Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well seeing as how my lovely assistants decided to do a review on a visual novel for girls last week how about I do a review on a visual novel for boys. All I need to do is find one to review. Hmm~, oh wait, the spring anime of 2015 is set to start next month and on that list was a popular visual novel getting a second season, Grisaia no Kajitsu. Grisaia no Kajitsu when translated means The Fruit of the Grisaia. It’s an adult visual novel that came out for Windows in 2011 and was later ported to the PSP and PS Vita in 2013. It was developed by Front Wing a game company that’s well known for turning their games into good series. Grisaia no Kajitsu is the first of the series where a high school boy wanting to go to school like an average boy winds up at unique school with prison-like features. Once there he meets students who are all there for various reasons and he decides to help them out with their problems. In the game you take of the role of the high school boy and interact with the characters. Like all visual games your choices effect the story entirely and depending on what choices you make decide the ending and your relationship with that character. The game received a lot of praise scoring 30/40 in the Famitsu magazine and critics praised the game for the story balancing comedy and seriousness perfectly. In 2014 the anime studio 8-Bit (IS) decided to help promote the game and created a 13-episode anime of the game combining all the stories into one story. Did it work out for them? Well let’s put are dating skills to the test and take a look at Grisaia no Kajitsu.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening for this anime is “Rakuen no Tsubasa” (Wings of Paradise) by Maon Kurosaki. At first I didn’t really like this song but as the anime went on it started to grow on me. The instrumental is very beautiful to listen to. The visuals in the opening are very symbolic and powerful as they dive into the psychological aspects of our characters. Maon’s an amazing singer but it might just be me but it sounds like she’s struggling to hit those high notes in the song. I don’t know it just sounds like she had a hard time hitting those high notes. We have multiple endings for this matching up with each arc of the character. For the most part they’re alright, none of them really stood out to be all that much.
Episodes 1-5
The anime starts off with the main character Yuji voiced by Takahiro Sakurai (Jafar from Magi) a secret agent of the military who plays it cool not being phased by anyone or anything (okay I like you), tired of his life and wanting to live the normal life of a high school student (haha, you’re an anime character you don’t get to live a normal life). After much searching he finds an ordinary high school called Mihama Academy and transfers to the school where the principal tells him it’s an elite school with only 6 students counting him (this is your idea of a normal school?), quickly becomes the dorm leader, and is placed in the same dorm as the 5 other students who are all girls (let the harem begin). After that we just meet the rest of the cast (who all seem to be out there). First is Amane voiced by Hiroko Taguchi who serves as the big sister of the group. Next up is Makina an innocent carefree girl whose personality is hard to understand. She’s voiced by Tomoe Tamiyasu. We than have Michiru a fake tsundere who bleached her hair blond and has a deep interest in the tsundere character (so far she’s my favorite character). She’s voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi (Miyako from Hidamari Sketch). We then have Sachi voiced by Ai Shimizu who is the class rep and for some strange reason dresses up as a maid because everyone says she has a maid aura (well she does look good in a maid outfit). Finally, we have Yumiko voiced by Ryouko Tanaka a loner at the school who pulls out a box knife on people who make her angry (oh you like the rough stuff eh?). The episode pretty much introduces the characters and we end with Yuji returning to his room to see a naked Amane changing clothes and not being phased by it at all (cool as an iceberg this guy). Even Amane doesn’t seem to mind the guy watching him change (you two wanna fuck each other don’t you?).
Episode 2 opens up with Yumiko trying to kill Yuji with her box knife (scene here: //youtu.be/UCK-NAL4xw8, man she must really like him). It turns out that Yumiko is threaten by Yuji because she can’t find anything about him which scares her (in her defense he can be a rather unsettling person). After that we focus on Yuji and Makina who bond with each other which leads to Makina calling Yuji, Onii-chan from now on (man she really is the little sister character isn’t she). We also meet Yuji’s handler JB a beautiful blonde woman who Yuji says is a pain (yeah but you should see her naked). Yumiko tries once again to kill Yuji with the box knife not once but twice and failing with the last attempt being in the dorms where Yuji actually grabs and disarms her scaring her somewhat (gaze into the eyes of an OP character). Yuji says that he’s not Yumiko’s enemy and wants to be her friend (right~). Yumiko decides to believe him for now but says she’ll be watching him closely from now on.
Episode 3 is just full of funny moments. First off when Yuji returns from his morning exercise he sees Amane pick the lock to his room (what the hell?). Once inside she proceeds to sniff Yuji’s shirt, jump on his bed, and masturbate to the thoughts of doing it with Yuji (wow, she is hornier than a cat in heat). Yuji enters the room not caring one bit about Amane until she notices him and is embarrassed by her actions (oh please in truth you’re more turned on. Scene here: //youtu.be/aPi1_THWPw4, good for you). Once at school we see that Makina has taken an interest in Yuji and begins to mimic his actions and speech patterns to be more like him (gotta admit it’s kinda cute). Yuji than helps Michiru get rid of a cat she secret likes but is too tsundere to say it (scene here: //youtu.be/5is_igl6Dzg, the tsundere is strong with you, but you are not a true tsundere yet). After that Sachi makes a dog poach for Yuji after being on autopilot and agreeing to it despite not really wanting it (I’ve been on autopilot before and did this a few times myself). With the help of Michiru he’s able to pass the poach onto Makina who’s more than happy to have it. In the final bit Amane gets a sprain and Yuji takes her to the nurse’s office (that has no nurse. Seriously what’s up with this school?) where she confesses to Yuji and wants to be his girlfriend (I say do it. The girl’s obviously crazy so she’ll be great in bed. Plus she already sneaks into your room anyway so why not sleep together) but he says no. Amane not wanting to give up on being close to Yuji works out a compromise where she’ll be Yuji’s big sister and he agrees to it (if anything she should be asking him to be the big brother seeing as he’s more responsible and mature than her).
Not much to say about episode 4 except for finding out that Michuru has two personalities. One is the tsundere in training while the other is a calmer and graceful one who actually kissed Yuji just to see what it’s like (scene here: //youtu.be/DmRgmVVIiOg, I like the other Michuru). Outside of this we get a bit of tragedy in this episode at the end. Michuru’s cat friend named Meowmel (I know it’s a weird name) got hit by a car and as Yuji and Michuru are in a taxi taking him to the veterinarian he dies in the arms of Michuru (it’s a very sad scene that pulls at your heartstrings).
The story of Michuru continues in episode 5 where the anime takes a complete 180 turn and tosses aside that funny atmosphere it had created and gives us a deep and serious psychological journey with a hint of drama as Michuru decides that she’s done with living and wants to die leaving the other Michuru to live in her place who we find out is actually another person entirely. Michuru got a heart transplant when she was younger which resulted in the other person becoming a part of her personality all together (I’m sure scientist and doctors would frown and call BS on something as crazy as this). Yuji decides to honor Michuru’s wish so he knocks her unconscious and buries her alive (I am not kidding he just literally buried another human being alive. What the fuck man? I know what the obvious payoff is gonna be but still this is going extreme. Needlessly extreme). As she’s buried Michuru begins to remember her past about how best friend who she loved (as a friend not as a lover) was also very suicidal and went through killing herself right in front of Michuru. This cause Michuru to have a heart failure which resulted in the heart transplant and the alternate personality existing in her body (again I’m sure scientist and doctors are frowning and calling BS on this crazy idea). As Michuru was going through physical therapy she created her tsundere persona as a way to no longer face life and become that character who’s just there to make you laugh (well so far she’s doing a good job. She’s also been a character who’s given me the most feels so far). Through Michuru’s journey down memory lane she comes to the conclusion that she wants to keep living and learns that losing people and things you care about is a part of life but at the same time you’ll gain important people and things you care about at the same time. After figuring this out she burst out of her coffin where Yuji has been out there waiting for her for 3 days straight (okay time out. She’s been buried for 3 days straight and she’s still alive? How? I’m not all that big into science but the human body can only go 72 hours without water before experiencing major body problems. This girl is somehow fine despite having no food or water and being buried alive for 3 days. Also, how did she survive living in that coffin for three days? In a closed space like that she would have run out of oxygen and suffocated to death?). In the epilogue of this episode Yuji uses his connections to find the other Michuru’s American family and lets her go and say goodbye to them properly (hey mom I’m a Japanese girl now with issues). After that we’re told the other Michuru went away forever but we see she pops up here and there every now and then showing us that the two Michurus are now coexisting together.
Episodes 6-9
Episode 6 is all about Yumiko and her past. We find out that Yumiko is the illegitimate heir to the powerful Tohin Railroad Company. Because she was born a girl her father disowned her and her mother and remarried some other women who gave birth to a son but that son fell ill and died (consider that karma Yumiko’s father). After being abandoned Yumiko’s mother raised Yumiko all by herself but because of her weak body she fell ill and had to be hospitalized where the mother does the unthinkable and says she wished Yumiko was born a boy (wow, you are a terrible person to say that to your daughter). Once she found out about Yumiko’s dad remarrying and having a son she committed suicide still cursing Yumiko for not being a boy (you are a soulless weak woman). After a few years passed Yumiko’s father came to pick her up deciding that she’ll be the next heir to the company and pretends that the whole situation with her and her mother never happened (//youtu.be/EYWbatgKN4g). Before long rumors started spreading throughout the school about Yumiko until she finally snapped one day and attacked a student with her box cutter (the student did have it coming. She pretended to be her friend only to get juicy gossip and spread rumors. Girls can be bitchy like that). In order to cover this incident Yumiko’s father paid off the family, pulled Yumiko out of the school, and created Mihama Academy to contain her as his cage bird until she calmed down and became more willing to do what he says. In the episode after much waiting Yumiko’s dad is tired of waiting and decides that if Yumiko won’t become his puppet he’ll strike fear into her (yeah because that always works out in the end). Yuji is told by JB to be Yumiko’s bodyguard and assist the Tohin Group but he goes against his orders and protects Yumiko from some hired hitman and formulate a plan to get back at her father (you know what would really piss your dad off? Sleeping with Yuji. . .and that’s real). Yumiko’s father tells the school he’s going to have Yumiko study abroad and tells them that if she refuses he’ll have Yuji expelled from the school. When Yumiko’s father comes to pick her up she pulls out a handgun (she’s packin’ heat run) which she got from the Internet (no doubt from Amazon) and holds herself up in the student dorm saying she won’t go with him. We have a standoff between Yumiko and her father where she finally runs out of bullets and the police squad is order to move in (take her down! Stun gun! Stun gun). But the tables turn quick when Yumiko pulls out a grenade and commits suicide bringing her father to his knees and having him cry out in sadness at the loss of his daughter (now who’s going to take over the family business?). After Yumiko’s death Yumiko’s father honors the last wish of his daughter and keeps the school open (man this guy went through a change quick. Talk about rushing the story) and decides to spend the rest of life trying to figure out what Yumiko was trying to teach him (don’t try to control your children. It’s not that hard of a lesson ya jackass), but in a surprising twist Yumiko is still alive (//youtu.be/qxqm6htwcwk). Yep, it turns out the whole thing was staged by Yumiko and Yuji to teach her dad a lesson and help her start a new life free from the Tohin Group. She’s given a whole new identity and decides to stay at the school where she’s free to be herself and free from the constraints of her family.
Episode 7 focuses on Sachi everyone’s favorite maid. Sachi begins to notice that everyone is a lot more cheery thanks to Yuji (yeah he has that effect on girls) but for some reason she’s not happy about it (your just jealous because you couldn’t do the things he did). But that will have to wait as exams are fast approaching and Michuru asks Sachi if she can do something so they don’t have to take exams. Sachi says okay and begins working late into the night in secret, scouts the school, and makes some chemicals (man if I didn’t know any better I say she was gonna blow up the school. . .oh my God she’s gonna blow up the school! Why would you do that? Couldn’t you just sneak into the principal’s office and just destroy the test?). Luckily Yuji catches on to Sachi’s plan and on the night before the exams where Sachi plants the bombs in the school and sets the timer for them to go off Yuji sends a message out for everyone to meet him in classroom (oh this is gonna be one hell of an article in tomorrow’s paper). Sachi begins to panic because all of her friends and her are gonna die in a fiery explosion but luckily once again Yuji causes an error on the timer which stops the bombs from going off (okay how and when did he do this? From what we saw throughout the episode Yuji never once went near the bombs). After Yuji tells the others to head to the dorm, he’s left alone with Sachi who wets himself both out of fear and thankfulness that nothing bad happened (scene here: //youtu.be/b33QiZMeESw. Boy Yuji when it comes to scary girls you take the cake. (Pyro Jack): There’s cake? (Jack Frost and Chibi Isis): Where?). We then get treated to Sachi’s backstory where we find out that Yuji and Sachi are childhood friends (making them the obvious couple to get together at the end of the anime) who grew up in the same town and everything. Sachi’s family owned a small factory in town where even though they loved their daughter when they became busy Sachi was left all alone that is until she met Yuji in the talk who was also lonely and dealing with family issues himself. The two would get together and play in the park keeping each other company (and unknowingly falling in love with each other) but as time went on Yuji stopped coming less and less to the park until he eventually stopped coming all together leaving Sachi alone once again. On Sachi’s 10th birthday her parents took time off from work to spend the whole day with her where they apologize for leaving her alone all this time which pissed her off so she ran away from them (and by runaway I mean just go to the park). When her parents find her they stopped in the middle of the road (dumb! That was dumb! Don’t ever stop in the middle of a road) where they get hit by a truck right in front of Sachi’s eyes (well this is one hell of a birthday present). The dad dies and the mother falls into a coma and since the incident Sachi hasn’t gone to see her mother and developed a deep trauma where she believes that if she’s a good girl (i.e doing what everyone tells her to do no matter how ridiculous or absurd they are) good things will happen to her (no they won’t) and it will erase the selfish acts of her past (the past cannot be changed no matter how much you want it). Yuji tells her that it’s okay to be selfish and not listen to what everyone says saying that there are times when a person’s selfishness can save someone (he’s gotta point). This makes Sachi feel a lot better (well that was fast and easy) and they get rid of the bombs under the disguise of fireworks going off. Yuji and Sachi return to their hometown where they see the birthday gift Sachi’s parent had plan on giving her and she goes to visit her mom (still in a coma).
At the start of episode 8 Makina promotes Yuji from onii-chan to papa (//youtu.be/r2xDJPc-yaM). Makina wants Yuji to be her papa and she pays him 70 million yen to do it (sold! I’ll do it). So Yuji accepts being Makina’s papa shocking everyone who can’t understand what’s going on (I don’t blame them this is some pretty crazy shit right here and this is coming from a guy who sat through Panty and Stocking as well as Kill La Kill. I mean just look at the way Makina shows her daughterly affection to Yuji. Scene here: //youtu.be/cwGaHg1Fgyk that is not a daughter kiss that is a hentai kiss). When summer break arrives Yuji continues being Makina’s papa teaching her self-defense and even showing her how to handle a sniper rifle (scene here: //youtu.be/NuWBki4ROMw that was nice of him. Also why do I get the feeling this is gonna play a crucial part in her arc?). After doing a bit of research Yuji finds out that Makina comes from a political family dominated by the women (take that Mrs. Clinton) who engage in both good and dark politics. In fact they even finance the defense group Yuji works for. Makina’s father married into the family and discovered the family’s dark secret where he decided to go public with the information but he was in a car “accident” (heavy emphasis on the accident part) and died. Makina was later removed from the family, placed in the school and her mother remarried and had another daughter named Serina who has no idea that Makina is her older sister and exist. While going with Yuji to visit and pay respects to Yuji’s master Makina sees her sister Serina shopping and passes her while quietly saying hello to her (hard to believe she’s a big sister given her personality). As she walks by them the car that Serina’s in explodes right the hell out of nowhere (did Makina just jinx her little sister?). Luckily Serina survived but barely however this event has forced Yuji’s defense group to take on the job to assassinate Makina.
We find out in episode 9 the person who put a hit out on Makina is Makina’s own mother who is also responsible for killing her husband in fact she cheated on the guy and everything (oh you are mega-bitch). She wants Makina dead because Makina knows all of the family secrets. Thanks to her prestigious memory Makina memorized all of the files her dad had on hand and can recite them off the top of her head (that girl is something else). In order to protect Makina, Yuji goes rogue and goes on the run with Makina having only 2,000 yen courtesy of Michuru (cheap girl), a box lunch courtesy of Amane, and a tree sapling courtesy of Sachi (the odds are in their favor). Despite being on the run Yuji takes on his organization single-handedly outsmarting team and beating them whenever they show up (man Yuji seriously gives Tatsuya a run for his money. That guy is cold). However, Makina gets herself caught and shot at it (assholes) after going back to retrieve the tree sapling she left behind in the hiding house and gets curb stomped in the process (bastards! You shoot her and you begin to curb stomp her, what the hell?). Yuji shows up and kicks their asses however Makina needs medical attention and with the blood she’s losing she won’t make it to the hospital in time. Fortunately JB shows up to help Yuji siding with him (even though through a majority of the episode she was on the side trying to catch him) and takes care of Makina while Yuji makes a visit to Makina’s mom and kills the bitch in cold blood (scene here: //youtu.be/udOTOe2NCv0, I know this is wrong but I watched that scene at least 5 times smiling and enjoying it each time. She deserved this). With Makina’s mom dead and Makina giving Yuji’s organization the dirt on her family the assassination on Makina’s life is withdrawn and the two return to the school safely with no worries (I gotta say Yuji, you sure know how to show a girl a traumatizing time).
Episodes 10-13 and Specials
A lot of stuff (or shit in this case) happens between episodes 10-12. First off Sachi sees Yuji with JB and gets the wrong idea (scene here: //youtu.be/WD-41i8ipvs, if he has to rape you you will never see it coming Sachi. You’ll enjoy it but you’ll never see it coming). Yuji finally allows Amane to be his girlfriend (scene here: //youtu.be/PgWZ7tuNyOs, good choice). Yuuji then asks her why she’s so persistent in wanting to be his girlfriend (because you’re badass man). She confesses and tells Yuji that before coming to this school she was actually a classmate of his sister Kazuki who died some time ago. 6 years ago while returning from a basketball training camp via bus the bus gets a flat tire and falls off the side of a mountain into the forest with many of the passengers getting injured and one if not two of them dying from the crash. Amane was on the bus and survived along with a few of her classmates, sensei, senpais, and of course Yuji’s older sister Kazuki who fractured her arm in the crash. Kazuki befriends Amane and they stick together to survive being stuck in the forest helping out everyone and just staying alive (scene here: //youtu.be/G-TMBbPOXY4). After being stuck for a few days waiting to be rescued (why they didn’t leave after the first two or three days is beyond be. Yeah I know they got injured among them but still when help doesn’t come after the second or third day that’s usually your cue to start finding your own way out) the sensei leaves trying to find help leaving all the girls behind and it’s here that we get the saddest and most gruesome stuff the anime has to offer. Now while watching this you know that all of the girls (besides Amane) are gonna die the question is how and when they die and sure enough their deaths are slow and painful. As days go by and the girls wait for rescue we see that a majority of them go crazy from hunger and lack of vitamins with some even hoping the person next to them dies so they won’t have another mouth to feed. Eventually the injured start to die from their wounds or injuries and one student even commits suicide after being force to eat her dead dog (scene here: //youtu.be/ewAdQmf-RKI, damn). On the 14th day (really!? 14 days! You sat on your asses watching each other slowly die for 14 fucking days? These girls are stupid. Seriously, if I was in their situation I would have started moving out after the second day. That or start a fire) the sensei returns (batshit crazy) failing his mission and everything (you’re killing us sensei). Finally, on the 15th day in the dark of night Kazuki tells Amane to pack her things saying that she and her are leaving this mountain (thank you. Where was this line of thinking 12 or 13 days ago?) without the others since they’ve all gone insane (or as Kazuki puts it have become demons). Sure enough Kazuki is right, as they’re leaving she shows Amane that their sensei is in a sexual relationship with the club president and is doing her doggy style (well so far this is the most shocking part of this whole story). Not only that but he’s been feeding them the body parts of their dead classmates (it could have been worse. A part of me honestly thought the sensei was gonna engage in necrophilia). After seeing this Amane freaks out and breaks a twig alerting everyone in the camp giving Kazuki and Amane no choice but to make a run for it. As they run they’re being chased by a naked crazy sensei who Kazuki knocks out (and this is the most ridiculous part of the whole story. Also, the sensei is as smooth as the Titans from Attack on Titan down there. I feel a little bad for him. Does this mean he was finger banging her this whole time?). Eventually the others start to chase them (I’m surprise they have the energy to run after not getting a good meal in 15 days) and it becomes too much for Amane that she takes out a clever and is about to kill herself but Kazuki stops her, gives her a map, and sacrifices herself so Amane can escaped (there goes the best friend in the entire world right there). Amane made it out of the mountains and back to civilization where she found out she was the only survivor and the media doing their thing exaggerated the story making everyone think that Amane killed everyone in order to survive (who wrote this article TMZ? You have no proof she killed anyone! Who writes something like that in the first place? You idiots basically screwed up her life). This of course resulted in her being shunned by her classmates and her developing a huge amount of guilt at abandoning Kazuki and the others (Kazuki I can understand but the others have clearly gone crazy and have died mentally). Amane felt that she needed to be punish and she thought nobody would be better to give her a punishment than Yuji. At first her goal was to get close to him and have him properly punish her but she started to fall for him and wanted to be with him (you and every other student in this anime). Despite falling in love with him she still wants Yuji to kill her as punishment and of course Yuji being Yuji doesn’t kill her but instead tells her that from this day forward she is his property (he is the king and you are his servant) and that he’ll accept her for who she is no matter what. She accepts this punishment and after calming down a little bit Yuji tells Amane that there’s a good chance that Kazuki is still alive because in the report one body was missing (ominous). They decide to go back to the mountain and search for clues and once they reach a town near the mountain a creepy man approaches Yuji saying he’s a fan of Amane and walks away (that’s gonna play a major factor in the future isn’t it?).
In the final episode they reach the place where Kazuki hid a secret message for Amane should she return to the land of demons (why she would do that I have no idea. Maybe there’s something to the Titan sensei’s finger banging I’m missing). In the message she tells her that everyone died (well no surprise there) from eating one of the students who was carrying a skin disease. With this message it’s clear that Kazuki is still alive the question now is where did she go? Also, when Yuji and Amane reach the shrine of the dead students they find a path which would have led them to the highway in 3 hours (you gotta be- no not worth it. Screw it, I’m not gonna get mad over this BS. I’m just gonna say everybody on that mountain was stupid and non-observant). After dropping flowers and saying a prayer they return to their car where Amane receives a call from that creepy guy last episode (wow they play this card sooner than I expected). It turns out the creepy guy is actually the parent of one of the students who died in the mountain and blames Amane for the death of his daughter (which one was she the delirious one, the crazy one, the whiny one, or the one who was getting finger-plowed by the Titan sensei? Oh who am I kidding he finger-plowed them all). He’s holding everyone at the school hostage with a shotgun (you mean to tell me this school is so cheap it can’t afford security guards or a dog?) and is threatening to kill them unless Amane shows up (wait! How do you know what school she goes to? Furthermore why would he attack the school? She’s in the forest with one guy at a shrine that barely anyone visits. If they were to die in that forest nobody would know for a long time. His whole plan makes no sense). Yuji calls JB and gets the place put on locked down where they try to come up with a plan to save everyone. They come up with a plan to have Yuji snipe the bastard in the boy’s bathroom window from the lighthouse which is 900 meters away and has a 10 cm field of fire (the 900 meters is hard enough but to actually have only a 10 cm field of fire just makes this shot almost impossible. It’s like trying to beat Ghost and Goblins without dying once). They have Amane go in and give him drugged water which makes him have to go to the restroom and he takes Amane with him because he plans to rape her in the bathroom (hey man that Yuji’s girlfriend. You lay one hand on her and he’s gonna split you’re skull wide open). The bastard gets within Yuji’s field of fire and he snipes him the shoulder causing him to panic and allowing Amane to take his gun (nice sniping Yuji. The only thing that would have made this scene badass is if he shot him in the head). The SWAT comes in to arrest the guy, everyone is safe, and the anime ends by promising us a second season.
We do have a few specials that were released along with the DVDs of the anime. The specials are just basically fanservice where each girl has an erotic situation with a silent Yuji. From what I’ve heard all of these specials are based off events from the novel and so far only Yumiko, Michuru, and Sachi’s have been released. In Yumiko she’s a bunny girl playing in her room, Michuru is at the beach with Yuji where he rubs suntan on her, and Sachi is washing Yuji’s back in a revealing outfit. As I said before the specials are just fanservice and so far each one is more perverted than the last and worth checking out.
Final Thoughts
This is an anime I like but at the same time disappointed in. The anime has a slow start, fooling newcomers into believing it’s gonna be a slice of life comedy anime until it does a 180 and gets into the dark stuff. The anime suffers greatly from having only 13 episodes. The game was 50+ hours long so to take that game and try to fit it into a 13 episode series was stupid and where all of the problems of the anime occur. The arcs are all rushed, pacing is horrible in each of them, the arcs diverge from the source material at some points, some of the changes don’t make sense, and we don’t have time to fully get invested into the stories of the arc because each one goes by so fast. Yuji’s dialog is also pretty stale. In the game he actually does have a lot of witty dialog and comebacks. We get a few of them in the anime but not nearly enough as we should. Throughout the anime you feel confused by the story of each character due to a lack of content and plot in each arc. The only arc that I really enjoyed was Amane’s arc because it was flushed out somewhat and we got a detail into her character but even then there are a few questions left unanswered in her arc and gets rushed at the end with a plan that really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The anime just feels like it’s more concerned with starting at point A and getting to point B without smelling the flowers or in this case filling in the blanks along the way.
Now this doesn’t mean the anime is all bad, there are some good points in it. For starters I do like the characters. Yuji is cool I how he’s straightforward and badass not being phased by anything and responding to each situation accordingly well. I like how each girl is different from each other having their own personality and character as well as having a different relationship with Yuji. A lot of people were mad that Yuji didn’t officially wind up with anyone at the end of the anime but in my opinion it was the best choice for this situation. Whoever they choose for Yuji to end up with they would have pissed off the fans so it’s best to just stay neutral and not choose anyone for now at least. The animation is great, very beautiful to look at and the visuals and scenes are powerful. The dark stuff that they show in this anime is powerful. Amane’s arc had the most powerful visuals in the anime. They filled me with so many sad emotions and left me shocked with my mouth open a few times. Comedy is good in the anime, just like the game the anime does a decent job balancing the comedy while also handling the seriousness of the anime as best as they could. Music was decent, doesn’t really leave that much of an impact on me and surprisingly the fanservice in this anime is pretty low and tamed rather well. There’s barely any fanservice in this anime outside of a few panty shots and the specials which is odd because in the game there are actually a few sex scenes between Yuji and the girls in their routes. They even break the rules and don’t have a hotspring or beach episode which is standard for these kinds of animes.
Final Score
The final score for Grisaia no Kajitsu is a 5/10. For what it is it’s alright but for what it could or should have been it leaves me disappointed. If the anime had instead 24 or 26 episodes it could of have been great not feeling rushed at all, paced correctly, and telling each of the character arcs completely where it make sense to everyone. Trying to tell and fit the game’s story into 13 episodes was a dumb idea doomed to fail from the very beginning and something tells me they’re gonna be making the same mistakes as they did in the second season as they did in the first season. Hopefully, they took a step back, saw all the mistakes they made in the first season, listened to fans, and made the appropriate steps to fix the mistakes made in the first season. I don’t expect perfection but I do expect the story to be told in the best way possible. 8-Bit, the ball is in your court I wait anxiously to see what you do with the series in the second season. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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