But now that I am older I just expect more from anime and realized this anime doesn't fully deliver.
I'm not big on taking lessons and morals from anime but the constant recurrence of Kotoko chasing a guy who at first doesn't care for her, you can't help but realize that the writers were trying to romanticize what is still kind of a one-sided relationship.
Since I rated the characters as a three, I'll start there. Kotoko is a dumb, clumsy yet determined girl who is in class F. I'm really under the impression she has a learning disability. She falls for "the smarts guy in possibly Japan" and tries to give him a confession that he quickly turns down.
And so thus begins her long five-year journey into winning his love.
Naoki is supposed to be some genius who is so smart that he does not have to try and put effort into anything he does. Really he is just another stereotype who is smart but is a robot and confused when it comes to emotions like love or jealousy. So as far as I am concerned, he's pretty dumb too.
And really his main characteristics that are memorable would have to be his dull personality. He's really robotic and when he does say a full sentence, it's usually an insult.
This anime is so cliche it's painful. the guys that like Kotoko are nice and the girls who like Naoki are snobby like him. And yet Naoki and Kotoko are a good match?
He treats her any kind of way and she just takes it. Then a dozen people have to show her how bad the relationship is before she gets to a breaking point but then when she does leave, she is roped back in with sweet words or his mom interferes.
It's not a totally horrible anime, but it's not an anime to watch if you are looking for chemistry and actual romance. This anime kind of borders along the emotional abuse line.
