Kei Asai lives in the oceanside city of Sakurada—a town where the inhabitants are born with strange abilities. On the school rooftop one day, he meets Misora Haruki, an apathetic girl with the power to reset anything around her up to three days prior. While no one knows when she has reset, not even Haruki, Kei can retain everything before the reset thanks to his own ability: photographic memory. After they successfully help someone by combining their powers, they join the Service Club to aid others in their town.
However, their club becomes involved with and begins completing missions for the mysterious Administration Bureau—an organization that focuses on managing the abilities in Sakurada and manipulating the town's events for their own ends. They may find out that there are more things at work in Sakurada than the machinations of the uncanny organization.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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CrimsonWanderer
Don't let the scores this show received on previews deceive you. this show is actually a Hidden gem among all the anime between this and spring season. is sad that this show received such a harsh treatment from many people with different opinions, like the show being slow, emotionless, boring, uninteresting, etc. but when it comes to its own merits, Sakurada Reset shines for being an Anime that does things well, yeah that's right, you won't see that many anime having a great plot without forgetting things they said and then doing otherwise. in Sakurada Reset case, it manages to stick to its own Ideaand expand it and manages to explain at least almost everything within time, the main problem is that the first half is a bit slow and the characters lacks a bit of emotions (well that's a kuudere for you) yet, that "main problem" is called development and slow pace, so that pretty much sums up for the things that scared people away, because its seen everywhere, you will see inpatient people that wants things to be fast, but when they get their explanation they either call it bullshit or probably gave up on the show a while ago. it makes me think that they would insta drop a long run Anime of more than 100 episodes just because the main character doesn't develop like they wanted in 4 episodes. even tho that some of these anime that goes further than 200 might end up sucking or transforming into the Dragon Ball formula of seeing who has the biggest dick. but judging an anime within the first episodes of a show that has more than 12 episodes is just plain nonsense, there are special cases where it can be right to bash over an anime in the beginning, for example a Generic Anime that you would know from the very beginning how will it end. but we are not here to talk about when to or when to not give up on a show so lets get started. there might be spoilers ahead, better be warned than get spoiled.
TL;DR: Overall Section
Story: The story of this anime happens on a City that goes by the name of Sakurada, which is special because the habitants of Sakurada has
supernatural abilities, and very unique ones I must say, at least, there are somes that I consider unique. now, if people leaves the town of
Sakurada, they will forget that they had an ability and everything related to abilities inside of Sakurada. (even though it might seem otherwise, this has an explanation)
We get to meet our main Characters: Asai Kei, Haruki Misora and Sumire Souma. they have powers that may be great if the three of them worked together, Asai Kei has the power of remember everything he sees and hear, Haruki Misora has the power to get back in time to a point where she saved. her power has some restrictions: she has to "save" a "moment" in time, once she reset, she is not able to save again unless 24 hours has passed from the last save point (preventing you from abusing this power) and in order to reset, she used to activate her power when she saw someone crying, but this changes later on. and we have Sumire Souma, her ability is a bit painful actually, since she can foresight things that might happen. by using this power, she made Kei and Misora meet each other, because she knew that they would make a good team/couple, mostly because Misora will not remember anything when she resets, she and every Sakurada Reset ability user that isn't Kei (and other exceptions), this way Kei would be the master key in order to fix the problem that made Misora reset. but even knowing what was the problem, that doesn't mean it will be easy to fix.
on the first half our duo will help people in need while they find answers on why Souma Died, they also will try to find more about them as persons (because them being almost emotionless, were one of the reasons why people gave up on this show so easily) this while confronting other ability users (I can feel the Influence of JoJo on this anime by the hands of David Productions, there are abilities that reminds me of some parts of the JoJo series) now, on the second half, is where this show goes all in revealing most of Sakurada's secrets, developing their characters on a really great way while solving certain cases that are very philosophical (one of the strongest things on this anime) as you might have noticed this anime requires very deep thinking, otherwise you would feel very lost if you don't pay attention. Because of how great Sakurada Reset manages to pull all together within the 2nd half and how great it manages to develop everything at the end, I'll give story an score of: 8.5/10
I'll combine Art and the Soundtrack into one section since there isn't much to say here. The animation is quite good overall, there are scenes that has a really deep impact while having a good harmony with the soundtrack, the show successfully manages to give you the right atmosphere on certain scenes that manages to hook you even more, mostly on the second half. tho it is completely worth it because involves the characters while they are developing and showing how worth their development is. so for Art and Soundtrack, both goes by the score of: 8/10
Lets head into one of the strongest things on this anime, the Characters. Even if they show themselves quite emotionless, they manage to develop really well in a very surprising way. they start getting more emotional within time while dealing with very philosophical and psychological events that will help them understand more about themselves, the story of Sakurada and the ability users. Asai Kei is a Mastermind when it comes to plans, even if his development sacrifices the development of the other characters (this since the resets of Misora will erase the development of the other characters that aren't Kei) he manages to go 7 steps ahead of everyone, he never ceases to amaze me when it comes to his risky but successful plans. Certainly, I wouldn't want him as a Villain, would be as smart as Aizen from Bleach. the other characters are still good, they will still develop, even if their progress get reset'd a couple of times. at least that development doesn't go to trash like for example in re:zero, where Subaru instead of growing into the right side, he lost his mind and pretty much destroys any development of everyone and himself (that until a blue haired person that I don't remember gets him some doses of "Ubicatex" (this is a spanish play word that means "snap out of it") so for the great development of these characters and their events, I'll give the characters
a Score of: 9.5/10
as for Enjoyment, if you aren't into a slow paced story with characters that will develop quite slowly, this show certainly might not be for you. but if you are patient enough, certainly this anime will keep you hooked and will reward those that sticks to the end. The more weeks I spent waiting for this show, the more worth it became. so within all that this show had to offer, my Enjoyment will be a score of: 10/10
Overall 8.8/10 (9): an Anime that rewards those that explores deeply into the secrets this show has, Characters that develop greatly, and events that will keep you hooked with Philosophical and psychological touchs. quite underrated and overlooked by unpatient people.
balagergo
Considering that an article on this very site, written somewhere around the end of last season, has already declared this show to be a "miss" at its halfway point (real professional work there, guys, next time you should just rank animes based on their announcement PVs), and that most viewers have already decided to drop the series in favour of the latest pseudo-hentai, harem LN adaptation, it might be far too late for me to write a review about this piece of work, killed before it ever had the chance to show its values, but I believe that Sakurada Reset deserves better. First, let's acknowledgereality, the show is not the second coming of your local salvation-based deity, it is definitely not for everyone. If you believe that anime, as a genre, should be solely about unadulterated entertainment of the most vulgar degrees, little girls fighting each other to the death, cow-titted, blonde onee-sans snuggling up to virginal heroes of godlike powers, or whatever the fuck you people see in those Eromanga-senseis and whatnot, then you'd do best avoiding this series, you will only be disappointed and will possibly whine about it being boring, confusing and seriously lacking in infantile erotic tension.If you, however, think that this is one of the greatest mediums to give an experience equally stimulating visually and intellectually, capable of opening your eyes to completely different points of view, then I highly recommend the series.
The story itself is about presenting the numerous way the people of Sakurada relate to other's and their own abilities, and how encounters with one another influence personal growth. It's not a world-changing great adventure or a hard struggle between embodiments of good and evil, even the larger scale events are given a personal grasp, as they are significant to the individual, but only mere episodes for the world in which those individuals exist.
And that's where the main focus lies, the characters. Again, if you are looking for the usual character tropes and typical over-the-top voice acting you get from My Little Tsundere Princess Sister And The Magical Academy Of Lightshow Battles, then you will most definitely find all the characters boring and empty. Each and every member of the cast is constructed in a layered fashion, first only providing the means for a surface-level understanding of their personalities (and that's the point where most viewer gave the series a 2/10 and quit), only to open up for us as our eyes into their world, Kei, begins to unravel the circumstances that lead them to this point in their lives, our encounter with them changing their views significantly, later appearances showing glances of their growths by the end of the series.
In tandem with the aforementioned narrative focus, the characters of Sakurada Reset all act and emote in very human ways, they show subtle expressions while talking with normal tonality, the same way as any of us would in given conversations. Hell, one of the main point of the series is how the characters develop as they interact with others, the dialogues' unfolding nature serves this purpose perfectly, especially in Haruki's case, who goes from an extremely cold and emotionless presentation to become one of the most vibrantly expressive characters of the series.
Spoken lines do tend to be somewhat slow-paced and very philosophical in their nature, the characters often discuss thought experiments and theories in detail, and that too might be one of the reasons for the hasty abandonment of the series by those who mainly use philosophy books (provided that they ever held one in their hands) to find every single mention of a phallus, but in my opinion, they work in context, expand the narrative and fit the more contemplative tone of the series.
Another complaint aimed at the show was its visuals. Without going on a rant or a needlessly long-winded analysis (like I kinda did in the last section), it seems to me that these arguments could be connected to, yet again, the large masses' expectations. This is neither the diabetic world of moe animes, neither the visual orgies of a Shinkai Makoto or ufotable project, the colour scheme is a very relaxing one and the designs are in no way flashy or complicated. Despite all that, I can state with all honesty that the visuals are perfectly satisfactory. They don't draw attention away from the dialogues, are pleasant to look at and even without jaw-dropping animation, the proficient work of David Production often manages to create captivating imagery through the simplistic beauty found in the carefully composed frames.
There are many more to talk about when it comes to this series, but I don't think my dreary essay here is not the right way to approach the matter. Rather than that, I would like to encourage every single person who took their time to read this review to join the conversation and discuss this anime. I've been tastelessly positive in these (not so) brief paragraphs, there are many positives and negative to be found here, far more than I ever cared to mention, but I believe that all of that should be said and seen by many more than the few who humoured this narcissistic nerd for the time of a review.
If I could ask one thing from you, dear reader, I would like you to look beyond the premature denouncement and check out this anime, form your own opinion about it based on what you actually get and not on the popular trends that exist on an entirely different side of the medium!
Give Sakurada Reset the chance it never got, the chance to give its audience the experience it meant to!
Werty800
Hey, do you know that show called Monogatari? If you do, try to remember what Monogatari is like for a second. It's a show which is full of dialogues. It's a show which has most of its big moments resolved through dialogues. It's a show that was able to focus both on telling and showing at the same time, proving to many that "show don't tell" really isn't the be all end all for visual media like anime. Now take every person from the staff that worked on it, anyone that had any creative input in it, and give it to people who can't comprehendhow to make it interesting at all. Oh, and don't forget to also get Takayama Katsuhiko to do the series composition. You know, the guy who wrote the script for Boku No Pico, and whose last big project was Big Order.
I have no legitimate idea who thought that this is the team that can be creative enough, to turn a light novel story, that's really heavy on exposition, slow and hard to consume on its own for sure, into a story inside of a visual medium, but let me tell you, they were wrong in all the worst ways imaginable.
Ladies, gentlemen, I present this review which I humbly wrote about a series, that I'm pretty sure had less passion while being developed, than I had while writing this analysis.
*Spoilers past this section*
Superpowers aren't a new idea, neither is one of them being controlled by the government, but there are titles coming out each year that are able to do some good with such topics. My Hero Academia, Captain America: Winter Soldier and the X-Men comics are just a few that immediately come to my mind. All of them have found a way to create worlds around such ideas and adapt their plot to play to its strengths. Sakurada Reset attempts to do it, but it fumbles at every point and every corner, creating a huge jumble of ultimate nothingness.
The story takes place in Sakurada, that has been a place where all sorts of powers have sprouted out of nowhere and have been taking the place by storm. The things have been calmed down and controlled by the Administration Bureau, that has been controlling and ministering over the area. Thanks to that, Sakurada is able to continue with its everyday flow and the abilities become a common thing, a part of everyday life. However, the trick is, the abilities do not spread, they're contained within Sakurada and everyone who walks outside of its boundary immediately loses all memories of them even existing.
One day, a boy by the name Asai Kei enters Sakurada, and it turns out that his ability is ultimate memory, which allows him to remember everything no matter how his memories are altered. Years pass, and one day, during school, he meets a girl - Haruki Misora - that can reset the world to the state at the time when she has last "saved". Combined, they are able to do great things, as Kei is able to plan out and fix problems that arise due to his perfect memory. Their story leads them to a lot of pain, a death of a friend, a fight against those who despise powers, but also the joy that they see through helping the community and the happiness they find in each other.
This show's problems are somewhat weird, especially pacing-wise. It begins two years before the actual events, when Kei, Haruki, and Sumire Souma meet and solve their first case together, which later one becomes a basis for them helping other people out. The pacing in those first episodes is extremely fast and unapologetic, it doesn't care if you didn't catch something, you're just supposed to have understood everything in between the stupidly fast transitions. Considering that those beginning moments of the show are supposed to introduce you to the concept of powers and set up the entire drama later on, I don't think I need to say much more about why that is a bad thing.
But to add salt to the injury, every problem that the show struggles with in general is present this early on as well, which is both weird and sort of funny at the same time.
That's because despite the fast transitions and scenes generally passing by like flies, the show is surprisingly slow in the delivery of each line. You can spot awkward pauses everywhere, there are those empty, 5-10 seconds breaks during dialogues. They really become apparent in the third and fourth arc, but they're there from the beginning, and they're quite hurtful to the flow of the conversation and the general pace of the anime. It feels like they're there to sort of fill out the time instead of doing something meaningful. You might ask "How is it possible that the early scenes go by so fast if the scenes themselves are so slow?". It's simple, the scenes are slow, but they're just short early on, and it's only later that it becomes a serious issue, as they start becoming longer. And what makes it worse, there's a distinct lack of anything interesting going on with the show's visuals.
At the very beginning of this review, I mentioned Monogatari, and I did that for the purpose of making you, the reader of this review understand something. If you've watched Monogatari you've obviously noticed its style, its distinct way with visuals and how it enhances dialogue that would normally feel dreadful and boring. There are tons of visual gags, characters screw around in the background, the art style changes on a lot of occasions, most metaphors are visualized and generally, the show is just interesting to look at, even though most of the information you get is through the characters talking. Despite the silliness, however, it's still able to maintain the seriousness and groundedness that Sakurada tries so hard to achieve with its "serious conversations" or the "focused visuals". Do you know why that is? Because its writing is good enough so that it's able to create those serious scenes whenever it wants to. Sakurada Reset feels like it doesn't believe in its writing or characterization enough for the viewer to continue following them through if there's something else going on on the screen. That wouldn't even be that bad, but the show looks horrendous. Everything is plain, the designs are boring and have absolutely nothing to them, the background art is often nonexistent or cut out due to the camera placement. The animation for what I'd say is over 60% of the show consists of still shots and characters with their moving mouths.
If the show's so boring to look at, my question is: why is it an anime? Why did this story have to be recreated in this medium? If the director has no inspiration to add any personality, humanity or individuality to the show, if the background artists are doing only what's necessary, if the show doesn't have anything special going for it visually, then what's the point of LOOKING at the show? Hell, this adaptation goes even further, as it HURTS the plot with the previously mentioned awkward, soundless pauses, the lack of emotions on character's faces, and the mostly uninspired designs of everything you look at. It just throws you off from the start and never draws you in again.
But those are technical things, those don't matter, right? Let's talk about...
NO!
People! Stop undervaluing the influence of the things you look at in anime. If the thing you're looking at does nothing to even attempt to adapt to the medium that IT CHOSE, then why should you, as a viewer, adapt to the way it's presented to even digest it? Goddamn Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979, freaking Serial Experiments Lain from 1998, name any other show from god knows how long ago, and all of them, despite looking like they're drawn in Microsoft Paint at times, are able to create style, atmosphere, and designs that integrate into the experience, creating a distinct feeling to them. Sakurada Reset is content with being the most limited and basic version of itself imaginable. It's fine with the bare minimum if it just means it can tell a story. Where's the passion? Where's the love for the project that you're working on? This show feels like it was more of a chore to make rather than something that anyone wanted to work on. It's disgusting, repulsive even. While watching, you can basically feel as if nobody wanted this project to work out. Well, maybe there's someone...
I'd argue that if someone feels like they tried it's the original creator. This is light novel writing through and through, and every amateur mistake is there. The lazy exposition where Kei or others go out of their character to explain things to the viewer; the lack of proper explanation of the powers, that leaves up countless possibilities, which end up feeling like conveniences; and the clear struggles of the author as he tries to get from point A to point B, desperately setting things so his vision can finally take place. He clearly had ideas and did some research, but he's just not a good writer. He lacks subtlety and understanding of the people he's catering to. He believes that if he didn't understand something before writing about it, then we also won't, so he forces explanation into the plot, be that either some storytelling term or a psychological one. He doesn't use those dialogues to contextualize the world or the characters, the most you'll get is that Kei reads philosophy, apparently. The author also ends up making the characters, especially the side cast, feel like devices to fit the finale rather than the fully realized ones. He gives them those mini-arcs that, he thinks, are enough to justify the characters' existence, but that's not true. It's hard to say if it's a case of lackluster experience, lack of time, or anything else, but even though the plot is a mess, you can't say it lacks ideas or creativity in what it ended up being. It's just the execution that sucks. Nobody thought about working out those issues.
Let me go back a little bit and talk about the way this show uses its characters. What I mentioned is unfortunately true to the core. Characters end up feeling like they exist just so that their power can be in the story, and the writer gave them interactions and moments so they won't be considered as plot devices. Bad news: they are still plot devices.
Despite quite a few characters that the show attempts to get through something, there are pretty much no implications for them before, during, or after they're done with the things they need to do. Their shown only when they're absolutely needed, in situations where it's necessary for them or their powers to exist. When Haruka needs to express emotions that she can't show to Kei, she talks with the cat girl that she met before. She never really seems to have any internalized monologues, none of the characters do, they have to express it out unless it's something that has to be explained to the viewer. Most lack stances on the world, they lack personalities and reasons to exist, it's impossible to see them actually live inside that world, outside of the events that the show presents. They're puppets, moving when they are picked up and put down when another puppet has to step in. Can you tell me what life does Ukawa lead? Can you tell me what personality does she showcase in conversations? What about Murase? Oka Eri? You can't. As I said, they are puppets, they're not characters, but the show pushes in this bullshit narrative and character arcs for each of them as if they were meant to be. They exist so that their powers can be used in the finale, that's it.
I said that the characters don't feel like they couldn't fit in casual situations, but are there situations like that in this show? To be honest, not at all, but the show tries to hide that fact. The problem is, it does it really poorly. I'd compare it to someone who's really fat trying to hide behind a pole. There's obviously a large part of his body sticking out. same goes for those "casual" conversations in Sakurada. They try to showcase those dialogues between Kei and Haruka, but all they or anyone for that matter talk about are psychological scenarios and terms. Let me show you two supposedly laid-back conversations from this show:
"Hey, what are you thinking about"
"Have you heard of the Swampman?"
"No, what is that?"
Proceeds to explain the entire idea of the Swampman
"Your notebook was new today"
"Yeah"
"It's almost like as if a new world was born today"
"You mean like the Five-minute Hypothesis?"
"Yes. It's a thought experiment...."
Both of them are clear and lazy attempts at explaining the viewer a concept that will appear or has already appeared in the story, NOT casual conversations that those two characters would have. I heard so many times that this show is good at foreshadowing or that it requires lots of thought to understand, but I can't fathom anyone thinking that this is well written in. The main character explains everything before you can even think, like that time when a monster appeared representing some character, and the MC just, straight up, explained his design. That design was probably the most creative thing that happened in this show ever since they introduced the concept of powers, but nope, you don't get to understand it, the show understands it for you. It's aggravating to me as the viewer, the show doesn't have to implement those explanations into the narrative, nobody needs to hear about what they're called unless the characters can develop perspectives on them, which in turn can lead to several narrative uses or make for interesting character studies. Of course, this show doesn't use them that way. Ever.
So if the casual conversations are ruined, and you can't enjoy thinking about the show since it's done for you, can you at least follow the mystery properly? No. The powers haven't been explored or given enough room for that to be available. Can you at least look at the things as they uncover, since the plot has some heart? Well, seems like you forgot that looking at it isn't fun at all too. Well, I think I can say this show is worthless now.
I said all that I needed to about Sakurada Reset in the last paragraph alone, there's very little that I can add to it. If something, I guess I have to commend it that it capitalizes off of the characters and lets them grow with the story, but again, that's only noticeable because the show decides "Oh well, they're different people now", not because it's something that comes naturally, that you can see for yourself through their choices and interactions. There's nothing in their behavior or thought process that changes, even though they underwent this "big" change. The same tone, the same facial expressions, the same mannerisms, the same thinking process, all remains just as it was. It's just that now, they apparently have a different opinion on something.
Overall this show lacks any sort of real value, both as an experience and as a piece of art.
And I'm done.
As always this is purely my opinion, but I can't encourage you to develop your own. Watch at your own risk.
Pipe
"Who owns the McGuffin will control all the abilities in Sakurada" Don't worry, the McGuffin meaning is complicated, but at the end, we could understand it ... or not. The weighted score and negative reviews scared a lot of the persons around. The complexity in the first episodes was the escape route for a lot of individuals. Gladly, I decided to continue with the story, and I am not disappointed. I consider this story very complicated, and you need to pay extra attention to the details. That is the reason why at first in the building, several users complained about the pacing and the boredom. Thestory. All the persons in a city (Sakurada or Sagrada) were born with some power. Kei Asai has a particular power, he can remember everything and with the help, Haruki Misura that can restore the time back to some days, work as a team to help the persons of the city with complicated matters and situations that affect their world. If a person leaves, the city will forget that has power, but it isn't the case of Kei. He can't forget anything.
In the development of the story, there are several changes, conspirations, situations, actions, a twist of the story, unexpected correlations, new powers, cats, etc. I decided not telling more because the most positive aspect of this animation is the story,
The characters. The complexity of each character is great. In this story, we don't have a generic nature. All of them are needed in a certain way to maintain the balance in the whole story. Each character has different powers, but not in the way that are OVERPOWERED. They have a single power that could affect the environment but needs the support of other characters to do it. In other words, a simple being can't alter the story. The personality of them is flawless. Each character has needs, and take decisions based on that needs, has doubts and ideas. The building of each person that appeared in the story could be complex, but it is in a right way. Each arc will affect a group of characters, but you need to pay attention to the details because in the next episodes all that information is going to be needed.
The art maybe is considered average. It is passable, and I am sure that the art group didn't care about it because they focused on the story.
The sound is good. All the ED (1, 2) and OP (1, 2) are good. However, I liked the first OP and the second ED. The sound mix is standard. They don't need a complex mix here, so they did good work.
Finally, I understand that the first episodes are complex. The story could seem tedious, but after some episodes, all start changing. We will know the reason for all the details. Sakurada is like Charlotte, and we won't understand what is happening until the end. If you like good stories that aren't predictable, then this anime is a good option. If you are seeking fights, several actions and excessive use of powers, then you should just skip it. This animation isn't for everyone.
Fircoal
After the first 3 episodes of this show, I was ready to pick apart every single flaw and problem that this show had. I was so enraged at the lack of quality that had made up the first three episodes. This was going to be my magnum opus review where I shredded apart this show and exposed it bare for the lack of quality that it was. But then something happened. It suddenly stopped sucking. Maybe it was Amazon treating the subs better or maybe it was the show having a clearer idea of what it was doing. Either way it got better. Not good,but better.
And then came the last arc in which finally Sakurada Reset finally knew what it was doing and turned itself into an enjoyable and actually good show.
For one arc.
The sad fact is, besides the one arc the show is still overall sub par. Even in its best arc the direction is still lacking and the art is so bland and featureless that it adds nothing to the show. Often times it looks like they aren't even trying as there are no real directing cues, or moments with more than bland featureless art. It's all the same dull looking and unexpressive views that don't add anything over and over again. The voice acting as well as too monotone and while it does lead to a certain atmosphere, it also hinders the emotional impact of the work, and also conflicts with one of the shows biggest problems: Convolution.
Sakurada Reset is a fan of Convolution. It likes to make nothing simple. If there ever where a simple answer, Sakurada Reset would find some way to go around it. There is one lady whom one has to phone 5 times just to get her to pick up and talk. Why is this done? Convolution. They talk in metaphors and in psychology more than they talk one on one. And while that can be interesting at times. When done too much it gets overdosed and ends up saturating the show with too much of that. It makes the connection between the characters feel less human and feel less realistic. It makes the characters themselves feel less realistic They don't feel like humans anymore rather like machines or some other entity. It makes the show fall apart.
Added to that is a script that is awful at best. The line "If you ask me, I'd say I'm on the talkative side, and I'm pretty expressive. My name is Kei Asai." sums up its problems very well. First off that's a lie. He's not expressive, and if the show thinks he is then they've failed at expressing that. Second off, no one talks like that. The formatting is all wrong and doesn't make much sense. Third off he's telling this to one of his best friends (whom promptly matters very little afterwards) not a stranger. It comes off as a poor attempt to explain the characters to us even though it makes no sense in context. Characters are best built by actions not poor explanations like this. The worst of the lot was when a character said, "I'm not sad. You're the one who's sad., I'm crying because you're sad." after an event that was very impactful on their own life. It was so completely out of left field and unnatural that it was hard to take the show seriously after that. If someone is really going to play that card after the serious event that happened, then that person is lacking in humanity.
And because of these traits the characters don't really develop until the end. Even then the development is quite confusing. The characters are so convoluted themselves that it's hard to take anything at face value. Sometimes I feel like simplicity is underrated. One can get across clear strong messages easily by going for something simple, clear, and definitive. But since Sakurada doesn't like any of that. It makes a game of trying to figure out everything from the statements that are made and the ways that the characters talk to each other. Not to mention a lot of what actually is there isn't anything that interesting. Most of it ends up in characters that love the MC, which isn't really well written. One character is defined by her love for the MC and basically does everything for him and because of him. It's shallow characterization and it's annoying to see a one-dimensional character devoid of development even throughout 24 episodes. While it does actually get put in depth later and does have some merit, for most of the show it's shallow and boring.
Even with all of the information that Sakurada Reset gives and among all its conversations, it's very boring and hard to follow due to those convolutions, a lack of directness and a lack of expression in the art, direction, and sound. It takes a lot of effort to watch for no real reward and overall it just isn't any good. The worst of which is episode 11 which has to be one of the worst episodes I've ever watched, due to how boring and frustrating it was.
However, that last arc does work well. The script did get a bit better over time, and as soon as it shifted into mindgame time the show actually worked. It was still confusing but at least there was a pay off for its confusing moments. There was a reason to follow their lines of logic and there was a reason for the characters to code their messages more. While there were mindgames before none were as direct as they were in the last arc and they never worked as well as in the last arc.
While the last arc worked well, sadly a final arc can't save a show. For the most of it's run it wasn't any good and was a pain to watch. Just because the last 5 episodes are decent doesn't make the first episodes worth it anymore. Even though I did like those last episodes I still wouldn't recommend it to others because to get to them one would have to wade through a lot of crap. And frankly, it's not worth it. If you like overly convoluted and dialogue heavy works you might like this. However if you can't stand boring visuals or can't put up with trying to decode everything including the mangled thing they called a script, it's not worth your time and you're best off not watching it.
raisin-kun
"I like hearing wind chimes when I least expected it. Like finding a rainbow." Sakurada Reset; episode 3 "Please, Tomoki. It's like a ritual...like exchanging rings becasue you pledge your everlasting love to God." Sakurada Reset; episode 16 "Thank you, I wouldn't want the ice cream to melt." Sakurada Reset; episode 18 "Grab her by the p*ssy" Sakurada Reset; episode 25 Sakurada Reset is an anime that grabbed my attention months before it started airing. The story's main gimmick- the reset ability- is an interesting concept that has been explored well in literature and other anime but with this anime promising a young duo using clever tactics and witin conjunction with the reset ability, it looked to be a good addition to the string of bad thriller anime that have been pervading the last few years. It was very unfortunate, then that I carelessly ignored checking up on the staff on this anime. And I payed for it.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE ANIME
Sakurada Reset is a flat, shallow, farcical anime that whole-heartedly thinks its a serious show. It's a tragic example of a good idea done completely wrong. Sakurada Reset's problems go way beyond simple bad writing and bad direction- it's a mix of so many terribly done aspects that it's actually possible they have no connection to each other. In other words, everything is individually bad and not becasue one part of the anime affects the other. It's an additively, not multipely, bad anime. This makes it more annoying than normal bad anime since those at least have things tied together to the point one bad thing affects everything.
Fist off, the characters. All the characters are boringly written with very little to actually develop them. Their dialogue is bad (more on that in a latter paragraph) and all of them except the main characters merely exist as plot conveniences whenever the main character needs a handy ability around. The main character himself- Asai Kei- is an omniscient and omnipotent God who simply cannot lose because he's always right. Not my words, mind you, the other characters all treat him like he's the Messiah coming down from heaven in a wave of majesty. He's incomprehensible. His entire backstory is incomprehensible. The other characters are just bland as heck. Most of them are introduced in small arcs in the 2nd act (eps 3-12) of the anime and all of them suck. The arc has them play as minor villains who, in the end, become allies for the main character in the final arc of the show. Damn this anime make them incomprehensible. I'll try and explain the main arcs in order.
The first arc had the character- Murase Youka- have a terrible excuse in that she wanted to save a cat and you can clearly see the anime pad out the runtime with pointless dialogue and events that make no sense. But its climax was where she literally tried to kill Kei. She has literally zero reason to kill him but the anime was written to have her be crazy and stupid enough to do so. Not one character talked any sense during this confrontation or even before. In the end, she just pisses off until she is needed again by the show. Next arc we have Oka Eri as our Scooby Doo villain of the week. She's a character who for some reason holds antagonistic feelings towards our hero and wants to "beat" him. That would be great if the anime actually showed us any motivation for her. It's offhandedly explained in some throwaway dialogue but this girl has no reason to be as bitchy as she is. The arc also has her do F*CKING NOTHING at all. Seriously, she just shows up, bitches about things, and pisses off to wait until the anime needs her again. Also in this arc there's something about a Witch and shit which I'm sure is important but was so boringly done I forgot most of it. Oh yes we are also introduced to some bloke who can transfer abilities from one to another through touch. He'll be a super important bland character later. Oh yeah, we also have WhatsApp guy. I mean Tomoki. He's a friend. I think. The anime doesn't exactly show him unless it needs him. Funny...I'm seeing a trend here...
Anyways, the main problem with all these characters is that they're just so boring. The main characters (Kei and Misora) have the exact personality of an unpainted brick wall. I don't get how anyone can get behind their relationship because, unique as it is in anime, it's a very poorly handled relationship. There's a fair bit of emotional scenes in this anime and all of them fail due to the fact that these are badly written characters. Much of the development is rushed (ironically in such a slow show) and ham-fisted and the emotional scenes get in the way of much of the show instead of weaving itself closely. This is done much better in the final act of the show where I could see the anime sort of trying to give proper development but its let down by bad pacing and direction.
The only character I was even half impressed with was Souma Sumire- the only character to carry this show from "unrelentingly horrendous" to simply being "really terrible". She's a walking plot device. Not kidding, she even describes herself as such. She is, however, the only character with even half-reasonable motivations and explanations for what she does. She has an actual interesting character arc and sees more development than all other characters combined. She's also the only character we see being subtle in her methods and you can see faint threads throughout the story that she leaves behind- meaning she has a genuine presence within the show (for example, setting up the McGuffin so that Kei can meet up with Youko. I think that was one of the reasons. Though it still doesn't give any reason for Youko to be so bitchy about things). Helped A LOT that she was voiced by a top form Aoi Yuuki who puts everyone else to shame (not too difficult though since they're all as engaging and relatable as sandpaper). All other characters in this show do not matter. They're all plot conveniences used by the main character to look smart and show his omniscience.
Then finally, we have our villain- introduced in the second half of the show and wants to erase all abilities from Sakurada town. He's a villain so bad he puts the villains from ERASED, Chaos;Head and Guilty Crown to shame. I literally know nothing about him. The anime does such a poor job of building him up as a character and thinks flashbacks and sinister smiles are enough to make him imposing in any way. The anime tries so hard to tell you he's a smart guy with an excellent plan that they fail to actually show him being smart and doing excellent things. All he really does is get driven around in a badly rendered CG car, writing notes and talking about how angsty his childhood was. The anime does a sloppy job giving him any motivation to why he wants to erase abilities from Sakurada. This creates a problem in the main conflict of the show. There's supposed to be this grand conflict of ideologies in this show about how Kei wants to keep abilities (also very poorly shown) and direclty opposes bad guy's desire to erase abilities. For all the anime trying to sound smart it doesn't give us anything tangible as to why we should support any of these characters. The themes that run through the arcs are poorly carried over and lost in the bad dialogue near the end of the show. This anime has very little to offer in challenging the viewer's views as it can't even present the opposing viewpoints of the characters very well. Also, the 2 side goons of the main villain have no personality at all. But that's not surprising.
The story is about as incomprehensible as the characters. It's mostly all over the place with numerous plot holes that pop up whenever a character opens their mouth to explain something (which is frequent).The show also tries to do these really "clever" twist showing Kei's intelligence but these twist are shown in such an infuriating way its impossible to take seriously. The anime gives us so little information up until the twist that when it does come we're just left standing confused at what is going on. This mostly happens near the end of the show when they're wrapping things up but a good example would be in the penultimate episode with the bad guy in the car talking with Kei (btw episode 23 is one of the worse episodes of the show which says something). It's revealed that KEI ACTUALLY HAD A TALK WITH THIS GUY IN THE OTHER TIMELINE WHEN THERE WERE NO ABILITIES. What a cop-out. We got shown none of this nor was anything done to allude to the possibility that this happened, Kei just kind of says "Yeah. So I got you to talk in that timeline. Now I know everything because I'm the main character.". Not all the twist are as badly done as that but it definitely contributes to the overall incomprehensibility of the story. If you want more details of plot holes from Sakurada Reset pm me and I'll find some (its such a bad anime I have to research into why it is so bad). For the most part the story is only about as bad as the characters get though due to much of it being people sitting around talking about stuff.
Now we go on to the crux of this show's problem. Every problem this show has traces back to one thing- the dialogue. The dialogue in this anime would make M Night Shayamalan proud. Its terrible. I can't begin to describe how badly written the dialogue is. It's like it was written by a robot who doesn't know how normal human interactions are like. This makes the writing feel mechanical. Too flowing. Too unnatural. The show is pervaded by this kind of dialogue. Every character, with no exception, speaks in parables, Aesops, thought experiments or metaphors. I thought it was only the 2 main characters but no its everyone. There's so many examples I could show you but I'll take one from near the end of the show. Kei goes back to where he was born and raised and meets his mother who has had her memories rewritten so Kei can stay in Sakurada. A simple dialogue between a mother and her son whom she has forgotten about should be an emotional gripper with subtlety. But no. They speak like robots. The dialogue is so unfitting of the real emotional music played around it its jarring. This is an extreme example of where the dialogue messes up but this ENTIRE SHOW has dialogue like it. The quotes in the beginning of this review are mere dabs of taste of what this show actually does. I watched it subbed like everyone but I know a fair bit of Japanese so I can safely say the subs are actually less silly than what the poor voice actors had to say at some parts. It ruins every interaction, makes everyone bland and shows how little the main characters develop (even in the personal monologue scenes.). It's dialogue that doesn't make them sound anything human. I know the point of the show is to show how detached many of the characters are but when everyone speaks like Shakespeare all the time its unnerving. It boggles my mind to think how anyone could approve of this sort of writing. The director and writer must have both agreed to have dialogue like this to be in the anime. You honestly have to watch the show to hear some of the dialogue that is being said. Its the main reason the story and characters are incomprehensible. They cannot express themselves naturally. The show has obviously done this to sound more mature but it only serves to disengage and confuse the viewer. I stress with no small experience that Sakurada Reset has the absolute worse dialogue I have ever seen in anime. Some of it is self-destructive to the story. Much of it is pointless. And all of it is brain-melting. I repeat THE DIALOGUE SUCKS.
The last thing in this review is something that is not as bad as the dialogue but much more annoying- the direction and art and animation. The director isn't particularly well known but has directed stuff like Non non boyori and Kokoro Connect. Sakurada Reset has a slow pacing with many stills like those anime but its so...boring. Nothing of interest happens in the shots, the lighting is undramatic for much of the show, the shot composition and angles are bland and uninspired and there is no subtle changes in things like character expressions or body language. It really is just people standing around and talking to a flat, level, mid-shot camera position. Its one of the most boring directed anime I've watched. Art direction is also flat with the aforementioned lighting but also has crappy colour design, bland backgrounds, unexpressive character designs (except Souma Sumire and maybe even Chiruchiru), REALLY BAD CGI and a general blandness in the settings. There's such and overuse of white and light colours in the show that SJWs might protest it. So many scenes could have been directed better and therefore made better. There's a scene in episode 16 where the show has very real potential to build up on a romantic relationship between Kei and Misora where Kei ask Misora in a message to meet him on the roof. The scene was directed blandly with unnecessary cuts of Misora WALKING to the roof. It would be far more effective to simply focus on Misora herself with some slight change in expression and body language to just display some of her thoughts and inner turmoil (its episode 16, she should be at least somewhat developed by now) and have the camera linger on her from a high angle show framing her in the bottom right or left. But no. I guess walking is more important to show.
Other problems I have with this show...They almost ruined KanaHana's and Ishikawa Kaito's careers by forcing them to do bland deliveries of bad dialogue. The anime has terrible sense of time and location. In one instance a month had passed from the beginning of an episode but it really felt like a few days at most. The Bureau is a rubbish organisation on par with the Orbital Knights from Aldnoah Zero and Daath from Guilty Crown. The other characters I didn't mention like Ukawa and the teacher being completely stupid and changing motivations on a dime for reasons I fail to understand. The abilities being poorly explained or shown in general with few exceptions and the fact that the only actual abilities being shown are only shown to become tools for the main character to use (Except for the ghost girl thing. That was entire pointless and will take a team of scientist at least 5 years to understand why the writers even included it). The anime looks rubbish even though its the same studio that made Jojo. Things I liked? Ehhhhhh the music was pretty?
Sakurada Reset is an anime that had suckers falling for it with its supposed intelligence. What it really is is Kami sama no memochou except that it sucks. The characters are so badly written and bland its difficult to see any meaningful development. They're so unexpressive it makes me cry. If you want to see a show that is actually smart with clever dialogue and narrative twist as well as being well directed and beautiful to look at, watch Kino's Journey. If you want a show that does a mystery thriller better, Gosick is your answer. The Raildex series are infinitely superiour in terms of a place with abilities and using abilities to save people (as well as being a much better in-depth character piece). All in all, avoid watching this show and if you have watched it for fun and not for academics like me, I feel so bad for you since there's just so much better stuff out there.
DeathToBoredom
This anime is a book of poetry. You will not find any brawls here, and there are no special effects for powers. They're usually very powerful though. The atmosphere is peaceful. Overall, this is more for a mature audience in general. You won't see fan service and it's best not to expect any. The biggest reason I'm writing this review is just to tell people to go to Reddit after each episode so that they can read the comments to understand important details in each of the episodes. I hear that it is all slow until episode 6, but it's definitely all worth it ifyou're looking forward to the story and if you like the poetry behind the thinking experiments.
I personally did not mind the pacing at all, and was just a very curious individual that really couldn't wait to see the story unfold. It also made me feel somewhat smart for keeping up with the episodes, but at the same time dumb, since I can't understand everything they're talking about on my own. But again, that's what Reddit's for.
So I write this review as an individual who feels this is in the best interest of normal people who just want a good thinking anime. Think of it like those book gatherings: After reading a book, you meet up with friends that read the book and converse among yourselves about all the things the book had to give, and end up appreciating the book more.
Story: 10
I've never seen an anime made this way. It feels like every episode was necessary in completing the story it was trying to tell. I would like to think the main catch of the anime is the thinking experiments, as they tell you how they work, then they get involved in the story in some way at some point. I'm not sure what else I can tell without ending up summarizing the story tbh so I leave it at that.
Art: 7
I heard the anime was a budget anime, but for a budget anime, the artwork is pretty well-done. Imo it's like a polished version of Diomedea's recent anime Fuuka in terms of character design and animation. The animation is very smooth, probably because there's no super crazy fight scenes to animate. The camera angles are just right as well. I do feel this anime would get a lot more praise if it was made by SHAFT or Kyo Ani. SHAFT would be using a lot of crazy transitions while Kyo Ani could make it the way they made Hyouka.
Sound: 7
For the most part, the music is very simple. Everything about the anime is watered down, actually. The only things that aren't watered down are those OPs and EDs. Those have so much emotion put into them. As long as the music is fitting, I don't see a problem. But they aren't astounding either. They do their part and it does help with the atmosphere.
Character: 9
There's a reason Kei is the way he is. Haruki was just born the way she was. And there's a reason Souma is the way she is as well. But of course, they're not normal people either. People complain about how they're not relatable, but that's exactly what the story needs to be the story that it is. Kei doesn't want to solve things with violence, but how is a person supposed to be able to do that? Kei is a character that shows you how to be someone so intelligent, they can solve problems without violence. We have OP characters all the time, and I've seen people love the MC of Aldnoah Zero, so there's no real complaint to be made here. At the very least, Kei has more reason to be who he is than that kid. Souma is easy to take in, that's why people love her. Haruki though, not as many will like her, simply because she's like a robot. But her being born that way is definitely a human reason. There can be people like that in the world. Not impossible at all when there's over 6 billion people in the world. All the side characters get their bit of shine too. The antagonist is also pretty well done, imo. Although it's not to the death, you can think of this as a watered down version of Light and L's mind battles. But watered down means less hostile and more civil, which is a closer means to a better world.
Enjoyment: 9
Now this is the part where this is completely my own enjoyment. Whether you enjoy it or not is really up to you as a person. If, even after the reddit suggestion, you do not like the anime after 3 or so episodes, it's simply not for you. The enjoyment of the anime will usually be very low or very high. I cannot say if there is an inbetween, but that is what I've seen of people. Perhaps because I feel most people won't like it, the enjoyment should objectively be around 4.
Overall: 8
Pros:
-Great Characters
-Great Story
-Poetic
-Thinking Experiments
-Solutions to conflicts without violence
-Life Lessons
-Great understanding of how people work (Very vocal about it)
-Like reading a book
-If you get through all of it and enjoy it, you're definitely an intelligent person! And I bet you're quite positive in general as well! :)
-Very few, if any at all, plot holes.
-Almost everything, if not everything, gets explained.
Cons:
-Too much talking (Of course, that's what this show is about. Keep in mind I'm basing this on audience opinion and not my own. This is ironic and that's the point. btw this is exactly how they are in the show.)
-Not enough visuals to help with explanations and conversations.
-It's like reading a book. People who watch anime don't usually read books as a hobby. (Though I have to say this is my perfect book)
-Characters can be uninteresting to most people.
-Even if the story is one of the best out there, it still has a very slow start-up
As I've somewhat mentioned before, this anime would garner much more people if it were made by Kyo Ani or SHAFT. The writing, planning, and execution of the anime were excellent in my opinion, but under objective views, the execution could've been much better. People cannot get past around 6 episodes because there's not much visual spark. I also heard the translation wasn't all too well done, but even then, it'd still be confusing for most people. Again, that is why I recommend going to Reddit after each episode to understand them better.
As well, because this is such a confusing premise for a first watch, it's obvious that once you finish the show, you can rewatch it to then be able to completely understand everything. Indeed it is one of those shows you'd have to have the time for. I cannot recommend this to people with busy lives, unfortunately.
This is my unbiased review of the anime. In my heart though, it is a 10/10. Please give it a watch if you'd like to see a peaceful anime that's very real in its own way, have the time on your hands, like feeling smart (you'll definitely be more enlightened by the end of it, I assure you), like to think, like poetry, and like a good story.
If everybody in the world liked the anime more than not, I feel we'd definitely be living in a better world. In that sense, it's a very romantic anime. And just maybe, that is why I love the anime so much.
Dante012
Sakurada Reset is the very definition of a "hidden gem". Literally no one talked about it when i aired, and six years later it's still not known. And it's a shame, because it is a unique anime, in terms of ambiance. Are you sick of the over-the-top reactions and surreal battles with the world at stake? Good! Because SR has none of that. It's a very grounded story, with down-to-earth characters like we rarely see in the anime industry. STORY This is a world with magical powers. A girl has the ability to reset time, but she can't alter anything because she loses her memory when sheuses it. A boy has the ability to keep his memory no matter what, even if Time is reset. A common friend of them puts them in relation so they can work together and save people from tragedies before they even happen.
But they are all young, and they are all human. So even though they have a perfect combination that can save a lot of lives, things don't go so smoothly.
And while they live through these conflicts, they may be tangled with an even bigger one involving the Bureau, the organization that tries to manage superpowers.
Sakurada Reset could be described as a "Sherlock Holmes with magic and drama". Although there is no genius like Holmes, the anime shows several investigations surrounding characters with superpowers. The stories are clever, the way they use the powers to move the plot is brillant. This is by far the best story involving time travel I've ever seen. On par with Stein's Gate.
Another thing that is worth praises is the fact that each power has its limitations. Like Code Geass or Death Note, Sakurada Reset describes its supernatural side with rules that serve the scenario as the characters must acknowledge those limitations and work despite them. The perfect power doesn’t exist, but every power has a perfect use case!
And it’s not just the scenario and the powers that is clever. The dialogues are brilliant too! They’re very philosophical: the show aims to make you ponder. About a lot of things. It brings up a lot of typical philosophy themes, like the Swampman (similar to the Ship of Theseus), or the matter of self-preservation, or the Trolley Problem, and so on.
One problem I noticed: many things are explained much later in the series. For example, why does Time act exactly the same after a Reset? That question isn't even asked before it is answered during the second part. Or, at some point I was wondering why Kei didn't realize that someone was resetting Time even though it is said Haruki had been doing it for a while; well it turns out he did notice it, it's just never brought up until much later.
My point is you will find inconsistencies from time to time, but in fact the author did think about it, they just bring up the explanation later!
RHYTHM
Sakurada Reset moves at a very slow pace. You have been warned. Even though I loved it, I did find a few episodes boring. But it’s all worth it!
CHARACTERS
Although all characters are likeable and relatively complex, I do have one complaint here: most secondary characters are useless most of the time. I still don't understand why Michiru got so much screentime. I also wish we had seen more of Minami and Nakano.
So my only complaint with the characters is we don't see them enough! Let that sink in.
MUSIC AND SOUNDS
The OST is pure. I just can't describe it otherwise. This is one of the highest points of this show. While the composer doesn't have any special musical identity (I mean, you can recognize Kajiura or Takahashi because they have definite styles ; not this one), the music doesn't need it to be beautiful!
VISUALS
While SR is nothing ground-breaking, it also doesn't have any major flaws. It's gorgeous overall, my only minus point will be for Haruki's short hair, they look pretty bad from face, lol.
CONCLUSION
Sakurada Reset is a unique anime show, and one I much needed to see. There’s so many anime with overacting and battles, and I like that, but I need something else too, and that is what Sakurada Reset brings! Characters are civilized humans despite their superpowers and their grand goals. They solve their issues through investigation and discussion, not through punches and fire. How many anime shows do that!
Although it can feel boring at times, if you think you can handle it, I highly recommend it!
Seaiteu
Two individuals use their reset ability and their eidetic memory abilities to solve problems involving or revolving around abilities. Story: Most stories have a sort of macguffin, whether it is a physical object or just an end result that the protagonist tries to achieve. In any case, a macguffin is a motive for the main character to do what he or she has to do. This anime is no exception. In the town of Sakurada, people possess strange abilities that range from making everyone within a certain radius laugh uncontrollably to having photographic memory. It may seem like a standard superpowers anime, but there are afew differences. There’s barely any action and it’s not the standard comedic slice of life either. Instead, this anime focuses primarily on mysteries and deeper themes such as identity and ethics. In a way, this anime focuses more on human behavior rather than the abilities themselves. As such, there are many seemingly-nonsensical conversations between the characters. However, there is a method to this show’s madness. It will reveal itself in time.
Characters: One noteworthy aspect of this anime is the characters themselves. At first glance, all of them seem monotonous, lifeless even. However, they all have their own idiosyncrasies and personal growth, aside from their abilities, of course.
First, let’s talk about the two main characters Asai Kei and Haruki Misora. On the surface, they are probably the most apathetic characters in the show, rarely ever showing emotional responses to their surroundings. However, this does not mean that they are monotonous individuals. Throughout the storyline, they slowly learn more about themselves, their identity, their beliefs. Kei constantly struggles with his ideals: the perfect human being, why Souma did what she did, Haruki’s development. Meanwhile, Haruki constantly struggles with her emotions and her individuality. The two of them grow—with Haruki’s development being reset from time to time—and learn how to deal with conflicting beliefs/emotions.
Now, with the two characters that most people would expect to have the most character development out of the way, I personally think that there are other characters that have significant character development. Out of necessity for keeping this review as spoiler-free as possible, I’m going to go over these characters very briefly. Souma Sumire, to start, is very important as Kei constantly thinks back to her and her identity. On the other hand, I really admired Kagaya and Tsushima because they themselves were struggling with their own conflicts with the town. Kagaya struggled with the concept of ethics, more specifically between the utilitarian perspective and the consequentialist perspective. Tsushima on the other hand struggled with his responsibilities and his own emotions, although his story was very much skipped over so it’s largely insignificant. Although it may not seem like it, I believe the conflicts that these side characters face bring up important points in everyday society. In any case, Kei brings up a good point: “There is no right answer. Everyone should be able to find their own answer.”
Music/Audio/Art: This section is going to be really short because I do not usually have qualms about the music, voice acting, or art style. Both openings and endings were nice to listen to before and after episodes. The music in the episodes did not have a big impact on me, but they were not out of place either. As for voice acting, Yuuki Aoi did a really amazing job voicing Souma Sumire’s character, especially in the final episodes. The art of the anime itself is satisfying to look at. It hosts calm colors so that viewers can fully immerse themselves into the dialogue without becoming distracted by the art.
Execution/Overall flow: Yes, the show may seem slow and tedious for those who do not stick around until the end. Yes, the concepts that they touch upon may seem complex, trivial, or even overbearing. However, everything will start to make sense in the final arc. Pretty much everything is reviewed within the final few episodes, wrapped up, and handed back to you. The first few episodes/arcs are bound to feel long and strained due to the introduction of countless thought experiments (which I personally find intriguing) and theoretical debates. The writing is well thought-out and every conversation and soliloquy happens for a reason.
Overall score: 9.5/10 I was originally put off by the slow pacing of this anime, hence why it took me 4 months of on and off watching to finish the show. However, the final arc was truly captivating and brought back questions that I previously had and had forgotten, and then answered them in the most satisfying way possible.
ninjaditto
Man, I was so hurt by the 6.whatever rating Sakurada Reset had before (It's starting to move up a little though) I had not enjoyed an anime has much as I had with Sakurada Reset. I found every episode to be much more enjoyable than the last, even the first few episodes that others have claimed to be slow. The way the story brought everything together was so interesting. It did not leave anything out, and carefully explained every detail til the end of the final episode. Nothing ever felt boring to me, even the discussion between Nono and Haruki (pointless yet pleasant, as they'vesaid in the episode).
The characters was the best element of the show to me. They were very realistic, each with their own ideals and emotions. Kei, the main male character, was such an awesome character. He is so unpredictable, and will do just about anything to prove a point or achieve his goals (like in episode 4, that was just brutal). Haruki and Soma, the two main female characters, were both great too, but I don't think my explanation is good enough to do them justice. Also, Haruki is best girl, sorry Soma!
The music were all amazing, but the ending by Oral Cigarettes tops everything (I started checking them out because of this, and they are my favorite band now).
Hopefully the score for Sakurada Reset will get much higher, and I hope those who dropped this will give it a go again. This is the first time I've written a review, and I just kinda wrote whatever I wanted, but those are my thoughts on the show.
Story -10 (loved it)
Art-7 (wasn't its strongest point)
Sound- 9 (Oral Cigarettes man)
Characters- 10 (so cool!)
Enjoyment- 10 (of course)
Overall- 10 (One of my favorite shows!)
Shingster
Please Note This review assumes that you have finished watching Sakurada reset and while care has been taken to minimize story related spoilers there will some spoilers within character analysis. Sakurada Reset is based off a popular light novel of the same name and introduces a rather interesting setting that puts a unique take on the powers genre. The overall premise of Sakurada Reset is twofold. On the surface Sakurada Reset is a power based anime that also feature heavy elements of human drama, mystery and school genre elements but it also features a unique play on the traditional powers anime. Because ofboth western influence and a need to make an anime stand out power based animes tend to feature either heavy combat or feature powers that are flashy to look at. Because of this it’s a popular misconception among anime fans and general viewers that superpowers or in this case abilities are always flashy and powerful and has the potential to strike a guy a mile away. Sakurada Reset introduces its own take to this by going along an entirely different route.
In the case of setting Sakurada Reset takes place in a large town of the same name of which what is noteworthy is that the town houses a substantial amount of people who live in the town that have access to various types of abilities. As noted before these abilities are not as flashy and destructive as what one would see in other forms of media. For example, the ability to send pre-recorded messages to one another via telepathy that can be delivered on a date and time of your choosing may seem normal to us and indeed may sound like it’s similar to an email but this is a good example of what abilities in the anime are like. In that while they are not as flashy or powerful they are still able to provide to their users a means to enjoy their lives better and help others that may be less fortunate than them. This take on the traditional powers anime I felt was interesting as I felt that not all superpowers should be destructive or flashy and indeed some can be subtle and still have a powerful effect on people and society. The fusion of a traditional powers anime with human drama and mystery is also something that I quite liked about the premise and one that was rather unusual as well.
Now that the premise is done let’s move on
The overall story for Sakurada Reset follows the lives of Kei Asai and Misora Haruki two teenagers that live in the town of Sakurada that met each other on the prompting of Kei’s old school friend Sumire Souma. The two of them because of living in the town of Sakurada the town where ability users live are both ability users and each have powerful abilities that help complement each other. The overall story common with modern animes features several different story arcs that are combined into the main plot while also having a number of sub plots as well. In the town of Sakurada both Kei and Haruki while still students on the surface use their powers to help the members of the bureau help maintain order within the town and solve ability related incidents. While solving problems with their powers is part of the overall plot that’s not the only one as the growth and development of Haruki and Kei’s relationship also forms it as well. As the series goes on and they encounter more characters and events Kei and his friends and allies soon discover that their involvement with the bureau will link them to much larger events that had in its roots in the towns mysterious past that can also affect the lives of everyone in the present. Common with most modern anime Sakurada Reset features a number of plot lines that are bundled into the overall plot as story arcs each of I felt was unique.
Kei
Kei Asai played by veteran voice actor Kaito Ishikawa of Owari no seraph and Occultic Nine fame is one of the main characters of the show and serves as the main protagonist of the show. A teenage boy that lives in the town of Sakurada Kei is a somewhat normal looking guy from initial appearances but beneath his somewhat mundane appearance Kei’s personality is what defines him and allows him to be effective at countering the enemy. Personality wise Kei is a level headed, kind and caring person and as a result can understand the views of others quite easily which I felt was important for his job with the service club. At the same time Kei, due to his level-headed nature is able to easily get to the heart of a problem by understanding the crucial parts of an event and come up with a means to solve it showing that he also has impressive deduction and analytic skills as well. However, while agreeable and pleasant to talk to when Kei is in his normal mode Kei has shown to have a more devious and cunning side to him when creating plans to deal with his opponents. In this state Kei while still bring his trademark cautiousness to the table is also willing to place himself and his friends at risk so as to allow his plan a higher chance to succeed.
However, Kei’s most prominent skills that allow him to stand against powers greater than him in the overall plot is undoubtedly his intelligence and his skill at strategy both of which allowed Kei and his friends to outsmart the series main enemy faction the bureau on multiple occasions. Although still a teenager by all accounts Kei has shown himself to very adept at strategy especially with regards to both anticipating the enemy’s moves and outsmarting them by moving events in motion before the enemy does which I found to be pretty amazing considering his opponents in the story are all adults. When combined with Kei’s unique ability as a character Kei is someone that can be seen to be a cunning and devious opponent for the bureau that while still impressive in his own right is more so when he’s working with allies that agree with his plans and aims.
As the series goes on Kei’s personality changes a great deal as a result of both meeting the series main female leads and his interaction with a number of different characters that reside in the town. In the beginning of the series Kei while still having his trademark calmness was rather quiet in the beginning and rather indifferent to the plight of others that meant that he at this time only had a small circle of friends. However, as the series goes on and especially after Kei meets Haruki Kei’s personality starts to gradually change becoming more understanding of others and their situations and more importantly learning to place more trust in his friends and allies as well. As a character, I thought that Kei was a pretty well-designed character that showed that despite his young age that good planning and strategy combined with good analytic and deduction skills can easily frustrate opponents that have larger numbers of assets at their command. Watching Kei direct his friends in demolishing the enemies plans that he gleaned using his skills was a joy to see. I thought that Kaito Ishikawa really did an excellent job portraying the character of Kei.
Sumire Souma
Sumire Souma voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Aoi Yuuki is one of the main characters of the show and can be considered the second main female lead after Haruki. A old school friend of both Kei and Haruki when they were still in middle school Souma was the one that ultimately started the friendship between the two and with that create the foundation that will create the strong bond that both of them share as the series progresses. In the beginning of the series Souma behaved very much like a childhood friend of Kei’s and looked rather normal which I believe was part of her character design as one would never assume that such a girl would become so important to the overall plot.
Personality wise Sumire is a positive and cheerful girl that at the same time is also rather bold and brave at times. Her relationship with Kei in the beginning of the series did seem to be rather close which she uses to her advantage by teasing him often and being mischievous around him. However even at this point Sumire’s mysterious nature is still prevalent and forms a part of her personality that only adds to her mystique. Like Kei Sumire as an inhabitant of Sakurada knows of the existence of abilities within the town.
Unlike Kei and Haruki Sumire herself is a character that’s tied in rather closely to the overall plotline and such her character actually changes quite a bit as the series goes on due to plot related events. In the beginning of the series Sumire while retaining her positive, cheerful and mischievous and teasing nature also retains a level of mystery about her that indicated that she was anything but a normal character. As the overall plot progresses and events happen that bring grief to Kei and Haruki Sumire’s nature gradually changes. While still retaining her initial personality traits Sumire becomes smarter and more adept at thinking ahead which is helped greatly by her ability. At the same time Sumire also becomes somewhat manipulative though in this she always puts the interests of Kei first and foremost. While Sumire for the most part is allied with Kei and co her true goals and objectives in the plot are as mysterious as she is which makes seeing what decisions she makes in the plot even more interesting. As a character, I felt that Sumire was a pretty well-designed character that made great use of her mysterious nature, fluid personality and her abilities to both keep Kei and the bureau guessing her intents while at the same time helping those that are dear to her while not being obvious with her true aims. I felt that this character was not someone that can easily be played but I felt that her seiyuu Aoi Yuuki really did an excellent job portraying her despite the challenge of this role.
Misora Haruki
Misora Haruki voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Kana Hanazawa of Mahouka Koko no Rettosei and Psycho Pass fame is one of the main characters of the series and is the main female lead of the series. A teenage girl that lives in the town of Sakurada Misora is initially a fellow student of both Kei and Sumire though they were actually in different classes. The three of them met as a result of the machinations of Sumire as part of her plan. In the beginning of the series Misora was someone that was somewhat of an outcast within the school as a result of her quiet nature and because she seemed to prefer solitude than anything else. In the beginning of the series it can be seen that Misora had a rather limited personality in her which made trying to converse with her difficult for both Kei and Sumire. At this point in time it can be seen that Misora is a quiet, reserved but at the same time perceptive person traits of which allow her to live life well enough until she met Kei.
As the series progresses and as her relationship with Kei improves Misora’s personality and attitude begins to gradually change. While still retaining her core personality traits Misora gradually starts to open up to Kei first then to their increasing number of allies. The gradual evolution of Misora’s personality is actually part of the overall plot of the series and I felt that this aspect was done particularly well. As the series progresses Misora gradually becomes more confidant in herself and gradually starts to break out of the shell that she herself created to protect her. This is best seen in her talks with Nono. And indeed, by the latter half of the series Misora’s personality had changed so much that she was almost a different person that she was before. Although Misora and Kei did not have the best of first encounters their relationship gradually improves over the series and more so after they were paired together for their work with the service club.
In terms of relationships the relationship between Kei and Misora can also be considered to be one of the main points of the overall plot. In the beginning of the series after they met each other their relationship can be seen to be similar to that of a teacher and a student as at this point in time Haruki was still learning what a personality is and how it will benefit her. This gradually evolves as the series goes on as the two become friends and partners. Though they met in the most unusual of circumstances I felt that the relationship between Kei and Misora was done pretty well and linking the personality changes with the developing bond between the two of them was a smart move. Apart from her bond with Kei what sets Misora apart from others is her ability itself which I found to be rather unique and one that I felt suited Misora a great deal due to her nature. As a character, I felt that Misora was a really interesting character that was well designed and seeing her gradually start to develop her own personality while bonding with Kei and his allies was something that held my attention on this show. I felt that Kana Hanazawa really did a great job portraying the character of Misora.
Seika Nonoo
Seika Nonoo voiced by veteran seiyuu Sachika Misawa of Accel world and Aldnoah Zero fame is one of the main support characters of the show and one of Kei and Misora’s main allies. A fellow student of Misora and Kei Seika is a quiet, well-mannered and kind and caring girl that seems to have a love for animals. In terms of personality Seika is very similar to Misora in that both are quiet and have trouble expressing their opinions of things. However unlike Misora Seika actually has her own unique personality and things that she likes and dislikes. While the series itself had a large number of abilities that were unique in their own right each of these abilities was paired with the personality of that person in question. In the case of Seika her affinity with cats was related to her powers and I felt this was a pretty good combo as it allowed her to use her beloved pets to help and aid her when needed. Her ability in question was something that I felt was well suited to her. Though Seika and Kei met several times and can be considered to be acquaintances her relationship with Misora is perhaps the one that was the most important to the plot. While both Seika and Misora are quiet by nature it was interesting to see both learn from each other and bond over this shared trait of theirs. Watching Misora make her first friend with Seika I felt was a nice thing and did well to develop Misora’s personality.
Eri
Eri Oka voiced by veteran seiyuu Yuuka Aisaka of Ange Vierge and Active Raid fame is one of the main support characters of the show and one of Kei’s opponents/ally. A old acquaintance of Kei’s that he seems to have known when he was in middle school Eri is someone that Kei has a rather complicated relationship with though in no fault to his own. Personality wise Eri is a smart, fast thinking and cunning girl who’s not above using deception to achieve her goals. However, it is in her relationship with Kei that Eri’s more unique personality traits come out. Eri’s personality when she deals with Kei can be best described as that of a Tsundere. This personality trait of hers I felt was actually pretty cute since she always ends up helping Kei in some way or form. In fact, I find Eri’s constant attempts to act as Kei’s nemesis and be evil to be more amusing than ever. Of particular note to Eri’s character is her name which when said in full actually means welcome back which I thought was appropriate for her character.
Masamune
Masamune Urachi voiced by veteran voice actor Takahiro Sakurai of Bungou Stray dogs and Buddy Complex fame is one of the main support characters of the series and serves as the main villain of the series. A high-level member of the Bureau Masamune true to his role and rank is a calm, composed and intelligent person that’s also devious as well. Masamune’s most prominent trait is twofold firstly it’s his careful nature in which he will evaluate a given situation thoroughly before committing to any action and secondly his habit of recording every last bit of detail in his trusted notebook. These two traits combined with is other personality traits make Masamune a tough opponent for Kei and Haruki and one that tests their intelligence to the limit.
However what sets Masamune both as a great villain and makes him such a threat to the story and its characters is his motivation and what caused him to have such an extreme view. As a member of the bureau Masamune knows that the town has many people that has access to many different kinds of abilities but should these abilities really exist in the first place. Should man not strive to achieve what they want by their own efforts by themselves. These are questions that truly define the type of character that Masamune is as they help define his reasoning and the ideology that caused it and help in understanding why he is that dangerous. As a character, I felt that Masamune himself was a pretty well-designed character as in addition to having all of the assets that someone of his rank is entitled to call upon he also has something that a lot of villains in other animes lack which is conviction and a good origin story that created such a conviction in the first place. As someone that works with ability users as part of their duties Masamune’s views which ultimately resulted in the creation of his ultimate plan was really surprising and even more so after looking at his backstory. As a villain, I felt that Masamune really did a great job in his intended role as he was as a result of his intelligence, personality traits and abilities was able to frustrate and surprise Kei and his allies on a regular basis and seeing them clash over their opposite views in a discussion rather than in a brawl was a welcome sight.
Arts and animation
The character designs for the characters that appear in this series I felt was pretty well done and designed with my favorites being Haruki, Nono and Eri and Souma. The uniform designs for the characters I felt were also pretty well done. The animation for the ability effects was also well done with the dream world created by Honoka being especially interesting.
Music
The anime as one that has a whole season makes use of two opening and ending themes. The first opening is Reset which is sung by Yui Makino and conveys a welcoming feeling to the town helped by the visuals that show each of the main and support characters. The ending theme for the first half of the season is Tonari Au sung by the Oral Cigarettes. The second opening theme that plays from ep13 and the start of the second half of the season is Dakara Boku Wo Tebanasu sung by Weaver. This opening helped convey a sense of revelation and truth to me. The scene music for the series I felt was really good with a pretty large variation of instruments and music used to convey the different types of emotions and situations that each scene conveyed.
Voice acting
The voice acting for the series I felt was strong with particular praise going to Kana Hanazawa who voiced Misora and Aoi Yuki who voiced Sumire Souma. Both I felt were able to convey to the audience the many changes and emotions that their characters experienced on the show as their characters were developed and improved upon as the show went on. Kana I felt had a much harder job since the initial stage of her character was very quiet and very different to the character that we see in the end but im glad to see that she could portray the character of Misora successfully. The show also had a number of support characters that I felt also did a great job despite their roles not being important with the best examples being Maaya Uchida who voiced the character of Honoka, Rikako Aida who voiced the character of Sera and Kana Uetake who voiced the character of Sakuin.
Overall conclusion
In overall Sakurada Reset’s strong points that made it stand out to me was its strong story, interesting premise, complex characters, excellent voice acting and its unique take on abilities. The insight into human emotion and the relationships between characters was I felt another of its strongpoints. Story wise I liked the contrast between the two halves of the series as they were quite different but yet linked rather well with the series overall plot. In the first half, the story focused on the club activities of the two main leads Misora and Kei and I liked the fact that in this first half in addition to seeing how each case played out we also get to see how they develop their friendship and bond. Each of the cases that was featured here I felt was pretty interesting and evoked a number of emotions in me when I saw them. The fact that each of the methods that were used to solve these cases was focused on negotiation and observation rather than rash action which is used in other animes was also refreshing and matched well with the atmosphere of this series. The second half of the series I felt was very different to the first as it was more focused on specific events and saw a lot of revelations and surprises both for the story and for individual characters as the main enemy plot was revealed. The teamwork that the main characters exhibit with others was also something that I felt was done nicely and seeing them combine their abilities for Kei’s plans was fun to see. The characters that were in the series I felt were also pretty well designed and pretty complex with each having interesting backstories and motivations especially the main villain Masamune and the character of Sumire Souma. The unique take on the abilities that serves as one of the shows main premises I felt was interesting and it was nice to see abilities that are neither flashy or destructive but yet still are different enough to define them as abilities. Seeing the main cast use this to change the world and stop the main villain was really entertaining. While I do agree that the story can be hard to follow by some due to the amount of twists and revelations it’s not as hard to follow as some others animes I seen. In the end while the views of both sides were both interesting I felt that I agreed more with what Kei and his allies were fighting for which is another good point for this series in that the reasons themselves were also good.
In terms of score I would give it a 9/10 due to its unique premise, excellent story, well-designed characters and a unique take on abilities plus its focus on human emotion.
DrYumYum
Sakurada Reset is something that had A LOT of potential but unfortunately did not meet up to it's potential because of bad storyboarding and low budget. What I mean by that is the art wasn't consistent throughout the story, the dialogue was absolute crap, and there was just a lot of unnecessary silence between characters. BUT I will say this, I enjoyed it. This is one of those shows where the story is really unique that it allows you put aside those flaws and actually allow you to enjoy the show. Story 9/10: So the story is about a town called Sakurada(or Sagrada) that is filledwith individuals with special powers. EVERYONE in Sakurada has a power, whether it be something ridiculously OP or something practical, everyone has a power. And I'll be honest, the beginning of this show is VERY slow. The dialogue is really dry and the characters don't have much of a personality but the setting and story make you wonder "What does the author plan to do with this town and its people?" You begin to wonder, why is this town so peaceful despite people having powers, why do people like having these powers, and other questions. I can't really say much about the story without spoiling but I'll say this, the story is unique and if you decide to watch 5 episodes and stop, just don't. Just finish it at that point. The story gets interesting at the end and makes watching this anime all worth it.
Art 6/10:
Art is really inconsistent and nothing really special. The character design is pretty good for the most part considering that I could tell each character apart. But there's honestly nothing much to say about the art.
Sounds 6/10:
Like I said the dialogue in this show is absolute crap. There's so much unneeded silence and dialogue that it is this show's real downfall. The OP and ED is really good in my opinion and none of the character's voices give me the "What...this character shouldn't sound like that" so overall it's pretty solid.
Overall 8/10:
I give it a 8/10 because the story TOTALLY carried this anime. I really enjoyed it. The main characters were interesting to see develop. I feel like this anime received a lot of hate based on the first few episodes but give this anime a try. It's worth a try and you wont regret it.
xcomprr
Sakurada isn't your average town. Its inhabitants and anyone who moves to the town are granted a special ability but they're limited in such a way that the user can't benefit from it and if they left town, they'd forget they even had such abilities. Kei Asai is a righteous high school student who takes things seriously and won't do anything without purpose. One day, the student council president Sumire Soma lures him to the rooftop to meet the emotionless Misora Haruki who goes about her life based on logic. Sumire was hoping their similar personalities will allow Kei to befriend her because she hadno friends. Kei soon discovers Haruki had the ability to reset time for up to three days in the past as long as she created a save point. Problem was her own memories are reset too so she never remembers if she ever used the ability. On the contrary, Kei has a perfect memory allowing to recall even the tiniest detail which ends up protecting his memories from her resets.
After learning of her ability, he thought they'd be able to help many people rid of sadness if they teamed up. As a result of Kei's efforts, Haruki opens up and finds herself more expressive. She agrees to team up believing that as long as she's with him, they can make the world a better place. They soon discover their abilities aren't omnipotent and can't help everyone but that ends up motivating Kei even more to study abilities and use them for good. Two years later, the Bureau that govern abilities grants them permission to use their abilities on others as the "Service Club" and under the condition they they will be constantly monitored.
Based on a seven volume light novel series By Yutaka Kohno, the show has your cliche high school setting and the supernatural. Despite all the special abilities it's a strangely relaxed show most of the time with the characters leisurely chatting away with little to no tension at all. I think you could compare it to the likes of Natsume Yuujinchou where the scenarios run at a slow steady pace with the odd bit of comedy, brief scenes of action and of course, the supernatural. There's no sci-fi time travel or leaping involved since Haruki's ability basically just reconstructs the world around her... It's kind of like a group of teenagers playing super heroes except not quite at the same time since everyone has their own abilities. They're mostly sent on assignments helping others who are troubled by their own abilities but of course, there's always a bigger plot which gradually unfolds so you can play along with the mystery. It actually reminds me of From The New World in this regard and it always keeps you guessing.
There are quite a lot of peculiar abilities but, Haruki's reset ability alone is already interesting enough with the rules it works by. Kind of like loading a saved file in a game except there's an expiry time and it disappears after loading so it's not all powerful. I like how Haruki always reports the time after saving so that Kei knows when to search his memories. The abilities themselves end up being the surprises of the show as you don't know what the next one they'll discover is next. Some of them end up fun silly ones while others are more interesting. The odd times it can get pretty violent and gruesome because Kei doesn't show any restraint when he's relying on the reset ability. It's good to see the characters trying to resolve problems with something that's more realistic and achieveable within their current abilities (literally) rather than trying to come up with the perfect solution to not hurt anyone. It has its cute moments with its rare moments of romance while the calm witty dialogue mostly between Soma and Kei keeps conversations interesting. There's also a little fan service (not just for guys) but for the most part of the show there's none to ruin it.
Background art's clean and simple. You could say the same for the characters but animations smooth and consistent. I guess the slow pacing and resets helps minimise the amount of animation needed so, they can spend more time on quality. The show kind of makes you think Nestle sponsored them with the product placements in this show. Maybe you'll notice the old book store from Jinbocho too that also appeared in Persona 5. As for music, it's quite good and matches it's mostly tranquil mood. Opening's music and visuals kind of reminds me of Nagi no Asukara (Lull in The Sea) although there doesn't seem to be any staff in common. Funnily enough, Kei's voice actor Kaito Ishikawa voices Kihara Tsumugu from that show while Haruki's voice Kana Hanazawa (Mayuri from Steins;gate, Akane from Psycho-Pass) also voiced Manaka Mukaido.
If you watched Natsume Yuujinchou or even From The New World and liked those shows then the chances are you'll like this. Just that there's no cute chubby mascot around and the moral at the end of each sub-story is more of a riddle to solve. The show is one big mystery that takes it time to unwrap slowly and does an excellent job of it with its well developed characters.
LegendAqua
All the resets Misora does can't stop from LA disliking this anime... Sakurada Reset is an exercise in patience and pointlessness in LA's eyes. LA has ALOT to unpack so let's start with it's... Flaws which it has alot of. Sakurada Reset PRIDES itself on giving us static images and bland deadpan monotoned characters through it's 24 episode screentime, what's worse it that these two elements makes this anime much longer than it's suppose to and sure LA isn't expecting EVERY anime to be shounen-esque especially from a premise like a town filled with superpowered humans and the Bureau governing and suppressing their inhabitants powers but keeping thisatmosphere 24/7 won't help the experience of having dead air and slow traction in plotlines to occur and be dealt without as much as a sense of urgency. IT'S AN ANIME ABOUT SUPERPOWERED HUMANS AND A GOVERNING BODY SUPPRESSING THEM, HOW IS THIS NOT FUN???.
The deadpanned monotoness of this anime are easily manifested in the majority of the cast but especially in the form of our main characters Kei Asai voiced by Kaito Ishikawa who has the power of remembering everything and Misora Haruki voiced by Kana Hanazawa who has the resetting powers (before people starts, LA GETS why they are monotoned considering their situation the both of them are in, the fact that both characters have a strong sense of justice and doesn't want people to be hurt and protect them but at the expense of themselves not to mention the Bureau looming around them, but just because LA "gets it" doesn't justify why these MAIN characters are extremely dull on ALL fronts as a result) and it's even worse when this comes into the romance angle of this anime and it is damn forced how they play this out. The fact that these two characters really don't display much to any emotion is one thing, but as LA watched Sakurada Reset, LA just found the romance between these two to be not only forced but plot-driven in Kei's part to the point LA only saw Kei using Misora as nothing but a plot device and nothing more, his ulterior motives in using Misora came into the romantic angle and failed miserably (not only because both characters display no emotion and are pretty static, both in relationship but also the anime's atmosphere outright kills any notion of a romance angle for LA).
Aside from the romantic angle, Kei also has some other plot-driven problems about him, mainly because of his beliefs of not hurting people at any cost but at the expense of his own sacrifice which becomes annoying as that is one of his defining traits and one of the reasons why people think he's a saint or a hero and it's compounded by the fact that due to Misora's resetting powers and Kei's own powers, he resolves ALL problems rather quickly, sure you can defend this by saying well duhh because of the Misora's powers, but Kei's finds some rather TOO convenient ways to resolve things and quickly LA mind you.
Let's see what else, ohh how about the fact that many of the static imagery this anime does display actually hurts it's rare action scenes it has, due to how subdued and lacking in the animation department Sakurada Reset is, even the animation especially the action falters to a slow crawl of heavy action. This also affects the superpowered humans and their abilities as well making their abilities rather dull as interesting as they are at times.
Voice acting also gets crippled by the atmosphere of this anime thus the majority of the characters are either deadpanned or rarely way to excitable. The biggest victim of this anime being Kana Hanazawa due to her robotic way of talking sounds like Kana isn't even caring how she sounds and just doing her basic deadpan Kanade Tachibana vocals only without the effort, it's not Kana Hanazawa's fault it's her character's traits but nonetheless.
So was there ANYTHING LA found enjoyable in Sakurada Reset?, well LA did found for the most part the superpowers element at the very least interesting, even better when Kei found ways to mix other powers together to do something out of this world but this only goes so far but that a bit later. Sumire Soma is LA's ray of hope for this anime, why?...because she's one of the ONLY characters to actually emote in this anime and be different from the majority of the cast, she also shakes things up and allows some of the plotlines to have a modicum of interest and hell Sumire's voice actor Aoi Yuuki is LA's favourite voice actor in this anime hands down, but alas...there's also some problems with Sumire but that also a bit later. Lastly is that the final arc did try to do something Kei giving him a bit of character development and showing us what his true goal is but ummm yeah the finale also has some problems...let's start addressing them shall we?
First the superpowers were interesting and LA quite liked it when they "stacked" with one another making for some interesting results, what LA didn't like towards all this is that Kei manipulates and uses them without a second thought because of his plot-driven nature, it made the entire superpowers albeit interesting lose steam extremely quickly by being extremely convenient to Kei as a whole and nothing more than that (not to mention Sakurada Reset DOES NOT throw us bone when we have to remember what EVERY side characters or one off characters' powers were), also this leads into the Bureau as they do a pretty horrible job at managing powers even in secret by NOT doing anything or using blatantly abuse of power and even allowing a highschool kid to do most of the work for them and expect him to abide by their rules, because of this, it cripples the basic premise of Sakurada Reset to be even interesting.
Second is that Sumire Soma is in this dumb love triangle and SHE'S the one goading Kei and Misora to be together when it's clearly obvious that Sumire likes Kei and LA sees this, supernatural politics aside, Sumire's character is downplayed because of this albeit she's one of the most unpredictable character in this anime and reasonings are reasonably justified in some situations but still LA utterly hated the stilted dumb love triangle Sumire got herself into.
Thirdly is the final arc that LA made LA question this anime's point in pointlessness when it came to the "big" dilemma in this anime and the villain of this anime in question. LA is going into spoilers but LA doesn't care because the villains reasoning was pathetically annoying, but yeah, his plan was to remove every ability in Sakurada because his father wanted to, thus the villain wanted to make his father's wish come true. The pointlessness of this entire ordeal comes from the fact that "so what if people loses their abilities?", why does Kei even care about it?...for his romance with Misora, that's a laugh, as for having abilities or not has a grey morality to it's proceedings as to how they are used but Kei ALWAYS tries to be on the "right side" even if the villain he faces ALSO wants the same thing just using differing methods. So again...does it matter if Sakurada has no abilities anymore or not?...Kei seems to think so, but LA doesn't. Pointless really. (Also you can defend that this is around the time that Kei gains a bit of character development thus is NOT pointless but no...he stays pretty static just with his sense of justice cranked up to an eleven and that he "loves" Misora which again is a moot point for LA).
LASTLY, yes there's more, the dialogue in this anime is utterly pretentious as LA came to realize, with every character spurting out that Kei is a saint or a hero in the most blunt way possible or wondering what this feeling is like to the morality of having abilities or not or even the act of existing comes up. So yeah compounding the dead air atmosphere and deadpanned characters, the lack of action and superpowers glanced over to many of the problems EASILY being resolve by our all mighty janitor Kei...can YOU SEE how boring this anime gets and at 24 episodes at that.
Ohh one more thing this anime review has been sponsored by KitKat, Have a Break, have a Ki- WHAT DOES KITKAT HAVE TO DO WITH RESETTING AND A TOWN FILLED WITH SUPERPOWERED HUMANS. Ohh and yes Kei even says the slogan of KitKat and even shows a KitKat without any change to it's name or product. Can you TELL KitKat sponsored this anime somehow. Think this KitKat tangent came outta nowhere, well the anime does it in the same manner and expect you to NOT break immersion, it does.
What the hell is Sakurada Reset?...
Sakurada Reset is probably one thee worst anime of Spring 2017 for LA and as much as LA has seen some pretty horrible animes but this anime is "intentionally boring" at best and being intentionally boring is hardly a compliment. Being boring is a typical anime cardinal sin, but an anime INTENTIONALLY doing this is another thing altogether, as in this felt like David Productions wanted a break from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and this was a perfect way to put in as little effort as possible. Sakurada Reset also has the honor of the anime of wasting LA's time for being pointless, not since Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori has done this to LA.
Sakurada Reset is boring, it's pointless, it's pretentious and is a waste of your time, time Misora can't reset for the life of her.
Danielopi
The score for Sakurada Reset has being pretty low, BUT do not listen to them since they only watched 2 to 4 episodes and dropped- which will make no sense since the story takes places in ALL 24 EPISODES (NOT 4). This anime is unique and a true Masterpiece, I will recommend anyone to watch as the main Character- especially Asai Kei is really outstanding in knowledge. Great development and growth of character as they realize throughout the story who they are and the weaknesses, which is amazing. The art and sound are great as they appeal to each character perfectly 9/10, but with thestory will just make it feel beautiful. Overall this is a true Masterpiece and will deserves anyone's time!
BlackCicero
I didn't think I would have been as impressed with Sakurada Reset as I have to be honest. The main complaint which can become apparent to anyone who watches the first couple episodes is that many of the characters that appear in the anime have very bland personalities. I would argue however, that for many of those characters (especially Misora and Kei), that apathy they seem to have almost makes sense considering some of the abilities they possess. All of my other thoughts on this anime are positive ones. The story takes its time to develop but once it does you get to see some incrediblylayered storytelling. The way how the various abilities of the characters were used to convey this was very interesting to me. The art and animation are nothing amazing but are at a standard you can deem as acceptable. The soundtrack doesn't really stand out but I thought it was very good. A lot of the characters are interesting and have a certain way in which they view the world. Seeing how these differing ideals clash when characters came together made Sakurada Reset a pleasant watching experience.
I think this is one of those shows that may remain a hidden gem but if you happen to stumble across it, definitely consider giving it a watch.
Markrov_7
First of all, this anime is absolutely underrated, the reason? Because people can not get past the 3 episode rule and because they can't pay enough attention to watching this anime; if you are wondering whether or not you should watch this anime then you should first ask yourself the following questions: 1) Do you like puzzles? 2) Do you like philosophical questions? 3) Do you like to eat your candies later? 4) Do you like to think a lot? 5) Can you think with other people's perspectives? If your answer is yes to all of the above then I am sure you will find thisanime very very interesting.
But for those who wish for a proper review, I will do my best to try and not give away any spoiler while also providing a proper review that this anime deserve.
Story: 9/10
It's hard to put into words as to what the story is all about, but the summary definitely does not do justice to what the story is going to be. To be frank, yes it is about having abilities and two people having abilities that compliment each other, but it is much deeper than that. Our MC will often utter some fairly deep philosophical questions or ideas that will either serve as the main plot towards the specific story that the show is currently on and those can also sometimes be the clue to solve a certain mystery within the show.
Be aware that the entire anime is separated with stories or I suppose "arcs" which the plot will present a problem and our main characters are going to solve it, each of these "arcs" varies in length, but they are within the range of 2-5 per arc.
An important note to be taken here is that there will be no fan service at all within this anime, you will not see boobs or panties or guys ran into a girl who just came out of a shower of that sort.
Another side note here is that be sure to pay attention to the first 3 episodes of the show as they are the most important 3 episodes of this anime, it sets the story up, it gives you all the information you need before hopping on this train ride of ideals, philosophies, emotions, and mysteries.
Art: 9/10
Not an expert when it comes to art, but it is what you would expect from a 2017 anime adaptation.
Sound: 9/10
Also not an expert in this area, I just find the background music, the opening, and ending compliments the show and brought out what it is all about.
Character: 10/10
This is the part that drives most people from the show and if you are wondering why I still give it a 10/10 well, that is because they are wrong.
I am fairly certain that many comments stated their opinion about how the characters in this shows are all fairly robot like and exert no emotion, well they are dead wrong.
How so, you may ask, well all the secrets lie within the first 3 episodes where it will be explained to you, that is if you actually not skipped anything and sat down and watched it and understand what is going on.
You may ask, "but does that mean all the characters will stay robot like?" the answer is no.
And yes the characters will show growth, but it's not growth that is apparent, it's very subtle, and it requires a huge amount of effort to pick up those small changes, which the majority of them lies within the dialogues between characters which many complained to be boring and lack of emotional responses. But again, they are dead wrong, there are emotions within the responses between each character, it all lies within those choices of words, and the characters are designed to carefully choose their words as to slowly show their growth. The characters are all very intelligent and that is why they may all seem very robot like but no, they are not robots, they are still humans and have lots of emotion that they just express very subtle and mostly with words.
Enjoyment: 8/10
Too much puzzle and ideals and philosophy for my brains to be honest, but it was fun, and it was good.
So summing it up, give it a try if you like what you have read, and try not to get bored out, this is a very adult-like anime, and very intelligent, so be prepared and know what you are going into, sometimes you have to watch an episode a couple times before you can fully understand what is going on, and sometimes you will feel the anxiety of wanting to know what happens next, and can not stop thinking about it, those are all part of this anime and what makes it so good, it challenges you to think and to make connections, so if you like those things, please do not be sway by the other comments and be sure to give it a try, I am sure it will grab your heart just like it grabbed mine.
thetsundereguy
-------------------------------------Sakurada Reset---------------------------------- Well after 24 episodes I have to say that I had so much hopes for this anime at the beginning but it was a disappointment for me. The concept of the anime is pretty interesting with the whole thing about time resetting, but honestly I thought about dropping the anime since the fourth episode. You need to take your time to watch and understand the events happening in Sakurada Reset. [ART & ANIMATION] The art was pretty decent for the most part of the series, but I’m not gonna lie, it had some drops. I like the art style of the characters, but sometimestheir hair didn’t seem natural. The background art was pretty normal, nothing that stands out of it, just simple. The animation was decent but sometimes they did abnormal movement of their bodies, but in the most part was a smooth animation. (7/10)
[SOUND]
The soundtrack of the anime was pretty good, I sometimes found myself rocking out with the openings and endings of this anime. I honestly like the songs that they used, and the music was one of the factors that helps transmit the feeling that the anime wants to transmit. In the other hand, the voice acting started badly but it improve over time. I honestly believe that each voice actor fit it the characters that they portrayed, but they could not transmit the feelings of the characters to the viewer until the climax part of the anime. (6/10)
[STORY] (5/10)
Here is where the anime didn’t work for me. By only reading the synopsis, the story actually sounds pretty interesting and makes you watch but the anime was a big disappointment for me. The events that unfolded during the series are pretty great and really interesting to watch, the problem that the anime has it’s the way that it tells the story. It gives so much information to the viewer in a short time, and most of it is useless. Also all of the characters didn’t transmit any feelings until the very climax, so it’s really hard to be interested at the beginning. The concept of the anime sounds great, but the way it portrait the story didn’t work out. (5/10)
[CONCLUSION]
I personally didn’t enjoy the anime, there was lot of information and little time to process it. I also didn’t enjoy that the characters didn’t show any emotion until the climax. I enjoy the idea of the anime and I recommend to watch it if you like psychological anime, but have time to watch it because it has a slow pace. (6/10)
Contrabardus
Japanese Philosophy 101. This show is not cute, it's not funny, it's not action packed. In fact, the first twelve episodes are extremely slow. It picks up in the latter half, but still remains a very conversation heavy anime. A lot of people won't like this show because most of it is character conversations about heady subjects. This isn't a bad thing as the characters are mostly interesting, despite the two main characters having little in the way of emotion. Conflicts are more debates and arguments than action, though there is a small amount. This is a show that intends to dive into the nature of humanity and emotionas it's primary driving force. It's a very reflective show and entire episodes are devoted to a couple of characters sitting around and talking to each other.
I wouldn't call it a "chill" show either, despite the pace. You need to pay attention or you'll get lost and have no idea what's going on. This show is intended to poke at your brain with philosophy.
It's very well animated, but also kind of bland looking. The colors are subdued and soft. This is an intentional style choice, as it reinforces the tone of the show and the town it takes place in. The place is supposed to be a kind of a limbo in the middle of nowhere Japan.
If you like a well written, philosophical, slow burning, drama, this show will probably entertain.
If you need action, boobs, and/or laughs to keep your attention, this isn't for you. You'll just be bored and lose interest quickly.
