Doukyuusei Remake The Animation

Doukyuusei Remake The Animation follows Takurou, a likable weirdo, as he takes his numerous female friendships to the next level (that level being lots of consensual, romantic, vanilla sex). The story is effectively an anthology, fittingly framed as taking diverging routes in a dating sim. (Doukyuusei Remake is based on a dating sim of the same name, unsurprisingly a remake of Doukyuusei, a classic early 90s dating sim.) As a disclaimer, I have not played either of the source games, nor have I watched Doukyuusei's older hentai anime adaptation. The story of Doukyuusei Remake The Animation basically just speedruns a traditional dating sim, a plot formatthat hardly requires explanation. Our male lead, Takurou, is friends with various women, and in each story route some event causes him to spend more time with one of them, which rapidly turns romantic and sexual. Notably, Studio Seven puts a lot of effort into making the characters - including Takurou - likable through idiosyncratic animation and behaviors, and it does help make the cast feel a little more alive and real. However, considering these two episodes attempt to cover relationships with a whopping four heroines whose stories don't overlap, these nice touches don't amount to much. The characters are differentiated a little from their barebones archetypes, but not in a way that really contributes to the level of passion in their relationships, so the full burden still lies on the execution of the sex scenes. The two episodes take different approaches to the sex scenes, but shared between them is Studio Seven's excessive ambition, storyboarding scenes they can't quite animate properly. Episode 1 is rather traditional, though they attempt a greater diversity of angles and more active animation than is typical. Their inability to pull these off results in some strange off-model moments, unnatural movements, and awkward loops. Episode 2 is far gutsier, sporting more wild positions, and unfortunately the animation is even more uneven. Some scenes are uncannily fluid but don't quite have believable movements. Some scenes are a little choppy. Some scenes seem to lack proper in-betweening, with the poses in some frames far too different from other frames in the animation loop. Furthermore, there are frequent cuts between positions, which is a double-edged sword. It helps keep things interesting but is disjointed itself, so when paired with all the other problems with disjointedness, it can become a little too difficult to remain immersed. I respect a lot of what Studio Seven is trying to do with Doukyuusei Remake The Animation, but I don't think it comes together into something that's particularly good. It's generally fappable enough, though, assuming you like any of the heroines' designs. (Note: The four designs are not particularly diverse.) For fans of vanilla, there are enough solid cuts in the animation that you can find something to float your boat, albeit maybe with some effort to overlook other, less appealing cuts.