Special A

At 1st, when this anime was aired in the Philippines (I think it was aired in TV5), I heard a lot of my schoolmates murmuring, “Uy, napanood mo yung Special A kagabi? Nakakilig si Kei nu? Ang sweet nya ke Hikari!” —> Translation: “Hey, did you watch Special A last night? Kei’s so sweet with Hikari right?”. I was really curious, so I tried watching an episode. I liked it too, but I didn’t have the time to continue watching it because of my hectic schedule (this was way back in High School). Here comes my Summer Vacation from College! My boyfriend downloaded this anime for me because I was planning to write fanfiction this summer and it would be better if I know the original story from the Anime. I didn’t expect that I was going to be so hooked with it. Story? The story was nice. It is an anime full of genres, and every episode is unexpected, it will really surprise you. The characters are usually growing and developing on every episode. Graphics? I don’t comment much on the graphics, (since I’m not really a very good art critic) but I think it’s alright although the characters are thin or they all have the same body built. I also noticed the same usage of clothing on different episodes, and I find it quite simple though. Likes? The story, the variety of each characters from one another and the insertion of comedic relief on every situation. It doesn’t bore me. Dislikes? There is a rare development on every love story or the relationship between each love team. And the ending left me hanging. So I really expect a Season 2 or an OVA from this Anime. Swear, all those who have watched this anime want more right? Special A is an anime where you’ll be learning, laughing, cherishing and crying. You’ll definitely enjoy it. No, it’s not corny because of the love tandems around. It’s really worth watching. Then again, Special A.. All I can say is, more please? I regret reading the manga 1st before watching the Anime because now I am expecting more! I’ll give you an overall rating of 8! One of the best Anime I had watched, and one of my favorites. Suggesting this to all Anime fans! Be in love. :)

Special A, was one of my favorite animes I've watched. It always kept me on my feet, and wanting to cry, laugh, rant, scream, or hit somebody for the emotions it made me feel. The storyline was like nothing else, completely original, never dull, and it ranged from a deal of characters, never leaving any questions at the end. The characters personalities were wonderful choices, nothing to alike, but nothing too different in the group, and for outside the main seven, well, No one was the same thing. The art, beautiful. All I can say to describe it, epic. Overall, this anime was beautiful, amazing , and in my opinion, one of the best out there.

Special A is a really brilliant and fun story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everything was great, right down to the last sketch and I felt it compulsory to write a review. Story: Well, you have probably already read the basis on it. It is a funny, and clever twist on school life, and shows you how determination can get you anywhere. The plot was good, and it was set out episode by episode in a fantastic sequence. /The story itself was heart warming and never failed to make me laugh. Even in a serious episode, it still made me chuckle, which I think is a good sign. 9/10 Art: I like this kind of anime style, its realistic, but still a cartoon-ish drawing. The eyes are cute on girls, while boys have more of a serious vibe coming off them. There are scenes where the characters look either really weird, or just so life-like (for a cartoon) that I've said to myself "Wow, how is anyone THAT thin?" or "OMW she looks SO real!" But usually, it just looks great, and normal. 9/10 Sound: I think the sound on this anime is absoleutly incredible, the voices match the character perfectly and every beat, line and pitch is delievered exactly how it should be. The voice actors have done an amazing job with this anime, and I'm pleased to say, its perfect. 10/10 Character: All of the characters (excluding some CERTAIN characters!) are very lovable, funny and well, unique. Their each individual personalities fit in so well with the others, yet they are so different at the same time. Each character holds their own special talent and unique ability that is so precious and super, really. 9/10 (I only gave it a 9, because of a certain character >

[STORY] ----------- The romantic scenes were very cute, especially in the beginning when Kei got protective of Hanazono. Watching two oddly paired people fall in love with each other sure was a journey. I didn't really enjoy it as much towards the end, although it had a pretty interesting ending. I was confused on how the anime ended, but after doing some research, I understand it. [ART] ----------- The quality of this anime was amazing. The details of every little thing was included, and I absolutely loved the scenery. [SOUND] ----------- The music was outstanding, and the voice actors / actresses did an amazing job of expressing their characters' personalities, especially Kei and Hanazono. Kei really showed that he was serious most of the time, and Hanazono is a very joyful girl who just wants to be better than her rival, Kei. [CHARACTER] ----------- The characters were very well animated and drawn. All characters were unique in their own little way, and also had very interesting personalities, especially Kei. [ENJOYMENT] ----------- I really did enjoy this anime, although I wished it was really centered only around Kei and Hanazono. This anime included many other love relationships between many other people towards the ending, and I was really looking forward to what would happen between Kei and Hanazono, of course, I figured that out at the end. [OVERALL] ----------- Overall, ending... sad. I cried a little bit, but it had a happy ending, and made me smile. FINAL SCORE: 10/10

WARNING: First review. You're warned, don't lie about it. Special A. You could think that this is an ordinary Shoujo anime - which isn't really a mistake - but It actually has some really interesting used elements what makes this beloved anime for girls really more enjoyable for us. You might wondering why I would recommend this anime? If you're a guy, I would say that you're just on the wrong place, provided that you like typical shoujo romance anime, Gomen'nasai. Look, if you are just bored and don't know what to watch, this anime would be fitting your situation. It is really simple minded and not a really deep story. The main element which is high ranked in this anime is character development. Besides the whole storyline this is the most important thing in the anime. Beside that it is all about our typical rival/love standard en some side characters.. Lets take a look at the story. So it is about a girl named Hikari. She wants to beat her rival, named Kei. He is better in almost everything she is good in. (Only thing he can't beat her is in cooking the worse, for sure) The only reason that she comes to their school is to beat Kei. In school they have different "levels" that are based on scores. So you have F to A and the "best of the bests" are in class Special A. They count seven pupils. Each one has his or her own rank place. The best is first, the less best in S.A (Special A) is of course seven. And well.. Guess what? First place we have Kei Takishima, and second place "Miss Rank Two" is Hikari Hanazono. So her biggest "dream" is to beat him and become first place.. But it is easy to say, hard to exercise. The story is really easy, but easy isn't always something negative. The romance is probably a good thing about this anime. It is really based on it and the main genre, I think. It is good executed and I loved each pairing in this anime. Our main pairing, Hikari and Kei was really cute and how their relation developed was cute and interesting in many ways. But I have to confess something, their were two couples in this anime I liked more than our main couple. But that is personal taste in developing, so let's give it not that much spotlight. I also laughed alot of times. I love slapstick in animes and this anime has a lot of this kind of comedy. Well.. What else can I say? I cannot complain about anything. ONLY thing I have in mind is that some characters do have a lot of development (Kei, Hikari, Yahiro, Akira) and some of them have a little bit of it or really weak development (Mainly talking about our twin, actually) and I wanted more interactions with them instead of too much screentime for our main two. I mean.. In MAL they are labeled as main too. The art isn't make me mad in a good or bad way. It is just an ordinary kinda Shoujo rom/com. The character designs do fit their personality and are just good. The colouring is great and I loved some of their special effects besides the original art. Only problem - I know many of us have the same problem - is that they look ways too skinny and have really strange legs. But hey, like I'm better in drawing and animating? No.. Just no. So I don't have to complain because it is something I cannot reach, even not in thousand years with my zero percent talent in drawing. The sound was mostly really fitting the situation. You has some really funny and energetic mentions and funny but quiet beautiful piano pieces, but nothing special. I loved both openings and endings, mainly because it is sang by the characters itself. I was later mentioned it, so not only that was making it funny. Just the songs are really catchy and cool, I just loved them. But as I said again, it was not blowing me away or something. Just great. Probably my favorite part, the characters. I can say I have good feelings about this one. The characters in this anime are really likable and I can't really name a girl or boy that really do pissed me off. But YES, I have an opinion about some of the characters. Because I didn't like everyone with the same passion. Let's start with Hikari. She is the main girl character. She is this really kind, energetic girl and is really competitive. She always cares for others and her dream is to finally beat Kei. I liked her, but not with a big passion. Her relation with Kei was really adorable too, as I mentioned before. Sometimes her situation was just kinda overdramatic and I just couldn't put myself in her shoes. And her voice was annoying sometimes too.. But besides that, nothing wrong with er. Our second one is Kei. Okay, to be honest sometimes I am just not a girl. Of course I watch shoujo romcoms, but not for "the hot guys" and.. I have a strange opinion about what kind of guys I like. Kei was that type of guy that is not really interesting, just made labeled "hot".. wel.. In my opinion. Of course everything was cute and stuff, but I wasn't really attracted to him or did really like him. But of course I did not hate him. The twins was a point of cuteness. I loved them both and Megumi is so adorable. I also loved her relationship with Yahiro in the end. Although it was kinda out of nowhere, I did enjoy it. Yahiro was another hot view to excite the female readers and watchers, but he was not a really cool character actually. Meh, I did not hate him but I didn't feel bad for him either, I just didn't care about him that much. Tadashi was our comic relieve, in my opinion. Just there in the show to make me smile. I also really loved him and his relation with Akira, but I saw it coming so I was shipping it since the first episode. Then we have Ryuu, our animal lover. He was really cute, although he had not that much development and was the less interesting and important character in the anime. DON'T ATTACK ME FANGIRLS. And at last we have Akira, she is this typical tsundere character, and really loves (almost in a romantic way sometimes) and I can't help loving her. But that is personal taste, because I totally understand why you would hate her. Because she is really fast pissed off and always sulks at Kei and Tadashi. But I really liked her. Well.. As you noticed, I really enjoyed watching this anime. It was just simple and my favorite genre is romance. Because I am really passionate in it, this was giving me an enjoyable area and I have only watched this anime with a bright smile on my face. If you love shoujo romcoms with likeable characters and development, this anime is our perfect match! So.. I definitely would recommend this anime.

Special A is... earnestly cliche. It's almost a celebration of stupid elements of shoujo. At no point does it ever really try to be original or break of its shell, nor does it ever need to. A lot of the appeal to me is how straight-faced it presents its ridiculousness. At one point there's a subplot of OH MY GOD WE ACTUALLY HAVE TO GO TO CLASS AND NOT DRINK TEA IN THE GREENHOUSE ALL DAY. At no point does anyone treat this like a joke. They are legitimately mortified. And that is funny on its own. Special A's tendency to take its own hilarious stupidity seriously hits a really strong note with me. Watching Kei suffer is fun. He is a jerk and it is infuriating watching him be literally The Very Best At Everything Ever With No Effort. His constant romantic failures never fail to make me happy inside, even after a rewatch. I found the other characters attractive and easy to root for despite their ridiculously out-of-touch problems. Watching them interact with each other is fun and that is what matters. They're not exactly bastions of complexity, but they don't need to be to make the series work. The art is fine but not really that distinctive. The soundtrack is completely unmemorable with a single exception that you'll know when you hear, and even that song is more tied with the moment it plays in. Maybe my interpretation of this series as a deliberately straight-faced parody isn't what was intended. But watching the series through that lens makes it really funny to me and hell, I was even a little moved a couple times. If you too are ready to embrace the cliche, you'll probably have a lot of fun watching this series.

Special A is a Shoujo Romantic Comedy, if you don't like that sort of anime then this is not for you. If you do like it, then you will really enjoy this anime. Story wise, there isn't a deep plot with lots of twists and turns, but more just the everyday school life of the students within Special A. Despite having a broad plot that is not particularly original it still kept my attention which is rare, school-life anime's don't generally keep my attention for very long, but this one I couldn't stop watching. Art was done well. The anatomy might be a little off but it didn't bother me in the least bit. Sound was good. The character's voices fit them and the female voices were not overly annoying like they can get sometimes. Music was cute and fit the romantic comedy genre. The characters were developed well and throughout the story you learn about their past and someone can relate to at least one of the characters in some way. I enjoyed this anime a lot and I recommend it to anyone that likes other anime's within this genre. It's a funny anime with a great ending that won't leave you disappointed. Overall I give it a 9.

First, I would like to mention that a score of five on my scale means 'average' and not 'awful - don't watch ever!!!'. Many comedies rely on characters' stupidity or misfortunes, raised to absurd levels, to produce the comic effect. Since I don't like these approaches, and don't find those things funny, I tend to stay away from comedies. Since SA characters were supposed to be extra smart, extra fast, extra strong, etc, I hoped this show would have a different approach to comedy - otherwise why the hell make the characters like that. It turned out that the only reason the characters are like that is to explain the rivalry between Kei and Hikari. True, this rivalry is important, however, considering the characters are only supposed to be smart, but their actions are generally stupid, except Yahiro and maybe Takishima's, the rivalry point also falls apart somehow. I have to admit, the characters are as strong as (actually, a lot stronger than) they are supposed to be, but this is also overused. So while they are presented as extraordinary, most of the characters are typical and their actions are more or less clichéd. They have their good moments, though, so I would class them as average (5) This paragraph will mention a little about the romance. It will include some spoilers. To mask them, so that you wouldn't accidentally read them, I will put them in {brackers} and insert some letters 'u' randomly. I have to say, the story is worse than typical {tuhue cuhuauraucutueurs fuaull in luouvue, tuhuueuy stubbornly duouunuuu't cuouunuufueusuus tuhueuir feueuluiunugus until tuhue uvueuruy ueunudu, aunud tuhuis cuauuusueus puruoubulueumus bueutuwueueun them; what's more, this happens nuout ounuluy fuour ounue, but fuour tuwuo of the cuouuupulueus in the show}. For a typical romance story to be good, you need good characters. Since in our case they are average, the story would be average at best. Unfortunately, this story is worse than typical, and with average characters driving it, I have to rate it below average - at most 4. It's execution was funny enough to deserve a 4, though. I won't comment the art and sound much, as I don't usually pay them special attention. They weren't annoying and did a good job setting the mood, which I find a good enough achievement to rate at least 7, but never impressed me, so not good enough for an 8. Overall, this is an average show - enjoyable if you have nothing better to do and not dull enough to drop, but nothing more than that. I wouldn't advice you against watching it if you like romantic comedies, but I wouldn't recommend it either.

To me, it was just the greatest anime i have watched so far. Its romantic & kind of prince like. I loved this anime, it was so interesting how the story was abnormal, but at the same time it was normal too. It just makes you want to keep watching and watching until your already done! [that happened to me obviously=P]

I like Hikari a lot. Hikari is a high-school teenager who is in permanent competition with Kei, a boy whom she had known since their childhood. I repeat myself: I like Hikari a lot because of her fired-up spirit; she is a very energetic person, who wants to develop, to improve herself and her way of testing her evolution is to compete with Kei. It is so amusing to me to see what kind of challenges Hikari invents so that she could measure up with Kei: Who does get the greater grades? Who can run faster? Who can jump higher? The answer is the same for all questions: Kei. So, Hikari is the permanent “Miss Rank Two “. But still, Hikari doesn’t lose hope; every time she seems to be more motivated to achieve what she wants. Hikari herself admits that if Kei succeeds by only trying once, she will succeed by hard work. What I find admirable in Hikari’s character is her noble personality: she is very kind, very polite; even though she is in the elite class of her school, she doesn’t look down on anyone from other classes. She treats everyone equally, she tries to be of use as much as she can and she helps every person that calls for her. She is pure, and maybe this innocence of her can be confused sometimes with stupidity. But still, she gives the world a magnificent view: full of life and happiness. Because the world can be seen different through her eyes, Kei falls for her. He, an introverted guy, with many international prizes won at a very young age, he, a boy who supports his family’s business, he, a teenager who is top 1 in his school, feels that something in his heart trembles. He realizes that he wants Hikari to be safe; that’s why he helps her no matter what. At the beginning, Kei hided pretty well his feelings for Hikari: always annoying her because she was always the loser of their challenges; but Kei, opened up to Hikari. Although he received a delayed response from Hikari, Kei was happy because the girl felt the same way for him. I like this story; it’s so pure, funny and deep. The good part is that this show has more than my review reveals. So, watch Special A Class. It is an anime that deserves your attention.

They say that you can't judge a book by its cover. Although I think that hardly relates to the matter at hand (ie: watching an anime series), in some ways I was surprised to find that the principle still works. Unlike many other series I've seen, I felt this strong aversion to the anime having already read the manga and been satisfied with it. When I started watching the series, for the first time ever, I actually wanted to drop it rather than to continue watch the panel zoom to Kei's face as his eyes widen when he gets "caught off guard" by Hikari's comments 7+ times every episode and then see that trippy white-with-glowing-colored-lights-background at each romantic moment. Way to ruin what I thought was a great manga. - - - STORY AND CHARACTERS: Okay, my comments so far haven't been very favorable for this anime, but I don't think here is the place it gets better. I was disappointed in the anime particularly in the earlier storyline because I felt that it cut most of the points which I found made this series so much better than the rest. The manga depicted Kei as a cool and collected guy who is prepared for anything (mostly to appeal to those bishonen lovers out there who like that "distant" feel... but whatever) yet if he's really like that, why is it that he's caught off-guard by every stupid remark Hikari makes that seems mildly intelligent? Wait, moreover, why are all of Hikari's comments so dumbed down in the first place? Like Kei's character, I feel that Hikari's character changed from what it was in the manga as well. At least in the manga she seemed to be a "rival" to Kei. She could stand up for herself more often and didn't end up blushing and crying for every little thing. The anime depicted her as much more of the typical good-for-nothing-but-talking female lead. It was mainly due to Hikari and Kei's personalities that annoyed me enough to consider dropping the series. In the end though, I decided to go through with it and simply skip those long, boring and very pointless staring contests that Hikari and Kei seemed to enjoy having. I figured it would be pitiful and I would get tired of skipping over half the episode in this way eventually. To my surprise (yes, I was surprised though I'm sure you who reads this review won't be) the episodes really did get better. It spent more time focusing on the rest of the Special A members (even elaborating on things that weren't covered in the manga) rather than on the main couple which I found a refreshing change. In the latter half of the series I found it much more difficult to skip any scenes because they were all pretty good. ART: Now that my long rant about the storyline is over, time to revert to my minor comments. The art seemed quite good to me. Although I'm no pro, I prefer anime art styles such as this one which involves simple yet defined colors to distinguish the characters from the backgrounds. At first the extremely long figures annoyed me (and greatly reminded me of CLAMP's work, Tsubasa Chronicles) but as time went on I think I adjusted to it. SOUND: Again, I'm no expert with sound but I found it to be pretty good. I liked the opening and ending songs and (with the exception of maybe Kei) I found that the voice actor choices fit the characters pretty well. - - - All in all, I think that this anime is worth being recommended to watch. It's not perfect, but perfection is quite difficult to come by anyways. If you do watch this anime I recommend doing as I did and skipping through the pointless scenes if you lose interest because the later episodes ARE worth watching. This is late to be saying this but, of course, this is a shoujo anime with a mix of romance and comedy so I recommend it for those interested in that. The setup of the storyline made me relate this anime to other manga such as Hana Yori Dango, Hana ni Arashi, Kaichou wa Maid-sama and such, so if you liked those it may be worth a try. I think that's about it then. Enjoy~

You'll get a good laugh of this anime, and it also has a romantic touch to it's story. All in all - it is definetly worth watching if you like those typical school life/romance anime series.

This anime is so cute and always makes my day, its one of my favorites. A funny anime that u wish u were a part of... Its about a girl named Hikari and when she was young her dad has been training her to become a professional wrestler,(he love watching wresteling) so far Hikari has never been beaten by anyone until she meet a boy named Takamashi Kei her dad's best friend's son. After beating her in a match she tries to beat Kei in everything she does inculding transfering to his school and becoming part of Special A a group of the top 7 students in the school It is all about the things she tries to do to beat Kei. A hilarious anime with lovable characters, Special A is one anime you'll want to watch again and again.

This will always be the best comedy/romance high school anime to me. Too often in a romance/comedy anime the side characters are pushed to the side as a mere after thought........and are just as significant to the story as minoru in boko no hero. THANKFULLY, that is not the case here. Each character in this anime has their own journey and it's fun to watch. Even certain characters who seem like an "antagonist" ends up being a character that is worth watching for his own growth. I enjoy all the romantic couplings, and I'm going to say that my favorite of which isn't even the main guy/girl..........it's Akira and Tadishi.

So this is an update after rewatching the anime. The first time I watched it I was 14 and at that time I thought this was such an amazing anime and you know I was a girl in love with shoujo-ai stories. I had watched Kaichu wa maid sama and Ouran High-school. But after rewatching Special A at 20 yrs I realised how lacking the whole anime is. It's a huge cliche and has no uniqueness to it. The plot is repetitive and it's obsessed with portraying Hikari in the best light and make her deal with things that would be naturally annoying. It doesn't fit because she's like part tsundere/ super friendly + kind/ super strong + independent/ extremely competitive/ damsel in distress - It's like they blended a bunch of characteristics that don't even blend well nor make sense and was like yup think that's all. Her character has 0 development and that was what irritated me the most. There is a part of the anime where she is being blatantly shown the discrepancy between her Kei but instead of recognising this and I don't know feeling inferior and then developing her emotions and stuff she continues with the notion "he's my rival". Because of that, she was challenged to prove she was a worthy rival to Kei but when she failed she then proceeds to call out his name in fear because she doesn't want to lose to anyone but him and then he comes and saves her. Like I don't understand? Is her character is she a crybaby damsel in distress or is she a tough girl rival that's she's portrayed in the beginning - it's like the writers couldn't make up their mind on her character. Honestly, I would have probably liked the anime if she got some development, realised her feelings or idk actually became emotionally and mentally mature but even after 24 eps her whole character stays the same and it's boring. The plot was overly dramatic and unrealistic and even though Ouran High school is overly unrealistic as well it doesn't have the same copy and paste story plot or plain character development or rather lack of development like Special A. The plot is an endless myriad of Hikari haters who inevitably like her by the end of it due to her stubborn nature etc. etc and her being saved by Kei time again even though she's meant to be a strong independent woman style character? I know a lot more animes that would have been better deserving of 24 eps - SA definitely did not need that many. In conclusion - Basically, if you want a shouju-ai filler this is a good anime if you are watching it to immerse yourself I don't recommend it unless you are okay with no character development and a repetitive plotline that's extremely contradictory.

Whelp. All I have to say is 'wow'. I'm not really a shojo fan, to say the least. I don't particularly like anime that centers purely around romance without any other plot, and I usually despise shojo heroines because they're dumb and innocent and blush too much and are so starstruck I just can't deal with them. I prefer action heroines who kick ass, after all. I think I found myself a new Ouran High School Host Club in Special A. Ouran is one of my favorite animes of all time, mostly because of the characters and group dynamic, which I found in Special A: and it made me really, really happy with the structure of the show. The plot is interesting, with the arcs never taking more than two-three episodes before quickly moving on to maintain interest. The arcs don't fade into nothingness either-- instead, they sit on the backburner and show up later to create more fun plot twists. The story deals with teenage love, friendship, protective and overprotectiveness, friendly competition, jealousy, and family problems all in one. The characters are fresh and interesting, with interesting dynamics between all of them. Each of them has special talents and traits that makes them unique and fun to watch. All in all, I enjoyed this anime much more than I should've, and I'll definetly be recommending it to other people and reading the manga as well!

Just a 1 time watch. Dont expect too much from this series. u r way better watching 'Kaichowa maid sama' or 'toradora'. this is too stereotypical n kinda bores u with the same stuff. A romantic relation should develop as a series progresses but that's completely lacking here. after watching a few episodes, u kinda get bored seeing hikari's acting. so move on to some other anime if u can. The only god thing in this anime that i can say was the characters. all their story was what kept me pushing to finish off this anime. the humor level is ok though. if it was crappy, i would long ago deleted the series (like before 5 episodes). and the story is pretty childish too. its has a feel free go along with it flow, so if u dont like it, it does nothing to convince u. if u felt a particular episode to be boring, no assurance that the next oe will be good. that's how it is or we can say that's how the story progresses. hope u found my review helpful XD

This is primarily going to be a deliberate rant about how much I hated the Special A dub, and this is coming from someone who only watches dubs. The anime is fine by its own right, so I'm not gonna delve too deep into any elements other than the voice acting. I'm just gonna briefly rate the other elements, and that's it. ---------- Sound: 0 I have several problems with this dub. The first being Andrew Love, a voice actor that specializes in deep voices is the voice of Tadashi. Oh, hell no. There's plenty of other voice actors in the Houston area that could fit the bill. Like Adam/Scott Gibbs, for instance. The second is the sheer fact that Brittney Karbowski and Shelley Calene-Black are used for practically every single female extra. You should never cast two voice actresses with highly distinct voices to play as extras. It's extremely grating to hear the same voice over and over again. There's no variety, texture or taste in that at all. Thirdly, Clint Bickham is cast as Sui, Hajime AND Satoru. Multicasting is not a problem if the voice actor could differentiate their performances to make them sound distinct, but this? God no. Clint barely sounded different with these three roles; it's even worse with Sui and Satoru because they're father and son. Fourthly, going back to Brittney, not only is she practically cast as every female extra, but her performance of Chitose was absolutely HORRENDOUS! It is, quite honestly, the WORST attempt at a male kid voice performed by a female. Hell, Brittney's male roles in other dubs (Black Star in Soul Eater, for instance) are kind of bad, too. The thing is, Brittney's voice just isn't suited for male roles, kid or teen. Doesn't help that one of the male teen extras (He's one of Hajime's lackeys, if I recall correctly) was voiced by Britteny as well, and honestly? It sounds like a female trying too hard to sound like a male. If anything, it sounded like an older woman more than anything else. ----------------- Story: 7 Art: 7 Character: 7 Enjoyment: 1 Overall: 4 ------------------- Conclusion: Special A is a good anime if it had better voice acting; something it obviously doesn't have. While the acting is fine, the horrendous casting choices mentioned above makes it impossible for me to rate it higher than a 0. Special A is one of Sentai Filmworks's worst dubs. Only reason why I finished the dub is because I'd rather understand the context by ear than read subtitles. That, and I don't like the Japanese language. Either way, I won't recommend the dub to anyone that's new to the show. If you're ok with subs, it's better to just watch it subbed.

A ranking system, based on grades. The top 7 get treated elegantly and specially, now who would want that? Well, I do, because that would motivate me to actually study. Story: 7/10 Special A is the type of anime that doesn't have a lot of story. It starts off really slow, but picks up its pace and goes full speed at the end. I know some people are thinking, "Wow, that sounds boring" but you're half right, half wrong. The main aspect that I liked about this anime is the romance side. It's very sweet and light hearted, and a lot of relationships build up in this anime. The comedy was mediocre, as there weren't a lot of jokes. The funniest part I would say about this anime is Megumi's facial expressions and what she says on her sketchbooks. Art: 6/10 The art was somewhat decent and the first time I saw the anime, I thought that this anime was produced around 2006-7. The colors in the anime are actually nice, and the animation was somewhat ok. Sound: 7/10 Since it's a 24 episode anime, there's bound to be at least 2/3 OP and ED. In my opinion, I liked the 2nd OP the most. No idea why, but I thought it fit the anime nicely. To me, the first OP sounded like it was sung by someone who just woke up and had no desire to sing. The first ED was above average, as it fits the role of being the ED. Character: 9/10 Each character in the anime is very unique and fit their own roles. Kei Takashima, the most talented man in the anime owns the Takishima Group. He's very wealthy, athletic and good looking. He's also very hard-working, kind and always thinks mostly of Hikari and sometimes the other SA members about their safety. 1st in SA. Hikari Hanazono, the average girl and the only one who isn't rich in the SA group. Hard-working and always wants to see everyone smile and not be sad. Though, I hate the type of people who would pry into everyone's issues. Very athletic and smart. 2nd in SA. Jun Yamamoto, a very quiet and anti-social person. He does not like to be with any girls except for his twin sister. 3rd in SA. Megumi Yamamoto, a girl who barely talks in the anime and uses a sketchbook to communicate with others. In my opinion, my favorite character in the anime. She has funny facial expressions and what she writes on her sketchbooks can sometimes be funny too. 4th in SA. Tadashi Karino, the idiot of the anime. Of course, when the character is voiced by Shimono Hiro, you automatically think the character is a massive idiot. He likes to eat food and is very dense romantically. Though, he can be helpful sometimes. 5th in SA. Akira Toudou, the cook in SA and likes to hit Tadashi whenever he does something that annoys Akira or goes with other girls. Of course, she's a tsundere. She's obsessed with Hikari, a lot. 6th in SA. Ryu Tsuji, the animal-loving freak in the anime. Though, he can be very calm and he is basically a father-figure to Megumi and Jun. He cooks for them, cares for them and does anything a father can do for their child. He also has a fighting nature, but in a violent way. 7th in SA. Enjoyment: 8/10 Even though I put the anime on hold for nearly half a year, after coming back to it, I actually enjoyed it. The comedy and romance, they both fit together in the anime. I would find myself skipping to parts of the episode if it gets too boring. Overall: 7/10 A light-hearted, somewhat funny anime. Hikari and Kei resemble both Usui and Misaki in the anime Kaichou-wa Maid-sama! in my opinion. Would I re-watch this anime? Maybe not.

I should state that I gave nearly all 10s but my overall score came in at a solid 9. This anime is as close as I can remember to having a Happily Ever After for all the right characters (I was a bit sad for the whole Yahiro/Akira situation but even that was nicely solved by the end). The story revolves around the top 7 students in a super elite school and their relationships, friendship and otherwise, with each other. BUT what really kept me coming back for more was the fact that the girls kicked but, literally! No shyness here! Even still, the guys that fell for them were perfectly matched too (and no matter the relationship the guys figures out that he's in love first). The anime starts off nice and light, throw in a few cringe-worthy moments of embarrassment, a whole lot of heart and a bit of a tragic past for each character and you have it all! not sure why I can't seem to give this a perfect 10, but it was dang near close. Watch it, you won't regret it.