What’s it about? Nukumizo Kazuhiko is in a coffee shop dreaming of what it would be like to fall in love when he sees a drama playing out in front of him: Yanami Anna gets dumped by her crush in favor of a new girl. He was not supposed to see that–-and now, Anna needs him to hold all her messy feelings and secrets about this situation. And these feelings are messy.
This show is so, so beautifully animated. While it may not have the surreal visual pyrotechnics of the director’s previous work as an episode director on Kaguya-sama, Kitamura Shōtarō injects an infectiously goofy and creative energy into the character animation, making even the potato-kun protagonist fun to watch. Whether they are turning into wavy noodles or bouncing back and forth as they walk, the way the characters move is creative, engaging, and hilarious.
What’s even better is that the animation actually meaningfully contributes to the characterization, in particular our female lead Yanami Anna. She is a mess. She steals food off Kazuhiko’s plate, agrees to make him bento and then gives him a giant block of rice, and, most egregiously, takes a sip from her love interest’s drink right after he breaks things off with her just so she can get one last indirect kiss.
Anna’s messiness is interesting from a feminist perspective–she simultaneously has come to view all the other girls as her competition, even dividing them neatly into “childhood friends” and “homewreckers” (love interest boys’ new girlfriends), a Madonna-whore dichotomy if I have ever heard one. While this framing and the “girls be fighting” gender essentialism underneath it would be concerning in a less well-written show, Anna’s behavior undermines it tremendously—can you really be the perfect childhood friend when you are clearly a selfish, thirsty disaster girl? This is clearly intended as ironic satire of the tropes in typical anime rom-coms, with strong potential to disrupt the sexist assumptions behind them.
I was concerned at first that all the girls here would be pitted against each other, but it is looking like the show instead could be preparing for all the “losing heroines” to band together to get their boys back. My hope is that this allows the show to explore relationships between girls beyond just competition or boy-thirst.
I would also be okay, however, if the show just used this as a way to introduce us to more girl failures who we can enjoy watching scheme and scream about their situations. It is interesting in this context that Anna does not seem to be actively trying to sabotage the relationship of the new couple––I definitely do not think that the show would necessarily worse if the girls go into full-on bad friend manipulator mode, but it would be walking a fine line given the show’s pre-existing gestures towards gender essentialism.
It’s worth noting that the many-bow-tied “heroines” are definitely the stars of this show. (So many bow ties.) While the animation does a lot to make the protagonist engaging to watch, he is still a potato-kun compared to the girls. That being said, even his boilerplate monologues didn’t ruin the show for me, and he wasn’t an actively bad person. (This is no Araragi situation). There is the potential for this to turn into a harem show, given all the girls just got dumped, but I don’t foresee that happening soon.
This show is an example of just how much strong animation and adaptation can elevate even the most banal of premises. Sometimes, execution really matters! I hope that more shows can take a cue from Makeine and create a true integration between content and form.
And, honestly, I just wanna get to know moe fang sensei. She seems fun and relatable.
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.