Customer Reviews

Special A: Collection 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Special A" (or "S.A.") is an anime that was adaptated in 2008 from Maki Minami's shoujo manga which was serialized on "Hana to Yume" and ran for 99 chapters before ending on March 19, 2009. The anime series ran for 26 episodes and now the first 13 episodes will be released stateside courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.

The anime is directed by Yoshikazu Miyao (who worked on "Gad Guard", "Vandread" and "Melody of Oblivion"), series composition by Juki Hanada ("Chobits", "K-On!", "Sola", "Petite Princess Yucie") and character design by Kiyotaka Nakahara ("Ichigo 100%", "Mouse", "Cardcaptor Sakura", "Sakura Wars").

The series revolves around the Special-A class students, a group of students who have excelled in their classes at Hakusen Academy. Students are grouped into A-F and for Special-A, seven students are members of the elite class.

The main characters of "Special A" are:

Hikaru Hanazono - The main protagonist of the series and is the #2 student of the Special-A group. Raised to excel in fighting and also the classroom. Since she was younger, she has always come in #2 behind her rival Kei Takishima. She has vowed to no longer be #2 by trying to surpass Kei in a variety of activities.

Kei Takashima - The other protagonist of the series and is the #1 student of the Special-A group. Kei excels in everything that he does and enjoys beating Hikaru and reminding her that she's #2. But over the course of their rivalry, Kei starts to fall for her. Kei is the song of the CEO of Takashima Corporation.

Jun Yamamoto - The #3 student of the Special-A group, Jun is the twin of Megumi. He and his sister are over protective towards their classmate Ryuu. Jun is the son of a famous music producer and talented vocalist.

Megumi Yamamoto - The #4 student of Special-A, Megumi is the twin sister of Jun and also doesn't talk (by choice) and prefers to use signs as a way to communicate to people. When she does talk, its typically when she sings (which is her passion) and her singing is so bad that it can damage the ears of people. Like her brother, she is overprotective of their classmate Ryuu. Megumi is the daughter of a famous music producer and talented vocalist.

Tadashi Karino - Tadashi is the #5 student and is the son of the director of the school. Always hungry and can be reckless at times.

Akira Todou - Akira is the #6 student and Hikari's best friend. She's overprotective over Hikari and the daughter of an owner of an airline company. She loves cooking.

Ryuu Tsuji - Ryuu is the #7 student of Special-A and is often accompanied by the Yamamoto twins. A hardcore animal lover, Ryuu is the son of a CEO of a sports car company.

The first 12 episodes are featured on two DVD's. Here is a basic synopsis of each episode:

DISC 1:

* EPISODE 1 - Hikari~Kei - The introduction to the S.A. group and the rivalry between Hikari and Kei.
* EPISODE 2 - S.A. takes on the student council.
* EPISODE 3 - Rice Ball ~ Sincerity - Kei asks for Rei to cook him a homecooked meal after she loses a wager against him.
* EPISODE 4 - Hikari tries to tutor Kei's younger brother, Sui.
* EPISODE 5 - Another competition between S.A. and the student council.
* EPISODE 6 - Hikari agrees to go with Kei as his companion to a party of his rich rival Yahiro but what happens when he tells her something about Kei?

DISC 2:

* EPISODE 7 - The S.A. group wants to go on a trip and Kei makes a wager that if he wins, she must tell him everything Yahiro told her. If she wins, she can choose where the trip will be.
* EPISODE 8 - The S.A. group goes on their trip but Kei is depressed after the events of the last episode.
* EPISODE 9 - While on their trip, Hikari meets a boy named Chitose and finds out that he is the younger brother of Yahiro.
* EPISODE 10 - A lowerclassman wants to challenge Ryuu for the #7 spot in the Special A-Class.
* EPISODE 11 - Tadashi's parents want to arrange him a wife, so Tadashi asks Hikari to pretend to be his girlfriend so he can get out of it.
* EPISODE 12 - Kei is very sick and all he can think about is Hikari. Meanwhile, Hikari tries to take care of him.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"S.A. Collection 1' is featured in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. As a recent anime series, "S.A." sports vibrant colors and beautifully painted art backgrounds and structures. Character designer Kiyotaka Nakahara was definitely respectful to the original manga character designs by Maki Minami and overall, pretty cool animation and with the series taking place in a variety of locations, GONZO and AIC did a wonderful job with the art production.

Audio is in Japanese only and voice acting is solid. Jun Fukuyama who plays the character of Kei Takishima is known for his voice work on series such as Lelouch of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion" and many other anime and the same with Yuki Goto who does the voice of Hikari, who has done the voices of Mikuru Asahina of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" and many other anime series. Overall, solid voice acting by the Japanese voice talent.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"S.A. Collection 1' features Sentai Filmworks trailers and on the second disc, the clean opening and closing animation are included plus an art gallery.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Overall, "Special A-Class" is a fun anime series thus far. It reminds me a little of anime such as "The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi" and "Haru no Yoru Dango" as the series features on the lively characters who happen to be rich and somewhat privileged with their special status in high school. But the main difference is instead of featuring all seven characters prominently and trying to have storylines to develop their character, "S.A." keeps the storyline focused on the two primary characters Hikari Hanazono and Kei Takashima.

For the most part, the anime series is enjoyable and fun but the first half of the season is more or less establishing the rivalry between Hikari and Kei and eventually seeing how Kei feels about her but for Hikari, she's more focused on their rivalry more than anything. It's only until we reach the final 12th episode of this collection, you can guess that things are going to get even more dramatic as the season progresses and perhaps the friendship between Hikari and Kei may change (for the best or the worst).

For those looking for a lighthearted, fun dramatic anime series like "The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi" and "Haru no Yoru Dango", "Special A" is a series that you can't go wrong with. Definitely worth checking out!

Pretty much everything I can say about Special A has been summed up above. So I will make this short and sweet.

Special A is a fun guilty pleasure for me. It's not anything groundbreaking or very original. It does have a lot of cliches that are typical for this genre. But overall, the show is an enjoyable little title. The characters are quite likable, and there are even a few laugh out loud moments throughout the first half.

Special A isn't deep or intellectual, but it's not meant to be. It's meant to a simple, easy show to watch and enjoy. And what it tries to do, it does quite well.

If you like animated comedy, give Special A a try.

If you like Clannad with a twist of School Rumble, this is the perfect anime. Story is absolutely great and it never gets old. No regrets in buying this anime. Love it!

Not many have heard of this anime as it is currently living in the shadow of Ouran High School Host Club . Though not a harem, this one can definitely shine on it's own. I love OHSHC, but it's not the only one out there.

Summary:Hikari was the best fighter, that title was hers for a long time until her dad introduced her to Kei, the one person she can't win against. Always placing second to him in everything from sports to academics, she vows to beat him and follows him from elementary to high school. In high school the Special A (S.A) club is formed,. Constituting a total of seven members, even there Kei gets first spot. What Hikari doesn't know is that Kei, is, and always has been in love with her, ever since they were kids. This anime follows the lives of S.A members as they deal with life, love and high school.

Is the idea original? No. But, the Kei and Hikari rivalry/chemistry is so well done, that I wouldn't hesitate to watch this one again. And the whole "special club of kids" has been done time and time again and off the top of my head, I think about Ouran High School and Shugo Chara (minus magical element) were the first ones. And most of the things are severely exagerrated (you'll know what I'm talking about when you watch the last 10mins of the first episode).
The characters are what make this anime so good. They are, at least most of them, original. You will see some of you in one of them.And this helps establish a good relationship between the viewer and the characters.

-First Kei. The quiet, yet chivalrous guy in love with his 'rival'. The usual silent-but-deadly shonen guy. And for some strange reason, he makes me wonder how Lelouch from Code Geass would've been as a normal high school student. But then again, Lelouch wouldn't be Leouch if not for his ability to make an entrance and his 'Lelouch-ness'. His facial expression alone will make you smile, swoon and laugh, sometimes both at the same time.
-Twins Megumi and Jun who are always together (as siblings), have horrible social skills
- Megumi with her dumb charades attitude of not speaking out loud to preserve her singing voice and always using signs & Jun being awkward and not knowing how to act around people.
-Tadashi and Akira who with are their animosity towards each other and all the cooking you know there is something there. Akira is hilarious when she's mad and if they were real, she'd be in anger management classes. Tadashi is fun, he's the guy you'd party with.
-Ryuu who loves nature and animals. A weird guy. I mean that in a sweet way.
-Last but not least is Hikari , who with her being number one obsession you can't help but do the "ha ha!" *Melvin laugh from Simpsons*, when she ranks in second.

Can't say much else without spoilers and I flatly refuse to give any as this is one show that you want to watch with no expectations.

The anime color and style look good. The characters' limbs look so long and they are extremely lanky. Once again, Code Geass flashes across my mind. Also,another weird thing that I noticed was that most characters have the same posture and their hands are always in the same place when they stand. I noticed this the second time I watched episode 1, so I guess it's an intentional designing flaw, else they wouldn't have made it so obvious. But it's sweet, bubbly and funny. The way they are drawn makes them stand out a little from other anime but they are regularly drawn. there is no weird hair color or cool purple eyes. It's one of its charms to be un-artful, and look just like a regular anime, with nothing exceptional.

Music flows with the scenes and nothing feels out of place, though the ending song isn't my favorite.
Honestly, I love the ending and I especially liked that even though it initially seemed similar to OHSHS, they were both handled in a completely different way. My rating on this one is based on its sheer charm. Making the viewer smile unconsciously is something you don't see on anime every day.

This is NOT in English but has English subtitles.

Usually I don't watch Splice of Life or Romance anime (Oran, Azumanga Daouh and Lucky Star are exceptions), but I really enjoyed this show. It was hillarious and a good break from the more intense anime I watch. I loved all the characters, but wished it delved a little deeper into alot of them. The music and voices were also fabulous. The opening and ending theme of the show really stuck into my head. I couldn't stop watching, I had to move on to the next episodes one after another. It was also really funny. There were many time that I burst out laughing because something took me by surprise or some visual gag. The romance in the show was fabulous. You really felt the chemistry between characters, expecially the leads. I had two problems with this show. One is the relationship between Yoshiro and Megami. When this happened it felt strange, very sudden, and I wish they went deeper into the romance developing between the two. They just felt like an unlickly couple. Megumi never even showed signs of liking Yoshiro until then. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be a twist or not. My second problem is the lengh of the show. The ending felt kind of incomplete. It felt like more should have happened throughout the course of the series. I did do some research and turns out the anime left out alot of stuff from the manga that could have been explained. Such as Kei's Grandfathers motive which would have brought some potential drama and some events that happened when they were in London. Other than this I really enjoyed this show and might check out the manga in the future.

if you were expecting a dual language disk, you'll be sadly disappointed!
i pop in the first DVD and looked for "English", imagine my surprise that meant "English subtitles only"

so, if you favor Japanese; enjoy. however, i am a big supporter of both and i like to get my money's worth. never release a series without both languages people!!