Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo.

In a season stacked with big Shonen shows, all with high production values and great advertising, alongside many sequels and the usual isekai spam, it is easy to overlook true gems. Maidens in your savage seasons is one of those easily overlooked gems. At first glance this anime looks a lot one of those basic Ecchi shows that just focuses on lewd dialogue, sex jokes, and random sexual shots of girls and boys inadvertently walking in on each other undressed. However, this show differs in that it does all of this with exceptional dialogue and execution, it is the difference between some basic otaku pandering Ecchishow and highbrow erotic art. The characters in this show all are young high schoolers who are sexually repressed, as they are youth, in what is a fairly sexually conservative society. As the story unfolds each girl has their own backstory given to us through their interactions with the cast and some flash backs. Kazusa has a childhood friend who they realize they are in love with when they inadvertently walk in on them pleasuring themselves. Hongou is an aspiring writer and tries to “seduce” a teacher in order to learn more about romance and improve her writing. Momoko is likely gay but is having a hard time coming to terms with it. Rika is an uptight reserved girl who actually is just jealous that she is missing out on sex and romance, so she copes by looking down on people with fulfilling love lives. Finally, Niina has had a fairly fucked up view on romance as she was mentored by an obvious lolicon for most of her childhood but developed some weird sort of Stockholm syndrome for him and is actually mad that he did not molest her. These girls are all crafted wonderfully with lots of nuance through interactions with other characters, foreshadowing, and their internal monologues which greatly humanized them and made them very likable. While the plot execution does take a wild turn in the last few episodes, it actually is preferable to similar shows where cast falls apart due to backstabbing and fighting over each other’s boyfriend. The writing is very good, far more than one would ever expect from a show with this premise. Short comments by side characters, lines from the novels the girls were reading, and dialogue early in the show foreshadowed most of what happened in the story, but it isn’t obvious until the viewer finishes the show. This show is definitely worth a watch not just once but twice, one time to see it unfold and a second time to see everything that was overlooked and carefully foreshadowed the first time. Another aspect about this show that was great were the production values. Visual directing is hard to master for action shows, let alone a rom com coming of age anime. The show has great framing and cinematography, excellent effects, and clean animation when it counts, these things are normally lacking in most low brow Ecchi shows. The sound is also quite impressive, although the opening does pale in comparison to the fire fighting anime, the sound and animation still place it in the top 3 for me this season, the background music and effective change in pace during confessions were also quite exquisite. Finally, and most importantly, the overall message of this show is delivered perfectly. Love is a complex thing, most of our media revolves around it, most people in our society seek it, and it is something that is hard to define. This anime encapsulates love and carnal desire from the point of view of teenage girls in a serious manner, something most anime will tend to shy away from doing. It tells people that girls are sexual beings just like men and they have to come to terms with their sexuality, while understanding that everyone is an individual who may have a different approach to coming to terms with themselves.

If you take a teenage soap opera, add some sex jokes, and make an anime version out of it, the result would be something similar along the lines of Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. It goes without saying the show appears to be a clichéd romantic drama about teenagers growing up. The journey to growing up isn’t without obstacles and for the Literature Club, they learn that the hard way. While the opening minutes of the first episode doesn’t seem too unusual, the second half of the premiere may change your mind. It’s not every day we get to see a guy getting caught masturbating inanime after all. But backtracking a bit, it also became clear the show wanted to make a story about characters growing up. The adolescence experience is a complex journey and for our main characters, they want to make the most of it. High school student Niina Sugawura makes her intention clear when she declares her intention of experiencing sex. In probably the bluntest way possible, this anime isn’t intent in hiding its adulthood culture. In fact, it’s easy to look at this anime with some controversy from the start. The staff in charge of this anime includes script writer and original creator, Mari Okada. To me, this wasn’t a surprise considering the amount of drama that blew up as every episode progressed. Initially, it all began with the curiosity about sex. Then, it transformed into a plot about the characters wanting to grow up and experiencing it. Okada gives an appropriate tone with her writing by adding elements of drama at any chance possible. To do this, there’s plot with blackmail, dark troubling background stories, and various school drama shenanigans. However, this anime doesn’t hit home with its emotional drama, at least from a storytelling perspective. While some of her previous projects can be tearjerkers, Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo never once managed to make me feel emotional about its plot or character drama. As far as teenage romantic drama premises go, the series does seem to show some promise to craft realistic ideas. Spawned from curiosity, the Literature Club seeks to learn about sex as much as possible. Don’t take this as a sex education though. The anime sells the idea of adolescence with the characters growing up. Sex is just part of that process. In the meantime, the anime’s script goes through phases of letting characters experiment with their own ways of growing up. While each character in the series has their own personality, most of them all fall under the ‘teenager syndrome’. In other words, they are constantly changing with puberty playing a prominent role. Characters experience a variety of feelings ranging from jealousy, sadness, anger, and other common mood swings. But don’t take this anime as some sort of psychological study. This takes the direction in tone with coming of age style of story presentation. Likewise, I believe the character cast all must learn about themselves before they grow up into adults. The main character, Kazusa Onodera, shows signs of fear in early episodes. Due to her infatuation with her childhood friend Izumi Norimoto, she has trouble breaking out of the friend zone. As part of a love triangle, Niina begins to develop feelings towards Izumi after growing to understand him. The anime pits the three characters into a romance angle that tests the limits of their feelings. Does this seem like trashy soap opera-esque writing? The answer is yes and no. With the growing amount of love in the show, we have to come and understand why characters feel the way they do. The anime does a decent job at showing this but sometimes fall short on overall execution. I won’t spoil it but it’s easy to point fingers at certain character behaviors and their how they feel attraction towards the opposite sex. One example is Hitoha Hongou, a novelist who develops feelings for an older man. The anime doesn’t commit much on their character relationship other than based on how Hongou wants to pursue a relationship with him. It’s the type of character drama that show little improvement and lacks importance to her overall growth as a teen. On the other hand, I do feel it’s worth getting invested by the main love triangle between Kazusa, Izumi, and Niina. While childhood romance dramas can be very cliché, this show contains a degree of realism that touches on more sensible subjects. Blending between the line of childhood romance and genophobia, you have to wonder how far the anime commits to its romance elements. However, do also be aware that the anime itself sometimes isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. This is especially true in early stages with the amount of jokes reinforcing the idea of “sex is evil”. With a cast of teenagers on hormones, you have to also wonder how much the anime planned to develop each character individually. At its very base form, characters hopes to break out of their shell and become adults. Some even undergoes physical changes such as the case of Rika Sonezaki when she gets rid of her glasses after being told she looks beautiful without them. Others develop a more psychological change such as the case of Momoko Sudou. If you don’t believe me, just look at how she begins to see other girls in a different way, in particular Sugawara. To be honest, I think these type of character behaviors are common norm in our society. We all undergo changes especially during high school years. It’s during those years that characters experience growth in countless ways. Otherwise, I also find many of the characters relatable to us. Whether it’s speaking through their actions or personalities, there’s no doubt you’ve countered similar people in your life. With a variety of projects under their umbrella, Lay-duce made this anime look and feel like what it is – a teenage romance drama. Character designs looks polished that makes the most of its character expressions. In fact, it’s especially important for this anime to bring out character expressions to show how they feel. Other times, I do feel the anime may be over the top with the way characters reactions, in particular Kazusa. The fear of sexuality hits hard that is all over her face. Some viewers may even wonder if she needs professional help. But on most parts, this anime managed to bring out the most of its animation qualities by illustrating character behaviors. Similarly, I do want to praise on the voice cast. It made me understand more about the cast’s personalities on more relatable terms. Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo isn’t a niche anime but it can be a bit different than what people realize. While the initial first episodes can generate some controversy, it does manage to capture the elements of a romance drama. Love is probably a subject humankind will never truly understand. For the characters in this show, they took the first steps in becoming adults and at the same time, trying to experience sex and love.

Mari Okada is an extremely controversial anime writer for reasons both obvious and inarguably deserved. The main complaint most everyone cites with her scripts are her characters being utterly non-relatable and overemotional. Often times their emotional reactions to certain events are outright far fetched, and moreover, they’re hyper-passionate about things no actual person would be so with. Screaming, crying, wailing, and flailing all their merry way, Okada’s characters always loose me and many other viewers because we cannot find ourselves within them at all, but while many of us feel the need to critique her writing, there was this one time I read something someoneonline said which really intrigued me. They thought Okada’s writing was actually just fine the way it was, and the only real issue with her scripting in their mind was the subject matter of her shows. From their point of view, if Okada had written her shows on topics with which her overdramatic writing would actually be appropriate for, then the masses—me included—would finally see her writing operating at its full potential…and I think this is supposed to be it. Araburu Kisetsu no Otomo-dono yo is a show about teenagers and their budding sex lives, so, on a conceptual level, literally my new favorites anime of all time. Anime is criminally averse to sex, and while much of the community may not fully appreciate this reality given the illusion that is fan service in cooperation with the fact they’re not the type to go outside and live normie lives rife with casual sex, any among the rare breed of anime watchers who has made the journey into the real world will’ve surely already noticed just how glaring a void this aversion is in almost all anime made. Granted, most shows are made for teenagers and young adults, which is fine, but while young people may not need a sexual side to their media, there is still a sexual side to their lives whether they’re a bystander or not. My point is, the lack of sex drive within most anime characters is and should be an immersion breaker for any viewer who has even the thinnest shred of maturity or worldliness. And if you’re an older viewer like me? Well, shit, you’re totally out of luck, because it makes ninety nine point nine percent of highschool anime totally unwatchable, seeing as you are well aware of just how maddened people that age are by the idea of sex, especially if they’re not a normie whose having it all the time. This is where this show swoops in like an absolute hero, and just as that one forum poster had posited, Okada’s melodrama fit their puberty riddled angst like a glove, and it would’ve made this show a crowing jewel of the genre if not for the characteristically awkward execution which diluted and undermined the refreshingly hilarious concept and daringly realistic worldview. But to get the easiest critique out of the way first, this show is not the most well-produced thing in the world. The animation is lacking at best and clunky at worst, and some of the ugliest episodes were littered with off-model artwork—even in the foreground and on principle characters. The voice performances were a mixed bag, and as you’ve probably come to expect, Okada’s autistic scripting made their dialogue sound even more ham-fisted than it already would’ve, and while the golden apples in that mixed bag aren’t spoiled by the rotten ones, they’re spoiled anyway by the utter lack of fluid animation. Mouths will stay open for more frames than necessary, lip syncing is virtually nonexistent, and really any standard issue with anime produced by lower tier studios are present and pressing as expected. However, this isn’t all to say the production wasn’t cared for, and in fact, I’d say it may’ve actually been a little too cared for. The animation staff behind this show clearly had a lot they wanted to do with the visuals which was simply far too ambitious given the clear lack of time, money, and manpower they had on hand. Gradient coloration on a frame-by-frame basis was impossible, so they settled for a horrifically ugly white filter which they laid over the ENTIRE show. A cut of perspective animation from a character running down the densely packed city streets was impossible, so they settled for the camera shaking back and forth across still images of the street as if the character was whipping their sight side to side exclusively. I could go on but you get the picture. Even if the show’s small, inexperienced staff was truly, wholehearted giving it their all, their all was just not enough to deliver a good looking final product. But I could complain about bad productions all day. What really ended up turning me off to this show was what should’ve made me love it: the character writing. We discussed characters having sex drive. Great, love it, but while realistic on paper, the way the cast is characterized is—like all Okada shows are—so incredibly non-relatable and stunted. Our main character Kazusa is basically the “childhood friend” from any other generic dating sim anime if not for her sex drive, and since her character is mostly handled per that trope, she’s just a reminder why those girls never win, and when Okada actually tries to capitalize on her sex drive to make her at all interesting, her autism gets downright diagnosable—and to no real effect. The object of her affections is her childhood friend Izumi, with whom she shares a completely platonic relationship with, seeing as they’re both as pure as the Holy Virgin, and the inciting incident of the show is her juvenile image of him getting shattered when she walks in on him masturbating…which is awesome, but then she autistically scrambles away like Generic Male MC walking in on his waifu changing and spends half the show avoiding the subject through a series of retarded misunderstandings, so you’re just left wondering what the hell happened to the supposed realism. Izumi himself is even less believable, since the alleged reason for him and Kazusa drifting apart isn’t their budding sexualities and the insecurities associated, but instead the simple fact Izumi became popular whilst she remained a bibliophilic nerd. Now, if Izumi was a normie, you’d think he would’ve already gotten laid, but he hasn’t because he’s actually a closet train otaku, BUT IF HE WAS A TRAIN OTAKU, HE NEVER WOULD’VE BECOME A NORMIE, because no one would’ve EVER accepted him, especially in Japanese schools internationally notorious for their rampant bullying. And the realism didn't escape to the side characters. I earlier compared Kazusa and Izumi to the Holy Virgin as a joke. Well, Kazusa’s best friend, Sonezaki, takes the comparison to a whole new level. Her skirt goes down to her shins, her glasses are bifocals, her hair is pinned strictly aside her forehead, and her only dialogue amongst classmates outside her bubble is pretentiously delegitimizing them as hedonistic beasts. This was a striking character introduction I loved. However, she’s the first one of the girls to give in, and the guy she gets together with is someone whose only reason to be attracted to her is the fact she gave herself a makeover. This is almost acceptable, because this is a girl who’s been bullied for being ugly for as long as she can remember, so when she changes things up a bit and finally gets a guy’s attention it’s reasonable to assume she simply couldn’t help herself, but while that’s personally the most (and only) relatable character piece in the show, I can say for certain—because it’s so relatable—such a turnaround would just come across as disingenuous and turn me off to whoever’s attention I caught. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Of course she reacted differently than you would. You’re a bitch, and she’s not, so of course you would take cynically what she took graciously.” But I remind you, this girl’s entire character was just built around her pessimism and judgmental disposition, SO WHAT HAPPENED? The irony of this inconsistent character writing is magnified to an immeasurable degree when it develops parallel to another side character, Momoko, literally having her lesbian awakening because she’s disgusted by the fact guys their age are only after women’s bodies and looks. Then there’s Hongō and Sugawara, but they’re fine. I mean, Hongō goes from a closet fetishist to a public exhibitionist in a matter of episodes and Sugawara explicitly, and in no uncertain terms, endorses the character of a pedophile who expressed sexual interest in her as a grade schooler, but their character writing is never inconsistent or broken, just…yeah. Where the show finally came through for me, as most Okada shows do, is as a truly fantastic comedy. Okada’s so-called comedy has always been a matter of perspective. Anohana was a schmaltz tearjerker which was so over-the-top with its melodrama as to be hysterical; Red Garden was an inspired take on an anime musical which took its thespian aesthetics so far as to be farcical; Mayoiga was an ambitiously intricate whodunit murder mystery which overcomplicated itself and its bloated cast to the point of being a nonsensical horror-comedy. All Okada’s works are like this in that they take themselves completely seriously, but being so obtuse, no one can relate to them and therefore can’t take them as seriously as she does. This show is the first occasion on which the comedy was not only funny, but funny on purpose, not just us laughing at her toneless writing. The countless visual innuendoes were kind of the funniest thing on the planet, even though they’re not really what the show is about. From Izumi making Kazusa blush by putting his fingers in a bowling ball—one in the bottom hole and two in the top—causing her to stand up with her hands covering her crotch and scurrying away all flustered to Hongō uncontrollably shoving her teacher to the ground and straddling him only to realized what she’d done compulsively and run away embarrassed, only for the scene to close with a shot of the school’s water fountain dripping, every little one of these gems was a comedic treat. Granted, these jokes are ruined just as often when Okada decides to unsubtly spell them out for anyone oblivious and innocent enough not to recognize them, like the time Kazusa is terrified by a train approaching a tunnel, exclaiming how it couldn’t possibly fit inside, only for it to go right in much to her discomfort, but most of the time it’s a joke between you and the director, and it’s usually good for a laugh or two. At the end of the day, though, I feel compelled to remind you, despite sticking a positive turn on the end of this review, I can only really describe Araburu Kisetsu no Otomo-dono yo as a disappointment seeing as it failed to capitalize on the potentially hyper-realistic characterization which I wanted it to find success with. If there’s one group of people on this planet who need to have the realities of sex shoved in their faces until they accept and embrace them, it's the otaku whom this anime seeks as an audience, but the fact the characters therein are bizarre weirdos at best and backwardly written at worst makes it so the important message these incels desperately need to receive—if there ever was one—ends up totally flaccid and hard to entertain critically at all. Even if they nailed the worldview and attitude, failing to apply it to the characters in a believable or empathetic manner leaves most of the show’s efforts being all for naught, and the fact it had to constantly poke fun at itself in order to illicit any positive response from me at all really speaks volumes about how well it managed itself on really any level. I can’t recommend this show to kids because it would just confuse them or give them very bad ideas; I suppose I can recommend this show to adults who are like me and just dying to see ideas this risqué portrayed in a highschool anime whether it’s done poorly or not; I can’t recommend this show to teenage girls, because they couldn’t relate to it at all unless they are literally Mari Okada and probably shouldn’t be encouraged in their apparent perversions even if they are somehow able to see themselves in the characters; but I can most certainly recommend this show to teenage boys, the majority of the otaku audience, just so they can take notes on everything Okada’s woke author-insert, Sugawara, says. Have sex, and thank you for reading.

When we’re young, love and sex seem larger than life—it is the most embarrassing thing imaginable. Maidens of the Savage Season captures all those emotions in the most melodramatic way possible. It skips all of that pesky build-up, the characters are stereotyped, it’s oftentimes predictable, and so what? Who cares about all that crap when it’s so damn entertaining? Melodrama is what Mari Okada is known for, Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo is no different. Anything she writes that isn’t edited heavily by a director will surely be overflowing with melodrama. She’s an ambitious writer, however, she stuffed far too many ideas into this show.Sex, love, jealousy, homosexuality, social commentary, pedophilia, netorare, the list goes on and on. As someone who loves analyzing themes and the author’s intent, after watching Araburu I have no clue what the hell she was going for. There’s one thing I can say for certain, someone really needed to tell Okada when to stop. Half of me hates Maidens of the Savage Season, and the other half loves it. So few rom-com anime are written over the top to the point where it’s hilarious. If you came here expecting a subtle drama with in-depth writing, you will be disappointed. Anyone who says this show is realistic is a liar! Sure it’s relatable at times, but it’s so intentionally unrealistic to be as enjoyable and shocking as possible. It will gut punch you immediately with the main point: sex, love, and growing up. Prepare to be beaten over the head with embarrassment until you cringe. After it grabs you by the collar and gets your attention, it slaps you in the face with endless sex metaphors. Trains going through tunnels, stimulating bowling balls, mushroom innuendos. Once it has your attention, the roller coaster is already moving and it’s too late to jump off. You’re stuck on it for every tight turn and a 200-foot drop. It’s a thrilling ride, I loved it at first. Then the roller coaster came to a screeching halt. The writing worked, I wouldn’t call it good writing, but it worked. Eventually, it stopped being a cheesy coming-of-age romance about love and confronting adulthood. Instead, it was about jealousy, love triangles, cuckolding, homosexuality, teen pregnancy, and childhood trauma. It stopped being relatable. Rather than cringe-inducing, it was frustrating, uncomfortable, and creepy. Everything I liked about Araburu was still there, but it felt like an afterthought. When you try to force a cheesy romance to be serious, you get terrible NTR moments like this: Person A and Person B are in love, suddenly Person C inexplicably develops feelings for B. Rather than confessing their feelings, C forces B to grab their ass, cuckolding Person A. Romantic tension like this can work in a story with the proper character writing, and like I’ve said before this show does not spend time on that. We know who the characters are solely based on their personalities, which is fine for a comedy/melodrama. The moment the characters were shoved into a drama that wants to be taken seriously, the whole thing collapses. All of the characters are simplistic people. The story follows five distinct heroines, in the same “savage season” of their lives but moving in different directions. Kazusa, the most prominent of the five has it rough. Imagine walking in on your crush beating their meat before ever being exposed to sex, it’s maddening; that’s the kind of laughable nonsense Kazusa has to go through. Her encounters are always contrived, which made them all the more entertaining. For instance, when Kazusa drops off the food at Izumi’s house, rather than calling his name or his phone, she just opens the door and walks up to his room. Something was bound to happen. Ignoring how predictable the scene is, the direction is so heavy-handed it’s comical—and it’s so good. The fear in Kazusa’s expression, the slow opening of the door, Izumi’s house shrouded in darkness, the distant rock music with a vertical slice of light shining down the long staircase. The anticipation is overwhelming. Unfortunately, the entire narrative falls apart by the end, Kazusa’s story included. The cracks started to appear midway through the series, motivations for a few of the heroines were still unclear. Kazusa and Sonozaki were the best out of the five because it was plain and simple what they wanted: to figure out their relationships despite anxiety and a desire to remain pure. Momo had no clue what was happening; it’s so obvious from the first episode that she’s a lesbian and unfortunately that’s a defining character trait. She supports her friends, always with a smile, yet her scenes are underwhelming because she’s too busy being oblivious of her sexuality. If you’re uninterested in dudes, but tear up at the thought of a girl not liking you, then you’re probably gay—just saying. Her personality is so underdeveloped that her actions make no sense later in the show, making her seem like she’s bipolar. This is a huge issue past the halfway point in this series, at the drop of a hat as if half the cast suddenly becomes bipolar. On the other hand, Hongou wanted to grow up faster and gain knowledge about sex. Hongou is a more subdued character, not quite standing out in the group aside from a few crude comments. She’s an aspiring erotica writer, regularly sexting with guys online to make her writing more authentic. Her motivations are clear, I liked her scenes, at first. Soon she finds out fabricating sexual experience is much different than the real thing. Her perspective focuses on the problematic pseudo-relationship with her teacher. Their encounter is unbelievable. Out of thousands of people on illicit chatrooms, they somehow meet each other. Later they decide to meet in real life, lo and behold they’re student/teacher. It’s absurd, but I wouldn’t expect any less of Maidens. Even his username is Miro, one letter off from his actual name Milo; you would think a teacher would try to hide his identity while sexting a random person online. Seeing her blackmail Milo and push around him is hilarious, at first. Eventually, the writers forgot Hongou was trying to become a more experienced writer, and she starts trying to get with Milo. There is very strange sexual tension between them; I won’t go into spoilers, all I’ll say is that the teacher also engages (don't forget she's underage). I came into Araburu expecting to cringe, laugh, and enjoy the emotional roller coaster, not to be frustrated and unsettled. There were points when it was uncomfortable to watch, however, nothing came close to the most disturbing parts of Nina’s story. Conversely, the dark horse of the cast, Nina is by far the most flawed heroine. She’s messed up from childhood trauma (it’s not graphic, but enough to cause a warped perception of sexuality). As we all know, a flawed character doesn’t equal a bad character. However, when handled poorly they can be the worst members of the cast. Unsurprisingly Nina is the most hated character. The things she does are objectively wrong; however, you can explain most of her actions with development abuse. I wish that I didn’t need to assume ‘because trauma she is a bad person’. The absent nuances to Nina's personality seem less like a creative decision, rather it feels like Okada was ignorant about the psychological effects of trauma. Rather than connecting Nina's trauma and insecurities to her actions in the present, the show just gives us more of Nina's obnoxious self-loathing thoughts. The pedo's actions are always condemned. It’s pointless shock value—though I will admit the directing of these scenes conveys fear exceptionally well. While I can't ignore Okada's talents as a director, these themes shouldn’t have been in Araburu. Barely anything that occurs throughout the show matters at the end. Given this is a complete adaptation of the manga, it left me feeling robbed. At least the characters face consequences for their actions, Nina included. Due to the nature of melodrama, morality is rather black or white in Araburu: you do good, you get good. If you treat people badly, you will get bad in return. For example; the kids that bully Sonezaki are portrayed as sex-crazed sluts who get 'what they deserve’ in the end because they picked on the nice main characters. Dramas are meant to pull in the reader gradually so you can identify with the characters, to believe they could be real people, this is not a drama. There's not much to say about the art. A washed-out palette plus a strange foggy filter makes it feel like your watching everything through a cloud. On top of that, the animation is very lackluster. From a distance, all the characters look off-model. Backgrounds often look hideous even up close. There were a few instances when the art style was changed for laughs, and they worked, but I wish there was more. The CGI cars look ugly and completely out of place. The character designs look much better in the manga; there is plenty of well-timed visual gags thanks to the director, however, the animation only serves to weigh it down. Maidens of the Savage Season was a roller coaster ride. Exciting at first, then it rapidly spiraled downwards—out of control. I loved it for its flaws because it knew what they were and played them for laughs. Over time, it lost that self-awareness and it unironically became everything it mocked. It took itself far too seriously, then it became a jumbled mess of unclear themes, empty character motivations, and no playoffs whatsoever. My favorite character, Kazusa, was done a disservice with such a rushed ending. She deserved better than the cliched bullcrap she got. This is what happens when you have something great and ruin it by trying to unnecessarily add more ideas. No one told Mari Okada enough is enough. At some point, an author needs to know when to stop.

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