Dec 30, 2024

Hidamari Sketch is an anime that focuses around the high schoolers daily activities around the Hidamari Apartments.

The anime starts off very rough, and I did drop the anime after 4 minutes and took me more than a month to get back to. The first season is what I would call an animated magazine, with realistic objects often blending in the highly cartoonish with polka dots background often lingering around the anime, so what makes the anime special to the point it has 60 episodes counting the OVAs/Specials?

The characters are very distinct and entertaining to watch without being overbearing and one dimensional, with Yuno being the...seemingly innocent one but still has grit, Miyako a boorish airheaded and goofy neighbor/classmate that is still kind and considerate of others, Sae the seemingly mature and working senior with flaws when it comes to caring for herself, and Hiro the mother figure of the 4 that has plenty insecurities of her own alongside the side characters of Yoshinoya-Sensei the perverted teacher that genuinely cares for her students and many others.

Purely talking about the first season, while the art overall is rough and feels very experimental it still has great qualities when it comes to background OSTs that are used for multiple seasons and wonderful VA performance with the comedy in it either being amusing or just hilarious.

I wrote this review with the other seasons in mind, I did finish the series a week ago and it is for me the best SoL that revolves around realistic scenarios with the manga still having a very similar feel to the anime since Ume Aoki is involved in both anime and manga. It seems like an excuse but the anime does get better after this season, MUCH better on all aspects including writing and art direction(no more mixing realistic objects and background characters have detail now), and mainly the animation where it gets a huge upgrade that it could rival nichijou a bit.

It also has some fan service moments where they are often nude in them but I'm surprised how tame and innocent they feel so huge props to the studio.

Overall it's a very fantastic series, the first season is potatoes compared to season 2 and onwards but with 3 seasons and 10 specials it makes up for the quality that it lacked. It's unfortunate how underrated the series is despite being made by a well-known studio with the amount of content that it has, it's definitely a golden standard in the SoL genre.

I'm giving this season a 7.6/10, the characters and overall direction make up for the quality of the first season and I'm glad the final few episodes of season 1 and onwards to the final season the anime is given great care and proper treatment up until the end. Highly recommended if you enjoy any SoL content in general because it is simply a fantastic series with mostly lighthearted moments and some touching ones.

Reviewer’s Rating:8

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Nov 25, 2024

I definitely did go into this series with high-ish expectations because I’m a fan of the genre. And there is definitely a lot of potential on display in this series, especially in the first episode with a great cast of characters that I can look forward to watching them grow. But where this anime fails to fulfill that potential with animation that is incomplete at best and pretty psychedelic so the visual look of the show isn’t very good.
I’m still going to carry on because I’m hoping that it gets better but it definitely got off to a rough start.

Reviewer’s Rating:4

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Mar 28, 2013

Hidamari Sketch definitely fills the role, "A Splice of Life." With four girls hanging out as friends for life, this anime creates a relaxing atmosphere where one can just settle down and enjoy watching the dasy which our main characters live through.

I'd like to give a thorough review which allows the readers of my reviews to decide whether they want to watch this anime or not, but unfortunately, I will have to be rather bias for this particular anime.

Story - 3. As an anime of "A Splice of Life," nothing particular happens within this series. In fact, so much so that there really is no...Build Up, Climax, then Falling Action like the series I'm much more adapted to watching. There is no plot, just four girls going through ordinary lives as they attempt to make it through Art School.

Art - 1. The drawings of the characters themselves are rather well proportioned, and definitely brings out the term, "individualism." However, the animation aspect efficiently lacks any effort in work. Each episode consists mostly of text or isolated animation objects in order to avoid actually animated the full scene.

Sound - 1. The music felt misplaced, and quite a bit of "dead air" was introduced during the course of this anime. Dead air tends to make the moments animated rather stale and bland to watch.

Character - 7. For a splice of life, these characters definitely fit the bill, and the voices certainly play out their parts. I've no complaints here.

Enjoyment - 1. I have learned that I cannot handle animes dwelling in the field, "A Splice of Life." While others may enjoy it, I live to find animes where plots develop and characters continue to "fight." This genre of anime does not fit that bill, because the random events leading towards no climax drove me nuts to the very end.

Overall - 3. That's the average. I've never rated an anime so low before, but there you have it, my bias review to those who don't know what they're getting into. I've never felt the need to drop an anime so badly in my life. It may be a rather entertaining anime for those who don't hope for a plotline, but I certainly could not handle it.

Reviewer’s Rating:3

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