''Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend'', known in Japan as and the short form is a Japanese

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...

series written by Fumiaki Maruto, with illustrations by Kurehito Misaki.

Fujimi Shobo , formerly , was a Japanese publisher that specialized in light novels, manga, Japanese role-playing games, role-playing games and collectible card games. Founded in 1972 and reorganized three times, it was at times an independent company and at ...

published thirteen volumes between July 2012 and October 2017 under their

Fujimi Fantasia Bunko is a light novel publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company Fujimi Shobo, a brand company of Kadokawa Corporation , formerly is a Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Fujimi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. C ...

imprint. The story follows high school student Tomoya Aki, who recruits a trio of beautiful girls to help him develop a

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

to sell at the

Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual Doujinshi convention, ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered ...

convention. ''Saekano'' has received a

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

adaptation in addition to three spin-off manga adaptations. An

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation by

A-1 Pictures is a Japanese animation studio and production company founded by ex- Sunrise producer Mikihiro Iwata. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan's anime production firm Aniplex. History The company was established by SMEJ's animat ...

aired from January 9 to March 27, 2015 on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

noitamina is a Japanese programming block on Fuji Television devoted to anime, originally broadcast every Thursday late night/Friday morning from 0:45 to 1:15 JST. It was launched with the intention of expanding the target audience beyond the typical you ...

block, which has been licensed by

Aniplex of America Aniplex of America, or Aniplex USA, is an anime distributor based in Santa Monica, California that serves as the American distribution enterprise of Aniplex, an entertainment company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, where its goal is to ...

. A second season aired from April 6 to June 23, 2017, and was streamed exclusively on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

. A visual novel based on the anime, titled ''Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata -Blessing Flowers-'', was released on April 30, 2015. An animated film, titled '' Saekano the Movie: Finale'', was produced by

CloverWorks is a Japanese animation studio that was rebranded from A-1 Pictures' Kōenji Studio. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan's anime production firm Aniplex. Establishment On April 1, 2018, A-1 Pictures rebranded its Kōenji Studio ...

and premiered on October 26, 2019.

Premise

Tomoya Aki, a male high school teenager who works part-time to fund his ''

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, such as anime, manga, video games, computers or other highly enthusiastic hobbies. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. ...

'' lifestyle (light novels, manga, anime, video games like

visual novels A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

and

dating sim Dating sims, also known as dating simulation games, are a video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. While resembling the visual novel genre in presentation, true dating sims utilize an additional statistical and time manage ...

s, and related merchandise) encounters a beautiful girl one day during spring vacation. A month later, he finds out that the girl is his classmate, Megumi Kato, who is hardly noticeable to her classmates. Hoping to create a visual novel computer game, he turns to school beauties Eriri Spencer Sawamura for designing the art, and Utaha Kasumigaoka for writing the game scenario. Tomoya then recruits Megumi to star as the "heroine" (the main character's love interest) of his game, thus forming the development team "Blessing Software", in which the three most renowned students in the school (Tomoya, Eriri, and Utaha) work on one of the least noticeable (Megumi). The series follows their adventures in developing the game and their plans to sell it at the

convention, as well as the emotional entanglements among the team.

Publication

''Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend'' began as a

series written by Fumiaki Maruto, with illustrations provided by Kurehito Misaki. The first light novel volume was published by

under their

imprint on July 20, 2012. In the twelfth volume, Maruto announced that the series would end in the thirteenth volume, which was released on October 20, 2017. As of November 2018, thirteen volumes and two short story collections have been published.

Media

Manga

adaptation with art by Takeshi Moriki was serialized from January 9, 2013 to August 9, 2016 in Fujimi Shobo's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''

Monthly Dragon Age is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Fujimi Shobo. The magazine began as a combination between ''Monthly Comic Dragon'' and ''Monthly Dragon Junior'', two former magazines published by Fujimi Shobo. The first issue was published in ...

''. It has been collected in eight ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes between August 2013 and November 2016. It has also been published in English by Yen Press between January 2016 and December 2017. A

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

manga titled with art by Niito was serialized from February 4, 2013 to May 2, 2014 in

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Young Ace is a monthly ''seinen'' manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 2009. A spin-off web manga magazine titled ''Young Ace UP'' began publication in December 2015. Series ''Young Ace'' *''Akuma no Ikenie'' ('' Devil's Sacr ...

''. It has been collected in three ''tankōbon'' volumes. Another spin-off manga titled with art by Sabu Musha was serialized from August 24, 2013 to April 25, 2018 in

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine '' Big Gangan''. It has been collected in ten ''tankōbon'' volumes. A manga adaptation of ''Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata: Girls Side'' was serialized in Fujimi Shobo's ''Monthly Dragon Age'' magazine from September 9, 2016 to June 9, 2017. It has been collected in two ''tankōbon'' volumes.

Anime series

television series adaptation of the light novel series was announced in March 2014 to premiere on

Noitamina is a Japanese programming block on Fuji Television devoted to anime, originally broadcast every Thursday late night/Friday morning from 0:45 to 1:15 JST. It was launched with the intention of expanding the target audience beyond the typical you ...

block in January 2015. The anime was produced by

and directed by Kanta Kamei, with scripts written by series creator Fumiaki Maruto, character designs by Tomoaki Takase and music by Hajime Hyakkoku. The opening theme song for the anime was by

Luna Haruna , better known by her stage name is a Japanese singer and fashion model from Tokyo. Biography Luna Haruna was interested in anime and music from a young age. In her first year of junior high school, she became obsessed with Gothic Lolita manga ...

, while the ending theme song was by Miku Sawai. The series began airing on January 9, 2015 and finished airing on March 27, 2015 with a total of 13 episodes. The first season has been licensed for North America by

. A second season to the anime series, titled was announced on May 3, 2015, with the main staff and cast returning from the previous season to reprise their roles. It aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina block from April 13, 2017 to June 23, 2017 running for 12 episodes, with the web-only episode 0 streamed on April 5, 2017. The opening theme song for the second season is by Luna Haruna, while the ending theme song are for episode 0 to 10 and for episode 11, both sung by Moso Calibration. The second season streamed exclusively on

Theatrical film

An anime film was announced at the "Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Fes. flat -glistening moment-" event on December 3, 2017. The film, titled was produced by

and directed by Akihisa Shibata, with Kanta Kamei serving as chief director. The rest of the main staff and cast from the anime series returned to reprise their roles. It premiered in Japan on October 26, 2019. The theme song "glory days", was sung by Luna Haruna, with Miku Sawai composing.

Video game

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

based on the anime, titled was released on April 30, 2015. A limited edition with an original soundtrack CD and a B2-size cloth poster retailed for 8,800 yen (about US$74), a regular edition for 6,800 yen (US$57), and a download edition for 6,000 yen (US$51). The first copies of all editions included a download code for an original custom PS Vita theme. The game utilizes

Live2D Live2D is an animation technique used to animate static images—usually anime-style characters—that involves separating an image into parts and animating each part accordingly, without the need of frame-by-frame animation or a 3D model. This ...

software, which moves the characters with CGI but retains their two-dimensional look.

Reception

''Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend'' ranked 10th place on the "Top-Selling Light Novels in Japan by Series" with 227,314 copies sold in the period between November 2014 and May 2015, and later ranked 16th place with 313,744 copies sold between November 2014 and November 2015.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{Monthly Big Gangan 2012 Japanese novels 2015 anime television series debuts 2015 Japanese novels 2017 anime television series debuts A-1 Pictures Anime and manga based on light novels Anime Strike Aniplex franchises Book series introduced in 2012 Fujimi Fantasia Bunko Fujimi Shobo manga Gangan Comics manga Kadokawa Corporation franchises Kadokawa Shoten manga Light novels Noitamina Seinen manga Shōnen manga Works about video games Visual novels Yen Press titles