Nisekoi Doumei

偽コイ同盟
(Nisekoi Doumei)
"Fake Love Alliance"

writer: Sasaki Aoi
art: Ayano

Mayuri Asana is a normal, cheerful highschool girl who made a "pact" with her class seatmate and friend, Youji Aizawa, to have an affair together, after witnessing her boyfriend cheating on her with Aizawa's girlfriend. After that, her quiet life became a hailstorm of drama as her world is turned upside down with the mess she had entered with Aizawa.

The story is a mixed approach on what "young love" is, combining aspects of romance at that age, with some heavy mature issues. This creates a huge moral and emotional struggle within the main female protagonist as she goes on this ruse with a close friend.

In some degree, it is almost like a reverse harem. With the main female lead getting swamped with affection from different male characters. But not done in the exaggerated manner as a normal harem genre would, and the lead is not confused in who to pick from the bunch.

The series is not all drama. There are a lot of light moments, balancing out the crescendo which is pivotal to the direction of the story. But I do like the way the art and the writing style draws you in to the internal struggle of the characters. Not too melancholic, just enough to let you enjoy the pains or falling in love.

Sansha Sanyou

I've been watching a lot of "slice of life" anime recently, and frankly, I am getting bored with them. I came across a lot with a lot of cuteness but no substance. Nothing seemed interesting after "Aiura".

Then I came across "Sansha Sanyou". Its wasn't that great that it would make me wanna jump into a river, but it did perked my interest. Long enough to make me enjoy the whole series.

"Sansha Sanyou" is a slice-of-life anime about three totally different girls, who accidentally got together for lunch, and became friends ever since.

The group is made of the former rich girl, Nishikawa, the clueless and gluttonous Odagiri, and the bipolar-ish sweet but also harsh girl Hayama. The yearning for their peers lead them to form a friendship that lets them enjoy their high school life in each others company.

A running gag, or trait, with the three includes Nishikawa learning to cope from the sudden decline of her social and financial status, Odagiri thinking about nothing but food, and Hayama being soft spoken and sweet while emitting a demon-like aura making her true intent obvious. Their different acquaintances interacting with each other makes up for a lot of funny events to transpire.

It has a very cute character design, and character development paced in an easy-to-understand way which makes you enjoy the moment without the need for further examination into the characters. And it does have a very catchy opening theme.

I recommend this series for light viewing.