There’s a strange trend in anime recently. Light Novel adaptations have begun lengthening their titles to absurd amounts. With anime like Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon, which is not about picking up girls in dungeons, actually the main character get’s ‘picked up’, and Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist, which is not about a world where the concept of dirty jokes don’t exist, they do exist, but they’re also illegal. Adding to-and possibly surpassing-this trend is the upcoming Comedy, Ecchi, romance, harem, school, Light Novel adaptation called Ore ga Ojou-sama Gakkou ni “Shomin Sample” Toshite Gets-Sareta Ken, translated to, “Story in Which I Was Kidnapped by a Young Lady’s School to be a ‘Sample of the Common People'” and often shortened to “Shomin Sample.” Don’t worry, it gets stranger from here.
The Synopsis reads: “In a hidden school surrounded by mountains, young ladies of good families are taught everything a high class lady needs to know. They are also completely cut off from the outside world, keeping them sheltered and innocent. However, a problem has come up recently—more and more graduates are failing to cope with the modern world after graduation. To deal with this problem, they’ve decided to kidnap a male commoner student, and enroll him as a student. They hope that this will be a gentle way to introduce the girls to the outside world. Kagurazaka Kimito is chosen for this dubious honor, mostly because he seems utterly average. However, the school leaders also seem to have concluded he’s a homosexual with a muscle fetish. When Kimito hears that the alternative may be castration (to protect the girls’ purity), he eagerly plays along with this misconception. Now he’ll just have to survive the attention of many high class young ladies that are completely out of touch with the world!” (Source)
Animated by Silver Link (Kokoro Connect, Yurikuma Arashi), directed by Masato Jinbo (Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei!, Nozo x Kimi), and is adapted from a Light Novel by Takafumi Nanatsuki (Nothing).
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After reading the synopsis and watching the trailer I have this strong sense of… familiarity, almost. I swear I’ve seen this before. I’ve seen these characters before, I’ve seen this setting before, I’ve seen this plot before, I’ve certainly seen these genres together.
But I haven’t read the source material, I haven’t read the Manga adaptation, I obviously haven’t seen the show, but writing this article felt like such a deja vu trip.
Look, let’s get real for a moment. I have tried to stay optimistic about the shows that I’ve covered. I try to make things sound like they have the possibility of being a good show. This show, Shomin Sample, will not, and has no ambition to be, a good show. The name doesn’t suggest that, the synopsis doesn’t suggest that, the staff doesn’t suggest that. Every anime season needs an Ecchi Harem trash, looks like Shomin Sample is ours. But what really irks me about this show, is that not only will it be a trashy show, it’ll be a forgettable, generic, trashy show. This show, is more average than its main character, and that is not a compliment.
Ore ga Ojou-Sama Gakkou ni “Shomin Sample” Toshite Gets-Sareta Ken will begin airing October 7th, 2015, for the 2015 Fall season.
