...don't go into this series expecting something deep or groundbreaking.
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"Shuffle!" takes place in an alternate reality where mankind has discovered two magical doors that each lead into an alternate universe. The first door opens into the realm of the gods, and the second door leads to the realm of the demons. Rather than start a crazy war, this discovery actually led to a peacefully integrated society. Our hero, Rin Tsuchimi, is a high school student who attends a class filled with students that are humans, demons, and gods. The demons are identifiable by their very long and pointed elf-like ears. The gods also have pointed ears, but they are not quite as long. The three races all seem to get along, and it is not unusual to see groups of students with all ear-types hanging out together.
Rin is an average human guy whose parents died in an accident. He is living with his childhood friend, Kaede. Kaede's mom passed away in the same accident, so now she takes care of both Rin and her father. However, her father has conveniently gone away on an extended business trip, leaving Rin and Kaede alone together. Rin and Kaede are the same age, attend the same school, and are even in the same class. Everyone at school takes it for granted that they are "together," especially considering how much Kaede dotes on Rin, waking him up for school every morning and making him breakfast and lunch every day. Kaede even declares that taking care of Rin is what she lives for.
However, Rin and Kaede's somewhat peaceful life is about to experience a huge shake up with the arrival of two new transfer students. They are Nerine, daughter of the Demon King, and Sia, daughter of the King of the Gods. Both girls are extremely cute, and both are also devoted to Rin! In fact, upon their arrival, their fathers announce that Rin has been chosen to be the next king of the gods or the demons! All he has to do is pick either Sia or Nerine to marry, and all the power of the god or demon realms will be his!
Now that is a surprising turn of events for poor Rin. Sia and Nerine both seem to know Rin already, but he has no memory of them. How can he possibly marry one of them? Why was he chosen? Things get even more complicated when Sia and Nerine move in next door on either side of Rin's house!
This show follows the usual pattern of a "harem" anime series. An average guy suddenly finds himself surrounded by a group of beautiful girls who all fall in love with him for various inexplicable reasons and compete for his affection. Each girl has a certain charm point, and the hero will have to spend the series deciding which girl, if any, he is in love with. All the usual 'flavors' of harem anime girls are represented here. Kaede is the childhood friend. Rin is the gentle and refined formal girl. Asa-sempai is the outgoing and "noisy" one. Sia is cute and more "average" but sometimes violent girl, while Primula is the under-aged lolita complex younger sister type (who never actually seems to have a chance at winning the guy, but is there to look extremely cute). Most harem anime series have characters that fit this general set.
Rin, while he is the usual "average guy" found in this type of show— surrounded by hot girls who are all in love with him while shows no clear preference— he does have a few redeeming factors. He is not quite as wishy-washy as some harem anime guys. He is athletic, gets good grades, is sometimes cool, and can fend off both his enthusiastic friend Itsuki (who has a crush on Kaede) and the horde of other bizarre admirers who worship her. Rin isn't shy around girls, and treats them rather normally.
"Shuffle!" Volume 1 contains episodes 1 through 4 of this 24-episode television series, which is about as much of it that I can handle in one sitting. The tagline that FUNimation is using for this series, "Which girl would YOU choose?" does a good job in emphasizing the video-game feeling of this show. The characters are all the same as in other harem series. It's just a matter of slapping a new gimmick on them each time. In this case it's gods and demons. Each girl gets their "moment" with the hero that shows her off as having some sort of loveable trait that will make it difficult for the hero (or the audience) to decide who to choose.
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