Episode 3 of Saekano: How To Raise A Boring Girlfriend, titled “Retake the Climax,” is currently streaming on Crunchyroll for paid members. This same episode will be available for free members on February 5th, which is roughly six days from now.
I had recently finished watching episode 16 of Shirobako, which has a similar feel to Saekano, but with the focus on anime production. It is important to understand that creating a visual novel is a lot of work and requires an effective production team, which mirrors the production process in Shirobako.
Doujins are usually smaller than professional production studios, which makes it difficult and time-consuming to create one single visual novel.
Tomoya’s problem is getting the circle members together, which is difficult because they have other priorities like school. Megumi, who Blessing Software is modeling the star after, is currently in Hokkaido on a family trip.
I laughed when Tomoya slacked off by deciding to read his light novels to “motivate him.” He fell asleep and didn’t notice Eriri invited herself into the house during that time. It got funnier when Tomoya got Eriri a soda before even realizing that she was already inside his room.
He is lucky that it was Eriri and not a group of burglars that entered the house.
I love how Eriri acts nonchalant and in the zone when Tomoya demands an explanation of her being inside his home.
Eriri emphasizes that the other people in Blessing Software have responsibilities, which includes making deadlines on her part. One has to be reminded that Eriri is a successful manga artist that specializes in 18+ manga.
In this case, Eriri has a deadline to meet let alone produce work to show off at an upcoming festival.
The situation becomes more interesting with Utaha drops by to visit. I love Utaha’s version of telling Tomoya to give up. It is funny that Utaha can be very condescending, while sounding sweet and polite about it at the same time.
Utaha bestows a powerful piece of wisdom to Tomoya that being a creator is not fun and games, which is true. This is similar to creating an anime series, a TV series, a manga series, a comic book series, or a video game series.
I was surprised that Utaha revealed her “true colors” by talking about critics and reviewers. This mirrors the latest episode of Shirobako.
This especially reminded me of UFC Fighter Tyron Woodley’s challenge on Twitter. Woodley expressed anger with fans because they kept criticizing the fighters for allowing the fights to end in the judges’ decision. His feelings mirror Utaha’s feelings.
At least Utaha shows that she is human.
Utaha’s keen intuition was amazing even though Eriri forgot to hide her bicycle. I felt sorry for Eriri, who was hiding in the closet the whole time.
The one touching moment is when Megumi comes back from vacation, but takes on her “persona.” I laughed when Megumi revealed that she received help from Eriri and Utaha, who knew what Tomoya was working for. Megumi learns the hard way that Utaha is a hard@$$ when it comes to “getting things right.”
This was ultimately an entertaining and educational episode.
If you are leading a team of people, they need directions. You cannot give directions until you finally realize what you want. Ultimately, seriously think about what project you want to do and how to proceed with it.
I would suggest you watch the latest episode of Shirobako after watching this episode.