Welcome back to Kibitou High.note
Seiren ("Honest") follows Shouichi Kamita, an Ordinary High-School Student who is faced with impending university entrance exams and worries about what he wants to do as a career. However, through meeting and forming relationships with his various female schoolmates, he might finally stand to find some direction in his life.
An Anime First series that premiered in January 2017, Seiren is the sequel to Amagami, and shares its predecessor's omnibus format, with each female romantic interest receiving a dedicated 4 episode arc. Like Amagami, Seiren is set at Kibitou High, albeit nine years after the previous series. The anime has arcs for Hikari Tsuneki, Toru Miyamae, and Kyouko Touno. Arcs for Miu Hiyama, Makoto Kamizaki, and Ruise Sanjyou are planned for release at a later date.
Seiren provides examples of:
- The Ace: Toru is noted to be an honor student, a top athlete, a professional level gamer, and has a figure that leads to her friends asking her to model clothes for them.
- Ascended Extra: Ikuo gets a more expanded role in here than in Amagami, since he was simply Ai Nanasaki's cute little brother there.
- Babies Ever After: The end of Toru's arc shows her Happily Married to Shouichi with a young daughter.
- Balanced Harem: Like the previous series, the omnibus format allows each girl to "win" in her own arc.
- Big Brother Worship: Toru is implied to have this towards her older brother as a child, and it's suggested that this is the source of her gaming habit, as her brother used to be an avid gamer.
- Book Dumb: Shouichi is implied to be this as he has Ikuo tutor him, and his classmates suggest that getting good grades is not a normal occurrence for him. Hikari is also suggested to be this as in her arc, she requests that Ikuo tutor her as well, not wanting to fail a final and be forced to miss a trip with her peers on summer break. Confirmed in Episode 2, when it's revealed that Hikari attends a class at summer prep school for poorly performing students, in contrast to Shouichi and Ikuo, who is are in the basic and elite classes, respectively.
- This could be a downplayed example, however, as Ikuo, Shouichi, and Hikari scored
5th, 34th, and 36th place respectively out of 180 second year students in Kibitou, while many students who attended summer prep school were top achievers from several high schools in the country. Relative to those attendees, Shouichi and Hikari would likely fit this trope.
- This could be a downplayed example, however, as Ikuo, Shouichi, and Hikari scored
- Bromantic Foil: Ikuo is this to Shouichi.
- Changing of the Guard: Ikuo is Ai Nanasaki's younger brother, and made minor appearances in the previous series as a child. Makoto may be related to Risa Kamizaki, as they share the same last name.
- Character Development: Ikuo, who used to be a mischievous and rambunctious child, has matured into a calm and thoughtful person not unlike his sister, ostensibly due to her influence.
- Chekhov's Skill: Episode 6 reveals that Shoichi excelled at a bus driving arcade game. The end of Toru's arc shows that he has taken up a job as a school bus driver for his daughter's kindergarten, where Toru teaches.
- Childhood Friend: Shouichi has this relationship with Ikuo, Tatsuya, and Kyouko. Kyouko's relationship with Shoichi eventually graduates into a Childhood Friend Romance in her own arc.
- Hikari Tsuneki: Episodes 1-4
- Toru Miyamae: Episodes 5-8
- Kyouko Touno: Episodes 9-12
- Continuity Nod: Being a sequel to Amagami, this series has some references and nods to its prequel. All of these can also double as Mythology Gags, due to the fact that each arc in both series are Alternate Continuities to each other.
- Episode 1 shows that Ikuo likes Panda Cocoa, the same drink that Sae, a friend of his older sister Ai, is often seen drinking.
- Episode 2 reveals that Hikari was chased back to summer prep school by hostile deer when she attempted to escape. In Ai's arc in Amagami SS+, an increase in deer population and the chance they might get hostile is the reason Junichi and Ai can't go to the hot spring they visited at the end of her arc in SS.
- Episode 4 has Makoto remark that the pump shed is a popular location for romantic encounters between couples. Incidentally, Junichi and Haruka had such an encounter there in her arc.
- Episode 5 shows Toru doing the same Inago Mask pose that Junichi taught Ai in her arc. Ikuo is visibly surprised by her knowledge of this, as he was a fan of the franchise as a child.
- Cower Power: In Episode 2, Miu hides behind Toka in this manner after being surprised by Shouichi jumping out from the vending machine behind which he was hiding.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Shouichi has no clue what he wants to do past graduation, and it's a thought that clearly weighs heavily upon him.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Like the previous series, each arc features a unique ending theme, sung by the voice actor of its focus heroine.
- Easily Forgiven: In Episode 4, it is revealed that it was Yukie, not Shouichi, ratted out Hikari working a part-time job, leading to her parents forcing her to go to summer prep school and missing the mixer trip (see Removing the Rival for more details). Surprisingly, Hikari is not angry at Yukie for this and forgives her instead.
- Enter Stage Window: Having been forced by her parents to attend summer prep school, Hikari attempts to escape, but finds herself being chased by deer back to the hotel she was staying at. To escape them, she climbs into the nearest open window, which just happened to lead into Shouichi's room. He's naturally freaked out, having been told earlier by Ikuo that the building is haunted by the ghost of a student who reportedly committed suicide by jumping out of a window, and mistaking Hikari for said ghost.
- Exact Words: In Episode 1, Hikari claimed that the trip she wanted to go on during summer break was a family trip, though it was later revealed at the start of Episode 2 to be a mixer tour with a few of her peers. When Shouichi asks her about this lie in Episode 3, Hikari replies that she technically wasn't being deceitful, as she might have a family with one of said peers in future.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Ruise appears to have these constantly.
- Expressive Accessory: The rabbit plush Toru gives Shouichi in Episode 7 is this, as its facial expressions occasionally change to match Shouichi's.
- Expy: Mako is this to Keiko Tanaka from Amagami, with both characters sharing similar physical appearances and mannerisms. Both characters are also voiced by Mai Kadowaki.
- Those Two Girls of the Home Ec Club, Koharu Uno and Nao Tokioka are basically this for Amagami's Those Two Girls of the Tea Club, Ruriko Yuzuki and Manaka Hiba respectively.
- Food as Bribe: Hikari offers Ikuo three cans of Panda Cocoa drink if he agrees to tutor her.
- The Gadfly: Hikari, who enjoys saying things to get a rise out of people.
- Gamebooks: Like the previous series, each girl has her own 4 episode arc with no Continuity between them, allowing viewers to selectively choose which arcs to view based on which girls appeal to them.
- Gamer Chick: Toru is this. Hikari was also this back in middle school when she use to hang out with the former.
- Get a Room!: At the start of Episode 3, a student remarks this, disturbed by Hikari's overly flirtatious behavior towards Shouichi just before class starts.
- Gossip Evolution: Hikari being seen exiting Shouichi's room at the start of Episode 2, her borrowing of his tracksuit, and her subsequent flirtatious interactions with him leads to this among the students at the summer prep school, as people like Miu and Toka think they were doing something lewd. This is not helped by the fact that Hikari played along with the rumors and gleefully fueled them in part on her own, as evidenced by her conversation with Mako in the laundry room.
- Happily Married: Shouichi and Toru reach this status at the end of the latter's arc.
- Her Boyfriend's Jacket: Although they weren't dating at the time, Hikari wearing Shouichi's tracksuit throughout her time in summer prep school is clearly meant to evoke this trope, as it leads other students to mistakenly think they are dating.
- Hotter and Sexier: Amagami was already known for its grotesque fanservice with no real eroticism, but Seiren raises it to a new level.
- The Marvelous Deer: This seems to crop as a recurring motif in this series.
- In Hikari's arc, she is prevented from escaping summer prep school by a herd of agitated deer, and later develops an aversion to them. At the end of the arc, she has graduated culinary arts and specializes in cooking venison.
- In Toru's arc, she first meets Shouichi, Ikou, and Araki when they are playing a deer-based game at the bottom of a stairwell, and strikes up a friendship with them because she also plays the same game.
- Maybe Ever After: Hikari's arc ends this way, as following her date with Shouichi on the beach, they exchanged numbers, but never spoke to each other in five years, with Hikari leaving for Spain to study culinary arts after graduation. They happen to meet again by chance when Hikari returns to Japan and resumes working at the restaurant that formerly employed her, discovering that Shouichi is also now working there. Whether a relationship subsequently results between them or not is left ambiguous.
- Misplaced Retribution: Hikari's friends think she is turning her Gadfly tendencies towards Shouichi because she was upset at losing the previous year's Miss Santa competition to his older sister, Tomoe, despite Shouichi having nothing to do with it. Hikari herself denies this, however, stating that she was simply messing with him.
- Mistaken for Gay: In Episode 1, Hikari's friends made this assumption of Shouichi and Ikuo, as they are regularly seen hanging out together.
- In Episode 3, to keep Hikari from being discovered by the teacher in the mens' baths, Shouchi deliberately invokes this trope by having an erection and offering to wash the teacher's back, freaking the man out to the point that he beats a hasty retreat.
- Mondegreen Gag: In Episode 1, referring to his studies, Shouichi shouts out his window that he would "stick to it all the way". This is misheard by others as "sticking it in all the way" instead. That, coupled with Hikari being seen exiting his room soaking wet, leads to Gossip Evolution among the students at summer prep school.
- One-Gender School: As its name suggests, Sakuragawa Higashi Girls' High School, which Miu and Toka attend, is this.
- One of the Boys: Toru is this in her arc, as she strikes up a friendship with Shouichi, Ikuo, and Araki over video games. In Episode 7, it's revealed that she typically hung out with boys as a child since they shared her gaming interests, which alienated her from most girls.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: In Toru's arc, Hikari wears a pair of glasses at her workplace to avoid being recognized, as Kibitou's rules forbid its students from getting part-time jobs. Shouichi and Tomoe and the latter's friends recognize her anyway.
- Paper Tiger: Despite his efforts to look intimidating by wearing sunglasses, carrying around a shinai, and adopting the mannerisms of a Drill Sergeant Nasty, the teacher at summer prep school is this, as he is easily freaked out by Shouichi's advances in the bath and was pushed around and disrespected by students the previous year. Mako reveals that she brought him the sunglasses and shinai as a result.
- Removing the Rival: Hikari being a victim of this at the hands of Yukie is what caused her to miss the mixer trip and be forced to attend summer prep school, as the latter reported the former having a part-time job to the disciplinary committee. Yukie did this to prevent Araki, who was also going on the trip, from hooking up with Hikari, whom he seemed interested in at the time, so that she could date him instead.
- Second Place Is for Losers: According to her friend, in her arc, Hikari was rather upset to have lost the previous year's Miss Santa competition to Tomoe.
- This is averted in Toru's arc, where Hikari instead expresses admiration towards Tomoe.
- Second Place Is for Winners: Despite having won the Miss Santa competition the previous year, Tomoe prefers the second place prize won by Hikari, an exclusive table on the terrace and guaranteed servings of the day's popular cafeteria menu items, over her own prize, being exempted from disciplinary committee appearance checks.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: In Episode 2, Shouichi has this reaction when he overhears Miu and Toka assume he is dating Hikari and gossiping about his relationship with her.
- Shrinking Violet: Makoto is this, which prevents her from properly executing her duties as a member of the disciplinary committee, because she doesn't have the courage to tell off her wrongdoing schoolmates.
- Silent Treatment: Because someone reported Hikari taking a part-time job whilst in high school to Kibitou's disciplinary committee, her parents barred her from going on the mixer trip she wanted to attend and forced her to go to summer prep school instead. In Episode 3, when Shouichi reveals that he knew Hikari was working that job, she suspects that he is the snitch, despite his assertions to the contrary. As Hikari starts giving him this treatment following that conversation, Shouichi believes that Hikari is still resentful of him.
- Suddenly Speaking: Ikuo, who was The Voiceless in the previous series, is fully voiced in this series.
- Underwater Kiss: Shouichi and Hiakri's First Kiss is this.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: After being chased by deer when she attempted to escape summer prep school, Hikari appears to have developed an aversion to them.
