Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
elumizu
For something that sounds so simple, being ordinary can be surprisingly difficult. Most people rarely think about it because being “normal” is usually treated as the default state of life. You wake up, go to school, talk to people, and move through your days without attracting much attention. Nothing particularly extraordinary happens, and that is precisely what makes it ordinary. Yet the moment someone consciously tries to live that way, the idea of normalcy begins to feel strangely fragile. The more you think about being ordinary, the more complicated it becomes. Small curiosities start to stand out. Tiny irregularities become difficult to ignore. Suddenly, what once felt like an uneventful day begins to look like a collection of puzzles waiting to be solved. This contradiction sits at t…
Read at the sourceMrDuckDolphin
Damn what a truly boring show. Start to finish, every episode never failed to work wonders to put me to sleep.
Both main characters have to be the most dull and uninteresting characters I've seen in a while. Also the show does the worst thing possible; it's just plain boring. The first half is just "who ate the pastry?", "how can I eat the cake?", "how did hot chocolate get made?". The second half isn't any better, with a lame story with the bullies.
A supposed 'mystery' series with no mystery. Everything is plainly told to the viewer in the most monotone way possible, with little to no foreshadowing or build up for each problem.
Only positive is that the way the solutions are shown with mc there when they happened was alright otherwise this was a struggle to finish.
Feels like a poor…
Read at the sourceSupersonic_Pain
Some shows just give off the most ominous auras
I started this show and thought "Good God, is this show fucking pretentious"
And it never proved me wrong.
The first half to three-fourths of it is about relatively small mysteries, presumably to build up the main 3 (main 2? Is Kengo considered a main character?) which brings me to my main problem
I don't like either of these chucklefucks Jogoro is portrayed as someone who's trying to be ~ordinary~ since him being such a smartiepants detective got on everyone's nerves and... yeah, it got on mine
He's just lowkey condescending and kind of a dick at times?
One episode is dedicated to him liking the dessert of the week so much that the mystery of the week is him trying to make it out so there was one less dessert than he ordered so he coul…
Read at the sourceDunslax
I just don't see what's to like here.
The visuals are pretty good, to the show's credit... but everything else? For an episodic "mystery" anime, the mysteries are terrible. They are uninteresting and mundane, which wouldn't be a problem (since the show is about MC trying to be "ordinary") if they weren't always solved by wild guessing and just happening to get it right. Or have the obvious solution shown to you but then overthinking on it for 3 episodes. The show will obviously pretend this is some high IQ sherlock move.
Then, maybe, you'd be led to think that the main appeal of the show is actually in the characters.
Well... just... no. They are about as interesting as the mysteries themselves. Genuinely, you will struggle to even care about any of them. Just read any of the Positive re…
Read at the sourceTsumugiSan
Animation: 9/10
Character Design: 9/10
Main Story: 8.5/10
Supporting Character Development: 6/10
Protagonist Development: 8/10
Soundtrack: 7/10
Final Score: 8/10
Shoushimin Series follows the daily lives of Jougorou Kobato and Osanai Yuki, two high school students who made a pact to become "ordinary people" after facing problems in the past due to getting too involved in other people’s affairs. With this seemingly simple premise, the anime presents the protagonists being drawn—despite their own reluctance—into solving small mysteries around them. They follow subtle clues and end up doing exactly what they swore to avoid.
The adaptation covers up to part 4 of the third volume of the novel, ending at a strategic moment and leaving a great hook for the sequel. Overall, it was a very well-ex…
Read at the sourceTheEasternModie
I still don't get why this show has such a following. Probably because the author is known. Well, I never saw Hyouka so I went into the show without any prejudice and all I can say is that it's boring and predictable.
The show starts out in a somewhat interesting way. Yes, the mysterys themselves are pretty boring, but that's not the issue, because obviously this is about the characters, right? I mean, they tell you in the first episode that both of them want to become normal people, so you are wondering: What is it that makes them "not normal"? Well, here is the first reveal for you, the one thing you immediately think of is true for both of them. I won't spoil the exact "solution", but the problem is that the characters want to appear deep, but they are really shallow, beacause they bot…
Read at the sourceandylaode
It started pretty nicely but as it went on I started to hate the female lead (soft voice, manipulative, stubborn and disrespectful). You need to watch the entire 10 episodes and then feel betrayed, but this is what you would expect from a typical Agatha Christie type of crime story. The most unanticipated character is the mastermind of a very big crime. Go to the library and pick one of the bestsellers by Agatha Christie, read it to the end, and you know what I mean from my previous sentences.
Hang on with me, this is a story of Superman and Lex Luthor, or maybe Batman and Joker, in the alternate universe but with different character names. Let's say the Batman character's name is Jougorou Kobato and the Joker character's name is Yuki Osanai. In this universe, Kobato and Osanai (the Batma…
Read at the sourceValentine07
(Spanish review below).
This is my kind of anime, so I thought I would like it or at least find it entertaining, especially since I really liked Hyouka. Maybe it just wasn't the right time to watch it, because I found it very boring.
I don't have great things to say about the anime. I don't think the story was bad, but I don't think it's for everyone either. Most of the time, the situations seemed very stilted and convenient, especially the solutions or the ways they arrived at the solutions to the mysteries. Mostly in the last two episodes.
Also, Osanai is the most manipulative person I've seen in a LONG time. I didn't like her at all. The rest of the characters are okay, although I don't think any of them stand out or have anything of their own to say. I understand Osanai and Kobato's…
Read at the sourceMarco_Yooo
THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Honobu Yonezawa is not just my favourite japanese author, but one of my favourite authors in general. His amazing “Koten-bu” series (Also known as “Hyouka”) drew me in with it´s small scale mysteries, great characters and the overall atmosphere. This season, another famous work of his got an anime adaptation and from the outside it looked like this show will follow up in Koten-bu´s footsteps. But did it deliver?
Story – 6/10
This is eerily similar to Hyouka and it hurts this show a lot. The setting, the characters, the pacing, the structure and everything else feels like another version of something he has already done. You just cannot stop comparing the two with each other and unfortunately, Shoushimin is far inferior to it´s predecessor. The little myster…
Read at the sourcesection9necrosis
SHOUSHIMIN completed 8.62/10
"we r just arrogant high schoolers"
P U R E - P E R F E C T I O N
I was originally gonna start this review with this (when I started ep 9)
"I am gonna first talk about the thing I HATE ABOUT THIS SHOW, is that it's suppose to be ordinary, and how many people hated the 'filler' eps those were my best eps, as that is what it's suppose to symbolize and not this whole ass hard core criminal storyline, cuz this then just turns into child detetvie trope, detection q, conan, kindaichi etc" But after completing ep 9, my heart went steady again, and I was proved wrong, that NO, THEIR IS NOT A SINGLE THING WRONG WITH THIS ANIME, not ONE
With the quote above(start of the review) , it made it clear that the show is, was and will be ABOUT CHASING THE ORDINARY as sta…
Read at the sourceEnyirou
Coming back home and watching it at night , it’s quite relaxing. Super interesting and creative, with so many plot twists. I understand some
watchers might not be interested I daresay bored even. This anime is best for watchers who like thinking, and calm style type anime (aka kinda like slice of life). Overall loved it. Btw the voice actors are so good, sometimes I feel like they are so natural at this the whispering and the calm tone are super amazing, it’s as if they are actually talking if you know what I mean.
(Art style 8/10 loved the Op and Ed)(Characters 9/10 amazing writing)(Realistic 7/10 other than the their thinking maybe if your super smart unlike me 😭)(Going to watch season 2 because of the plot in the last episode)
Read at the sourceSohCahToa19
The Pursuit of Normalcy: Shoshimin’s Unique Blend of Mystery and Slice of Life
It’s about a sweets obsessed girl and a seemingly ordinary boy, who happens to become friends with each other to help each other break their habits of revenge and deduction respectively and become a “Shoshimin.” It is 60% mystery, 25% sweets and 15% Shoshimin, aka being normal people. (Which is actually one of the definitions in the dictionary)
It is this Shoshimin part that throws some people off as they are perplexed by the pair’s strenuous efforts to become normal. In contrast, I was initially taken in by the story purely because of my own experience being in a Japanese high school. It resonated with me at a time when I was trying to fit in with Japanese people. The my reason, similar to the main characters,…
Read at the sourcejjrocks24
To your average watcher, Shoushimin is a pretentious show with tedious monologue and unnecessary visual narratives. These notions are what you might be under the impression of if you are only perceiving this story on a surface level. Shoushimin delves deeper into the genre of mystery and interpersonal relationships more so than you might believe. The slow pacing and anti-climatic atmosphere of this show are what makes this anime so ordinary and so extraordinary at the same time. Emotions aren't dramatized and its characters are not one dimensional. There is something different about this anime and if it is going where I think it's going, we are in for a hell of a ride. I just hope that it doesn't become your typical will they won't they, slice of life kind of story as we have seen with a m…
Read at the sourceSanaeK10
Much like the two main characters, the experience of watching Shoushimin has been uncanny to say the least. From the direction to the writing, every aspect of the show feels unnatural and strange, as if an alien without an understanding of how humans work but has read countless LNs decided to write and direct an LN of their own. It's weird, but not in a good way.
Let me elaborate further. Making hot cocoa in the least amount of steps and a kidnapping should not be treated as dramatic equals, yet the show depicts the two events with equal gravitas with similar inner monologues and strange inhuman dialogue sequences that feel like it was strung together by two chatbots. Compounding this is how our perspective character, Warm Wat- I mean- Kobato-kun is innately interested even in mundane, w…
Read at the sourceCayusashi
If shoshimin has no haters, I'm dead.
Shoshimin is genuinely one of the most boring anime I have ever watched. Gsarthotegga's review said it best; this show is an absolute nothing burger.
Kobato and Osanai are cardboard cutouts who talk as if they have some crazy, wild, dynamic backstory between the two of them making them change their life and become ordinary. So much of this show is them talking about nothing like it's the most high stakes adventure of their lives after they decided in middle school to change for the better when in reality they're solving mysteries like, "how was the hot cocoa made?" and "who ate the spicy candy?" It feels like I'm watching paint dry and every minute is excruciating. When we do see glimpses of their supposedly crazy lifestyles, it's the most normal in…
Read at the sourcewhiteflame55
This show was a good-to-fine experience. It’s actually at its most enjoyable during its early stages where we know little about these characters and are just exploring minor mysteries through their inquisitive lenses. Visually, it’s also excellent, doing a great job portraying how the characters are thinking through these mysteries and jumping between settings. It definitely sets itself apart in that regard.
The story eventually had to include things like character development and a continuous plot, which are both just fine. I don’t think we explored either of the leads enough to invest me in their stories - their backgrounds are largely given as hints and both characters are too stoic to sell meaningful moments in the present - and the larger plots of the story just didn’t land for me. O…
Read at the sourceapc243
Pretty sleepy. Lots of sitting and talking and eating. Slow for a 10-episode series. The episodic mysteries are low-stakes.
Looks pretty good for a novel adaptation, even for one sold by a pretty-girl character. The animation is not as innovative as Hyouka and without the studio brand name, but it is much more consistent in tone with the story and subject matter.
The biggest mysteries are the characters, and the main characters in particular. Why Jogoro and Osanai want to be "Shoushimin"/Petit Bourgeousie/Civilians is only implied or teased for almost the entire season. Rather than main character Jogoro or even deuteragonist Osanai being the only one or two genius detective characters with a clue about what's going on, the cast is much more broadly competent, which opens up the possibili…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
Shoshimin is one of several pleasant surprises I got this season. As someone who hasn’t seen Hyouka(crazy, I know), I wasn’t familiar with the author’s writing style or how his series are structured so I went into this blind and from episode 1 I was immediately hooked. Despite it being an extremely dialogue heavy story and slow paced detective style story, these episodes went by in the blink of an eye and were consistently engaging. It was almost like we were playing a game alongside the two leads in terms of solving the cases and more often than not I found myself thoroughly surprised by the twists the author includes. This is a must watch for any mystery fan or if you just want a new cute waifu, because Osanai was definitely one of the best this season.
After watching the first episode…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary - What does it take to teach someone about being ordinary, when the people or things around us are unordinary to begin with?
Mystery shows...I'm betting that all you can think of is just "no shit Sherlock" Holmes, and to be fair, putting all media together seems to do the one-trick pony that the genre itself is nothing without the classic titular character. However, in the AniManga space, that trend has been progressing since the turn of the millennium (especially the mid-2010s), and it all has to do with one word: Hyouka. Yes, you heard me right: one of KyoAni's masterpiece shows that got unleashed all the way back in 2012, based off of the Koten-bu a.k.a Classic Literature Club series of novels written by famed novelist Honobu Yonezawa, was both a tour…
Read at the sourceMcsuper
Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary is quite a curious title. With it being a mystery anime, even just its title leads me to question things. “Shoshimin”, is translated as the "petite bourgeoisie", which refers to someone in the lower middle class. So indeed, that might be what constitutes an “ordinary person” in a financial sense. Who or what is trying to be ordinary though? The characters? The whole plot itself?
A likely reason why you (and myself) might be interested in this series is that it was written by the same author, Honobu Yonezawa, who wrote another mystery series in Hyouka. I can definitely see the similarities in these two series, with both tackling mysteries that are grounded in the sense of ordinary, mundane life. Shoshimin takes it one step further though, and in my opinion…
Read at the source