Shinobu is a sweet, airheaded Japanese girl who goes to Britain to stay with a family of three. She befriends the daughter of her new family, Alice, and her obsession with Britain and blonde hair soars. Forced to part ways, the two make a huge impact on each other–so much that Alice decides she wants to live with Shinobu in Japan and go to high school with her.
Thus begins the story of a weeaboo and a westaboo. Alice makes befriends Shino’s friends Aya and Yoko and, later on, Alice’s friend from Britain Karen joins the picture. From there, well, it’s just a series about their random shenanigans. This is a slice-of-life that doesn’t care to have a plot of any sort; just sit back and bask in how freaking adorable it is.
Characters
To have a compelling slice-of-life, especially one with no plot, you have to give us characters we can invest in and love. Thankfully, Kinmoza has a fantastic cast of adorable girls who are around sixteen or so but look like elementary schoolers (and act like them too!). Even the teacher is a cute moeblob that I couldn’t get enough of.
Let’s start with Alice, the blonde British girl. I can’t discern much character from her aside from the fact she’s a total lesbian for Shinobu. But that’s okay because as a team mascot, she’s got enough humor and heart in her to carry forward.
Shinobu is my least favorite character if only because her gimmick of being an airhead westaboo is not that funny. I like how she works off of Alice but I just didn’t like her as much as the others.
Aya is my favorite character. She’s the diligent tsundere who loves romance stories and is definitely in love with Yoko. I found her to be the funniest and cutest character overall; her archetype exploited really well.
Yoko is my second favorite. She’s the athletic tomboy, completely oblivious to Aya’s feelings. But she provides a lot of humor as well and the dynamic between her and Aya is heartwarming, even if it’s not amounting to anything.
Karen is the other British girl and I went into the show thinking she’d be best girl. But the more you watch, the louder and more insane she seems. Karen’s definitely my third favorite but I really appreciate the subtlety and quiet of Aya after Karen’s segments.
Finally, might as well mention Karasuma sensei. Why does she look the same age as the other girls? Aside from that, another entertaining and silly character.
None of the characters are great examples of their archetypes but they all function well when put together, creating a fun dynamic to watch.
Animation
The animation is pretty good though nothing really special. It has that storybook quality to it with soft colors and white around the edges. That makes it much cuter and inviting. Character designs aren’t unique, but add to the happy, warm feeling. About the only thing I can say about the animation is that sometimes the eyes look a little derpy.
Sound
Again, nothing memorable but it gets the job done. The opening and closing songs are pretty good and music during the show is what you’ve come to expect of slice-of-life’s like this. There’s a musical number at the end of the last episode that was pretty good; definitely check it out if you can.
Usually I don’t comment on voice acting because I don’t speak Japanese so I can’t typically tell if actors are doing well or not, but the English in this show is absolutely hilarious. Yes, I know we’re talking about Japanese people trying their best to speak English, and no, I won’t put them down for trying. But, as someone who speaks English, it’s pretty hilarious to watch these segments. “Can I sreep wit you?”.
Entertainment
I don’t watch shows like this ever because the comedy style isn’t for me. But I thoroughly enjoyed Kinmoza from beginning to end. It knew how to maintain the cuteness that drew me in while throwing in some great jokes and good character interactions. It’s an easy watch that helped me unwind.About the only issue I had were the sheer amount of title cards. These are used for scene transitions but become a little much when used one after the other.
Overall
Kinmoza’s an adorable slice-of-life that manages an entertaining group dynamic while adding dashes of random humor to keep things fresh. It’s never very impressive (except for the final musical number) but it’s simple and fun enough that you won’t care and get drawn in. With a second season currently airing, now’s a great time to see whether you can handle such immense levels of moe.
