Reviews

The best way to describe Kumichou is that it had all the necessary ingredients to make an excellent pastry, but it was never prepared or baked properly, and instead was left unfinished on the kitchen counter. The seasonal model of 12 eps has once again butchered an excellent show, because it was obvious that there simply was not enough time to flesh out everything. It's a shame because this story, while simple in its premise, had the support of a studio(s) that clearly cared about their craft. If the source material was more plentiful, and if more advertisement went into this title, it could have easily become one of the most popular anime of the year. A second season is not only desired by its fans, but necessary to do the story justice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What this anime DOES have:
- Complex and likable protagonist (in the sense that you can root for his character development despite his flaws)
- Wholesome and cute (moe) moments, as advertised (hence the comedy is also strong)
- Soothing soundtrack that matches the slice-of-life feeling well (on par with stuff like Fruits Basket or Yuru Camp)
- Consistent and pretty animation that might appear a little generic but still retains its own style
- Amazing dub performance from everyone (especially the protag), for those who are not sub elitists
- The basic schematic of an interesting and complex premise (see below)

What this anime DOES NOT have:
- Proper pacing (the biggest problem; everything in this show felt rushed: character relationships, introductions, exposition, character arcs, climax, you name it). The fact that ep 3 or 4 was a throw-away filler for some reason does not help at all
- Proper order (sometimes it feels like the events of the anime are out of order, but maybe that's just me)
- Fully fleshed out Yakuza family dynamic (there is SO much more they can do with this, the potential is there)
- Expansion of side characters' personal arcs like Kei and Aoi (they were surprisingly interesting and not entirely cliche)
- Clear purpose for random characters like the cat and the hungry girl who are just kinda... there (for only like 1-2 episodes!)
- Proper antagonists (they come across as one-dimensional; except Yuuri, but his purpose in the show was never fully depicted)
- An ending (the studio sorta hinted at the potential for a sequel, but it has not been confirmed)


In summary, this title seems to be a case where an animation studio was prepared to take the next step forward but was restricted by the lack of source material and weakness of the manga (a testament to this is that the anime has a higher score than the manga, which is pretty rare). I do recommend this to people who enjoy moe, slice of life stuff, however do not expect it to be a complete or robust story.