WARNING: The following article contains SPOILERS for The Fruit of Grisaia episode 1. If you don’t want to be spoiled, please stop reading. You have been warned.
The Fruit of Grisaia takes us to Mihama Academy as it is introduced to Yugi Kazami as a “normal school”, but within the first five minutes you are shown that this school is everything but normal. Surveillance cameras line the walls bordering the school and not one student can be found even though it’s a weekday. Kazami is told that only six other students, including himself, even attend this school (the other students all happen to be female) and the only other person is the the principal, Chizuru Tachibana.
To me, Kazami is not like most male protagonists in an anime where one male attends a school full of girls. He is very quiet and polite, he also isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind, which makes him come off a bit arrogant, but very cool.
This first episode focuses on Kazami introducing himself to the other students and we are shown five different types of personalities that have been done in multiple animes time and time again. You have:
- Sachi Komine: The very helpful and attractive class representative who dresses as a maid for various reasons.
- Amane Suou: The independent and friendly student who blushes when she first sees Kazami.
- Makina Irisu: The strangely-dressed student who is shy and very quiet (I bet you can’t help but smile when she says, “why do I?” in English).
- Michiru Matsushima: The loud and excited student who is trying to be a tsundere girl.
- Yumiko Sakaki: The mysterious girl who avoids class and is very quick to pull a knife on someone.
These generic characters began to bore me throughout the episode as they did little to offer any character personality that I haven’t see in previous anime, but then the last four minutes happen and I am blown away and drawn in to follow this series to the end. No, I’m not talking about the out-of-nowhere fan service from a shirtless Suou! I’m talking about the quick scenes of the students that show that they all have something they are hiding and there is more to them than a generic schoolgirl personality. Even Kazami has a some interesting secrets waiting to be discovered. While The Fruit of Grisaia does offer some fan service, I feel like even viewers who don’t enjoy those types of anime can still get into the story that is emerging from this first episode.
I didn’t know what to expect going into this first episode and after I saw the ending it made me want to watch it again to see if I missed any details that would help me understand the real intentions of the school and these characters. Please watch it along with me and let’s get down to the bottom of this intriguing group of “normal” students.
The Fruit of Grisaia is available to watch on Crunchyroll. New episodes come out Sundays at 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT for premium users. Non-premium users will be able to watch one week after it first airs.
