Make Heroine ga Oosugiru!

Despite not understanding much about fleeting teen romance, first-year high school student Kazuhiko Nukumizu still wonders how he would react if his life were to be turned into a love story. Regardless, as a self-proclaimed "background character," Nukumizu is satisfied continuing his life as an introvert with a negligible social life. However, he suddenly finds himself too close to the spotlight when he witnesses his popular classmate Anna Yanami be rejected by her childhood friend in the middle of a family restaurant.

While Nukumizu wishes he could just forget what he saw and move on, Anna ends up forcefully confiding herself in Nukumizu, lamenting her status as a childhood friend fated to have her beloved stolen. As he becomes dragged into Anna's situation, Nukumizu soon gets caught up in the relationship drama of two more girls: Lemon Yakishio, an outgoing member of the track and field club; and Chika Komari, a shy member of the literature club. Now thrust out of his comfort zone, Nukumizu finds himself a major character in the lives of too many losing heroines.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yanami, Anna Main

Tono, Hikaru Japanese

Komari, Chika Main

Terasawa, Momoka Japanese

Yakishio, Lemon Main

Wakayama, Shion Japanese

Nukumizu, Kazuhiko Main

Umeda, Shuuichirou Japanese

Basori, Tiara Supporting

Morohoshi, Sumire Japanese

Nukumizu, Kaju Supporting

Tanaka, Minami Japanese

Shikiya, Yumeko Supporting

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Konuki, Sayo Supporting

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Amanatsu, Konami Supporting

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Himemiya, Karen Supporting

Waki, Azumi Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Nagamine, Rieko Producer

Jinguuji, Manabu Producer

Kikuchi, Yuuichirou Producer

Reviews

Jan 27, 2026

Teramol

Recommended

While not the most creative premise of all time, Makeine certainly is still a breath of fresh air in the world of romcoms where the focus is as the name implies; the losing heroines. Instead of having a story about slowly developing relationships that end up blooming, we immediately start with cold hard rejections. Forget the winners, it's all (mostly) losers here!

Nukumizu as the main character is a good fit for the story. He hasn't been rejected but he certainly lacks experience in romance regardless. But the biggest strength of his character is that he is a good listener and thus he becomes the perfect ... therapist for our losing heroines.

Speaking of the heroines, the trio is a charming bunch that could easily end up as winners in other stories. Anna is a confident glutton who values herself highly and is quite teasing. Lemon is the spunky tanned tomboy and also popular among other students. Finally, Komari is the opposite. Unpopular, introverted, socially awkward and makes funny noises. The girls behave very differently but in the end they are all just young, heartbroken girls who grieve like any other.

I'm not gonna really comment too much about the other side characters but I still have to give a shoutout to Kaju, the MC's little sister. She was quite possibly my favorite character in the show and if there is a best little sister award anywhere, she should win that.

I'm unfortunately someone who doesn't find most anime comedy funny but I did find myself chucking at some of the gags and jokes, especially the recurring ones. The drama was also appropriate. Not overly melodramatic or dark in tone, but realistic and emotional. The vulnerable moments were the standout scenes. And luckily, the comedy and drama never ruined each other with timing, which has been known to be a problem in some other shows.

I can't believe I wrote this much without mentioning the visuals yet so let's talk about those. This show is very good looking. Like way better looking than it has any right to be. Not just the consistently detailed art style and backgrounds but even the animation is lively despite being a show that doesn't require a lot of motion in the first place. Romcoms from now on can only dream of aesthetic quality like this.

Besides the comedy being a bit of a miss for me, I had a couple of other issues. It's very heavy in LN tropes. While it does try to be very self aware of them, it still didn't make it much better. Another thing is that while I do like the premise, at the same time it means we will be lacking in bigger payoff moments that are usually the parts to look forward to in romance focused anime.

Makeine was a pleasant watch. It didn't blow up my world but it was a good addition to my small list of romcoms.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 24, 2025

Mifzaal

Mixed Feelings

Definitely not my cup of tea. This high school drama stuff seems pretty real but I wasn't able to connect well since I had no such encounters or environment.
Idk but the show was pretty average in my opinion. Yeah there were many enjoyable moments and the story does justice to every character(heroine), however I felt like the show was trying too hard to be more emotional which was quite boring for me. Personally I wasn't able to connect with the characters very well which made the show a bit boring . The story is completely based on the move on of the characters and acceptance ... of the harsh truth, which is completely different from what we generally get to see in this genre;The premise was fresh but it just didn't work for me. I won't be surprised to see more positive reviews of this anime as I belive this isn't for everyone,the people who relate to such situations may enjoy the show more than usual , while for the general viewers I think it's just doesn't hit the spot.
Personally I rarely felt any emotional impact from any of the character conclusions because I believe that we didn't get to explore the onesided love of the heroine enough to connect with them and feel bad for them. Thus we can say that the story presents with only the reconciliation of the Heroines by our MC which was not anything impressive.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 22, 2025

Two0ld4this

Not Recommended

This show was advertised as a romance anime "without the drama", but after the first few episodes, you realize that there's nothing BUT drama! The high rating here (around 8 at the time of writing) is definitely not deserved. The animation is very smooth and bouncy, and I believe this is the main reason it has such a high rating. However, the writing is terrible. Everything feels forced: the jokes, the drama, the cuteness, the romance... None of this flows naturally; it's not paced well. It's shoved into your face, especially the dramatic parts. While the show did get a couple of laughs from me ... here and there, most jokes just fell flat. The main female character is annoying, has little chemistry with the male MC, is the butt of a recurring joke that is not the least bit amusing (the food), and so to make up for all of this, they have to 'up' the cuteness factor with the animation. Of course, this doesn't work. As for the male MC, I still don't know what makes him unique or memorable. You've seen his type in countless other animes, and this one is just a blend of the usual loner-turned-social that just wants to 'help'. At the beginning, we are led to believe that the story will be a romance involving him and the female MC. But then a third of the way into the story, we have a bait and switch, and we focus heavily on other characters, leaving the romance behind, not to be touched on again until the very end. Speaking of which, the struggle to finish the last episode was real. I was checking the remaining minutes every so often. The tone of the last episode is so drastically different from the next-to-last one: from overly dramatic to chirpy and relaxed. It's jarring and off-putting, even more so when you realize that the writers tried to force the romance back again in the very last minutes. Do not waste your time on this one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	What do you like about this show? mal_user_2022 - Apr 9, 2025	46 replies	by mal_user_2022 »» Feb 1, 10:53 AM
	Poll: Make Heroine ga Oosugiru! Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jul 13, 2024	234 replies	by Caelum_Est_Finis »» Jan 19, 4:17 AM
	Poll: Make Heroine ga Oosugiru! Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Sep 28, 2024	286 replies	by woodyotaku »» Jan 10, 6:54 AM
	Poll: Make Heroine ga Oosugiru! Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Sep 21, 2024	230 replies	by woodyotaku »» Jan 10, 5:51 AM
	Poll: Make Heroine ga Oosugiru! Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Sep 14, 2024	120 replies	by woodyotaku »» Jan 9, 6:59 PM