Amagami SS

I myself am not a very big fan of romances. To be frank, there are not a lot of romances that even appeal to me anymore. After a couple episodes, most romances get branded as bland, boring, plain and cliche. Amagami SS is an exception. After watching countless romances, I've lost that feeling and excitement you get when watching your first ever romance anime. That weird jittery feeling that makes your stomach feel like it's on a rollercoaster. How you toss and turn hugging a pillow after your best girl has a cute scene. Amagami SS somehow made me feel like that once again and I'm grateful for that. Look I know the show isn't perfect, there are flaws that you can point out to me and I won't turn a blind eye to it, I'll probably even agree with you. But here's to why I think it's one of a kind and stands to be one of my favorite shows of all time.

What stands out to me the most about this series is how it's structured. Based off a PS2 dating sim, you get a 4 episode arc for each of the girls. At the beginning of each arc you reset to where Junichi is stood up on Christmas Day which scars him from trying to find love once again. Each arc explores the girls personalities, how they come to love Junichi and how Junichi is able to open up his scared heart once again to try to find love.

I myself haven't played very many VNs or dating sims, only really ever watching anime. So to me, I found this concept to be alien-like and a really nice twist to the romance genre. Made in 2010, it's crazy to me how this show isn't very recognized and how there aren't very much shows like this. I think this is one of the only shows that takes the dating sim concept and turns it into an anime format. The fact I haven't seen anything like this nowadays and is able to execute all the romance well in a not too cliche way to point it hurts, makes it one hell of a gem in my opinion.

Again made in 2010, just by looking at the cover art or the first couple seconds of the first episode you can tell it was made during that time. Usually this kind of art style would be grating and unappealing to the eye, but after giving it a bit of a chance I grew to love it. I think the art style fits all the cliche romance scenes perfectly and really captures that 2000s anime aura without making my head and eyes hurt.

All the VAs fit perfectly into the characters they were cast into. The VAs were able to perfectly convey what kind of personalities the characters had during the whole show. As a little bonus during each arc's ED contained the VAs version of the song and I found it to be very pleasant to the ear. Both OPs sang by azusa were amazing and also very pleasant to the ear.

The characters are what make up this show. They are what shaped and helped me enjoy the show as much as I did. With the exception of Sae and Rihoko (though they do make up for the Rihoko's in SS+), all the character arcs were amazing and were what gave me that jittery feeling once again. The 3 episodes leading up to that amazing finale where each of the girls get their special moment during Christmas with Junichi, was like a cake. You eat up the middle of that cake (the first 3 episodes) and then you wrap it all up perfectly together with that cherry (the final episode). Makes me jealous thinking about it, damn you Junichi!

As I said before, this show made me feel feelings I haven't felt in ages. The pure enjoyment and satisfaction I got off of this show was truly amazing and I can't thank enough all the people who contributed to the making of this wonderful series.

If you're looking for a pretty unique twist on the romance genre, with arguable harem elements, this is the show for you! I can't recommend this show enough! Trust me it'll be worth every second of your time!