Dating Sim Adaptation by Madhouse

Premise: Our boring harem protagonist has received a camera from his father and wants to make photography his new hobby. Typical dating sim antics ensue.

Lifesong’s Verdict: Cute Girls Everywhere

This is an anime about a boy, a camera, and a school full of girls he is on “friendly” terms with… I think this is probably going to creep most people out, but I thought the first episode was cute. The animation is a mess and the comedy friend act is about as creepy as they come. Most of the artwork is pretty, though a good deal of it comes out in the form of a slide show. Some of the art is… wrong. When I say wrong I don’t mean the panty shots which are also there, but bad anatomy. In one shot a girl’s hand is backwards for example.

I liked the laid back atmosphere and I think this show has some potential. The question I have now is how will it be adapted? Will each girl get their own route, or will become a messy harem deal? I could see it going either way, the former having more potential than the later. I can’t really call this anime exciting, but I am looking forward to seeing how it will play out.

Zigg’s Verdict: Indecent Exposure

This is shitty, creepy, utterly worthless fanservice of the very worst kind, but I’ll give it this – it’s honest and it delivers what you want, namely a ton of girls in a variety of fetishy outfits. In fact, there are probably too many girls, and they all look irritatingly similar, leading me to just sort of stop bothering to care. Given we watched this as a team, it was incredible fun to watch and mock too, and Photography Club President seems to be in on the joke with a bombastically hammy performance. It’s crap, but I can’t deny I was pretty entertained. You’d have to hold me down Clockwork Orange style to make me watch it alone however.

Iro’s Verdict: Just Close The Aperture

Photo Kano shares a number of negatives with other anime based on dating sims. The ostensible lack of focus on any one girl means that there just isn’t enough film to capture them all, meaning each one gets their introductory zoom shot (usually while over-exposing their panties, no less) before the viewfinder moves on to the next. This panoramic approach (as opposed to Amagami’s reset-button-for-each-girl method) lends itself to a poorly developed plot progression, and isn’t helped by the fact that they all mostly look the same. Add that the fanservice is framed hilariously blatantly and the production values in general just aren’t very focused, and everything just coalesces into a bad anime that is enjoyably mockable. Do not watch this unless you are doing so with friends who will tear it to pieces with you; get the picture?

Marlin’s Verdict: AKA The Sexual Harassment Diaries

Honestly people, I understand that this appeals to the unfortunate baser instincts of most men, but for the love of all that is even somewhat right, there has to be better ways right? This isn’t even pornographic, it’s just completely fetishistic. If you really are the kind of creepy voyeur that this stuff is aimed at, I’m sure if you went to danbooru or 4chan you can find what you’re looking for. Do you really need a poorly drawn anime to fulfill that for you?

PS: Fun fact, at the part where he imagines taking lewd pictures, the last one was of his sister, and we literally all had the same dumbfounded response. It was probably the best moment of the show.