Smile.. Sweet.. Sister.. Sadistic.. Surprise.. Service.. ~~Snoop Dogg~~
Its almost as if the opening sequence was made especially for memes. And it was through the legendary memes that I stumbled upon the surprisingly delightful anime that is Blend S. But before I begin my review of the anime, behold this pinnacle of anime memes, which alone should be a compelling reason for you to give this anime a watch.
Now this is the my very first public review of any anime, let alone on this site, so I thought of experimenting with the structure and writing style. So I came up with a 6 Ps system of structuring the review, and incidentally it couldn't suit any anime better than the one currently in question. Here goes the scheme:
Preview.. Premise.. Plot.. People.. Perception.. Peroration..
I hope you read it in Stile style (bad pun, but points for Blend S reference?). Anyways, the preview part ends here.
Blend S has a very simple and unique premise that you only find in anime - a teenage girl looking to be independent and move abroad for education finds herself in unfortunate yet amusing situations because of a natural quirk possesed by her - whenever she tries to make an amicable expression, it comes out as a malicious glare.
Maika Sakuranomiya is a 16 year-old, hardworking girl from a conservative Japanese household, who has a fascination for foreign culture and dreams of moving to another country for higher education. And she wishes to do it on her own, without any support from her family in order to be truly independent. But her ambitions are curtailed by her genes - somehow her cuteness is engulfed by a disdainful, nightmarish grin whenever she tries to smile. As a result, she cannot land a job anywhere, and is concerned about her future, until Cafe Stile comes to her rescue. After another rejection, Maika stumbles upon a cafe (whose manager is instantly captivated by her charm) which turns out be the magical fit for her quirk. At Cafe Stile, each of the waitresses play a character - from a temperamental tsundere to a cute imouto, they have them all, each suiting their customers' fetishes. Blend S is about the daily adventures of Maika and her colleagues at her new workplace, and though nothing extraordinary it is oddly relaxing and lovable.
The characters of this series are undoubtedly its focal point. Because the whole point of Cafe Stile is to play a character, all the tropes become acceptable. Naturally, the traits of the role they play are subtly ingrained in their real selves, and this is very clearly seen in the case of Kaho Hinata, who plays the tsundere character. Maika, for her terrifying glare, plays the sadist character, and its amusing to see how her apparent sadism results from her innocence. Mafuyu Hoshikawa is another character who is plays the imouto role due to her short height, but has a completely opposite, mature and strict personality in real life. Dino, the manager and kitchen staff is smitten by Maika and keeps pursuing her (and horribly failing) throughout the 12 episodes, creating some hilarious moments along the way. Other supporting characters Kouyou Akizuki (kitchen staff who has feelings for Kaho), Miu Amano (a perverted doujin artist who plays one-san at Stile) and Hideri Kanzaki (trapp who plays the young idol) all contribute to the comedy element of the show, and while not particularly outstanding, are definitely memorable. Even Maika's brother and sister who make guest appearances in a couple of episodes stick in the mind for their innocent sadism. All-in-all, the characters are lively and lovable, and the biggest strength of the show.
When I picked up Blend S, I had zero expectations from it. I had made up my mind that it was going to be yet another cliched slice of life rom-com anime with paper thin plot and cute-looking but uninteresting characters. And indeed, Blend S is just another slice of life rom-com out there, and you are certain to find a show much better suited to your tastes. I found the characters endearing and thoroughly enjoyed their chucklesome antics, but to someone else, they might be plain boring or even annoying. There is practically no character development to speak of (neither does the show intend too have any), and things remain the exact same as they did on episode 1, only with a few more characters. But despite all of this, I didn't feel like giving up on the show at any point. Clearly, Blend S is a show that is to be watched with your brain on power-saving mode and just to giggle at the mess created by the characters. And who knows, maybe that's exactly what you need to unwind after a long, gruelling year.
To conclude, Blend S is an average yet enjoyable pick, with priceless and adorable characters and can provide a refreshing change of pace and genre to many.
Thanks for reading!
PS - I'm trying to improve my writing as well as observation and reflection skills with these reviews. Any inputs/feedbacks/criticisms are welcome.
23 out of 23 users liked this review
