Ranked #438

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

It is a shame that rom-coms today are completely infested with harems, where an ordinary guy pimps multiple nicely-pixelated girls. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, my friends, is how a romantic comedy should strive to be. First of all, there are two key elements that constitutes to a successful romantic comedy: romance and comedy. I don’t consider romance to be: “I love you because you are the main character of this story, and there is no particular reason why.” I also don’t consider comedy to be constant sexual innuendos and sexual harassment. It is not funny, not to mention overdone.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun is an amazingly unique love story. Amazingly, the appeal does not depend on the size of one’s breasts. The two main characters, Shizuku and Haru, make up a hilarious dynamic duo. They are both socially awkward, combined with the fact that they have no earthly idea of how a relationship works. This is actually a big positive, simply because the story avoids all the generics in your typical relationship cycle. Skip the “fated encounter”, the “commonalities”, the “date”, the “predicament”, the “make up”, and the “confession”. Haru and Shizuku are simply oblivious to the norm, which allows them to clearly speak their minds. Imagine blurting out everything you think and how ridiculously entertaining that would be. This is one of the primary reasons why the characters in Tonari are so lovable and funny.

Brains Base did a spectacular job in producing this anime. The art is marvelous in all respects. The scenery, the character designs, and the animations makes Tonari quite a relaxing spectacle. The character designs are flawless. My heart often skips a beat when I see the characters blush or smile. It’s so cute and heart-warming. Seriously. Who needs moe? The voice actors, particularly Haruka Tomatsu, did a masterful job in portraying their respective characters. The script also came off incredibly natural. Brains Base did it again!

This review is relatively short because my goal is to spread the word about Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun. For those of you who haven't done so, add Tonari to your plan-to-watch list! I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a rom-com to this magnitude. Toradora! and School Rumble comes to mind, and ironically, the stories are awfully similar. read more

An exotic guy ( knows nothing about being in a relationship )+ A girl who only cares about her own grades ( also being anti-social ) = ?

It sums up to be lots of funny moments!

Honestly when I started watching this, I felt that it was dull and uninteresting, due to the fact that nothing much was actually going on. But I soon realize it was a mistake to pass such a quick judgement unto this wonderful series.

ATTENTION: It’s a 100% rom/com ( romance / comedy ) If you’re expecting it to be of harem genre or have ecchi scene/jokes/etc, don’t waste your time watching this series. But if you’re in for some romance and laughter, don’t miss it.

So you ask what’s the main attraction about this anime. Why should you spend your time watching this?

First of all, I know its just another rom/com series, it doesn’t have a story that is different from all the other series of the same genre, but the pacing of the story is just so good, not too fast or slow, which really makes this show even more enjoyable then it is.

The story is nothing new like i've mentioned earlier, and so as the plot, but it is able to keep its audience entertained with humorous jokes and interesting dialogues.

The characters is, in my opinion the selling point of the series. We have Mizutani Shizuku, our female protagonist, who has always kept herself away from making friends. Yoshida Haru, our main male character, who has been a troublemaker all his life, only till when they met each other. ( Well maybe not, he still stirs up trouble from time to time ) More character comes along as the story progresses. Every character has it's unique attributes. In a short span of time ( episodes ), this series is able to make you feel as if you've know all these characters from inside out.

The art is okay, its not too good, but not too crappy neither. The facial expression drawn is really good. ( for me personally ) I love the expressionless look from Shizuku.

The music is pretty relaxing and uplifting.( opening and ending theme song ).The choice of music for certain scenes are well picked.

I really enjoyed this series, even just a thought about it makes me smile. I’ve introduced this series to a couple of friends and they share the same thought as me.

A must-watch for a rom/com fan. I am expecting a second season, because this series totally deserves it.

Feel free to give me feedbacks, I loved being criticized too. ( Im serious ) Sorry for my bad english. read more