Amagami SS & Amagami SS+

Number of Episodes: 26 with 2 OVAs / 13 with 8 OVAs / Special Episodes

What Wikipedia says: The series follows Junichi Tachibana, a second year high school student from Kibitou High who dislikes celebrating Christmas due to a past incident two years ago when his date stood him up on Christmas Eve which left him heartbroken. However, this Christmas will be different as his encounter with one of these six girls, Haruka Morishima, Kaoru Tanamachi, Sae Nakata, Ai Nanasaki, Rihoko Sakurai and Tsukasa Ayatsuji will finally open up his heart to love again. The anime adaptation is rather unusual as it is divided into several story arcs where each arc focuses on one of the main heroines who will become Junichi's love interest. 

 

On August 13, 2011, a second season of Amagami SS was announced.[4] The second season, titled Amagami SS+ plus, aired on January 5, 2012 to March 29, 2012.

What KoanMan says: Amagami SS and Amagami SS+ Plus are unique take on the serial (not parallel) romantic escapades of a schoolboy Tachibana Jun'ichi, apparently spawned from the PS2 dating game of the same name. His character seems to morph into whatever each of the six female love interests seem to need. And as each separate story unfolds with the girls, different aspects of his personality and theirs are brought to the fore. The storyline is well-paced and interesting in its diversity, with director Hiraike Yoshimasa keeping the relationship unique and engaging in its own right. No easy task. Well done.

Morishima Haruka is the senior class goddess, Nakata Sae is shy, quiet one with great taste in clothing, swimmer Nanasaki Ai and the strict class president Ayatsuji Tsukasa are the four that seem to stretch him the most from his natural state. These contrast well with his two childhood friends, the free-spirited and independent Tanamachi Kaoru, and the “overweight” and somewhat retiring Sakurai Rihoko, who accept him more as himself. One says “overweight” as the Japanese determination of this concept differs significantly from that of this round-eyed Gaijin - perhaps the term “not emaciated” might be a better fit for Rihoko’s still-slim figure. 

 

All characters are very well articulated, and even those in the periphery, like his caring but exasperated sister Tachibana Miya (who gets her own OVA - tTPO), and his porn-addicted, sushi-chef-trainee friend Umehara Masayoshi, who are perfect counterweights to the plot.

 

How About the Music? Music is fair, though art director Takahashi Maho has some fine scenery.

So How Does it End? (Spoiler free): In many different, and generally satisfying ways.

Overall Grade: KoanMan enjoyed these series, and did not feel lost, nor bored throughout. Very enjoyable. The score for this collective is a solid A.

Addendum by tTPO: Koanman got this mostly right. This is an excellent harem series that removes some of the 'main protagonist with many girlfriends' issues by simply dealing with each of the different girls in a parallel universe fashion. tTPO enjoyed the original series a bit more than the sequel simply because the original series being 26 episodes, gave the strories just a bit more breathing space. Having said that, if you watch the first season you cannot fail to watch to second I think to see where the relationships continued to (or failed to as the case may be). Where Koanman got it wrong was the music - the changing OPs (as sung by the different girls) in season one, with few exceptions, were great and added (for tTPO) to the different flavour of the arcs. As it is just a bit long and season two not quite as good as season 1, tTPO gives this a B+. Definitely one of the more watchable harem series.