Aharen-san wa Hakarenai

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is Komi-san wa Comyushou desu if it wasn’t trying, and even that show only really tries for a single episode. It’s a school-life gag comedy where every character is a joke, and none of them are funny. Every character is introduced and you unenthusiastically realize, “oh…there’s a punch line coming here, isn’t there?” And then it comes and you go, “oh…I guess that was it?” And the answer is always yes, and it always makes you roll your eyes or simply yawn. Komi-san wa Comyushou desu has a thematic core in the idea that appearances can be deceiving, and despite what you ... may think about someone based on their looks, their social status, and the assumptions which you may be lead to make about them based on those things, everyone has problems, and you’re never alone in your feelings of anxiety and self-doubt. It has a cast of gimmicky characters, but each one—whether you find them funny or not—is thematically relevant because they each display an archetype which they later proceed to subvert, thus reinforcing the idea that much like Komi, the stunning beauty who everyone admires yet who has paradoxically no self-confidence and no friends, everyone is a book whom you cannot judge by the cover. This show, however, is about nothing, and no matter how many scenes of forced sentimentality and piano music it throws in to try and trick you into thinking it’s about something emotionally worthwhile or any of its characters are growing or changing, this is not and is never the case. Actually, that last bit isn’t true. The characters do grow and change, but only after the entire show undergoes a dramatic yet ultimately underwhelming evolution and becomes something totally different than it was at the start.

For the first major chunk of the show, everything I just said is true, and it feels like an uninterrupted stream of Vines, or Snapchats, or TikToks, or whatever dystopian Chinese social media network you people use nowadays. Everything that happens just feels like an attempt at generating stale memes. Aharen is just another #smol anime girl for people to farm terabytes of reaction images out of, and Raido, the MC, is just another expressionless meme boy. It just feels so condescending to me, because not only does it come across as an insult to my intelligence, but it also comes across as actively standing in for basic elements of the production. This show is mostly boring and ugly, and while that’s nothing new with modern seasonal anime, at least others will market themselves with more benign shit like fanservice or waifubait, not this embarrassing meme garbage. From the atrocious CG classmates to your usual dogshit backgrounds and hideous colors, this show suffers form everything modern anime are constantly accused of suffering from, and its clunky production eats into the script as well, because nothing makes a bad joke land even worse than being accompanied by the single most obnoxious “funny music” you’ve ever heard. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hit that perfect Nichijou-style sweet spot every once in a while, where the sheer suddenness and absurdity of the physical comedy actually catches you pleasantly by surprise, but there’s hardly enough of these moments to justify enduring the slog.

However, somewhere along the line, things change, and while the change is certainly for the better, it doesn’t save the show, and it just feels annoying in retrospect. For the longest time, the opening theme felt totally inappropriate, because while the show itself was nothing but a lifeless meme factory, the OP felt like something you’d see for a more typical romantic comedy, not so much a gag comedy. It’s all pink and peachy, and it really suggests to you that the main duo are going to become love interests. But then you watch the show and it’s completely dry. There’s no romantic or sexual tension of any kind, and, at least at the time, this was the only thing about the show I actually liked. I mean, just think about how many highschool anime you’ve seen where entire episodes are dedicated to characters blushing and feeling embarrassed about making eye contact or having any physical interaction with the opposite sex. For many of us, there are probably hundreds of examples, so seeing Aharen and Raido conduct fucking circus acts all over each other was extremely refreshing. As the show began approaching its final episodes, though, the dryness faded away; characters who were once totally one-note memes began to act more generic and normal; the physical comedy got less overblown and absurdist; and before I knew it, the OP actually started feeling appropriate. There was blushing as early as episode seven, but I didn’t really take that as a change in tone, because not only were they still all over each other at that point (in a way that seemed to invalidate the “I love you, so I’m embarrassed to touch you” angle), but the characters up until that point had been fucking memes, so the idea of the show toning itself down and blossoming into a romance just felt bizarre.

When Aharen kisses Raido out of fucking nowhere in episode ten, I just threw my hands up and said, “But you didn’t earn this?!” It’s not until episode nine when Raido meets Aharen’s sister that anyone actually starts seriously implying any romantic intrigue in a way that’s explicitly disconnected from the jokes, and before you know it you’re watching an uglier, more poorly directed version of Kimi ni Todoke or something. At the end of the day, there are still jokes—comedy still exists in “romantic comedies,” after all—but the tone and attitude the series begins with is completely different than the tone and attitude it ends with, and by far the worst thing about this is that after the evolution occurs, the show is so much better! I mean, it’s just a generic romcom, but it has cute, endearing moments, and if you actually enjoyed the lifeless meme factory episodes and therefore actually liked the characters, then I imagine this change in tone must've been truly cathartic. The one single moment which best encapsulated this experience of fully comprehending and wrapping my head around how the show had changed was during the final episodes when these two characters who, up until this point, had been nameless, faceless, indistinct non-characters that would react to Aharen and Raido’s wackiness every now and then just suddenly became part of the friend group. When the four of them went camping, it really threw me for a loop. I was like, “why are they here?” And yeah. Why WERE they there? When did they all become friends? Whatever the answers to those questions are, they became part of the group, and in episode eleven, just the two of them finally got to have a real conversation in the cafe when Raido walked away and Aharen was passed out on the table, and that scene pissed me off so much.

WHY DID IT TAKE ELEVEN EPISODES FOR THIS TO HAPPEN?! Why did we spend episode after episode after episode after episode doing God damn fucking FORTNITE DANCES and #epic memes when we could’ve been watching a real show with real characters?!?! Please remember, I’m totally overselling this, because it’s like I said earlier. It didn’t become a masterpiece or anything. It just became a generic romcom. BUT AT LEAST THE GENERIC ROMCOM WAS WATCHABLE! Gosh, the frustration makes me want to pull my hair out. I’m sorry, but I cannot recommend this show at all. The later episodes are decent even though Raido remains an absolutely nothing character, but it is not worth watching the first phase of the show to reach that point, because it only improves enough to be mediocre. That scene in the cafe with the two friend characters was such a fucking tragedy, because it’s easily the best dialogue scene in the entire show. Raido got up to go take a shit or something, and then it cut to just the two of them sat next to each other in the booth, and that alone was enough to throw me off, because the guy turned his head and looked at the girl to speak to her directly. Understand what I’m saying here. These two have been nothing but cardboard reaction faces the whole show. Pretty much every shot of them is just their faces looking off screen, commenting on what Raido and Aharen are doing. But this time he finally looked at her as if she was real, and he spoke as if he was real. They conversed, we learn they were childhood friends, he teases her a bit, and it was cute. Before I could even get mad about having been robbed of this for so long, I first had to take a step back and realize, eleven episodes in, that I still didn’t even know their names. Indeed, I still don’t.

Thank you for reading.

I started watching the series because the main character looks like Kanna, I keep watching it because of Raidou’s antics, and I ended up witnessing an emotionally relatable ride through the personal growth of two characters that I could not but cheer for. During its 12 episodes, Aharen-san Is Indecipherable delivers an honest yet comical representation of awkward socialization, portraying how the flaws and abnormalities outlines the beauty of human relationships. The strength of its routine, the constant usage of popular references, the coherence of its foundation, the texture of the cognitive distortions, the weight of the self-love messages, each element fuses to create a ... healthy and positive experience that portrays an engaging journey of honest friendship and relatable small conflicts between a charismatic and unforgettable cast

Each episode of the series follows a similar structure, where the viewer assimilates the experiences of Raidou, a socially distant guy whose mission is to connect with someone in High School but overthinks any situation that he is in (Awfully accurate social anxiety btw), and his relationship with Aharen, a timid character that barely expresses herself as she is afraid of being too invasive because of her past experiences. While both are the predominant figures of the series, the anime also tends to switch from Raidou’s perspective to the point of view of different characters that embrace different stages of life or social cliches, like an intensively romantic teacher that gets heated by their relationship, an elementary schoolgirl called Futaba that sees Aharen as her rival, a nervous and awkward childhood friend who stalk Aharen, or apparently standard classmates who portray an ordinary read of their relationship.

The attachment to the structure brings one of the strengths of the anime, the story trusts the premise. Aharen as a character is permanently subject to the perspective of each one of the characters, bringing to life the idea of being truly indecipherable to them. Each perspective forms a new source of relatability, a new layer of human irrationality and incomprehension, delineating a diverse empathetic array of emotions and experiences. The dialogue, the behavior, the gestures, everything comes from observing the real-life extension of each character, portraying both the ugly and the desired, creating awkwardness, comfort, and concern, as it can transgress the own viewer experiences. The siblings act like siblings, the friends act like friends, the kids act like kids, Aharen is Aharen, Raidou is Raidou, it is as simple and powerful as that.

The outcome of this trust to the premise and the attachment to reality is an experience that has a unique sense of life and personality, a journey through the connection between Aharen and Raidou, where each perspective represents a clear and engaging identity, where the viewer is allowed to do interpretations about the relationships, reflect on the characters decisions and its roots, and even develop a better understanding of themselves. The anime delivers a human mystery that is carefully revealed as the story progresses, it allows surprising turns and healthy inferences, it delivers a human voice that is not trying to escape or excuse the flaws of each character but search the beauty on their core. The beauty of insecurity, the courage of a first step, the love of a let it go.

However, the main strength from the anime is how it portrays everything through comedy. One of the potential criticisms that could arise from this anime is that the gags are repetitive, as they follow a transparent pattern for each character. The wrongness of such idea is that it abstracts the details, as the formats are nothing but simple templates that allows the generation of a diverse set of jokes (Like any other comedy, by the way). Indeed, while the patterns are prevalent, the reiteration of them should not be an issue at all, because the comedic blueprints are constantly evolving for the purpose of surprising the viewer with a new form. The comedy never overstays its welcome, it is always striving for new elements that could bring diversity.


The main example of such evolution is Raidou’s overthinking. The overthinking normally follows the “Raidou see thing -> Raidou overthinks that thing -> Reality is disappointing” flow, but the content and the punchline of each inference vary enough to keep it completely fresh, creating a memorable gag that by just existing delivers something, be it frustration, be it amusement, be it tension.

How does the overthinking vary? The overthinking variations come from changing the placement of the joke itself. Sometimes the punch is the thought itself, a conclusion completely derailed from reality that just lead to believe that Raidou should seek a psychiatrist, sometimes the punch is the outcome of a delusion, the reaction of Raidou to the impending reality disappointment, sometimes the punch is a reference, how Raidou use popular fiction to parallelize his fantasies or create a social commentary on credit for apparently no reason, or sometimes the gag is not even a joke, it is just a honest representation of how Raidou cares about Aharen and his friends. The gag itself creates expectations, can Raidou be correct once? How wrong is Raidou in this one?

The diversity and similarity allow the comedy to be fantastic, it uses the gags to approach multiple concepts supported by a careful study of the comedic factor of each idea, a fantastic sense of how to build up elements on top of another to create hilarious outcomes and generate iconic gags. How to make a joke about Raidou carrying Aharen funny? Deliver a bunch of frames that represent an absurd extent of Raidou’s extrapolation and put an unexpected moustache on an elderly Aharen. How to make a joke about Raidou being bad at swimming funny? Deliver the most typical technical error of novice swimmers after a juxtaposition to Raidou’s relatable perception of motion. How to make fun of Raidou’s failed youtube channel? Just display a capture of the video statics of Raidou’s past venture to accompany Raidou’s concerns. The anime is overflowing with visual jokes that are both clever and carefully inputted, whether it is to stop a crescendo of absurdity or to play with the expectations of the viewers or illustrate the characters wild imagination. It is smart.

If the anime just had the comedy as its main strength, then it would be an excellent anime, but it goes beyond that. As the series progresses through each one of its gags, the characters quirks coherently evolve into their development, defining their own ambitions and insecurities, elaborating a rich characterization that allows both dramatic and hilarious moments to flow without friction. Raidou’s overthinking develops his genuine caring nature and his own anxieties, Aharen’s supposed indecipherability allows herself to express her insecurities naturally, Ooshiro’s protective anxiety develop into a wonderful read of self-esteem issues, Futaba’s childish perception of love and confrontative attitude develop into a character that you cheer for. The peculiarities of each character progressively evolve into an interesting and unique singular entity, it allows the audience to care for the characters beyond their own comedic personality as they are the same person whether it is light-hearted comedy or a serious matter.

The consequence of this consistency is that it allows piecing together meaningful messages and themes, themes that could be felt shoehorned if it were not because of its excellence on the characterization department. From helping each other to being able to receive help; from embracing with pride the uniqueness of each one to being able to accept the diversity; from the importance to be confident on our own abilities to the importance of being able to express our own sentiments and concerns. Each character is cleverly attached to the messages that it is trying to portray, it creates a natural path to organize romance, comedy, and a meaningful and positive purpose. There is no need to display bland or uninteresting scenes where they explicitly state the purpose of the situation, instead, it delivers weighty ideas with emotional subtlety by adopting its characteristic identity, and it makes you care for it. Engaging entertainment, the show delivers the relaxing and healing atmosphere while portraying impactful ideas.

As it creates meaningful messages and portrays interesting relationships, one of the issues that could emerge from the comedy is a lack of sensibility towards some subject matters. Fantastically enough, that does not happen. A character of this series uses the clothes from his sister, but the series goes out of its way to clarify that it is not an issue and that the joke was just Raidou’s interpretation by adding a cute after credits. Raidou’s get fat, but the joke is not his obesity, it is Aharen’s incapability of telling him that he looks fatter because she was the one who did the overthinking this time. It is sensible and aware of what it is trying to portray, and that is wonderful.

While one can criticize the quality of the adaptation, principally by its extensive usage of jarring CGI or its off-model characters, my argument is, who the fuck cares. The anime perfectly captures elements that some other adaptations with extravagant and bombastic animation just can’t, it captures the mutual care of Raidou and Aharen, the dramatic twists of Raidou overthinking, the enthusiasm of Aharen’s classmates, the awkwardness of the teachers. The comedic aspect works perfectly because the timing is polished, it is one second about to fall off the cliff and being unfunny, which is the downfall of plenty comedy adaptations, but it just performs spectacularly in that regard. The romantic aspect evokes a strong aura and sensibility, obviously attributable to the great characterization, but also to how it gives itself the time to fully capture the tension and importance of the moment, the gestures of the hands, the head movements, the voice pauses, they are just enough to convey the intended idea and capture the viewer.

Could it be better? Of course, but I honestly prefer having an extremely horrendous Pokemon-like battle that captures the point of the joke and develop the FEAR reference instead of having a full-blown action scene that just completely ignore the purpose of the scene and just ends up being praised by redditors and easily impressionable people. Aharen looks Futaba for 3 seconds, tilts her head to look Raidou for 3 seconds, then watches the floor for 3 seconds in dismay, to then get embarrassed by an elementary schoolgirl observation, that tells a fucking lot without any sort of ridiculous paraphernalia, get real people.

Aharen-san is then just a fantastic experience with a lovely and refreshing thematic approach to romance and friendship between flawed and socially awkward characters. The comedy works perfectly if you let yourself flow with it, as there is care of each meaningful detail, and the series follows strong necessity to display the facets of cognitive distortions. The anime doesn’t derail into fantasy and search the beauty on its own cores, and as such, is able to create meaningful relationships with characters that will grow on the viewer over time. It is extremely funny, convey relevant and captivating messages, it is a unique voice, it surprises you, the romance is cute, and it has a golden retriever that retrieve things, what else do you need?

“Even if we ended up in different classes, there are all kind of people. Not just in the school, but in the world. A lot of good people. People you can get to know. I’m sure of it”

This is easily one of the funniest anime I have come across in a while. It is a little funny that I like this so much because I wasn't the biggest fan of the series when I first picked it up. Something about watching this made me realise just how great Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is.

It's a gag comedy about two strange people doing strange things in the most normal way (there are other strange people too). It's hilarious. The number of times this anime can create a scenario for the main two and elevate it into surrealism is seemingly neverending. I do find myself laughing ... at a lot of things, but Aharen-san is a little different, with it being able to make me laugh more than other comedies have made me do so. The contrast between everyday life and just downright nonsense is not to be underestimated. Like, who the hell thinks doing a spider-man in the corner of the classroom is a good idea? But it is funny because no one seems to give one, as well as it being in the array of choices for these two. But wouldn't you know? They are strange people in gag humour. Lol…

I'd imagine people would be *very* quick to point out how this is generic or some "criticism" like that. I'd argue that is not (entirely) the case with Aharen-san. Sure, the usual plots used in episodic anime do find their way to the anime, but it's not like Aharen-san then became devoid of what makes it good in the first place. It just uses its skill to create something with a touch of itself. So even if it did indeed lack plot originality, the quality of this show is simply amazing anyway and it still feels like you are watching Aharen-san wa Hakarenai instead of some rip-off of a 2015 school comedy or whatever.

The main two are something that I like quite a bit too. The relationship doesn't have a bias on one of the two, you know the one, the whole "everyone cares about her more than him" sometimes vice versa, or in other words, one character being more interesting/important than the other. We have Aharen, the one with terrible distance comprehension, and Raidou, the one who overthinks literally anything beyond belief. The chemistry between them just goes through the roof. In addition to making everything, they do way funnier and more enjoyable than the norm. It's a relationship that makes sense, one that you want to see bloom into something more meaningful and more wholesome because these two are simply meant for each other. Who doesn't like sweet stuff like that?

A little on the side characters, whilst the attention isn't focused on them, I did find it that they are respectable people too. For example, Ishikawa and Satou behave like genuine people in this moderately strange world, to the funniest of the lot Toubaru-sensei (bless her) who, well, does the most amazing gags. So hey, there's more to love here.

I don't really have much else to say honestly, I've said everything that needed to be said. The story of this whole thing is just well… everyday life, an absurd one at that. This is easily the best thing in the season of Spring 2022 too, so another good feat to point out if you want to go and watch this. It's nice to see this get a pretty good adaptation too although I guess everyone anticipated this would happen soon with other similar titles getting the anime spotlight.