pomegranit

*spoiler free* I'm an girl who kinda likes gaming and reverse harems, so it's not a big surprise that I've gotten involved in otome-style games in my life. Despite being such a big otaku and otome game fanatic, I have not yet found an anime or manga that really displays the otome aspect in all it's glory-- perhaps I have bad luck, or maybe it's just that it's really difficult to put such a strange game format into a cohesive storyline. I've seen a lot of the more popular animes of this genre, including Amnesia, Kamagami No Asobi, Diabolik Lovers, and others. As of now,I can say that this is one of the better anime I've seen of the sort. This is mainly because it focuses a little more on the plot aspect than it does on the romance-- in fact, there's barely any romance at all, if you ask me. Let's get into it. To begin with, the plot is very simple-- it's about written works that can influence the reader with strong emotions. That's literally the entire basis. I won't go into it too much because it'll ruin a bit of the plot, but all I can say is that I expected a lot more of the plot. At first, I felt as though it was much too tame. There weren't really many stakes, yet the characters acted like there were. Yes, I understand, people can die-- but since such obvious precautions can be taken (issuing all books in print, advising people to buy in print, spreading awareness about the issue, etc.) why wasn't any of that done? It didn't make much sense to me, and the ending of it seemed a little rushed and patchworky, like they were trying to make it darker and add as many twists as possible. Perhaps it just wasn't for me. Either way, I just kinda stuck around for the sake of finishing it; I lost interest in the plot pretty early on. The art, however, was gorgeous. It has this pastel and blurry-ish quality to it that I really like. It's very fresh and different. I also liked the character designs, which were very distinct and interesting. Usually they only have a few basic character templates in a lot of animes, like the 'skinny short dude', the 'attractive lithe tall dude', the 'flat girl', and the 'busty girl', to say the most part. I was pleased with the fact that while all the guys were attractive, they all had different body types as per their backgrounds and who they were, as well as the few girls too. Nobody was TOO unrealistic (*cough cough* no necks and waists being the same width, thank you *cough*) and the color combinations and backgrounds were also stunning. As for the sound, I found most of the voice actors to be a little forgettable. There was little expression in a lot of the characters voices, but I think that was also an effect of the way the dialogues were written. Conversely, I found the opening and closing to be very fun. While the animation for the OP had a lot of people confused as to what the show was going to be like, I found it refreshing and cute. As for the closing, I really appreciated some of those sketches of our cute main guys, if you know what I mean. :D Overall, I can't say I enjoyed this too much. To me, it felt kinda like a draft of a show. There's so much potential here with character development and a deeper plot, but it just wasn't reached. I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt because it was adapted from a game and the otome genre is a hard genre to please with. Besides, it's bounds better than any other otome anime I've seen thus far. I would recommend this if you: like the otome genre/reverse harems, like books, like angsty backstories, like 'special' heroines, like more plot focus I would NOT recommend this if you: are here for the romance, like it when all the male characters are constantly trying to win over the heroine, don't like reading/books Have a great day everyone!

AngeVGC

This anime had a very interesting premise about magical cursed books as seen in the synopsis.However,this anime fails to make use of its premise and becomes an absolutely dreadful show.The few good points of the show would be its decent music and art,plus the fact that it is so bad that it is comedic.Other than that,if you are here for a deep and intriguing plot,you have come to the wrong place. As usual from a reverse-harem anime,we have boring one-dimensional male characters.This is especially so in this anime as most of the cast cannot even identify cursed tomes,and they cannot even be security men well,making thisseries pretty painful to watch.It really makes one wonder why the government in this fictional world actually thinks its a good idea to waste taxpayers' money on the Fukurrou(Department responsible for dealing with cursed tomes),since the organisation is pretty poor.Pretty much,the whole setting of the story is not executed well due to our male cast and their incompetence. On top of that,75% of this show is just the heroine clearing some sort of side quest,doing absolutely nothing relevant to the plot.This might work in some shows,but when your plot is your biggest selling point and the "side-quest" are boring as heck,it really makes this series really blant and painful to watch. This is definitely an anime I would recommend a skip,it is just another one of those anime with an interesting premise but terrible execution.