, 1:12).

Web Previews

     Previews for the next episode, ranging from 1:47 to 1:57 in length. They are amusing and worth watching as sometimes they do anything but promote the next episode.

Trailers

     Trailers for No-rin (1:01), LoveLive School idol project (2:17), Lord Marksman and Vanadis (1:41) and Blade Dance and the Elementalers (1:41).

     Our Region 4 release of Saekano is similar to the Region 1 US, although that release apparently includes some postcards. Hardly makes it worth importing.

     Saekano is an anime about anime, light novels and video games with lots of humour, in-references and clichéd characters and situations but it succeeds in being funny because it is so totally self-aware and tongue in cheek. Plenty of cute girls in short dresses if that appeals.

     The video and audio are fine. The extras are minimal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall