ヽ(；´Д｀)ノ

A high achieving and popular girl at school who always seem to fall short as she is unable to get an upper hand against her closest rival cum childhood friend, who turns out be a guy? Sure sounds like shoujo to me! But before I let my prejudice get the better of me, I noticed something. It looks like Ouran, which I enjoyed, it feels like Ouran, and after sitting through the first episode, I may as well call this its spiritual successor. Maybe. Much like the aforementioned series, Special A is yet another take on the school life genre by Gonzo, who’s not failing so far thankfully, although this could be attributed to the fact that the team which did the hugely entertaining Seto no Hanayome is involved. As I don’t dabble with manga of any kind, save a few, I can’t make any comparisons between the anime and the source material, but it’s safe to say that this a good title to catch this season.

Well she ain’t exactly stacked.

Ever since childhood, Hikari Hanazono has always come in second place when competing against the likes of Kei Takishima, be it pro-wrestling(wut) or just plain physical activities to academics. Of course, she doesn’t let it get to her, as she strives even harder to one day drag his pretty boy ass off his divine pedestal. You go girl! Taking their rivalry a step further, Hikari enrolls at Hakusenkan, which is an ultra elite school usually reserved for the rich and powerful. This being shoujo, Hikari’s dad is just an ordinary working person who manages to somehow make ends meet and place his beloved daughter in that prestigious establishment. By virtue of her hardwork and probably innate talents as well, Hikari is ranked second place in the entire school, losing out only to Kei, of course.

Remember what I said about this being Ouran? I’m suddenly getting Shugo Chara vibes as the pair is part of a distinguished group of 7 where only the best performing students are admitted, ranked accordingly to their results, similar to the Guardians from Shugo Chara . Even their outfits differ from that of the ordinary students, turning these bunch into idols of sorts. Every member has their own unique personalties and quirks, although I have to say my favorite of the lot, apart from Hikari, would be Megumi, who’s really quiet, though not in the Rei sort of way, as she seems to be pretty lively, barring her reluctance(?) to talk, communicating with others by writing out her thoughts on a writing pad, like that girl from Shion no Ou. Gee, I wonder if she squeals if you.. Never mind. Well, it turns out that Megumi does actually have the ability to express herself verbally, but it’s not something you’d want to be around when that happens though…

Of course, basking in the limelight and adored by everyone else, there are bound to be some disgruntled students who see the Special A as an eyesore. They even go as far as confronting Hikari and the rest, to sound off their dissatisfaction, when the latter group take time off to organize a recital when they should be studying. Just before things could get ugly, Kei steps in a taunts the troublemakers, comparing them to dogs and they should just enter S.A themselves and beat him fair and square. They take his “advice” to heart, although not in the manner you’d imagine, as they sneak into the staff room to have a peek at the questions from the upcoming exam. Now the question is, what kind of posh school keeps such important and classified data in a little desktop without a password, with virtually no other forms of security? Plotholes aside, they offer Hikari, who caught them in the act, a chance to better Kei at the upcoming assessment by letting her on the questions. Feeling insulted, she tells them off by stating that it’s pointless unless she accomplished it through her own efforts. Pointing out her hypocrisy, they try to put her down by saying that she had never once beaten Kei, and wham, Kei Takashima, tadaima sanjou! He defends Hikari and proceeds to whoop their asses, accompanied by the OP theme which was strangely absent from the beginning of the show. This makes it clear that while Hikari and Kei are rivals, they actually do look up to one another, while hinting at a possible.. no wait, obvious romantic prospects between the two, judging from the Kei’s expressions during that scene and after.

If the first episode is anything to go by, I’ll probably enjoy this gakuen comedy animu as much as I did with Ouran, with my only gripes so far being the occasionally funky art. LONG LIMBS ARE LONG! Loli Hikari was fine but when I gazed my eyes on the grown up version, I thought I was watching some CLAMP anime, with her elongated body parts which sent shivers down my spine, although curiously, it wasn’t so noticeable later on. While I don’t dislike Yuko Goto, I thought she sounded odd as Hikari, though I might just be me thinking that she’s better off doing moe roles like Mikuru or something. Jun Fukuyama on the other hand, sounds as sexy as ever and I almost went “Kyaaa!” when he used his serious tone of voice during the confrontation with the disgruntled bunch in the episode. For a moment, when Kei took off his tie in a fashion that reminded me of Iba Itsuki of Rental Magica removing his eyepatch, although my hopes of him unleashing some sort of secret technique were dashed as I realized this wasn’t that kind of show orz Good show is good, will continue watching.

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