2014 Archives | 100 Word Anime

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Leshy is a writer from Raving Otaku, where she writes anime reviews, recommendations and roundups.

Alternative Titles: Bonjour♪ Koiaji Pâtisserie, Bonjour♪Sweet Love Patisserie, Bonjour♪恋味パティスリー

Aired: 2014

Genre: Comedy, Harem, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life

Studios: Silver Link, Connect

Bonjour♪ Koiaji Pâtisserie is a short anime series (OVA) with 24 episodes filled with sweet moments and mouth-watering desserts. Each episode only last 5 minutes and for that reason, it does not take up a lot of time from the viewers.

But is this anime about food worth watching even with its short duration?

Bonjour Koiaji Patisserie Plot

Sweet Love Patisserie revolves around Sayuri Haruno, a girl who wants to become a renowned Patisserie to open her confectionery shop. Sayuri worked hard to obtain a scholarship to attend the famous Fleurir Confectionary Academy to achieve her goal.

Sayuri must face different challenges through her period in the Academy, where she will compete against her classmates specialised in certain types of desserts.

However, this does not impede Sayuri to achieve her dreams. She is ready to face all the challenges that the school throws at her.

A sweet story but was it enough?

Bonjour♪ Koiaji Pâtisserie did not leave me a great impression. I wished that the anime would have developed the relationship between Sayuri and a specific male protagonist (in my opinion, with Ryou because that chemistry they had was amazing) a little more. I know this anime is supposed to be a reverse harem, but somehow it did not feel like one at all.

I usually prefer when they develop a relationship between two specific characters and not the female protagonist with the entire male cast because sometimes the girl does not choose anyone and by doing so, their relationships end in a friendzone or are just left behind.

Did we get interactions between the female protagonist and male protagonists? Yes, but still, they did not develop a “romantic” relationship between each other. They did have a lot of cliched scenes, but I think that was all because there is no further development, except between Ryou and Sayuri.

But the two did not end up together. And from what I could understand from the ending, Sayuri did not stay with any of the other male protagonists either, which I found to be pretty sad and disappointing.

We’re left to wonder what will happen to their relationships, unless we get to have a second season which I do not think will happen soon. This anime was supposed to be the TV series for an upcoming otome mobile game, but it never came out. There is also no further news or information about it, leaving us high and dry.

Great character designs but cliché personalities

The characters all look adorable, as expected of an otome game-inspired show. But sadly, it also falls victim to bland characterisations that come with adapting these games into anime.

Sayuri Haruno: The thing that I liked the most about Sayuri was her design. Aesthetically, she was cute and the different outfits she wore were beautiful. Her personality is nothing remarkable, she is the typical otome game MC who is a sweetheart that tries her best to achieve her goal.

Ryou Satsuki: Ryou is Sayuri’s classmate. He might appear to be a bit cold and mean at first, but in the end, we could agree that he is a kind and sweet guy. He really cares about Sayuri, and they shared almost the same goal (I think that is how Sayuri caught his attention). In addition, I think he was the one that had the most chemistry with her.

Mitsuki Aoi: Mitsuki had a great character design too, and yeah, my heart is weak when it comes to this type of anime boy. He is one of the teachers in Fleurir Academy who is known for being an excellent patisserie when it comes to desserts made of chocolate. His personality is charming, truly cares about his students and wishes them to succeed in their profession.

Gilbert Hanabusa: Gilbert is a teacher at the Fleurir Academy who specialises in French desserts. Gilbert is known for being an energetic and charismatic guy, catching everyone’s attention. His past is a bit sad, but he does not let it get him down and he always puts a smile on his face.

Yoshinosuke Suzumi: Yoshinosuke’s design reminded me of Tsukiyama from Tokyo Ghoul. That aside, he is also a teacher in the Academy specialising in Japanese sweets. His personality is shown as someone emotionless and mean, but the truth is that he is really passionate about his profession and a wonderful man.

Beautiful Art

Koiaji Patisserie has a strong point when it comes to its type of art, it is what I liked the most about this OVA. The character designs are good and they added a lot of details. I like the line art and the palette of colours they used for the different sceneries like the city, parks and shops.

The academy design is cute and it shows all the facilities that a confectionary school needs to have, like classrooms, kitchens and ground areas. It also shows a great implementation of lights and shadows in the different scenes.

For its animation, I cannot mention many things because it does not really have a great impact. As it only lasts five minutes per episode, there is almost no time to develop a lot of movements to show off their animation.

Forgettable soundtrack

Personally, I did not like the soundtrack of Koiaji Patisserie. It did not fit the kind of story that was unfolding. The openings and endings were fine, but still, I think they are extremely forgettable.

However, I did like the voice cast for the characters. The voice actors did an amazing job and each one of them suited perfectly to their different types of personalities.

Conclusion:

For me, the ending of this anime was disappointing, and the story is not really well-developed, but I think that was because each episode only lasts 5 minutes. Despite that, I will give this anime a 6/10 because it was still fairly enjoyable and it is not that bad compared to other reverse harems.

Images from: Bonjour Koiaji Patisserie. Dir. N Akitaya. SILVER LINK + Connect. 2014

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Karandi James

2014 gave us some interesting anime titles. Lord Marksman and Vanadis came out and while it certainly won’t earn a spot as the best of the year, it had an interesting approach to narrating its battles which absolutely rubbed some viewers the wrong way but I found interesting. 2014 also gave us the amazing No Game No Life however as the story is still totally incomplete it just always misses out on making any kind of best of list. Without a conclusion, it is quirky and fun but just doesn’t quite measure up. So what did make the list? Let’s see and then I’d love to know what you would have picked from the year.

The Rules:

No. 1: No sequels of any kind.

No. 2: Only one anime from each season which gave me 4 picks from each year.

No. 3: Other than 2019 anime, no matter how brilliant an anime was if I hadn’t rewatched it since it aired then it didn’t make the list. If I don’t like it enough to watch it more than once then it doesn’t deserve to be on an anime of the decade list.

Incidentally these anime are not the technical best anime of their seasons but are the ones I would pick if I could only watch one anime from that season. They are anime I loved, for whatever reason, and felt deserved to be remembered.

Noragami

Quite literally the only thing wrong with Noragami is that there is no third season. I loved this anime when I first saw it. It was so energetic and fun but had its darker moments. The characters are great and the cast gets better and better as the show progresses. Revolving around Yato, a poor and relatively unknown god who takes on wishes for 5 yen pieces, Noragami is a story that goes in some unexpected directions but builds up a world with a rich mythology, some great action sequences, and the music is awesome.

Forget best of the Winter, Noragami was the anime that dominated my 2014 with multiple rewatches. It’s still a go to anime for me when introducing some of my friends to anime. I absolutely love this anime and I would love to see a third season of it at some point.

The Irregular at Magic High School

Yes, I already know a lot of people didn’t like The Irregular at Magic High School and certainly the anime has some problems. That didn’t stop me from falling in love with this anime enough to watch it again with a friend and then help that friend make a costume to wear at a convention based on the girls school uniform. Honestly, while this anime isn’t the best story the basic concept of the fusion of magic and technology is actually very cool. There’s also some pretty interesting applications of magic within the story and the militarisation of magicians is actually fairly plausible within this setting.

With the story broken into distinct arcs it is easily digestible and I found it very fun spending time with the students as they learned new way to use their magical abilities in each situation. The Irregular at Magic High School isn’t for everyone but I thought it was a bit of fun.

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Terror in Resonance

Terror in Resonance isn’t an easy story to watch given it focuses on two teenagers engaged in acts of terrorism in order to bring a government conspiracy around human experimentation to light. That said, the story doesn’t quite go far enough and the end result is one that teeters on the edge of providing social commentary around a lot of issues related to modern terrorism without actually making any kind of statement. It leaves the viewer with an uneasy feeling.

While this series starts strong and ends reasonably well as it wraps up its loose ends and gives characters closure, the mid-season is where the weaknesses of the story really become apparent. Despite that, it is still an anime worth watching as it takes on some fairly big issues and presents a slightly different perspective. All and all, this is an anime that remains relevant in the current political climate and even though it doesn’t quite nail what it might have been going for it at least makes the audience think a bit.

Your Lie In April

I am not the die hard fan of Your Lie in April that some viewers became however I certainly appreciated this anime for what it is. And what this anime presents is a beautifully packaged emotionally wringing story of a boy who is lost and the girl who helps him to find himself and a path before the tragedy unfolds. There’s nothing new in terms of the plot with so many stories having done a similar thing before, but with the presentation of this particular story they have done a spectacular job.

When you throw in the music and the performances with the wonderful visual metaphors that appear while they are playing it really becomes something quite unforgettable. Even the most jaded of viewers will probably be moved by either the characters or their music at some point while watching. For everyone else, bring lots of tissues because you are going to cry buckets when this one ends.

With that we bid farewell to 2014. I’d love to know your favourites from 2014 and on Monday we’ll continue looking at the anime of the decade starting at 2015.

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James