I warn you that you may not like this show if you’re expecting a steamy hot romance. It's more about the development of a romance. Some people who watched Rec, including me, rated it with a very low score, because it’s incredibly boring at first viewing. However, Rec is different from most other romance anime and not as cliché. It reflects on reality by displaying the disappointment and challenges of balancing a professional life with a private life. Rec revolves around an aspiring voice actress (Aka) and a marketer (Matsu) dealing with the struggles and pressure of work. One problem I had was that their relationship happened quite fast with Aka moving into Matsu’s place the same day they met, because her place burned down without any given reason. On a positive note, Rec goes behind the scenes of the media industry and excitingly shows the transition of a popular seiyuu, including the advertisement and work inside the studio.
There are a few problems I had with the characters. If it were not for the revelation of Aka’s age (20 years) and scenes of her drinking beer, this show would seriously appear as a lolicon. She literally looks and sounds like a little girl, while Matsu looks like an old man despite being 26. Matsu can honestly get pretty annoying. He is a loner who is desperate for a girlfriend and relieved when Aka walks into his life. This causes him to act perverted at times, and it may be entertaining and funny for someone who enjoys anime where a guy constantly experiences rejection. I honestly didn’t like it. Apart from that, Aka and Matsu are strong as a pair. They show support and feelings for each other as they work together in their career. The supporting characters contribute to the pair’s relationship by revealing life’s disappointments and giving advice that has an impact on them. They also participate in each of their careers and show how the media industry works in Japan.
The artwork looks old as if it’s from the 1990s instead of the 2000s. It resembles something out of a childrens’ book. The colors are bland. The backgrounds are plainly drawn, and the only activity are from the main characters. The rest of the society is still. The character design was average. The females were the only attractive characters in the show, and the males could not nearly compare. The settings, including recording studios, are drawn realistically as it suits the atmosphere of voice actors and advertisers.
The OP, sung by Kanako Sanai (voice of Aka), is pretty good, but it could be unattractive to others. The truth is the lyrics of the OP describes the show perfectly: “Don’t give up/Embrace all of your worries.” Not only does it describe their relationship, but it says not to let life get you down at the worst of times. The seiyuu expressed appropriate emotions for situations, including jealousy and excitement. The background music and sound effects fit the atmosphere well.
Rec is an anime that you’ll have to rewatch with a different mindset if you did not enjoy it the first time. Honestly, the few people that scored Rec below a 7 were bored out of their minds just like I was. I planned to drop it during my first viewing, but it didn’t make sense for me to drop an anime that only has nine 12-minute episodes. I couldn’t stand the anime, and the OP was completely annoying at first. After rewatching it, I actually enjoy it more than other romance anime, and the OP is one of my favorites. As I mentioned earlier, this is the most realistic romance anime out there as it features the complications of relationships because of busy careers, which is the primary reason why my score changed from a 6 to a 9.
