AKA: アマガミSS+ plus

Genre: Romantic comedy

Length: Television series, 13 episodes, 24 minutes each

Distributor: Currently licensed by Sentai Filmworks.

Content Rating: 13+ (mild sex references, fanservice)

Related Series: Amagam SS

Also Recommended: Kimikiss Pure Rouge, Clannad, Toradora

Notes: A sequel to the original Amagami SS series.

Rating:

Amagami SS+ plus

Synopsis

A continuation of Amagami SS, showing what happens after each girl's respective arc.

Review

Why? My first thought when confronted with the announcement that there would be a sequel to the pleasant and enjoyable Amagami SS was exactly that. Why? Don't get me wrong, the prospect of another season of soft romance and mild comedy centred on cute girls was not unappealing in the slightest but still, why make more of it? Yes, I am being deliberately obtuse - I know it is all about greasing the wheels of capitalism - but my point is that anyone who has seen the first series (and you will need to since this is a direct continuation) will know that, apart from one notable exception (Sakurai's arc), there really wasn't any strong need for a continuation. That all said I jumped straight in - heedless of its cash-cow nature - expecting more of the same and no surprises. More of the same is exactly what I got.

So you might have noticed that this series is about half the length of the first and in that, the six different arcs are also half the length - each comprising two episodes for each of the six girls rather than original's four. The girls are exactly as you might remember, not overburdened with depth but still enjoyable. The art is still pleasing in its simplicity and still grounded in realism (if you ignore Haruka's cousin Jennifer). Sadly, in the case of the music, we do not get the personalised ending songs and sequences for each girl but it's all still sweetly saccharine in its rather inoffensive style.

So what about the stories then? Just like the first season they fluctuate somewhere between fun and dull, Sakurai and Haruka's being the standouts in my opinion with Sae's not far behind. Some of the stories feel a little forced and incongruent with the run of the original stories (again, thanks to the majority of them being completely self-contained) but none of them ever reach Fortune Arterial levels of tedium so I have no real reason to complain. The simple fact is that they deliver in the same way as the original did in terms of sweetness and light humour though often lacking in drama and on a couple of occasions resorting to rather contrived moments of peril for Junichi and his girl's relationship that faded as quickly as they appeared. As mentioned, the characters still bare the mild charm they did before - never really fleeing archetypes that are easily recognisable but never holding so closely to them that it gets annoying or overpowering.

The problem of necessity aside, Amagami SS+ is just what a fan would want. You get more of the girls, more of the sweetness and even a proper resolution to the Sakurai arc that the series never offered first time round. Other than that, it is pleasant fluff, if that is what you want then you could do a whole lot worse than Amagami SS and its sequel.

I preferred the first series, the two-episode format felt too short to get a properly interesting story going and so only the ones that actually built off the first show's arcs really felt complete. That said, it is not so much worse than the original that I would want to penalise it and when it is good, it is good. So if you liked Amagami SS then Plus should satisfy you if you yearn for more but don't go expecting more in-depth stories, you'll be mostly disappointed. — Aiden Foote

Recommended Audience: A few perverted fantasies from Junichi are about as objectionable as this show gets over the first twelve episodes and even they are solely for laughs. Episode thirteen on the other hand is a hot springs episode and includes extensive discussions about breasts and features most (if not all) of the girls wandering around in towels and going in and out of baths. It's hardly Queen's Blade or Ikkitousen but it's definitely a step up in fanservice compared to the rest of the series.