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I mean this anime still shares some things with that one, such as the main character dressing with feminine clothes half the time and being initially rejected by most people around, and having a supportive parent while the other does not accept them, but they have nothing in common beyond that and their approach are vastly different.
The romance part of the anime is peculiar, as the protagonist is part of a sort of a love triangle with both a boy and a girl, having the male character being conflicted by his feelings and afraid of being homo or at least bisexual, and of being seen as a creep, both by his friend and society. The female character has no issue with the main character’s identity but her feelings end up being different from what it’s initially shown.
Thus despite being a romance, the approach in here seems like an anti-genre sort of thing, as the characters go in and out of relationships without actually being in love with the others and instead being afraid of losing their bonds, and desperately want affection that was neglected to them at some point in their lives.
So, it’s the anime like KareKano? Which took the premise of a high school romance between two seemingly perfect characters to explore their real selves and their psyche behind them? Not really, hardly, as the series is mostly comical and leaves its themes in the background for the sake of focusing on something else, and when it does focus on them, it feels like a surface level of exploration.
KareKano was a comedy as well but it knew when and how to separate its humor from its psychological introspection, while this show only has the character feeling kinda sad yet doesn’t miss the chance to throw some jokes every few minutes.
Aside of the messy tone, another issue is that, despite its peculiar love triangle and themes it wants to explore, the execution still comes down to awkward teenagers being unable to resolve most things just by talking them out, which is why the resolutions of every conflict there is end up being very easygoing:
-The main character is bullied lightly only in the past on another school, and rejected just at the beginning of the story, they quickly become popular and supported by everyone in the school.
-Ryuji and Makoto’s relationship and conflicts get two episodes tops of focus. Exactly because there isn’t much content to explore about that, at least not in this anime.
-Related to that, characters faking their feelings does not lead to any interesting change in dynamics or a major conflict between them, as they are still around the others and keep accepting each other no problem.
-Aoi’s loneliness does get some focus throughout several episodes, but that can and is in fact resolved simply by having the other two mains around. And the most important part of that aspect, the absence of her mother, gets resolved extremely easily and in an easygoing and very lighthearted way by the end of the series.
-Want to talk about the thing between Makoto and their mother? It gets completely sidelined until the very end of the series, it is looked deeper only when the show is about to end, and just like with Aoi, for how big it seemed to be, the resolution leaves a lot to be desired.
Plus the adaptation isn’t even complete as there is a movie coming out next year to adapt the final bunch of chapters of the source material.
Apparently, the anime covered the whole source material by rushing through all of its content in just one season, so that could be part of the problem, but that does not change the end result of the adaptation.
I can’t even say that the aesthetics are remarkable in any particular way, the backgrounds and artwork are good, the special effects and character designs are one of the same you can find anywhere else. The main issue is the chibi art style the series goes for half the time, which negatively affects everything else.
Just like with Human Bug Daigaku, which I reviewed recently, I appreciate how this show properly captured the main aesthetic of its source material, but by itself it kind of sucks. For the comical moments, the style feels tryhard, and when it is used in between more serious scenes, it ruins the mood completely.
And that goes for the sound as well. The main character having a clear male voice is a nice touch, but everyone else sounds very typical, except for Aoi, who has a weirdly raspy or something like that voice and sounds unnatural a lot of the times to me. The opening and ending are cute and fitting but the rest of the music, as well as the sound effects, are mostly unremarkable.
So, if you’re up for a romance series with a somewhat unusual love triangle with some LGBTQ+ themes thrown in there, and with an attempt at exploring some more serious stuff to make it dramatic enough to feel like something might happens, while still having wholesome resolutions for you to not feel bad while watching it, this is your show. If otherwise you want an actual serious and more complex look into any of its themes, I think you should try somewhere else.
Recommended stuff
Products about the identities of LGBTQ+ and how they are seen by people around them:
-Hourou Musuko
Romcom series about characters afraid to reveal their true selves:
-Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
-Horimiya
5/10
