I thought Nozaki-Kun was just...alright. I had read many comments and mentions from many people saying it was the shit. That it was the funniest anime of 2014 that it was really good, etc. Even the reviews posted before mine illustrate this. But I found this show just...alright. From the very first episode, I found myself chuckling at most of the jokes, I laughed at some that I found legitimately funny midway through the season and other times, the jokes just weren't funny at all . The story while certainly different than most anime, isn't praiseworthy, and certainly isn't groundbreaking in any way. The characters, although I felt were just ripped off from other animes and slapped onto here, certainly did have their own personalities and quirks that made them enjoyable and fun to watch. So much so in fact, that I actually found the school "prince" and the drama club president MORE interesting than Nozaki-kun and...the girl with the ribbons in her hair. I legitimately can't remember her name even though she's a main character, she was really that uninteresting to me. (Looked it up: Chiyo Sakura). Chiyo and Nozaki are boring characters. Chiyo really doesn't have much character or much of a personality besides having a crush on Nozaki and not being able to express her crush to him. That's it. Nozaki is a 16 year old stoic mangaka who has the body and personality of an oblivious 40 year old man. Seriously this dude is supposed to be 16? He's worse than an Austrian playing an American cop disguised as a Kindergarten teacher! Going back to the other characters, I feel as though the anime could have gone farther in terms of breaking stereotypes, than just making Mikoshiba a tsundere dumbass who's design suspiciously looks like Kauru/Hikaru from Ouran. Or the school prince being a 16 year old girl who dresses and looks like a guy. Both of these character traits are just played for laughs are aren't taken seriously in the show as actual human traits that belong to these characters. The show flirts with the idea of homosexuality in one episode, but that was also just played for laughs as well. The art style is not unlike anything we see in other animes shows. It's sad actually, while compared to American cartoons, the backgrounds of animes are always so detailed and realistic, but when compared to other animes, you start to find them generic and boring and sort of just blend in and you end up taking it for granted. The sound....There really wasn't anything that stood out for me. The OP and ED songs were boring and I ended up just skipping through the OP and clicking on the next episode before the ED started. The one thing that did stand out a bit for me was the last episode with the fireworks. The sound of the fireworks was great almost as if it was recorded from an actual fireworks show and used in the show. Enjoyment? I enjoyed it fine, but it wasn't something I just HAD to watch. I just binge watched it as a good time waster and because everybody was shitting themselves over this anime. Although a lot of the stuff mentioned above bothered me a bit, sometimes the actions of the characters don't make sense. Like, in many episodes, characters end up sleeping overnight at Nozaki-Kun's house. Don't they have families to go to? Parents? It just seemed odd to me. Another thing that bothered me is Nozaki--Kun himself. He's the elephant in the room. This dude is 16 years old and lives by himself as a Mangaka in an apartment. Does nobody else find this strange for a 16 year old? All in all, it was fine, but not something I'd buy from Sentai on blu-ray.
- Seriously, I found Kashima and Hori so much more enjoyable and entertaining as a couple and as characters. Although after a couple of episodes their gags started feeling more abusive than chuckleworthy.
