Special A

Hikari Hanazono has always been able to do things that normal people cannot. As a child, she assumed no one could beat her—until she met Kei Takishima. Thinking she would win, Hikari challenged him to a match. But things didn’t go as planned; she lost not once but each time she rechallenged him. From that point on, she has sworn to best Kei at everything, ranging from academics to athletics.

To achieve her goal, Hikari enrolls in the same school as Kei—Hakusenkan, a prestigious institute for the wealthy. As a pair, they hold the top two rankings in school and are among seven of the academy's best students in a class known as Special A.

While Hikari treats Kei as a rival, she is completely oblivious that he harbors hidden feelings for her. Together, the of Special A deal with competition, friendship, and just a bit of love.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Takishima, Kei Main

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Hanazono, Hikari Main

Gotou, Yuuko Japanese

Karino, Tadashi Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Tsuji, Ryuu Main

Horie, Kazuma Japanese

Yamamoto, Megumi Main

Takagaki, Ayahi Japanese

Toudou, Akira Main

Nabatame, Hitomi Japanese

Yamamoto, Jun Main

Yonaga, Tsubasa Japanese

Saiga, Yahiro ing

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Takishima, Sui ing

Shimizu, Kaori Japanese

Koupe Shuzette, Finn ing

Yamazaki, Fumiki Producer

Kawamura, Hiroshi Producer

Watanabe, Takashi Producer

Miyao, Yoshikazu Director, Episode Director

Reviews

Sep 27, 2008

shadowraze

Recommended

Special A is primarily a Shoujo Rom/Com that starts off slow but gets better as you go. Based on the inability of Hikari to understand Kei's true feelings for most of the plot. Normal laws of physics are generally ignored by the seeming superhuman duo of Kei and Hikari, who also are both at the top of their school academically.

The story isn't the most original story ever, relying on the interaction of the seven of the Special A (SA from now on) class and not involving many other characters. While somewhat predictable, it still manages to be entertaining most of the time if not ... frustrating because of the general lack of development between the main couple's relationship. (The anime does have several minor changes in its adaptation of the manga's story)

The art style is pretty normal for your typical shoujo. The character models are somewhat odd in their unusually elongated limbs, but it's nothing that should ruin the show for you. The scenery and colors are good, if nothing fantastic, and I particularly liked the animation of the romance scenes where they would employ a pastel like color scheme which enhanced the scene.

The sound, much like the art, is, for the most part, good while not great. The background music appropriate and never seemed to get annoying or repetitive. The OPs and EDs have mixed opinions. The first OP and ED didn't really go over well with me and i doubt anyone would mind skipping right over them. The second OP and ED didn't seem to be much better at first either, but surprisingly they grew on me and ended up being pretty catchy. I don't have any complaints about the VAs, they all seemed to fit their characters and Kei and Hikari's VAs particularly were good, bringing out the same character that was seen in the manga.

The Characters were developed well, with the other of the SA getting their own spotlight at times. While the main focus is on the Kei x Hikari pairing, there are a few other pairings that show up and will get episodes developing them. Obviously, being the two main characters, Kei and Hikari are developed the most and are both likable, though you might want to strangle Hikari a few times for being as stupid/ignorant as she is. Still, she definitely has her own great moments and you should be able to mostly ignore her own shortcomings and cheer her (and Kei) on.

The enjoyment varies as the series goes on, starting off somewhat weak compared to its peak later on in the anime. The comedy of the anime compared to manga is just as good if not better than the original. The romance on the other

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 21, 2009

inkmouse

Mixed Feelings

Special A was anything but special. It was very cliche, but it's hard to avoid that in shoujo anime. There was nothing mind-blowing about neither the music or the art.

The story is pretty basic. In all honesty, I don't really think there is such a thing as orginality, but it's up to the people writing or directing to make it seem real. We know Shakespeare based Romeo and Juliet off a book someone had already written. How many times have we heard the story of 'I must defeat him...oh, wait I just found out he loves me?' but the issue isn't whether it was original ... or not, it's simply that they didn't know how to move the plot efficiently.

To me, one of the most important, if not the primary, thing to a story is character. If you have believable characters, then the audience will automatically simpathize and invest their own emotions into those characters. Yes, it is a comedy. Most of the things in the show defied the laws of physic, to say the least, but take Akira for example. The problems of her past evolving Yahiro really gives her more depth. As compared to Hariki who mentally retarded but ended up in the S.A. anyway. They should have developed a bit more of the characters. What's the point if it's just the same thing again and again? Yes, we know she thinks of him as his rival, but wouldn't it be more interesting if she had become aware of her own feelings on her own and had to defeat him in order to prove to herself she wasn't in love? Or what if he suddenly let her win (and I'm not talking about that crap challenge with the flower) what would she have done? Would she have realized that she probably really didn't want to win?

What I'm saying is that there could have been so much more done to make them more human. Why doesn't he let her win, anyway? Does he feel she'll love him that way?

That aside, though, I really liked the less fictional aspects of the show. It wasn't TOO bad, in all honesty. I won't watch it again, and I got bored about half way though, but hey, it had it's good parts. I can't think of any NOW, but I liking somethings....

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 27, 2015

Jenangelx3

Not Recommended

I tried to like this anime. I really did. I was so excited when they announced the Special A anime because I had been following the manga for so long. This manga has a lot of memories for me and I know that anime tend to add new things, take things out, and change up the story a little to meet the limitations of the time constraints, but it was just impossible for me to love this anime.
If I hadn't read the manga, I might've enjoyed watching this anime, but I agree, this anime really has nothing special compared to other student council anime (and ... that includes the harem/ecchi ones!).
The characters have a few note features that are from the manga, but it feels like they took out a lot of core elements to the characters and added whatever they wanted to fit. I have such an issue with the change in character stories as well. Was it necessary to give Kei a stupid background story for why he wanted Hikari's bento? Couldn't it just be that he wanted to eat her cooking? That's simple as it is and very sweet; perfect for a romcom, but no, let's make it less romantic and more childish. Oh, and another thing, Kei's personality just isn't right. It feels completely off the entire time. Instead of cool and collected, Kei just seems a little pompous--or maybe that's just the voice actor who plays him. I just feel like he lost a lot of his appeal as a male love interest. Hikari just seems kind of innocent, which is fine, but she lost a lot of other traits that made her so distinct as a main character.
I know a lot of things are changed for comedic effect or drama to keep the audience on their toes, but the manga's story was a lot funnier and the drama that does happen in the manga really hits you deep. This anime failed to execute any of it properly.
Maybe if I hadn't absolutely loved the manga, I would have enjoyed myself, but maybe I would have complained about the generic characters and lack of originality. Either way, I am not happy with this anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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