Seiren (2017)

[セイレン]

Director: Tomoki Kobayashi
Studio: Studio Gokumi, AXsiZ
Starring: Atsushi Tamaru, Ayane Sakura, Shino Shimoji
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
Three alternate tales of romance of a boy who falls for one of the girls close to him.

Impressions:
This is a sequel to Amagami SS, which I hadn't seen until after I finished this series, but if I had, I wouldn't have been surprised at the structure, which three different routes in the vein of a dating sim. On the one hand, this allows us to focus on a single romantic interest, but only four eps doesn't give us a huge amount of time for character development. I suppose the alternative would be a typical harem anime with an unsatisfying conclusion, so maybe this was the best way to go. Kamita is rather lame as a protagonist, but that's fairly typical for the male lead of a Japanese romcom. The romantic interests are more compelling as characters. I particularly liked Tsuneki's mischievous nature, but Miyamae and Kyoko have their charms as well. (It would figure that it's Tsuneki whose route gets the least satisfying ending.) The OP hints at the original plan of having six romantic interests, but if the studio wasn't able to secure a 24-episode season, I'd say it was a better call to give three four-episode arcs instead of six two-episode ones. Better yet would've been a 12-episode arc with both the male and female leads as suitably intriguing characters, but that's not what we got here. While I don't regret watching this, it falls short of a general recommendation. If you're game for more of a omnibus approach to romance, you might want to give this a shot. If you're wanting something more fleshed out, this is going to disappoint. Take it or leave it.

Rating:
50/50