“My Stepmom’s Daughter is my Ex” or “Tsurekano” (thank the gods many anime come pre-packaged with nicknames these days) opens with Mizuto and Yume exchanging sassy remarks as they go about their daily business around the house suspiciously like any seasoned couple would. In reality, they’ve broken up since graduating middle school but their single parents getting married to one another has unexpectedly forced them under the same roof just before the start of high school, but I’m sure you already read about that somewhere up there. 4 minutes into episode 1 and Mizuto and Yume squabble over who gets to be called the older
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sibling. It appears to be a matter of utmost concern considering their new household arrangement and of course it leads to a flimsy “punishment game” that absolutely does not turn out to be a hard excuse just to get the two into awkward, sexually comedic scenarios (spoilers: it does). The game goes as follows: Whoever acts in a manner unnatural for a stepsibling has to play the part of the younger sibling. At minute 18 Yume - frustrated that Mizuto was unfazed when she pushed her breasts up against him at school - comes out of the shower to confront Mizuto while wearing nothing but a bath towel. She stupidly, suddenly realises that it looks like she’s trying to seduce him and the parents start coming through the door while Mizuto is on top of his nearly naked sister by total accident (a blessing from the gods of tripping in anime). At this point you’re either mildly aroused or muttering to yourself in disbelief thinking “oh s***, not another one of these anime” (and maybe both if you’re a dreadfully honest guy). After a first episode packed with rather trite “step-siblings in romantic tension” shenanigans, there doesn’t seem to be a bright future going forward for Tsurekano.
THE GOOD
I’m sure most of us predicted this would end up being a raunchy borderline hentai, but despite how I painted the first episode in my introductory paragraph, the single greatest, most redeeming quality Turekano has is that it does not turn out this way. Tsurekano, instead, actually handles the youthful romance aspect of its plot somewhat honestly and with a surprising amount of thought, giving us great and often realistic and believable insights into how teenagers (and even adults) behave, think, and feel in situations where they felt they had stupidly let go of a great romantic partner as well as the events leading up to this kind of realization. Yume’s perspective throughout the show’s runtime is particularly well explored, enough to the point that I’d wager many of us who have been in similar positions found it easy to put ourselves into her shoes and find a relatable persona in her. Barring its earliest stages, in this way “Tsurekano” pleasantly ended up playing out more like a shoujo manga rather than an explicitly trashy romcom, focusing less on providing a “men’s fantasy” experience and more on conveying the thoughts of the main romancers and the subtleties of their interactions.
The main male and female are decently fleshed out from the start, something that seems to be a bit of luxury these days. Yume is portrayed as a once nerdy, anxious girl who had little confidence and friends that became bolder, more prideful, and conscious of her image after the break up. Mizuto (our millionth Kirito look-alike) is the personification of a brick wall - cold, sassy, aloof, devoid of charisma, and mildly indifferent towards anybody, anything, and everything. On paper he’s a generally unlikeable character and it may be somewhat baffling to see Yume care for him so much when the best quality he has is that he occasionally performs actions that fall within the realm of common human decency. But then you have to remember that this was the first boy a socially awkward Yume ever tried approaching and confessing to at 14-15 years of age and you begin to understand why this attraction could be justified. Furthermore, Mizuto’s true feelings are consistently left somewhat ambiguous and conflicting as his actions and attitudes towards Yume leave you to believe he is either just an ultra-tsundere who closes his true desires for reconnection behind an iron safe or is legitimately done with having any further romantic relationship with her but still cares for her and just wants consider her family going forward. I found it interesting to try and pick out evidence for both cases throughout the show’s runtime, and it’s well-made subtleties like these that are another one of Tsurekano’s strengths.
“Tsurekano” also does a great job of disclosing the detailed events leading up to Mizuto and Yume’s middle school breakup in a well-paced manner that helps keep the viewer interested in learning what exactly happened throughout a majority of the runtime. It’s not dumped all at once in the beginning or the end in a rushed haze - a small detail, but one that I found really helped me stay invested in the story. I may be wrong, but it also seems rare for anime to explore the social and emotional aftermath of a couple that broke apart for foolish reasons typical to teen romance, which is why I found it to be a nice change of setting.
The effects of all of these things may have simply been amplified by the fact that my expectations were subverted but nonetheless I found myself impressed by the anime’s unexpectedly good handling and choices in all the specific areas I addressed above.
THE BAD
There are numerous extraneous story elements, namely sub-plots and storylines that end anticlimactically or even feel scrapped primarily because they end up contributing very little to the bigger picture (the development of the main romance). I’m talking about the whole punishment game set up in episode 1, the storyline hinting at something going on between Minami and Kawanami, Minami wanting to marry Mizuto to get to Yume, Higashira coming in as the third party… all of these are really just facades that serve the same, single, redundant purpose which is to show hints to the viewer that Yume and Mizuto actually still care somewhat deeply for each other. It’s great when there’s one or two subplots that serve this purpose early on but after the third or fourth time it starts to feel mildly repetitive because you start to get the idea already. The story even presented several potentially better candidates for sub-plots that could have explored more interesting personal facets of the main relationship such as Yume wanting to defend Mizuto from various guys at school seeking to befriend him just to get to her, and Yume trying too hard to stuff out her nerdy, socially awkward personality and rework her image as the perfect smart, athletic student. I can imagine many ways the former could have been fantastic for showing the audience how the broken main romance works to address a conflict that might genuinely prove problematic to both of them (Minami wanting to join the family did have this property but the glaring issue was that the whole conflict was presented as a joke, dissolving any sense of urgency - more on this later). These are foundations for some potentially interesting and personal storylines that were sadly never expanded on. Instead we got things like half an episode being dedicated to Yume and Mizuto exchanging each other’s undergarments.
While that particular scenario makes for an amusing social media short, I can’t deny that this is another instance where I felt an anime committing to a balance between comedy and romance did more harm than good, especially given the meager 12 episode runtime. I mentioned earlier that “Tsurekano” does a great job of portraying a complex and serious romantic conflict but the secondary conflicts (like the one I mentioned earlier about Minami wanting to marry Mizuto) are almost always portrayed in manners that are too comedic and lighthearted to give us viewers any illusion of urgency. It was hard for me to be super invested into conflicts like the ones Minami and Higashira posed because I never felt that they were “real” threats to the main romance: You can pretty easily predict how things will end up after their “arcs” anyways, so all you’re left with is to look forward to is how these storylines will be engineered to force Mizuto and Yume into interacting with one another. This is not a terrible outcome, but the lack of any secondary conflicts to take seriously is certainly what puts Tsurekano considerably below the better romance animes out there.
I imagine you could also complain about how the secondary characters, Minami, Kawanami, and to a much lesser extent, Higashira, were nothing special and poorly integrated into the big picture, but I’d rather a 12 episode romance anime focus as much time on developing the main duo as possible, which Tsurekano did pretty well. So it really doesn’t end up being a huge complaint for me.
Finally, the worst offense committed is that despite all the good things “Tsurekano” had going for it, I felt that the end result (In other words, episode 12) didn’t deliver with sufficient impact or enough satisfactory resolution to make this ~240 minute journey really worth it. I can’t elaborate without spitting out spoilers, but I’ll leave it by offering my opinion that the ending gave me an “all of this, just for that???” feeling.
SUMMARY (6/10)
This was particularly difficult to rate because the good things were really great but it’s just impossible to ignore the bad things. In the end, it unfortunately just felt like another mixed bag to me.
(+) Not as trashy as you may think despite the title, takes an insightful look into the aftermath of a middle school couple’s break up and subsequent albeit awkward reunion.
(+) Perspective of the main female is explored in good depth, showing an interesting and relatable view into the young mind of someone who regretted throwing away a great romantic partnership
(+) Plot-relevant information is conveyed at a good pace to keep the viewer interested in piecing together the story.
(-) Starts off with trite stepsibling romcom pandering that gives the impression of a trashy show
(-) Most conflicts presented to challenge the main romance are brushed aside or don’t feel serious and thus lack impact, leading to somewhat shallow and repetitive storylines and diminishing opportunity for more compelling dynamics between the main romance beyond what was shown.
(-) End result may ultimately not feel worth the time
Sep 22, 2022
“My Stepmom’s Daughter is my Ex” or “Tsurekano” (thank the gods many anime come pre-packaged with nicknames these days) opens with Mizuto and Yume exchanging sassy remarks as they go about their daily business around the house suspiciously like any seasoned couple would. In reality, they’ve broken up since graduating middle school but their single parents getting married to one another has unexpectedly forced them under the same roof just before the start of high school, but I’m sure you already read about that somewhere up there. 4 minutes into episode 1 and Mizuto and Yume squabble over who gets to be called the older
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Jul 16, 2022
Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru
(Anime)
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“Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru”, or if you’d prefer, “My Dress Up Darling” is yet another romance story that serves primarily as a sexual fantasy or “wish-fulfillment fantasy” for young adults and teenagers and perhaps secondly as an appreciation for cosplay. That’s not inherently a bad thing. Anime/manga has numerous entries in this category that could be considered iconic or even classic and with the minor craze and popularity surrounding this anime, particularly during the time of its airing, I decided to give it a shot, hoping to find the reason behind the commotion. I will say in advance and with certainty that
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Dec 31, 2019
Vinland Saga
(Anime)
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A spoiler free review of Vinland Saga. MAL and introductory descriptions of this series pretty much everywhere else disclose what happens by the end of episode 4, so I won’t count events that occurred during those episodes as spoiler necessarily. My goal here is to stress how important it is for you to watch/read this series and, while doing so, also address some of the common concerns/complaints I’ve heard from both online and my own friends/family.
I’ll just start it off by saying that Vinland Saga is hands down my favorite manga, and the anime is nearly a perfect adaptation of it. The writing is intelligent, ... 
Apr 1, 2014
Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta
(Anime)
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Just by looking at the title (Love Song of a Pilot), the description, and a preview, most people will get the impression that this is a heavy-hitting drama with a beautiful romance augmented by plenty of flying through the skies. I’m pretty sure that description up there also suggests Toaru Hikuushi no Koiuta will cover touching themes as well, such as how hate can be conquered by finding love. The setup is fairly enticing. You’re probably thinking this is a story that will hit your heart.
Lower your expectations, NOW. Trash the images my first paragraph produced. Reduce the dramatic impact you are expecting by about ... |
