Anime 850 Gakuen Heaven Reviews

5 WORDS OR LESS REVIEW: Not a lot of action

As a yaoi fan girl, nothing pleases me more than a transfer student asking to be corrupted by his new school mates who are into “different extracurricular activities”. Such is not really the premise of Gakuen Heaven, but yaoi fan girls like me should know otherwise, right?

Gakuen Heaven is about Ito Keita, seemingly an ordinary, supposedly straight teenage boy, who is suddenly invited to a prestigious all-boys school named Bell Liberty Academy, or BL academy (How ominous XD). As soon as he gets there, his bishounen school mates start fawning over him because he’s cute. It’s ... almost like the yaoi counterpart of Strawberry Panic, if you ask me.

I like the story, I think it’s cute as a whole, but I thought there wasn’t enough material to work with. Most of the episodes dealt with Keita trying to adjust in his new school, when 3 episodes would have been enough. Also, just when it was about to end was a climax that came out of almost nowhere. I thought it didn’t fit the image of the story. Heck, Ham-ham heaven was better than that climax.

Now for the more important part – the “action”. Yaoi fan girls should know what I’m referring to. Sadly, there wasn’t enough “action” in Gakuen Heaven. Most of the “action” were fake and plain teasing. There was only one kiss throughout the whole thing, and I thought that kiss was kinda awkward and disappointing.

I have to say though, that Gakuen Heaven has a beautiful cast of bishounens. Yes, the cast is heavily dominated by men. There was only one episode with women, and they’re not even that significant, nor attractive. Not that it’s important. My favorite characters are Niwa a.k.a. King. He’s like a dashing prince that reminds me of Conrad from Kyou Kara Maoh. I also like Shunsuke’s playful nature, the impish twins, and the cute Keita.

You’d think I’ll be contented with the bevy of bishounens, but I’m not. I’m a little disappointed because there wasn’t enough differentiation between the characters. They all look almost completely alike, except for Keita, Shunsuke and the twins (probably explains why I like these characters the most). Everyone else had the same facial structure and would look the same if they had the same hairstyle. That’s just a small qualm though. Overall, visuals really look nice. I like the coloring, because a wide variety of colors were used. The illustrations and the backgrounds were all very detailed but not overwhelming to the eye.

As for the voice acting, 2 names immediately caught my attention. The first name is Jun Fukuyama, who was Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass, and Watanuki Kimihiro in xxxHOLiC, and is Ito Keita in Gakuen Heaven. What a talented guy – I almost didn’t recognize it was him since Lelouch and Watanuki have such strong voices, while Keita has such a soft, almost girly voice. The second is Takahiro Sakurai, one of my favorite male voice actors. He was Shun in Gatekeepers, and Cloud in Final Fantasy: Advent Children. In Gakuen Heaven, he is Kazuki, who’s actually my least favorite character, but at least he has a talented voice actor to back him up.

I usually wouldn’t like songs similar to the OP “School Boys”, but I really like that song. I think it’s poppy and catchy, and I even dance to it when I hear it sometimes. It’s the same for the ED, “Panorama” – I didn’t expect I would like it at all. However, I still prefer the OP since it’s more upbeat.

In the end, the story seems to be Gakuen Heaven’s weakest point. I know it may seem that yaoi fan girls are more concerned about BL when it comes to yaoi, but the story’s important too. If the story had a different, more suitable climax, I probably would have liked it more, but Gakuen Heaven was still worth watching.

Ah, Gakuen Heaven. I happen to come across this by chance and I'm glad I did. Now its a storyline based upon the main character (Keita) who suddenly receives an invite to an exclusive academy for boys. Unknown to him, the invite is from an old childhood friend. Throughout the storyline you meet the rest of the characters, like Naruse who automatically falls "in-love" for Keita and spends the entire series fawning over him, calling him his "Honey".

You also see a bit of an "evil" side from the other characters in the story. Keita's doubt at being able to attend BL Academy is very apparent ... throughout the storyline, especially when the Ozawa twins taunt him, saying he's not fit to attend the school because he has no special talents.

This is very much a Shounen-ai, and you do see romantic tendancies in the show, and apparently almost all the characters have a bit of a "crush" on Keita. Throughout the storyline you slowly notice the real reason for Keita being there (I'll be a bum and not expose why if you haven't seen it).

Long in a short, I found this SUPER funny and really cute. The best parts are the "commercial" areas that show screen shots of various characters... some a little more PG-13 than others *grins* Total love for fangirls. If you haven't seen this, and you want a good laugh, I'd recommend it.

Just saying from the get-go. I failed to remember the names of most of the characters, besides Keita, Kazuki and Naruse, so I’m just going to refer to the rest of them by the nicknames that I ended up calling them with (don’t worry, it’s pretty much obvious who’s who by nicknames too, so there will be no confusion).

Story - 3

The overall story is just what it is/what it seems: light, simple, funny, fanservice-y; nothing more and nothing less than what I already expected when I dived into it: your typical highschool BL reverse harem set in the elite Bell Liberty Academy, which is ... literally shortened up to "BL Academy" and I'm not even kidding you! (I see what you did there, author!) Well, at least for the first half it was entertaining to follow Keita getting in all sorts of questionable and funny situations with the rest of the guys.

Second half was rather unbalanced from all points of view. The main problem was that it tried to add up different genres into the story to develop a kind of drama between the main characters, but seriously, it felt like it turned into a different show entirely. It tried to insert some half-assed assassins that got pawned by 16 years old kids because POWER OF MAIN CHARACTERS!! Then some workplace-family tragedy regarding Kazuki and his "secret" because WHY NOT, WE NEED ANGST. And lastly there was some sort of sci-fi virus situation because YAMI NO MATSUEI RIP-OFF(and for those that know that manga/anime, I can say two things: silver hair and medical experimentation. Hello, Muraki of the Red Moon!). But before you go and cheer expecting a Gakuen Heaven MurakixTsuzuki situation, don't get ahead of yourselves because it definitely doesn't go to that extent, no no, because we must not forget the absolute POWER OF BROMANCE! ... and the power of the main guy motivational speeches. This is a LIGHT show, people! Full of hearts and flowers!

Characters - 3

The characters were overall pretty under-developed, but it's anything but a rare issue when it comes to multiple-endings visual novel adaptations. However, not even Kazuki, the obvious main love interest, had as much development as I would wish and expect. He loved Keita by default, his "secret" was just a way to cause drama and in the end, nothing ever mattered. The other characters? They can't be really called "characters".

They are the most basic of anime archetypes with some "gimmicks" to them, sometimes not even that. Kingu (Yes, Kingu, because I can't help but make fun of Japanese Engrish) was nothing but the baddass student council president who had way too little screentime to even be able to remember him, Emo Painter was just an emo painter who sometimes acted like decoration just to be able to say "See? I'm here!", Queen is a feminine-looking guy and head of the school Treasury/Accounting department whose gimmick was acting like a "Queen", being beautiful and having an issue with it, his love/hate towards Kingu and his soft spot for a sketchy looking hacker/childhood friend (and he's voiced by Kamiya Hiroshi in his early seiyuu days coughs worth mentioning), Genki Guy was the typical genki guy with Kanto (?) accent which made him sound as if he was meowing for the most part so we got ourselves the Neko-guy too, who in the end literally did nothing but being "genki", then "megane"-san sent me creepy shivers in more ways than one, but he also went nowhere, then...well, you get the idea. The rest aren't much different or important either.

Honorable mention goes to Naruse because everytime he appeared on screen I couldn't help but grin widely for his over-the-top flirting sessions and I doubt I'll be able to get "HONEY!" off my mind for awhile. And then there's the twins, which surprisingly had to offer some development and conclusion regarding their feelings towards Keita, which I praise immensely seeing how awful the rest of the cast was treated.

Art&OST - 4,5

Art-wise, it was quite generic, nothing too bad or too awesome-looking. Some backgrounds looked unfinished though and I'm mostly referring to the forest backgrounds. OST is quite generic as well and didn't exactly pop out, however the opening song, if listened to more than once, becomes quite entertaining in the long run.

Enjoyment - 7

Well, I personally enjoyed it for what it was. It was my ray of sunshine in some days and I'm sad that it's over! I recommend it to those that want to shut their brains and have something to laugh or d'aww at or to people that like BL in general. I don't recommend it if you're looking for an involving story with twisted Yami no Matsuei-like BL elements or something similar to Junjou Romantica or Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. Gakuen Heaven is even lighter than those and it should be taken as such, for what it is, without having too many expectations for it.

You can have a standard plot with standard characters but still have a good show. Nevertheless... I may have the unpopular opinion here but i think Gakuen Heaven is completely dull.

Gakuen Heaven follows the typical formula of "the new dude in school who is fawn over by all his classmates" which is a typical cliche in yaoi/yuri, shoujo and every other anime which involves school romances.
But you can have this setting and still make a great story, but in the case of this anime the plot is boring, all twists are hand-fed to the viewers from the start, and the only one ... which isn't (which i won't spoil because it happens in the end) it's completely random and pointless. The characters are dull stereotypes who doesn't add nothing rather than being handsome love interests to the main character. And Ito Keita himself is completely weak as the protagonist.

I know that this series, as it's based on a yaoi videogame, was probably made as some sort of fanservice for it's fans... but i expect to have at least a little bit of substance if i decide to take my time to watch a 13 episode show. I kept waiting for something to surprise me but everything was a disappointment in this one. There has been BL anime/manga with the same exact premise that still manage to be really interesting... but Gakuen Heaven couldn't get me engage in it.

But i understand that some fans may enjoy it. It has cute bishounen and a happy-go-lucky storyline (eventhough it's extremely pointless)... so if that's enough to float your boat it will probably satisfy you.
If you are someone who prefer something more substantial, it's a waste of your precious time.

Hello, Everyone. Valentine's is this week so let's look at a romance. In this case, Gakuen Heaven a shounen-ai series based on a video game from Spray. The adaptation was handled by Spray, Visual Art's and Tokyo Kids. Let's dive right in and see if the love is in the air or if this is one of those painful romances.

Story:

The tale opens with Keita getting an acceptance letter to Bell Liberty Academy, a prestigious boys' school where the most elite of elite students attend classes. Keita wonders why he's been accepted since he can't think of anything that makes him special, but he ... goes because it's a great opportunity. At the Academy he meets a bunch of kind, attractive guys who readily accept him in spite of his own doubts. Everything seems to be going well, particularly with Kazuki who is always by his side, when Keita finds his qualifications suddenly challenged and has to prove himself worthy.

The biggest issue with the story is that the series doesn't take a lot of risks in its story-telling. As such, a lot of the events and turns are really predictable. If you've seen or read a decent number of romance stories then you've probably seen every turn the story takes used enough times that you know the pattern it's going to follow. Gakuen Heaven tries to compensate for that with its humour, which does work to an extent, but even that isn't always well done. To give a concrete example, the story uses the joke where characters sound like they're doing something naughty and the camera shows things in the background to imply that there may be something naughty going on that they can't show you until, big surprise, it shows the characters doing something completely innocuous. It's a setup that can work and that can be really funny, but it loses all its impact when you keep using it at the beginning of episodes.

Now, the plot being standard and predictable doesn't make it bad. There are a lot of good things about the story too. The foreshadowing is really good, although I'm, not sure if that's because they expected the plot to be hard to follow or because they knew it was going to be predictable but still didn't want to have anything happen in the climax that introduced new elements and wouldn't make much sense. Either way, I will give them credit for establishing everything early. There are also some really cute romantic moments that work well and the humour, even with those moments that don't work, is generally funny and entertaining.

Characters:

The characters in this are pretty archetypical. You've got the twins who have the same personality, the hyper flirtatious guy, the sensitive artist, the kind athletic guy who takes care of everyone, and so on. None of them are bad characters but they don't have much depth to them. My only real complaint is that Hideaki is kind of creepy in a way that doesn't really mesh with the rest of the series. To be fair, he doesn't do much in terms of things that are actually creepy, but those few scenes where he does are just strange and a little uncomfortable. I will also give the series credit, though. I do like that Keita has a pretty subtle character arc that demonstrates exactly what makes him worthy and even remarkable in spite of his own uncertainty. The character dynamics are also really well done, in spite of most of the characters being pretty standard.

Art:

The art is pretty good. The backgrounds can be a bit sparse, but the character designs are really good and the animation flows really well, particularly in those scenes where there's some kind of action. The series is also really good about using art to set up atmosphere, which it does do in several scenes and there are some really nice details for objects that are actually going to be important.

Sound:

Gakuen Heaven has an amazing vocal cast. Our main couple is voiced by Sakurai Takahiro (the voice of Cloud Strife and Kururugi Suzaku) and Fukuyama Jun (the voice of Lelouch Lamperouge and Albert de Morcerf.) Incidentally, I now understand why Code Geass has so many shounen-ai fans. They aren't the only big name actors either. We've got Morikawa Toshiyuki (Sephiroth,) Konishi Katsuyuki (Lloyd Irving,) Miki Shinichiro (Kudou Youji,) Kawakami Tomoko (Utena,) Suzumura Kenichi (Kokutou Mikiya,) Kamiya Hiroshi (Levi) and many others. They all deliver really spectacular performances in this too. The music is really good. Yoshikawa Mei does a good job delivering a suitable score.

Ho-yay:

As surprising as it may be, this shounen-ai romance has a lot of ho-yay in it. The ho-yay factor is a 10/10.

Final Thoughts:

Gakuen Heaven is a simple, light-hearted romance. A lot of it is pretty standard stuff, but it manages to have some really good aspects too. A lot of the humour works, the cutesy moments are absolutely adorable, the vocal cast is amazing, the character dynamics are good and it is consistently entertaining throughout. If you're in the mood for a cutesy romance, check it out. If that isn't your thing then you aren't going to be into this series. For myself, I give it a solid 7/10. Next week I'll take a look at Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka.

In every aspect(story, art, sound, character, enjoyment), I rate this anime 10/10.
I loved this story, I am not into BL, but this was a touching and wonderful story, I can't compare it to anything I have ever seen.
It is one of the best anime I have watched. If you miss this anime, it will be like missing a great moment in your life.The story is a very simple one and cute.
Gakuen heaven is a boys x boys cute and beautiful anime.This anime shows a great and profound innocence between the main characters.Watching this anime makes one realise that true love is extremely innocent and ... much beyond physical level .And believe me watching this anime will be a great experience. Everyone has his or her tastes and this anime depends a lot on which angle you watch it.
Ito Keita is a common boy, and he has nothing to be recommend except his good luck. One day he receives a letter. It is a certification of the entrance to an elite boy's boding high school. At this school he is supposed to spend days of battles and sweet romance with handsome boys. He constantly questions his worth at the school. He's just an average normal young teenager.

The story revolves around Ito Keita, who can't believe he can go to Bell Liberty Academy, shortly known as BL. (Yeah, I know BL also means Boys Love.) There he meets a lot of new friends, one of them Kazuki Endo (my favourite character), who he is closest to. But there are some people who just don't want him in BL... And aside from that, what's with Kazuki anyway? What's he hiding from Keita? And why does Keita feel so comfortable around Kazuki?

In fact kazuki has deep feelings for keita.He has connections with Keita's past and is very concerned for him. The anime shows a kind of spiritual relationship between them.

The first few episodes are only there to get to know the big cast that support Gakuen Heaven. Later we get to be delved deeper into the story. The mysteries of why Keita was able to get into BL in the first place, since the school is only there for top students. Of Kazuki Endo, his past with Keita and his real identity. The people who are plotting to work against Keita. And then the last mystery involving Jin-san, who is close with Kazuki. In the end they will all be solved and you will feel satisfied after watching this series.

The art is beautiful and bright and there are tons of bishonen to boot. Funny being the keyword, the slash is really teasing you, but there is hardly any real action going on except for that anly one kiss and the hugs. However, the relationship of the main paring is very nicely and beautifully built and that's more important to me than some steamy/hot scenes.

You should not expect every shounen-ai animes to have steamy scenes. I believed that if steamy scenes were to be present in 'Gakuen Heaven', the innocence of the anime would have been ruined... What I like about this anime is that its innocence and profoundness has been preserved perfectly.

And yes, I have seen many people mistaking the term 'SHOUNEN-AI as 'YAOI', especially when it comes to yaoi-fan girls. There is actually a world of difference between the two terms. Shounen-ai animes are animes that show emotional tendencies towards boys and boys. Shounen-ai animes are not supposed to show steamy scenes ,whereas yaoi animes indicate presence of physical, steamy scenes between boys and boys.

So I request people to learn the difference first because there are many yaoi fans who tends to get dissappointed because they already judge shounen-ai animes as container of steamy scenes...which is absolutely wrong.

Overall Gakuen Heaven is a nice series worth watching. I definitely recommend this series to you! If you miss this anime, it will be like missing a great moment in your life.

And lastly, a very important lesson: patience will be rewarded. (Something you'll need when watching this series. Good luck!)

I really happen to get to this anime by chance and I'm really glad I did it made me like shounen-ai and yaoi more.

Although in some episodes the beginnings tend to be a little awkward especially if your a perverted person. I find it really funny and light-hearted.

If you haven't really seen good yaoi or shounen-ai better watch this it will laugh your ass off.

A young boy is selected to a special all-boy Academy for those with extra ordinary talents in different fields. Perfect setting for something where you don't have to worry about anything else but relationships and getting less then A in classes.
Completely unbelievable honey-filled boy-love story where everything is too good and perfect. Some people like it, some people don't.

The artwork is basic good. It doesn't make you gasp for breath or anything like that, but it's pleasant to the eye.

The sound is nothing too amazing. Music was... there... but nothing out of the ordinary and the soundtrack won't stick to your head for a ... very long time.
Voice acting was good as usual. I like Miki Shinichirou tho I think he has done better. The constant usage of "honey" from his character ( Naruse ) was somehow clumsy from time to time.

The plot is boring at best. No twists or unpredictability. Everything that happens is hand-fed to you and you really don't need to think while watching. Nothing exciting, just some hastily knitted story to give excuse to cute boy-love scenes.
It was like porn without... well... porn, or "cute boys doing cute things".

The characters were dull stereotypes, providing the viewer with easily understandable archetypes from which you can just pick the ones you like for the duration of the series. None of them had hardly any depth and even if they did, the anime was too short to get into detail.
The main character, Ito Keita was mostly annoying while cute. Obviously he was meant to be a "likable" character and as such, all the other characters basically fell in love with him immediately. This is what made him annoying.
Also, the series lacked the classic evil character ( unless you count the vice chairman ). The twins and the doctor were a little "bad" but not exactly evil.

I'll re-watch this only if I'm feeling the urge to look at a show that requires no brain-activity from my part, that will have a lot of pretty boys being cute with each other.

I would rent this, but I wouldn't buy it.

A student of no particular talent named Ito Keita is admitted to Bell Liberty Academy, a very prestigious and selective school, and spends the rest of this anime getting to know its ridiculously good-looking students and figuring out why he was accepted.

I started out thinking this anime was kind of meh, then quickly began liking it, and by the end ended up loving it. It's a 13-episode series that really knows its audience and isn't afraid to target them with fan-service (straight guys, that's your cue to move on; this isn't for you).

It's a very light boys' love story with a ton of hot guys ... and literally no females (though they claim there are female students). At the beginning, it's a little hard to understand why people like Keita, our protagonist, so much; his only talents seem to be luck and being really sweet. But by the end, you love him, too, so you can't really blame them.

There are other plot devices that make no sense but I ended up liking anyway, like the chairman situation, that random bear, what exactly Shunsuke does, why the biology professor can't get a better password. And there are some things that are absolutely hilarious, like the student council vs. the treasury rivalry (side note: I adore Karou and Omi, who run the treasury, and the computer hacking battle between Omi and Nakajima is genius), the twins, and how utterly devilish this anime is with innuendo.

The plot also massively improves towards the middle-to-end of the series, and you see how they've been setting it up from the beginning. I guess this anime is like a better version of Princess Princess (even sharing some seiyu!) without most of the awkwardness and with a more interesting plot. It really worked for me!

It all started when Keita Ito received a letter sealed with the initials BL Academy. The most sophisticated all boys, on campus, Academy in the country. Now that Keita Ito is accepted in the school with an average GBA, as well as average skills in sports and writing, he doesn’t think that he belongs in there. But with the help from the other students, will he be able to make it in BLA?

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this anime. Some would categorise this anime as yaoi, but it doesn't show that much; just a bit of skin here and there. No sex scenes at all. It's ... mostly all innuendo and feelings between Keita and Kazuki. It all takes place at the Bell Liberty Academy and the male characters are handsome or I should say downright HOT! Although Keita hasn't much in skills or talent, he does have a little something that brings a breath of fresh air to the school. If you like yaoi this is an anime for you.

Well.....I was expecting Shounen-ai from this anime. Sure, they kissed. Sure, they expressed their feeling. Sure there are time when they were 'harrassed'. But no, the plot is very random and flied everwhere.
Sure, there are Shounen-Ai, but that cannot patch up the plot line and the overall story.

But still, if you are just so bored out of your mind and really want an anime without highschool squealing fangirls or girls that faint a lot just seeing a drop of blood, this anime might seem interesting to you.

This anime first caught my eyes because of the Shounen-Ai mention. But I sort of feel ... that they are trying to force the Shounen-Ai theme into this anime.
Or maybe they are trying to force a very complicated plot into a short anime. It is just simply not working..

But as a thanks for entertaining me for a day, I will rate this anime an 8. It is good enough, just slightly below my expectations.

Well, try it out if you want to. I can't say it is worth your time but it is worthy enough for me to write a review.

If you're a fan of yaoi or even shonenai and you like reverse harem, this one is for you. Very fun. Its a taste the rainbow experience. Throughout the anime you get to meet and know several of the guys very well. The harem is a wide and diverse bunch. There is something-er, someone for everyone here. Whether you like the artsy type, the sporty type, the sensitive type, the bad boy type or even slightly older guys there will be at least one in there perfect for ya. The uke is just the right amount of helpless without managing to get on your ... nerves...most of the time. All in all...I rank it good. My only complaint is it's VERY VERY tame. One kiss in all 13 episodes and its at the very end. :[

Okay, so a simple review:

This show can be pretty ridiculous, unrealistic, and cringe-y (the opening theme and the fact that the title logo says "boys love hyper," or that they go to BL Academy, lmao)... but it's also pretty hilarious at times, has pretty animation, really enjoyable characters, and a decent story, in my opinion. If you're looking for obvious romance throughout the whole thing, this isn't like that. (Does that count as a sort of spoiler???... not sure). But it's very much a romance, it just takes more building up than something like Junjou Romantica, and it's tons lighter. The show also might not ... be amazing or very long, but it's definitely worth watching if you're interested in romance (between boys obviously) with a bit of mysterious, though maybe predictable, plot, comedy, beautiful characters, and cute moments.

I am coming here to say one thing and one thing only: SCREW THAT ASSHOLE VICE CHAIRMAN AAAAAA HES SUCH A DICK
In all seriousness its very enjoyable as a show so far, I like ~most~ of the characters (theres the odd person that just doesn't have to be there or is just plain annoying).
*spoilers below*
I am kind of annoyed at how long its taking Kazuki so damn long to mention to Keita "oh hey btw I'm your long lost childhood friend and also kinda secretly the chairman ahaha yeahhh". I'm on episode 9 right now, and with the amount of episodes I feel like ... hes had ample opportunities to do so and it could make some things go smoother? Maybe? idk ive never reviewed an anime but I just had to express my distaste for the vice chairman because he an actual filthy shit weasel. Thank you and goodbye.
Also there is just enough gay :)