Konbini Kareshi

Please note this review assumes that you have already finished watching Konbini Kareshi and while care has been taken to avoid story spoilers there may be spoilers in character analysis

Romance, school life and a Konbini

The premise of Konbini Kareshi is a relatively common one often seen in this genre. Konbini Kareshi is a slice of life and romance anime set in modern day Japan in a fictional town that looks like a normal town which makes it relatable to many. Using the Konbini as a focal point the anime uses this as a place where people can meet up, bond, strike up friendships ... and purchase the items that they need to make memorable memories while attending high school. The overall story of the anime follows the school lives of four characters that include Haruki a honest and responsible high school freshman, Towa a bright and lively person that’s the joker of the group, Mami a quiet but serious girl and Miharu a positive and kind girl that gets nervous easily. After meeting each other on the first day of school and bonding with each other their relationships gradually starts to change as the months go by. As the months go by and as they encounter unexpected events and meet new classmates and friends how will these changes affect their relationship.

Haruki

Haruki Mishima voiced by veteran voice actor Takuma Terashima of Log Horizon fame is one of the main characters of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman Haruki is an honest, kind and friendly person that because of his earnest and friendly nature is someone that can make friends easily. Due to his honest and earnest nature Haruki is someone that prefers to stay away from people’s gossip and disbelieves rumors and prefers to hear them from the concerned parties themselves. In the beginning of the series Haruki though honest and kind person was someone that can be said to lack any real goal in life seemingly to prefer to just live in the moment and not worry about anything else. This also has the effect of making it hard for him to understand people’s feelings which resulted in Haruki developing the personality trait of being indecisive with is his own feelings towards others. As the series progresses however Haruki starts to gradually change as he becomes more grounded, responsible and more determined to make his feelings known while also becoming more considerate and understanding of other’s feelings.

Miharu

Miharu Mashiki voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Sayaka Kanda of Sword Art Online fame is one of the main characters of the series and is one of the main heroines of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman Miharu is a positive, kind and caring person that loves to help those in need and cares a great deal about her friends. Despite her earnest nature however Miharu is someone that gets nervous quite easily which is more prevalent in the beginning of the series. Despite this Miharu is someone that is noted to have a great deal of faith in people and always willing to believe in the best of them something that I find admirable about her. Unlike the other characters of the show Miharu due to her poor health is not someone that can afford to be athletic which I felt was a shame as sports meets and festivals are one of the joys in Japanese high schools. Perhaps as a means of not wasting the time that she must spend alone Miharu is noted to have a great deal in skill in handicrafts and in one notable scene makes use of this to support her friends a scene that I particularly liked. Miharu’s relationship with Haruki is one of the main points of the anime’s overall plot and unlike Mami’s one is a more complex one.

In the beginning Miharu though seemingly, the childhood friend of Haruki instead treated him as a stranger and though their relationship gradually improved as the series went on the distance between the two gradually grew. But as their feelings for each other gradually grew this started to be reversed as she started to become braver and gradually become to him. As a character I felt that Miharu was an interesting character that was developed rather well as the series went on. Her unique circumstances I felt were used well in the series. The romance between Miharu and Haruki I felt was pretty sweet.

Mami

Mami Mihashi voiced by veteran seiyuu Rie Kugimiya of Persona 4 fame is one of the main characters of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman Mami is the very image of what a student that’s entirely focused on her grades and future would look like. A hardworking, honest though overly serious person Mami is someone that takes everything in life seriously and though while earnest would often cause people to resent her for being too rule bound. Perhaps as a result of this pressure that she puts on herself Mami takes great pleasure in reading which is one of her favourite hobbies. Despite her serious nature Mami actually has a surprising side to her personality in that she likes to read girls manga which I find quite amusing as it offsets her more serious sided nature. As someone with a serious-minded personality it’s easy to assume that Mami is someone that’s accustomed to dealing with people since she also has the role of class rep that she shares with Towa as well but this is far from the truth.

While having a serious personality Mami is also someone that’s very quiet and nervous and in the beginning of the series was seriously lacking in self-confidence not just in her personality but also in her appearance. More than anything Mami holds a fear that people will look at her differently if they find that such a serious-minded student is also a fan of manga as well. As a result of her nervous nature Mami is understandably nervous around boys but this has the effect of making her relationship with Towa that much more interesting since it also provides both a motivation and an opportunity for Mami to overcome these fears which are holding her back. Though the friendship between Mami and Towa admittedly did start off on the wrong foot but its progression from acquaintances to friends and then to partner I felt was done well considering the hurdles that both had to overcome. Their love story I felt was cute as it focused on Mami’s various insecurities and personal traits and their combined efforts to overcome both this and Mami’s rather strict family and their wishes and aspirations for her. In the end I was glad that they managed to overcome all this and end up together.

Towa

Towa Honda voiced by veteran voice actor Kenichi Suzumura of Naruto fame is one of the main characters of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman Towa is a bright, earnest and positive person that tries to act as the joker of the cast which is helped greatly by his funny personality. A childhood friend of Haruki’s that he knew from middle school Towa and Haruki have known each other for some time and as a result each are able to understand what the other is thinking about quite easily. While seemingly positive and loving to play jokes on people Towa’s inner personality is very different to what he tries to present to others in that Towa is actually a very lonely person that comes from having to wrestle against several problems that he cannot tell his friends about.

In a way I felt that Towa’s struggles with is family and Mami’s struggles with the rules and aspirations that they have for her are pretty similar to each other and from there it’s quite easy to see how they actually bonded with each other. Though Towa’s relationship with Mami did not start off on the best of terms largely because of the approach that he took which caused her to actually fear him instead their relationship gradually improved as the series went on as Towa learnt to be more considerate and understanding towards not just Mami but to others as well. With regards to Towa’s character though I liked the contrast between his normally positive and joking self and his lonely self when he’s at home I felt that he could have been developed a bit more as compared to the rest of the main cast his development was rather limited.

Mikado

Mikado Nakajima voiced by veteran voice actor Shinnosuke Tachibana of Koi To Uso fame is one of the main characters of the series. A senior student and thus a sempai to Haruki and his fellow freshman Mikado is an honest, hardworking and logical person that has the role of student council president within the school. While seemingly laid back when compared with his second in command Masamune Mikado nonetheless is someone that takes his duties as student council president very seriously and when serious it can be seen that he can be pretty perceptive and logical. While Mikado can be strict he’s also someone that’s also fair and has surprisingly good sense of humor as well. While appearing to be a calm, composed and logical person it can be seen that Mikado as a result of being like this is someone that seems to be hiding what his true feelings are about something. Specifically, he seems to be reluctant to commit to a stable romantic relationship with a girl seemingly focused on his duties as SC president and taking charge of special school events.

Waka

Waka Kisaki voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Yukari Tamura of Naruto and Ange Vierge fame is one of the main characters of the series. A senior student of the school and this Haruki and his fellow freshman’s sempai Waka is a positive, cheerful and kind person that’s also a bit care free for her age. A childhood friend of student council president Mikado Waka has a complicated relationship with Mikado in that despite not being blood related she affectionately calls him brother as a result of the childhood that they spent together. In the beginning of the series it can be seen that her feelings towards Mikado is quite close but as a result of her childhood memories of seeing him as her brother Waka is reluctant to commit to her feelings a struggle that I found to be quite interesting. In the end I was glad that things worked out between them. Though the romance between the two was relatively short within the series I felt that it was also one of the sweetest as the groundwork for it was already laid when they were still young leaving the only thing that they need to do is accept the feelings and commit to it.

AMV

In terms of art the character designs for the characters as well as the uniforms that they wore I felt were well designed. The town that serves as the anime’s main setting also looked pretty nice. Animation I felt was pretty clear. The series I note had pretty good music with both the scene music and the opening and ending themes being pretty good. Voice acting overall, I felt was done really well with Sayaka Kanda’s portrayal of Miharu and Rie Kugimiya’s portrayal of Mami being deserving of praise.

Overall conclusion

Overall Konbini Kareshi I felt was a relatively simple anime that knew what its main strengths was which in this case was its simplicity and focused on it. In my opinion Konbini’s main strength was its simple premise, interesting story and well-designed characters. The decision to make use of the months of the year as its titles for its episodes I felt was also interesting as it highlighted that high school life is fleeting and that if you don’t make a decision now you may not get the chance again. The overall story when looking at it can be seen as a series of short stories that has as its focus one of the series main pairings that were combined together into one overall plot line. Each of these parings and the romance between them I felt was done really well especially between Miharu and Haruki and Towa and Mami. The romance between Waka and Mikado though the shortest in the series was also quite sweet. The premise of using a konbini which is the Japanese term for a convenience store as the anchor point for the friendships and bonds that the six main characters forge I felt was a great idea since in Japan Konbini’s are far more common than they are in the west. Its help in allowing the romance between Miharu and Haruki I felt was especially cute. The Final Score for Konbini I feel would be a 7/10 because of its interesting premise, well-designed characters, well developed romances and excellent voice acting. This was however let down by some under developed characters and not giving a better role for some characters which ended up wasting the talents of their seiyuu.

I have never written a review on an anime before but this anime is just so good that I have to.

This anime just never seizes to amaze me....week after week after week it just brings the excitement and the enjoyment that just makes you addicted.

Story:The story is very good,from the very first episode you would wish you could travel a week in the future to watch the next.It is unique,interesting and has great plot.As for now it only mainly focuses on 2 couples but that will change in the future.If you are interested in Slice of Life and Romance genre I highly recommend it.I ... give it an 8/10


Art:There is not much to be said about art of this anime.It is good,not great but good
I give it a 7/10


Sound:Ok as of the very first episode of the anime there was a little problem with the sound but from there on it was great.The opening and Ending themes are amazing aswell.I give it a 7/10


Enjoyment:This anime is highly enjoyable.TRUST me you wont get bored.It just leaves you hungry for more and more episodes.It's one of the things that make this anime so good.I don't know how the writers are doing it but whatever they are doing they should keep at it because its working.Even if you aren't an anime fan you are guaranteed to still enjoy this one.I give it a 9/10


Character:Other than the story and how much I enjoy this anime there is one thing that really tops both of them and that's the characters.If I had to put how I feel about the characters of this anime in one word it would be SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS............Yep.There I said it.The characters are truly one of a kind they should be up there with the 'slice of life greats'.I truly love how they are introduced and how their personalities are and it just sets up for amazing character development.They are outstanding in my opinion. I give it an 11/10


Finally as my last words I would like to recommend this anime to all of you anime lovers and non lovers out there.I hope you love it just as me and other fans do.It is very underrated.It is easily in the top 3 anime of this season. #MakeKonbiniKareshiKnown

I'm not really sure why the title is "Convenience Store Boyfriends" as the characters don't really hang around the convenience store very much, and none of the boys work there. So aside from the not-so-apt title, what does the show bring to the table?

In short, it's a slice of life with romantic undertones anime. The characters go to school, interact with each other, many times awkwardly. The plot moves at a fairly slow pace, which is also a tad strange since they title each episode with a month. So if you're not into slow progression, this probably isn't going to be up your alley.

The character ... interaction is a good draw, however. The characters do tend to fall into cliches every so often (IE: tsundere girl who isn't honest about her feelings) but it doesn't detract from how they interact.

Since I enjoy slower paced, realistic themes this show comes off very well.

This is probably the only anime I watched that starts out very poorly first few episodes only to get increasingly better with each consecutive episode.

To be honest, I did fast forward/skip through some parts of first three-four episodes since they seemed nauseatingly boring at times, and I had planned to drop the anime once I made sure there was nothing in it for me, but I'm glad I stuck around.

At start, the animation looked weird, and it remained under average through the anime. From the title alone, Konbini Kareshi, you can tell what the plot of the anime will vaguely be, however it has a ... few aces in its sleeve that will get revealed later in the story as to why it got that name. The characters started out bland, almost indistinguishable one from another, especially the male ones(they even got similar hairstyles), however they(inc. males) receive decent development afterwards. Character interactions were somewhat cringy at the beginning but later improved. Music is also surprisingly enjoyable and it fits the mood well, again, especially at later parts. I do like that they were very consistent with the fairy tale they used as a metaphor throughout.

I think you get the idea and understand my first point from reading my second paragraph about what I meant. It's one of those anime that you need to grind a bit to get to the good part.

For an anime that as of writing this review has only 6.34 rating, it definitely has a lower grade than it deserves. They are quite a few melodies I fancied but having trouble downloading illeg- uh... I mean, buying it, since the anime isn't very popular with barely over 30k members as of writing the review. We'll see how many it gets over time and whether the rating will, hopefully, improve.
One thing I should definitely mention is if you're looking for a decent romance anime, it is satisfactory. It may not be the next Toradora, Maid-sama or Clannad, but it's definitely worth your time, in my humble opinion.

First of all, that damn truck in the end got me pissed!! (If you know you know)

The anime itself is not bad, Konbini Kareshi is actually very enjoyable and cozy, the relationship between the main character and his best friend is very nice to see, BUT, man... that Haruki is q wimp... JESUS, it just took too long for something to happen!!

I felt like Towa was more engaged throughout the story than Haruki, they basically gave him 2 episodes ( Those being the last ones) to be himself, but that is not enough time, the ending was completely loose for me.

Chasing after someone ... throughout the hole series and then A FUCKING TRUCK KILLS MY FU@@@ moment... I didn’t enjoy the ending, it was a 9/10 until that ending, and because of it, it’s a 7/10. I DONT WANT TO LEAVE THE ENDING TO MY IMAGINATION!!!! Make it real!!!

But it’s not a bad show, watch it.

I am expecting there to be a Season 2 to this anime since it felt awfully incomplete. You can't introduce six couples at the beginning and then focus only on two of them. The young people in this show were painfully awkward when trying to express their feelings to their intended crushes. It made me lose patience with them.

Art was pleasing to the eye and the characters were people I grew to care about. Other than that it doesn't feel like a well-thought out anime. I am sure it continues the storyline in manga form eventually, but I ... need a little more storyline to make it worth investing more time.

I don't know why this show is so underrated. Currently keeping up with this series and I'd easily give a 7 out of 10 in overall.

Story: A typical Slice of Life/Romance anime with the high school students theme, the series basically revolves around 2 couples, which is okay I assume. There are still clichés, but in an acceptable amount.

Art: Studio Pierrot never ceases to disappont me when talking about their arts. They've been screwing up since Naruto and the tradition continues here in Konbini Kareshi. The characters look fine in overall, but in some close-up scenes the lack of details and/or the poor animation ... really make this anime less enjoyable.

Character: Probably the best thing about this series. The development is kind of natural. They develop their feelings throughout the series in a normal way. Drama did take place, but no mindblowing plot twists, or unreasonable- unexpected events. Plot holes still exist, but not that many to ruin the story.

Enjoyment: Totally enjoyable, as expected from a Slice of Life anime.

This is my first review, feel free to discuss about it.

Convenience Store Boyfriends claims to revolve around six guys who meet their crushes at the convenience store, but the actual show itself doesn’t heavily involve the convenience store, nor does it equally focus on the six guys they introduce. Instead, this anime chooses to focus on two of the relationships and their evolution over the course of their first year of high school.

Story: The premise of a slice-of-life revolving around a convenience store is interesting. Even if the convenience store does not show up in many scenes, it still serves as a symbol of stability amongst the four main characters. They meet up, talk, and ... make plans at the convenience store, which leads to the core of the simple slice-of-life story.

Characters: The characters seemed bland at first, but they grew to be rather realistic. As high schoolers trying to balance their academic and social life, the characters are bound to make mistakes. After all, they’re confused, conflicted, and maybe even scared. Along the way, the characters learn to be honest with themselves. While the characters are not unique in terms of personality, they embody honesty and compassion.

Art: I actually found this anime because I saw Senzaki Makoto’s original character designs. I felt that the anime found a good middle ground between the original artstyle and a more versatile one for animating. The characters are not stunningly attractive, but I think they are appealing enough. As for the animation, I couldn’t gauge whether it was good or bad. At times, the animation looks choppy or off for some reason (Asumi running in the opening). Other times, the animation is beautiful when it comes to the landscape or to close-ups (scenes with the bridge come to mind). It’s not the best animation out there, but it shouldn’t deter anyone interested from watching. If anything, some of the expressions on background characters are pretty funny.

Execution: Convenience Store Boyfriends is an anime original based loosely around mooks (magazine books) and drama CDs. As such, it was probably a risk to create such a large scale project around a story that no one has heard about. While the monthly approach to the episodes was a fun idea, I thought that it would have worked better as light novels. In 12 episodes, I believe the anime would have benefited from a slower flow of time. The story itself is interesting, but the pacing and writing could be improved upon.

Overall, I rather enjoyed the show despite its flaws. It’s a rather simple slice-of-life, but it is full of compassion. I would watch a second season, but I also feel a revamp of the storyline would be a better course of action, especially to give the side characters a greater role and more character development.