Among the people trashing the whole show just because of Uzaki’s design, the people trashing Uzaki’s haters and overpraising the serie just for being contrarians, and the people trashing people who trash Uzaki’s haters… it seems no one cares about investing time to see if the serie is actually good or not.
Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai became popular some years ago after being part of a tendency of “female character teases her male classmate” series, alongside others like Takagi-san and Nagatoro. Takagi-san bet on a more innocent approach of this, having the two MCs trying to outsmart each other, with male MC failing miserably each time and making the serie repetitive in the process; Nagatoro went to the other end, making the tease factor harsher and one-directional to the point it’s almost bullying. Uzaki-chan fell in the middle, having female MC teasing male MC, but with a more lighthearted tone and enough interaction between them to avoid the serie falling into repeatability. It’s far from being revolutionary, but it works enough for setting Uzaki-chan aside from the other two.
At this point you sure are wondering: “what interactions? This serie is just about Uzaki pestering Sakurai and a lot of ecchi jokes about boobs, isn’t it?” And the answer is: yes, it is, partially. Elements should be judged according to how they are portrayed, instead of turning down the whole element by itself. Initially, it seems Uzaki teases Sakurai because she thinks he’s a lonely guy and she’s worried he is not living his life, while Sakurai just respond to her approaches with the common tsukkomi reactions, this is basically their dynamic during the whole serie, but some changes in the way they relate each other are noticeable while the two go through different experiences and we are shown more about them and they learn more about each other. Execution remains almost constant, but context, and jokes based on that context, starts to differ.
That being said, comedy is a hit and miss, especially when the tease remains almost one-directional. Scenes of Uzaki pestering Sakurai and he just going into rage would be almost the same no matter if it is in the college, in the work or the street. What would make the different is the aforementioned context (especially if it involves other characters). A good reaction from Sakurai and then a nice response from Uzaki can make the difference, and this serie has enough wit to make most of the jokes charming even with cliché situations, even some others are just plain boring, pasted with no wit or originality at all. Also, this serie doesn’t have a lot of ecchi jokes as it would seem, yet most of them are about boobs so it can portray the wrong idea of the anime being just about ecchi jokes.
Now, let’s talk about characters, because they’re the most important part, and in this case, they can set the difference between a joke, or even the whole show being funny or dull:
>One of the most common complain people have about Uzaki is that she’s annoying, and indeed she is, she was supposed to be written like that to appeal to the main theme of the serie, so it’s understandable people don’t like her a lot. Uzaki is very energic, and she only wants to have fun, I think this is where a lot of people have misunderstood her; the fact she teases Sakurai is not because she is a bully who enjoys doing it just for the sake of it, or feels sorry for him. With the passing of chapters, we are shown how they met during school and how they formed a bond, even when the first impression wasn’t the best one, so after they met again in college, Uzaki only wanted to rebuild their relation, and even when she enjoys making fun of him, what she really enjoys the most is just hanging out with him doing different things, not only things she forces him to do, also things he likes, such as videogames or sports. So, the relationship is not so one-directional after all.
>Sakurai is the opposite, he’s quieter and more reserved, and he prefers to do indoor activities, yet he can be really explosive if pushed enough. Again, some people seem to misunderstand the real intention with this character; portraying introverts as “freaks that need to be forced into society” was never the goal. Uzaki likes to make a fun of Sakurai for that aspect, though she really doesn’t think he’s a bad person for that; she invades his personal space a lot just because she really likes to hanging out with him, as previously stated, not because she thinks that he needs to change. Then there is Sakaki, Sakurai’s best friend and his perfect opposite, a popular and self-confident guy who reacted a little bid exaggerated about him when he was introduced in chapter 5; in the next chapter we learned that he actually respects Sakurai lifestyle, but he thinks it’s a waste to not going out of our comfort zone once in a while. He really cares about Sakurai, that’s why he wants him to try different experiences during his college life before it’s too late. A relatable and realistic approach, may I say.
>With the passing of chapters Sakurai learns to tolerate Uzaki, and realizes about her intentions, then he tries to give a positive return to that, since at the end of the day, he enjoyed all the time they passed, as himself stated it in chapter 8. Uzaki, on the other hand, starts to be more honest about her feelings and being closer to Sakurai, acting more tsundere-ish while toning down the tease. THIS is what this anime is about.
>Secondary characters are an important part as well, since they complement both the comedy and Uzaki and Sakurai’s relationship in order to make the serie more dynamic. Ami and her father basically represent us, the viewers, as they prefer to stay away from Uzaki and Sakurai and see how their relationship evolves naturally, sometimes acting as narrators, adding some charm to a scene. On the other hand, Sakaki thinks otherwise: it’s better to interfere into Uzaki and Sakurai, adding some “seasoning” and see how the things moves forward, because they do sure move forward very slowly by themselves.
Slowness is actually a bad aspect, because even when we can tell how Uzaki and Sakurai relationship evolves, at the end of the day nothing is concreted between them, and gives the sensation the serie never goes to a clear end. This sure can bring down some people’s motivation to continue the serie, or watching it in the first place.
Audiovisual aspects are nothing too impressive that deserve to be talked about, except for voice acting that nailed it pretty well (I personally was expecting another VA for Uzaki, but Naomi Oozora did a really good job and fit very well) … and of course, there is Uzaki’s design topic. Not gonna discuss if it is realistic or not (there’s a lot of information on Google), or if it needs to be realistic in anime in the first place, but is it consistent with the anime at the very least? Let’s see:
>She’s short, with big eyes and boobs. We can tell this was made like this on purpose by seeing the rest of the cast and noticing how they have a “more normal” design. Uzaki is like a sort of pet for the manga (kuso cat doesn’t count) so her design needs to be outstanding in any way.
>Bouncing big boobs surely are annoying to see, if it’s the only thing the serie bothers to show, which is not the case, since ecchi jokes are a tiny part of the whole comedy. This is also an internal joke, as people watch this short girl, wondering if she’s is a secondary school student until they see the boobs and realize she’s indeed an adult. Funny? after a couple of times of seeing the same joke, not anymore, but the motive is there.
>”She looks like a boy”. I’d like to answer that with the most logic sentence, that it “girls with short hair do exist”, but the lacking of details in the character design of the anime surely lend people (blinded or not by the hate) to think that way. I personally don’t have problem noticing she’s a girl, but that might be I got used to it by the manga.
>The “meat fang” is, ehh… odd, certainly. It’s not the same seeing this in a non-colored manga that in a full-animated serie, yet the commotion around this issue is too big than it should be.
The intention is not to change people mindset about liking or not Uzaki’s design; it’s more about clarifying that design has reasons of being and they should look at them before going rampage about insignificant issues other animes have previously shown.
At the end of the day, Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai, full of controversies for the wrong reasons, is another approach of that “female character teases her male classmate” trope. Simple and straightforward with that it pretends to show, nothing going out of the formula, full of clichés, yet doing its best to make use of its elements and bring a charming and funny serie. Still amazes me how this show got so much attention and a lot of critics, even when there are other animes resorting to the same formulas already seen thousands of times, with the same mediocre comedy and dull fanservice with zero substance, who were well received and even highly overpraised. This is certainly not an excellent serie, but not and horrible one either, just an average one.
So… let’s summarize:
>”Am I allowed to dislike this serie or Uzaki character?” Yes, why not. Comedies are subjective, and Uzaki is certainly someone detestable in some aspects. Just be aware of why you personally don’t like the serie, instead of blindly follow a trend.
>”I really like this serie, why other people hate it that much?” Again, comedies and tastes are subjective. If you think someone has very questionable reasons to dislike the serie, let them be, unless they are open to discuss.
>”I don’t find any joke funny”. It’s a valid criticism, as previously said, most jokes are cliché situations which you could be tired of already. Consider stop watching it if bores you, it won’t get any better.
>”Is this show about portraying introverts as freaks and bad people?” Of course not. And I’m telling you this as an introvert myself; you should not take what you see in anime too personal.
>”Uzaki’s design is really ugly because it’s unrealistic! Worst design ever! People liking this shit have problems and should be erased from earth!” This is not the first time an anime character with such features exists. It’s ok if you dislike it. I just hope you remain consistent and are not telling this with Danmachi, Maid Dragon or Gatchaman Crowds in your Favorites ;)
