The story begins with Oomiya Shinobu, a 15-year-old, seemingly pure Japanese girl who actually did a
homestay in Great Britain. Even after coming back to Japan, she still misses her time overseas. One
day, an airmail letter arrives from Alice, the girl in Shinobu's host family in Great Britain. The
letter reads: Shinobu, I'm coming to Japan! The Japanese/British girls' mixed comedy follows the lives
of Shinobu, Alice, and other girls from both Japan and Great Britain.
(Source: Anime News Network)
__Pros:__ - ~~Kamisato~~ Ayaya - It's very cute and relaxing to watch - The English is nice though kinda bad __Neutral:__ - Another one of those nothing really happens anime __Cons:__ - ~~(Nitpick) "Cinematic" aspect ratio in Ep. 1~~ - Feels repetitive at times - Pacing issues - No English dub as of 2022 __Long version:__ What happens when a foreigner moves to Japan and study there? Well, this tries to answer that in a SoL anime. The premise is that Alice went from England to Japan to study with Shino who stayed with them a few years back. ~!The first half of the first episode is set in England and is shown in a very "cinematic" aspect ratio. The rest of the season is in Japan except for some scenes in some flashbacks.!~ After that, it shows their entire year as 1st year students. It's not the most interesting premise for me as it boils down to a group of friends living their lives but with 2 foreigners adding to the mix. The characters are kind of decent here. The main characters are Shino and Alice. The former is an airhead that really sucks at English ~!(even though she wants to be a translator)!~ and has a liking for blonde (or gold?) hair. The latter is incredibly Japanese though kinda shy. Though MAL and Anilist also puts Aya, Karen and Youko as main characters, Shino and Alice have the most screen time compared to the rest of the cast. Karen is basically inverse of Alice personality-wise. Very westerner in habits and speaks in broken Japanese at times. Aya (AKA Ayaya) is inverse of Shino, shy and a Tsundere. Also is the smartest in the group. Finally, there is Youko. Pretty much a tomboy and that's kinda it. IMO she's the least interesting character. I prefer Yuru Camp's characters more than this. Maybe because Shimarin and Nadeshiko goes through more character development (especially in S1) than the entire cast of this anime or they're much more relatable than them. The comedy is there and it's passable with fair amounts of hits and a few misses. Unfortunately, there is no English dub of this as of Jan. 2022 though this will be harder to dub than Yuru Camp since it involves both English and Japanese. The English parts is pretty bad compared to western productions but it's pretty neat for them to speak that language well enough so I'll give them credit for that. The visuals of this is fine. It's not mindblowing for 2013. Finally, I like the music though not top-tier. Very happy and energetic. This one is a pretty good anime with a relaxing atmosphere and a lack of conflict. It isn't the best in this type of anime now but it's still somewhat enjoyable. If you haven't watched a lot of SoL anime, there are better options available before and after this anime's release that I would recommend before this. I could only recommend this to the fans of this genre.