Sansha Sanyou – Final Review

Now that the spring season is now mostly a barren wasteland thanks to COVID-19, I decided to tackle my backlog. Of course, there are a good number of shows I still have to watch, including some Manga Time Kirara adaptations. While I watched and cover a good number of them each season, there are some that I miss due to lack of time covering them.

Like with GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class, Sansha Sanyou is another one of those shows I wanted to watch after playing one of the events from Kirara Fantasia. Yes, besides Nishikawa Youko’s rich young lady personality and cute appearance gracing me, I used her a lot in quests besides Koyume, Sharo, Naru, Archive, and Swimsuit Kaoruko. I kind of like her character design and personality. While she is not rich anymore and can only afford eating bread crusts, she still has a lot of charm.

Of course, the only reason I didn’t watch it until now since it’s a Funimation exclusive. I didn’t start subscribing to it until the start of this year.

The story focuses on a high school girl named Nishikawa Youko. She used to live life as a rich young lady. However, she faces an unfortunate event. While her mother passed away a while ago, her father’s business recently went bankrupt. With that, Youko started living a normal high school girl life outside a sheltered one without any friends.

One day, she spent time eating bread crusts with mayonnaise under a tree. Meanwhile, Odagiri Futaba tries to head back to the classroom by taking a shortcut so she can eat her lunch. Also, while doing student council duties, Hayama Teru sees a cute cat and chases after it. Eventually, they meet Youko trying to eat bread crusts. After that day, they became best friends.

While some people have some mixed feelings that this show feels out of place in 2016, it’s certainly understandable. The original manga started in the early 2000s, which kind of make it feel more like the schoolgirl slice of life comedies that received an anime adaptation of the 2000s and early 2010s. Nowadays, Manga Time Kirara stories in general has evolved since then focusing on club activities (e.g. K-ON!, Hanayamata, Harukana Receive, Comic Girls, Yuru Camp)  and wacky story lines or comedy (e.g. Gakkou Kuyashi, Anne Happy, Blend-S, Machikado Mazoku). Also, you don’t really see that many reoccurring male characters, if any in recent Manga Time Kirara manga, except for probably Blend-S and Castle Town Dandelion.

That said, this doesn’t make this show less enjoyable at all if you ignore those three characters. The characters are very enjoyable. It’s nice to see how Youko adjust to life outside of a sheltered one. Yes, this means seeing her get excited for food sales, eating bread crusts, going out to a fast food restaurant with her friends, working in a part time job and cooking her own food. Of course, her first-time experience going to a beach is hilarious. She goes to the beach fully covered up over the fear of getting a tan.

Also, Youko’s lack of cooking skills is also halarious that she ends up eating bread crusts with mayonnaise. Yes, she even messes up cooking a special beef and Valentine’s Day chocolate. Yes, she even fails at making simple things like instant ramen too. Thankfully, Futaba came over with Teru to cook it into a delicious dinner and have it together. I guess everything is better when you have friends come over.

As for Futaba, she is your typical cheerful high school girl who is somewhat a tomboy. However, she is a big eater with a stomach that looks like a black hole. It’s funny to see her eat a whole loaf of uncut bread during lunch since it looks ridiculous. But actually, she participates in eating challenges at various restaurants. There no wonder why several restaurants ban her from doing them there. The only exception is the Stuffed Hut where the owner is happy to do those challenges. This is where she makes a rival. Still, I wonder how she would compare to Kanna from Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon.

As expected, Hajime who ends up becoming her rival ends up losing so many times. But there is something good to come out of this. Yes, Sasame, his younger sister develops a huge crush on Youko. Sure, she has a grudge against Futaba, who is Youko’s friend, but she will do anything to get closer to Youko. I have to admit that I kind of like this pairing compared to you know who.

Lastly, there is Hamaya Teru. Sure, she looks like the model student with innocent looks, but a really mean personality. She also gets into conflict with Nishiyama Serina frequently. The funny thing is that Teru is only mean towards Serina. This is not too surprising since Serina wants to be on top of the class and student council representative but couldn’t. She also doesn’t like the fact that her cat photo made it to the magazine. But yes, Teru and Serina have some things in common, their love for cats. I find their so-called date to Animal Town hilarious with Teru pretending to be nice towards Serina, until she snaps eventually. But despite their rivalry, I think they make a good pairing. As the saying go, opposites attract.

Also, Teru has a strange older sister, Kou. Compared to Teru, Kou is an angel and kindhearted. She is kind of weird, especially when she put health food like raw bitter melon in a meal that doesn’t belong. It’s understandable for her to become a health freak since her little sister, Teru used to get sick a lot. Of course, this led to comic relief as people fear her food combinations and drinks.

Lastly, there is Sonobe Shino, who is Youko’s former maid. There is a lot of things mysterious about her besides her child-like appearance despite being thirty years old. Yes, besides opening a bakery, she has a strong interest in schoolgirl life. Yes, to the point where she makes her own school uniform and sneak in to hand out fliers. She also observes Youko and her friends while recording video of them secretly. Yes, Youko has to scold her afterwards.

Believe it or not, Shino is also good at making cosplay outfits. Yes, she even made maid outfits for Teru and even Serina. I have to admit that they look cute in them, although Serina won’t admit it. Of course, Futaba felt left out, even if she wanted to wear one. Still I wonder how Futaba will look in a maid’s outfit.

But overall, Sansha Sanyou is a fun slice of life comedy. At this point, I think Doga Kobo has mastered the adapting the schoolgirl genre of anime at this point. After all, they made a good number of them throughout the years. There is no wonder the animation was really nice. If you can look past those two male characters, I have to admit it’s a fun show mostly thanks to the characters. ¶