Saekano -How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend
I usually hate harem anime where the main focus of the plot is the harem itself (NIsekoi, To Love Ru, Infinite Stratos). Usually there has to be some sort of other focus in order for me to enjoy it, like have some sort of action plot to it or be a comedy instead (Seto no Hanayome). Someone recommended this to me, and I really enjoyed it for what it was. It's one of the most one-sided harems I've ever seen, but it was still enjoyable due to the series attempting to break your standard harem cliches.
The plot is about the main character, Tomoya Aki, being a huge otaku and trying to make a dating sim to sell at Winter Comiket. He is driven to make one due to running into a girl who he deems to be the perfect "heroine". They meet due to him catching her runaway hat as it blows downhill with sakura pedals blowing in the background. Later, he finds out that this "perfect heroine" is just the easily overlooked normal girl that's been in his class for two years now. He somehow convinces her to be the model for the main character in the dating sim he's making. They then get a writer, artist, and musician to join their cause, all of which he's have a previous relationship with. Cue harem antics.
The star of the show is the "main" girl, Megumi Koto. She's pinned as pretty much a "normal girl". As the other haremettes are an older "senpai" bombshell who's supposedly perfect in every way, a half-asian blonde (lol) tsundere childhood friend, and a cousin otaku hating "genki" character, Megumi wouldn't normally stand out against these characters. However, it's her deadpan delivery and the fact that she has the best chemistry and dialogue with the main character (who shockingly has a decent personality and isn't a cardboard cutout) that makes here stand out from the other girls who for the most part kinda fall into their respective troupes. While she doesn't have her own arc, she makes up for it by just being a fun character who actively has a role in each arc and not falling into any troupe I've seen.
As for the other girls, they play their role and have their own arcs. The writer and the senpai character, Utaha Kasumigaoka (far right), is convinced to join Tomoya and Megumi's cause after her arc which reveals their past together. Her and MC's past is pretty much him being her number one fan of her novel series (she's a LN writer), and him wanting to say as a fan while she wanted something more. The artist and blonde tsundere character, Eriri Spencer Sawamura, is a hentai artist whose arc revolves around Tomoya supporting another character's doujin and non hers while they are at summer comiket, leading to an argument between the two that is surprisingly well done for what is essentially a "childhood friends break up" plot. And finally, the musician cousin character, Michiru Hyodo (far left), who hates otaku and who has a band. Her arc has Tomoya become her manager and reveal the band's dark secret to her causing her to join their cause.
I didn't really go much into these girls, since other than a few special scenes in their arcs, all of these girls fall into the typical troupes you'd expect from them. I feel that that is the point of their entire characters due to the series constantly reminding you that these 3 girls are fitting into their respective troupes at all times. The show also makes fun of itself for being a harem show. For example, the show has an "episode 0" which take place chronologically after the final episode and has all the girls bathing together with in your face fanservice talking about how generic it is when anime start off with in your face fanservice scenes. The 3 troupe girls are all shown in the buff while "normal girl" Megumi isn't really shown at. It was a little in your face, but I respected that someone like Megumi would be ignored in a situation like that in your standard harem anime and this anime pointed that out.
All and all, I didn't regret watching this show, which is something I can rarely say about harem shows. Megumi and Tomoya's relationship, banter, and chemistry were fun to watch. Reminded me about how Bakemonogatari fans would watch the show for Senjogahara and Araragi's fun banter and chemistry. The other girls were there to fill out the harem checklist, but at least their arcs were fun to go through for the most part, if only for the arcs slightly going against the standard harem arc formulas. The main character has his own personality and while it isn't doesn't stand out as much as some harem protags like Araragi and Hachiman, his does have his own personality which is more than I can say about your standard harem MC. I'm sick of being told "being a nice guy who helps people he cares about" is a personality. Everyone other than sociopaths are nice to the people they care about. It's boring as hell when that's the only "trait" a character has.
If you hate harems, this show honestly won't change your mind, but it's still way better than the standard harem light novel schlock that we get every goddamn season. Even if you end up not liking the show, you'll at least appreciate Megumi Koto's character.
