5/5 A Real Piece of Art
  by Bradley Fye (Pittsburgh, PA)
Well, initially, when my friend got on me about watching this series, and I heard what it was about, I was a little skeptical about trying it out. I did the research on the series, and found out that it was adapted from a Japanese adult (hentai) video game on the computer. I wanted to start out this review by saying that there is very minimal adult material in this series. There's a bunch of fan service, but close to no nudity.
In Shuffle! the main character, Rin Tsuchimi is put in a situation (which you'll see as the series develops) where he must decide upon the girl he really loves. You'll meet some real over-the-top characters as it starts up.
They did a really good job with drawing the characters and environment; I was actually quite surprised. The theme song is rather catchy, in my opinion (coming from a person who normally detests that type of music). The dialog really isn't all that bad; there's a few corny jokes by today's standards, but I think it actually complements the series nicely. The actual story of it, without spoiling anything, was overall moving. There were a couple moments where I feel that it was a little too dramatic when I look at the series overall, but it was well done nonetheless.
All in all, I can't say there's too much wrong with this series at all, and it's definitely in my favorite pile. If you're a fan of cute girls, comedy, and school time drama, I'd recommend this to you.

5/5 Shuffled between worlds
  by YajuuMan (OR USA)
Harem anime at its finest. "Shuffle" is a romantic comedy with elements of tragedy woven in. Basically it's an animated soap opera. Yet it has a charm that would appeal to many anime fans.
It starts as "Rin" who was orphaned at an early age, now in high school
learns that two new students (both girls) will be transferring into his class. "Lisianthus" (Sia) and "Nerine" come from different worlds and are princesses (Sia is the daughter of the King of the Gods and Nerine the daughter of the King of Demons). Both girls met Rin years before and fell in love with the kind hearted boy. *Note-that the way the Gods and Demons are drawn, they more resemble elves-as both races possess long pointed ears. There is a friendship between the girls and their fathers yet there is a rivalry as well. Mostly to convince Rin which girl is better as a potential mate.

To complicate things further, there is Kaede, Rin's childhood friend and housemate. Asa, another female friend since middle school. Primula who appears in the second episode. And Asa's friend Kareha, who frequently has daydream spells mainly over romantic situations.

There are bouts of bizarre comic relief from the crazed groupies each of the girls has though not wanted. And the groupies appear far to old to attend high school yet they do. There are more main characters that add fun elements to the story.

As mentioned earlier, there are elements of tragedy, long hidden secrets
and bitter jealousy within this story. Also, as to the girls Nerine and Sia-Nerine is quite skilled at using magic where Sia is frequently hitting others with chairs.

Check out "HULU/Funimation" and watch an episode or two of Shuffle then decide.

I personally enjoyed the story, but everyone has different tastes.


3/5 Shuffle off to get this series.
  by William E. Horn Jr.
Shuffle is a fairly standard harem comedy that is not ground breaking, yet is rather entertaining nontheless. It has decent characters and a rather good plotline.

2/5 A 'how NOT to do' guide on making a romance/harem
  by M. Stepp
Speaking as a fan of the harem genre, I went into this show expecting nothing more than fun and entertaining antics with fanservice sprinkles. Unfortunately, upon finishing the first disc, I was filled with... well, nothing. The characters were cut-outs of the usual archetypes, and the comedy ranged from slightly amusing to lame and even to downright annoying. First, we have the token gals; Kaede the 60s housewife who lives to pamper Rin, Asa the energetic childhood friend, Sia the spunky fashionable girl, Primula the kid character, and Nerine the "too shy" girl who can sing well. All of these characters fail to impress or even in being anything distinguishable from the rest. It's comedic tropes depend largely on idiotic fanboys pestering the girls and hating Rin for being their center of attention. This just makes for situations that are beyond predictable and unfunny. Maybe if watching dense idiots do dense and idiotic things gets your funny bone, then you'll find it to be okay.
Another detriment to the first half of this series is the writing in the dialogue. With lines like "Is it okay if I fall even more in love with you?" and "I'll have lots of babies for you, Rin!" you may find yourself rolling your eyes and reaching for the stop button. And no, these are not the worst lines I could find, there are plenty more of the like, these are just the first two that came to mind. There are also many lack-luster and downright gut-churning confessions along way shrouded in scenarios such as 'girl trips and falls on guy' and 'young girl needs a bra, lets take Rin along for bra shopping' that are sure to get your gag reflex going, or just bore the hell out of you, whichever one comes first. Ultimately, the first half of the series is little more than the usual harem antics, just a lot more boring.
Its not until the second half of this series when things start to get interesting. Yes, if you could stomach your way through the first half, then strap yourself in, turn off the lights, and prepare yourself for one of the most unintentionally hilarious melodramatic farces you will ever see! The series takes a 180 and immediately turns a once pointless character into a plot-device (and then back to pointless), adds 'ghosts from the past' to another, and gives psychiatric problems to others. These twists come out of nowhere, and there are multiple times when the characters spend a majority of an episode sitting around blaming themselves for other peoples' problems. One character gets handed a murderous psychosis right out of left field. I guess the makers saw When They Cry and tried to mimick it last second, because this psychosis has no justifiable explanation and in the end, it just goes away, poof. This segment also features a laser-guided exacto-knife. Yes, watch this far and you can see how a simple exacto-knife can transcend the laws of physics.
The one redeeming quality to this farce is that a winner is indeed chosen; unfortunately, this leads into yet another off the wall life-or-death plot twist that plays through with the most nonsensical explanations, reasons, and resolutions. Yes indeed, what started as a lame excuse for a romantic comedy turned into a hilarious melodramatic farce that is sure to have you in tears of laughter. In fact, the characterization and plot are so weak in the first half that you can probably watch the first 2 episodes and then spare yourself the gag-inducing 3-10 episodes and just skip ahead to episode 11 (I believe is when it 'tries to be serious') and not miss much of anything. If you're up for it, I guarantee you will be entertained by how terrible the drama is done in this show, a 'How NOT to do' guide for making a romantic comedy/harem.

5/5 An Entertaining And Romantic Harem Series Worth Checking Out
  by Rich (CA)
I saw a few episodes on the website HULU and instantly knew that this series was a must have, and now seeing the series through I have no regrets of having bought this incredible series. The series for the most part is a romantic comedy with some dramatic parts as well a little similar to the series Chobits and Ah My Goddess series. The series does have a little nudity not full just some topless shots but if you feel that's offensive or don't want the chance of any younger kids seeing those scenes just quickly skip over those parts because all in all the series is still a good show for people to watch. Like a lot of anime shows of this nature you have one male character(Rin) who seems to attract a group of beautiful girls who want to be his one true love and he must choose who really has his heart, and it's sometimes very funny as you watch these girls compete against each other for Rin's heart. The series video is in wide-screen format with the usual 5.1 English audio or 2.0 English/Japanese audio, the video quality is clear and sharp like most anime series that have come out these last ten years and the voice cast for both the Japanese and English cast were incredible for their character roles. Though the extras aren't much just the usual trailers and textless intro/ending songs and that's about it, the only complaint again is the way Funimation put the box set which if you've been buying the last few like the Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE or Mushi-Shi box sets is that the series comes in four dvds which are placed in two thin pack dvd cases which hold two dvds each and placed in a thin paper sleeve with some of the female shuffle cast on the front. So the question is is this series worth getting at this price and for myself I say yes, though if you like more of the mecha fighting series and don't care for much else than you might want to pass this over otherwise a great series awaits you...