The following anime looked pretty but a part of me was kind of wary of the “elephant in the room” that is on the upper right corner of the below image. Was the show enjoyable despite his presence? Let us find out as we take a look at Sansha Sanyou, aka Three Leaves, Three Colors in the West.
Alternate Title: Three Leaves, Three Colors (English)
Genres: Comedy, School Life, Slice of Life
Number of episodes: 12
G-Rating: 7/10
Plot Summary: Futaba Odagiri is incredibly energetic but is also a glutton. Teru Hayama looks like an angel but she is really a demonic class president. Yōko Nishikawa is the daughter of family that used to be a member of the upper class, but after her father’s company went bankrupt, they became poor. All three high school girls have the kanji for “leaf” in their name but could not be any different from one another.
Futaba, Yoko and Hayama.
The show is similar to Wakaba Girl in that at its core it is a very basic Girls Club show. Yes, despite there being some boys that show up once in a while, especially the guy in the above picture, the show still counts as a GC as it is mainly about cute girls doing things. Other than that there is not much else to say about what happens as most of it is standard GC or even school comedy fare, such as holiday themed ones, school activities, swimsuit episode, going to fun places together etc. What makes Sansha Sanyou somewhat stand out from the GC crowd is the quirkiness of its cast. Almost none of the characters are particularly unique but they go all-out with their quirky traits.
The above gif is an example of another thing that makes Sansha Sanyou stand out from other GC shows, its gorgeous animation. The character motions are so fluent and mesmerizing that one cannot help but applaud the effort that went into bringing these characters to life from the manga. Even I who am not a professional animation quality critic commend SS’ effort. Next to Anne Happy! this is one of the most colorful anime of the Spring 2016 season. It is THAT good. The music is okay.
Since there is little else to talk about let us briefly go over the main along with my favorite side-characters.
Lady Yoko, my favorite character.
Yoko, or Lady Yoko as I address her, is a “riches to rags” ojou-sama who maintains proper etiquette even though she is currently poor. Even when upset her berating comes off as polite scolding. Her development is all about appreciating the simpler things in life that she could not when she was rich. Her smile also melted my heart every time.
Futaba the bottomless pit.
Next up is Futaba. She is a classic “girl who eats a lot yet still has a good figure no matter what” bottomless pit character. Her quirk is that she is more than a gobbler and how proud she is of being a gobbler.
The last member of the main trio is Teru Hayama, an animal lover who also happens to be a half-demon even though she looks nice on the outside.
Kou who is a half-angel but the raw healthy food that she makes is more often than not hazardous to one’s own health…despite them sometimes being effective. I like Kou more even though she is a one-trick pony…at least she does her shtick very well whenever she shows up.
Sonobe, my favorite side-character.
Sonobe, the token “mysterious origins super maid” character who may very well be the quirkiest of them all. Words do not do her justice so trust me when I say that Sonobe is AWESOME! Also she is a yuri shipper and takes full advantage of her “shortie” appearance.
Nishiyama X Hayama = foe-yay.
As for the yuri there are some viable ships besides this one here. Funny enough two of them feature Nishiyama. The third one surprisingly features Lady Yoko. Her destined sweetie is a sweetie herself and another side-character to highlight but I prefer keeping her identity a secret to readers who have yet to watch this show.
One gripe I have with this show is that there are times where the characters look like they are talking to someone but there is no one there. Was this a mistake on the writer’s part? How very strange…
Overall Sansha Sanyou is a standard Girls Club that stands out thanks to its mostly likable quirky cast and impressive animation. While not one of my personal favorite Girls Club shows out there it definitely is worth checking out for GC aficionados. Just gotta put up with TWO lame guys who are for the most part harmless.
The Yuri Empire 
I definitely agree that the show was ok but didn’t do much to stand out for me. Some episodes kinda dragged on and most of the characters were like how you described Kou, one-trick ponies. At times it was funny but sometimes it got a little repetitive and kinda boring to watch.
My personal favorite was Sonobe. She was the funniest and definitely the quirkiest character in the series. I think I might be in the minority when I say that outside Kou, Sonobe, and surprisingly Yamaji I didn’t care for the other side characters. Kou and Sonobe were fun to watch and Yamaji served his purpose without becoming annoying to watch. I wasn’t a fan of Nishiyama because her character was just there to pop up and have a pointless argument with Teru. If you saw one scene with her you pretty much saw them all. My least favorite characters are the twins but that’s mainly because they felt like filler characters that were just thrown in and only appeared for 2 seconds just to remind us they’re there.
The animation was amazing and was really colorful which I always enjoy seeing. As for pairings I liked the thought of Teru x Futaba not than Nishiyama x Futaba. I saw the latter as more two girls too stubborn to see they have stuff in common and that they actually do want to be friends but won’t admit it. To me I felt like Sonobe liked their interactions more than she shipped them, considering she loves watching young girls in many different situations. The fact that she never talks about them together afterwards makes me believe she wasn’t seeing them in that way, she only ever brings up Teru around Nishiyama afterwards in order to manipulate her. I see Nishiyama with her friend more than with Teru but that’s just me. I also felt like Tsuji had more admiration for Yoko, since she was once rich, and is just easily embarrassed around her.
All in all the series was a decent show that is a good watch when you have free time. The animation is great and the main trio are all good characters. I would’ve loved to have seen more tan Futaba because tanned Futaba was the absolute BEST.
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I enjoyed Sansha Sanyou overall as a GC anime. It had funny moments from time to time, with nice animations, and Lady Yoko had been quite well-developed as a character.
The OP was kind of addictive that it stuck to my head.
I also liked to see more of Tsuji’s relationship building with Lady Yoko, for she deserved it.
It seems SS took more retrospective approach as a Slice-of-Life anime compared to its contemporaries like Anne-Happy. It is only natural that the manga started even before SoL classics like Hidamari Sketch and K-ON!
If there were a drawback, I think it would be some characters being rather pointless. For example, Yamaji is Lady Yoko’s quirky ex-servant and frequently sneaks into the school to interact with the girls, but those traits are shared with Sonobe. While Sonobe has more traits such as ever-young-looking body and yuri-goggles, Yamaji basically stays the same, for which I sometimes feel redundant. The same can be said to some others like the twins.
However, since its manga has been around for long, many scenes must have been cut to fit into 12 episodes. Reading the manga might have made more sense.
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I agree on all your thoughts. I think Lady Yoko might have been my favorite character too. Ultimately, the cast is what made this show most enjoyable rather than the show itself.
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Lady Yoko is wonderful.
Exactly.
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Honestly, it looks fun. That’s all I can really say about it in the end.
I’ll check it out soon.
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Reblogged this on haveyouexperiencedshitsurakuen and commented:
Honestly, it looks fun. That’s all I can really say about it in the end.
I’ll check it out soon.
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I have something to confess… doki doki
I’ve always had a… heavy breathing
maid fetish — and Sonobe is doing NOTHING to cure my obsession! XD
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Sonobe’s awesome. Nuff said.
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The poor rich girl, the living black hole and the polite animal lover hiding a devilish streak. Together, they do cute things! Sansha Sanyou was an interesting watch and I’m glad I didn’t pass this one up. It was also a nice adaptation of a manga made before the current GC anime that I know of.
I liked Futaba the best, with Lady Yoko a close second. I just loved her energetic personality. Sonobe really was the quirkiest of the cast but that quirkiness fit her greatly.
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It was a decent adaptation of what looks like a decent manga.
Futaba’s energetic nature is adorable. Lady Yoko is love and Sonobe is awesome.
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Took over several years until I watched this, but Youko is the best girl. Also, like the Teru and Serina pairing although they always seem to fight although they have some things in common. Also, Shino is a very entertaining maid indeed.
But it’s not too surprising to find this show enjoyable since Doga Kobo is good at creating school girl slice of life anime by now. But yes, Yamaji and Yu I feel doesn’t really need to be in the story. I find the latter really annoying for obvious reasons.
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