So, another anime series has come to an end, which means it's review time. I should probably say before I get this started, that I have a strong bias towards Kiniro Mosaic, and I don't really know if my review will be helpful or not. Basically, I'm going to go on about how much I loved watching it, and probably not mention much in the way of negative points. Anyway, on with the review!
Kiniro Mosaic starts when a young Japanese girl by the name of Shinobu Oomiya does a homestay in Great Britain, or more specifically, in the Cotswolds in England. She stays with the Cartalet (or however that's supposed to be spelt) family, who have a daughter of the same age, named Alice.
Alice is shy around Shinobu at first, and finds her to be scary because she's trying to befriend her despite not knowing much in the way of the good ol' English language. Eventually, the two become friends, which leads to Alice moving over to Japan to stay with Shinobu.
The anime follows the lives of Alice and Shinobu in Japan, along with their friends Aya Komichi, Youko Inokuma and Karen Kujou.
So, going through the characters, one at a time. First, let's start with Alice. She's a blonde-haired English girl, which is quite a rare sight in a Japanese school. She speaks English fluently, and manages to become proficient in Japanese. I could make a comment about the Japanese accent used with the English language, but I won't. Alice develops quite a thing for Shinobu, and she gets jealous easily when Shinobu interacts with other girls.
Shinobu, or just Shino, absolutely loves anything that's foreign to Japan. Naturally, this means she develops quite a complex for blonde-haired girls, although Alice doesn't really have much concern about that. She tends to dress up in clothes that originate from outside of Japan.
Karen is a half-English, half-Japanese girl, who happens to be from an extremely rich family. She always seems to be wearing a Union Flag (it's only a Union Jack if it is at sea) jacket, and she has quite the energetic personality. No matter the weather, she always seems happy. She's another character who speaks English, so she and Alice can have conversations that the others girls are barely able to understand, though that may have happened only once or twice, and even then it was just casual conversation.
Yokou is very much the tomboy of the group of girls. She's also fairly dense, as the character I'm going to talk about next has quite a thing for her, but she doesn't seem to register that. Anyway, despite her personality, she is also a kind person, as evidenced by Karen's pie-chart of Youko. If you want to know exactly what that is, watch the anime.
Finally, Aya. She has a crush on Youko, though she will vehemently deny it. Karen is clearly onto her, and tries to help her out but she refuses to act. I, amongst the other fans of this anime, would have love to seen Aya just spit out and confess her feelings, but alas, it didn't happen.
As for the supporting cast of characters, there is Shino's sister, Isami. She has a big sister complex, resulting in a phone filled with pictures of Shino, Alice and their friends. Then there is Miss Karasuma, the homeroom teacher for Alice's class. She got a pet rabbit, and named it after Alice, though she was reluctant to reveal that fact. The supporting characters have their funny moments, and it's always nice to see them interacting with the main characters.
I can't really say anything about the plot, because there isn't one. It's just the lives of five schoolgirls as they go about their daily business. However, there are comedic moments that are worth noting. One of my favourites would probably be the "test" that Alice has for Shino after a particular New Year's dream. There are other moments as well, but that sticks at the front of my mind.
Now, we come to the part where we talk about my highlight of the show. For me, personally, I would have to say the finale. I don't want to spoil too much, but Shino tries to come up with a story to tell Alice at bedtime. What follows is quite an adventure, and it's hard to say too much about it without spoiling it. Watch the entire series through, and witness every moment for yourself.
Score: 10/10
See? Told you I was biased. Kiniro Mosaic is a perfect anime if you don't want to concentrate on much of anything whilst watching something. However, you may just get enthralled by the character's interactions with each other, and feel a deep pang of sadness when you realise that you have just watched the final episode.
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