Not sure why I chose to watch this considering MAL's score and top reviews. I didn't bother reading any of them, I didn't even bother with the synopsis, just felt like watching some mediocre romance. Regardless, I figured I'm likely walking into some trash tier watch & regret cash grab. Well, I was wrong. This show is NOT run of the mill, and you know what? It's not half bad.
This show is already long gone in the seasonal race, therefore I will focus on why this show is still worth a watch despite not being especially great. Not being a 10/10 show, there's no point exhaustingly covering any and all flaws abundant in this type of seasonal 1 cour. Instead I'll address some of the more common flaws the top reviews thought warranted rating 3D Kanojo as "terrible"- and why they are wrong.
Firstly, please, take this show at face value. This show isn't void of stereotypes, cliches, or whatever stupid shit you'd initially expect from a show called 3D Kanojo. This is a 12 episoder with the genres: romance, school, shoujo; What do people expect? That being said, no one likes when the whole story revolves around boring and redundant crap every subpar romance anime has done. This show isn't like that.
Nothing about this show screams take me seriously. It's as obvious as can be about how ridiculous and out of touch it is from real life. (Vague for spoiler purposes) you get plot progressors anywhere from "cool guy gets what he wants" publicly false accusing another as a lolicon/kidnapper, magically becoming a master chef as a plot convenience, to 'hero by stalking'. Hell, the introduction can be boiled down to 'protagonist being late for the first time ever and finding his true love'. There's no time for long set ups and payoffs, the show just tries to get to the point (the good parts) asap, and it fucking works if you aren't being a picky shite.
On the other hand, the romance keeps it real- the good parts. It's full of melodrama and misunderstandings, with heavy emphasis on MC otaku not understanding 3D girls. The essence of the show. People seem to be infuriated that the main couple's romance was so unnatural, but why? This isn't about how an otaku becomes normal, it's about the relationship between 'normal culture' and otaku (more like socially inept) culture. This relationship would never happen in real life, I felt like the show made it very clear it's unrealistic in that regard: no "slow and gradual" romance would ever sincerely work, that criticism doesn't make sense. Also romance is by definition a melodramatic shitfest, this is true for any media portrayal of romance ever. Proclaiming misunderstandings and the such are inherently bad is ludicrous.
In addition to '1/10 art' and '2/10' sound, albeit supporting those claims with "The voice acting in the show is pretty decent overall" *cough* bias *cough* , these + the vague examples from the last paragraph virtually conclude the show's major criticisms.
The art is nothing special, but it's definitely not awful. I personally thought the main couple's design looked great and not in anyway copy paste of most other shows. I never even noticed these "awful animation" claims, it looked good to me. Then again, I aimed my attention towards the pretty colors and dialogue, which is surely what the show put the most effort into. The sound was as good as any other show, nothing notable at all about it (not a bad thing). I believe the claims that some moments must've looked lousy, but in no way do they have any honest impact on the show's overall quality.
As I'm writing I'm simultaneously delving deeper into other reviews, and sincerely, the whole issue genuinely appears to come down to MAL otakus not liking how otaku culture was showcased here. There is never a mention of how MC gradually goes out of his shell, how the episode 1 scenarios were creepy in a very stereotypical otaku manner and overtime dissipated, how as the story progressed his attitudes ended up not wholly aligning with the otaku cliche.
I think the hate ended up being more about "this isn't what an otaku is like" above anything else. The author seemed to me to be merely applying the nerd formula to garner attention to the manga, just like Wotaku, Net-juu, Gekkan Shoujo, etc. But the difference being targeting shoujo audience, not the otaku crowd (I mean the biggest difference is literally 3D Kanojo having the shoujo tag and them actually being in a physical relationship). The hatred is really otakus no getting what they wanted, and the shoujo audience being a minority in an apparently otaku targeted manga.
The TL;DR of the hate: this show isn't wotaku ergo awful 1/10.
Now, briefly, why I enjoyed 3D Kanojo. I loved some of character designs. While people seem to complain about pouty faces and lack of expressions, I'm the opposite. I've always enjoyed the more calm, collected and often unenthusiastic cast in a show. Examples being Oregairu, tanaka-kun, and Hyouka. I definitely got a similar vibe from Igarashi and some others.
THERE WAS ACTUAL COUPLE ROMANCE. I hate when the "romance" is 11 episodes of a forced along relationship without ever becoming a couple, but unfortunately that's most of the romance genre. I'm always looking out for romances like Ore Monogatarii, Golden time, or Clannad, following an actual couple- 3D kanojo does that.
Shit happens. One of my greatest pet-peeves is when there is absolutely no plot progression in an episode. When you got 12 episodes there shouldn't be a skippable episode; 3D kanojo keeps up the pace perfectly. The main plot starts right off the bat and never really slows down. Characters are introduced in reasonable and plot-wise beneficial moments and generally acclimate to the story within the episode, which I personally love. At least for the first 10 episodes.
Intimacy. Romance animes tend to often completely ignore the physical part of the romance, relying entirely on the emotional aspect (a kiss often being the be all and end all of a relationship). Having a couple doing couple-like things is entertaining. Having them come onto each other, kiss, hold hands, and at the very least mention sexual tension and desires exist is highly beneficial to the story. This is the same factor for my liking of Kuzu no Honkai and Koi to Uso, despite both being meh at best.
It's simple. There really isn't much to the plot's depth, the characters are honestly 2D and that's fine. In 12 episodes there was a surprisingly notable amount of development, but in hindsight it served as a plot driver from stereotype otaku towards a more common-sense understanding of social interaction. I personally thought it worked particularly well with the whole theme being a guy going from 2D to 3D girls and socializing being the harshest and most difficult obstacle.
There is plenty of good in here, and the bad doesn't cancel it out. 3D Kanojo has it's moments and getting to them is nowhere near as terrible as other reviews claim. If you can get through the worst of Gamers, Netoge, or Net-juu, you can make it through this.
