Let me start with a factual statement, I fucking love gals. I only recently became aware that I was a devout follower of the gyaru religion, but since then it’s been consistently on my mind. A subculture centered around embracing feminine aesthetics to a holistic extent, obsessed with self-expression and unburdened by the demure shame that’s brute forced onto many Japanese women, what’s not to love about it? While sometimes in real life gyaru are lurid enough as to be unpleasant or even garish, the inevitable self-confidence that comes from constantly oscillating between popular and freakish depending on context and age will always be appealing to me. In short, gyaru dare to be bold. And even though gyaru culture has been bottomed out to the extent where you can’t really consider it a “movement” anymore, gyaru have left enough of an impression on the Japanese psyche to consistently show up in their media.
While I can’t necessarily point to when or why, in the last decade gyaru have inundated slice of life anime and manga. There’s this joke referenced in Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu that gals are nice to otaku, and maybe that was alluding to some kind of popular 5channel meme which bubbled to the surface amidst the intellectual discussions about hentai and posting unsolicited comments about the Chinese, who knows? Either way, it’s now manifested to a point where there’s not only one romance anime specifically about gyaru related characters, but like five or something? In this case, gyaru are used as general devices to bridge the “hick” culture of Hokkaido Japan to a greater population, particularly those in metropolitan areas.
If Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi wanted to leave me believing that Hokkaido had cool stuff in it by the end of the season’s run, I think it succeeded. The show is filled with enough Hokkaido-oriented product placement and innocuous little cultural tidbits to build a sense of immersion. It can arguably be associated with the kind of exposition that sometimes bogs down a badass action manga like Golden Kamuy, but Dosanko Gals instead seeks to develop a sense of setting and familiarity with that setting, which well integrates into the narrative. When Akino or Fuyuki goes on about Soda or some shit, I’m actually listening and engaged. Because to some extent by learning about this cultural artifact from a region I’ve never been to tells me something about Akino and Fuyuki, and what their “home” means to them.
Minami Fuyuki begins the story with a subtly debasing her denizenship of Hokkaido. However, in time with her interactions with the main character Tsubasa Shiki, she gains a greater appreciation for her hometown and herself. This inevitably leads to a greater interest in Tsubasa and the kind of person she wants to be, orienting the overall trajectory of her character arc, and serving as the basis for the budding romance between the main leads.
I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking this is KareKano or some shit, this is a fucking harem manga. Or, more accurately— this is a modern wish-fulfillment Reiwa era romcom contorted into some lethargic wish-fulfillment harem pretzel monster. The original author Kai Ikada, or some semi-shrewd midwit editor, astutely noticed that unless Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi had some kind of narrative direction, the story was quickly going to stagnate lest the main couple got together immediately. The latter would’ve been far too bold for the relatively green mangaka, and the former would’ve inevitably frustrated the readershipbase which would’ve been the primrose expressway towards cancellation. So instead, Dosanko Gals introduces a few more girls that tap into specific gyaru niches to artificially inject “tension” into the narrative. It’s comes off disjointed like, whenever a harem character is introduced some goofy exaggerated manga bullshit happens that doesn’t match the tone of the first episode at all. Reiwa era romcoms tend to keep the actual scenarios relatively down to earth with minor exceptions, this story included. It’s still wish fulfillment—but there’s a dramatic difference between the Fuyuki flirting with Shiki in an igloo, and Rena, the smartest girl in the entire school—hugging the main character in his entry way for no discernable reason other than she thought his fit was super sugoi desu as a history nerd… this was their second interaction. I say all this, but I don’t think Rena is terrible per say. If this was a normal harem manga, I actually think she’d be a pretty decent addition (even if she has no chance of winning.) Additionally, it wouldn’t have been that hard to address my bitching because I don’t think the character writing is uniquely poor.
Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi was actually a love triangle between Fuyuki, Tsubasa, and Sayuri Akino, I actually think Ikada could’ve gotten away with murder by completely changing the show’s genre. Call me basic if you want, but Akino is fucking cool. The way her personal arc intertwines with the other characters’ in a greater dramatic scenario is neat, for what it is. A gaming otaku who experiences a glow up and, despite her icy demeanor and awkward personality, stumbles into the popular kid crowd after falling in love with the transfer student from Tokyo whom the most liked girl in class is clearly down bad for. While it probably wouldn’t be on some braindead top 10 romance anime listicle, the scenario would at least be interesting to play out. Unfortunately, because this series shoehorned in a harem along with a sorta-established quasi-subgenre, the show has to dedicate time to characters who shouldn’t matter (except for Fuyuki’s hot ass mom she should get even more attention. Fuck it, put her in the shitty harem, why not). Tsubasa is a pretty decent mc, as far as flaccid and tepid romcom men are concerned, and has good chemistry with both girls that I want to see go somewhere. And unlike with most harem manga, which tend to frontload their protagonists’ characterization so they can focus on the tits, even if Shiki’s backstory is left intentionally ambiguous, whatever happened to him seems like it had a real impact on his personality. And, I actually think there’s going to be follow through, which may or may not suck. And while I wouldn’t necessarily also use terms as harsh to describe other aspects of the show, it isn’t just the writing that’s left me with mixed feelings.
While the backgrounds do a decent job at selling the atmosphere of northeastern Hokkaido in the middle of winter, Dosanko Gals visually leaves a lot to be desired. This is a by the numbers, bog standard, hardly passionate or innovative slice of life anime. The animation is never really impressive (if not often stilted), the digital compositing isn’t elevating any of the scenes, and don’t even get me fucking started on the storyboards. While I have definitely seen worse, I would argue the directing is straight up incompetent at times, despite this show having TWO DIRECTORS. While the character designs and their accompanying color choices are pretty appealing, and the girls are attractive, the show’s production is largely unremarkable and dull. It’s a clear product of the modern anime industry’s, and Silver Links’—lack of consistent scheduling and lack of access to outstanding talent. Though, I wouldn’t say the production is completely artless, for example, people complained about the removal of a lot of the original manga’s fanservice. Frankly, I think this decision demonstrates that some people DID care about making an okay product. Since in my ignorant, uncultured ass opinion, from what I’ve seen, a lot of the fanservice in the Dosanko Gals manga doesn’t really fit the show’s tone at all. The accused “censorship” in the anime was likely a creative choice made by the staff to preserve the show’s immersion, since anymore fanservice than the little we got would’ve been stupidly distracting and I’m glad they changed it.
By now, I hope it’s clear as to why I have mixed feelings about recommending Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi at all. There’s some decent story construction the despite harem shit, and the characters are likeable, but this is a manga adaptation at the end of the day. Meaning, there’s not going to be any serious catharsis or, god forbid, substantial progression with any of the relationships that fundamentally changes the status quo for the long term. And even if there is a second season, I doubt I’d want to watch it anyway. Because, according to many of the readers, the manga goes to shit for the next like fifty chapters or something which would be around 24-ish episodes. A recent review of the manga even suggested you should just skip a hundred chapters from some point early on until the manga gets back on track. The main reason you would want to watch the anime is to consume the good part of the manga with a pretty decent soundtrack, solid voice acting, and consistent character art (which the early part of the manga is SORELY lacks about from what I could tell at a glance). Even so, what made me decide to give this show a six is, funnily enough, the eleventh episode.
The visuals for Dosanko Gals was one of the main contributing factors depreciating my enjoyment, but episode 11, despite all odds, actually looks pretty decent; with one scene in particular having the best animation, storyboards, and digital compositing of the season. After a largely lukewarm reception from my end, I actually watched a scene that, without me overanalyzing and on its own merits, made me feel something. In the two months leading up to that episode’s airing, I largely spent the winter not feeling much of anything, with media being basically the only thing that connected me to the world. In many ways. I’d sunk to much lower emotional depth than I ever had prior, to the point where I couldn’t even muster up the energy to unnecessarily worry anymore. However, right before that episode aired, I’d just started to climb out of that pit where I thought I’d met the bottom, but I still felt this terrible weight on me. And while it’s not even in my favorite anime episodes, not even my favorite slice of life anime episodes, it was one of those few rare moments where a piece of art genuinely impressed me. A sacred moment, where despite watching 10 episodes of a show barely able to meet the standard of “kind of passable” and just inching over the finish line, crafted some moments where I was truly locked in to the character’s emotions, and could finally sense some gravitas from the show’s creative staff. It was like I was lifted out of my chair and into their world, and for the briefest of moments, I didn’t feel so heavy.
Maybe I was being dramatic or something, and maybe the episode wasn’t actually that crazy. But, at the very least I’ll remember this show for providing me with those few transient moments where I actually felt somewhat like me.
Or maybe I’m just a nerd.
Have a nice day.
