Rec

Rec is a romantic comedy about an aspiring voice actress. The manga was written by Hanamizawa Q-Tarou in 2002 and is still ongoing. In 2006 it got a nine episode anime adaptation. I've never read the manga, but how does a long running series translate into nine twelve minute episodes? Let's take a look at Rec and find out.

The plot is very simple. A guy, Matsumaru, gets stood up for a movie date. As he's about to throw the tickets away he's approached by a girl, Aka, who tells him not to waste them. They go to the movies and then drinking together. After they ... part ways her apartment burns down and she doesn't have any family or friends whatsoever so she ends up moving in with Matsumaru, how very convenient. Actually, convenient is the wrong word, contrived would be more accurate. The series is about her and Matsumaru living together and trying to keep their connection a secret for no adequately explained reason. It's every bit as stupid as it sounds. Does the comedy work? No, there are no funny moments in Rec, not one. Just the contrived romance.

The characters don't help matters. Aka and Matsumaru have no chemistry which makes the romance aspect just seem even more forced. They're also complete morons, as are all of the minor characters. Which makes them just annoying to watch.

The art is the best part of the series. It's pretty well done with some good details. There are some moments where the sound is out of sync with the characters' mouths but that isn't a major issue.

The voice acting isn't bad. It's not anything spectacular or with any stand out performances but it's decent. The actors probably could've done better if they'd had decent dialogue. The music isn't bad but it's not good either. It's pretty forgettable.

The yuri factor is a 1/10. There is no yuri in this.

My final rating for Rec is a 2/10. It's a terrible anime. The decent art and average voice acting can't make up for the terrible story, failed humour or moronic characters.

Audrey Hepburn would turn around in her grave if she knew what work her name was attached to.

Story:
On the surface, Rec leads us to believe that we bear witness to the blooming of a young love and a boy and a girl overcoming the many obstacles in their way to be together. In reality, what we get to see is the formation of an abusive relationship that is presented as the ideal romance. I’m at loss for words how disgusting this is. Apparently, the author is either an utterly broken victim of this in real life, or (more likely) a terrible human being that you ... should stay as far away from as possible. In their sick, twisted mind, it is heartwarming to guilt-trip somebody into a relationship and take advantage of a helpless individual. This is wrong on so many levels, that I would like to erase it from my memory, or better yet, from existence. Do you think I’m joking? Take a closer look, it’s not hard to see. Aka has no reason to like Matsumaru, but she feels indebted to him, that’s why she swallows all the abuse. That’s a topic for the character sector, all I can say about the story is, there is no romance, just one guy wanting pussy and a girl in dire straits. The fact that Rec pretends to be a romance is ludicrous.
1/10

Art:
This anime looks okay, but there is absolutely nothing special about it. Character design is okay, backgrounds are okay, animation is okay, it’s just a huge pile of okay. That’s acceptable for a "romantic comedy", which is supposed to score with other qualities. Yeah, that’s not much of a statement, but there really aren’t any strong or weak points to go into deeper detail about.
6/10

Sound:
The music (including opening and ending song) are okay. Yeah, I know, but they just don’t give me anything to work with. The voice acting is a bit disappointing. I don’t doubt that Kanako Sakai is capable of a good performance, but if you voice a voice actress, aren’t you supposed to show off your abilities? Judging from her very small number of roles listed on MAL, I may not be the only one who thinks she’s rather meh in an ocean of great. The rest of the bunch does a decent job, but they don’t have any big challenges to master.
5/10

Characters:
There is not a single likeable person in this cast. Matsumaru, the male lead is a despicable piece of shit, who keeps trying to take advantage of Aka all the time. Even worse, he somehow manages to twist the truth around to make her feel guilty about something that HE did. First he date-rapes her (I admit, this is debatable, but looking at how these two behave later on, I’d say the evidence is obvious), then he repeatedly tries to guilt her into sex by giving her shelter after her house burned down. When that fails, he terrorizes her with their work project, making her afraid of somebody finding out and being labeled as nepotist whore. After still not getting more pussy, he makes her feel responsible for his own failures at work and when he has her down to the point where she even apologizes for it, he literally tells her to fuck off. And to top it all off, after he managed to completely break her, he doesn’t ask her to be his girlfriend, no, he DEMANDS her to be his girlfriend. And don’t even get me started on when he tried to get himself another chick, that was a completely different kind of low that I don’t even want to speak about.
So, does nobody help this poor girl out? How about her agent? Nope, her manager tells her to dub porn or her career is over. None of the side characters is of any help in any way, nor do they add much to the show as a whole.
1/10

Enjoyment:
I hate this anime, it makes me sick just thinking about it. Everybody involved with this should feel ashamed. If they were trying to tell a different story, it could’ve maybe worked, but they want to sell me Rec as a romantic comedy, which it just isn’t. I’d rather accept Schindler’s List as one than this crap. Twilight is a better love story than this. But what shocks me the most is how many people apparently fell for it. My brain can’t comprehend the thinking process that goes into accepting these blatant lies. This isn't a personal attack if you happen to like this show, I just don't understand how or why. Anyway, any more words would be a waste of time, all you need to know is: Don’t watch it!
1/10

Overall:
2.8/10

The entire story and relationship dynamic is peak male fantasy garbage. The main character is incredibly unlikable and was clearly a self-insert. Like yeah let me write a story about my boring ass self in my boring ass life and then suddenly a super cute anime girl has sex with me and we fall deeply in love for no reason at all even though i spent the entire time being a huge dick and she still loves me for some reason. It's not believable, it's not entertaining, it's so bad that it's almost offensive. The MC has next to no personality and i was nearly ... pulling my hair out at the end.

Trash lmao. Fuck this show