Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai

When I was young and first was getting into anime the harem genre was one of my favorites. It was a pleasure to watch a lot of cute girls do cute and lewd things, as well as have the excitement of seeing who would win and fighting in waifu wars with friends that had objectively inferior taste (unless they happened to pick actual best girl, and in that case they're fine.)

However after watching more and more of these, it became clear that while some were well made and had lots of life to them, there were others that were not well made and ended ... up being cheap vehicles for a show that they assumed a horny teenage fandom would eat up, and they did. Often the cast wouldn't be fully developed and were either just archetypes with less more going for them, or where way in the background causing one girl to take the center stage and defeating one of the points of a harem. While many seasonal harems ended up disappointing in these ways, We Never Learn, is a return to the good old days.

It doesn't take that much to make a good harem that's a joy to watch. While I do love deep character development and interesting meanings and points that are made in a show, not every show needs to have them, and in particular a good harem isn't defined by having those. In my opinion, the most important parts to a harem are having a varied and likeable cast of girls, and having good fan-service. And Bokuben happens to have both of those.

The main cast is a whole lot of fun. They interact with each other and play off of each other and are very clearly friends with each other. They don't exist just for the sake of the male lead but they have goals of their own and friendships outside of the male lead. They have charming personalities that makes it easy to root for them and very easy to like them. And while they don't have a great amount of development they have enough development that they feel like unique characters and not archetypes. Some of the silly things they can get into are a lot of fun and overall it made me happy to watch this show.

And it fills it's role as a harem very well. There are three main girls and they all have their own charms that are quite distinct. There's an airhead who is much more emotionally connected to everyone but herself, a brainaic who can't understand others or herself, and a tomboy childhood friend who is pretty hyper and excitable. And while the archetypes are certainly there, they're vibrant enough to outshine them, and feel unique. Each of them gets screen time with the main lead, and each of them have a reasonable claim to him. Unlike many harems in the past it actually does feel up in the air who will win and not just a forgone conclusion that was turned into a harem for some reason. They each have their own dynamic relationship with the lead and it's a lot of fun.

Furthermore the show also gives a good deal of fanservice so that we can see the more echiii situations with them and capitalize on their cuteness. And while most of them happen by accident, of course, a staple trope of these harems. The girls are aware enough to not blame him, and if they do blame him it doesn't last longer than 30 seconds. Too many harems like to go off on the blame game for too long which detracts from the show and ruins the vibe they have going. If anything what Bokuben does so well is it allows this vibe to continue throughout the show, and rarely becomes too much of a drag. The art and sound also help with this a lot as the art is pretty high quality and always looks nice. The sound is better jovial and helps accent the more comedic parts of the show. While it may not be impressive on its own it really works in the show.

It may not be the most impressive show, but Bokuben is a good solid harem, and I very much enjoyed watching it. I'd recommended it to all other harem fans.

Sometimes the best things in a romcom are found in the contrasts: Silly jokes, the most stupid series of events, perhaps a clumsy teacher, or a grow up student with the face of a kid, whose actions serve as a booster that helps us to appraise the differences between all the cast. All this nonsense works as a preparation for the future action now that the second season is announced in the last episode with the simple words "tsuzuku" (続くor つづく).

Maybe I shouldn't be praising this series, but the season was too average, and I couldn't find an acceptable series. Although Bokutachi wa ... Benkyou ga Dekinai is an unexpected finding with small but potent pleasures that can hook an avid anime enthusiast like you. This silly show has a lot of similarities with “5-toubun no Hanayome” to the point that it could be a copy. The question is: who copied whom?

On the other hand, the plot is delightful because it does not follow the typical harem settings. In this series a guy, Nariyuki Yuiga needs to teach a group of girls that are considered geniuses in some fields and stupid in some other areas of knowledge. However, ironical as it may seem, these "geniuses" want to study a career where their abilities are useless. This setting leads to a series of silly events where we can enjoy the differences between each character, their feelings, and we could smile on the stupid jokes. Sadly, after some episodes, the series can give the impression that something is missing and perhaps you could end dropping it because it is tedious or lacks romance and the storytelling is average. Nonetheless, this first season only works as an introduction that shows the main characters and paves the path for the future season, where I do hope to see relevant plot twists, romance, and new jokes.

The characters are acceptable, they have a big contrast. From my perspective, Yuiga, the ordinary guy, good at studying, poor, hard worker, is a neutral character that understands the girls' decisions but lacks any romance comprehension. This romantic aspect can be complemented with Fumino, who acts like the cupid of the story. I can explain this behavior because she is a literary genius, so her way to understand the human emotions is by far more different than Yuiga and the other girls such us Rizu or Takemoto. On the other hand, as silly as it looks, Rizu is the typical genius stereotype. However, she is a hard worker, and she cannot understand her feelings. And talking about feelings, the story introduces Takemoto, the athlete, full of energy and finds herself in a never-ending dilemma (cliche?).

The other characters, Mafuyu, the silly teacher and Asumi, the sempai, are a healthy complement to the plot because they refresh the story when the author needs to change some repetitive jokes.

The characters design is acceptable. Even if for some persons it looks weird, I want to say it is consistent. The animation follows the graphics from the manga and tries to keep closer to them. Asking more from this kind of design could be wrong.

Mostly, the show is entertaining: For Yuiga to teach these girls, and for the girls to understand their feelings and to experience romance. Together, create an acceptable comedy that is just beginning.

English isn't my native language, so you may find some redaction mistakes; anyway, I'll try to do my best in this review.

- This review cointains spoilers -

What's the meaning of the word generic? First thing that comes to my mind is about something that doesn't purpose absolutely nothing new, something built in a controlled space without any risk involved, something constructed with a formula; some people have no problem with this while it be entertaining enough, others simply doesn't like it and prefer to don't give it their time, the most famous example is the MCU: everyone knows that most of its movies follow the ... same formula, in despite of this fact, these movies tend to be in the top of the box office rankings, which demonstrates that it has a certain grade of appreciation from the public, but in the other side, there are people who got tired of the same formula repeated once and once again, getting them fatigued of this tool, till the point of provoking the hate from some of which in the past where the fans of the franchise. I mention this because it can be applied to the harem genre, it has its public which hopes every season for the new show from this genre, but it also has a huge amount of people who are tired of one of the most formulaic genres: takes place in school, there's a childhood friend, there's a tsundere, there's a kuudere, the male protagonist is too insecure and socially awkward, its ending is as ambiguous as posible in hopes of a second season that probably will never come, and a long etcetera.
For me, being generic isn't necesarily equal to being bad, it is possible to follow a formula and finish with a good product anyway, and I think this series is an example of it; there are some which states that it's generic, and they aren't wrong, but that doesn't mean it's bad, it follows the rules that the formula it uses has stablished and doesn't make something we haven't seen before, but it still manages to give us an interesting series.

The story turns around Nariyuki Yuiga, an average school student who dreams with joining a good university, but he hasn't a good economic situation, which obstructs his dream; when the director of the school offers him a recomendation letter in exchange of being the tutor of two other students he accepts, but he's hugely surprised at the moment of knowing their names, Rizu Ogata and Fumino Furuhashi, the two famous geniuses of the school: Rizu is extremely skilled with maths and science while Fumino is with literature, but the problem is that they're trying to better in the other's subject and joining an university specialized in those areas; Nariyuki's work is make them better in those areas, but soon he'll learn that in despite of their position as geniuses, this won't be easy, and things only will get more complicated as they become closer and other girls appears in his world.
If that premise sounds familiar is because it's very common, as it serves as a believable excuse for surrounding the male lead with their female partners, but it actually works, it's believable and well structured, one detail that proves it is the fact that he isn't their first tutor, there have been some before him which finished stopping at one point. From the moment he accepts to be the tutor of Riza and Fumino the plot follows a path that we could expect from a harem: the protagonists are confused about certain things, they stablish a plan, the plan doesn't work and things become harder, they stablish another plan, in the process they share some significant moments, the third girl appears, the blushes begin and the compromising situations appear, they become even closer...
That's the path this and practically every harem show follow, but here we have some interesting things: the story is pretty basic, it musn't have a theme and if it have it, it must be really subtle (I don't know, effort maybe?), but it's plot is well writen, it works and keep things going further, it follows the 'harem' formula but uses it in a correct way, even sometimes try to be creative; as most harem shows, it's ligth-hearted and focused in a comic tone, the comedy also follow the formula with its compromising situations, but doesn't abuse of it and these are well justified and funny, at least for me, furthermore, there are some pretty smart jokes, with good construction and timing; it's fanservice could perfectly not exist but at least it isn't obstructuve, and sometimes is used as a nice excuse for some good jokes.

When we talk about characters we talk about the strongest point of the series, they follow archetypes of the harem genre and anime in general, but works with it in a functional way and leaves space to develop them, not too much, but at least there's development, each one of them is well defined, they have strengths, they have debilities, they have goals and dreams that defines their actions, some receive a better treatment than others, but they all are interesting and lovable; for example, their motivations: all are understandable but some are more relatable because they're more specific, the best example is Fumino vs Rizu, Fumino's motivation to study sciences is her deceased mother and how through the stars she thinks she can stablish a conection with her, childish and inmature, like her, but completely reasonable and even touching, while Rizu's motivation is much more ambiguous, she wants to study literature for comprehend better the people around her and their behaviors, still strong but less powerful than Fumino's one.
Nariyuki seems to be your normal harem protagonist, insecure and socially awkward, but he doesn't follow that rule excessively as other harem protagonists, he has this characteristics in a non-annoying level, along with others which help to define him better, for example he's smart, pretty smart, enough for realisticaly dreaming about joining a good univeristy, he's also direct, although he's a bit shy, he won't stop when he considers necessary to say something, sometimes cruel, sometimes dumb, sometimes correct, no matter, he will say it. Another character that follow an archetype is Rizu, she's a kuudere and fulfil the most common characteristics of this archetype: she's smart, she's quiet, she's short, she has short hair, she uses glasses (I mean, if she would be flat she would be a redhead version of Yuki from SHnY), you got the idea; she follow strongly her archetype but it works because her interactions with others are organic and show some minor details that give her a bit more of depth. Fumino doesn't seem to strictly follow an archetype, the closest one would be the moe, because she's sweet and moe means (in a summarized version) adorable; as I mentioned before, she's childish and inmature, she doesn't seem to have a real notion about her actions, she's very relaxed and she's a bit clumsy, but she has a strong determination and she's pretty sincere. Uraka Takamoto is the third girl in order of appearance, she's energic, she's strong, she's highly skilled physically, she has an easiness in sports, she's spontaneous and she's very determined, but she's pretty dumb and extremely shy when we talk about love; for instance, she's the childhood friend of the show, but the twist is that Uraka isn't Nariyuki's childhood friend, Nariyuki is Uraka's childhood friend, and her shyness hadn't let her confess her feelings after an unknown number of years, and even if she see an oportunity for expressing their feeling or making an advance in her relation with Nariyuki, she will finish letting it go for her insecurity. There isn't too much supporting characters with actual relevance, but till I understand there are two girls left, one would be one of the anterior tutors of Rizu and Fumino, and the other I don't really know where will come from (I'm an anime only viewer); one thing that I found interesting is that there are two characters that could fit with the tsundere archetype, but none of them belong to the main cast, which is really surprising, one is Mizuki, Nariyuki's sister, and the other is Sawaka Sekijo, the Science Club's President.

In the technical side, the animation comes from Silver and Arvo Animation, two studios from which apparently no one heard before; their job is good, the character design is attractive, I specially like the art in the eyes, simple but very good, the color palette is soft and borderlines the pastel color often but it doesn't stand out to be fair, where the animation shines is in the facial expressions and the reactions of the characters, you know, this kind of face: (o_o), it uses this style that everyone in the community knows but also goes further with more detailed frames and a wider group of reactions, especially with Nariyuki; the work of the seiyuus is very good and gives much spirit to the characters, the music is good but is pretty limited to work for the scene, to complement the other elements and never really stands out, anyway, it's beatiful sometimes, the opening is the typical harem opening with a 'feel good' mood, the ending follows the same path, they may be catchy but dubiously memorable, although being fair the artstyle in both is pretty good.

As you've seen (or read I should say), this series has potencial to go further, but surely it won't, who knows?, maybe it finish focusing on the characters and its development, or maybe not; anyway, actually this is a good show and it's pretty entertaining and funny, even if it can be fairly called generic, I would love it to go further, but I'm happpy with what I've got in this 4 episodes.

What I don't get it is the abundance of anime haters saying that the anime is full of troupes and the same story and blah blah blah. Why can't we as a community just enjoy the shows that are given to us, anime, in the end, is a way to escape or find enjoyment. Yes, this series is basically Go-toubun but with no sisters as the harem but that doesn't matter. What matters is that it is an enjoyable show to watch and I find it interesting. Just seeing so many low reviews makes me laugh, who are you to say a show is low ... just because it is stereotypical but then agian it is also not my place to judge peoples opinion. So if you watch it and don't like that's fine but my personal recommendation is to give this a chance because I did and don't regret a single second of it. After watching the 5th episode I binge read the manga it quickly became one of my favorite stories since Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai. tldr people are entitled to their own opinion but give this a chance you might be surprised idk why I did tldr this review isn't even that long idk how yall write that much on a series lol. Hope everyone has a good day if you read this :) pce


UPDATE :

I find it hella funny that people can get a review of an anime after only seeing like 4eps lol, read update on manga or wait till anime ends then give it a 4 rating :) just sayin

Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai is without a doubt one of the best harems I’ve seen. And I watched a lot of those. Part of its strength is that it wasn’t carried by single strong point, but rather was solid all around:
The most important part of harem are, obviously, waifus. It’s pretty normal to have one main girls and “fodder” that is meant to lose. Or even if that’s not the case, harems rarely offer more than 1 or 2 interesting picks. BokuBen wins at both of those. Not only all girls get more or less equal development and chances to win, they also all ... have top tier waifu potential. Yes, to my surprise, every single of them is great, to the point that I can’t decide which one I’d call “best girl” or pick myself. On top of it, Yuiga himself is not a bad character too.
Being a rom-com, this anime doesn’t offer much in terms of story. At the same time it’s still executed nicely. All the comedic moments, developments, fanservice etc scenes are rather reasonable and don’t feel forced. Pacing is good and comedy level above average. What more could I ask for?
What really helps with everything else is art. It’s awesome. No, it’s not some crazy quality, high budget stuff. On that front it’s rather average. What makes it special is style that fits sooo well with the characters and lighthearted atmosphere of story. The way girls are drawn is both cute and pretty and their emotions are shown in really captivating way.
Overall it is, as I said, very solid harem. Some might find it forgettable and doesn't bring anything new to the table ("generic" lol), but I believe any fan of the genre will appreciate what it has to offer.

This is anime is awesome! I don't know why many casuals are hating on it.

It has great production value, enjoyable characters, and a hilarious story line.

I haven't see harem-comedy be this intense since Gamers! and School Rumble. I honesty
did not expect myself to laugh as much as I did while watching this show (and I haven't
laughed or smiled in weeks).

To underline the show, it has a trio-harlem, with two other candidates. It doesn't just center in
a school, it also shows adult themes such as work, which is a rare delight. If you love slice of
... life shows, give this a watch.
Towards the end, even I had trouble deciding which of the leading female characters was the
best choice for the main guy.

Also, this anime is very impressive being done by two lesser studios. I guess Japan has no
shortages of talented artists! Great show, high recommend.

Riding on the exploding success that is Negi Haruba's manga and Tezuka Productions' anime adaptation of The Quintessential Quintuplets, this series is more of less the same, except with one caveat: it managed to pull out a pentuplet (with a teacher and a senior graduated student)! Such ingenuity and admiration that it managed more than just the usual harem rom-com that's plastered all over the place. And just like said series, Season 2 is coming soon too (Fall 2019), so for fans, the excitement isn't over yet! Just...for now.

Based on Taishi Tsutsui's manga of the same name, We Never Learn: BokuBen is about a young ... and uprising scholar by the name of Yuiga Nariyuki, whom despite his poor performance, is desperately trying to earn the prestigious VIP recommendation to fix his future's studying financial problems and give his home some peace of mind. Problem is, in order to achieve that status, he has to tutor students who are high-flying achievers in their own study and craft, yet are complete failures when it comes to achieving their passions. Just like Fuutarou Useugi, he takes up the challenge from the school's principal (who offered him the recommendation in the first place).

The waifu contestants are:
- Fumino Furuhashi, excellent in Mathematics, but fails spectacularly at literature, and one that is secretly (and unconsciously) pushing her way to Yuiga's heart, and the closest yet.
- Rizu Ogata, excellent in Literature, but fails spectacularly at Mathematics, her decent-sized "weapons" helping a bit, but not much. The weakest of the trio.
- Uraka Takemoto, excellent in sports (swimming to be exact), but just like the 2 waifus, extremely poor grades, and her massive boobs give Nariyuki the sense of incoming danger. But as a childhood friend, she exhibits the same tropes of confessions and whatnot.
- Senior (ronin) Asumi Kominami, working part-time in order to pay for her school fees (without the knowledge of her parents), and just like the trio, working and studying hard through justification that Yuiga (seen as the "boyfriend") help her get her groove together.
- Kirisu Mafuyu-sensei, Furuhashi and Ogata's former cold-hearted tutor, but yet is a very, very messy and clumsy person when all her teachings are stripped away, and unfortunately for her, being exposed to Yuiga meant that her facade is gone.

All waifus, in the course of the series, try their best to get tutored by the self-proclaimed work-in-progress "protagonist", not knowing that more than just the effects of studying hard for their own sake, the usual harem rom-com that's reminiscent of Nisekoi (but lesser to a degree) shows indefinitely, allowing for some random moments of affection between Nariyuki and the various waifus, in their own shine and glamour.

And I'm sure that many of us have been complaining about how the rom-com was really sub-par and sometimes didn't help that one waifu was anchoring all this while unconsciously being the CLOSEST to him (if you have watched the anime, you can easily guess who). But all in all, while this aspect didn't resonate with many who have seen the tropey formula a million times over, it was certainly a breath of fresh air somehow.

So, before the start of the series, even if you have never cared about this aspect, I feel like it is worth mentioning: the co-studio collaboration of low-profile key animations - veteran Studio Silver (founded in February 2001) and newly-founded Arvo Animation (founded in July 2017). Considering that this is the first time both studios are doing a major production work, I felt that it was done well. Not the greatest, but certainly not Hoods Entertainment-level bad. Even though their works are outsourced (like just about every anime), my first impressions are closer to the levels of high-tier Silver Link and low-tier Brain's Base. Artwork was inconsistent and rough at best, but at some points did it manage to pull out nicely. Same goes with the animation, stiff and unconceiving, but when compared to the original manga source, it fits, and that's all that matters.

On the musicality side, the OST is somewhat lacking, but for all intensive purposes, it did its job adding (mostly) into the comedic moments, and tying into the anime gives it a rather generic extent that has both hits and misses. As for the OP and ED (by Furuhashi, Ogata and Takemoto), they are decent-sounding, fit into the themes nicely which gives the overall series a non-serious, laidback feel. Or maybe it's my senses telling me wrong that it's good.

Whatever the case, love it of hate it, BokuBen is defintely one of the hidden gems of the lackluster Spring season, a worthy 13-episode series that shows how even minor companies can pull off a major work, even with the backing of director Yoshiaki Iwasaki, of works like Last Period, Love Hina and Zero no Tsukaima (1st and last seasons).

Regardless of how this series turned out in its full-on generic-ness, this was quite the watch that turned out fine. Here's hoping Season 2 (announced just the day before this review) will be more of the same, and the confirmation of one of the waifus being Yuiga's partner (or it could turn out to be like the last moments of The Quintesstial Quintuplets on who Fuutarou married which Nakano).

One of the greater Harems out there, at first I thought it would be boring seeming as there are using studying and such as their base for the series and the main character being smart, but I'd say if you are a fan of Harems then this is up your alley because it's pretty good to be honest yeah it's a bit cliché but who said being cliché is bad it's only bad when you use it badly but the author of this series is doing a good job with giving his characters such a cute/lovable personalities.

For a new studio that isn't well known ... I'd say they handled the animation and art pretty damn good especially the facial expressions they are all so cute that you'd end up screen grabbing most of them I know I did, also the main character is pretty likable my problem with past Harems was mainly the main character I found some of them can be a bit annoying but this guy in this anime just wants to help people out although I do think there is something going on between him and that tan girl but yknow that's just me shipping them together lol also the ecchi moments are there as well not as bold as heavy ecchi series but it's ok. I pretty much enjoyed this anime and this what I mainly look for when I'm rating an anime/series if I enjoy it, if the soundtrack is good, if the animation/art is decent and if the plot is good or interesting and so far this series nailed it for me currently waiting for S2 give this series a go if you want a slice of life ecchi harem with a studying theme for its base oh and the voice actors are so adorable.

So the premise of this show is that there are some girls who are geniuses in one subject but terrible at the one they want to pursue. The main character is there to tutor them in their chosen subject.

The show is very much a romcom harem show, so if you don't like those I would steer clear. It is a harem but not in the competitive way. But of course there's a dense protagonist. Lots of sugary sweet scenes, jealousy, and misunderstandings galore. There are also plenty of lewd scenes, many of them are really awkward. It's basically everything you would expect from a ... typical romcom harem.

The art is really well done, there's a lot of comedic art swaps. Plenty of beautiful art as well as chibi art.

The music is pretty great. The opening is really cute and well animated.

It's one of those shows that have little epilogues at the end of the episodes so don't skip right after the ending song starts.

Okay, I have watched a decent amount of ecchi, harem romcoms but for some reason, this feels special to me. I already felt this way before since I read the manga before the anime aired.

Bokuben, a RomCom with harem and studying, feels familiar right? Though this kind of plot has been used in a couple animes this still has a special place in my heart.

Story 8/10: The plot was pretty interesting. It pretty much circles around the "studying plot" if it's not yet obvious lmao. a poor guy teaches a couple of girls with their weaknesses in studying and starts to like our mc, Nariyuki, ... no shit.

Art 9/10: The colors used here was very nice. It's very bright,cheerful and vibrant . The colors aside, the art here compared to the manga is definitely better and improved. In the manga, Furuhashi's hairstyle was Twintails but here is straight. I wonder why they changed it. All the characters are still very pretty nonetheless.

Sound 9/10: The sounds are something I don't really mind because I'm too focused into the anime but I'll just say what I recall. I'll start first with the amazing OP, Seishun Seminar. The op was very cheerful and lively, and it really fits the anime. Just listening to it will make you want to study. Too bad Kirisu Sensei didn't have a part in the OP. About the ost's, it also fits the situation and really brings out its true magic, it's really nice.

Character 8/10: The characters were pretty okay, it's what you expect from a harem Romcom. The characters portrayed different attitudes and that really makes it fun to watch

Enjoyment 9/10: I definitely enjoyed this ALOT, from the opening until the end. I don't even know why this is rated lower than I expected. If you are wondering if this is worth watching,
YES DEFINITELY.

Overall 9/10: Out of all positive things I say about this, I still can't count this as a masterpiece anime, though this is really amazing and fun to watch. It's because you can already see a lot of animes that has the same pattern as this so it makes it easy to predict. Don't get me wrong, this is really great and fun to watch. I recommend it to anyone.

Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai boasts everything about an unusual time in high-school. This anime can make you feel a whole lot of emotions based on your situations in real life and how 'relatable' they can be. Personally, I loved it, it was addicting, funny and more importantly interesting to watch. The soundtrack is awesome, there's alot of work gone into thinking of fully developed characters for each person featured. This anime was amazing, and there has not been anything like it. A burn for this anime was the clear ending and the obvious boring storyline to the last few episodes of the season, it ... wasn't going forward or anywhere at least not until the next season had come out.

An anime where the main protagonist who being both poor and needs to teach a harem of girls in order for them to go to their preferred university?..are we talking about Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai or Go-Toubun no Hanayome?

Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai is another line of great harems in the 2010's by utilizing the basic harem cliches and use them in more unique and interesting ways. In Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai's case is how greatly balanced the harem it is (well LA anyways) due to how it was extremely hard to pick "best girl" and through this allows the harem to be ... greatly developed in the sense of their romantic endevours to the main protagonist.

Nariyuki Yuiga voiced by Ryota Osaka is one of those harem protagonist who is pretty much the nice guy, slightly dense in the sense but has a strong sense of helping anyone in trouble or in this case, helping the girls going to their college of choice. The main strength of Nariyuki is the mere fact that though he goes through MANY harem hijinks, how he handles it subverts from the cliches (and sometimes thanks to certain harem members) of it. His kind-hearted nature is more in the case of his father telling him that useless people CAN be useful and Nariyuki is dutiful in both studying AND teaching as a result. Nariyuki MAY seem the typical cliche harem dense male protagonist but he quickly does get a personality of his own that nicely gives his harem great chemistry with him...

The harem really does make this harem anime all worth it, be it through their interactions with each other and/or with Nariyuki. Starting from Rizu Ogata voiced by Miyu Tomita who LA can personally relate to the most in terms of her personality, but her wanting to pursue literature arts but is the genius in mathematics (another relation for LA, maths not the genius part), LA especially LOVES her pouting comical facial reactions and her reactions was funny. In relation to Nariyuki, she's one of the firsts to interact and develop feelings for Nariyuki and how she doesn't know how to know her feelings for Nariyuki and as a result confines in Fumino Furuhashi voiced by Haruka Shiraishi. Fumino is the other of the harem to first interact with Nariyuki at the start of the anime, being a literary genius but utterly sucks at maths. Although her gets latter development in the latter half of the anime and though she helps the other girls with their feelings towards Nariyuki, she's something of a confident towards Nariyuki and teacher in romance to him and as a result she also starts falling for Nariyuki but with her friendship with the rest of the harem as well as her genre savviness makes her interesting in her position in the harem. Uruka Takemoto voiced by Sayumi Suzushiro is Nariyuki's childhood friend and the genius athlete, yet she sucks in English. Her deal is pretty much the childhood friend who can't spit it out to Nariyuki but is confides in Fumino in helping her, she becomes regulated to Ms. Fanservice of the harem while keeping her childhood friend status and is pretty much "twice shy" towards Nariyuki though she has her moments even with all these elements in.

Mafuyu Kirisu voiced by Lynn is a teacher in the harem's school and was Rizu and Fumino's former tutor, having an outlook in having Fumino and Rizu to take the college where their academic strengths are in, she is at first quite the obstacle for Nariyuki as a result but latter on she becomes a part of the harem as we learn more about her daily life and more of her personality as to her beliefs of pursuing academics. Nariyuki essentially becomes her confidant as he becomes known to her secrets while still keeping their teacher-student relationship at a safe distance. To say this is the most intriguing thing in the harem is an understatement and though it took LA a while, LA grew to like Mafuyu whenever she appeared...yeah LA rooted for Mafuyu by the end of the first season. Finally we have Asumi Kominami voiced by Madoka Asahina, a graduate of the harem's cast school but her wanting to be a medical doctor yet sucking in science and her meeting Nariyuki in cram school, but even though she has the last and furthest appearance in the harem, what screentime she got, she was a welcome addition to the harem, especially with her playfully aggressive personality let alone that she's just as sharp in the uptake of Nariyuki's harem much like Fumino.

To say that the harem itself is the biggest strength of Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai is an understatement and again, with LA not able to pinpoint LA's favourite character (as the harem members were ALL interesting) until Episode 12, yeah Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai put harem back into balanced harem anime, let alone the fact that the harem members themselves just don't fawn over the main male protagonist and actually interacts and be friends with the rest of the harem at that to not only help each other academically but romantically as well so the multi-layer the harem elements and thus make it MUCH more interesting.

Back to why Rizu is much more relatable to LA, as LA was great in maths in high school but LA is now writing anime reviews, so LA can relate to Rizu ALOT, thus kinda showing off Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai notion of the characters wanting to pursue their academic weaknesses as it's ACTUALLY a real thing.

Rizu is LA's most relatable, Fumino is the most genre savvy, Uruka is the fanservicey childhood friend, Mafuyu is best girl and Asumi is the fun factor.

The structure of most if not all episodes does tend to focus on one of the harem members but when the entire harem concidentally gets to play around with certain scenarios, well the entire harem (depending on if they have been introduced or not) gets equal screentime. To this end, it allows the harem interact with one another, develop them romantically and iindividually as well as increase screentime for the entire harem as a result and well, makes for a really good balanced harem with how the anime is structured.

The animation done by Silver and Arvo Animation and man, if there was one thing LA loved about the animation, that would be the character designs, so poppy and distinct and with the VERY comical facial animations of MANY of the characters that even the more comical features though looking "light" made itself all the more expressive and yes Rizu for LA was this though the rest of the cast gets this and LA loved it. Of course since this is mostly a character-focused harem anime, though the background work was great, the character deigns as well as the MANY costumes some of the characters goes through was the much more interesting element of the animation, but nonetheless good animation.

Voice cast-wise, LA thought Nao Touyama voiced most of these characters (seriously they sounded like multiple cadences that Nao Touyama does), no but seriously the voice cast was great and with the harem having a balanced screentime, LA will give MVP's to well ALL the harem VA's...that being Haruka Shiraishi as Fumino, Lynn as Mafuyu Kirisu, Sayumi Suzushiro as Uruka Takemoto (probably the closest to sounding like Nao Touyama's genkiness), Miyu Tomita as Rizu Ogata and Madoka Asahina as Asumi Kominami. Ryota Osaka as Nariyuki also did a great job especially with some of the one-liners and great reactions from him. Really and obviously, LA LOVED this voice cast.

LA did mention Go-Toubun no Hanayome and though both this and Go-Toubun no Hanayome has similarities towards it, they have differing strengths and weaknesses, as Go-Toubun no Hanayome has the mystery element that makes the anime all the more intriguing and though the first season of Go-Toubun no Hanayome makes it as an unbalanced harem, whereas Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai doesn't really have the mystery element and more so in "shipping" who the main protagonist but as a result, has a solid balanced harem to back it up. Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai has it's strengths but if LA had a gun to LA's head and had to pick between the two.....Go-Toubun no Hanayome, but Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai is still a great harem anime to watch as it's weakness doesn't detract from the overall great strength of a balanced harem.

And those weaknesses that Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai has, well for LA mainly is from Uruka and her "twice shy" and "can't spit it out" and though this was something LA did find and that is the MANY misunderstandings the harem goes through (well sans Fumino and maybe Mafuyu) with the victims mainly going to Uruka and Rizu as a result, sure to these flaws Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai still handles these cliches pretty well all things considered, even Uruka's childhood friend dilemna and her not spitting it out...well the harem cliches was STILL utilized quite well. Really even with these flaws, it doesn't detriment the experience due to how the harem cliche subversion and the solid balanced harem aspects.

Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai was just another enjoyable harem to watch in many aspects, from the balanced harem and structuring of the anime, likable harem members as well as an interesting main protagonist and much like Go-Toubun no Hanayome, utilizing it's harem cliches and subverting it away from the tired and old harem hijinks. Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai is getting a second season and LA would VERY much like to know what's happening next as well as giving the harem alot more hijinks and alot more romantic push...

We Never Learn, no Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai LEARNED from it's harem predecessors and much like the harem members pursuing their academic weakness', LA hopes Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai's 2nd season will do the same and make Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai EVEN BETTER.

Another harem comedy based on a tutor and a group of females. Yes, I'm also a big fan of the other major one as well.

To be honest I can't really say what specifically I like about Bokuben, what made me decide to collect the Manga (a first for me), or what keeps me rewatching the occasional episode. It's a good time with good characters in a fun environment and the story isn't suffocated by romance and fawning over some half-baked idiot.

Although to his credit Yuiga isn't your standard protagonist, he has a genuine belief that helping those who wish to improve what they aren't ... good at, helping those who aren't talented is the right thing to do. He's not particularly shy, and he knows he's clueless about romance, but his single-minded focus is studying. The rest of the main cast all play off of each other really well.

To be clear I really don't think this is a harem comedy as that insinuates some level of romance, and it's stated very early on Yuiga isn't interested in romance until the entrance exams are over so while there's a lot of 'who feels what for who' it's obvious it's never going anywhere real. The real art of this show is the chemistry between the characters, and it's primary objective of comedy. That's my main point here to be honest, that this isn't really a romance show, it's a comedy with some romance sprinkled in where it's funniest. I don't think this is much of a spoiler as it's really up to interpretation but for the record I don't even think all the girls actually like Yuiga romantically, in fact it's only really obvious one of them likes him that way and another might.

This show really is just a good time and absolutely nails that tone. It's refreshing to see a harem/romance comedy which avoids turning anyone into a weak willed pathetic drone or a sexual predator. If you want a slice of life show that's more sitcom than romcom look no further. In fact this isn't too far off of 'anime Friends' really.

I would say, first and foremost, that if you like Slice of Life and Romance, this is definitely something that's worthwhile watching!

This anime has a surprisingly strong well-written story! Just like most harem shows, it gets a lot of uncalled for hate.

What I found really special, is that in this anime, teach is explicitly up for grabs! That's right, you read it! The super cute pink-haired young sensei is very much a part of the harem. In a lot of anime series out there, if you actually go read the manga or play the visual novel (if it even has one) having a teacher route ... is actually quite common. But you don't see that a lot in anime, that's for sure!

By the end of season 1, it's pretty obvious that Uruka is the girl who's going to win. Which is precisely how the manga ended. I don't mind spoiling it, as I don't believe spoiler-protection should be applied to stories that ended years ago.
You see, Uruka very obviously got the best moments written for her with Yuiga. By the ending of episode 8, it became crystal clear that she's the one. Also, she's the only girl that Yuiga clearly caught the feels for, during this season.
Although Fumino Furuhashi definitely achieved some very tall peaks with our MC, in this season. It's actually quite a shame for Fumino, in my opinion. Her, and poor Kirisu-sensei, who really deserves some love :'(

As for Ogata and Asumi - who came last and kinda late - it was obvious that their routes are pretty much dead. Ogata had that one kiss in the mountain moment, and that's the last time we saw her doing anything. To the point that if you have two brain cells to rub together you get the clue that she fulfilled her role in the harem.

Do you smell it? The smell of salt spreading all over the keyboard and the sweat of angry internet users. Do you hear it? The sound of a keyboard being furiously used and the disgruntled noises. Do you see it? The sight of avid internet users defending themselves on the internet. For you see, we are entering a war. A new war. Yet a war we have seen many times. It is The War of the Waifus.

Sit back, relax and barricade your house to protect yourself from the avid swarm of haters of your chosen best girl as I present to you the anime ... review of We Never Learn. Lets begin.


Story: 5/10

Nariyuki Yuiga strives himself in his studies to become a top student and provide a better life for his family by getting a VIP nomination to help cover all of his university Intuition fees. One day, the opportunity arrives to obtain the VIP nomination. But there is a catch. He must tutor the school’s top two students, Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata, and help with the subjects they are weak at in order for them to pursue their dream careers. With the VIP nomination on the line, Nariyuki must help them improve their grades before time to submit their university application runs out.

What was a simple case of helping out students with their studies slowly (and predictably) turns into a case of awkward meetings because the main female characters start to develop feelings for Nariyuki and Nariyuki is too dense to realise. This is amplified when you add characters Uraka Takemoto, Mafuyu Kirisu and Asumi Kominami to help set the harem. It mainly uses the tutoring aspect as a way at getting these female characters together and is mainly used to get to know more about them and why they want to succeed in the academic areas they struggle at. But slowly but, surely, the gimmick this show starts with is slowly not the focus of the show and what we get is another bog standard harem comedy with a diverse cast of female characters and a dense protagonist. It loses focus on what kind of story it wants to tell in favour of doing tropes and cliches that we’ve seen in other harem comedies.

As for the comedy of this show, it’s one of those rare cases where the comedy arguably gets better as the show goes on as the awkwardness increases. That’s not to say that it wasn’t funny at the beginning because there were humorous moments but the humour only got better as the show got on. But it does over-rely on using the misunderstanding card to humour the viewer quite a bit and can start to get tedious but there were plenty of humorous moments throughout the show to make quite amusing overall, but it can get tedious at times.

Another thing I criticise the story for is them balancing the screentime of the girls throughout the show. Rizu gets arguably pushed to the back as the show goes on past the halfway point. Whereas Asumi was introduced too late into the show despite being a breath of fresh air for this show. So it does have problems when balancing its girls and when we get to see them. Granted in Rizu’s case, we do get to see plenty of her in the first half and she moved aside for the other characters, but when you start adding characters, you need to start balancing it out. But the show struggles to do that at times.


Characters: 7/10

Nariyuki does have aspects of his character and personality that would be considered cliched. The main aspect (which is shared among MCs in this situation) is him being dense to the girls’ feelings when it comes to love and such. Well not all of them, but some of them. I would say it is on the rather endearing side because all he wants is to make sure that he helps these girls in their studies. Sure there is the VIP nomination, but his attention rather turns to helping them, which causes them to develop feelings. But the genericness really does kick in at times and it really does feel like he does not want to act on this and is just let things happen. I know he’s focused on his studies but come on man.

Now the female characters, the harem, is a diverse cast which is supposed to be because you want each of these girls to have their own personality and stand out of in their own way. What this show does great though is that each girl have certain qualities and quirks that make interesting and endearing and have set goals they want to achieve in life. So it’s hard to decide which girl is best because, Fumino is best girl, Rizu is best girl, Uraka is best girl, Kirisu is best girl and Asumi is best girl. This show is in a weird position where you can make a case why which character is the best one and you would have good reasons why.


Animation: 7/10

If I had to describe this show’s animation with one word, it would have to be, “Vibrant.” The show’s art direction is very colourful with plenty of striking scenes to make it vibrant. It matches the light hearted tone this show has so I see it as being very appropriate. There are the typical facial expressions and movements used to add humour to a scene by exaggerating it. Some of them are amusing though (Rizu’s pout face will always be adorable). Honestly, the show’s art style makes me feel comfortable, as if the usual day to day lives of our characters are something you can just relax and see how well they can get along with each other.


Sound: 8/10

I didn’t expect the ost to be as dramatic as it is but does consist of some of the more memorable soundtracks from the show. It is normally used when we get to know more about our characters to add some humanity to a scene. While there are other soundtracks that are used mainly for comedic timing the soundtracks for the show’s more touching scenes are more memorable.

I very much enjoyed this opening mainly for its cinematography and how well some shots in this anime opening and has some very good animation. The song “Seishun Seminar” by study was a nice, uplifting song to get you hyped for the episode and timed well with some of the scenes in the opening. The ending sequence was also really good and is my favourite from this season, just beating out Isekai Quartet and Sarazanmai’s ending sequence. I’m a big fan of the chalkboard art style used to match the school setting. Study also does song; this time being called “Never Give It Up,” which was another nice uplifting song to match the tone of the show and is good to end off the episode.


Conclusion

I will say that this show struggles to have an original bone in its body as the show consists of aspects we’ve seen from other shows like this. Its protagonist is generic at times and the whole gimmick of this show slowly boils down and is heavily downplayed so we can focus on the romance element. Yet it also has a good cast of girls and the shows animation is good to look at and a good soundtrack. No doubt this show will probably be remembered for the arguments as to who was best girl in this series. But if you are looking for a fresh take on the harem comedy, then this ain’t it. It tried to be with the focus on these girls getting better with their studies, but the standard harem comedy tropes kick in and we get a show of two halves, one that is generic, the other is not. While it is entertaining and the humour is funny, it isn’t what I consider to be a must watch but it is the kind of show that it is best to formulate your own opinion on. While I did enjoy my time watching this show, there are aspects from the show that I didn’t like. But who knows, maybe my criticisms will be addressed in season 2 (hopefully).


My personal enjoyment: 7/10


Overall score: 6.8/10 Recommendation: Consider it

Really funny anime. I was scared at the start with the harem but it turned into a really fun and enjoyable one. The story is not like the greatest in the universe, just a guy who help his girl companions to study, the characters change quite a lot during the first season from the start to the end, they get some develop and is pretty good. The art is great, not a ton of fan service which make it even better (yes, we all love fan service except when it's all that can give us an anime and then we hate it). Can't wait for ... the second season! and is comming soon <3

First of all after watching more than 750 anime with their sequels i consider myself as an anime lover, and my best genre is romance, and i am not from the type to be satisfied easily, i won't give any spoilers or talk about the plot or the story to not ruin it for anyone who sees the review, from the rating i expected another dull romance comedy with school themed but i was surprised really it was enjoyable from the start to the ending with a lot of funny moments even that i don't 100% understand the Japanese humor since i am not Japanese ... but i really enjoyed the show and i am really satisfied with it to write this review and say that it's rating is too under-rated and i hope the second season will be with the same quality and that's all i want to say.

(first review btw)
Overall, I love this so far. The main reason I love this is that it gives off major Nisekoi vibes, which is like my 4th fav anime. And im sure if you've watched/loved Nisekoi, this is a definite watch. A lil romcom with some harem aspects and a similar art style makes Bokutachi and Nisekoi siblings lmao. I think the pacing is great so far, and all the characters got me yearning for another episode. The opening is also outstanding (in my opinion). Animation quality is also very good, for example, in the opening at 0:45, the way Takemoto swims backwards, twiddling with ... her hair really surprised me, it's so fluent and cute. This show has so much potential and I can't wait for what this show has to offer.

I really enjoyed this anime. Harems can be a hit or miss but this one definitely hit it out of the park.

Story: With the story we have a mc who does decent enough in all his studies. Decent enough to be tasked with the job to tutor 2 girls in subjects they have trouble with. We have kind of a childhood friend also join his tutoring group and later a loli senpai. There is also a tsundere teacher who was a tutor for the first two girls but gave up. The story is basically a slice of ... life about the mc and his time with each of the girls.

Art: Art is good! Each of the characters looked good.

Sound: Sound was also exceptional. The voice acting for each character was a good match. OP and ending song was catchy too as well as the music played in an episode.

Character: All the characters were awesome. In a harem anime, there is usually one girl you like more than the others that you want to win in the end but I personally dont have a character like that for this series. Each of the girls are charming and enjoyable to watch. The mc is a classic harem mc. He is nice and smart enough but other than that, there is nothing really special about him.

Enjoyment, Overall: Overall it was a great series. I highly recommend to people who just want to watch a chill anime that has touching moments that is also really funny. I am excited for a season 2!

Probably the most underrated anime this season, and definitely not your average harem. Relative to the genre standard, character's have depth and heart. MC is not a loser or neanderthal, and girls are not over-the-top in love with him. Situations manage to be outrageous without being contrived, and funny without relying on cringe. Obviously this show is quite lighthearted and simplistic, but I think here that manages to be a good thing, allowing for a larger emphasis on the characters and their interactions. Sound was fine, though I honestly don't understand why that's a category that seems to carry weight around here in the first ... place. I've been enjoying the hell out of this anime and look forward to its weekly release. I would definitely recommend giving this a shot even if harem is not usually your genre.