STAKES - Set them high, then make them disappear.
The main conflict at KanoKari’s heart is having Kazuya overcome his low self-esteem and maidenless behavior in order to confess to a girl out of his league. What I really enjoyed about the finale of season 1 and the first half of season 2 is how they set a ticking time bomb for Kazuya to make this confession. We saw in season 1 that Chizuru is an actor hoping to make it big within the next year or so, which would mean Kazuya won’t be able to “date her” anymore. In season 2, we also turn up the heat with Ruka and Mami where both girls add far more tension to a fake relationship than any grandma or childhood friend could do. In a nutshell, all this pressure is screaming at Kazuya to wake the fuck up and make some actual progression.
The problem is, when Kazuya does finally come to his senses, the show suddenly removes all this pressure and even forces him to maintain this facade. In fact, the author uses the same excuse from season 1 to justify this odd development… keeping the grandmas happy. It’s such a huge step backward in character development when the character finally comes to the right conclusion, but suddenly the whole world is telling him to keep doing the dumb shit he is doing, so he now plays along and starts the whole cycle over again.
COMEDY - Down Bad + Maidenless + No Bitches + Seek Help
The comedy for season 2 was definitely a downgrade from season 1. In season 1, the audience is laughing with or at Kazuya when he acts like your average horny teenage boy or a cringy loser, but that’s because the punchlines are diverse and well-timed. This changes for the worse in season 2 when dirty jokes seem to be the only thing the show can make. Kazuya must have been more bricked up than a chimney because at one point he couldn’t stop seeing these girls as sex dolls wanting to do the hot, sexy SEX with him. Every 30 seconds was “look at her thighs/tits/ass/face/clothes, it’s like a walking fuck toy.” Do you get it, dear reader? Kazuya is REALLY horny, and the show makes it REALLY clear to you. On top of this, it was extraordinarily painful how bad Kazuya was at hiding this fact, even in public or during interpersonal sharing time, which gave me huge second-hand embarrassment.
GIRLS - Started okay, got worse with time.
One of the biggest questions and criticism this show got was “Why do any of these girls like Kazuya?” Just like a clickbait YouTube video, I watched to get my answer and ended up getting absolutely nothing. While you can make the argument that Chizuru likes Kazuya because he’s kind-hearted to her, a lot more would argue he is just a simp with no redeeming qualities. Kazuya also treats Ruka like garbage and yet she is still obsessed with him, even more so than she was in season 1. Even Mami is trying to wrap Kazuya around her finger again. But for the love of god, can this show explain why they all care about him??? What do 10/10 lookers find so attractive in an average or less-than-average guy who does nothing particularly significant? Fuck, I wish my dating life was that easy.
Overall, I felt like this season falls into the “what could have been” category of anime. While I will check out the third season, if it ever comes, I’m not looking forward to it based on what I hear about the manga. Unless you have a special attachment to one of these characters, I would think carefully about whether or not you want to continue watching KanoKari.
