Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend

Genre: Comedy, Romance
Episodes: 13
Rated: Rated 16

Aki Tomoya is a high school otaku who works to support his game making. With remarkable luck, he bumps into Kato Megumi, the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. Naturally, the meeting twists his life into a complicated relationships.

EPISODES

#1 Fan Service of Love and Youth

Aki Tomoya, Kato Megumi, Sawamura Eriri Spencer, Kasumigaoka Utaha, and Tomoya's cousin Hyodo Michiru go out location scouting for their project, a video game.

#2 A Prologue of Errors

Six months prior to the location scouting trip, Tomoya meets Megumi after he retrieves her lost beret, which inspires him to begin development on a video game with her as the main heroine.

#3 A Girlfriend Without a Raised Flag

Eriri and Utaha decide to accept Tomoya's proposal to create the video game. Tomoya then has dinner with Megumi at a coffee shop, where he notices that despite her cuteness, she has a lack of presence.

#4 Retake the Climax

With Eriri and Utaha continuing to turn down his revised drafts for the project, Tomoya is faced with a final deadline at the end of Golden Week.

#5 Budget, Dateline and New Development

Megumi is impressed after she finishes reading a light novel series written by Utaha. Meanwhile, hoping to learn more about Utaha's new book ahead of the rest of the public, Tomoya has a job interview with her and gets a job as a part-time editor, much to her displeasure.

#6 The Date Event of Crossing Paths

The circle activities begin, and Eriri experiences a difficulty in getting Megumi to display exaggerated emotions for inspiration for her sketches.

#7 Deciding the Night for Two

In a flashback, Utaha meets Tomoya personally for the first time during a book signing.

#8 Friend, Foe or a New Character

With the deadline for the manuscript of their doujin circle drawing near, Eriri invites Tomoya to her house. There, she comes up with an idea how to push her creativity to the limits and the two engage in a role-play scenario.

#9 A Wingman’s Traumatic Recollection Mode

In Tomoya's room, while Eriri silently writes a manuscript, Tomoya and Eriri argue over some minor things regarding the deadline for submitting it.

#10 One-on-one Route After 8 Years

Tomoya abruptly wakes in his bed and notices that there is a woman sleeping alongside him. He realizes that it is Utaha, who was invited to his house by Megumi.

#11 A Melody of Reminiscing and Support

Tomoya, Eriri, Utaha, and Megumi hold a video conference in regards to producing a game, and afterwards, Tomoya heads off to take a bath. On his way there, he bumps into a girl and realizes she is his cousin, Michiru.

#12 Ready to Start Resolving the Subplots

Tomoya introduces Michiru to the girls, stating that he wants Michiru to do the background music for the game. Michiru, however, voices her dislike of anything otaku-related.

#13 The Ups and Downs at the End of Each Day

Tomoya briefs Michiru's band, Icy Tail on their first gig, stating that they are warming up for other bands since they don't have a fanbase yet. Meanwhile, Utaha and Eriri accompany Megumi to offer support for Michiru's band, despite being upset that Tomoya became their manager without consulting them first.

CHARACTERS

Aki Tomoya

One of the 3 most notable students at Toyogasaki Academy. When he was a first year student, he succeeded in convincing the vice-principal to allow an anime screening at the school's Culture Festival. He is extremely tenacious and would do anything to get what he wants. He was a typical consumer otaku who would spend the money he earned at his part-time job on anime and games but ...

Kato Megumi

An extremely normal girl. She is so plain that Tomoya failed to realise that he was actually classmates with her. She is very stealthy and it's not unusual to find her checking her cell phone and becoming part of the background even if she started a conversation with you. She is actually very attractive and she also has a very open and likeable personality, but this easy-going nature doesn't help to "raise a flag".

Sawamura Eriri Spencer

One of the most beautiful girls to attend Toyogasaki Academy. Her family is very affluent with her father working as an English Diplomat and she lives in a mansion up in the hills. But, she is secretly the illustrator for an over 18 doujinshi circle called "egoisthic-lily" under her alias "Kashiwagi Eri". She was greatly influenced by her fujoshi (a fan of yaoi) mother and otaku father.

Kasumigaoka Utaha

One of the most beautiful girls to attent Toyogasaki Academy as well as being the top student. But, she is actually a light novel author going by the pen-name "Kasumi Utako". Her debut work, "The Metronome in Love" was a major hit with a total of 500,000 copies sold. She sleeps and reads a lot and usually keeps to herself but when she does open her mouth, everyone is shocked by her sharp tongue.

Hashima Izumi

When she was younger, she used to be very outgoing and active and played with the boys. But after being introduced to the world of otaku by Tomoya, she has become immersed in the fandom. Following her parents' job re-location, she moved to Nagoya but never stopped being an otaku. And now, she returns to Tokyo where her otaku master Tomoya is.

Hyodo Michiru

Born on the same day, and at the same hospital as Tomoya. She not only is his childhood friend at a primeval level, but is also his cousin. She currently attends an all-girls high school and used to be part of all kinds of clubs on campus but recently started an indies band called "Icy Tail". She is preparing for her live performances everyday. She has a very close relationship with Tomoya and often expresses their understanding for one another physically but neither of them care that they are of the opposite sex.

CREW

Illustrator
Takase Toshiaki

Director
Kamei Kanta

Artists Voice
Matsuoka Yoshitsugu as Aki Tomoya; Oonishi Saori as Sawamura Eriri Spencer; Kayano Ai as Kasumigaoka Utaha; Yasuno Kiyono as Kato Megumi; Akasaki Chinatsu as Hashima Izumi; Yahagi Sayuri as Hyodo Michiru

Artists Opening
"Kimiiro Signal" by Haruna Luna

Artists Ending
"Colorful" by Sawai Miku