[ANIME] Special A スペシャル•エ

  

SPECIAL A

Here, I present to you my favorite anime. Special A. Through all these years, I never ever got tired watching this. I really loves the story and the romance between the characters. It started from rivalry and ended up to a love story. From Hikari to Kei, it has been so exciting. I love the other characters too especially the other five members. The scenes that show the extraordinary skills of the two and the bond between seven is the best.  The tea set. The greenhouse. All of it. Love it.

Genre

  Romance, Comedy, Drama, Bishounen, School story

Plot

Hikari Hanazono has always been second to Kei Takishima. When they were six years old, their pro-wrestling loving fathers introduced them to each other. Assuming that she was the best in wrestling, young Hikari challenged Kei to a wrestling match only to be thoroughly defeated by him. Ever since that fateful incident, Hikari swore to beat Kei in school grades, sporting events or any competition. To do this, she has enrolled in the same school as Kei since elementary. Now she attends Hakusenkan, an ultra elite school for the wealthy, that costs her carpenter father a lot of money. Hikari and Kei are the top two students in the school, with Kei holding firmly to that number one position. While Hikari considers Kei to be a rival and important friend, she is completely unaware that Kei is in love with her.
The series primarily focuses on Hikari and her constant attempts to defeat her one and only rival, Kei, and how she finds love in their rivalry. However, Special A also follows the stories of the other five members of the S.A class – Akira Toudou, Tadashi Karino, Megumi and Jun Yamamoto, and Ryuu Tsuji – and their relationships. Yahiro Saiga and Sakura Ushikubo, two students from the rival academy Kokusen, also become recurring characters in the series.

 

The Characters

Hikari Hanazono (華園 光 Hanazono Hikari^?) Voiced by: Yuko Goto

Hikari is the accomplished protagonist of the story and is ranked 2nd in the school. She is energetic and kindhearted, but rather dense to more subtle matters, in particular love. Unlike her peers, she comes from an ordinary family and her father is a carpenter. When she was six years old she experienced her first defeat and humiliation when she lost to Kei Takishima in a pro-wrestling match. In order to beat Kei, Hikari convinced her father to allow her to attend Kei's prestigious elite school and strives to defeat Kei at anything, from academics to athletics. Hikari later realizes that she loves Kei.

 

Kei Takishima (滝島 彗 Takishima Kei^?) Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama

Kei is Hikari's rival and holds the 1st position in the entire school; he is good at everything he does and is always a smooth winner. Kei has been in love with Hikari since they were children, but Hikari has been too dense to realize his feelings for her. While he maintains a stoic and cool facade most of the time, he loses his composure whenever Hikari is in trouble. He is the son of the CEO of Takishima Corporation.

 

Jun Yamamoto (山本 純 Yamamoto Jun^?) Voiced by: Tsubasa Yonaga

Jun is ranked 3rd in school and is the son of a music producer and a talented vocalist. Like Megumi, he is very possessive of Ryuu and seems to worry Ryuu as much as he worries about the two of them. Jun is rather shy around girls, which resulted in a split personality that enables him to charm almost all women effortlessly. Unlike the rest of his friends, he tends to be quiet and rarely gets involved with any disputes. He also becomes the object of Sakura Ushikubo's love, who is introduced halfway through the anime series. Jun later returns Sakura's love.

 

Megumi Yamamoto (山本 芽 Yamamoto Megumi^?) Voiced by: Ayahi Takagaki

Megumi holds the 4th position in school and is the older twin sister of Jun. She and her brother are very close to Ryuu, whom they have known since they were children. Megumi refuses to speak so as to preserve her singing voice and writes what she wishes for people to know on a sketchpad. When she sings, her voice is so devastatingly powerful at a close range that everyone who stands near ends up dazed and disoriented afterward. She develops feelings for Yahiro Saiga, and they later become a couple.

 

Tadashi Karino (狩野 宙 Karino Tadashi^?) Voiced by: Hiro Shimono

Tadashi ranks 5th in school and is the son of the school's director. He suffers from a bit of wanderlust, likes to travel alone and do whatever he wants or sees fit. Tadashi seems to end up as the character most comically attacked (frequently by Akira) because of his careless comments or reckless behavior. He enjoys eating sweets, especially food made by Akira. Though Tadashi loves Akira, he isn't certain how to tell her directly, though they later manage to become a couple after realizing they feel the same way for one another.

 

Akira Toudou (東堂 明 Tōdō Akira^?) Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame

Akira holds the 6th position in school and is very fond of Hikari; as a result, she is very protective of her--especially when it comes to Kei and Hikari being together. She loves afternoon tea and is very fond of cute girls. Despite being in love with Tadashi, Akira constantly beats him up (which he takes humorously). She is the daughter of the owner of an airline company. She and Kei were childhood friends of Yahiro, though their friendship broke apart because of Yahiro's controlling behavior.

Ryuu Tsuji (辻 竜 Tsuji Ryū^?) Voiced by: Kazuma Horie

Ryuu ranks 7th in the school and is the son of the CEO of a sports car company. He is an animal lover and is very good at handling children. The twins are unusually close to him because they have been together since childhood. It is hinted that perhaps he is smarter than 7th place (he is shown in an episode to finish 1000 questions in 10 minutes and get them all correct), but spends the majority of the time during exams worrying about Jun and Megumi, who tend to become bored or sleep during tests.

Setting

Hakusenkan (or Private Hakusen Academy) is the best school in the prefecture. The classes are separated into A-F based on grades. The A class is only open for the top students in each grade. The top seven within the A class, from first year to third year, are known as the Special A or SA class (hence the title). The members of SA are highly respected and are often seen being elaborately greeted by other students with the exception of few that dislike the SA. The SA class has its own building, a 19th-century styled greenhouse dubbed "The School's Paradise". They also have a kitchen, where Akira makes her afternoon tea. Class attendance is optional, but Hikari is the only one who chooses to attend classes. Their uniform is also different from the standard uniform. The members of the SA have been close friends since elementary school.
 

List of Songs: 

1. Hoshi no Nagareru Yoru ni                       [Intro 19]

2. Special Gyutto Good Luck!                       [Second Ending]

3. Hidamari no Gate                                          [First Ending]

4. Gorgeous 4U                                                   [Second Opening]

5. Special Days                                                     [First Opening]