Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo

[Spoiler Warning]

I've finally found an anime that I can give a 1 to. Oresuki has great artwork, and decent fan service. However, I have never hated characters more than I have in this show. The MC is the most irredeemable protagonist I've ever seen as he allows himself to be walked all over, shows no backbone when things are against him, and shows no compassion to a person who is helping him out. We are given three female counterparts (as of episode 4) that are all just awful people that shouldn't be given the time of day. The childhood friend that abandons him over a ... situation that legitimately makes no sense to be upset about, the smart, popular girl that does the same, and the secretly hot girl that tortures the guy the whole way through. His best friend is revealed to have the worst motives ever, and he still wants to be friends with our MC again. I find the story to be contrived, ridiculous, and completely implausible. I can't understand how this show has such a sizable, loving fanbase, but to each their own there. I'd rather watch Saekano any day of the week.

What is this? This truly is the romance of the season.
The main character Joro is basically the mix between Deku and Narancia. Joro is this nice and helpful little fella but of course when he snaps, he snap real hard. Sanshokuin Sumireko aka Pansy is the best girl of this show. She is really manipulative and very smart. Cosmos is the student council president who is very smart but gets flustered really easy, and whenever she is in an awkward position she starts talking like a samurai. Hinawa is Joros childhood friend. She is really into sports. She wants to be helpful but sometimes she ... is not. Sun-Chan is Joros best friend who is the baseball teams captain and the first 3 episodes are based around him.

It seems this anime is divided into 3 episode long arcs. So far we have had a friendship arc? (I don't know the actual name) Flower Dance arc I guess and two others but I cant figure out a name for them

The arcs: First we have the confession arc where the 3 girls tell their story to Joro how they want to become sun-Chans girlfriend and Joro helps them. It turns into a huge clusterfuck at the end. Flower dance arc: They need to practice for the flower dance but then a sneaky reporter stalks Joro and wants to release a news article of Joros harem. The arc ends with the dance. Then in the third arc we first hit the pool where Sun-Chan turns into a real bro. I think the arc is about one book that Pansy lent Joro but in the end the book kinda got trashed or something so Joro had to get work. Then We have the fourth and final arc. Where the gangs meeting place is gonna be shut down so they need help. Joro meets a new character who is like a Joro v2 and Pansys worst nightmare.
Finally a harem RomCom with realistic characters and shit. I guess.
Do I recommend this? Yes. If you enjoy RomComs this is the perfect show for you

Have you ever had one of those moments in life where you feel as if a miracle is about to happen to you but then suddenly ends up being disappointed beyond disbelief? Someone by the name of Joro sure did. Just when he thought his life would turn into a miracle, he gets asked by two beauties to help them win their loves. Now that’s a slap to the face and reminder that life sometimes just isn’t fair.

Ore wo Suki Nano wa Omae Dake Ka Yo (Oresuki) may be a romantic comedy but loves to flirt with the idea of manipulation. It’s almost like a ... real life version of a soap opera filled with drama but without the violence. Or is there? Physically, the show has limited amount of action unless you count Joro getting kicked or slapped on around on the occasions. But on a psychological level, Oresuki deals with manipulative love and drama that twists and turns until you see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Watching Oresuki has been a rather unusual but pleasant experience compared to some of the other rom-coms I’ve seen in recent years.

In wasting no time, the first episode drops Joro into a drama angle with upperclassman Cosmos and Himawari. In a particular depressing incident, he finds out that both girls are in love with Taiyou Ooga (Sun-chan), his best friend and baseball club ace at school. What’s worse? Both girls wants him to help with their love problem. That’s only half the drama as we later learn that Pansy, a library girl at the same school, is actually in love with Joro himself. With this setup, Oresuki establishes a peculiar love story with Joro being forced to become a matchmaker. However, a twist reveals that Joro has a much more manipulative personality that he keeps hidden from others. Only Pansy is aware of his true personality and is why she is in love with him. Now you can imagine how this type of story may play out. It essentially becomes a labyrinth of mind games. Joro’s goal is live his life as a “Romantic Comedy Protagonist”. He invented his own character while masquerading as a typical protagonist with a gentle personality. It’s essentially what people call a “two-faced” person. Deep down, Joro has his own insecurities and often feels inferior to others around him. The reason he hides his true personality is often so that he can craft plans to make things go his way. Although some people see his role as an anti-hero with such a role, Joro is also fundamentally a decent person. He doesn’t truly try to harm others and show his true feelings when someone in his life is jeopardized. Does this type of protagonist appeal to you?

This question can be answered if we take a look at how he develop relationships with the main cast. Starting with both Cosmos and Himawari, he reluctantly agrees to help them but also formulates plans of his own. Watching his moves carefully, the audience should take quickly why he interacts in his ways. Because let’s face it, Joro is actually quite a skilled actor who is able to change between his “nice guy” persona to his true nature very quickly and vice versa. On the other hand, both Cosmos and Himawari are dreadful liars. Their lies can easily be seen through by others and Cosmos even have absurd reactions whenever she gets nervous. Comparing their acting skills to Joro is like night and day. Joro’s goal of making his dream harem becomes a complicated plot for himself. Because Pansy is in love with his true personality, he has to accept such a fact despite still seeking to be the “romantic comedy protagonist” he hopes to be. Essentially, Joro becomes his own enemy and often times, his problems arises because of his own machinations. On individual levels, Cosmos and Himawari are clueless about his true visage. They still see him as an average classmate who doesn’t have a girlfriend but nonetheless, they spend time with him. But as the series progresses, they both seem to develop feelings of their own towards the boy. Is this perhaps true love? What happens is that love can change how people behave and in later portions of the show, it seems both characters show more affections towards Joro than they realize. On the other hand, Pansy constantly beats Joro at his own games. Whatever plans Joro crafts, she sees it through and actually makes him see his own mistakes. Between the two, they are the only pair in the show that doesn’t have a problem insulting each other. It’s a bit ironic since Pansy is in love with him and in a perfect world, couples are supposed to be loving with care. In Oresuki, we have this imperfect world where manipulation is part of the norm and almost everyone wants to be someone they’re not.

While the series has its own antagonists, I believe the true enemy is human nature itself. As a skilled actor, Joro has his own human faults that he even realizes. In fact, every character in the show has flaws in some way or form. However, I don’t want to throw everyone under the bus. There’s characters who learn from their mistakes such as the case of Sun-chan. Even supporting characters such as Asunaro realizes the trouble she caused when manipulating others as a member of the newspaper club. Joro himself even realizes that he has to face with consequences in life. It’s in human nature that people commit sins and the show teaches about how characters needs to learn from their actions. The only character that seems immune to corruption is Pansy. Her position in the show is unique in that she is the one who can see through others, in particular their lies. When the show finished airing, I find that Pansy is perhaps the most real character in the show for not only her observation skills but also being a life coach to others. Someone such as Joro could learn a lot from her.

Watching Oresuki may feel like an anime dosed with heavy amounts of drama. Every episode keeps the adrenaline going and there doesn’t seem to be a stop in the momentum. However, you have to remember that it’s also a romantic comedy. There are certainly a lot of comedic moments too such even including the physical aspects of the show. Whenever Joro gets hit, it’s portrayed comically. Many of his character reactions is often over exaggerated, almost like he’s acting. The anime also loves to throw in running gags associated with Joro’s matchmaker role and even occasionally moments of the fourth wall breaking. So take a breather and relax. Oresuki isn’t just a show with every square inch filled with drama.

As a 1-cour show of 12 episodes, it seems Oresuki was able to fundamentally get the audience to know what the show is. Divided into arcs, the plot is formulated with mind games but I do wonder how much the producers really wanted to be animated. The light novels continues the drama so as it’s up management to decide if they want to animate more of the series. To my delight, Connect managed to make the characters look sharp similar to their manga designs. Every female character in the show stands out and is portrayed with feminine features and beauty. Cosmos and Himawari are prime examples of this as they have an attractive valley girl look. While Pansy normally looks plain with braids and glasses, her true appearance is that of a beautiful girl endowed with attractive appeal. Even supporting characters such as Sasanqua has their own appeal when they show their true appearance. All this is contrast to Joro, who is portrayed as normally as possible on the outside. However, the character expressions he shows in secret is a different story.

As an anime with heavy amount of dialogues, I do commend on the voice actors on taking on their roles as dominantly as possible. This is especially true for Joro and Pansy, two voices who speak lines that often clashes against each other. Their character interactions is the most noticeable because Pansy knows the real Joro. Other times, Joro’s inner dialogues with himself speaks as his real character. On other technical standards, Oresuki’s theme songs adapts a more lighthearted tone with flashy images of character expressions.

Oresuki is kind of like a taking a multiple choice test where you have to figure out what’s real and what’s not. The idea of manipulative characters in romantic comedies isn’t entirely new. But for Oresuki, this anime took it on a whole new level with Joro at the center. This is type of rom-com that will keep you at the edge of your seat to see what will happen with each progressing episode. And by the time it’s over, you won’t feel like a loser beyond disbelief.

Harem comedies are very common in the anime universe. Some are too boring to be watched, and almost all follow the same paradigm and setting: a guy and a group of girls creating a triangle, polygon, or any weird romance configuration. I thought the same when I started reading the novel, and you will feel the same when you watch the first episode. However, Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo is not the casual harem or romantic comedy. It was a surprise for me and it will be a surprise for any fan that loves this kind of genre or wants to ... start with it. Furthermore, I am sure you will watch it for Pansy, and I don't blame you. In my case, I am like her in several aspects, and I feel very related to her; so far, she is the best seasonal character.

The story is hilarious and is very different from the casual harem because the girls did not declare their love to Kisaragi, they declared that they loved his best friend and asked for help. During all that mess, he finds that a girl, the librarian, Sumireko loves him. However, he considers that Sumeriko (aka Pansy) is ugly, mad, and weird, so he tries to avoid her.

The most exciting part of this show is the story twists, how Kisaragi reacts to those situations, and how Pansy deals with everything. Furthermore, the story has good pacing and a good outcome. The changes and the character's development will keep us entertained, and they will be fun to watch in some aspects. For example, Kisaragi has a double personality, he tries to be the good one, but in the end, he is a sick liar with a repulsive personality and Pansy, the weird girl. From several angles, she could be a cold, evil, mentally unhealthy, calculator, but she hides several aspects of her personality and her looking. I consider Pansy adorable in several ways, but maybe I am biased because I feel very related to her, and because I know what is going to happen after. Finally, both complement each other and that is a plus.

On the other hand, one of the aspects that concern most of the fans is that the show could turn into the typical harem. I want to say, they are following the novel, and in some parts, the story feels in that way. However, I do not think that would be a reason to drop the series. Also, not all the source material will be adapted because it has twelve volumes and it stills publishing.

The art and sound are acceptable. After watching four episodes, I can say that the story has a lovely palette and a great direction from frame to frame. I know there are some ugly frames but understand, it is a comedy, the important here is the pacing, camera angles, and the frame movement and it is acceptable. The OP and ED are good, and the lyrics reflect part of the story. I like the OP more because it has a better rhythm.

Finally, I am enjoying the anime so far. No idea if I will keep the same score, but the first episodes are delightful and too funny that keep me entertained. I am sure you will feel in the same way. You should give a try to this series.

I cannot comprehend how anyone that has watched a decent anime or read a single book can possibly enjoy this rancid excuse of a show.

The author has absolutely zero idea of how to manage a plot or characters - but manages to get his ideas published and animated by forcing the characters into a delusional, masturbatory fantasy for the average young male. It's repulsive and abhorring, and I question the sanity of the editors and directors that allowed this "thing" to get past publishing and onto an anime streaming service.

Characters:
The concept of a "self-insert" character in shounen anime is prevalent throughout all types of literature ... and manga, almost exclusively for the harem genre. The trope goes a certain way: We have an almost-perfect, simply designed MC that manages to build up a harem using his strength and bland personality.

Now, don't get me wrong - there isn't anything wrong with this trope. If anything, it's enjoyable, and I can name many other shows that have executed this trope well, including: Sword Art Online, Rakudai Kishi no Calvary, The Irregular at Magic High School, among many others.

The opposite of a "self-insert" character would be a highly dramatized character, in which the viewer perceives the MC make personality-unique decisions, struggle with moral values, and most of all - make mistakes. Some examples of these would be Kaneki Ken of Tokyo Ghoul, Kira of Death Note, or Subaru, from Re:Zero.

Something that will NEVER work, however, is mixing these two tropes together - that of both a self-insert (a character with weak personality) and a dramatized character (one with a detailed, realistic personality).

And this, my friends, is what the author and director have regurgitated on-screen.

There is a constant struggle between self-insert and dramatized characteristics; we can see the MC sacrifice his time and dignity to help his childhood friend; we can see him attempt to make-up with the friend that betrayed him; we can see him surrender to the quiet girl in the library, and decide to spend time with her. These would be self-insert characteristics, or the "ideal" character for self-projection.

And then, we have his "dark side" or "true character."

How idiotic.

He can call his childhood friend a bitch for hugging him, he calls the girl that likes him an "ugly cow" and demands that she take out her tits in exchange for eating lunch with him, he actively takes advantage of girls' feelings while at the same time feeling nothing for them. These would, through choices made that differ from the average viewer, suggest that a character has a strong personality -

But the concoction that unfolds on screen is spine-chillingly bad. We have unredeemable plot lines, ridiculous dialogue, cringy interactions, times where you cannot bear to watch the screen - and most of all, times where you wonder, "How did this become an anime?" Everything, absolutely everything is inconsistent; it's terrible; it's unwatchable;

And the SIDE CHARACTERS? Don't get me started.

Brain-dead, main girl archetype with glasses and braids - but is a secret beauty: Her character is executed decently well; she acts as she should and her personality is consistent; she schemes, plots, and betrays. Her endless, unconditional love for the MC, however, feels forced, absurd, and uncomfortable.

Baseball player: Is supposed to represent the classic shounen MC - but also, out of nowhere, possesses a secret, hidden "dark side" all for the sake of plot - how cheap and unimaginative.

Childhood friend: Fanservice character. I can't critique her.

Student Council President: Also a fanservice character.

The inconsistent personalities on-screen have both a lack of personality and a lack of redeemable qualities. If it was a self-insert anime, I'd watch it with a grain of salt, only for the sake of enjoyment - if it was a dramatized anime, I'd watch it for the in-depth characters. But this? This hybrid, unnatural mixture of inconsistent personalities and unoriginal drama? It's genuinely disgusting and insulting.

Plot:
Now, the fundamental plot - the "origin story," if you will, or if you're a nerd, "exposition" - Is DEFINITELY unique. It's a funny, hilarious, new twist on the classic harem genre. The first episode fell off a bit at the end, but ultimately, the plot was original and interesting.

The execution, however?

Abhorring.

The plot SHOULD HAVE gone like this:
The two girls confess that they love the MC's best friend.
The MC's best friend loves a different girl (The girl in the library).
A slow-burn romance, slice-of-life begins, as we watch the funny interactions between the four characters, as they all try to capture the others' attention and compete with one another.
Little do the girls know, however, that while they are attempting to get the Baseball character's attention, they have actually fallen hard for the MC.
The MC succeeds in hooking the girls up with his friend, but they have actually fallen in love with him.
He decides between the three girls.

That would be a normal, 12-13 episode plot. Maybe if some sort of extension was added, like a new girl or new plotline, it could be stretched out to 24 episodes.

Now, let's see what this delusional author did.

The two girls confess that they love the MC's best friend.
The MC's best friend loves a different girl (The girl in the library).

WITHIN {{{ F O U R }}} EPISODES, THE CLIMAX OF THE STORY IS SOLD SHORT WITH AN ABSOLUTELY IDIOTIC, NONSENSICAL SCENE WITHIN THE LIBRARY, WHERE RANDOM CHARACTER TRAITS ARE SUDDENLY REGURGITATED ON SCREEN FOR THE SAKE OF PLOT, A CRINGY, AWKWARD YELLING SCENE IS SHOWN, AND ABSOLUTELY ZERO CHANGE OCCURS BETWEEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS - BECAUSE THE EPISODE AFTER, THEY ALL MAKE UP IMMEDIATELY.

ARE YOU SEVEN YEARS OLD?

How idiotic. It actually frustrated me - So much, in fact, that I made a review account JUST for this anime.

Animation - Decent, but I can spot many shortcuts and repetitive, reused scenery. Nice budget cuts, studio. You're really doing anime proud.

Music - Overdramatic soundtrack for a less-than-mediocre anime. Stick to high pitch girl sounds from failed idol groups, please. Don't waste instrumental musicians' time.

Theme -

I'll ignore the last category.

In conclusion, this anime, whatever its title is, is truly insulting to viewers, directors, and creative thinkers abroad. The characters are poorly designed, resulting in awkward interactions; the plot is original but sold short due to uncreativity, and the art and music feel wasted on such a poorly written script.

1/10, because I can't rate lower.

Matt A
Part-time Otaku and ongoing student of Harvard's English Department

After watching Oresuki, I came to the realisation that, well, some anime's looks may be deceiving - just like the female protagonist in this show. Hid under thick clothing, something maybe more “ambitious” than you have originally thought - not just the story.

With its clickbait title, cliche-filled comedy with easily replicable character traits, I initially thought this would be another Saiki Kusuo-like anime, aiming to create comedy through messing with cliches. Notwithstanding its over-dramatic reactions and, though sorry to say, unsatisfactory animation quality, I quickly despised this anime and put on my coloured glasses. Driven by outrage inflicted by yet another wave of cliche in ... the first episode, I wrote around 400 words of unreserved criticisms, denominating it as another failed attempt to replicate Saiki Kusuo.

Time has proved me wrong. Totally wrong. As the plot moves on, the initial "female mains", namely the childhood friend and the student council president become exponentially less significant, serving as mere plot devices. Speaking of plot devices, the writer cleverly utilized the baseball match as one. After viewing the first three episodes, I feel like the dots have all come together, and start to type on my keyboard in a state of confusion and amazement. How well-hid are the hints!

Another point worth noting is the clever contrast between the seemingly innocent and the deceitful. Coming into the show, we all know that Kisaragi is a doubled-faced beta male striving to become a chad, who hides his true colours in hopes of getting some love from girls. His envy would be his best friend, who is a baseball chad who unintentionally took away all his crushes. The only one remains for the loser is a leftover girl from the library. Plot twist, Kisaragi is the one least prepared for such mind games compared to chad and leftover. He is all along a foil to hide the true mastery of the two; a sheer puppet on strings - quite like the viewers themselves, and myself too. We have been tricked, we have been backstabbed and we have been quite possibly, bamboozled.

Judging by the first 3 episodes, its greatest downfall would be the animation quality. Not only often do we see the characters are drawn disgracefully, but also the background and the facial expressions. It is such a disgrace to have this well-written plot spoiled by such poor animation. As for music, I think it's fine. Nothing too noteworthy in particular, nor anything to criticise on.

I guess you learn a life lesson every day - even when we are watching an anime - never judge a book by its cover. Oresuki has proven itself worthy.

Until now, there were 5 romcom anime that i have seen with the words of "ore"
Oreimo
Oreshura
Oregairu
Ore Monogatari
Ore no nounai blabla (Noucome)

Those five are worth to watching. I don't have any particular problem with those. Then, now i watching this too, Oresuki. Is Oresuki worth to watch? Lets read my review.

Story: 3/10
... What the fuck is going on?! (turn on some sfx meme)

The author seems to mixing this show with drama and comedy but fail to mix that.
How can those drama easily resolved with only a single minutes? MC lucky?
How can such a bastard character who against the MC suddenly came to friendly with MC without any awkward feeling? Even the MC falling in love with his enemy so he is turned into gay dude.
How can this school have a tradition that a guy dancing with 3 girls? any acceptable reason for this?
And also why all female cast easily falling in love with MC without any some sweet flashback story?

Art: 9/10
Looks decent for me, just expected for Connect. I always love their pretty art.

Sound: 5/10
Those sfx doesn't really suit. It's too overly dramatic to me. Also, why the hell Joro's Mother sounded like loli instead her face kinda like your 40's age mother. But, still i love Tomatsu Haruka doing her role as Sanshokuin Sumireko (Pansy). I love her sadistic sound, very suit to her as Pansy.

Character:1/10
Pathetic! and bit confusing.
How can the MC curse his childhood friend as bitch but in a single minutes they wants to befriend again without any awkward moment later?
How can such a bastard character then suddenly have a good term with MC without any acceptable reason?
Am I the only one who confuse here? please click "I found this review helpful" button if you agree with me.

Enjoyment: (5/10)
For its 3 first episode i found this really amusing for me. But later, i didn't get any idea how to react this show. Will i laugh? Will i cry? Will i angry?
FYI, I write this review while doing facepalm. So, am i really enjoy watching this show?

Overall: 4/10
Hate that score. (7.85 at 2019/11/9) Even this show can't beat those previous "ore". Better watching those previous "ore" than this one.

3/10 You can probably endure through it, but overall it's a waste of time.

Let's set something straight. Originality is not just mocking a common trope or cliche, but also the ability to disguise it and present it as a work that stands on its own. If you're content with the common female character tropes that have been going along for quite a long time now, then this show will be just fine. If you're looking for some fanservice or cute girls to look at, then this show will be just fine. In my opinion, when this show presented itself as a jab to cookie cutter ... romcom tropes, it raised my expectations. Unfortunately, my hopes were shattered, swept up, and poured into a dumpster fire that is this Oresuki as I fight the urge to visit my home therapist Clorox for a cleansing of my eyes and ears.

Story (2): Guy in high school tries to "manipulate" his life to set up a typical romcom scenario. Okay, seems cool. However, I've seen kiddie pools with more depth and less shit in them than the writing and dialogue of this show. The thing is though, the main plot of the show isn't really about the protagonist being clever or attempting to make things go his way. It's simply the type of romcom that tries very hard to mock, with your stale perpetual self cock-blocking main character in a powerless situation of a bunch of hollow cookie-cutter girls fighting over him. Imagine a girl becoming attracted to a guy because the guy is a good friend to *others*. Sorry, John Green, but we've got a better tear-jerker than The Fault in Our Stars. This story will make you cry when you realize that a studio decided that this was the one and invested a million or two into airing this show.


Art (6): The saving grace of this show is the artwork. Nothing special, but nothing to be impressed about either. Again, if you're into fanservice then you'll appreciate it much more than I will.

Sound (2): I do not know why but something about the characters' voices get to me. It feels like I'm listening to a kindergarten teacher as it lacks any subtlety or sense of naturalness to it.

Character (1): The protagonist is spineless. The side characters are bland and have the social awareness comparable to the baked potato I had for dinner tonight, difference being the potato actually had flavor to it.

Enjoyment (2): Overall, this show was incredibly difficult to watch. It has no sense of direction other than "basic romcoms haha, amirite?" I would say if you want to watch actual progression in a somewhat realistic scenario, avoid this at all costs.

*Spoiler warning*

"Are you the only one who loves me?". Going into this series blind and having watched the first episode(ep) that title carried a lot of meaning, set expectations for the direction this series would take and most importantly established a framework for the story. This held true until around ep 5 where this idea would completely collapsed leading into a terribly generic and disappointing ep 6. After watching the first 4 eps keeping the title in mind, it is obviously begging the question of whether "the stalker" is really the only one who truly loves him. Ep 5 easily answers that question with a ... simple no, is there an issue with this? Not particularly but it makes me wonder why the pretentious title? At the end of the day it is nothing more than bait and is completely misleading. That is the reason why I find this series to be poor, it begins by poking fun at generic rom-com characters like the childhood friend and the beautiful president. Yet it falls into the same generic plot after 5 eps, it went from a jokey "what if" I got this harem like I imagined and schemed for to a, I do get this harem but like every other MC in a rom-com do absolutely nothing.

This naturally leads into the story and characters. Again it tries not to be generic and pokes fun at the genre yet ironically the story and characters are generic. The kind touchy childhood friend and the shy president's only twist is that they have no romantic feelings for the MC for 4 eps. Naturally past this ep 4 they do suddenly like him disregarding how he schemed to make a harem out of them. How he schemed to make them fall in love with him and how he wanted to keep one of them when the other went out with his best friend. So like the generic tropes they are, they like the MC because he is a nice guy forgetting all about how he tried to manipulate them for the sake of the story. The MC himself past ep 4 never tries to scheme or manipulate anyone again, he is the nice guy he always "pretended" to be but in reality that was always him. The author essentially killed any brains he had in the first 4 eps, leaving him at the mercy of his harem which he gloated about in the first few eps. This naturally turns him into a generic MC. It honestly makes you wonder why when he wanted a harem and he gets one which he is fully aware of because the president kisses his cheek he does nothing. It is genuinely annoying and frustrating to see the MC go on and on about Pansy at the baseball game been attractive and him stealing look at her to have that same girl confess and have him do absolutely nothing(On-top of the fact he fascinated about her in his harem in her underwear lol).

All of the mentioned above just makes this story, characters and my overall enjoyment disappointing. This series would have been a 5, just another rom-com but it had the audacity to use such a misleading title. On-top of this is it poked fun at the generic tropes of its genre and later gladly walked down the beaten path which makes it worse in my opinion. With my short time with the manga, the adaptation was true to the source so it can't be faulted. In terms of what is good about this show, the art is fair.

This show took one of the biggest nosedives in quality that I've ever experienced in any media. The first 3 episodes were really fun and entertaining. I loved the constant 4th wall breaks by the main character, the jokes surrounding "bench-kun"were hilarious, it was a romcom with an interesting premise that imo was building up to be something comparable to in the best of cases Oregairu. And oh boi was I wrong because this became a painfully generic harem after that.

After the first 3 eps, the show kept introducing more and more girls instead of making the viewers care about the already existing girls ... by giving them any bit of characterization more than just being magically attracted to Joro. And of course like in any harem, almost all the girls the show introduces are immediately in love with the mc for some reason. I like my fair share of harems so that wouldn't a problem if I could care about any of these characters but I don't and most of them are really annoying.

The animation was nothing special and the art while it wasn't horrible, it was mediocre as there were characters that looked very much identical but with different eyes and hair color. Don't have anything to say about the sound.

Lastly I want to talk a little about the mc Joro. I found him to be such a bad character, he's a f***ing idiot with an inconsistent personality. He's mostly your typical dense harem protagonist, but he can also be a character with sass and kind of a douche bag but not really which is a type of character I like (example: Sakuta from Bunny Girl Senpai), and he can also be an actual douche bag on other times. I do like some of his monologues and his 4th wall breaks but yet I despise all of his actions and all of the decisions he makes.

The only reason I don't give this show a 1/10 is because of those first 3 eps and there's a tiny amount of things that I enjoyed like the 4th wall breaks like I already mentioned. I'd say definitely skip this show, is just a subpar harem. If you want a good romcom from this year then watch Kaguya-Sama Love is War. If you want a harem from this year then watch 5-toubun no Hanayome.

“Amatsuyu “Joro” Kisaragi is your typical dense harem lead who is showered in affection by a cute childhood friend, a mature student council president, and many others as the series progresses” – this is the false pretense that Oresuki presents to cover its true premise: that Joro is aware of this trope and is actually a manipulative scumbag invoking it intentionally to pick up girls. However, one of these being true does not negate the other, and both are layers of the show’s narrative.

Oresuki is a show that is about subtext and layered narratives. Basically every character in the show lies about what motivates their ... actions at one point or another, and this is made extremely clear from the very beginning. In doing this, Oresuki is tasking the viewer to try to discern where their real intentions lay. Rather than the text itself, Oresuki prompts the audience to read the subtext.

However, treating subtext as text does not erase the original text. As a better show once said, “People have several faces… and they’re all real.” Oresuki adopts a Kantian philosophy where the morality of an action can only be judged based on the intention behind it, and in doing so, it ignores the action itself. At one point, Joro is chastised for doing a good deed, because his motivations are deemed to be selfish. If one is committed to the idea that subtext is the only thing that’s real, then everything else must be fake.

In training the audience to only read subtext, Oresuki demonstrates how dangerous this perspective can be. After the first few arcs, the viewer becomes unable to judge a good deed for itself. There was one character who ended up being completely benevolent in their actions, but I still was convinced that they couldn’t be trusted long after they were introduced. If all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail.

With all of that said, I do think that the ideology of Oresuki is usually on the right track. Joro loses all of his friends as a result of his scheming in the first arc, and though he tries to scheme to regain them at first, he is only successful when he ultimately drops all façade and tells them directly that he wants to be friends again. There are no shortcuts or cheat codes when it comes to relationships, and if you want something real, then it has to start with you.

I get the sense that Rakuda said everything they wanted to say in the first volume of the series, and didn’t really know how to follow it up. To a certain extent, Joro keeps making the same mistakes over and over again, although I’ll charitably read that as understanding that it would be difficult for a misanthrope like him to so easily change their ways. Fittingly, this season ends with another of Joro’s schemes backfiring, and him being backed into a corner as a result. His immediate impulse may be to devise a new scheme to escape this situation, but if he wants to show that he’s learned anything over the course of this season, then he’ll need to finally be honest about how he feels. We can only wait and see.

So, is Oresuki good? No, absolutely not. It pretends to be a subversion of a genre, but ultimately doesn’t amount to more than just being the thing that it’s aping with a few more winks at the camera. But I had a lot of fun with it! There are a lot of ideas here that I thought were interesting to engage with, even if I disagreed them. Maybe my experience was mainly the product of my taking a philosophy class at the same time that this was airing, but if you like to play with your trash, then I think that Oresuki is worth a try.

So, apparently, we have the anime that wants to break the cliché of the romantic comedies, wants to give us something new, wants to give us something different from what we are already tired, and I really appreciate the intention, I really do, but unfortunately this anime does not finish convincing me.
And I’m going to be honest, I had no interest in watch this anime the first time, I read the premise and I watched the trailer, but I simply thought that this would be another bland and ridiculous anime…and yes, they shut my mouth with the first leg of this anime. The comedy, the ... characters and the development was good, I thought that had a particular but funny way to see the things through the eyes of a “non main character”. And I was expecting more of this, but unluckily, in my opinion, just the beginning is the strongest part of the anime. But let’s start with the sections:

Story:
I thought that the story was kind of dumb to be honest, but in the progress of this, it starts to grow on me and I started to appreciate the characters. Because we’re going to be honest is hilarious how everything planned by the guy is just ruined by the unexpected events. So, I can say that the story was okay, at least it’s trying to be creative and unique, and those are elements that are always appreciated.

Development of the story:
As I said, the first leg of this anime is probably the more enjoyable, because we see a guy who every plan he has, it’s ruined by random and unpredicted event. And we have two girls that are in loved with his best friend and they need his help, and we have the other girl with glasses who always is hard with him but apparently she is the only one in loved of him. I’m thankful that this premise was changing throughout the anime, and we found the good and the bad intentions of the characters. Also was funny to see the double personality of Joro (the main character) and how he always had his high and lows. But the things start to wobble in the middle of this anime (for be more specific since the episode 7), because the funny and comic moments feel a little exaggerated and repetitive, I mean the first scenes of the confession in the bench were funny and enjoyable, but later it feels like a dead meme. Also adding the fact that some characters start to acting like morons. At least I enjoy a little bit the appearance of girls like Tsubaki. But the worst part in my opinion is the finale, because the main problem, the situation that makes everyone feel uncomfortable (the official appearance of three characters more) in my opinion is really stupid, overly dramatic and simply unnecessary. Because show us, that everyone has no self-esteem, and they are just a bunch of manipulated fools.
So in general I think the development is okay, the beginning is great, the middle is kind of meh, at least had funny and good moments on it so I’ll take it, but the last leg is the bad point here they could end this in a better way I’m sure.

Characters:
In general, I think many of the characters are okay, they in some point show good performances, and when they are in the spotlight they show good charisma and personality. Let’s start with the main: Joro. The “non protagonist” character. I really liked the double personality that he has, and is funny to see how everything goes bad to him, how is constantly breaking the forth wall and some of his reactions are entertaining, and the moments where he acts like a douchebag are well done and does not feel forced, but I felt his drama moments a little bland and sometimes he is so manipulated that is annoying, maybe that’s the reason why the bad things happened to him. The female protagonist is Pansy, and I think at the beginning she is very smart, manipulator, funny and cute, the way she always is three steps forward of the others is incredible. But in the last leg of this anime I think she is one the worst characters, because all her intelligence, tenacity and liveliness goes straight to the trash because she can’t say no to a guy that she is not interested in. And also, I think her attitude with Joro (especially in the episode 7) is disgusting. So she could been the best but she is just okay.
I think Cosmos is a good character too, her attitude of girl in love is cute, the times where she is serious is really essential for the good development of the things in the future, I would have liked to see her more in the development of the final, than many other characters. Same with Himawari, I think she is okay too, I like that her attitude is kind of childish, but she really cares about her friends, I would like to see her more in the finale too, but what were going to do. Sun, sincerely, is the best, because he starts as an idiot that doesn’t care about the feelings of the people around him and just think of him and he becomes a very good friend that helps Joro in the difficult situations. I think he was the best character in the end, where he plans everything to give the spotlight to Joro. It’s a very good secondary character and in my opinion, the best.
I like the personality of Asunaro and her real intentions with Joro, I think she is cute, lovely, energetic and charismatic, and, like Cosmos and Himawari I would like to see her more in the last leg. Tsubaki is the good but kind of forgettable character, I think the way she felt in love of Joro is kind of corny, but she at least has memorable moments. Sasanqua could be more, but unfortunately her moments in the spotlight are unmemorable, and does not change the course of the anime. But at least she is not as bad as Tampopo, where she is easily the worst character: She is annoyingly energetic, overreacted almost if not all the time, her intentions are corny and she is forgettable, so yeah, she is the worst. Oh also, every time she speaks exaggeratedly loud my ears wants to bleed.
And the rest I mean Hazuki is a good element for the drama ending, and he is the “nice and correct guy” so I don’t mind it at all. The other two girls Momo and Luna are just the girls that accompanied the nice guy, because they are not important and the fact that they left their feeling for Hazuki for his happiness is just so annoying and cliché so I’m going to skip them.

Development of the genre:
This is a romantic comedy, and I think probably this the best aspect because it combined the two genres very well, some episodes are funniest than romantic and vice versa. It has some elements of drama too, and most of the time are a little bland and it feels unnecessary so I wouldn’t put too much drama on this in the future. It has some ecchi moments too, a few, and amazingly they work, all because they are connected with some jokes or funny moments so they feel fresh and complement well the scenes.

Music:
I think the opening is good, not amazing and is far from the best that I heard this year but I like the chorus and the melody sounds very sunny and happy, the instrumental is good and compliment the aspect of the anime very well. I think that the ending song is very meh and forgettable; the instrumental is good but the vocals from Haruka Tomatsu amazingly are forgettable, and Hiraishi and Misawa do very little to save the track. The background music is at least good; they complement very well with the situations so I’ll take it.

Overall:
I think this anime is good, has some funny and entertaining moments on it, and the performances of the characters in the beginning of the anime are interesting and well done. But unfortunately this anime stays there: being only good, when it has the elements to be one of the best comedy animes of the year if not the best, but thanks to the repetitive and forgettable moments and that bad finale leave this anime a little stagnant. But you know what, I’m going to look forward for this, I want to see the next phase and I wish that many if not all the mistakes presented in this season are fixed and they at least give us something that will be remembered in a positive way.
I give this anime a 7 out of 10, and apparently an OVA is coming for the next year, so were going to see where does this anime take us.

The main thing that is clamored about when it comes to Oresuki is the “twist” that occurs midway during the first episode, even though it’s quite explicit in the synopsis. Anyway, the gist of it is that the first half of the shows first episode comes off as a generic school romance anime. The protagonist is a by the numbers nice guy with a supporting cast consisting of the obligatory girl childhood friend, the elegant girl student council president, and a cool guy friend to help him out. All together they play through the motions of the show until a point where it looks like ... the childhood friend and student council president may confess to the protagonist, only for it to slap him in the face when they actually ask for his help to get in a relationship with his friend. Disillusioned and in the privacy of his home the protagonist reveals that his personality is a facade that he used in hopes of having his own harem as would be the expectation from a show like this. This “twist” forms the main idea and tone that will run throughout the rest of the show, most of which I would argue isn’t for the best.

This idea is the sense of duplicity that not only comes from the main protagonist, but also from every notable character in the cast. No matter how they act or what they do, there probably is an undercurrent of something quite the opposite. It does a good job early on for creating a sense of doubt for the viewers. However, the show really plays into it far too many times that it starts to feel predictable and too reliant on it's twists. It leads the show to only laying down two roads to go through but with the shows modus operandi, you can easily guess which one they will go with. I would chalk this up to the show letting the cat out of the bag far too early that the impact it had in the first few episodes die down way to quick and it is unable to replicate it again. Even more so is that once you get past all the duplicitous nature of the show, you realize how inconsequential the plot really is.

This also goes to the characters as well. Once you look past the thin covered veil, you can see how paper thin these characters are. Sure the duplicity lends to many of the characters being two faced, but it doesn’t equate to complexity or depth. They still play within their designated archetypes as any run of the mill harem rom-com only with the added degree that there might be something more underneath. Most of the time there really isn’t, and when there is it doesn’t really add much to the character that has already been known. Nevertheless they aren’t bad, and depending on how you see these kind of shows, they make a somewhat decent cast of two-dimensional characters. The best character being the main girl Pansy who’s the only character that worked well around the show.

If you are wondering why I haven't called any of the characters by their name until now, it’s because it requires a space of its own. One thing this show has going for it in spades are it’s meaningless meanings. By this, I mean their names have some meaning behind them. The most obvious ones being the girls who literally wear their names they're called on their hair as flower ornaments such as pansy, cosmos, himawari(sunflower), etc. And as we all know flowers are full of meaning, but as said before in the last paragraph, it adds very little to what is already known to the character. The main character and his guy friends have a bit more going on with their names, but not really a substantial amount. The main protags name is Joro which is translated to “watering can”, while his friend is called Sun-chan. Two essential things that are needed in order for plants such as flowers to grow. One being cold water that’s useful when there’s no rain, and the other being a warm glow star. Overall they are just neat tidbits that people can find appreciative from this show.

A bit less than the last one, but there a some literary titles that are dropped into the show. Three of which i can bother to think of off the top of my head, Dr.Jekyll And Mr.Hyde, Crime And Punishment, and I Am A Cat. the most obvious one being the first one explicitly presented, Dr.Jekyll. Being the case of one man living two different lives and how that is directed towards Joro and his two-faced personality of one being kind and the other one being more of a scumbag. The other two books are a bit more up in the air on whether or not they also play into the same role of Dr.Jekyll, stand for something else, or are just there because the setting takes place in a library.

The other thing that Oresuki has going for it is it’s comedy. One of the first things that easily comes to mind is how this show can be viewed as a parody of the genre that it’s playing. From the subversion of expectations, to the nonsense characters and situations throughout the show. The obvious one being “the bench”, a magical bench that appears just about anywhere, and brings a foreboding future towards Joro. It does happen enough time that it starts to have a feeling of ad nauseam, but that’s also part of the humor as well due to how overused they are in the genre as well. The other example is “the baseball game” an event that coincidentally lead to the motivations of most of the characters of the show. Starting off as a generic plot point only for every new character adding a new perspective to the event that gets increasingly ridiculous, even if there seems to be more going on underneath. The show also has its share of standard comedy that you will expect from the average run-of-the mill comedy anime. However for all that it does to make fun of the genre of harem rom-coms, it inevitably falls into line with the rest.

One of the worst things that can happen to a fictional story that attempts to be subversive, satirical, or a parody is that they may fall for the same narrative trapping that they are deconstructing or making fun of. It makes you wonder what was the point of all the setup, if the payoff is the same as the derivative works that it’s riding off of. At least with the more generic and derivative works you get what you expected, through and through. What was the point of the deliberate use of characters and plot elements, when they end up being the same shit as everything else. Why bother giving Joro a two-faced personality, when his more or less “good side” is the one that prevails the most. Why bother knocking back the harem aspect in the beginning of the show only to prop up a much bigger one later on. Seriously, why bother when in the end it ends up being a pile of nothing.

In this day and age, where every form of fiction is easily available for almost everyone. It is quite easy to get quickly used to story conventions and tropes. Leading some to create works that differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowd by being subversive or meta, and thanks to their understanding of the tropes used they are able to succeed in doing so. Yet it comes to a point where it is done so much that it ends up being the new norm. To be so overdone that it is forgotten why they need it to be subversive or meta in the first place. It only becomes a dumb game of the author attempting to one-up the audience in the most stupid way possible, and that’s what Oresuki is. A harem rom-com that tries to play smarter than it really is and only reveals time after time how it’s just kind of... Dumb. That’s the greatest use of duplicity this show inadvertently ends up achieving.

Also they did the redhead girl dirty and that’s unforgivable...

UPDATED on 28/12/2019 (12/12 episodes completed)

UPDATE (28/12/2019)

This show actually turned out to be a calming and enjoyable anime to watch. It seems as if the characters have actually developed some IQ, and Joro begins to become a less hated character as I continue to watch this show. Even though I hated the first arc, the progression of the actual plotline seemed quite nice, as we get introduced to some well-structured characters. I'd say the show still doesn't deserve to be rated 'Very Good', as the overall story still isn't as strongly structured and well-thought as other highly rated anime of this genre. Nevertheless, the characters ... do deserve more recognition in the end, and I think (as of right now), the show deserves a solid 7/10. I feel as it I was a bit too harsh of this show, considering my non-updated review was pretty much based on only one arc of this anime.

BEFORE UPDATE

I feel betrayed by this anime. I truly feel heartbroken. Up until episode 4, I'd say this is a 9/10. After watching episode 4, the anime plummets down to a 4/10 for me, and then rises to a 5-6/10 after episode 5. However, the story is a total mess. It's like the creator of this had no idea about how to make the story move forward, and simply makes the characters become friends again. I don't understand why Amatsuyu Kisaragi would want to be friends with Ooga again.

Ooga's character disgusts me so much that I have no idea how on earth Amatsuyu Kisaragi considers to become friends with this c*nt again. Nevertheless, Amatsuyu Kisaragi is no better. He is such an *sshole to Sumireko Sanshokuin for no reason whatsoever, and this irritates me so much as the hate from him towards Sumireko Sanshokuin is undeserved af (and obviously, just to let you know, Sumireko Sanshokuin is by far best girl in this show).

The overall character cast is so brain-dead that watching this show gives me depression, but then the OP and ED cure it. The OP is so good it has to be in the top 5 OP of this season, and the ED is pretty good too. They are just full of charisma and they motivate me to look forward to every new episode of this show. I hope the overall story improves throughout this show, as right now I'm not sure if a story even exists. The only thing that saves this show for me is obviously Sumireko Sanshokuin aka best girl, as she is the only reasonably intelligent character in this show.

Finally, a fun and entertaining parody of cliche harem shows that subverts the tropes with levelheaded protagonist... yeah, for about 3 episodes.

Slight spoilers might follow, but not that the story is anything worthwhile.

OreSuki runs out of steam very quickly and became it's own villain - a cliche harem romcom. The protagonis,t with the character design of generic hentai mc, turns into unsympathetic spineless coward that does everything in his power to maintain the status quo and prevent any significant plot progression. His main motivation also turns out to be correlated to being too fixated on his male friend. A friend that also turns to be ... a douchebag and basically tries to attempt to rape a girl. The protagonist witnesses it. The protagonist doesn't care. Neither does the series. Everyone act like this doesn't happen and the series continues to make a best-bro moments with those two scumbags. Have I also mentioned that the mc shows more interest in the quiet/creepy girl only after he finds out that she has some really huge tits? Yeah.

Likewise, the female supporting cast gradually turns into members of "this isn't actually a harem but it is actually harem". The jokes in the first part of the series being that the girls are not actually into the protagonist turns into the girls in fact clinging to the protagonists.

As most of the characters are reduced to a single-trope bearers with no depth, the show tries to save this using the method of introducing more characters. Too bad that each new character is more annoying than the previous ones and this unsurprisingly does more damage than it mends.

The comedy itself is stale and you could reduce in into three or so kinds of jokes. Then, as the last dich effort to make OreSuki interesting the final part forces some shallow drama with wannabe deep characterizations of some yet another new characters or whatever that was supposed to be.

The good parts are the opening and especially ending which are surprisingly catchy. Unfortunately they are the most entertaining parts of some of the episodes.

Ultimately, this is just another generic show that tried to be different but failed miserably.

If I could describe mindful self-indulgence gone awry as succinctly as possible, this would be it.

Oresuki is a show that genuinely blew me away the first three episodes which encompass the first arc. Only to then tarnish that good will for the next seven episodes, only to then at the last minute change course back to what the point of the initial arc was.

What was that goal you say? To subvert with Harem RomCom genre with a Konosuba attitude, adding some sprinkles of Death Note here and there. Or maybe to deconstruct? I'm not a huge fan of the term but it encompasses what the ... show was trying to do just as well. Let's describe how it goes about its goal.

Joro is a boy who is seemingly the insufferable good willed harem protagonist we are oh so used to. Only to then halfway through the first episode have the rug thrown out from under us and are exposed to his true personality. Joro it turns out, is a what the internet deems as a NiceGuyTM. He is nice to his childhood friend and the student council president with which he works closely, with the ultimate goal in mind to date them. And when it turns out that the girls are using Joro's attraction to them to help them get with his Chad best friend on the baseball team; Joro's goal for the next few episodes is to try to help both of them in which one will win and he will inevitably get second picks at whoever's left.

This is a great set up, Joro it turns out, is an absolutely insufferable d-bag. Rude, Narcissistic, selfish, weak, manipulative, and insecure. Very similar to a well known isekai protagonist doesn't it?

We follow him through another episode in which he tries to help his friends, in the mean time hanging out with this ugly girl named Pansy duing lunch who is his stalker. Remember this, the woman actively commits a crime, openly so in fact. The reason she does this is because she is in love with the main character. Blackmailing him bear in mind but we will come back to her later.

Eventually Joro's true nature as a bastard is revealed, his friends abandon him, and his reputation is tarnished all across the school. It becomes so bad this kid is shown to be bullied for an entire week.

Next week it is revealed that Joro's best friend Sun-chan was manipulating everyone the entire time because of a time when he liked a girl who asked him to help her get with Joro, despite Sun-chan telling her of Joro's terrible personality which he obviously knew about even though Joro pretended to hide it. And even though he acted oblivious, of course Sun-chan knew that the two girls liked him, how could he not? They made it extremely obvious, he just decided to use it to his advantage.

Joro is secretly listening in during this conversation in which he eventually confronts Sun-chan using his douchey personality. Thereby being in the gratitude of Pansy who reveals herself to be a hot girl in disguise! And it turns out the bullying thing was an elaborate bit by Pansy to expose Joro's terrible friends who manipulated him! Look at all these ruses!

In all honesty it was pretty cool to watch the plan come together and for Pansy to deconstruct the plans of Sun-chan. Honestly at this point I was ready to give the show a seven, but then the rest of the show happens.

What I just summarized was the best part of the entire show, the rest is never as good as this. Remember when I said Pansy was kind of a bad person? She is never punished for this besides not getting to be with the MC right away, in fact she's even absolved to a degree. Eventually the other girls in the initial arc and others encountered later come to like the main character as well. And while he initially makes it a goal to have a harem, he very quickly abandons it two episodes later.

And while there is substance that's worth diving into, the actual content of most of the show is still a standard harem or just poorly executed attempts at being interesting. The Monogatari series allows you to indulge in the personalities of the girls while also trying to convey a complex narrative with indepth characterization; Konosuba similarly if maybe having a slightly less complicated cast of characters, Oresuki just doesn't have that.

You can have your cake but cannot eat it, or maybe more accurately you have the cake but it's super dry and the frosting is sub par at best. The cake itself was trying to be a big wedding cake, which the baker unfortunately didn't have the talent to execute.

The show is funny sometimes, not every joke lands but the show had enough going for it originally that it didn't matter. Same goes for the visuals that never look garbage per se but certainly never look good.

I don't entirely regret the experience but I was way too close to doing so. I contemplated dropping around episode eight or nine, but I stuck with it and was graced with a few episodes that were tolerable. Ultimately I would only recommend Oresuki to those who really like the harem genre, if you do not then you will inevitably be disappointed with the lack of humorous cynicism later on in the show and eventually get bored as I saw happen to a number of people watching weekly.

To those outside that niche crowd, I would give the show a pass.

Are you tired of the same old isekai trash that has been ass produced every season? Are you sick of watching shitty romcom anime that has zero plot and focuses only on ecchi and harem? Are you craving for a romcom anime that has a good romance plot and comedy ? Well I have been feeling those emotions and have been craving for a ‘decent’ romcom anime. But those feelings disappeared when I came across the anime “ORESUKI Are you the only one who loves me?”.This anime caught my attention due to the description of its plot and the similarity of the main heroine’s face ... to a certain doujinshi. When I watched the first episode I thought this anime was going to be another generic shit-shat romcom stuff again but it turns out to be fairly good not only for its characters but also for its comedy.


Story-
Well to sum up , I find the story of oresuki to be good.To give an overall view,the story basically comprises of drama and comedy mesh together in one whole lump.The romance is in the anime but progresses in a slower pace which allows character development for most of the characters.The anime has many light-hearted moments but definitely has many dramatic scenes.I felt that the dramatic scenes were quite boring and really lackluster.If you are looking for a romcom that has more romance and less drama then this anime really isn’t for you.Furthermore,as the story progresses , the anime also slowly becomes a borderline harem. Though the story was a bit dull as it has many drama content, the comedy in this anime is really good. I believed the comedy in this anime is the redeeming feature in its subpar storyline.

Character-
The characters for this anime is actually pretty good.This anime has the usual set of characters for a romcom anime such as the good looking best friend , the childhood friend , the pretty senpai , the tsundere girl in your class and etc.The side characters all have the usual trait in basic romcom anime with a little bit of difference in it but they were enjoyable in the show.The main character and main heroine is what stands out the most in this anime .The main character was a likable mc due to its hidden twisted personality which stands out in the anime compared to the other generic romcom main characters who is oblivious to their surroundings.Although the mc has moments where is oblivious to his surroundings in the anime, he was still very much enjoyable.The main heroine is also quite an unique main heroine.She is portrayed as the ‘most uninteresting and unattractive’ female in the story but in actuality is the opposite of all those traits.She is also very smart and observant in the anime which in overall,her character and her traits feels like a breath of fresh air for a romcom anime main heroine.

Animation-
The animation is borderline good in the anime.There are many scenes which are well done but overall the animation is ok.The animation is not in the very good category nor in the very bad category.Therefore, there isn’t really any praise for it nor any criticism for its animation.

Music-
The opening and ending were quite good and I enjoy it .

Enjoyment-
The anime was enjoyable as it has many funny scenes and jokes in it.I enjoyed this anime as the romance in it wasn’t force and was just right but the high amount of drama in it was boring for me.overall, I was able to watch it weekly thanks to the comedy in it.

Overall -
I think oresuki is good for a romcom anime as it has a decent plot filled with romance and a really solid comedy in it.The character development is also good in the anime.Even though the anime has quite a lot of drama in it , the comedy and its characters were able to carry the show.Therefore, the anime is fairly good but does not really stand out much for me but it definitely should be watch if you are looking for a ‘decent’ romcom anime.

story: 10/10

the story is great and maybe one of the best anime with the concept of anti-mainstream romcom XD, well even though it's only adapted from a novel and not from a manga

Art: 10/10

the heroin character is good especially when the pansies change from the dotted to the original mode, they are beautiful

Sound: 9/10

... Op & ed is pretty good, for my voices I'm more happy jorou especially when he says he wants to plan something really funny

Enjoyment: 10/10

even though it was only episode 4 I was very entertained by the romcom story of the two friends of Jorou to win Sun Chan's heart

overall: 9.5 / 10

for this anime rating is good and may be the best anime romcom fall 2019

Well, this was pretty boring and hypocritical show.

This show started with a pretty unique idea and a couple of episodes later, it threw it trough the window.

The show despite starting like if the MC were the harem main character's best friend, he ends up being the MC of a harem show... and the only girl that seemed to pay attention to him was "an ugly (that wasn't that ugly to begin with) bitch with an ugly personality". But like I said, a couple of episode later, the bitch ends up being hot af (wow, like if I didn't see that coming) and actually, she ... isn't a bitch, she is dere AF... oh, and all the girls that were into the other guy ends up falling in love with the MC from one day to another... but don't worry, this time is true love. Oh, also some random gurls fall in love with the MC too, just in case you were worried about the Harem being too small.

The main character despite acting like a Kazuma on discount, it ends up acting like a generic harem MC with no personality. The MC tries to think like an asshole, but he always ends up being the nice generic beta harem mc guy. His "mean side" ends up being a product of his imagination and never gets reflected in any of his actions.

Also, "ALL" the characters were bland AF and they never seemed to have anything else besides what they are showing... and even if they had, the show tells you right away that there is something behind that is obvious af.

Overrall, this is your generic haremshow that tries to act like it isn't, thing that actually makes it worse than a generic harem show. Fake as the friendship between the main cast. It is a watchable show, but it's been a while since I got so disappointed about a show.

The art and animation was pretty nice tho, these are the best things about the show.

Oresuki is an obvious deconstruction of the romance / harem anime genre. It expects that you have watched many romance anime already and know all the tropes present therein. Initially, everything is familiar: the bland MC, the childhood friend, the MC's athletic best friend, a beautiful love interest. However, Oresuki proceeds from there to try and defy your expectations while still playing it relatively straight. All is not as it seems, and there will be several developments coming up that reveal the writer isn't so much going after romantic drama; rather it's about the comedy, the situations, and a recognition of ... how teenagers actually ARE rather than how they are portrayed in romcoms. Like one of the characters Sumireko, Oresuki the anime is a hidden gem that requires you to relax your skeptical self for a long enough to enjoy the HUMOR, the SATIRE, and the INSIGHT on display. I realize you've been trained in Pavlovian fashion to react a certain way to the archetypes common to romcoms, but just suspend that long enough to engage your brain, please.

Our protagonist Kisaragi looks like he's supposed to: he's drawn so we know he's not particularly handsome, athletic, or gifted academically. He's supposed to be plain and easy for a viewer experience vicariously through. And yet, if you're anything like me, we should hardly be pleased to relate to such a bland character. Zero personality? No traits that stand out? Who would want to hold such a person up as their ideal? If a woman did fall for us, we should be ashamed on her behalf or concerned for her sanity. But it's not very long into the first episode that it's revealed Kisaragi is actually quite conniving, fully aware of the situation he's in, and anything but the "dense" MC that so often appears in anime romcom. He knows full well that in this situation, the childhood friend and the student council president (two of three female leads in this show) SHOULD have feelings for him if they all lived in a harem romcom world and he need only play the nice guy before they reveal this.

At this point, it's no spoiler to tell you it doesn't go this way. And while some reviewers here on MAL are really unhappy with this apparently, it's actually more realistic the way it goes down. Think about it. When you were in high school, did the hot girls go after the dorks with zero personality, humor, charm, or intelligence? If they did at your school, then great, you lived in some strange Twilight Zone. At my school they either went for the athletic ones or the smart ones (or after people who were both). Suggesting otherwise is simply a denial of reality. It's hilarious how the protagonist starts to develop a trauma surrounding park benches because these two "confessions" don't play out the way he would like. Bad personality? I would say that Oresuki dares to say that other romcoms are the unrealistic ones, where a bland MC is able to take any level of abuse or mistreatment without resentment. I'm sorry, I LAUGHED when he called his childhood friend a bitch for USING him to get close to his childhood friend. She was a bitch, but you have to be patient and let HER character develop as well before passing judgment on either of them. Because character development is an important part of any story, don't you know?

Speaking of character development, it's interesting how angry some of these reviewers are about the best friend, Taiyou. He resents the protagonist because a girl in middle school liked Kisaragi instead of him. Hello?! That's about as realistic a plot development as it gets. I believe the emotion is called "jealousy". The thing is, Taiyou is not just about jealousy and crappy guy personality. He also has genuine feelings of friendship for Kiseragi. Why do you think he feels so strongly about things? In my experience, people feel hatred and jealousy most towards people they have some kind of feelings for, otherwise they wouldn't bother. And the show has a few things to say about forgiveness, redemption, and the nature of friendship. Keep watching, keep an open mind, and you might come to see Taiyou in a new light.

And then of course we have Sumireko. She's obviously a bishoujo in disguise. The thing is, we're SUPPOSED to recognize her trope immediately. The author is not thinking "Oh, this girl who is creepy and wears glasses is actually a beauty! Genius." No, clearly the author is relying on you to have seen plenty of other romcoms where this was part of the main plot. Instead, Sumireko is supposed turn this stereotype on its head. Sure, she's beautiful but the main point is that she represents perception and insight. Nearly everybody in high school is putting up some kind of front. They don't believe their true, essential self is worth loving so they do all sorts of things to compensate: put up walls, makup, do sports, put on false airs, adopt false bravado, pretend to like things they really don't, you name it. Sumireko is supposed to represent the ability to cut through all of that crap and see the essentials, see into what matters. You poor MAL reviewers who didn't like her, go back and examine why. Was it because you are afraid of someone seeing you for who YOU really are? Suggesting that she's unrealistic is just completely besides the point. Whether someone like Sumireko actually exists or not in reality (she does, by the way--I have met several people who have at least her level of insight) has no bearing on what the author is trying to say. Instead, the author is trying to ask questions about societal expectations, quality, and the nature of youthful love THROUGH Sumireko.

I can tell I'm getting long winded so I better get back to the point. While writing this I kept thinking, "Well, I don't have any right to tell anyone what they should like, right?" But then I considered, why are you reading reviews on MAL? It's because you want to know if anime like Oresuki is worth watching, right? It is. Don't let the score-of-one (1?!) reviews fool you. It's worth a watch not only because it's intelligent, but also because it's FUNNY. If you take yourself too seriously or are really, really insecure, you might not be amused. Why are some reviewers trying to talk about realism in a romantic comedy? So few of them depict realistic situations. Turn off your insecurity, turn off your desire to criticize, and you might be able to sit back and enjoy the brilliance of Oresuki.

OK, yeah, Oresuki does have some bad writing in it, but it's hard to find an anime without ANY bad ideas. For the most part, it's very funny and entertaining. I don't actually think it's worth a 9, I'm just trying to balance out the ridiculous one point scores assigned here.