Oh 2024 MAL, is this how low your standards have gotten for romance anime? Okay in all fairness, who the fuck am I to judge which romance anime people should prefer? Anyhow, I hope this review at least gives an opposing viewpoint on this highly praised anime - currently scored at a whopping 8.81 with little-to-none criticism.
[STORY: 5/10]
Realistically, how easy is it to fuck up a low-grade romance story when the audience consists of Otakus? As long as the story remains uncontroversial and as flawless as possible, it's bound to be a hit.
This is precisely the reason I'm disappointed with the story. Boring. Uninspiring. Repetitive.
...
Anticlimactic.
It's lackluster and scared of experimenting.
We've seen the tropes and scenarios hundreds of times from other works.
Frankly, the constitution of each episode gets really repetitive.
>Ichikawa or Yamada finds themselves in a cringe situation - so painful that it almost becomes unwatchable
>Situation escalates. but eventually resolved.. again, in the cringiest method possible.
>*rinse, repeat*
So predictable that even your unborn child would've guessed the outcome.
Fair enough if this is your example of "wholesome romance", however this isn't remotely praiseworthy and not much different from S1.
It's same structure in different settings this season, unoriginal of course (Sports festival, School trip, Valetine's & White day, first name arc etc).
This wouldn't necessarily be an issue if the characters were ACTUALLY likable. These predictable scenarios simply work in shows like SNAFU, Kaguya-sama, Horimiya, HELL EVEN DUMPSTER FIRE KOMI-SAN - precisely due to the charismatic personalities of every character. Compare that to this show and it's laughable. It genuinely makes me question if the audience have even seen other romance shows.
It still confuses me with what the show wants to achieve regarding Yamada's eating habbit. Is it just a character trait given how soulless Yamada's personality is? After all, this show does nothing new, nothing experimental, apart from Yamada's interesting.. features.
[CHARACTERS: 5/10]
Majority side characters just existed for.. the sake of being side characters? Duh.. Let me elaborate and clarify my point!
Side characters are obv. a crucial component in stories - rivals, comedic relief, supporters, best friends etc. Some were visible in the show, but my god they were randomly shoved into the episodes, which simply made the side characters unlikable when you have no time to get attatched. It's as if the clichés were introduced forcefully, just to make the story "complete". None of the characters are memorable, apart from Ichikawa's sister, being the only lively character. So yeah, I don't particularly like the concept of including characters just so they can create scenarios for Ichikawa & Yamada, then get tossed away.
The episodes could benefit from a relevant comedic character that's funny, after all, this is a romance comedy.. right?
What infuriates me is how Ichikawa STILL isn't able to form a proper sentence to any side character. Just suttering, hesitating excessively. Wasn't this sequal supposed to revolve around Ichikawa's character development?? He still resorts to escapism during communications. When that doesn't work out, he gets answers forced out of him, which is uncomfortable to sit through.
Kinda hilarious how Ichikawa's example of plot armor, is how easily he's accepted by his surroundings. Let's be real, Ichikawa contributes jack shit (Yamada aside). Even so, he faces no hardship whatsoever, given how everyone simply accepts him, while he more-or-less turns them down like a pathetic Tsundere - this includes Yamada's friends/coworkers, her parents, even some of Ichikawa's classmates.
The unexplained attachment majority side characters have for Ichikawa just suggests NPC personalities. Let's not forget how Komi-san immediately became a shitshow, with how all side characters became a Komi-worshippers with no purpose other than to bring Komi & Tadano together. I srsly get the same vibe from this anime, except without the exaggerated expressions.
[ART: 6/10]
This is allegedly a strong point of the show and whilst closely observing the art & animation.. ehhh I really tried.. This show straightway relies on slide-show animation combined with oversaturated art.
It's almost misleading how only romantic moments get the aesthetically pleasing scenes. Or whenever Yamada mildy sexual-harasses Ichikawa lmfao. It's a given that the 2% memorable moments receives creditable animation - while the rest 98% of the show receives MAPPA slide-show animation.
Opening is pretty satisfying to watch. Almost makes you believe they spent majority of their budget on the OP, not the actual show - This is supposedly how MAPPA screwed CSM as they wasted their budget on OPs/EDs instead of the actual show.
[SOUND: 7/10]
It's heartbreaking that the small selection of beautiful background-music only gets played a handful of times. Like 20 seconds every second episode.
Other than that, the studio should step up.. there's many stale scenes that contain 0 background-music, hence it becomes boring - Horimiya is an amazing example of background-music actively being utilized correctly.
Voice acting was fine. Some female characters spoke as if they were pinching their nose to fake their voices. Should learn from CDawgVA.
[ENJOYMENT: 4/10]
What was supposed to be a sequal with transparent character development & romance development with aesthetically-pleasing scenes, almost turns out to be the opposite.. for the most part.
The quality of this sequal is a substantial step from S1, which was supposed to be a forgotten show about an "emo-shota who fucking plans to commit murder falls in love with big titty female". As expected, he matures from those psychopathic traits as he falls in love, even so, could you call that "proper character development", or is it merely pitiful maturity?
The romance development is nothing praiseworthy, matter of fact it's extremely uninspiring. An "Inside joke" in the anime community is how unbelievably flustered characters become when they're in love. Multiply that by 10. It eventually gets annoying to sit through, this show is unfortunately a prime example. Don't get me started on their "chemistry", truthfully, it's nonexistent and their relationship is FAR from "i ship this couple<3" material, if that makes sense.
Ultimately I couldn't bring myself to enjoy the scenarios of this sequal. They were painfully cringe to watch, from start-to-finish given how repetitive the story format went. The show attempts to get you attached to Ichikawa, but he fundamentally remains an underdeveloped MC and his first-person narration eventually gets annoying to listen to, with how insecure & "knows-it-all" he remains. It's presumably an unfunny failed Hachiman type narration.
Believe me, you're not missing out on anything despite the insane praise this show receives. I can guarantee you this is objectively as mediocre as it gets. So no, this isn't the "3rd greatest romance anime of all time" and I truly hope this niche fanbase explores the heavenly collection of romance anime. There's absolutely no shame in watching older anime instead of seasonal releases, so stop gaslighting yourself and others into believing this is "peak fiction rizz beats goku" XD
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Apr 3, 2024
Oh 2024 MAL, is this how low your standards have gotten for romance anime? Okay in all fairness, who the fuck am I to judge which romance anime people should prefer? Anyhow, I hope this review at least gives an opposing viewpoint on this highly praised anime - currently scored at a whopping 8.81 with little-to-none criticism.
[STORY: 5/10] Realistically, how easy is it to fuck up a low-grade romance story when the audience consists of Otakus? As long as the story remains uncontroversial and as flawless as possible, it's bound to be a hit. This is precisely the reason I'm disappointed with the story. Boring. Uninspiring. Repetitive. ... |
