Review of The Fruit of Grisaia
When looking for light hearted harem animes to watch I came across this one. The review I read said it was a harem with some serious issues being discussed and the idea of a more serious harem with possible interesting character development enticed me enough to have a watch. So how does it stack up to other harem animes and how dark and serious does it really get? Well... - Story & Theme The premise is simple. The protagonist is transferred to a school. It's obvious from the start that he has some baggage and that the school, a huge one with only a few girls asthe students, isn't an ordinary one. As no surprise, then, it is clear that the girls aren't exactly ordinary girls either. The story is less about the protagonist and his background and more about the girls and how the protagonist helps them with their respective baggage. It's fine for a short anime as this one and I'm glad they didn't stretch it out longer or add more girls.
- Characters & Writing
I wouldn't say that the girls are the most unique I've seen, but they do stay away from the obvious tropes. Even the obvious tsundere girl openly admits to being tsundere because that's an archetype she's trying to fill, making it a bit of a parody on other harem stories. But I can't help but feel that the writing and characters are lacking and that more could have been done with them. Especially the protagonist seems like a full on emotionless Gary Stu and not much else. The writing is uninspired and cliché, but not terrible. Some characters give fanservice, but it actually feels pretty natural most of the time and is handled well.
- Graphics & Style
Perhaps it's because it's set in a large school with only a few people in it, but much of the style is empty and boring. It helps a bit with setting a lonely mood that fit with the rest of the show, but it also comes off as lazy. Don't expect anything mindblowing here, the style and animations do what they need to do but not one iota more.
- Bits & Bobs
There are times when the protagonist comes off as an asshole. Sometimes that's just a way of subverting expectations, but sometimes it's because the show is trying to play him off as cool, smart or even caring and the result is a sour taste left behind. After glancing at some of the other reviews it seems like this show was based on a visual novel and that makes it even worse. It's not all the time and it's not by any means as bad, but I get the same sort of vibes here as I did from Redo of Healer, and that's not a good look at all. It can be ignored for the most part though.
- Conclusion
This show is not really a harem and while the story and characters could have been great there is a lot of missed potential here. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants some interesting stories or likes OP main characters doing heroic things. Over all it is a show catering to the male fantasy (so I guess that's the harem aspect they really got right) but only for guys who are misguided about what being a man is about or should be.