Hiiro No Kakera

I had hopes for this series in the beginning. It has pretty artwork, a decent soundtrack, an attractively believable, slightly above average, lead female, and decent initial premise. But then they made me watch 13 terrible episodes of a horribly, uncalled for, drawn out plot that was absolute dribble. To top it off of course, as one might expect of a badly done show, the cherry was an absolutely terrible anticlimactic conclusion. The poor character development and even more poorly developed plot line makes this a really bad series. Pretty faces can not carry a show, I'm sorry, they just can't. I love bishies I really do, that's probably the only reason I gave this show a fair shot. I watched all the episodes, god help me but I did. It's hard to care about characters that only have personality at face value and hardly any back story. It's also hard to like main female character that flips back and forth between having a back bone and being a whimpering helpless pathetic idiot that only takes actual action to learn her "purpose" at the end of the blasted season/series. So yeah, as I suspected I watched this for the bishies and supernatural flavor, oh and because I was just that bored. This series is only worse than Neo Angelique Abyss, which is on the top 5 list of worst reverse harems out there. If you want to watch a good reverse harem with a strong female lead and genuinely likable harem characters I suggest these two series: Saiunkoku Monogatari and Hanasakeru Seishounen. Less likable female lead, but really good plot and great character development: Fushigi Yuugi

I rated this a 1 but there is no .5 so I rounded up. Which I think I might be regretting. How can I say this without glossing it over. The characters were interesting and the whole idea of the story had me hooked. But that is were I draw the line. In my opinion I would have to say that it was confusing and slow at some parts. As that characters progressed I found myself disliking some of their flaws and stupidity. There was no clear explanation for some of the other characters were in the anime too. I hope that there will not be another season. I think that I would have to think really really hard about giving it another chance. Over all I think that I wasted my time to watch this anime and on a whole stack of bibles I would say that I will never watch it again.

I didn't feel like this anime was worth watching past maybe the third episode. However, I'm going to see it through because I kept following it in hopes of it getting better, and now that I've watched the entire first season, I will patiently wait for seasons two to come along so that it may repair all of the damage it did in season 1 (I sincerely hope).

The art is gorgeous, the style suits my tastes, love the colours, beautiful opening song, and cute fan service at the end of every episode with the harem boys. I have to say these are mostly the things that kept me watching "Hiiro no Kakera".

I like reverse harem animes as much as the next shoujo over (one of the main reasons I began to watch this anime), but in my opinion, this is "La Corda d'Oro" all over again. Tamaki shows some inclination towards one or two of her harem but ultimately, she'll probably never pick anyone because that's how it's like in the manga or game or whatever this anime is based off of, and the creators would much rather the audience fantasize about themselves choosing one of the harem or have fans decide by writing their own fanfiction. At any rate, you have your cliche harem characters (i.e. the smart/mature one, the quiet/kind/serious one, seme, uke...), and in these situations I usually gun for the most handsome one with the angstiest story with the main character, but Tamaki is so... underwhelming, that I actually don't want her to end up with anyone, not to mention the guys don't really bring that much to the table themselves. Instead of wasting time on school lunch scenes, I wish the anime delved more into the reverse harem's past so the audience may build more rapport with the characters, instead of us watching them eat, talk about nonsensical things, and getting their butts kicked by the baddies.

During fantasy, reverse harem animes I would expect there to be some tear inducing parts since drama works really well on us shoujos, but I didn't get even a whiff of that from "Hiiro". Instead, each episode made me increasingly more agitated about the way the story was progressing. I didn't understand why the good guys never got stronger, and why even though 10 episodes have passed, that Tamaki cannot awaken as the Tamayori Hime though she had so many resources at her disposal. Not only is she slow on the uptake, but I also don't understand why her grandmother did nothing to help her through the process. I understand that sometimes the main character is forced to make the connection on their own, especially spiritually (i.e. in Avatar, Aang/Korra hit their lowest point before being able to connect to the avatars before them), but this was pretty ridiculous! She hardly suggested anything, and when Tamaki had questions, she refused to see the poor girl! Baffling...

I found myself actually liking Monado/Aria more than Tamaki. I find the soft yuri vibe I get from Aria and Vier more intriguing than Tamaki's connection with any of the Shugogo.

Some people argue that the formula for these fighting/building strength/power animes have the same formula of "fail, fail, fail, win" but this anime goes beyond this formula, in the most horrible way. Not once do you see the good guys overpower the bad by accruing strength and power. In fact, they never gain any power at all. Instead, they get beaten down in EVERY SINGLE ENCOUNTER. And finally, when they have a chance of winning (via Takuma and Tamaki ONLY, not any of the other Shugogo), they let the baddies just walk away before paying them back for all that damage they had done for the last 10 episodes! Honestly, I saw a lot to be had when I first saw the premiere of this anime. If anything I saw romantic potential, but everything just went down the drain by the time I hit episode 9 or so. I am seriously hoping for the second season to redeem the entire anime, because then I would have wasted at least 6 hours of my life watching something that was really worth 1-2 hours of storytelling.

This show sucks. Sucks sucks sucks. You can literally watch the first and last episode and have missed absolutely nothing by skipping everything in between. And the best part? NOTHING HAPPENED! At All. Lame Lame Lame Lame. I can't say it enough. It's the same baseless crap "I'm weak as hell but I'll protect you (with my baseless conjecture)" And the villains? come on. If you can kill you enemy then just freakin do it! This show makes no sense and should've been cancelled before it started.

I Like This Show. Yes The Girl DEFINATELY Needs To Shut Up, Quit Whinning And Get Those Powers Of Hers. I Think She Wont Fully Get Them Till Her Grandma Dies. lol The Guys Are Basically The Same As Other Animes But They Still... I Dont Know... Stick Together Pretty Well. I Wish The Two Shorties Had Different Hair Colors Though. Like One Of Them Had Yellow/Orangeish Hair lol. The Girl... In My Opinion Needs To Calm Down And THINK More. All In All Though It Has AwesomeAction That Keeps You Drawn In. (I Also Hate That The Guys Get A Beatdown EVERYTIME They Encounter The Bad Guys). Anyway Enjoy!^-^

This show is supposed to have 2 seasons (13 episodes each I'm guessing), so this review is just going to cover up to episode 12, which is the farthest I've seen.

I enjoy this series. It has elements that I tend to like. For example, I like reverse harem shows. I like visual novels (of which this show is based on one). I don't mind shows that flow at a leisurely pace. I enjoy pretty character designs. This show should be a winning formula for me, and while it's a pretty enjoyable show for the most part, I find it to have one glaring flaw that I keep hoping with every new episode will be overcome, and that is the main character's constant uselessness.

She is supposed to be this important priestess, yet she constantly fails at realizing her powers. The series is nearly halfway complete, and she has yet to come into these amazing supernatural powers she's supposed to have. As I said earlier, I don't mind shows that take their time, but this just seems excessive. Her lack of growth in this regard makes each episode where a battle occurs just a giant beatdown of her companions, who can't come into their proper powers unless she can gain hers apparently. Watching her whole group repeatedly get the snot beaten out of them while she laments that she can't do anything gets old fairly quickly.

With the midpoint of the series fast approaching, I'm hoping that she will finally get her act together. I know that this series is based on a dating sim visual novel, and it is probably following the same pacing. However, what works for a video game doesn't always work in the context of a 24-26 ep. television series. I feel that the show would've been so much better earlier on if she had just been allowed to get her powers already. This is the only aspect of the show that truly annoys me, and I hate that because I like all the main characters and the overall idea behind the show otherwise.

This anime is one i didnt expect to like after the first few episodes... the female protagonist comes across as whiny and annoying yet after some character development grows into someone i quite like.
I actually love how the relationships in the anime grow and develop over time as it happens in real life... as opposed to the love at first sight instant trust approach most animes take.
The main story takes a while to unfold so if your an impatient person this probably isnt for you! This anime from what ive gathered is based upon a serise of Japanese games which i havnt played as unfortunately i dont read or speak japanese! :(

All in all please give this anime a go as you may grow to like it as i have!
Enjoy!