The second half of “Special A-Class (S.A.)” features more laughs, hijinks but also a more dramatic and emotional episodes featuring the main characters. A fitting conclusion to the series!
Image courtesy of © 2008 Maki minami – Hakusensha. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Special A-Class (S.A.) Collection 2
DURATION: Episodes 13-24 (300 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles
COMPANY: Showgate/Sentai Filmworks
RATED: TV PG
Released in 2010
Based on the manga and created by Maki Minami
Directed by Yoshikazu Miyao
Series Composition: Juki Hanada
Screenplay by Juki Hanada, Kenji Sugihara, Michiko Itou, Natsue Yoguchi, Yuuko Kakihara
Character Design by Koyotaka Nakahara
Music by Rie Mitsunaga, Shogo Kaida
Sound Director: Satoki Ida
Anime Production by GONZO and AIC
Featuring the following voice talent:
Jun Fukuyama as Kei Takishima
Yuko Goto as Hikari Hanazono
Ami Koshimizu as Chitose Saiga
Ayahi Takagaki as Megumi YAmamoto
Hiro Shimono as Tadashi Karino
Hitomi Nabatame as Akira Todo
Kazuma Horie as Ryu Tsuji
Kisho Taniyama as Yahiro Saiga
Koji Yusa as Aoi Ogata
Natsuko Kuwatani as Sakura Ushikubo
Tsubasa Yonaga as Jun Yamamoto
The members of the S.A. may be exceptional, but that doesn’t keep some of them from being exceptionally dense! While Kei’s thoughts about Hikari may be leaning in one direction, Hikari still sees him as the obstacle that has to be removed. Meanwhile, Akira’s attempts to protect her friend Yui from Yahiro are having unanticipated effects, Jun is forced to reveal a secret he’s been keeping from the others, and every other person in the group seems to be in love with someone else, but never the right ones!
To cap it all off, an outside force threatens to intervene in a way that will destroy the S.A. forever! Will Hikari finally figure it all out before it’s too late?
Contains episodes 13-24.
The second half of “Special A-Class (S.A.)” features more laughs, hijinks but also a more dramatic and emotional episodes featuring the main characters. A fitting conclusion to the series!
“Special A” (or “S.A.”) is an anime that was adaptated in 2008 from Maki Minami’s shoujo manga which was serialized on “Hana to Yume” and ran for 99 chapters before ending on March 19, 2009. The anime series ran for 26 episodes and now the first 13 episodes will be released stateside courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.
The anime is directed by Yoshikazu Miyao (who worked on “Gad Guard”, “Vandread” and “Melody of Oblivion”), series composition by Juki Hanada (“Chobits”, “K-On!”, “Sola”, “Petite Princess Yucie”) and character design by Kiyotaka Nakahara (“Ichigo 100%”, “Mouse”, “Cardcaptor Sakura”, “Sakura Wars”).
The series revolves around the Special-A class students, a group of students who have excelled in their classes at Hakusen Academy. Students are grouped into A-F and for Special-A, seven students are members of the elite class.
The main characters of “Special A” are:
Hikaru Hanazono – The main protagonist of the series and is the #2 student of the Special-A group. Raised to excel in fighting and also the classroom. Since she was younger, she has always come in #2 behind her rival Kei Takishima. She has vowed to no longer be #2 by trying to surpass Kei in a variety of activities.
Kei Takashima – The other protagonist of the series and is the #1 student of the Special-A group. Kei excels in everything that he does and enjoys beating Hikaru and reminding her that she’s #2. But over the course of their rivalry, Kei starts to fall for her. Kei is the song of the CEO of Takashima Corporation.
Jun Yamamoto – The #3 student of the Special-A group, Jun is the twin of Megumi. He and his sister are over protective towards their classmate Ryuu. Jun is the son of a famous music producer and talented vocalist.
Megumi Yamamoto – The #4 student of Special-A, Megumi is the twin sister of Jun and also doesn’t talk (by choice) and prefers to use signs as a way to communicate to people. When she does talk, its typically when she sings (which is her passion) and her singing is so bad that it can damage the ears of people. Like her brother, she is overprotective of their classmate Ryuu. Megumi is the daughter of a famous music producer and talented vocalist.
Tadashi Karino – Tadashi is the #5 student and is the son of the director of the school. Always hungry and can be reckless at times.
Akira Todou – Akira is the #6 student and Hikari’s best friend. She’s overprotective over Hikari and the daughter of an owner of an airline company. She loves cooking.
Ryuu Tsuji – Ryuu is the #7 student of Special-A and is often accompanied by the Yamamoto twins. A hardcore animal lover, Ryuu is the son of a CEO of a sports car company.
The final 12 episodes are featured on two DVD’s. Here is a basic synopsis for each episode:
DISC 1:
- EPISODE 13 – Magic – Members of S.A. must spend three days in an ordinary high school but when Akira encounters a girl that resembles a friend from a painful time in her past, she doesn’t know if she can be friends with her.
- EPISODE 14 – Protecting-Apologizing – Akira becomes friends with Yui and tries to protect her from Yahiro.
- EPISODE 15 – Moral Code-Excellence – Because Hikari told Kei that she will go on a date with him (while he was sick), she does so but meets a friend of Kei’s named Sakura.
- EPISODE 16 – Love-Kiss – Sakura holds a party but her intention is to get closer to Jun.
- EPISODE 17 – Restraint-Smiling Face– The S.A. group is invited to attend and plan a festival at Kokusen Academy, the school where Sakura and Yahiro are from.
- EPISODE 18 – Toudou-Karino – A new development in Tadashi and Akira’s friendship?
DISC 2:
- EPISODE 19 – Singing Voice-Bad Guy – What happens when Hikari has a fever?
- EPISODE 20 – Switch-Critical Moment – Hikari, Kei and Jun attend the opening of an athletic park and they bump into Sakura who hopes to get closer to Jun.
- EPISODE 21 – Evenly Match – Wished Granted – Hikari meets Aoi Ogata of the Takishima group and wants Kei to move to London.
- EPISODE 22 – Love-Strange – Hikari has feelings for Kei but feels awkward to be around him because of her emotions.
- EPISODE 23 – SA-FA – Aoi leads to the disbanding of S.A due to Kei going to London. but Kei offers a challenge to Hikari. If she can beat him, he will bring back the S.A.
- EPISODE 24 – Hanazono Hikari-Takishima Kei – Hikari and friends try to stop Kei from leaving to London and this time, will she be able to let him know of her feelings toward him?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Special A-Class (S · A) Collection 2” is featured in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. As a recent anime series, “S.A.” sports vibrant colors and beautifully painted art backgrounds and structures. Character designer Kiyotaka Nakahara was definitely respectful to the original manga character designs by Maki Minami and overall, pretty cool animation and with the series taking place in a variety of locations, GONZO and AIC did a wonderful job with the art production.
Audio is in Japanese only and voice acting is solid. Jun Fukuyama who plays the character of Kei Takishima is known for his voice work on series such as Lelouch of “Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion” and many other anime and the same with Yuki Goto who does the voice of Hikari, who has done the voices of Mikuru Asahina of “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” and many other anime series. Overall, solid voice acting by the Japanese voice talent.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Special A-Class (S · A) Collection 2” features the clean opening and closing animation are included plus an production sketch and Sentai Filmworks trailers.
After watching the second volume of “Special A-Class (S · A)”, I found the second half to be much more entertaining. Primarily because the first half was more of character development episodes and more hi-jinks but this time around, the second half features episodes that are much more dramatic and emotional and manages to tie-in all characters rather nicely.
While the first half was quite fun as it focused primarily on Hikari and Kei and their rivalry, the second half focuses more on these newfound emotions that she has towards him but also storylines that pertain to Akira, Tadashi and Jun.  So, for the most part, the second half was much more entertaining for me.
As for the DVD, “Special A-Class (S · A) Collection 2” features really beautiful character designs and with more areas featuring the characters (especially the last two episodes), I really enjoyed the painted, artistic backgrounds. Showgate did a really good job with this series.
Overall, “Special A-Class (S · A) Collection” is an enjoyable series. It has some hi-jinks for those who enjoyed anime series such as “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” and also includes dramatic elements as well. A fine balance of both humor and drama to make up an entertaining series. Definitely a series worth checking out!