Grisaia no Rakuen

“Rushed”. “Butchered”. “Unintentional comedy”. “Inevitably lacking development”. “Extremely poor adaption”. Even as an anime-only watcher of this franchise, I could not disagree with the heavy bombardment of VN readers’ harsh criticism and saltiness as Grisaia no Kajitsu emerged as yet another victim in the modern anime industry of being a one cour anime, instead of two. Despite the redemption given by Angelic Howl and personally enjoying Kajitsu a lot myself overall, the fact remains the first half of Grisaia no Kajitsu has deterred the anime-only watchers by portraying itself as a mediocre harem , and to put it mildly, not meeting the bare minimum standardVN readers expected from the adaption for being a poorly paced anime. Fast forward to 2015, 8bit has further damaged its reputation (did it even have any in the first place?) by producing, in my opinion, a complete garbage of an anime called Absolute Duo (please forgive me for steering off the topic, but I did not like that season very much) and in a season with highly anticipated giant titles such as Yahari Zoku, UBW, Shokugeki no Soma, Gintama, and Danmachi added with the number of discouraged droppers from the earlier episodes, the prospect of the Grisaia sequels, Meikyuu and Rakuen, has been overshadowed and dwarfed out. However, in spite of the strong competition offered by Spring 2015 season, many people will find it pleasant to know that this time it is not prone to a rushed and butchered adaption with amazingly confusing plot with lack of development as Grisaia no Rakuen has rose up to be a lucky find and possibly one of the strongest anime of the season. Grisaia no Rakuen is a direct continuation to Grisaia no Meikyuu, a short movie OVA depicting Yuuji’s past, where “tragic and traumatic” to describe it would be the understatement of the decade. Therefore I cannot stress enough to say not only watch that before this, but also in case there are people who are tempted and considering to skip Kajitsu due to its score difference, it is unquestionably compulsory to watch it for the understanding of this sequel (or just read the VN, as the readers would say). And by direct continuation, I do mean straight away from Meikyuu as if that was the prologue to the first episode as the girls of the Mihama Academy continue to learn more about Yuuji’s past through a document. Yuuji’s frightening past continues as his story transitions from being raised as a child assassin, to being raised by his mentor who he respects very highly. This arc known as “Cocoon of Caprice” further continues to portray Yuuji’s life in a military academy as he creates bonds and overcome his own psychological weakness which will be explained more in the later paragraph. The second arc known as “The Seed of Blanc Aile” returns to the present time which is where the meat of the anime is, with the spotlight returning to the original cast of the Mihama Academy and ultimately, the matter between Yuuji and his past is settled so that he can return to his academy or rather, his family. This is where the most major difference between Kajitsu and Rakuen comes up. In first half of Kajitsu each girls are only given two episodes to develop with Yuuji helping them ultimately out of distress, which not only lacks the sufficient amount of character interaction and development required due to its poor pacing, but also quickly becomes formulaic, repetitive, and dull. However in Rakuen, the story progresses linearly as a single route in a solid manner while seeming like a natural, realistic story and thanks to much lower amount of content to cram into small number of episodes, the story is immune from the confusion and it is made much easier to understand. What I and probably many other people also loved about Grisaia no Rakuen was how it diverges from a harem setting in a school environment with subtle amount of darkness enough to disguise, which dissuaded many people to drop Kajitsu early on - to a breathtaking, eye-catching thriller from a military setting Yuuji experienced in and where the girls of the Mihama academy becomes involved in intelligence and reconnaissance and putting their specialization to use. Apart from plot, Grisaia no Rakuen also shined very strongly in the department of character development especially in the first half of the anime. Yuuji’s backstory and emotional development as mentioned earlier has been crucial in this anime as unlike Kajitsu which portrays him as a flawless, robotic human being who somehow specializes in rescuing a damsel in distress every two episodes. In Rakuen however, despite his background as a raised cold-blooded killing machine, Yuuji can be shown to empathize through his representation of his trauma and how he overcomes it and also through his interaction with rest of the cast, especially Asako. His psychological weakness of being traumatized of killing any life form has been a key plot point to this season. And of course, who cannot love his witty, sarcastic sense of humour while putting on his iconic poker face? I also want to add he is probably one of the few harem leads out there who is not just bearable, but so likeable. Speaking of Asako, her role as Yuuji’s mentor has been crucial to the character development and process of maturity on Yuuji and through his interaction with her and her assertive, confident approach to her philosophy, it is obvious why Yuuji has deep respect for her not only as a soldier and an instructor, but possibly also as an older sister model. His relationship with JB is further explored as well, as she is not merely his superior at work who constantly amusingly irritate and tease at each other, but she is also there to emotionally comfort and support Yuuji whenever she is needed. With the military academy setting mentioned earlier, there has also been very nice addition to the mixture who have provided enjoyable interactions with Yuuji illustrating the bond he has made during his gaining of military experience, while they also become necessary and relevant in the later episodes. Although there have been several new likeable introductions, the most notable ones are Miliela Stanfield, who becomes slowly attached to Yuuji as a comrade, nicknaming him “Genie”, and Robbie aka James Okada, his weeaboo characteristic and imouto fetish being the running joke. Despite the girls of Mihama Academy not receiving as much development as Yuuji and his peers did as unfortunately that was Kajitsu’s job which it unfortunately failed at, they have also been given a spotlight to stand on as well as “The Seed of Blanc Aile”, or where the “real fun” starts to return to the present time. Though too much details would end up as a spoiler, from Makina being an awesome loli sniper, to Sachi being Crappy Maid, to Yumiko being the rational and logical strategist, to Michiru being… Michiru (^_^), this season yet again reminded me how the diverse, yet abnormal personalities of the girls and their wacky, comical interaction have been pivotal to the entertainment level of this franchise. Although the production value is probably not the best you will ever see, there are some aspects to praise. Though background and animation is pretty much the standard you would see in any other anime, the contrast of brightness and dark, bold linings on characters and the details on their faces in general captures the tone of the series well while representing as an unorthodox harem that would not be seen very often. I have also found the opening and endings very enjoyable as the catchy electronic rhythm of the opening and first ending are complimented well with the panning of the important characters and settings, which I found it as amazingly enjoyable set of animation and direction. First ending especially represents Yuuji’s past very well and how Yuuji still has a conflict unresolved from the past, with the characters important to him appearing in it. Musically, I like the second ending more as it foreshadows the epilogue of the Grisaia franchise, which may represent Yuuji’s will to return safely to his “Eden”, where his family waits for him. I may be underappreciating the soundtrack and even though I did not find them VERY noticeable, there have been noteworthy usage of violin and piano during dramatic and emotional scenes, and in many dialogue scenes in general which I find it to be very powerful and complimenting well with the scenes, while in the later episodes during dark and mysterious scenes there have been an ominous tones and using electronic guitar very well during climax and action scenes to emphasize on its upbeat and dynamic tone. And of course, Grisaia no Rakuen would not have been nowhere near enjoyable without the appropriate voice acting for each distinct personality and proper use of sound effect in the action scenes. As for personal enjoyment, to put it into context: -Grisaia no Kajitsu was my third WEAKEST anime of Fall 2014 after Sora no Method and Trinity Seven (to be fair that was an extremely strong season as well) -Grisaia no Rakuen was my third FAVOURITE of the season after Yahari Zoku and UBW and equal to Shokugeki no Soma. It was as if it is a complete different anime from the first season -I would put the eighth episode as one of the best episode of the season, on par with Danmachi 08, Hibike! Euphonium 08, and few of the Yahari Zoku episodes Although this quickly became a comparative piece between first and second season, through this review I hope I have illustrated its vast difference with the first season very clearly and why it is definitely more enjoyable. As an anime-only viewer, even though I had the confidence Grisaia sequels to be better paced and plot to be more interesting than Kajitsu due to the short teaser at the end of Kajitsu, I have been blown away by the amount of enjoyment and thrill I have perceived from this series and it really makes me glad I did not drop Kajitsu halfway through when my opinion of it was at its lowest. Therefore I plead and implore not just the VN readers disappointed, discouraged, dissuaded by the unacceptably handled adaption, but also the anime-only viewers who initially dismissed as a mediocre, clichéd harem in a school setting disguised as a dark psychological anime to reconsider picking up Grisaia no Kajitsu (or pick up directly from Meikyuu or Angelic Howl to the VN readers), as this hidden gem is too great to be forgotten and thrown back into obscurity. The miniscule amount of people anticipating and giving attention before it aired was disheartening to see, and in fact it still is not the most watched either as, at the time of writing this review, it is out of Top 1000 in the popularity rankings. From a harem in an eccentric and unusual setting, to amazing character development and likeable cast, to perfect pacing, to overwhelmingly over-the-top action, every second of the anime surprisingly impressed me with the entertainment level it has offered me and I don’t know why it would not be the same to other anime-only viewers.

Grisaia no Rakuen can basically be summarized like this: Does it make any sense? Not really. Does it matter? No, because you're having way too much fun watching it to really give a damn. Although the anime version of Grisaia no Kajitsu remains one of the worst adaptations I've ever seen in my life, Rakuen on the other hand is one of the very best ones. The difference in level of faithfulness to their respective visual novels is so unbelievably big that I don't even know how to put it into words. The pacing is solid, the production value is great and very little noteworthy content is leftout. Overall, it's a brilliant adaptation from start to finish. The anime can be divided into two parts. Episodes 0-4 (yes, zero; don't miss the double-length special episode, it's mandatory) cover the Grisaia no Meikyuu visual novel and takes place almost entirely as a prequel story about Yuuji's past. It is a quite dark and depressive tale containing physical abuse, rape and death among other things. It is one of the most serious parts of the Grisaia trilogy, and it gives you an excellent insight into Yuuji as a character. You'll realize that he is quite likely the most in-depth harem protagonist ever written when all is said and done. After that, episodes 5-10 instead cover the Grisaia no Rakuen visual novel, which in contrast to the rest of the series is one of the most exaggerated, absurd and just plain ridiculous stories that I've ever had the pleasure of reading, but it's also those same exact reasons that make it so incredibly entertaining. It is effectively the inverse of Kajitsu, as the original story is about Yuuji having to save all the girls, whereas Rakuen is about the girls having to save him in return. Now that may just sound like more of the same, but I kid you not when I say that Rakuen is *completely* different. It's essentially a different genre altogether. Rakuen almost feels like a Hollywood action film, containing logic-defying car jumps, helicopter chases, submarines and pink .50 caliber sniper rifles, as well as some highly questionable sci-fi elements such as human-computer integration and cloning technology. If Mission: Impossible was an anime, this would be it. All-in-all it's an absolute nutcase of a storyline, but it's so much fun that despite its absurdity everything just ends up feeling awesome to watch. There are countless points throughout the anime where you'll find the flow of events being blatantly illogical, but it won't make you feel annoyed. Instead it'll just make you laugh and/or feel excited for what curveball the anime is going to throw at you next. Another boon with this is that the nonsensical story turns out incredibly unpredictable since literally *anything* can happen in it, no matter how unlikely it may be. And as the cherry on top, Rakuen also has one of the most ridiculous and far-fetched endings in anime history, but given the progression of the story... dammit it just feels so *right* somehow. As far as the characters go... I'll just say this: taking the entire series into account, the character cast of the Grisaia trilogy is and always has been my number one favorite one of all time. No exaggeration. Seriously, Yuuji is arguably the best harem protag ever, at least in terms of writing and persona, and after you've seen his backstory you might also argue that he's perhaps the only one who legitimately *deserves* to have his harem already. And the girls... they just have so much charisma, all of them. How could you not love them? Makina has one of the most outstanding personalities and speech patterns you'll ever find, Amane is like a mother to everyone else, Sachi is the most badass maid of all time, Yumiko is a natural-born commander, Michiru just has waifu tier written all over her and Kazuki is without a doubt my favorite Onee-chan character ever. Even the side characters like Asako, JB and some others are quite spectacular by themselves. The animation is as good as it ever was (the only part which even Kajitsu's adaptation got right after all), but the soundtrack of Rakuen is just plain better all-round. It's upbeat and energizing, and has numerous memorable instrumental tunes containing lots of violins combined with fast-paced music. The anime's opening theme is also fantastic, albeit not quite as legendary as Rakuen's visual novel opening (seriously go YouTube it if you haven't, it's amazing). Anyway, overall what you have is a story which I highly recommend you to not take too seriously. Or rather you can take it seriously, but only up until Rakuen starts (episode 5) because from there on out it's a joyride of insanity all the way to the end. If you try to make a detailed analysis of the story as a whole, then what you have is a plot with more holes than a golf ball... in other words; don't try to analyze it. You'll be the only one who'll suffer from it. Instead, just lean back and tag along for the ride, and you're in for a ton of fun. Now if only all visual novel adaptations could be this good..................... and yes I'm still looking at you Kajitsu...

By this point, any of fan of the Grisaia should know firsthand the thrill of the experience. Unlike most harems, Grisaia focuses a bit more on story elements rather than just purely to get into the main guy’s pants. As the third and final season of the Grisaia trilogy, it’s important to understand how this series operates. Grisaia no Rakuen is meant to be completed after the first season (Grisaia no Kaijutsu) and the 1-hour special feature, Grisaia no Meikyuu. From those episodes, you will learn much more about the characters as well as our main lead man, Yuuji Kazami. The catch now is thathe is labeled as a terrorist and it’s up the girls to save her. A dangerous journey of cat and mouse, Grisaia no Rakuen (The Eden of Grisaia) exploits military ethnics and psychological ploys that is able to equally adept with action while building on the story. I have not played the visual novel, but the series should be easily be understandable as long as you’ve seen the previous season and the special, Grisaia no Meikyuu. The first few episodes shows more of Yuuji’s past life and his role in the military. We already learn about the dark tragedies he has suffered in his past but now, we really get to see a close glimpse of what it’s like. It’s not a pretty picture to think about but at the same time, it’s important to see the events that made him become the person he is today. Yuuji is indeed a complex person and the time he has spent in military has caused him to develop traits that he carries on later in life. One of the most important characters in his life is a woman named Asako, who trained him after his parents’ tragic death. Their relationship can be described as a sort of master/apprentice/guardianship/lover all at once. His relationship with his sister, Kazuki is also very important as she seems to be only other close person in his life. Regardless, the present Yuuji shows a sharp contrast prior to his parents’ deaths. Previously, Yuuji was more of a coward and often did whatever others asked him to. Now, he adapted a more sarcastic sense of humor with cold calculating behavior (especially during missions). Despite not being a cold blooded killer, Yuuji does not hesitate to eliminate others when the time comes. And that’s really makes Yuuji quite an interesting character to understand. No one will probably know the real him though. The other parts of the season involves a recuse operation involving the girls from Mihama Academy. A tricky part to execute this section of the plot is how to get all of them together. Essentially, the series shows that they have little clue to help him until they receive the help of an unlikely ally. This is where the mystery of the show comes as this particular character will seem to be very familiar to any fans who watched the franchise. Transitions during these episodes are good and makes its purpose fruitful to answer our viewers’ questions. And while the gimmick of a supercomputer operative may seem like a trick from the old book, it pulls successfully with a blend between humor, creativity, and trust. In retrospect, the second half of the series becomes a thrilling cat and mouse game. Unlike the first season where Yuuji helps the main female leads one by one, Grisaia no Rakuen involves them helping him. Every main female character participates in some sort of role that collectively has the same purpose – to save Yuuji. To skillfully do this, the show delivers action, drama, humor, chases, and mind games. One thing I do frown on sometimes is the humor that practically seeks to advertise attention with its characters. While it’s good for some fun, it quickly gets old. Thankfully, the psychological aspect makes up for this. I’d think to Grisaia no Rakuen as a combination of action and psychological flick that embraces human emotions. A downside about the season may be the main antagonists. There’s little emphasis on them and their main boss, Heath Oslo hardly has a personality that is explored; we do see that in the special though. Instead, this season barely puts emphasis on them as well his goons. There’s also some mystery regarding their true purpose although by the buildup of many events, it probably won’t look pretty. The plus side however is that the show manages to capture spectacular action features. All sorts of weapons are involved ranging from guns, sniper rifles, helicopters, and hellfire missiles. The show also captures the thrill of a full throttle chase that really is worth waiting for after all the necessary buildup. In retrospect, this season is able to keep its audience at its feet and always wonder what may happen next. Plot twists can be unpredictable including those that gets involved or anything that can happen along the way. In retrospect, the artwork and soundtrack is standard to the franchise. It doesn’t change much except for the OP and ED theme songs with its many foreshadowing, metaphor, and symbolisms. However, I have to give praise to the well-directed choreography. It lives up to the promise of the thrill and each episode builds more on that until that climatic moment. Character designs also runs fluid with many of the female characters dressed in their casual attire (except for Sachi in her maid attire). Fan service is still present although is hardly distracting in most cases. Finally, I have to give some praise to Kazuki’s presence in this season. Her ability to command attention through her voice is a highlight and offers that impressive smart package the audience deserves to see. Surprisingly, Grisaia no Rakuen is actually a pretty fun show to choose if you want some thrilling action and dark storytelling. Rather than repeating some of the mistakes from the first season, the show plays with a lot of its themes and transforms into a product that is grappling. It’s a worthy successor with the style of the story building and characterization. And while some characters doesn’t shine as much as the others, it can appealing to see their roles. It can even make the audience feel jittery at times with this season’s surprising elements. Now, don’t go into this season expecting a blooming romance. In fact, Grisaia hardly can pull off a genuine romance on-screen despite its attempts to do so in the past. Instead, experience sensational feel with the flow of this season’s story as it pulls of its daring risks.

8bit, the studio who half-assed Grisaia no Kajitsu into a 13 episodes. The good news is they do not repeat the same mistakes. In 10 episodes they turn it into diamond, shining and bright. Everyone rejoice! Because this sequel would really change your mind about this series. It's exceeded all estimate that exist. The sequel of Grisaia no Kajitsu started right after Grisaia no Meikyuu, one of the best thing that Rakuen ever offer it's the main character development. At the early episode we can see that the protagonist's past described very well, the feeling and the drama tension can feel deep into your bones.Rakuen tell all the development that required for Kazami Yuuji. The series told Yuuji's past time and many things that didn't exist in it's prequel. Like a rainbow, the character development really prove something well. The development itself it's not shallow like they do in Kajitsu, it's well depth and understandable. While Rakuen succeed in the character development, the story itself got some admire. Rakuen story may be described as "rare breed harem". The story pacing it's still unstable, but the audience can still keep up with the story. It is not rushed, but balance and good. The story focused in one linear, which make it more understandable than the 1st season, unlike many harems that didn't notice in developments and story, Grisaia no Rakuen surely shocked all of it's viewers. While the animation we saw are one of the most standard. We have beautiful environment, colorful characters, explosions, and many other good thing. While the voice actors it's pretty decent, the Another good thing is the enjoyment of the series, the excitement it's really beyond the boundary. All of those elements packed together created a massive enjoyment in my personal thought. Just like a puzzle, when everything collected they will form something beautiful, from wrecked up harem shows, it become one unit of exhilarating story that succeed both in entertaining us and storytelling. Anyone who disappointed by the 1st season should watch this diamond, it is really a good experience indeed.

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