S.A. (Special A) Mini Review (manga/anime)
April 16th, 2008 by Lianne
PG-13, probably, for romantic hijinks and some violence; official website (manga) and official website (for unlicensed anime)
In the way that I think Itazura na Kiss displays most of the good qualities of 90s shoujo, S.A. (which stands for the uncreative “Special A”) is a showcase for most of the bad of the year 2000+. Let’s list out the crap, shall we?
1.) The school for our schoolgirl lead has some ridiculous hierarchy that makes little sense and is actively annoying. A class for ONLY the top seven students of the school, where all members get their own SPECIAL uniform (ooh, that word’s in the title!) and breaks/maybeclasses are held in a giant, exclusive greenhouse? I HATE YOU.
2.) In an attempt to make the boys as homoerotic and non-threatening as possible, they all have big eyes, soft features, and soothing, calm voices that sound the same (and the same as the girls) if you’re not listening close enough. Oh, and they all have nearly the exact same character design with roguish short hair, but stamped in a few colors: blue, brown, darker brown, other brown, and a bonus of purplish for the girl who looks like a boy. I HATE YOU.
3.) Character humor that isn’t funny. Being “the loud one” or “the one who likes to eat,” or, kill me now, “the girl who’s cute and mute” (STOP PUTTING CREEPY BOY FETISHES INTO MY GIRL COMICS) doesn’t make you funny, especially when your jokes center on you parading your one-note characterization around with some wacky background text. YOU PERSONALLY OFFEND ME.
4.) In an attempt to simultaneously make the main girl “tough” and the boy “cool,” they’re rivals in all things - oh, except that he’s better than her at everything, so the story is pretty much about her second-place complex. I know that’s the premise of the series, but really, do we need another shoujo telling little girls that they’ll always be second to boys in society, no matter how hard they try? We can’t even have a complementary relationship or something, where the boy brings something to the table and the girl brings something else? No? Well, I HATE YOU.
Also - this comic/anime is boring. You can make a romantic comedy exciting and entertaining, but this is neither, and any attempts at plot are so lame I almost wish the mangaka hadn’t bothered. I really wanted to like this series, since an issue of Hana to Yume I bought a long time ago came with a hilarious little S.A. face towel as a furoku, thus I’ve been rubbing the two leads of S.A. into my face for years. But the first volume of the manga and first episode of the anime suck. If it doesn’t get better, I’m going to be perpetually pissed when I wash my face in the morning.
Initial impression: Boo! Hiss! (Lianne)
THANK YOU! I’ve read so many “ooh, this is fun!” reviews of SA over the last couple of days that I thought maybe I was missing the comedy inherent in watching a boring character getting crushed by huge stone letters again and *again* while all the other sickeningly privileged, boring and/or creepy characters stand around being boring at each other. Ugh.
Agreed. It began to disturb me how she tries soo soo hard and can never beat him. In ANYTHING. How she is great, but finally is beaten by a guy, but no one beats the guy. So the lesson that someone’s always better than you doesn’t even apply.
They’re privileged because they’re smart and rich, and everyone looks adoringly at them. What the heck? And the characters are an absolute bore. It’s not even funny privileged like in Ouran Host Club. It’s not my fave manga, either, but the careless heroine, pointless but actually funny (if generic) humor, and privileged guy who is interested in “peasants” but is part of the whole rich class thing is 10x better than S.A. Really, it had quite a lot of potential…Competition shojo manga like Beauty Pop’s been raved lately. But S.A. can only be raved by teenage fangirls.
Michelle,
You’re right - Ouran does a much, much better job of “super rich kids and their eccentricities” than S.A. Of course, Ouran’s premise is satirical, whereas S.A.’s is not.
And NotHayama has some pretty scathing things to say about Beauty Pop’s disturbing focus on appearance. Cripes, can’t we have a girl comic that’s just a LITTLE less superficial and/or sexist for the young ones?! At least the most feminist shoujo in English right now - Love*Com, High School Debut, and Skip Beat - are only about PG-13, so I guess a fair amount of younger girls can read those. Read them and leave crap like S.A. in the dust!
I haven’t read the manga, and maybe never will. I started watching the anime due to a rise in reviews around blogs and such (which doesn’t always mean it’s good). I made it halfway through episode 2 and still haven’t gone back to finish.
I noticed how they wanted to make this very Ouran-esque, but it doesn’t work out really well. The later volumes of Ouran are great, but the beginning ones was pretty average. The Ouran anime made every single episode feel like a masterpiece, including the storylines from the beginning volumes.
It makes me wonder if they took the budget for the S.A. anime and instead put it towards a Skip Beat anime down the road.
I do agree that probaby how Ouran was made was good, but S.A is not too bad.
I probably agree that maybe the anime was OK to me, but the manga , or what you call, the ‘comic’ is not boring.
If you read further, there is more to the plot, and it gets better now, though Hikari is too dense, which slows down the story.
It does seem irritating that Hikari never beats Kei in anything, or even once, but still, you know how unrealistic manga can get.
The anime doesn’t quite bring the humor, the manga, IMO is a lot more better in comparison. Maybe people should give it a shot, rather than watch the anime. Anime’s sometimes disappoint me.
Sometimes I think it’s better to start off with the manga, because when I watch the anime, I feel like I don’t need to read all that again, which makes reading sort of pointless. You may be disappointed with the anime, but still, I get the feeling of not being bothered it read it all again. The other way round is different, because somehow, you get the feeling of wanting to see and hear the characters..Because you just can’t be bothered to read still drawings. in BLACK and WHITE.
Everyone has different view points, so I don’t expect everyone to like it, but just like everyone else commented, it’s our own opinions. It’s not like a comment in a blog is going to change it. So, you don’t like it. I don’t really care, I’m just defending the anime/manga. It’s really not so bad.
I started off with the anime, which I thought was quite good, eventhough it reminded me slighty of vampire knight (I haven’t read ouran yet) because of the setting with different classes. I liked HikarixKei interaction and it got me to start reading the manga.
However, as the story progresses the plot turns increasingly boring IMO. Attempts made in creating humour feels very forced and awkward. Certain arcs are so lame (eg. hikari-turned-guy-to-wreck-kei’s-omai) that I simply skim through it without much thought. Besides that, I also feel that the author inserted too many character self-thoughts among the conversation bubbles that it can get very confusing as I try to differentiate the contents of self-thought and conversation.
Well, I guess I will drop the manga and continue with the anime since I am still fine with the way that the anime conveys the story.
i agree with chutotoro. i initially like the manga, too, even become obsessed with it for weeks!! but now it all just soooo cliche-ish for me. the characters are just going to do the same thing over and over again until the manga actually reaches enough volumes for the mangaka finally gets tired of it, i guess. but i’m still reading it anyways, coz i just want to know what’ll happen in the end. though a little disappointing…
I’m sort of a die-hard Special A fan so I will be bias, but I loved the anime and the manga. It really depends what view you look at it with. You may be thinking: “Oh, here’s a stupid, idiotic, hopelessly energetic girl who has a pointless goal”, or, “Oh, here’s a playful, determined, and funny girl who is set on her objective.”
To be frank, I didn’t think of Ouran at all while reading the manga or watching the anime. I only thought of it once I saw this review. I can see how you try to group the two, but I think I liked Special A anime more than the Ouran anime. I don’t know, it’s just me. I might be wrong, because I just finished watching the SA anime… That fresh feeling is still on me. XD
Same voices/hair: Noooooo.
Kei: deep voice (a little too deep for my taste, but it fits him pretty well), teases, and has really detailed hair. (He has long eyelashes, haha.) Brown/Blonde/Brown hair.
Hikari: wow, no way to really describe her voice. Just one thing: Yuko Goto. Long black straight hair.
Akira: Short black hair. She has a calm voice that just SUITS her. You hear it, you get used to it, and you don’t want anybody else for her voice.
Tadashi: You cannot compare his voice to Kei’s. Tadashi has a sort of hyper voice. His voice makes him HIM–if they ever switched the voices I would go mad.
Megumi: Well, Akira and Megumi do have somewhat similar voices, I must admit that. But you get used to it and when you hear one of them speak (which does happen) then you know who it is. She has long blondish wavy hair and straight bangs. Does not look like Hikari or Akira at all.
Ryu(u): His hair is a greenish color, I guess. It’s parted to his right and isn’t as detailed and layered as Kei’s. His voice is low but not deep. It’s really calm unless he’s talking to animals.
For your #3: That’s sort of your opinion. It’s funny to some people, and apparently you’re not one of those people. I personally found the whole anime and manga funny (the manga is still going.) Actually, I recommend you read to the latest chapter and watch the whole anime before you start heavily criticizing it like you did.
I mean, really. What are shoujo manga/anime now? Girl likes guy. Guy rejects girl. Girl doesn’t give up. Guy gets to like girl. Yayy, happily ever after. Something along those lines? Doesn’t a manga where the GUY likes the GIRL and she’s incredibly dense/determined to beat him (so she doesn’t even realize his feelings) seem rare these days?
(By the way, Skip Beat is amazing. Just started reading it… But I’m on like, chapter 60 some right now. Haha.)
I’ve been reading the manga to the point of lookig forward to it every month. I was amused by Hikari’s character and Kei’s way of showing his “affection” towards her. But for quite sometime, the fondness is starting to wear off. Especially with Hikari’s going all over the place just because she doesn’t know how to handle a relationship.
It’s starting to get annoying while her character turns to the typical love struck shoujo lead.
im a fan of sa its so romantic!
??i Am fAn Of sPecIaL a ??
bEcAusE TakeShiMa anD hIkaRi
iS vEry sweEt
Well f0r me..this manga and anime rules!..its really funny and you just have to let yourself like it..i mean,bef0re you judge why d0nt you have first watch the wh0le anime or read the manga..the characters make up the st0ry..and besides it differs fr0m any other,.well if th0se were y0ur opini0ns(all th0se who judge SPECIAL A)well i d0nt have to judge you t0o..as f0r me this is the best anime as f0r me!..
“A class for ONLY the top seven students of the school, where all members get their own SPECIAL uniform (ooh, that word’s in the title!) and breaks/maybeclasses are held in a giant, exclusive greenhouse? I HATE YOU.”
I don’t know why you hate this but you ARE WATCHING AN ANIME. EVERYTHING IS FICTIONAL. And oh they are not conducting their classes in the greenhouse. You better read the manga to find out for yourself. LOL.
Second, what now is it to you if they all look the same? I am sure you watched other animes before. Special A is not the only anime in which the characters look the same. Yes maybe at times the voices sound the same but I ADVISE YOU TO LISTEN VERY WELL, you’ll know the difference. And seriously, how did you know that they are attempting to make “the boys as homoerotic and non-threatening as possible?”
Oh how did the anime personally offended you in that case? If you weren’t entertained, if you didn’t find it funny, what’s the big deal? You’re not supposed to be offended anyway. The anime is not going to please everyone. and it seems like you are one of those who dislikes its humor. But hey, don’t be too harsh. A lot of people found it funny.
Fourth, personally I didn’t think that this anime tells the young girls that they’ll always be second to boys no matter how hard they try. That thought never came into my mind and I disagree with you. Didn’t Hikari beat the other guys in the SA? Tadashi, Ryu, Jun? How about the other male students of the Hakusen Academy? Isn’t Hikari way above them when it comes to intelligence? How about those guards who Hikari hit countless of times? Isn’t Hikari stronger than them? It just so happens that Takishima is the only person Hikari couldn’t defeat. This doesn’t imply that girls will always be second to boys. I guess you are just thinking too much and overreacting. And if you read the manga, you’ll find out how Takishima thinks of Hikari.
Those are your opinions and these are mine. I just think that you are criticizing the anime and manga too harshly without enough information or background or whatever.
I believe the official position of the staff of sleep is for the weak is: Shows should be good, not bad.
no, I don’t think so. Even the creator of S.A has many mistakes, but it still good and I think that greenhouse is also cool. And I like the story, just for genius people and only top seven can enter greenhouse. It’s totally cool, I think.
Although you said that the appearance of each character almost the same, but it still has differences between one to another, and the way of the story is awesome. You should watch it seriously, may be.
But no offense, okay??
and, I think if you don’t wanna see an impossible big stone that dropped from the sky, you shouldn’t watch japanese anime, because that’s the way the creator make fun, not make something to laugh for.
Ash,
I totally agree with you; it’s only now, towards the end of the manga, that i feel inclined to visit mangafox each day to see if a new chapter has been uploaded of the Ouran manga. Before, seeing as I had watched the sheer liquid brilliance that is the anime of Ouran, I wasn’y REALLY that interested.
S.A. kept me entertained for a while, but soon I moved onto other mangas that were just less predictable, and more relatable.
Sure, I wouldn’t say that I’m as smart as the next person -I’m barely above average when it comes to intelligence, but still, I’m fairly bright-, but I doubt that I could be the in the top 7 of my school.
Besides, I suck at sport, and well… life. The only real thing I can sort of cope with is writing.
The protagonists of S.A. are all a bunch of Mary Sues whose flaws only add the their a) attractiveness, b) cuteness, c) both.
I rest my case.
ahem, SA is an amzing anime. If you like other animes, then just ignore us! Don`t tell me that “I HATE YOU” thing in S.A. because I get angry and shout in rage. Just be boastful if you know EVERYTHING already. I`m an expert so I know this well made.
well,SA can be a little bit of boring but i really love it.I got really shocked when someone says it sucks.But believe me, its manga ending is sooooooooooo boring! gosh! I cant understand it!soooo complicated
Really, in tha manga,even kei and hikari are on,hikari is still shy about it……
Omgosh, like finally! Every single review I came across said that S.A was good and all, but it’s honestly all bullshit.
1) I found it funny in the starting, maybe because I wasn’t reading the manga properly, but soon after about 40+ or 50+ chapters I thought it was already boring.
2) The manga should have ended ages ago, what’s up with all the 99 chapters?
3) Shithead, and in the end the ending is epic fail. WTF is this telling me.
4) And even if Hikari wins Kei, so what? Is the world going to rejoice? Does it prove anything at all? No, just Hikari winning Kei once. Stupid concept.
5) I totally agree with the Megumi thing, it was totally unnecessary.
6) Lots of filters, WTH is this, the whole thing is about Hikari and Kei right? The ending was, so why the hell are they focusing so much on the other characters.
7) As if that isn’t enough, you get to see more and more characters and by matching each character with another, the author feels that is a happy ending, but seriously, it’s not appealing.
And for those of you who say you’re expert and all shit, you would have found S.A boring and literally, listed out all the points I have found. I don’t believe in a right or wrong, but you don’t even have to watch the anime, from the manga, you know it’s all freakin’ crap.
Honestly, S.A sucks, and if you people fail to see it, well, your problem.
Hey S. A isnt bullshit it kept me entertain for months and it make you feel suspenses WHAT is going to happen so it is not boring YOUR boring, i liked it and i am picky. If it was boring why you watch until the end and said it boring i heaps of boring anime and do i come back to the web page that recommend it and complain… it is recommend not a life or death situation. P.s i love S.A, OURAN, Skio beat and so many more ….
at last,I found this.I agree with this,if SA was that good,why its popularity didn’t reach that such as Hana Yori Dango,Ouran,Honey & Clover etc?
If anyone doesn’t like this story,its their opinion to voice it and why,since when becoming a “boring” person restricted you from voicing out your opinions?
To me,I found this anime was pretty entertaining at first,but as the story progressed,the plot grew weaker,the jokes became duller & the characters grew more annoying,illogic & somewhat unsuitable for their characters shape.
Hikari is one of the anime protagonist that you feel like blending her in the ice blender & left her to freeze on top of the Everest Mount.Her voice is pathetically annoying,add up to her loud persona.Don’t misunderstood me,I don’t hate loud people,but Hikari’s character was being overdo by the manga-ka and the anime producer.
And I hate it when someone mentioned she is tough.Physically she is,spiritually she isn’t.She actually cried like a kid over spilled chocolate shake when Kei left her.Its not the only time she cried in the anime.
To be honest,she doesn’t face so much hard times in her daily life.Her family and friends are fine with her.So,there’s really nothing like “oh,she’s so tough,facing so much hard times..bla,bla” with her.That’s all rubbish.And her academic & sports challenge doesn’t count here.Its social or life problem we’re talking about.So is on working to defeat your no.1 enemy.There’s no point of crying to defeat him.
If you want a tough female protagonist,look on Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran.I’ve read the SA manga too.Not much you can be proud of it.
No wonder the characters physical design for the anime doesn’t have its own identity,since the manga is like that too.Its not about hairstyle,but more to the pattern used.
i just finished watching the full episodes of special A and i loved it …it is not that bad as they say …in fact it is quite nice ….i agree that the beginning some episodes are pretty boring and monotonous but towards the middle and the end when the love story and the romance begins to build up among all the characters it becomes pretty interesting ….for all the people who love a cute warm love story should watch this ..i highly recommend it ..but for those who are looking for something else ……….and why is everybody complaining about special seven students only thing …well this is a anime fantasy story where anything is possible and i love to see this ……if u want to see too much of reality go watch some boring tv serial ..dont watch a anime ……….o_O
I was totally amused by this review.
Actually, I remember reading this a few months back and thinking the exact same thing. The manga should have ended much sooner.
I’m also getting really tired of the girl never being able to win.
I think one of the comments above disagreed but how would this scenario (with the great repetition I’ve found) not cause some psychological damage. Unhealthy models have warped little girls minds for years, why not unhealthy patterns in shojo?
Well maybe I’m just grumpy because the last 10 or so manga that I’ve read the female lead was weak, useless, in constant need of saving, and always confused. boo.
i love special a
I am just a few eposides and chapters into SA and I L?ve it! I don’t know what makes me l?ve it, I ussaly hate the dense girl thing. Also it made ME feel ambious, this girl worked hard and she become the best at everything! I know kei always beats her but still she better then Many Many others and that should mean something. For a moment I was even thinking about STUDYING and thats big for me! And trying harder, so SA is a GOOD influnce to me. But I do(after I read the review) see a bit of a resablance with Oruan. I am not that far now but maybe I MIGHT get tired of the repative. I also agree the guys look VERY alike. It gets annoying becuase I can’t figure out whos who. But its alright. One thing noone I THINk hasn’t mentioned yet is Hikirus character is all over the place, nice and helpful, and mean, strong week, stupid but smart. I just don’t know what her character really is sometimes. I feel like when the author needed her to act someway they just did it not considering her character. I love Kei, I feel like theres so much more to him, I also (unlike Hikiru) understand hes reasons of doing things. I was so happy that there was no overly extreme perverted guys in this manga, and more that Kei wasn’t!!
**Excuse my spelling
I am just a few eposides and chapters into SA and I L?ve it! I don’t know what makes me l?ve it, I ussaly hate the dense girl thing. Also it made ME feel ambious, this girl worked hard and she become the best at everything! I know kei always beats her but still she better then Many Many others and that should mean something. For a moment I was even thinking about STUDYING and thats big for me! And trying harder, so SA is a GOOD influnce to me. But I do(after I read the review) see a bit of a resablance with Oruan. I am not that far now but maybe I MIGHT get tired of the repative. I also agree the guys look VERY alike. It gets annoying becuase I can’t figure out whos who. But its alright. One thing noone I THINk hasn’t mentioned yet is Hikirus character is all over the place, nice and helpful, and mean, strong week, stupid but smart. I just don’t know what her character really is sometimes. I feel like when the author needed her to act someway they just did it not considering her character. I love Kei, I feel like theres so much more to him, I also (unlike Hikiru) understand hes reasons of doing things. I was so happy that there was no overly extreme perverted guys in this manga, and more that Kei wasn’t!!
**Excuse my spelling
I am just a few eposides and chapters into SA and I Love it! I don’t know what makes me love it. Also it made ME feel ambious, this girl worked hard and she become the best at everything! I know kei always beats her but still she better then Many Many others and that should mean something. For a moment I was even thinking about STUDYING and thats big for me! And trying harder, so SA is a GOOD influnce to me. But I do(after I read the review) see a bit of a resablance with Oruan. I am not that far now but maybe I MIGHT get tired of the repative. I also agree the guys look VERY alike. It gets annoying becuase I can’t figure out whos who. But its alright. One thing noone I THINk hasn’t mentioned yet is Hikirus character is all over the place, nice and helpful, and mean, strong week, stupid but smart. I just don’t know what her character really is sometimes. I feel like when the author needed her to act someway they just did it not considering her character. I love Kei, I feel like theres so much more to him, I also (unlike Hikiru) understand hes reasons of doing things. I was so happy that there was no overly extreme perverted guys in this manga, and more that Kei wasn’t!! **Excuse my spelling
I don’t see why people get so frustrated about the characters. It’s just like every other manga in this genre. I thought the anime was great. My favorite manga is Love Hina which i think is the best funny/romantic manga ever. Some people hate that manga because of all the fan service.I really can’t understand why people don’t like because of that. I find the fan service funny and even if it wasn’t funny i could’ve easily ignored it. Sometimes i think people are way to narrow minded and they also try to look for flaws in a manga/anime. I personally can watch/read anything except for scifi/mecha. Since i’m not really interested in it. Anyways for the people who just watched one episode of the anime. I recomend you watch the whole thing. It doesn’t have to be your favorite but it doesn’t have to suck.
And the female lead has to be like that or else the manga would’ve had like 2 chapters. And would’ve been so fun…
@1000BladesRakan
The official position of sleepisfortheweak.org is that anime and manga should be good, not just not bad.