Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, known in Japanese asSaenai Heroine no Sodatekata[Jp. 1] and the short formSaekano,[Jp. 2][3] is a Japaneseromantic comedylight novel series written by Fumiaki Maruto, with illustrations by Kurehito Misaki.Fujimi Shobo published thirteen volumes between July 2012 and October 2017 under theirFujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint. The story follows high school studentTomoya Aki, who recruits a trio of beautiful girls to help him develop avisual novel and sell it at theComiket convention.
Saekano has received amanga adaptation in addition to three spin-off manga adaptations. Ananime television series adaptation byA-1 Pictures aired from January 9 to March 27, 2015, onFuji TV'snoitamina block, which has been licensed byAniplex of America. A second season aired from April 6 to June 23, 2017, and was streamed exclusively onAmazon Prime Video. A visual novel based on the anime, titledSaenai Heroine no Sodatekata -Blessing Flowers-, was released on April 30, 2015. An animated film, titledSaekano the Movie: Finale, was produced byCloverWorks and premiered on October 26, 2019.
Tomoya Aki, a male high school teenager who works part-time to fund hisotaku lifestyle (light novels, manga, anime, video games likevisual novels anddating sims, and related merchandise) encounters a beautiful girl one day during spring vacation. A month later, he finds out that the girl is his classmate,Megumi Kato, who is hardly noticeable to her classmates. Hoping to create a visual novel computer game, he turns to school beautiesEriri Spencer Sawamura for designing the art, andUtaha Kasumigaoka for writing the game scenario. Tomoya then recruits Megumi to star as the "heroine" (the main character's love interest) of his game, thus forming the development team "Blessing Software", in which the three most renowned students in the school (Tomoya, Eriri, and Utaha) work on one of the least noticeable (Megumi). The series follows their adventures in developing the game and their plans to sell it at theComiket convention, as well as the emotional entanglements among the team.[4]
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend began as alight novel series written by Fumiaki Maruto,[5] with illustrations provided by Kurehito Misaki.[6] The first light novel volume was published byFujimi Shobo under theirFujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint on July 20, 2012.[7] In the twelfth volume, Maruto announced that the series would end in the thirteenth volume,[8] which was released on October 20, 2017.[9] As of November 2018, thirteen volumes and two short story collections have been published.
Amanga adaptation with art by Takeshi Moriki was serialized from January 9, 2013, to August 9, 2016, in Fujimi Shobo'sshōnen manga magazineMonthly Dragon Age.[10][11] It was collected in eighttankōbon volumes between August 2013 and November 2016.[12] It was published in English by Yen Press between January 2016 and December 2017.[13]
Aspin-off manga titledSaenai Heroine no Sodatekata: Egoistic-Lily[Jp. 3] with art by Niito was serialized from February 4, 2013, to May 2, 2014, inKadokawa Shoten'sseinen manga magazineYoung Ace.[14][15] It has been collected in threetankōbon volumes. Another spin-off manga titledSaenai Heroine no Sodatekata: Koisuru Metronome[Jp. 4] with art by Sabu Musha was serialized from August 24, 2013, to April 25, 2018, inSquare Enix'sseinen manga magazineBig Gangan.[16][17] It has been collected in tentankōbon volumes.[18] A manga adaptation ofSaenai Heroine no Sodatekata: Girls Side was serialized in Fujimi Shobo'sMonthly Dragon Age magazine from September 9, 2016, to June 9, 2017.[11][19] It has been collected in twotankōbon volumes.
Ananime television series adaptation of the light novel series was announced in March 2014 to premiere onFuji TV'sNoitamina block in January 2015.[20] The anime was produced byA-1 Pictures and directed by Kanta Kamei, with scripts written by series creator Fumiaki Maruto, character designs by Tomoaki Takase and music by Hajime Hyakkoku.[21] The opening theme song for the anime was "Kimiiro Signal"[Jp. 5] byLuna Haruna, while the ending theme song was "Colorful."[Jp. 6] byMiku Sawai. The series began airing on January 9, 2015, and finished airing on March 27, 2015, with a total of 13 episodes.[22] The first season has been licensed for North America byAniplex of America.[23]
A second season to the anime series, titledSaekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Flat,[Jp. 7][24] was announced on May 3, 2015,[25] with the main staff and cast returning from the previous season to reprise their roles.[26] It aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina block from April 13, 2017, to June 23, 2017, running for 12 episodes,[27][28] with the web-only episode 0 streamed on April 5, 2017. The opening theme song for the second season is "Stella Breeze"[Jp. 8] by Luna Haruna,[29] while the ending theme song are "Pink Diary"[Jp. 9] for episode 0 to 10 and "Youth Prologue"[Jp. 10] for episode 11, both sung by Moso Calibration.[30] The second season streamed exclusively onAmazon Prime Video.[31]
An anime film was announced at the "Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Fes. flat -glistening moment-" event on December 3, 2017.[32] The film, titledSaekano the Movie: Finale,[Jp. 11] was produced byCloverWorks and directed by Akihisa Shibata, with Kanta Kamei serving as chief director. The rest of the main staff and cast from the anime series returned to reprise their roles. It premiered in Japan on October 26, 2019.[33] The theme song "glory days", was sung by Luna Haruna, with Miku Sawai composing.[34][35]
APlayStation Vitavisual novel based on the anime, titledSaenai Heroine no Sodatekata -Blessing Flowers-,[Jp. 12] was released on April 30, 2015.[36] A limited edition with an original soundtrack CD and a B2-size cloth poster retailed for 8,800 yen (about US$74), a regular edition for 6,800 yen (US$57), and a download edition for 6,000 yen (US$51). The first copies of all editions included a download code for an original custom PS Vita theme. The game utilizesLive2D software, which moves the characters with CGI but retains their two-dimensional look.[37]
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend ranked 10th place on the "Top-Selling Light Novels in Japan by Series" with 227,314 copies sold in the period between November 2014 and May 2015,[38] and later ranked 16th place with 313,744 copies sold between November 2014 and November 2015.[39]
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