Right, Just finished episode 24 and im torn, I really am.
Overall Shuffle! for me was an OK series, coming from a Hentai game i started watching with some notions of the fan service galore and no redeeming qualities what-so-ever but i was gladly proven wrong. The overall quality of the show i felt was very good, i'm talking production wise here i'll get to the story in a minute. The animation was well done, some of the scenes i've seen looked fantastic and over time i've noticed some of the extra touches they put into the background action, things you wouldn't normally notice if you weren't looking for them. The character designs are typical by todays standard but some were done nice, i especially liked Primula and the Fathers. They were done very well. Another thing i liked was the little arrow that came in whenever a character was talking off screen, that was a nice touch that i haven't seen elsewhere.
I enjoyed the soundtrack quite alot actually, it was mixed and the range of songs was enough to hold my interest. I have a keen ear for music and the amount of instruments and styles was actually impressive. The opening and ending songs were fitting and a couple of the better tunes i've heard in recent tymes. The symphony score was also decent and added the right undertone for the scenes.
Now i move onto the story, I'm going to look at this in two parts and i feel this is important for my point later on in the story.
With the first half of the show the story was actually interesting and funny. For the first ten episodes or so i was infatuated with the comedy and some of the scenarios. The protection forces were great for a laugh, especially when they came out of no where. Also when Sia whacked her dad with a chair, everytime it was slapstick and you just couldn't help but laugh. The comedy writings of the earlier episodes were nicely done and worked with the whole demon harem thing that was going on, i would include the Primula story in this too. While it was still considered drama it holds nothing to the stuff we see later on, And that leads me onto my next point.
In the later episodes of Shuffle! things tend to get a bit more serious with a slow transition between the comedy and drama. Once it's sunk it's teeth in though it rips your heart out like nothing else. This show is a bastard for doing this, with the drama that happens (i'm going to go over that later on not in this post) they are really going to destroy anything that was setup in the first half of the show. It would be better if we were completley disconnected from the characters but by the time this starts to happen you arent, the drama keeps going right until the last episode (Spoiler post for later on)
Now after all this has happened i can safely say that the comedy is great and the drama is extremeley tear jerking. Both aspects of this show are done actually very well, but when they put them together they just don't work. For me i expected Shuffle! to be a light hearted Harem with a small touch of drama. They did manage to do this with the Primuls arc and everything around that time such as Sia and Nerine fighting for Rin's love. The second half of the show did carry some very serious drama and takes on some dark emoitions and feelings, but again they do it well.
If they split the comedy and drama into thier own shows they could easily work and you would easily get more enjoyment out of them. My biggest problem was that the drama completley wrecked all the fun and happyness that happened and seriously messed around with the characters. The show was just setup to be too light hearted and i don't think that i as a viewer was ready to see characters turned into that.
One thing that this show does excel in for me is character development. Even after all the funny moments and heart ache in the last ten minutes they somehow manage to show that the characters have changed over what's happened throughout the series. Which many anime can fall short on. My favourite character of the series, Primula, is a prime example of this. Over the episodes thats in we see her go from a silent, depressed and lonely child evolve into a cheerful kid enjoying life. If theres one thing i can take away from this show is that, seeing Primula develop. As the series went on i felt fuzzy inside when i seen her laugh or play games etc, it was very satisfying to watch.
There's tons more for me to cover, but i'm out of puff right now.
Overall Shuffle! for me was an OK series, coming from a Hentai game i started watching with some notions of the fan service galore and no redeeming qualities what-so-ever but i was gladly proven wrong. The overall quality of the show i felt was very good, i'm talking production wise here i'll get to the story in a minute. The animation was well done, some of the scenes i've seen looked fantastic and over time i've noticed some of the extra touches they put into the background action, things you wouldn't normally notice if you weren't looking for them. The character designs are typical by todays standard but some were done nice, i especially liked Primula and the Fathers. They were done very well. Another thing i liked was the little arrow that came in whenever a character was talking off screen, that was a nice touch that i haven't seen elsewhere.
I enjoyed the soundtrack quite alot actually, it was mixed and the range of songs was enough to hold my interest. I have a keen ear for music and the amount of instruments and styles was actually impressive. The opening and ending songs were fitting and a couple of the better tunes i've heard in recent tymes. The symphony score was also decent and added the right undertone for the scenes.
Now i move onto the story, I'm going to look at this in two parts and i feel this is important for my point later on in the story.
With the first half of the show the story was actually interesting and funny. For the first ten episodes or so i was infatuated with the comedy and some of the scenarios. The protection forces were great for a laugh, especially when they came out of no where. Also when Sia whacked her dad with a chair, everytime it was slapstick and you just couldn't help but laugh. The comedy writings of the earlier episodes were nicely done and worked with the whole demon harem thing that was going on, i would include the Primula story in this too. While it was still considered drama it holds nothing to the stuff we see later on, And that leads me onto my next point.
In the later episodes of Shuffle! things tend to get a bit more serious with a slow transition between the comedy and drama. Once it's sunk it's teeth in though it rips your heart out like nothing else. This show is a bastard for doing this, with the drama that happens (i'm going to go over that later on not in this post) they are really going to destroy anything that was setup in the first half of the show. It would be better if we were completley disconnected from the characters but by the time this starts to happen you arent, the drama keeps going right until the last episode (Spoiler post for later on)
Now after all this has happened i can safely say that the comedy is great and the drama is extremeley tear jerking. Both aspects of this show are done actually very well, but when they put them together they just don't work. For me i expected Shuffle! to be a light hearted Harem with a small touch of drama. They did manage to do this with the Primuls arc and everything around that time such as Sia and Nerine fighting for Rin's love. The second half of the show did carry some very serious drama and takes on some dark emoitions and feelings, but again they do it well.
If they split the comedy and drama into thier own shows they could easily work and you would easily get more enjoyment out of them. My biggest problem was that the drama completley wrecked all the fun and happyness that happened and seriously messed around with the characters. The show was just setup to be too light hearted and i don't think that i as a viewer was ready to see characters turned into that.
One thing that this show does excel in for me is character development. Even after all the funny moments and heart ache in the last ten minutes they somehow manage to show that the characters have changed over what's happened throughout the series. Which many anime can fall short on. My favourite character of the series, Primula, is a prime example of this. Over the episodes thats in we see her go from a silent, depressed and lonely child evolve into a cheerful kid enjoying life. If theres one thing i can take away from this show is that, seeing Primula develop. As the series went on i felt fuzzy inside when i seen her laugh or play games etc, it was very satisfying to watch.
There's tons more for me to cover, but i'm out of puff right now.
