8 bit tackles the ‘first half’ of the Grisaia trilogy. Front Wing should be happy with how things turned out – Grisaia is 8 bit’s sexiest and slickest anime yet.
Important:
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Download Links
Torrent: Nyaa
Series Information
Production Company: 8 bit
Vintage: Fall 2014
Nipple sightings from other 8 bit produced anime:
Infinite Stratos , Infinite Stratos 2 , Walkure Romanze , Absolute Duo
Other notable / recently relevant mainstream anime from 8 bit:
Aquarion Evol , Tokyo Ravens
Notable Seiyuu:
Hiroko Taguchi as Amane Suou
Hiroko Taguchi is also well known for her roles as:
Ai Shimizu as Sachi Komine
Ai Shimizu is also well known for her roles as:
Kaori Mizuhashi as Michiru Matsushima
Kaori Mizuhashi is also well known for her roles as:
Ryouko Tanaka as Yumiko Sakaki
Ryouko Tanaka is also well known for her roles as:
Tomoe Tamiyasu as Makina Irisu
Tomoe Tamiyasu is also well known for her roles as:
Akane Tomonaga as Kazuki Kazami
Akane Tomonaga is also well known for her roles as:
Also featuring:
Thoughts on the anime
I don’t play eroge, and it seems that opinion on this anime changes sharply depending on whether you played the original games or not.
With that said, I thought this was a rock solid anime. Moreso in the craftsmanship department than in the storytelling.
There have been many eroge adapted to anime. Usually, these anime adaptations are unabashed fap fodder, which is just fine considering that the source itself is like an interactive hentai. Grisaia doesn’t stray from this directive either, nor should it.
Every now and then, you’ll see a visionary eroge adaptation that cleverly weaves multiple story arcs together to make for a memorable anime experience. Like when School Days mixed several good and bad ends in the final few episodes in a way that viewers will never forget. Or like how Shuffle! blended the various arcs in a way that stirred the emotions.
I think Grisaia no Kajitsu wanted to be that kind of anime. But ultimately the various eroge arcs never really coalesced and left us with a series that felt episodic and even a bit jumbled. There were some poignant moments for sure (that poor cat!), but they seemed to be forgotten only a few episodes later due to the compartmentalized nature of the anime.
What did impress me about this anime was how it went to great lengths to mimic the eroge experience. There are black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, a format used by most eroge. The characters often take close up poses that are used by eroge characters. And the specials, while lacking intercourse, did a decent job of reenacting some of the more memorable erotic scenes from the games.
There are a couple of recognizable names in the cast, namely the versatile Ai Shimizu and the bratty charmer Kaori Mizuhashi. It kind of blows my mind that Shimizu played the super submissive Sachi, I didn’t recognize her voice at all. She can play just about anything it seems.
The rest of the cast is mostly from the eroge and hentai side of the industry, with a token anime appearance here and there. The most interesting among them is probably Hiroko Taguchi as Amane Suou. I hadn’t realized this, but she had previously played Aki from Aki Sora AND Sora from Yosuga no Sora . Strange but true.
Over the last year we’ve seen some revelations in the ecchi landscape. Prison School seems very likely to end JC Staff’s decade long nipple ban, Production IMS was one of the worst tease-ecchi offenders in the industry before they burst onto the scene with their surprise hit Shinmai Maou no Testament . Those titles may very well change the companies that made them.
In the same way, Grisaia’s success might very well change the way 8 bit views ecchi. Until now, 8 bit had only shown nipples rarely and reluctantly, usually with something at least partially blocking or obfuscating the view. That stance changed a in a big way here, particularly in the specials which left absolutely zero ambiguity about their intentions. Hopefully this trend continues and 8 bit continues their march towards becoming a Xebec-type company.
Thoughts on the fanservice video
This video reminded me a little of the Mirai Nikki project, in that the material blurs the line between serious, disturbing, and erotic material. But if you can get over some of the uncomfortable parts, I think this made for a surprisingly sexy video overall.
I added a “Anything Butt” section this time around. This series was more oshiri obsessed than your usual ecchi series, and some of the sexiest moments were actually butt shots. This section was dedicated to the booty and generally excluded upskirts or ordinary panty shots, rather focusing on instances where the butt or rear end curves were featured prominently. I did include one upskirt and one thigh shot since the context felt appropriate in those specific cases.
I don’t know if this will be a regular thing or not, but when a show goes above and beyond to show their love for the butt, I’ll probably include a special section for it. A show like Shinmai Maou no Testament for example is a pretty good bet to get a section like this down the road.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to obtain a NCOP or NCED. Which is ironic since the BDs had a zillion of them, but strangely none of them were for the main OP or ED, rather they were creditless versions of episode parts that ran into the credits portion. So for that reason I pretty much went without this time. Kind of a minor bummer, as the music in this anime was very good.
Favorite Character
I really wanted to pick Yumiko as she is ridiculously hot, but her personality was mostly a turnoff before redeeming herself at the very end.
Amane Suou feels like the best choice to me. She’s hot, she’s interesting, she’s worldly, she’s even keeled emotionally (even though she has the best excuse not to be), she’s girly in all the good ways and none of the bad. She seems caring and nice.
She also shows her boobs more than any other girl in the show, so bonus points for that.