Akebi-chan no Sailor-fuku

One of the best first episodes I've ever seen in a series that basically amounts to people living their lives well. I like watching a good Slice of Life series that allows the audience to get blasted into a comfortable experience. There isn't any grand stakes, even for the genre, since the very objective from our protagonist was achieved around episode two. Hence, the direction reclines more on the aesthetics. The visuals of people enjoying food, observing their friends, dancing, practicing. The core of the series is all about looking at the beauty of life in a place where the city doesn't intrude. There's an emotional core to the story that didn't connect with me, since honestly, the editing had the problem here. The series tried to include this personal connection to the protagonist on the last episodes. It would've been phenomenal if it was introduced way back at the beginning; first scene even. Causing the dissonance between the objective of the series, against what it achieved. It isn't all bad, since again, the aesthetic, atmosphere, and animation worked together to create a thing of its own. The shots of people just looking at the camera, of people posing around doing nice things. As a series, it didn't work all that much for me. However, the feeling I got from watching it kept me slightly engaged. Like a comfort pillow, I felt nicely relaxed while watching something where the end of the world isn't at stake. 6.5/10, I wish they allocated this level of animation to something that could benefit more from it, since this didn't need to go that hard.

Hey Guys! What’s up so today i’m going to be talking about an anime called Akebi chan’s sailor uniform which is a slice of life school anime. So, The story was pretty decent as this is one of those shows that doesn’t of us much on a tight story and it instead focuses more on the characters and their relationships, it also is more focused on showing the viewer different situations with each character and the unique personalities that each character has, this is a story that might give you a nostalgic feeling, now you may be asking why? And how? Well watching this show will honestly remind you of your elementary and middle school days when everything was so carefree, calm and lively. Now, this show is actually a very cute and wholesome show but I still wouldn't recommend watching this around anyone else as it does have a few cultured moments here and there in every episode and the author has really mixed in a lot of fetishy stuff, I guess? As there are a lot of kinda weird moments in which some of these characters are doing something which people with fetishes will like. So, The characters are very nice and lively, they also really do feel like young,clueless and optimistic kids who are new to a lot of things. Each character has a nice and different vibe from the other characters which makes then more noticeable and relatable but also very predictable at times, also while watching this show I honestly got a lot of Yuri vibes from how a lot of the female characters talk with each other sometimes also if you don't know what Yuri is than it means ilesbian/Girls love, also this show has a lot of cultured moments as I said earlier and it has a loli, a cute waifu and a milf! so, if you're a man of culture than you will definitely enjoy watching this show. So, The Art and Animation was absolutely beautiful as the art isn't the best at times but i'm assuming that's because of the art style and the fact that the animators focused more on the animation but the art looks almost as good as something made by kyoto animation and speaking of that the animation of this show is really good at times especially during the first 5 - 6 episodes as it honestly looks like something that kyoto animation would make, I know that I shouldn't really be comparing cloverworks and kyoto animation but well it's true and you can't really change that you know and I also did a review video of my dress up darling which is another show that was made by cloverworks and it looks really good as too. So, The voice acting was actually very average but the voice actors still did a good job with the characters that they were voicing, except a few voice actors who honestly weren't even trying that much and were literally just talking as if they were just scrolling through their feed on Instagram or something. So, Overall I think that this is a nice,lively,oddly nostalgic and a kinda cultured show That I think should be watched especially when you're bored or have some free time that you need to use up.

"But I'm so glad. You really did make friends. That alone... makes me so happy." Akebi's Sailor Uniform is a slice-of-life school anime in its truest form. There's little to no drama, no tragic pasts to be confronted, no bully's to deal with, it's simply a series that follows the coming-of-age story of a teenage girl named Akebi Komichi, starting with her first day of high school. She's a girl who grew up in the sticks, going to a middle school with a headcount of exactly one; just her. Although all through her younger schooling years the only company she had in class was her teacher and at home was her family, she never let this dampen her spirits, and set her sights on two goals; the simpler goal being to one day wear the signature sailor uniform of her Mother's old high school, Roubai Academy, and the larger, more daunting goal of making as many friends as possible once she enters high school. Starting with a fantastic first episode that sets up our image of what kind of person Akebi is, along with one of the greatest cringe-worthy scenes (in an awfully relatable way) I've seen in a long time, the "story" is set in motion. I put story in quotation marks because there really isn't one to speak of, just the average days of high school girls navigating uncharted waters. As we're introduced to our cast, entirely comprised of Akebi's classmates save for a few, it seemed overwhelming at first with the amount of different characters to juggle for a twelve episode series, and while I definitely feel some of them deserved a lot more screen-time, I never felt like any of them lacked characterization or that I was getting lost with who's who. They're all unique enough in terms of appearance and personality that I never found issue placing a name to such a large list of faces, as is common with some of these school-based series that depend on a litany of copy-paste characters to carry scenes. The only drawback of completely avoiding any trite drama or heavy issues is that sometimes they can seem pretty shallow, as series like Natsume's Book of Friends (a personal favourite of mine) have proved you can more than succeed by doing a slice-of-life, easygoing series that also has tragic or even heartbreaking moments, without straying too far from the genre. If anything, it's a slice-of-life, and sometimes life isn't so pretty. What this series opts for instead is much lighter, simpler, and more than anything, relatable issues that undoubtedly everyone at some time in their life, during, before, or even after high school have dealt with to varying degrees. What exactly is my talent? Will I be able to make friends? How can I broaden my horizons? You could push yourself out of your comfort zone to join an interesting club, maybe pick up a new instrument, or even just try honing your craft at something you've done privately all your life, so you can finally announce to the world "This is who I am, and this is what I can do." We see each character deal with these small but sometimes terrifying issues each in their own way, each coming up with their own answers more often than not with the help of their friends around them, and that's where the beauty in this series lies. Three of the episodes I found to be particularly noteworthy for this were episodes six, seven and eleven, but each and every episode stayed true to the core team at work; friendship. You could analyse every other angle or theme of this series but at it's core, it's all about friendship, and it manages to portray each of these individual friendships between every classmate perfectly. The two stars of the show no doubt are Akebi Komichi herself, and the person I'd say is her best friend from the bunch, Kizaki Erika. Akebi's abundance of energy, straightforward honesty, and talents in varying sports make her a gleeful, outgoing, and lovable main character, both for the viewer and the characters around her. Often times with similar main characters I find myself rolling my eyes and thinking "How could they be so universally beloved, both in the series and by the fans?", but this time I can certainly say I'm a fan myself. Erika in contrast is a little more reserved, she's musically talented as oppose to athletically, and seems to be more careful with how she approaches people, unlike how Akebi is always unapologetically herself. This contrast between the two creates a great dynamic and it's always a treat to see them growing ever closer, with episode six in particular being my definite favourite, as it's entirely spent following these two and their budding friendship. Twenty-something minutes of pure sweetness, truly. It's lovely to see too in the later episodes how much they look up to each other, just how highly they think of the other person without ever verbalising it, or noticing the pedestal the other has put them on. It was also really fitting to see the shot of Akebi at the end of episode one giving a polite smile and a "Good morning" to a classmate entering the room, compared to the shot again of Akebi at the end of episode twelve giving an exuberant grin and a "Morning!", showing just how much she's grown in such a short time. The animation, in a word, is fantastic. Tonnes of smooth sequences that I was rewinding again and again, I couldn't get enough of just watching Akebi running to school, or seeing her friends giving it their all during sports practices. The countryside area surrounding her house was just as beautiful as watching her run through it, with shots of rivers and rice-fields leading to cherry blossoms and hill-climbing stairs, I swear some of these shots belong in an art museum. So many face close-ups that had me sat in awe, the level of detail gone into the eyes alone is astounding. The famous Volume 1 manga cover illustration, Akebi mimicking her favourite idol's pose, that occurs in episode two gave me a genuine shiver. I quickly became a big fan of the character design, with the slender figures and bulbous eyes being very visually appealing, and especially when they do their hyper-realistic zoom shots they really spill their budget on making the girls look as pretty as possible. Between their eyes glistening like huge jewels, and their hair looking so natural, as layered and detailed as possible, beautiful is the only word I could use to describe such frames. Also, I'd never have thought that I'd be saying a scene where a girl clips her toes nails then sniffs the clippers was fantastic both in execution and animation, but I can't lie. Yeah. Which leads me to the borderline fan-service-y side of this series. Including that scene, there are a number of instances with questionable content, such as multiple bath scenes, or Akebi asking for and receiving leg pics from a friend (a woman of culture I see), and by the halfway point, all I could think was "This is the most yuri non-yuri series ever", and was wondering was it going to go in that direction, but it never crosses that line, nor does it venture into ecchi territory or feel like its trying to push a different kind of agenda. I guess it is, after all, based on a Seinen manga even if it appears as Shoujo as they come. As for sound, I found the majority of the cast to be well voiced, like how Akebi always had a great energy and enthusiasm or how Kamimoku always sounded half asleep, as they should, and the background music served each scene well. I wasn't in love with the OP but I do think it was a fitting song choice for this kind of series, and the visuals were a perfect collage of memories these girls are making with each other each day. The ED on the other hand was the opposite, while it was a simple collection of almost entirely still images that could've been a bit more spruced up, the song itself was lovely. All in all, I keep using the same word, but it's the one that I keep coming back to; what a lovely series. It managed to catch me out more than once by keeping things consistently cutesy, only to hit me with a tot…

Akebi's Sailor Uniform's a coming of age, slice-of-life anime - a genre that I generally don't watch. I'm not sure how much in the way of high points this has, versus other coming of age series, but it still managed to keep my attention with it's fun, light feel. Story & Characters: Akebi's Sailor Uniform starts us out with Komichi Akebi, who is to start her new school life at Roubai Academy. After being accepted, Komichi gets super hyped up when her mother mentions that she also went there as a kid, and they wore sailor uniforms. However, before the school year begins, they find out that, at some point between then and now, the dress code was changed to be a blazer and skirt. Empathizing with the Akebis, the principal makes an exception, allowing Komichi to wear the uniform that her mother handmade for her. After the intro, Komichi Akebi starts her new school life and she makes it a point to make as many friends as possible. At its core, this series is all about Akebi's new academy life and the friends she makes along the way. This should not be confused with a drama or romance series, as many in the school genre tend to have small snippets of those, so you need to keep your expectations realistic when watching. That being said, following around Akebi is a fun experience. She's extremely athletic and basically burns through energy at all hours of the day. Her cheery, upbeat attitude attracts the attention of many of the students, and if they don't immediately approve of her, she is quick to see how she can get on their good side. This contrasts quite nicely to the fact that she basically lives in the middle of nowhere where it might be expected she be much more withdrawn. One of Akebi's best friends winds up being Erika Kizaki, a student from her class with a strange habit, that Akebi doesn't necessarily find strange in itself, but more curious about it, more than anything else. Kizaki ends up being in pretty much every episode and even though she isn't even close to how Akebi is as a person, the two have fantastic chemistry with each other. This gets further exemplified in a few episodes where they're simply magical together. Usugihara and Kojou are two other characters that are present in a few episodes, with interesting hobbies that Akebi seeks to take an interest in. While the interactions are amusing, Akebi's take on everyone's hobbies does feel the same once you see it a handful of times. It'd be nice if there was a little more of a mix up, even if the series wants to keep the light hearted tone throughout the runtime. One of the things with the characters is that there are a lot of them. In twelve episodes, most of them introduce a new character, and especially when the bulk of them are academy students, it's a bit of a chore to keep track of who is who, and what they each like. It's not super problematic if you don't remember them all because you basically only view their hobby or short story snippet, and be done with them, but it is a layer of the characters that could be difficult to retain over time - especially if you watched this one week at a time. The story itself doesn't necessarily evolve over time, which was sort of my problem with it. Apart from the first and last episode, it doesn't feel like it flows particularly well. We just watch our new characters, one at a time, and we move on with the next one. However, episodes are still a lot of fun and I rarely found myself bored with the stories within. I do appreciate the last episode because it does show all our characters in a "this is the ending, this show features all of these people" type of deal. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if this got another season - though not confirmed at this point. (Story: 7/10, Characters 7/10) Art: I can't particularly say that I was a fan of the art style on this one. There was clearly a large amount of effort that went into the shine and polish of certain scenes, but there were a lot that simply looked off, or less detailed. At it's peak, it's great, but otherwise, I wouldn't say I was particularly moved by how it looked. (6/10) Sound: The music matches the fun feeling that this series gives off, including both the OP and ED. Voice work all around was also solid, between Megan Shipman (Akabi), Suzie Yeung (Kizaki) and Brittney Karbowski (Ookuma). Tia Ballard (Kao Akebi) was also solid in her small role, using a voice range I haven't heard of her before. (8/10) Overall Enjoyment: Akebi's Sailor Uniform was a fun watch, assuming you keep your expectations grounded a little bit. This is purely a coming of age tale, and audiences should expect that. While nothing mind-blowing happens during the course of the twelve episodes, it was never so dull that I believe it would bore audiences. I'd watch it again if another season aired. (7/10)

I've read parts of the manga when it first came out and didn't get to follow thru with it. I was surprised to see the news about the adaptation. Story: If you have no interest in slice of life, this anime may not be for you because it takes it time in many aspects. From the characters to its scenarios, it values each of them, giving us episodic moments, with different experiences/quirks. There's lots to love and there's also a lot of things that aren't to a certain degree, very interesting. It's good enough to hold one's interest but not so much as to care for it very much. Art: This anime is definitely the most cinematic and scenic I've seen from Cloverworks and I know that they've done a lovelier job with Wonder Egg Priority but I have yet to see it so. I love the colors and the backgrounds a whole lot. Everything seems rendered with plenty of care. I think the character designs are a hit or miss tho. I know it has to do with the character design from the manga but there's something a little disproportionate or unusual with the way some characters are drawn. Also their side angles are a little weird. Overall tho, when it tends to focus on a specific character, they do a good job of highlighting. Character: I actually really like the character and dynamics here although in the beginning I failed to really see much of an appeal with Akebi-chan. She felt too good to be true but when Usagihara pointed out that Akebi seemed like a perfect person and surprised she had shortcomings too, that kind of brought her character into a much more realistic standard for me although i really have not met anyone like Akebi in my life and if I'm going with personal feelings about it, I'd say that I'd grow tired with that kind of bright energy lmao. She's good in certain doses but not every time that's why I like when other characters catch my attention. While the episodes tend to highlight specific characters and how they affect Akebi or how she affects them, I think I enjoyed the episodes that involve a bigger crew which is why I liked the school festival preparation a lot or when Akebi was interacting with her original lunch buddies or the cheer squad. While the perspective is wider, I don't think it diverts from it being interesting really. If anything, the episodes where she spends with only one character, bored me. Enjoyment: speaking of boring, while I loved plenty of parts of this anime, I also found it a little underwhelming and I've had a fair share of love for many many slice of life anime. I think it's just the overall tone of it. Perhaps because other than Akebi, most of the characters actually feel like real people so unless they're put into amusing situations, they're just there really. I dunno if that made sense. Many people are comparing it to K-On because tonally, they do have the same frequencies and the moe standard is quite strong in this as well but what makes K-On to me a more enjoyable experience is that they put a lot of effort into making a dynamic between those 5 girls and circled others into the mix so you have plenty of things to riff off of and the situations they are put in in their daily lives still feel realistic but more comedic and fun to watch. Akebi-chan's whole mood relies heavily on making it more realistic I feel and I often enjoy my slice of life with a bit of unrealistic standards. I think that's why it's called slice and not the entire thing about life itself. While Akebi as a character feels like the unrealistic standard, it still feels to grounded in it. I suppose take Tamako Market and the existence of that bird. I love that anime so much but it had romance & slice of life. I think just one thing that feels like it can set it apart that's actually interesting makes a slice of life anime fun for me. Overall: I still do think that if you want to unwind, it's a good anime to have on the background if you understand Japanese or if you just want to relax at the end of the day and not have much to think about but just cute girls with cute friendships. I don't want to dive into the conversation that I saw after I finished the anime because it seems to ne a whole lot of things that feel too unfortunate and honestly the while fetishizing aspect of it was the last thing in my mind when I was watching it but if you want to look into that conversation before watching it, you are all welcome to look into it.

This show is so much more than the synopsis says. All the girls (and there's quite a few) are very sweet characters, each with distinct personalities that play off each other and akebi-chan very well. The character designs and soft color palettes along with the beautiful painty-styled still shots are a joy to watch. Some people have been put off but the faces and eyes looking a bit weird and stretched in many scenes but I like the way everyone looks, it's leagues better than all the girls looking same-faced like many other anime. There are no narrative stakes in this show, its a very simple story of a girls befriending all the other girls in her class. there are no conflicts as every character is nice and sweet and I like that! Great show if you just wanna watch cute girls do cute things and be nice to each other and be super sugary-sweet for 12 episodes

Akebi-chan is a show ostensibly about a girl and her desire to wear a serafuku in school. In reality it's more of a showcase of the author's thinly veiled fetishes all portrayed in exquisite detail, from something as simple to the form factor of a serafuku, to something as strange as sniffing nails. Despite this, Akebi-chan never really comes across as being perverted or a show for perverts. Rather, there is a genuine innocence surrounding the whole show and its cast, a more whimsical longing of a time long past or a genuine appreciation for school life. Cloverworks brings this to life with their exquisite eye for detail (and overwork) with every action meticulously depicted in a stylish fashion. Combined with a soft color palette, Akebi-chan is very easy on the eyes. The show spotlights different characters in each episode, with some given more love than others. Shout-out to Hebimori's episode being the best of the bunch despite not featuring Akebi in any meaningful capacity beyond an appearance in the beginning and the end. That episode had it all: A great character arc, a good microcosm of the whole show's premise, and with some good music to boot. Other episodes are no slouch either. Although, unfortunately you still do have characters with little to no screentime at all, such as Hotaru. All in all, Akebi-chan is a fun, pleasant watch. It's more iyashikei than anything, and it airing on Saturdays did mean that any stresses from work built up on Fridays can be washed away. It may all be the author showcasing his fetishes, but you can't argue that it doesn't put your mind at ease. 7/10