Seiren (translated as "honesty") is a 12 episode original anime that is not based on any existing works. It follows Shoichi Kamita, a second year high school student who is focused on his students and future, especially about getting into university. The anime follows a structure where Shoichi gets together with a different girl every four episodes. The story arcs are in different continuities, although it utilizes the same supporting characters, so there are a few common threads between all three arcs. The way Shoichi becomes familiar with the girl is different each time.
First up is Tsuneki Hikari, an extremely active and open girl. Shoichi decides to go to a summer course and ends up spending time with Tsuneki. Tsuneki randomly barges into his room through the window while trying to escape the hotel the summer course was held in. The summer course is a brutal one, with most students there being forced to attend by their parents and Tsuneki is no exception.
The relationship with Tsuneki happens a bit fast and so when the fourth and final episode in her arc comes by, the way that they get together and how it is resolved, just manages to be okay. Tsuneki's reason for her initial rejection of Shoichi was stupid and how she reacts at the end feels like a gimmick from the writer to evoke some sort of bittersweet emotion. The other thing is that Shoichi often have perverted and dirty thoughts. Whenever a girl says something, he'll pretty much think of a dirty situation and get aroused by it. It's this series' way of providing fanservice.
The second arc follows Miyamae Toru, a gamer girl. Shoichi is portrayed in this arc to be a heavy gamer, along with his friends Araki and Ikuo. Toru chances upon the trio playing a game and to their immense surprise, she is also playing the same game and is a gamer at heard. Toru ends up joining their gang and she is a stark contrast to Tsuneki who was more energetic (and cruel at times). Toru is matter of fact and feels honest as a result. However, there are plenty of hints about her past which was an unhappy one and involved gaming in some way, but this isn't used to its full advantage. This arc is neat in that having a love interest that share a common interest is a lot more fun.
The third and final love interest is Tono Kyoko, a childhood friend of Shoichi's. She joins the Home Economics club and Shoichi realizes he loves Kyoko. However, he has to get over the hurdle of Kyoko seeing him as something more than just a childhood friend. This arc is the sweetest and most innocent of all, and it has a really sweet ending. There are plenty of flaws in Seiren's unique structure of using unrelated continuities. All three arcs have slow pacing and the relationship built between the two characters can be wonky at best.
The endings of each arc are where Seiren redeems itself each time. The fourth and final episodes each time do help convey a sense of love and the epilogue of what happens years later is a nice touch. You can't help but feel that each time a new arc starts, it is a shame that Shoichi loses all the progress he has made, especially in terms of maturing and the friendships he had developed. There are various references to previous arcs, like how Tsuneki comments on her summer plans and as the viewer, you know that she had a terrible time at the summer course despite what she says. These feel like nice little in-jokes.
Interestingly, despite the one girl one arc format, Tsuneki seems to get a lot more focus in later episodes, with random shots of her conversations to scenes where Shoichi asks her for advice. Overall, Seiren is an average anime just because it doesn't have much time to build the relationships. It's a neat idea and it still manages to pair the two in each arc together in a sweet way although it is filled with way too many predictable cliches.
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