Citrus

I, someone who has seen the weirdest shit, felt uncomfortable watching this on my own, I was alone at home yet I couldn't look at the screen. I wanted to die. This is the first time this happened. The story is unique enough for non-hentai the art style is kinda nice, but the animation is bland the characters were just weird, atleast not normal Nope not realistic at all I wish I never have to watch something like this again This wasn't made to make a happy yuri, this was a dudes yuri fetish in an anime I really wish there are no more anime like this.

I haven't been this infuriated with an anime in a long while. Would it kill the authors to write a normal healthy romance between women instead of writing this 'I fell in love with a person only to find out that they're my step sibling' trope??? This is basically Domestic Girlfriend, but worse. At least no one actually takes Domestic Girlfriend seriously, not even the anime itself. Sometimes it was so ridiculous and WRONG that it was just funny. Citrus on the other hand is almost unbearable to watch because it takes itself too seriously even though the premise is fking ridiculous and just BAD. If you wanted to make a steamy step sisters hent@i you should have just done that. Why pose as something you're not? Why pretend to be this mature, emotional and vanilla love drama?? It doesn't help that the Mei girl is so ridiculously unlikable. Sometimes she seems to show character development only to go back to being a b'tch the next moment. I get being introverted and having issues but like... man do you really have to be so cold and rude to others when they're being so nice to you??? Even more than the step-sisters love story, i hated the fact that the Blondie literally has no self respect. Mei treats her like sh*t and she just... accepts it??? Worse yet she keeps coming back to her. Those were my personal grudges, but this anime is objectively just... not good. Like at all. So many horrible characters simply never face any consequences for their actions, and they seem to suddenly turn into good people in the span of like 1 episode. Examples are the grandpa, the vice president who has an unhealthy obsession with mei, pink haired psycho who's obsessed with yuzu and mei's dad. The worst was pink haired girl. She was vile. Not only is she crazy and obsessive, she literally commits a crime by blackmailing mei and even setting her up for m0lestation. And you're telling me she doesn't face ANY consequences for these actions, and she even turns 'nice' all of a sudden for like no fkin reason?? This anime is beyond stupid. Good characters are good for no other reason than because they're supposed to represent the 'I'm such a nice person because I'm an airhead... haha... even though everyone treats me like trash" trope. The mom was pretty much a generic a$$ anime mom with no personality whatsoever. I don't fking get why she even married a man who literally is NEVER home. Like how do you love a person like that??? WHY do you like a person like that??? He's never there for his family. He's selfish. He cares only about himself. He never even raised his own daughter and left her to a life of misery. And instead of ridiculing him for his actions the anime glorifies him as this amazing model dad figure who was 'nice all along'. Instead of making us not like him by pointing out the obvious flaws in his character, he is shown as this goody two-shoes person the moment he's actually introduced in the anime. I hated how Yuzu even defended this man. And this is not where the problematic aspects of this anime end, the romance is dogsh*t, it has no flavour and trust me at some point people get bored of the constant back and forth. And WHY do they have to romantize this relationship??? Not only is it pseudo incest but also just... not healthy. Mei constantly acts as if yuzu is the one dying to do stuff to her and she's doing a 'favour' by playing into it. Even though internally she wants it just as much, but God forbid if she voices it. Also why does the anime never address the utterly wrong tradition of engaging young teenage girls to grown a$$ men???? Why was the whole plot point of that male teacher grooming mei brushed off so easily??? Jesus we could be here all day pointing out the many flaws this anime has. But I'm gonna stop now cuz I can't bare to waste a second more thinking of this atrocity. I hope they start making more nice and healthy lesbian anime like Bloom Into You in the future and stop with these weird shows.

Citrus was my ex-girlfriend's favorite anime and my god, does that explain a whole lot. Anyways I knew this anime was about some weird step-sister incest shit, but I still watched it because I just felt like watching something shitty. I was prepared for the incest shit, not for how rapey the show is. To be honest, this show could've been at least decent without all the gross shit. God, I just want healthy lesbians relationships in anime, not gross, yuri shit, and THIS. First of all, Yuzu and Mei are sisters? What the fuck? Step-sisters but still sisters. "Oh well it's not biological so it's fine." Legally? Technically in some states, yes. Morally? It's still gross in most cases. If they were raised as siblings, or see each other as siblings, then it's gross, because they still have a sibling relationship. Step-siblings are still siblings. I have step-siblings and since I saw them as my siblings the idea of dating one of them makes me wanna die. Yuzu and Mei weren't raised together, but they call each other their sister and stuff. And the show is all "Oh! Look at these sisters making out. Isn't that so hot?" It's like they wanted to write some gross incest crap but decided to use the "Oh, well technically they're step-siblings!" as an excuse. The incest isn't the only problem I have with this show. It's also super rapey. The characters sexually assault each other many times throughout the show and it's portrayed as sexy and romantic, and even brushed off as a joke. It seems that every time Mei kisses or touches Yuzu without consent (or vice versa) they get even closer. Ew. Sexual assault and abuse aren't romantic. Mei and Yuzu are such an unhealthy relationship. This is some Stockholm syndrome shit. Also didn't Yuzu, who is 16, go on a date with Matsuri, who is 13? Um? Also kinda gross. They could've created a story similar to this without all the incest, sexual assault, etc. They were trying to go the whole 'forbidden love' route when the step-sibling aspect wasn't needed. The fact that they're both girls could've been forbidden love enough. Homophobia still exists. Make them not step-sisters, make the forbidden love aspect the fact that they're gay. And get rid of the weird rape shit. Boom. Fixed it, now it isn't gross. Or hell, if you wanted them to remain sisters, get rid of the romance and focus of their sisterly bonds or some shit. Just not this. We're really sick and tired of all the lesbian romances in anime being some weird, creepy shit.

I'm gonna preface this by simply saying I'm a bisexual transgender woman so I just kinda GET it. I know how important representation of LGBT is.. That being said I constantly have an issue with certain forms of media being seen as better simply because it represents LGBT and you can bet my ENTIRE ass that I definitely count this anime under the "bad but people like lesbians" category. You know what this anime involves? Girls forcing each other into kisses. Which by all accounts is literally sexual assault and I hate that. I actually don't know what to say without going onto a rant, but I was really hoping this anime was a good yuri anime, instead it gets praised so much for being one that some people don't realise it actually kinda blows. The animation itself is nice to look at though, and for those that want fan service... It has it. This is a lame review and I'm realising this now I'm writing it, but I still hope people can understand my opinion regardless.

Utter nonsense. I tried very hard to be lenient while watching this show but it's an embarrassment. I pretty much knew what I'd rate this show as soon as Matsuri was introduced. Entirely unrealistic and the climax is a major letdown considering the ridiculous amount of plot points that came out of nowhere to add tension. Too many random makeout scenes (that are actually extremely rape-y). Matsuri is deranged, and the sexualization of her character is pathetic. Not sure where the show was trying to go with the sugar daddy subplot. Just way too many bizarre scenarios are excused and forgiven for seemingly no reason at all aside from moving on to the next absurd thing. Very, very bad. Citrus seesaws between boring, stiff dialogue and creepy, obscene lesbian interactions. There is no in between. And no payoff, either.

Previously on LA's anime reviews, specifically Netsuzou TRap review... "Let's just hope Citrus does better..." LA's prayers has been answered! Citrus was a really hyped anime of Winter 2018 for LA but as much as LA has it's problems and ohh boy there are and we'll get to it soon but LA does look beyond this to see one of the better melodrama yuri anime of Winter 2018 and a strong contender for LA's guiltiest pleasure anime. Ok so the major problems with Citrus is quite obvious from the first episode alone and we'll get to right now, Mei Aihara voiced by Minami Tsuda, sexually assaulting Yuzu Aihara voiced by Ayana Taketatsu. This is played up for melodrama and sparked the step-sister yuri relationship because Mei came onto Yuzu. The implications are there but LA can't defend this besides bringing up the catalyst to the entire relationship Citrus is built upon AND we get to know Mei for her not-so pure stoic personality. The next problem is the obvious love rivals our main yuri couple goes through TIME AND AGAIN, from Mei's friend and vice president of the Student Council Himeko Momokino voiced by Yurika Kubo a rival to Yuzu, Matsuri Mizusawa voiced by Shiori Izawa, Yuzu's childhood friend who's less than pure and rebelliously anti-social thus is Mei's rival AND finally Sara Tachibana voiced by Hisako Kanemoto who's in love with Mei (as a love at first sight deal) with Sara's twin sister Nina voiced by Rei Matsuzaki wanting to support her thus both become a rival to Yuzu. Mei and Yuzu goes through soo many love rivals both with their "factions" wanting Mei or Yuzu respectively and causing even more melodrama with Matsuri being the worst offender in all this, let's not even get to the fact that Mei's side of the extended family thinks nothing of Yuzu's family that causes LOTS more melodrama. Mei Aihara is also a huge problem to the plot itself, she being anti-social straight-headed and not "getting social" cues if her assaulting Yuzu by the first episode is any indication that she's not exactly emotionally accepting, she herself becomes her own obstacle throughout her relationship with Yuzu through the anime. Alright, so as much bitching about Citrus LA said about it, LA will now start defending LA's flaw points now. So the entire sexually assaulting thing, well by intents and purpose LA sees this lazy writing but it does at least shows Mei as an emotionally stunted individual who really doesn't know about love or can't portray it besides sexually as that's all she really knew before meeting Yuzu due to her own personal and family problems dealt to her does make her rather relatable, LA isn't necessarily saying that just because she's relatable now means Mei is a good character but LA does see more than that besides "sexually assaulting step-sister". Now the melodrama surrounding the majority of anime from the rival love interests to family coming in to try and stop or split up their relationship, well for rival love interest though this element comes up ALOT in the anime, LA does see what it meant to do, make either Mei and Yuzu develop together be it individually or through their relationship to get to know them a bit better in that respect to show that Mei and Yuzu love each other but they just can't spill it, now having the rivals used MANY times does get repetitive just under differing circumstances but nonetheless the intent and purpose is there and works for the most part to improve our main yuri duo. Now the family issues are also played up as melodrama but this can also be defend using the above. Well the problem with Mei sticks for a while but LA will defend her a bit by saying that she DOES develop with all the rivals and family issues that pops up and again though she remains emotionally stunted throughout the anime, there are little moments where she does try to open up to Mei. Yuzu was LA's favourite character of Winter 2018, LA just can't explain, ohh wait, no it's because she's usually the more intentionally charming and helpful of the entire cast but struggles with her love life and when Mei arrives it just changes her and ALSO tries to help save her, where Yuzu herself soon finds herself if her love for Mei is true or not. This isn't helped by her voice actor Ayana Taketatsu where she herself has been really notable this Winter 2018. Harumi Taniguchi voiced by Yukiyo Fujii was also VERY likable being Yuzu's best friend and she helps Yuzu out like a best friend does to the point LA wouldn't mind a Yuzu x Harumi all things considered if Yuzu x Mei doesn't work out. *ahem* by all intent, LA can really see Yuzu and Mei's relationship bloom through their HEAVY list of trials and tribulations, some out of left field but mostly coincidental. In terms of animation by Passione, the character designs are VERY polished and extremely striking for the most part, not to mention the various outfits many of the characters goes through. The "yuri" moments are short and simple but the animation doens't skimp on the details (the only problem being Yuzu and Mei themselves), the backgrounding was decent enough but not really noteworthy, but nonetheless from all this, LA will say that the character designs are the best thing from the animation department and this is probably the first "good trashy" anime with decent animation behind it LA has seen. And on speaking of those "yuri" moments, yes Citrus does have some *ahem* titillating moments but the furthest it goes is skinship with kissing shown more often than not (and LA doesn't mean the kissing is shown by Mei & Yuzu, it goes to the other characters as well). You'd think LA would be disappointed by this however the implications and some titillation IS there, it's just masked ALOT of the time by the melodrama that ensues earlier or later before the fanservice that DOES detriment the scene but still the intent is there. The voice acting, well this anime ALSO has a plethora of idol-esque voice actors backing up this anime cast and uhh did the ADR Director do it intentionally with Love Live and iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls alumni known for their yuri fanbase like having Ayana Taketatsu (which felt like another meta-joke at Ayana herself but this time she's the OLDER sister), Minami Tsuda, Yurika Kubo and Rei Matsuzaki. Add in Hisako Kanemoto as Nayuta Kani from last season's Imouto sae Ireba Ii and it felt like the ADR were in on the joke. Yeah Ayana Taketatsu easily gets best voice actor from LA, NO DOUBT. But LA would like to give a rather surprising voice actor credit to Minami Tsuda in portraying the emotionally stunted Mei. Citrus has been said to be too melodramatic and not at all yuri, but LA begs to differ as MANY yuri/shoujo ai animes like Yuri Kuma Arashi, Kuttsukiboshi, Sakura Trick and hell LA will give SOME credit to Netsuzou TRap that melodrama helps move the plot and the relationship across it's just HOW they do it and Citrus does it pretty much the same. LA gets that some of the audience would want more "yuri" moments than "melodrama" but be it slice of life or romance or drama genre. "Yuri" and "melodrama" for LA is synonymous with one another to one get to know the main characters through their trials and tribulations through a forbidden love and two, without the melodrama the main protagonists relationship would have NEVER grown and finally, no melodrama means no story...coincidental or not. Citrus is LA's second guiltiest pleasure anime for Winter 2018 (ohh there's a guilty pleasure anime LA found much more guiltier than this), but going by yuri/shoujo ai standards and it not being yuri trash, then yes as much as Citrus HAS ALOT of flaws from the repetitive rivals and family issues melodrama shown and less yuri moments to the main characters of Mei and Yuzu going through their own relationship issues with each other BUT LA can see beyond that to see a very good trashy yuri/shoujo ai anime with those trials and tribulations only growing the main relationship, a likable main…

(TLDR Review below, as always, thanks for reading) There is a distorted mindset in every corner when it comes to Citrus. It is an anime that simultaneously holds titles of being lowbrow fetish bait for those looking for none other to satisfy their lust for girls' love, there is also a minority who will dismiss such perspectives as a mere defect of the cognitive thought of analysing an anime (lol). I stand between the two pillars of the bridge, or one could say that I don't even stand on the bridge at all, for in my eyes, Citrus is none other the same as any romance anime issued to the public, the only difference is that it uses a more niche GL as a premise than the otherwise standard heterosexual relationships which usually dominates mainstream romance anime. I'm not one to entwine the ability of anime directors to supposed S-tier literature writers of the past such as Dumas and Dickens, however, I do believe that any piece of media can assume to the realm of subtle intellectual ideas ranging from a wide variety of field of studies, though, human irrationality is very much a thing that cannot be cured, and we have a tendency to think up nonsense that amasses to something that didn't exist in the first place, or such ideas that if some entity references parables and the likes it must suddenly mean said piece of fiction of the acme in a means of "intelligent thinking". It is one of the reasons I am not entirely impressed with anime such as NGE because the motives of each individual can be aligned with many pieces of media of today. The only weight it holds is a class act, which, I will admit, is very praiseworthy. Maybe it is that of the subconscious seeking the enjoyment maxima, I wouldn't know, I am no psychologist. This idea to take prey for minuscule detail is one of the reasons why I didn't find any reason to "overpraise" Citrus as I thought I would. I did initially come into this thinking it would be a nice challenge of the mind, but as time continued, there was simply no reason for me to excessively hound down on literally oxygen particles in an attempt to praise it like some Victorian doctor receiving new evidence debunking ghosts. There just wasn't that kind of impact. However, on the flip side, as stated in the early paragraph, Citrus was bound to not only some irrational praise, but also bound to inconsistent hate, this idea that an anime can be automatically bad based on the very same premise it was proposing. I've never liked this idea because it denies the basic creation of art rights, to limit something just because someone else may not like it. It is against creative freedom if anything. The fact that no one will take the time to look at "pointless kisu-kisu scenes" and then brush them off as some negative factor of the anime is nothing short of absurdity and a little hypocritical to concurrently say said thing has no value in the anime, but has value in the analysis, considering these scenes happens frequently, you'd think that there is some meaning to it rather than it being there just for the "fanservice". And so, with that, I bring forward what is it about Citrus that should share its place amongst the crowd as just another one of those series that comes and goes. What I really like about Citrus, and what differentiates it from the rest to give it its own name rather than solely being generic, is the idea it uses consistently. It is a tidy mess of things around this anime, with more factors being more praiseworthy than the others, but overall the writing and the presentation of such is pretty damn good. What Citrus does is that it presents different kinds of emotional conflicts between individuals in a basic, but splendid manner. Sisters being conflicted on what one thinks about the other, linearly increases acts of sexual conduct falling under forbidden acts among sisters, connections between different individuals who quake the relationship in hand. There is a lot of emotional play here, and it is written to a substantial degree. There is more intricate stuff like the kissing and what else goes on that are very interesting to understand too. As stated, I don't think it falls under zenith quality levels of works, but it is still somewhat a clever idea, which I believe falls into how one undergo the feeling of love. It is not all sunflowers, but instead, a thorny rose, if anything, it is a believable aspect, especially when going into a more controversial topic. This idea is that love is not always a walk in the park, rather, a fight against the many obstacles in the way of whomever it is one desire, a fight within oneself too. The dangerous thorns must be overcome for one to reach their glory, it is a reminiscence of the sweet, sour, and bitter tastes of the past. It is. Citrus. It is a clever idea for sure, all in all. However, one thing that annoyed me with Citrus was the layout. Now I know teenagers aren't the brightest of the bunch, we cringe at ourselves when we look back to the times of being one of the "cool kidz", or how the world hated us and everything was their fault, or just actual stupid nonsense (some of which was fun to be fair). So I find no reason to dislike any of the characters here doing dumb stuff, such is a part of life. My problem is the frequency of these characters, those who come and go only exist to push the main two to the ending everyone already knows will happen. Sure, as individuals, they are cool, generic yes but that doesn't make them bad, though they cannot have a reason to exist if it wasn't for the main two. It kills humanity to them, killing any and every standalone feature, thus not having the believability in range to make them more loveable characters, one can only assess their behaviour, but otherwise, there is nothing more to them than to otherwise be the spice in the plot necessary to forward the duo to the desired outcome. I suppose that may be the role of a side character, though I've seen side characters elsewhere who are certified for positions in making themselves their own anime because they have that kind of good character to themselves, so there is no real excuse here, in dramas at that too. I should speak of the main characters before moving to the next section too. Starting off with Yuzu, I personally enjoyed a lot about Yuzu, and I thought to myself, when the anime had ended, that she is a great character in what she does. She is a dumb teenager, who gets dragged into the perplexing pinball world of emotions, trying to find out exactly what it is she needs to do to satisfy herself, or her emotion of love. She doesn't go through the most grandiose development, but I don't think that is a means to deny her any praise, for her strength is journey altogether. Yes, nothing really changes, but actually seeing her visibly trying to understand what it is she needs to do is nothing short of a good motion in direction. She does very questionable things, but also tries to behave in a sane manner to actually understand herself, you know, the talking to others and what have you, all the while putting in the effort necessary to maintain who she is as a person, being a kind and upbeat girl. There is none of this disjointed development that literally makes zero sense. She is a character I managed to look back only positively, I really mean it, her growth isn't entirely visible, but I seriously liked it when looking at the long term. Mei is a more interesting one, who is in the very same position as Yuzu, they are both coherent to one another, the only difference with Mei is that she is influential, her impact on others is part of the reason why this series is what it is, for that, she plays her role well. There isn't a lot to go on about the girl, she is closed about herself and tends to not be the most expressive, her troubles, however, are quite the interesting ones, and despite how she is presented, she can boil down to how others behave too, she just took a route she thought was b…

I had never been happier to have finished an anime. Holy hell this was so bad. so so bad. It gave me a headache. I finished this anime yesterday and even till today, I AM STILL UPSET ABOUT IT. I don't ever write reviews on anything, HECK i have received so many bad products and watched so many bad stuff in my life, that i never ever wrote a review for; but holy hell i just feel like i have to do this to save the hassle to someone else who will waste their time watching this. The story is just so- plain. Sexual assault in pretty much every episode is a theme, big yikes! clearly this show is just fanservice. Should've been named how many girls can one of the main chars kiss by the end of the show. The development of the story is so frustrating. the fact that every single episode just frustrated me and it had this hint of ntr every few episodes really just made me absolute hate it. Being fair; the animation, buildings, background and overall art, was really beautiful! I wish most shows would put the effort that these series put into it, because it was stunning. However all that; just, completely becomes irrelevant to such a poor story full of fanservice and the need to again- include some sort of sexual assault in every scene the two main characters are in. I didn't feel emotionally attached or empathetic to the characters because they were all so plain, typical and just boring. The thing that upset me the most was how poorly they develop as a character, there is zero character development throughout the whole thing until the very end. and it wasn't a very noticeable character development. When i watch a show of any genre, the one thing i value the most is story and how characters grow throughout the episodes and you feel their growth, that growth that just makes you want to keep watching. This anime HAS NONE OF THAT. ~possible spoiler here~ THE TWO MAIN CHARACTERS: Mei, has a beautiful face and the art is once again very beautiful. but she really, just is plain, boring, sexually assaults the other main to help with her" struggles and frustration, KISSES LIKE 5 PEOPLE, 5 DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND DATES SOMEONE SHE MET LIKE 1 DAY AND FOR LIKE A FEW MINUTES. I just cANNOT with her. I understand her struggles and her backstory but that doesn't justify how much of a b-word she can be. Worse, is that she's like this THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE SERIES. Only smiled like- one time before she somewhat finally took her head out of her a*s. Yuzu, the other main character is straight up dumb. She is certainly a kind person, but she's also really f*****g stupid. She starts to magically like the person who sexually assaulted her - multiple times- and keeps falling under the trap of all these other girls that are trying to take advantage of her and shes just so OBLIVIOUS of everything thats happening. Jesus Christ. it's so FRUSTRATING!!!!! In summary; i hate everything about this show. All 12 episodes made me ANGRY. I AM STILL ANGRY.

After watching and expertly taking notes on the various styles of kiss scenes that the animators deployed on its viewers, my #squad have formally decided that this anime was a Load of Bolognese. Yes, I do know that it is spelled bologna, but a dear friend of mine spells it this way, so I do as well. [Breaking news: she has recently proclaimed herself as dead, so I will continue to spell it as bolognese for the rest of my life in Memory of my dear, dead friend...] On a more serious note, the episodes themselves were very confusing. The storyline didn't make quite a lot of sense as we skipped around maybe eight (8) episodes in a span of 5 minutes and jumped straight to the ending. While there were parts that made every gossip in town gasp while whispering, "Tea......", there wasn't enough substance for them to continue saying, "Tea..................." For instance, when that pink haired girl who looks like that other pink haired girl from dokidokiLiterature club but with a red jacket took a picture of natsumi kissing Meimei, she didn't do anything with the photos (or at least in the 2 seconds we saw her in the parts that we skipped to). We were severely disappointed in the tension build-up throughout this entire episode, as we are all firm believers that if your animation's storyboard is not entertaining in every other storyboard, then your story isn't that entertaining. Period. Take, for instance, Finding Dory. Each time you skip around (as I often do to see if a story is entertaining in short span of time), each scene is as exciting as the last with either a chase sequence, scenery, or general story build up to the final conclusion of actually Finding Dory. THe smear frames in the episodes were too long. With our expert OSU eyes, we easily spotted them in half a second and naturally skipped back to the scene to pause and laugh at. Although smear frames are a must for fast-paced scenes, they are not needed when that blonde girl who looked like the main character from Shugo Chara was getting groped as her water bill increased because she never bothered to turn the water off in that one scene in the kitchen. Furthermore, the art style is just. Lazy...? Like why was the dad skinny in her memories but chubby in the photo? Did they get their lore wrong? Or is Meymey's memories just so hazy from being so young that she forgot that her dad was actually a King DUmpling. Anyway, the actual character designs are alright. Until about 4 minutes into each episode where they introduce a new character that it looks almost exactly lik a different well-known character. I could list a few RIGHT NOW. - I mentioned this before but Natsumi looks exactly like Natsumi from DokiDokiLiteratureClub. Her pink hair with the C-shaped curls are the exact same style as Natsumi's along with her bangs. - There's a girl who looks exactly like Teto Kasane, a welll-known vocaloid. She has the same curls (drill style), but her's are "natural" apparently. We all forgot her name because she was so insignificant to the plot. Memna? -There's a girl who looks like Mema from Anoharana. She looks almost exactly like her and she even has a crush on her older sister, just like in ANo Havana. - There's probably more , but we skipped around too much to see any of the characters. Anyway, the next point of topicWOULD be the soundtrack; however, I was watching the entire thing on 2x so I didn't actually get to hear any of the music in the background. Furthermore, I was also laughing and playing a mobile game which ALSO was a rhythm game, so if any of the music did get out of my laptop, it didn't reach my ears. I'll rate it a 10/10 And, last but certainly least, the ending. We did not enjoy it. four out of ten. I lied. I want to talk about the grandpa. Personally, I find it quite distrubing that the grandpa was preparing his legal forms for his will and such after he was hospitalized for his Meymey, but nothing in the show was ever shown talking about it thereafter. They just threw it at us and left. He didn't even die in the end. I also want to talk more about the ending. After discussing with my excellent consort of trusted advisors, we have reached the conclusion that the ENDIGN was ALSO bolognese. The two main pair walk off into the distance while holding hands and into a white title card that has the less-than-impressive title font in Times New Roman with a clipart of a cut orange in the background. What does that even mean. How are we, as the dedicated viewers, supposed to enjoy this show without even knowing if they have a happy ending or not. Does the grandpa ever die. Does Meyamy eveer succeed her grandpa in taking over the academy. Does her father ever come back and show his daughter the love that she needs instead of just pushing it all on his new step-daughter that he litearlly never seen before that one episode he walked in with a giant bear. Does the Mom ever get a raise after working all day and night at the construction area because we litearlly never see her. Does the two what was it called again AvoHana sisters finally break it off and find healthy relationships that don't revolve around each other because they are literally 10 and 13. Does the AnoHana girl ever come back to life to haunt those 6 people that killed her. Does Natsumi ever break free from Momoka and be able to develop her own sense of personality and goals in her life even after knowing that she was born from code to fall in love with a stranger out of her own volition. We literally never find out. Chao

When I decided to watch Citrus, I had never heard of it before. I’d never read the manga, never heard someone mention the series at all. I just saw the picture, watched the PVs and decided it looked intriguing. I was hoping for a really juicy romance story with amazing characters and a ship I’d support for a while after. After finishing the series, I was not disappointed. Citrus was a rainbow of emotions, it’ll have you laughing at one point, in suspense seconds after, and leave you in tears (in a good way). Story 8/10: For the most part, Citrus is your generic love story. Main protagonist meets the love interest, their emotions get sparked, struggle to comprehend their feelings, soon realize it’s love, and confess, all while the love interest is pursued by other “antagonists.” Despite this, Citrus still manages to stand out from other romance anime. Not only does Yuzu have to comprehend her feelings for Mei, she’s struggling with her first real live being for a girl, a felling she’s never experienced before (as far as I know. As I previously stated, I’ve never read the manga). While there are others who also have feelings for Yuzu or Mei, they’re all valid and (despite already shipping Yuzu and Mei) you kinda end up low key shipping it. As for yuri scenes, while there are a few there aren’t too many that distract from the story which I appreciated. Art 10/10: I loved the art style for Citrus. The colors were so bright, eye catching, and just beautiful. The artists clearly took their time to make each scene as perfect as they could. As an amateur artist myself, I’ve tried recreating these amazingly drawn characters, and can’t come close. While the general art was amazing, it doesn’t come close to the kiss scenes/ romance scenes. There was real emotion on those faces which made it easier to feel for the characters. Eye appeal is one of the most important parts of making a good anime, and Citrus nailed it. Sound 8/10: The opening was a super catchy, dancy pop song that almost perfectly represented Yuzu’s personality. Each episode you’d be dancing to the opening, and trying to sing along. The ending, while a bit calmer, also fit very well with the feel of the show. The music in the background was fitting, and was never louder than it needed to be and you could always hear the dialogue over top. The voice actors all did a wonderful job portraying the characters, and filling their character’s voices with necessary emotion. Characters 9/10: By the end of the season (hope for season 2) I loved everyone, but Yuzu and Harumin were the best from the beginning. Focusing on Harumin, she is the BEST supporting character since, well, I don’t remember. But she’s amazing. Harumin fills the series with humor from her first appearance. But humor isn’t the only thing she brings to the show. She’s an amazing and supportive friend for Yuzu and does NOT get enough credit. Yuzu’s just a perky, waaay extra child but (almost) everything crazy she does is for Mei, and that’s really admirable. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Mei at first because of some of her more, how do I put it, forceful?.. behavior with Yuzu, but after learning about her past and what goes on in her mind, it’s easier to sympathize. While I won’t go into them, the other main supporting characters, Himeko, Matsuri, Sara, and Nina are all super unique and each bring something new and important to the story. Enjoyment 10/10: If I had to pick a favorite anime of the season, I’d say Citrus in a heartbeat. I don’t usually watch anime in season, I usually wait to binge it, yet I kept up with Citrus. Citrus made my Saturdays special, and I’d be waiting all week to find out what would happen next. The time between waking up on Saturday to the new episode would often be agonizing and I’d spend the rest of the day obsessing over what I just watched. After that last episode, you’ll want to rebinge it and read the manga immediately (if you haven’t already). Overall, I give this series a 9/10. Go watch this anime now, it will be worth your time. I hope you end up loving it as much as I did, and that this review was helpful.

It was really great to see a Yuri anime with a storyline that didn't make me cringe throughout the whole series. I definitely did cringe at this one too don't get me wrong ("Mei!") - but it was a nice enough storyline to keep me enticed and wonder what would happen next. It's your typical slice of life anime without any insane plot, but has a storyline that you can follow easily. If you're looking for something mediocre then this is it. If I could give any critique it's that the relationship was really oversexualized (probably cause it's a yuri anime) but I wish it could have been more realistic. Also, there is some non-consensual kissing. I think that producing shows like this is really great even if it doesn't deserve a 10/10, especially for the girls out there that like other girls. Of course, if you aren't willing to understand lesbian relationships you're probably not going to like this anime. Watch if: - You aren't easily offended. - you support girl on girl relationships. - you aren't looking for hentai. - you like slice of life. - you don't mind a mediocre plot/storyline. - you can withstand bold characters. Thank you for taking this review into your consideration :)

I find it sad this Citrus is the most popular (not exactly in a good way) Girl love anime. It’s a terrible depiction of any sort of romance. Frankly I’m just disappointed the manga is just as bad if not worse. But as I’m on a goal to watch all the yuri anime (and this was my first stop) I must try my best to not turn this review into an angry rant. Romance 1/10 For people who want Yuri recommandations (or just a good romance recommendation) and are wondering if this is a good GL series, I can say with confidence that it is not. Pretty much all the romantic scenes are clear fetishization of a lesbian relationship (if you can even call it that) Sexual assault is treated as something that’s meant to be arousing and the relationship development between the two main characters is laughably bad. The one good point for the romance category is that there is actual physical intimacy (consensual or not) such as kissing and handholding and it’s well animated. Story 4/10 In its 12 episodes, Citrus manages to fetishize every relationship going as far as to depict scenes that are clearly sexual assault as something that’s acceptable and even romantic/arousing. I don’t even want to start about the incest (which is one of the least offensive parts) It layers on so many coats of drama that it just becomes a hilariously terrible watch. The story does develop at an alright pace for all that that’s worth. Overall the story is nothing remarkable, it’s a bad slice of life when stripped to its core. Characters 5/10 The main character Yuzu is your typical gyaru character who just wants to have a good high school life until she is basically sexually assaulted by the student council president Mei, later to revealed as Yuzu’s step sister. The two main characters have ok personalities, fleshed up well enough for them being thrown into such a plot. Their interactions (outside of the sexual ones) are realistic enough. The side characters are more there to add to the drama than anything else. If they’re not part of it they really aren’t that all memorable. Animation/Sound/Voice Acting 6/10 The animation is arguably the best part of this anime (not really saying much though) not in terms of what they are animating but just in general. The sound design is very forgettable. The Voice acting was well done, props to the voice actors for actually wanting (and doing a good job) to voice in this shit show. Enjoyment 3/10 If you want to watch a train crash in 12 episodes (with most of them being unimportant) go for it. If you’re looking for a good girls love series that covers LGBTQ+ topics well forget about this series and go watch bloom into you or something.

This is gonna be my first review. It can contain some spoilers. You know these Latin American soap operas? They just have one objective: to entertain people with a shoddy plot. Well, citrus did exactly the same. Citrus was entertaining but a garbage too. It had the stupidest and cringiest scenes I’ve ever seen in anime. The story was an average “oh I have a new member in my family and I’m already sexual attracted to it”. But i agree that a repetitive plot can be certainly good, but in case if Citrus it was a wasted potential. None of the characters helped in making this interesting, it was all a meaningless drama accompanied by a lot of fan service. The characters were fake, boring and you weren’t able to feel empathy for them. Sometimes they were very cringy, specially during love confessions. For example, the part that make me want to rip my balls off the most was in episode 11 where the purple haired girl felt in love with Mei and referred her as her destiny, all that in 5 hours! So lack of sense! The animation was ok, i don't have issues with it. The opening and ending songs were very nice. So, if you want to see a fully japanese animated soap opera, Citrus is your best option!

Ok! This is the first review I write in this site, so, why here and why on THIS THING? Keep in mind that this is from someone who smoked the 10 volumes of the manga in one sitting. So here we go. Well, I can go on rampaging about it for a looong time but I'll keep it simple if dont want to read all of this: The Citrus manga is good, like... really GOOD. Soooo, in short, go and read THAT instead of wasting your time in this abomination. While its not perfect by any means, the manga shows by itself that a lot of thought, care and passion went into it. This... THING (on the other hand) is just a cheaply made cash grab that fails horrendously at... well... pretty much everything! So, to cover the bullet points! I'll try to keep this as breaf and PG as possible, even when right now Im cursing like a pirate with a broken leg. Story: You have the summary, its nothing earth-shattering, but having only 12 episodes they cut it at the worst possible time, since the following arcs are the really juicy stuff of this series. They left all the setup, but none of the good stuff. Art: The biggest offender by far. Cheap. This guys where probably working on a budget, and paid by the hour. All the beautiful and expressive character shots that deeply showed their emotions in the subtle details, GONE! Replaced mostly with cardboard. The biggest problem here is the direction, not only did they failed to emulate the mood of some the key scenes in the story, but they sometimes outright butcher entire scenes. One might argue that being "faithful to the source material" is a good thing, but if an adaptation goes coping and pasting poor renditions of the original panels its not being faithful, its just being lazy; those shots and angles worked in the manga, but animation is a different media, if doesn't work that way (specially if the passing of said scenes is as awful as in this case). So yeah, they butchered it, I'll leave it there or I'll by here all night listing every single detail. Sound: Same as before, but worst. The music is... ok, but the choices in the score don't match the tone of the scenes and sometimes completely miss the mood, it doesn't make any sense. Sound design is none existing or mediocre at best. Also, no heart pounding? I mean, REALLY!? SHAMEFUL. Character: Since the story didn't go any further, they didn't show their development. And since the subtlety of their emotions got compromised by their poor renditions, they ended up misrepresented, its just sad. The voice actors did what they could, thou. Enjoyment: Watching the last two episodes was a torture. I was raging from start to finish. Awards time! -Soulless: Not enough people in the payroll gave a damn about this project, and it SHOWS. -They butchered it: Cut the story at half and destroyed some good charades in the process, bravo! And the final award! -It's time to stop! Do not make a sequel, you destroyed it enough as it is. So that it! Ps: Matsuri best girl. Esa fue mi reviu de Citrus para Nintendo 64, y espero que les aya justado, Chau.

Anyone who stumbled upon Citrus and is hoping for it to be a sweet and realistic girl x girl romance -- run while you still can. This anime was overhyped as the new forefront for shoujo ai anime, something to represent the minority of us who actually want to see a realistic romance between two girls falling in love but instead, what does it turn out to be? Complete utter garbage, and anyone who is willing to give this anything above 3/10 is simply a prepubescent hormonal boy who gets off to typical ecchi shit. Let me elaborate: Story: what story? girl transfers into all girls school, secondary MC comes in and molests MC under the guise of "inspection", and for some reason this sparks her sexual and romantic interest in her. Realistic and romantic right? Character: The MC and 2nd MC are just horny individuals who due to an even hornier author, believes themselves to be in love. every other character in the anime is a plot device and the author isn't afraid to violate them in any matter to compensate for how severely lacking this is. I mean, the "rival" is a middle school girl who engages in sexual behavior and gets money from old men. ** oh and said girl, was made into a straw villain (look into straw characters online) and the author pushed it so far that THOSE OF US WHO WERE DESPERATELY CLINGING TO THIS HOPING FOR A SWEET ROMANCE were traumatized. How? for half an episode we were forced to into a suspense of whether the 2nd MC was going to turned into a prostitute for old men or not. seriously? wtf... It's bad enough that the characters in this anime run around forcefully kissing and molesting people like as if it was the norm. It was difficult enough tolerating a character set whose morals seem to be as if they were raised at a brothel. Art: This was horrible too, proportions would be what you would assume to be if someone was drunk while animating this. There were multiple moments where we were given an overhead view yet the characters were standing sideways, so if flipped to real perspective, they were walking tilted downwards by roughly 45 degrees. Lest we forget how in ep 1 MC wanted to put her phone in her cleavage but realized she was flat, then in her shower scene she suddenly has at least C cups. LOGIC :D she appears to be average in terms of her butt too, but on certain occasions she could compete against Kim Kardashian. once again, LOGIC. Sound: Either they purposely made the VAs squeal out the most annoying sounds they could or the VAs were just as disgusted as I am about this anime and couldn't be bothered to try. The OP and ED aren't bad though, I'll give it that. Enjoyment: Want to get shock therapy to try and forget this shit / 10 Overall: Preteen boys would be so turned on by this / 10

This is my second review ever. Lets start by saying that this anime is in the genre Shoujou Ai and won't be for everyone and it was definitely an interesting watch. _Story 8/10 : The story in this anime revolves around the relationship between two teenage girls named Yuzu and Mei. Due to the marriage of Yuzu's mother and Mei's father they end up living together as step-sisters. Because of this they have a relationship that is not simple at all and with their feelings it gets even more complex. A lot of the show consists of Yuzu dealing with her inner demons and asking herself questions such as "what do i want/need?" and "what does Mei want/need?". The pacing was very good in the beginning of the show (ep 1-8) but near the end of the show it became slightly more frustrating to watch because of how Yuzu handles situations so poorly. The story is pretty unique and it was refreshing to watch. I give it an 8/10 instead of 9/10 because of the bad pacing near the end and because of a certain character but I shall go into detail on that in the character section. _Art 10/10 : The art in this anime was outstanding and it was one of the best I have watched in a while. In the first episode when I saw Yuzu with her makeup on it looked really weird to me and I really disliked it. However she ends up not wearing any so that was good (for me at least). The character designs in this anime were so good. The way each character looks different from one another was very nice to see because of how many anime I've seen where the girls all look the same. One of the best things about the visuals in this anime was the characters eyes. Mei's purple eyes just look so awesome and the colours of all of the school uniforms and hair looked superb as well. The background art was also very good in this anime and at some times looked almost like it was filmed instead of drawn. I give the art a 10/10 and the only negatives were how the lips looked kind of strange and Yuzu's makeup was just so weird to look at. _Sound 6.5/10 : I give the sound in this anime a 6.5/10 because it was not anything special but it was also not bad. Like most anime it was just there and forgettable. However the music never seemed out of place and the opening was not that bad as well. _Character 7.5/10 : The characters in this anime were really the deciding factor in its success or failure. Lets get into the important ones. Aihara Yuzu - Yuzu is one of those characters in anime that is overall liked and she doesn't seem to have any real downfalls other than being somewhat dense. She is always trying to understand what is going on in Mei's head and she is usually unsuccessful which gets frustrating at times. Overall a pretty good protagonist. Aihara Mei - Mei is another character that seems to be one of your general anime stereotypes at first (the cold tsundere/princess), but you will quickly realize that she has many reasons to do the things that she does and her depressing backstory added a nice touch of drama. She is not honest in her words or actions at all which leads to many situations that could have been avoided which is annoying at times, but its a part of her personality so it wasn't that bad. Her character added a nice sense of darkness and also realism as well. Mizusawa Matsuri - All I can say about Matsuri is that she was by far the worst part of the show. The only purpose she served was to halt the progress of Mei and Yuzu's relationship. She has a twisted personality and is unreasonably mean. Her part in the show was very annoying to watch. _Enjoyment 8/10 : Overall this anime was very enjoyable for me. It has a nice mix of drama/darkness and those heartwarming moments. The ending was very good as well and no strings were really left untied. The supporting characters were pretty good and were not overused which was good. One thing about this show is that often times the way that Mei and Yuzu force themselves on each other can be somewhat disturbing to watch. When I say "force themselves" I'm not talking about raping each other or anything like that, but they steal kisses from each other and its sometimes uncomfortable to watch. The characters don't really get phased or traumatized by it so it doesn't have a real everlasting effect. _Overall 8.4/10 : In conclusion this anime was very good and the art in this show is so good that I would say its worth a watch just to view the art. The story and pacing was pretty good and it was resolved nicely. Overall this show gets a 8/10 from me and I don't know why it has such a low rating on MAL.

Citrus is sort of like a gore video. You know you shouldn't continue, you know it's only gonna get worse, you know you'll regret it, and yet you can't take your eyes off of it. The viewing experience turns into a sort of analysis of trying to pinpoint all the ways in which the show is terrible, and articulating them. Now that time has come to properly verbalize all these ideas for the 2-3 MAL users that will ever read these words. Shoutout to you guys, remember to upboat. Citrus actually presents us with a pretty solid first episode. Sure, when you hear "all girls school" and "student council president", you should already have extremely loud alarm bells telling you to abort the mission. Despite that, it gave me a sliver of hope for what was to come. It had some funny elements, and the twist of the semi-rape by the teacher spiced things up and left me wondering if this could be some kind of dark abuse story. I could have been more wrong, but i would have had to go to great lengths, like thinking "hey communism sounds like a dank idea". Already from episode 2, the downward spiral begins, and the acceleration only comes to a stop on the final minute of the last episode, when the viewer smashes into the bottom of the barrel at breakneck speed, shattering whatever was left of his sanity. Citrus boasts some of the worst writing I've ever seen in any television show ever, including School Days. The "characters" are just tools for the author to go through her check list of different girl-fan-service scenes. The "girl" qualifier here is important. You will get no tiddies, but you will get almost exclusively abusive semi-rape kissing scenes; because we know that's the only way females can get off (looking at you, 50 shades). Every single exchange of dialog is complete non-sense, characters routinely come and disappear without any kind of explanation. For example the teacher that was assaulting Mei in episode 1? You never hear about him again after that scene. Seriously. He presented his fan service, and having outlived his usefulness, was discarded by this dumpster tier "author" without even a mention. This is the kind of show where conflict is ENTIRELY rooted in vapid feeling-based quarrels between the characters (see Scum's Wish, another prime example). And naturally, these trivial events are being portrayed as life-changing catastrophes, and we're supposed to buy it. Worry not, our precious characters will not be burdened by real issues such as poverty, violence, or illness. X said something that made me angry! Woe is me! It makes you wonder, is this really how women see the world? Is this the most touching source of drama they can conjure? The bright side is that this allows you, the viewer, to play the "new character" game. The goal is simple : you have to guess when a new character will be introduced out of the blue. Citrus makes this very simple, you know that as soon the current petty feud comes to a close, the brilliant author will run out of ideas, and copy paste some bullshit new girl. I'm happy to report that i have properly predicted the apparition of almost all of the characters! For instance near the end, this new character comes in. She becomes "shinyuu" (close friend) with heroine A within 1 day of meeting her. And, behold, she falls in love with heroine B within that same day, confesses to her, and B agrees to go out with her. They have all met in the last 24 hours. If this happened between boys and girls, it would already be completely fucking retarded, but the fact that all the interactions are homosexual drives the non-sense up to 11 and shatters any sense of reality. I'm willing to concede that of this extremely sloppy rushing may partly be due to the short anime adaptation. But there is still not even the sliver of a doubt in my mind : this author is an absolute idiot, and would get outdone by the majority of teenagers writing a short story for their 9th grade English class. In light of all this, Citrus is a fun trainwreck. The stupidity is jaw-dropping. You won't be able to look away; you will want to know how bad it gets. And when you think you reached peak absurdity, it will get dumber. As a bonus, you have well drawn, beautiful girls to keep your eyes busy while you analyze the shitfest. This is this decade's School Days; truly awful, but almost a must-watch for that reason.

Let it be known prior to this review that I am yuri/ecchi/etc. trash. Of the /highest/ calibre. along those lines, this anime was practically made for me and my biases, specifically the sales pitch of a cutie lesbian innocent gyaru, I was 100% I was going to love this show, and for the first few episodes, that idea was solidified somewhat. But lets break things down somewhat to figure out why it ended up leaving me... dissapointed. -story- The story started out promising, as mentioned above. On a very superficial level, I was loving it! but from very early on there was a nagging doubt, something that was bothering me. That doubt was how they were going to handle the various elements of sexual harrasment/forced sexual contact. it happens initally quite offhand, which made me pass it off that maybe I just interpereted it incorrectly, but then a few instances later, the show itself brings up this matter and then sort of... drops it. this was certainly one element that let to my dissapointment, since these elements can be extremely powerful literary tools! and if this show that was superficially amazing, ended up being good on a more interesting level as well, then we'd have a really great show on our hands. Other than those elements- the story never really tries to do anything particularly interesting, beyond "Hey look, they're GAY!" which, I mean, cool. but that isnt as groundbreaking as it once was anymore. They introduced some new characters here and there, attempted to pick up the afforementioned harrasment themes and failed again. I feel like the story would have been fine if it didnt try and fail, and stuck to what it knew it could do, but I do at least commend it for trying in the first place. Nothing will ever get better if people dont try to do something new every now and again. -Art- Its really rather pretty actually. The animation isnt really anything to shout about, but the style is quite nice, and the end cards are really cool, with a more artsy style that would make a wonderful desktop background. Props to whoever the artists where for that- Im gonna have to look them up actually... -Sound- Very little too say about it honestly. The OP by nano.RIPE was pretty good, the vocals reminded me a little of HSoTD's OP, which I also liked. The rest of the soundtrack was, forgettable, at least to me. -Character- I /love/ Yuzu. She's pure and kind and waaaaaaay to easy to take advantage of sadly. But sadly most of the rest of the characters, to me, are just very bland. Mei has a chance of being interesting- with the attempted stoicism, and the strong but flawed character archtype is an interesting one, but I feel she is criminaly underused as such, I can name, maybe two instances where the elemnts of her character that /are/ intersting are used effectively. The side characters are just that, side characters, and in contrast to shows with a great supporting class (AssClass being a fantastic example) these side characters serve to spark 1 interesting interaction between the main couple, and very little beyond that. As literary devices, they're fine. -Conclusion- Overall, I feel this show was a severe case of missed potential, its perfectly enjoyable as a generic Yuri, but its failed attempts at being more than that leave a sour taste in my mouth. I respect it for what it attempted, but in terms of my own enjoyment, I can't say it really appealed to me, certainly not as much as I had initially hoped. I think I can recommend it if you are a hardcore Yuri fan, but not so much if otherwise.

*ORIGINALLY UPLOADED MARCH 24, 2018 Winter 2018 brought us an adaptation of an ongoing yuri manga named Citrus, which began publication in 2012 in one of the most popular yuri magazine, Comic Yuri Hime!. Citrus may very well be the most popular yuri manga to date, both in Japan and in the west, just look at MAL’s popularity rankings for proof of that claim. Though highly anticipated by the audience keeping up with the series’ bi-monthly schedule, the anime was announced alongside a similar manga series named Netsuzou Trap, which bore a… less than satisfactory adaptation in Summer 2017, ultimately putting the yuri community on edge as we hoped this would be a success. Did Citrus manage to live up to the hype? It is no secret that I am a manga reader of Citrus, and since I first picked up the manga series, I have been nothing but a loyal fan of it, and I’ve cherished it so. That was two or three years ago, and even reading the manga now, I am proud to say it stands among my favorites, even though I am well aware that it isn’t perfect. But before I get into this review, I want to tell everyone reading this review to please read through to the end, or just read the end if you can’t be bothered to slog through all of my feelings towards this adaptation. Let me reiterate; At the bottom of this review, I want to address everyone who was watching this adaptation during Winter 2018 or afterward, manga reader or not. There is where I will share my deeply personal feelings towards this adaptation of Citrus, Citrus itself, and the anime community as a whole. *This review contains minor spoilers, but the ones that are important I only mention in passing, so chances are, you will forget or not understand the context behind them enough to ruin your enjoyment. Read at your own risk, but there really is none. PRODUCTION (animation, character designs, music, backgrounds, voice acting, etc.): 7 Let’s get the most superficial aspect of this review out of the way first- I say “superficial”, but in reality, this may be the most important part of both Citrus and this review. The project was helmed at studio Passione and directed by Takahashi Takeo (Spice and Wolf, Yosuga no Sora, Rokka no Yusha), and while indeed there is a lot of passion to be seen in this production, you don’t even need to read the manga to say that this anime looks inconsistent, tipping the lines between beautiful and downright ugly. Though I don’t want to keep relying on the manga for comparisons in this review, I have to because quite literally the soul of Citrus and its appeal lies in its outstanding artwork, drawn (and written) by the talented SubaroUta. But more on the importance of this distinction later. First off, the character designs are a hot mess. Well, actually they are actually quite beautiful when the animation is consistent, or they’re not moving, or when they’re not blushing! Seriously, I don’t know whose brilliant idea it was to have the blushes be this bright pink that just doesn’t meld with the character designs at all. I’m not a professional artist, and the fan arts that I did a year and a half ago, have more organic-looking blushes than this! Honestly, the blushes look cheap at best and ugly/ cheesy at worse, but that is the furthest thing wrong with the character designs. Though upon first examination (of the trailer, mostly), I felt that the designs for Citrus were meant to animate better by simplifying the designs in order to keep them consistent- it turns out that isn’t the case. The designs on their own will hold, but they aren’t the least bit consistent, especially for the dramatic moments (why?????). These two problems on their own may seem like a problem all anime has to face, but this inconsistency easily becomes poison for Citrus. Scenes that were supposed to be gut punches to the viewer or just have a lot of tension are killed by the lack of consistent art and animation. Scenes where Yuzu and Mei are supposed to be really attracted to each other, shows neither of the characters looking attractive! Scenes where Mei is supposed to have a densely emotional moment, or that Yuzu is supposed to feel inspired or serious, the art fails to communicate these feelings to the audience through its artwork, at least not like the manga did. I would be bashing it more, if it were not for the other aspects of the production though, however, I’m still going to bring this up later. That said, the aspects of the production that makes up where the art utterly fails are (well, the biggest aspect) the cinematography and shot composition (I’m throwing in all the big words right now). Cinematography and shot composition- especially for scenes that work up the romantic tension (or any scene for that matter) are consistently beautiful. Backgrounds and foregrounds are ALWAYS dazzling (especially the school campus and Yuzu and Mei’s house) and they always work to frame the characters in subtle ways. Takahashi Takeo really showed up some of the talents he showed back in Spice and Wolf because his techniques in visual storytelling were not only creative but manage to create a densely layered atmosphere, which compliments the equally consistent music and sound design. The music was composed by Takahashi Ryo (ACCA 13, Classroom of the Elite) and he certainly didn’t disappoint, though I’d hardly call any of them “stand out”. That said, the music is really lively when it just needs to be comical, and really somber and nerve-racking when it just needs to be tense. Really got to applaud this guy, but then we also have nano.RIPE performing for the OP which has been one of my favorite bands throughout the years to hear OPs from, and Mia REGINA on the ED. The voice acting is solid as well, we have Kirino- I mean Taketatsu Ayana giving a solid performance as Yuzu. Tsuda Minami (Yui from Yuru Yuri!) giving an equally solid performance as Mei, and all the other voice actors did a great job with their roles as well, though I would have to question the choice of Matsuri’s seiyuu. Not that it doesn’t fit her character, but it probably fits too well… Well, that’s just my preference, I guess. (I guess I just like to imagine Matsuri sounding like the stuck-up bitch she truly is, but oh well) There are some janky CGI character models in the background that look out of place, but nothing about this really affects the viewing experience, so it really doesn’t matter. Overall, the production of Citrus is inconsistent, but I’ve seen worse. Perhaps some of the complaints I threw out here will be fixed in the Blu-ray releases. CHARACTERS: 8 Okay, enough singing praises for people you may or may not care about, instead, I want to look at the characters of Citrus. In technical terms, these characters are more or less the same as their manga counterparts. The only differences being that in the anime, the director takes some liberties and adds in many flashbacks and character building moments that weren’t present in the manga, but more on that later. So, the characters are more or less exactly the same as far as how they are written... except for one. Mei. Mei isn’t as well written as her manga counterpart. But why? You ask. Don’t they share the same scenes? Aren’t their motivations the same? My answer to that is, though you aren’t technically wrong—unfortunately, this is where the consequences of having lackluster art and animation come in. Excuse me for referencing the manga once again, but please bear with me because this will be the last time I go in depth with it before giving my final thoughts. Mei’s character, unlike every other character in Citrus, is brought to life by her art (in the manga). This is an undeniably crucial aspect of her character that the anime didn’t get right whatsoever. That is because, unlike all the other characters, Mei is more often silent and doesn’t know how to express her emotions clearly. But thanks to SubaroUta’s brilliant artwork, she can catch the s…

It's weird to watch this anime. The title lies, there are no citruses over there. To be fair the only good thing is that, it is yuri. I'm serious the story was 12 episodes of frustration with characters that simply can't make up their minds. When more characters get involve into story it gets even worse. I dunno why but when I should cheer up for main protagonist I simply can't because she's too annoying. If you want watch this I assume because the yuri part, but even that part could be better. Side characters are simply meaningless because they come and go without much input, I mean they make some but it matters only because protagonist is a moron. To sum this up, if you want watch it, do it. It's just 12 episodes, right? 12 episodes of mediocre characters (a seriously frustrating main one), decent story (tbh story is so simple that it isn't awful but isn't good either) and pleasant to watch art. Oh and there is yuri stuff too, but not too much, to be fair Citrus is enjoyable only because yuri/gay scenes.