S.A - Special A : Series Info

This review is to promote S.A - Special A series which I've finished watching recently. Saw the Promo Trailer of this anime at Crunchyroll months ago but it was only 3 days ago that I started watching it. It is still not uploaded at Crunchyroll. However, you can watch the compelete series at YouTube. To make it easier for those who are keen in this series, I have posted up all the links to the 24 episodes in a separate posting. I love the color palette that the animators choose and some of the characters look insane which is a plus in my book. This review is filled with snippets of the animation that we'll see in the series, and basically an introduction of the 7 main characters of the series. I have also posted the links for all 24 episodes of the series under "S.A - Special A : Links for the series" posting.

S.A. - Special A Promo Trailer



About the series
Hikari Hanazono has always been second to Kei Takishima. When they were six years old, their pro-wrestling loving fathers introduced them to each other. Assuming that she was the best in wrestling, young Hikari challenged Kei to a wrestling match only to be thoroughly defeated by him. Ever since that fateful incident, Hikari swore to beat Kei in school grades, sporting events - anything. To do this, she has enrolled in the same school as Kei since elementary. Now she attends Hakusenkan, an ultra elite school, that costs her carpenter father a lot of money. Hikari and Kei are the top two students in the school, with Kei holding firmly to that number one position. While Hikari considers Kei to be a rival and important friend. The story primarily focuses on Hikari and her constant attempts to defeat her one and only rival, Kei.


Characters (SPOILER!!!)
Hikari Hanazono [華園 光] / Voiced by: Yuko Goto
Hikari is the protagonist of the story and is ranked 2nd in the school. She is energetic and kindhearted, but rather dense when it comes to love. She is the daughter of a carpenter. When she was six years old she experienced her first defeat and humiliation when she lost to Kei Takishima in a pro-wrestling match. In order to beat Kei, Hikari convinced her father to allow her to attend Kei's prestigious elite school and strives to defeat Kei at anything, from academics to athletics.

Kei Takishima [滝島 彗] / Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama
Kei is Hikari's rival and holds the 1st position in the entire school. He is good at everything he does and is always a smooth winner. He is the son of the CEO of Takishima Corporation. Kei has been in love with Hikari since they were children, but Hikari has been too dense to realize his feelings for her. He maintains a stoic and cool facade most of the time, except for when Hikari is in trouble.

Jun Yamamoto [山本 純] / Voiced by: Tsubasa Yonaga
Jun is ranked 3rd in school and is the son of a music producer and a talented vocalist. He is a nice guy and is usually quiet like his twin sister, Megumi. Like Megumi, he is very possessive of Ryuu and seems to worry Ryuu as much as he worries about the two of them. Jun is rather shy around girls, which resulted in a split personality who is able to charm women effortlessly.

Megumi Yamamoto [山本 芽] / Voiced by: Ayahi Takagaki
Megumi holds the 4th position in school and is the older twin sister of Jun. She and her brother are very close to Ryuu, whom they have known since they were children. Megumi refuses to speak so as to preserve her singing voice and writes what she wishes for people to know on a sketchpad. When she sings, her voice is so devastatingly powerful that everyone ends up dazed and disoriented afterward.

Tadashi Karino [狩野 宙] / Voiced by: Hiro Shimono
Tadashi ranks 5th in school and is the son of the school's director. He suffers from a bit of wanderlust, likes to travel alone and do whatever he wants or sees fit. He enjoys eating sweets, especially food made by Akira. He seems to end up as the character most comically attacked (frequently by Akira and Kei) because of his careless comments or reckless behavior.

Akira Toudou [東堂 明] / Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame
Akira holds the 6th position in school and is very fond of Hikari; as a result, she is very protective of her. She loves afternoon tea and is very fond of cute girls. Akira apparently is in love with Tadashi and she never seems to hold back when hitting him. She is the daughter of the owner of an airline company.

Ryuu Tsuji [辻 竜] / Voiced by: Kazuma Horie
Ryuu ranks 7th in the entire school cohort. He is the son of the CEO of a sports company and one of his family's clients is Yahiro's family. He is an animal lover and is very good at handling children. The twins, Megumi and Jun, are unusually close to him, because they have been together since childhood. It is hinted that perhaps he is smarter than 7th place, but spends the majority of the time during exams worrying about Jun and Megumi, who tend to become bored or sleep during tests.


Music
1st Opening theme
"Special Days" (episodes 1 - 12) Clip
Performed by Yuko Goto, with S.A (Hitomi Nabatame and Ayahi Takagaki)

1st Ending theme
"Hidamari no Gate" (陽だまりのゲート) (episodes 1 - 12, 24) Clip
Performed by Jun Fukuyama, Hiro Shimono, Tsubasa Yonaga, Kazuma Horie

2nd Opening theme
"Gorgeous 4U" (episodes 13 - 24) Clip
Performed by Jun Fukuyama, Hiro Shimono, Tsubasa Yonaga, Kazuma Horie

2nd Ending theme
"Special Gyutto Good Luck!" (スペシャル☆ギュッとGood luck!) (episodes 13 - 23) Clip
Performed by Yuko Goto, Hitomi Nabatame, and Ayahi Takagaki


Links
S.A. - Special A Official Site
Special A - Episodes 1 - 24 (Complete)