Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha

5/10
In short:
Good setup ticked all the boxes that is need to be ticked for a decent psyhological romcom, could have been good i feel like if care was put into it. ChatGPT dialogue, weird animation, convoluted and compliacted characters. Story lines start up and go nowhere, bad message story-wise. I mostly watched it because tsundere interactions. Its mostly about a tsundere having stockholm syndrome towards her ex-simp.

In long:
The story's key points can be summarized in the initial episodes where the two main characters, or MCs, first interact. During this time, the girl begins to experience feelings of loneliness and sadness as the boy ... prepares to depart, leaving her to face the world on her own. As their interactions become less frequent, she gradually comes to realize just how significant he was in her life, acknowledging the profound impact he had on it. This early phase of the story stands out as one of its most poignant moments, even though the two MCs only cross paths two or maybe three times within each episode.

However, this touching connection is short-lived, as it quickly takes a different turn during the job arc. Here, the boy encounters two other girls and embarks on the journey of building his, let's say, extensive harem. During this time, he shares no meaningful interactions with the girl from earlier, and she, unfortunately, doesn't take any proactive steps to bridge the gap between them. In fact, the entire summer passes without them crossing paths, which is a significant departure from the essence of a romance anime, where the heart of the story typically revolves around the evolving relationship between two central characters.

This sudden shift in focus, as the boy's attention diverts to other characters, ultimately detracts from the core of the anime, leaving a noticeable absence of the romantic connection that initially drew viewers in.The standout character here is Sajo, the main protagonist. He doesn't fit the mold of the usual nerd or the enigmatic, attractive figure that appeals to every girl. Rather, he comes across as an ordinary guy who most people can identify with in some aspect, barring the fact that he has stalker tendencies, which I'll choose to overlook. As for the remaining characters, they tend to fade into the background, offering little of note and displaying rather unremarkable personalities.

The only reason, i dont go below 5/10 is because the final episode was very very good.

This show really ticked all of my boxes at first. A classic Rom-Com plot about unrequited love with its own twists. A protagonist that isn't denser than a brick and doesn't avoid his feelings. A bit of good writing and, realistically, this could have been another hidden gem in an already stacked Summer 2023 season. Unfortunately though, The Dreaming boy is a Realist tries to be something it isn't, losing its audience early in the prologue. 

While the overall production quality being about average it definitely wasn't unpleasant to watch. The problem all boiled down to lazy directing and screenplay. Most of the dialogue felt incredibly forced with nothing ... of substance being said. After the main point of a conversation is established, the dialogue seems to suddenly shift gears into endless mumble mode. Overall it felt like the director was adding gibberish so the characters had something "profound" to say, ignoring the fact that no real conversation flows like that. This could have been avoided if the characters genuinely had something meaningful to say and if not, decent humor could have done the trick. However, the direction wasn't good on either regard. The comedy doesn't meet the mark and the characters are becoming more and more confusing as the show progresses.

The story and the motivations behind it are also questionable. To summarize, the protagonist is trying to discover what "love" and "care" truly mean to him, but he's going about it in a peculiar way. It has already been shown that his behavior prior to the prologue resembled that of a stalker. None of the characters minded that for some reason, even though it was clearly a problem. Nevertheless, the protagonist eventually distances himself from his crush, realizing his approach was unhealthy and decides to instead admire her from a far.  That by itself is fine; it's the execution that matters. After he does this the main girl suddenly fades out and other girls are introduced. The protagonist now has to solve their problems, which leads to the dialogue problem and the lack of substance that I mentioned. By episode three nothing has happened that validates the significance of "stalking = bad," which is the main theme of the show.

TL;DR - The Dreaming Boy is A Realist is definitely not the tragic romantic comedy it tries to be. It is full of forceful dialogue scenes that have no substance, comedy that doesn't meet the mark, and an over all lack of focus on the shows theme. Despite my rant here, I acknowledge that I'm probably overanalyzing and that the show is pretty lighthearted in nature. If you want to enjoy it, my advice would be turning off your brain first. Personally though I wouldn't recommend it.

Imagine Oregairu with shittier writing and a 10th of the artistic and animation quality. That’s Yumemiru. Whether or not that appeals to you really depends on how much you like the witty/psycho-social analysis style of romcom.

This was truly a difficult one for me to rate because on one hand, I did actually enjoy the show for the most part. It started slow, but picked up after a few episodes and had some genuinely interesting social scenarios in which the MC found himself needing to help other people. But it’s frustrating because it squandered a lot of potential, was poorly paced and focused on some ... characters who ended up not even really mattering in the end.

The show is unapologetically inspired by Oregairu, even the OP is a direct parallel to Oregairu’s OP, literal frame for frame at some points. Wataru does feel like a poor man’s Hachiman and a lot of the archetypes from Oregairu are present in this story. It’s also got the same approach of someone who’s shut himself off from the world gradually opening up and learning about people by helping them with their own problems. Even though I hated Oregairu, I still recognise that it was objectively a very well written story. That same quality isn’t present here. At least, not in the anime.

So, in order to really explain what I mean by some of my criticisms I’ll have to give a very brief summation of the plot. You can read the MAL summary, but I’ll put it in simpler English. Loser essentially begs a girl to go out with him every day for a few months in middle school, gets rejected every time and they eventually settle as friends. They get to high school and he still pursues her but eventually she has a change of heart and starts liking him. Why? Well, your guess is as good as mine after reading that summary and I watched the damn anime. So yea, that’s the type of writing we’re working with here.

It wasn’t all bad though. Surprisingly, the other characters are actually pretty well written. The supporting girls are all better than the main girl, which is typical for me in romance shows, but it’s particularly pronounced in this. Now, I have been told that this isn’t as big a gap in the LN as it is in the anime, but I can only evaluate the show since I haven’t read yet. And in this, I could not for the life of me understand why the MC is into the FMC.

She’s abrasive, rude, self centred and really only shows interest in him when it seems like he stopped liking her. They did try to give us a “boo hoo my life was so sad so that’s why I’m a tsundere asshole” spill with the FMC, but again it just didn’t add up to the type of behaviour that she displays IMO. She just doesn’t get the sort of development she needs to get the audience to care.

Now as I said, the other girls are solid. They range from ok to legit waifu contenders(Shinomiya and Fuuka) I enjoyed seeing the MC help them with various issues they went thru over the course of the show which led to his development as well. That’s actually probably my favourite part of the show. We do see the MC make legitimate strides to better himself and by the end of the show he’s a solid dude. Each problem he solves feels realistic and has a tangible effect on him.

The other main issue I have with the show is the art and animation. The character designs are extremely generic, they’re basically the 2017-2023 anime design starter packs. From what I’ve seen of the LN art they really don’t do these characters any justice. There’s a few moments that are supposed to be somewhat serious that just don’t hit for me because of the lack of expressiveness from the character models. I’m not saying it has to be ufotable, but damn, I should at least be able to sense some sort of emotion coming from the characters.

Despite my criticisms of the series, I did enjoy stretches of it. It starts slow but really picks up once a few side characters are introduced and there’s some really enjoyable moments in this anime. If you can look past the shoddy animation and inconsistent pacing at the start, you’ll find a decent watch with a decently written main character. By the end of the show I was pretty excited for its release on Mondays, so yea, it’s a tricky one. I’d say give it a shot and see how you like it. It has some interesting ideas and I think it has the bones of a decent story.

Yumemiru gets 7 out of 10

Let me start with where this review comes from. I can't stand the "will-they-won't-they" romcoms. What is this anime? Yes, a psuedo "will-they-won't-they" romcom. I also hate tsundere to my guts. Hell, they make my skin crawl. Who is the FMC? Yes, a damn tsundere. What do I hate even more than tsundere? Self-insert simp MCs. Who is the protag here? Yes, exactly, your avarage joe self-insert simp. So, as you can see this anime ticked all the checkboxes which could make any show a candidate for the "my most hated anime of the year" award. Why did I watch this then? Well, this summer ... season was so abysmal, I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel.

Yet, I gave it a 6 and slapped a recommended tag on it. You may think, "it ain't much, but it's honest work", but you are wrong. I mean, most of the time I'm not finishing even the first episode of a romcom anime due to the unbearable second hand embarrassment. Yeah, they are painfully unfunny and cringe. So this 6 is actually a really high score from me.

Damn, finally a tsundere who is handled properly by the MC. Yes, exactly, the correct way of approaching them is to ignore them until they finally wrap their head around what the hell they want. If they didn't? Ohh, well... You didn't lose anything of a value. The cherry on the top is the fact, that our resident annoying tsundere barely had any screen time for a quite a few episode. It was refreshing to see the annoying tsundere moments are kept bare minimum. Sure, we don't really get to know why the MC is head over heels with this "fine" lass. I'm not sure even after the end, but who cares? I don't get most people taste anyway, so it is nothing new to me. Also, there is one more thing which caught me by surprise. There is only a single (or maybe 2) cockblocking scene here. I couldn't belive my eyes.

The animation is subpar though, but honestly I don't really care about how well a sprite resembling a girl is drawn in a romcom. I'm not here to fall in love with 2D girls. I would have been fine with some powerpoint slideshow. Although, some scenes really reminded me of that. Oh wait, I almost forgot... You most likely care about it. Well, it sucks, you are not gonna find the latest and greatest bouncing boob tecnhology here.

Instead, what you get is a genuinely intersting sidecast, simple lifelike problems, and a somewhat self-aware MC who improve on himself (not much though). The dialoges and the story didn't come from a Shakespearean drama, but it gets the job done. No pretentious bs, no excessive melodrama, just simple people with simple issues. Well, I really like the simplicity of this show. If I would have been looking for some complex psychoanalytical lectures I wouldn't have watched a romcom anyway.

At this point you may think, I'm just being sarcastic here. Well yeah, mostly, but I genuinely had a good time with this one. Ultimately though, this is just a crappy bland romcom. You get what you paid for. So basically nothing, but this one is a slightly bigger pile of nothing than the usual.

The Main Character is exactly what Sigma Grindset dudes think looks cool. Well, spoiler alert: He's not cool whatsoever.

Episode 2 especially hammered that in for me. We've got a character who is deeply afraid of men to the point where she's extremely rude and lashes out. Now, that's INTERESTING -- we can probably do something cool with that, right? Make her realize slowly that not all men are like that, or something along those lines? Have her overcome some past traumatic experience, or at least set her on the right path to do that?

NOPE.

MC gets APOLOGIZED to by this traumatized girl -- which likely took ... a lot of strength for her to do, considering y'know, apologizing involves talking to a man, the very thing she's afraid of -- and how does MC respond? He proceeds to talk sh*t about her to the student council president because the apology apparently wasn't good enough for him. He tells the student council president he was DISAPPOINTED because somebody else was in the room when the traumatized girl apologized to him, so therefore the apology isn't good enough. WHAT?

And the president PRAISES HIM for being "observant", and he shrugs and basically says "just who i am after stopping being a simp."

Like, not only is that horrible and not recognizing progress where progress is made, but you're NOT COOL, DUDE. You're being a rude a*shole right now. Why are we praising this? What part of this is cool?

The main romantic interest is tsundere to a fault. Now that the horrible MC isn't pursuing her anymore, she's grumpy and all pouty about it. We could've seen a slow realization about appreciating the MC for who he is (if he was a good person, that is) but no, instead all she wants is his attention.

Horrible representation of women, horribly annoying sigma grindset protag, borderline abusive sibling relationship. Only watch this anime if you want to be annoyed at every possible interaction. People will likely use this anime as an example of how "emotional" and "ridiculous" modern women are, so be prepared for that.

First review (6 episodes)
This show is getting a lot of flack for no reason.

Sure it's not the "OreGairu of this season" that I've seen it referred to, but in terms of casual watching rom-coms, it's pretty decent. There's this guy who's madly in love with a girl for all but 5 minutes before deciding it's a terrible idea and basically following his life. The characters are all enjoyable with none being annoying, it goes at a good enough pace, and nothing cringey.

It has a good senpai, good sister, good friends - all of the classic trope characters are there.

It has a similar ... watch vibe to Angel Next Door and other "low-budget, but comfy" shows.

EDIT: 10-episodes in
It goes off on weird tangents, adds unnecessary bloat in the form of characters that arent pivotal to the story and skips over the main focus. All it needed was this thing with Aika, then add some competition from Shinomiya, ditch the bloat. Changed from recommending to mixed feelings.

This anime is not the same as Oregairu, while Oregairu is my 2nd favorite of all time, I feel these two are distinctly different. Dreaming Boy I feel isn't as grounded in philosophies or clashes there of and is more centered around the interactions of the characters. While that was also a big part of Oregairu and what made it even more amazing, Dreaming Boy just has a bigger emphasis on it and the romance it's trying to portray. The main character is just a dude trying to move on in his life from a romance that he thinks is a dead end because of ... the FMC abrasive personality and lack of social awareness to realize she said no to him one too many times. I also think it should be plenty obvious that she starts liking him because she didn't realize she actually enjoyed her interactions with him until they were gone leaving just normal day to day interactions. Personally I find this dynamic charming, how he moved on and grew as a person from this and doing so by interacting with new characters and thus also leading to the FMC falling for him instead. I think this was a very enjoyable anime and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Looking forward to a season 2.

This is a preliminary review after 3 episodes.

Premise: MC is obsessed with the school goddess to the point of "stalking" her by everyone's (including his own) definition. Goddess continually tells him to leave her alone, which he doesn't. This continues for years. One day MC wakes up and decides to stop, because he's become a "realist" about her being out of his league. From there, the story is a series of reasons why this was a bad thing and a journey towards true love. Harassed goddess girl now seems to miss being harassed but acts in the typical anime trope of the girl who cant ... express feelings (that only manifested once he stopped) and gets angry when he talks to other girls, goddess girls friend keeps trying to get MC to interact with her again, MC is teased by everyone else for now being a normal guy after being a caricature stalker for so long, and the guys sister who spent years telling him the girl was out of his league now feels bad and and says its dumb to give up on love. It's essentially an obsessive otakus wet-dream for justifying their inappropriate treatment of the objects of their affection. "See, they really want it, they're just playing hard to get". I'd say I'm not surprised since this is from Japan after all, where they have a real issue with this behavior and yet need to pander to the demographic most prone to it for sales. It's usually not so blatant though. The one salient point they made, about his behavior alienating her from others and leaving only loneliness in his sudden absence, was squandered by validating the Stockholm syndrome result rather than both of them building meaningful relationships with others. There's still 9 episodes to go, but it feels like the trajectory is set from story flow so far. With the way this is going and fact its billed as a romance, its essentially looking to turn into the anime version of Family Matters where anime Urkel finally wears down his prey after years of obsessive annoyance.

Absent that, the art, animation and soundtrack are decent. However this appears to be an average slice of life anime focused on high schoolers that doesn't really distinguish itself outside of its problematic messaging. I typically enjoy the school slice of life shows, but the nature of this one has me torn on whether to finish it or not since there are plenty of others that fill the same need without the questionable messaging. I'll likely give it a few more episodes before deciding.

EDIT after watching Episode 4. Perhaps the Japanese wasn't as bad, but the subtitles were.
Friend "Maybe hes one of the people you feel you can belong with"
Girl "Huh? Hes not who I belong with. He stalks me and its annoying!"
Friend "Whether it makes you feel comfortable or uncomfortable, doesn't it make you feel happy that there's someone who likes you?"
WHAT?! Yeah No. This is 100% stalker apologist propaganda. I cant do this anymore. Dropped.

While the season isn't over, I've seen enough to give a decently reflective review.

The anime starts strong, with the protagonist chasing his main love interest. After realising how much trouble he gives her. he then learns to take a step back. This allow her breathing room to make new friends, but both of them are still unsatisfied as she's still not aware of her feelings towards our protagonist, and he doesn't allow himself to pursue anything with her.

The season starts to go off into mediocrity after this, with each episode or so introducing a new female character for the main character to befriend and tease ... the viewer about romantic feelings between the two. It doesn't have the guts to go all the way into harem, and instead takes big inspiration from series like Bunny Girl Senpai and Oregairu and tries to bring a human drama element into it. The attempt is very lackluster however as the interactions and the characters themselves are hardly anything to write home about.

The main romance that the series lead with is treated as an afterthought and the show is now a slice of life exploring interactions with random female classmates that aren't cute or interesting enough to keep the viewer's attention.

Slice of life die-hards may enjoy this, but to anyone seeing the first few episodes and description will face buyer's remorse. It's not the show it advertised itself as, and the direction it took was hardly novel, nor well thought out.

Animation quality has gone down but I'm still loving it. Should at least be a 7 not a 6.6. You know how anime fans are though so if it seems like your thing it probably is. It almost like oregairu but if that show was actually a rom com. Story is predictable but it's refreshing enough to make me keep watching. I love the distant guy cliché. Characters are all cliché but thats okay. Overall for the rom com genre I think this is something that could be said to be refreshing but probably would've been better if it was given to a different studio.

behold the bittersweet symphony of anime, where dreams collide with reality, and the line between greatness and mediocrity blurs into obscurity.

Enter Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha, a tale that dances upon the precipice of potential, only to stumble and fall into the abyss of forgettable mediocrity.

The premise, though intriguing in its infancy, suffers under the weight of poor dialogue, stagnant character growth, and an overall lackluster plot—a trifecta of disappointment that leaves one yearning for more.

Picture this: a boy, ensnared by the siren song of unrequited love, embarks upon a journey of self-discovery in the pursuit of realism. His obsession with a girl, once the cornerstone ... of his existence, gives way to newfound friendships and a semblance of maturity. And yet, amidst the tumult of his transformation, the object of his affection remains aloof, her pride a barrier to the confession that lingers unspoken.

A tale as old as time, yet in the hands of Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha, it falls flat, lacking the depth and nuance that elevate a story from mere entertainment to profound reflection.

Oh, how I wish I could sing the praises of this anime, but alas, my dear readers, such accolades elude me. For what is Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha if not a fleeting whisper in the winds of indifference—a relic of forgotten dreams and unrealized potential?

In summation, dear friends, tread lightly upon the path of this anime, for its promises are but whispers carried away by the winds of apathy. Seek solace in the classics of yore, where tales of true resonance await those with the courage to venture forth.

As for Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha, let it fade into the annals of obscurity, a footnote in the grand tapestry of anime—a reminder that even the brightest stars can flicker and fade in the vast expanse of the cosmos.

The Dreaming Boy is a Realist is a hilarious and heartwarming anime that tells the story of Wataru Sajou, a boy who used to stalk his crush Aika Natsukawa, and Aika, who starts to fall for him after he stops his obsessive behavior. The animation is great and the voice acting is excellent, especially by Naoya Miyase and Akiho Suzumoto, who play the main characters. The anime is full of funny situations, adorable expressions, and romantic sparks, as well as some drama and misunderstandings. It is a refreshing and enjoyable anime for fans of the romantic comedy genre, and I recommend it to anyone who ... likes stories about love and friendship. The anime also has a great opening song by Poppin’Party and a catchy ending song by Roselia, two popular bands from the BanG Dream! franchise. The Dreaming Boy is a Realist is an anime that will make you laugh, cry, and smile with its charming characters and sweet plot.

After three epsisodes, pleasantly surprised and impressed by this show. I wasn't expecting much, just another bland romcom. But I was immediately captured by two things:
1) the MC is an ordinary guy. Not an outcast, or weirdo, or self-loathing reject. He has friends. He is able to talk normally to his classmates, both boys and girls, without throwing a nervous fit. They think he is OK. There is nothing "special" about him and that is such a relief. He is considerate. He is willing to help out. He is willing to improve. His strength is in fact that he takes the time to actually talk ... to people, listen to them and think about what they are trying to say.
2) there a are quite a few other characters and they also feel like real people. They talk about real things, and seem like a good approximation of real Japanese teenagers.
The story is that the MC was obsessed with the prettiest girl in his class and became notorious for always chasing her. He has now matured enough to realize that this was poor behaviour on his part. However, she had become used to him being there and isn't certain how to deal with that. It is a fairly basic storyline but really just serves as the framing device for a snapshot of a group of young adults growing up and starting to face emotional maturity.
The dialogue is well written and interesting. The artwork is fairly standard to the point where it can be hard to tell the floppy haired boys apart. I don't expect shocking revelations or drama from this show, just light banter and a growing emotional awareness.

The reason I chose to watch Yumemiru is because Sajo got rejected, and he finally realized that he needed to move on. This kinda resonated with me since just a few months ago I got rejected (by a Japanese girl). I may be a weeb and all, but I felt like I had a chance since she was so nice to me, and we even shared a common passion for music. But oh well, as Hachiman said, "I hate nice girls", they don't do nice things because they like you. OK, OK, back to the review.

Well, I kept my expectations low, and it's as ... I expected. This anime is not really good.

The main problem with this anime is that nothing really interesting happens. The conversations are bland. Sure, there was some meaningful interactions for character development like Ichinose, (the character I like the most), but the flow of the conversations between character wasn't natural. It's like the author is trying to come up with something to say and decides to put a random topic. If the conversations felt natural, maybe this anime would be a lot more interesting, like a slice of life.

Most of the characters have no depth, but that's not required since this is a light show. It's supposed to be enjoyable and maybe even funny, but most of the time I feel no emotions when watching this anime. Many people don't like Aika, but I quite like her. In the manga, we can see some of her thoughts (I read a few chapters), but they are not present in the anime, which may explain why many people don't like her. Still, I like the anime approach of not revealing her thoughts. This sets us on the perspective of Sajo, which gives an uncertainty about the feelings of Aika. We are in the eyes of Sajo, and we don't know if she likes us or not.

Also, the animation was not good, but I don't mind it.

There is a lot that I want to say, but it's better not to overthink it. At last, this is not a deep anime, and one should watch it if he enjoys it. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

5/10

Dreaming Boy is a realist may seem promising based on its colorful cast of characters and interesting premise, but dont't be decieved, this is another romcom that has to go into the trash.
Story: 3/10
This show meekly attempts at creating character drama through uninspiring, substance less, excessively long dialogue, and these after mention drama are resolved in a very underwhelming and predictable manner. The show also tries its best to convey "deep" messages about love and friendship and what not, but this just makes conversations choppy, unnatural and hard to digest. If this show was written by a 7-year old learning about philosophy for the ... first time, this show might be the result. Overall, it is tough to follow the plot progression of this show thanks to the dialogue and the poor story structure does it no favours whatsoever.

I would also like to point out how the main character was literally stalking the female mc for who knows how long, and no one stopped them, even though I daresay everyone knew he was doing it. Later on, the show tries to portray his behavior as creepy, than why did no one stop him in the first place?

Characters: 4/10
The characters are your typical side-cast of romance school anime, the student council president, the other student council president? (who is the head of the dont do wrong shit committee or something), the friend who is trying to push the main duo closer together etc. This tropes could be well executed and create a geninuely fun show, but unfortunately the result are flat characters that are neither funny, quirky or likable.

Music/Art: 6/10
Nothing remarkable, the show is still watchable with the art, nothing wrong or special with its execution.

Enjoyment: 3/10
Watching one episode of this show week after week pains me. Literally nothing of value happens in each episode, drawn out by the audiobook like dialogue (that is less interesting than school itself), making each episode highly forgettable. Instead, what I experience every week is 24 minutes wasted trying to give the show chances to redeem itself. Times like this make me regret my no-drop policy, and I wonder if I could get romance IRL if I stopped wasting time watching this anime.

Overall: 4/10 (bumped up the score thanks to the passable art and music)

After watching the first episode I thought it all sat oddly with me. The conversations and events did not go the way you normally expect them to. It was just kind of weird and off. I was going to chalk it up to bad writing, or inaccurate translation, or poor execution, but thought I should look at the next episode or two and wound up looking at all that have been simulcast on Hidive so far.

What got me thinking to look at it some more was a certain kind of consistency of tone in the personalities and in the things that were being said ... by the characters, that were not "cartoony". I think what we have here is a story that's not giving you all the tropes that you expect of the school life genre comedy, but something more like a real slice-of-lie based dramedy based on someone's life experience--like watching a foreign language movie, not intended for a USA viewer like me.

To defend this position, I'd have to go back and look at everything and dissect all the scenes and analyze the dialogue, and i don't want to do that. I get why this series is being given a lot of negative reviews here. But, I think if you change your frame of reference in how you view this show, you may actually enjoy it more. Pretend you're watching a live action Asian drama instead of a rom-com anime show and it may land better on you.

I'm committed and all in now, so I'll watch it til the end. If it plays out like usual in this genre, you expect the main characters will get together at the end. But to me it's a toss-up given how this has progressed. My prediction is that the MC will truly become a realist, get over his crush, and move on beyond infatuations since he has started to have meaningful platonic relationships with other girls. We'll see.

Can you make someone fall in love, by making them keep remembering you in a positive way? That is the subject this anime focuses on, while refraining from actual stalking.

The anime follows Sajou who has fallen in deep love with Natsukawa, and tries to spend as much time as possible with her. But after a realization of him possibly being more in the way, then an actual help to her. Does he decide to take his distance from her and thereby give her space to blossom without him overshadowing her.

It then follows the two characters, where we see how that decision affects them. Sajou needs ... to find out what he now does with his time and life, while Natsukawa now lives with not having him on her tail and see how that feels. We then see the characters evolve away from each other, while looking back on their relation to each other.

The way the characters develop is subtle and is not shown with big colors, but through small scenes and dialogue. Which makes it a somewhat slow and relaxing watch, with still some funny moments in it.

Overall though is the anime still another high school romcom, with many similarities to other animes. Where the only thing that seems unique is the way they handle the theme of someone suddenly moving out of your life. The animation is not either something big, but does not have any real problems, same goes for the music.

So overall would I recommend it if you like romcoms, but if you are looking for something new and special, would i look elsewhere.

For me, "Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha" is a delightful romantic comedy anime worth watching. The plot stands out by avoiding common clichés often found in anime, making the story genuinely enjoyable. One of its strong points is the main character, who is refreshingly relatable and not burdened by the usual annoyances found in generic romance anime protagonists. He is quite likable and not frustratingly dense like many other typical leads. Additionally, I have a fondness for the well-developed side characters who feel alive and pique my curiosity. Aika, the heroine, is also portrayed excellently; she isn't forced to conform to the perfect waifu archetype but ... remains adorable while retaining her character depth. The voice actress effectively complements her personality.

Despite being a slice-of-life story without a clear overarching goal, I find the plot captivating. Observing Sajo, the main character, as he encounters new people and deals with their problems, along with his interactions with other characters, is akin to reliving high school and becoming a part of the supporting cast. It's one of the best slice-of-life experiences I've truly enjoyed.

I often judge an anime's quality by how frequently I feel the need to skip parts I find dull. The fewer skips I make, the more interesting and engaging I consider the anime. Remarkably, I rarely felt the urge to skip anything in this series, despite its lack of action and adrenaline-pumping moments. This suggests that the pacing and direction of the anime are well-executed, at least from the perspective of an anime-only viewer, even though I can't speak for the light novel source material.

However, there are a few downsides to the anime adaptation. The animation is somewhat generic, with less fluid and dynamic movement. There are many uninspiring angles and static scenes that often detract from the overall experience. What particularly bothers me is the bland visual style, lacking in good composition and occasionally featuring poorly drawn characters with proportion and fundamental issues. The background art could also be improved. The music, while serviceable, fails to capture my attention or enhance the emotional impact of the story. I can't recall any standout moments where the music significantly contributed to the narrative.

If asked whether I'd like to see a second season and if I would watch it, my answer is a resounding yes. However, I do hope for improved animation quality in the future. This anime has been a standout for me, especially since it's the only romance anime I've been following this season (note: I prefer it over "Kanojo, Okarishimasu"). In summary, my ratings would be as follows:

Animation: 5
Music: 5
Direction: 7
Story: 7
Character Development: 7
Enjoyability: 8
Overall: 7 (I'd lean towards 6.5, but I'm adding an extra point due to my personal bias and enjoyment.)

This had SO much potential, but ended up going into so many tangents that it ultimately became boring. The main character becomes involved (not romantically) with a bunch of different girls, that it's almost like THAT'S the actual plot of the anime - him helping out a bunch of random-ass girls to figure things out, see things from a guy's perspective, and/or self-improve. Meanwhile, the actual story we came here for gets put on a hiatus until the last 2 episodes.

I'll give them props for actually having a SOMEWHAT decent ending, because to be honest, I was half-expecting them to completely screw us out of ... that too, given how things were going. If only they had focused more on the actual relationship between the main character and his love interest, this would have been an amazing story, because the art and characters are all top-notch, especially Ashida. If there was a best wingwoman award for anime, she would definitely take the cake this season.

Anyway, while it's not completely terrible, it's got a bunch of episodes where you end up feeling like nothing actually happened, because the thing we actually came here for only ends up progressing towards the very end of the season. So while I personally wouldn't recommend it, I can't really say this is downright horrible. I do feel like it might be worth a watch if you're bored and have some time to kill. That's literally the only reason how I managed to watch it until the end.

Yelp, one of my most anticipated shows of the season, seemingly spat on with some of the worst animation in the history of forever. Nah, it ain't so dramatic...or is it?

Some say that this is the "OreGairu of the season", but honestly, I beg to differ. That said, novelist Okemaru's Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha a.k.a The Dreaming Boy Is a Realist is a fairly known work to some in the know, and if you get the chance to read the LN, it's a really nice work that may sound like the typical cliche rom-com at first, but I promise you that the story changes little ... by little, that it becomes another thing on its own. But, back to the anime, since this is the crux of where the review lies.

The context of a "realist" kind of rom-com coming from the usual "boy stalks girl" scenario of blind love, and this is happening to the couple who is the talk of the town in Koetsu High: Wataru Sajou and Aika Natsukawa. In fact, Sajo is unequivocally the protagonist of the story, front and center, no matter the circumstances surrounding him: from stalking Natsukawa all the way until some flying soccer ball just narrowly whizzes past Sajou's face, and all of a sudden, like someone who narrowly died and saw Heaven within that flash of a glance, Sajo begins to awaken his senses into another being, and finds that passionately chasing after the girl of his dreams suddenly becomes a useless affair which prompts a drastic departure of his attitude. Naturally, what comes around goes around, and the entire school gets the cliche, though this affects the recepitent more than most, with Natsukawa being conflicted on her feelings of why Sajou didn't have the need to chase after her, which she becomes the chaser to understand his line of feelings from an assumption of hate through distancing.

Believe me, this all sounds convoluted at best, but it's still a rom-com at the heart of it, and one that's filled of a messy drama, coupled with characters that you might want to think twice about from your first impressions about them.

First off, I really like Wataru Sajou's character. Though he throws off the initial impression as someone who's really pushy, dedicated and clings tight to Natsukawa, the "wake up to reality" portion is really a life-changing moment for him, seeing the big picture as opposed to the small, intricate details in life, choosing to be a loner than someone who feels lonely (introverts will get this one). And although Sajo doesn't look like the kind of person who strikes off as being off-putting from the get-go, like OreGairu's 8-man Hikigaya, he demonstrates the traits of social acumen, backed by experience, as he goes around his school and helps the people around him to great lengths. The people place like the Student Council, which his sister Kaede is part of as the vice-president, she is a double-edged sword both in school and at home, acting as an elegant girl in school but the heck-care girl at home where she demands her brother to serve him. But above it all, bear in mind that these skills that he picked up later in his growing school years, also affects the people around him to be better. One such instance his Sajou's part-time work at the lowly used bookstore, where he meets the rather mature but middle-school-aged Yuki Sasaki, as well as his rather quiet of a classmate through Mina Ichinose, which as shy as she is being in the same job as him, Sajo took the initative to teach her customer retail skills, while Sasaki acts the part of the customer to give her some real-life skills to overcome her somewhat quiet aloofness. It's the character aspect which makes Yumemiru Danshi the work that it is, and I'm glad that Wataru's character evolves just like 8-man, but in a calmer and collected manner.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have Aika Natsukawa. She is akin to the school idol: a hardworking girl with great results all across the board, cute, friendly and diligent, who doesn't want to be friends with her? And it's when she was being chased by Wataru, hit with the reality never seen before, becomes the chaser as she tries to understand what it means to love romantically. Several times, she comes off as the natural tsundere (because she is one) due that Wataru is always spoiling her with his affection, and most of the time, she is just like any other typical girl who falls in love and has to understand the nonmenclatures of romantic love. It's a good thing then that she has a very close, best friend in the form of the tomboyish Kei Ashida, which the Bible verse of "Friends come and friends go, but a true friend stick by you like family." directly applies to her as being her best support, though like Wataru, she can get clingy at times. Natsukawa has a youngersister, Airi, whom she dotes on and takes care of a lot at home, and that's the sign of a girl whose family-centric yet enjoy the company of her friends quite a lot.

Although both Wataru and Natsukawa play the main roles that bear similarity to 8-man and Yukino Yukinoshita, other supporting characters come into play that develops the sense of thoughtfulness stemming from Sajou himself. Take the Moral Public & Discipline Committee, headed by its president Rin Shinomiya for example: she is quite the Senpai senior character who is respected by everyone, and is stern on her duties and responsiblity to uphold the image of a reliable and confident Senpai, outside from her rather childish side that only certain people will know of when they get to know her deeply. And it's people like Yuyu Inatomi and Ayano Mita who knows her better than most, especially for the latter since she is a rather close friend of Rin that she loves and dotes on a lot, which is reflected by her rather small and short stature that warrants protection.

The characters are the meat of the source in Yumemiru Danshi, and I really cannot appreciate Okemaru's work enough to see this one aspect of the show that's done decently well, all things considered.

The elephant in the room would have to be the overall production of the anime, which is hideous at best. I have seen so many of Studio Gokumi X AXsiZ shows over the years of anime to tell you that this business relationship has for better or for worse, tampered with ever increasingly low expectations due to the fact that this collaboration produced some ingratingly low-quality shows that it feels standard as the years pass. And Yumemiru Danshi feels exactly just that, with rather drab artwork and piss-poor animation, that it's an ugly sight to look at, aside from feeling awkward, ugh. Sure, director Kazuomi Koga may have spent the better of this season directing the other show that is Temple, but it's just sad from a fan's perspective that the anime is and will continue to be bleak from an adaptation standpoint.

Music-wise, Kaori Ishihara's songs just continue to not do it for me, though I guess that her OP song here does a decent job song-wise. But flip the coin, and I really like Aika's VA's song, which tells the story of the girls in the anime, in spite of the competition where Wataru is secretly winning other girls' heart, aside from Aika herself.

Sure, one could've hoped for a better adaptation for Yumemiru Danshi, and as a hardcore fan of the LN, I knew from a technical standpoint that this would be a drab. But while the production lacked flavour, it's boosted by Okemaru's strong character writing, that I can take the lackluster animation for whatever it is and choose to focus on both the story and characters, which tells a thousand words better than the quality we're given here.

Go for the LN instead, neither the manga version nor the anime will ever come close to what the original source material has going for it.