If there's a succinct way to summarize Studio Apartment, Well Lighted, Angel Inclusions, it's this: mid-range comfort. The show doesn't bother reinventing the wheel; there's nothing overly appealing about its romantic comedy premise, and it ends up being the iyashikei and harem combination you'd expect. Even though the show revolves around an angel, divine intervention cannot be applied here as the show doesn't have much that is divine or compelling. But that is perhaps the anime's strongest point. If there's one thing the show succeeds at, it's existing as a harmless, conscious fluff created as an excuse to munch on popcorn. The emergence of a series isn't a bad thing, since (let's be honest here) this is something we all need sometimes. A spoonful of sugar can really cut down on the sweetness of ice cream.
The premise of Studio Apartment is no different than what we've seen in other romance-com anime, and all of the plot points and beats land in very familiar territory. Some people may groan and roll their eyes at the predictable plot points, especially since they don't leave much room for Shintarou to have any chemistry or interesting developments with Towa or the others. remaining in the harem. Still, the show's flare for formula isn't without merit and is enough for fans of harem, iyashikei, or overall moe (like yours truly) to stick to the tried-and-true premise. But its real. Because hey, if it plays, it stays, folks.
When the jokes work, they work. I was fascinated by Towa's innocent attempt to serve people at Shintarou's restaurant while she was serving as a customer. I love that when the harem reveals their secret supernatural abilities to Shintarou in episode four causing his friend and classmate Tsumugi to reveal her own secret: that she wets the bed until up to fifth grade. Not yet mature? Sure. But it's the best joke in the show. What I really admire, however, is the eccentric vampire girl Sayuri, whose chuuni forces her to try to sniff people out while trying to fool them into thinking she's European. I'm a sucker for quirky characters, and Sayuri appearing so late in the trial makes me wish we'd gotten more of her.
Surprisingly, the film is not affected by the artistic front anymore. While nothing special, the background art manages to create some lush environments for our characters to walk around in. I was especially impressed with the outdoor scene from the ninth episode; the way the clear blue sky juxtaposes with the dark green canopy of trees creates a delightfully colorful urban landscape for our Towa to walk through. Another scene in the fifth episode has Shintarou and Tsumugi sitting in the library, where the light is strangely alluring. Some generic and redundant orientation choices may muddle the animation itself, but it doesn't obscure the often pristine qualities of the art.
And yet, Studio Apartment stands out as a very beautiful work. The lack of any real plot twists here means that the plot and characters are as predictable and static as you might imagine. Some Horny Harem Hijinks(TM) are introduced early to both meet the fan service quota and to ensure Shintarou gets a few random moments of peeking at Tom. The one-note characters are then thrust into comically difficult situations with (mostly) predictable outcomes, and despite the inclusion of otherworldly beings, the supernatural abilities of the latter bows are not represented in the capacities they could have, remaining mostly purely aesthetic. You'd think that a divine being like Towa would have more to offer than the ability to fly or Yuki-onna Noeru turning things cold in just a few scenes. Hisui is revealed to be a kappa at the end of the episode, but no kappa actually returns for the rest of the series. A non-divine female mangaka and her artistic difficulties are focused on for one episode, only to leave the series just as they enter the fray. There are so many missed opportunities to make light comedy out of these characters and situations, and even things like, say, a carnival that literally appears out of nowhere in one episode movies can barely make up for this lack of creativity.
Overall, Studio Apartment is nothing remarkable. On the one hand, it's not particularly good. But on the other hand, it's not particularly bad. What you see is exactly what you get, and not once have I been disappointed or disappointed by anything I saw. It's a no-frills, no-controversy, twelve-part moe rom-com junket, devoid of anything surprising. In short, it's nothing special. But then again, maybe that shouldn't be the case. And maybe, just maybe, we should be a little grateful for that.
