My Senpai is Annoying – Episode 1

Content Warning: some fanservice (boob jokes)

What’s it about? Igarashi Futaba is a hardworking salesperson who wants to be taken seriously, but she sometimes feels like her reliable co-worker, Takeda Harumi, treats her like a child.  Despite her mistakes at work, Harumi is a good superior to her and genuinely wants her to succeed at work, but it seems Futaba is starting to have deeper feelings for her annoying senpai.

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Okay, here’s the thing.  If I close my eyes and pretend Futaba doesn’t exist, then there really isn’t anything wrong with this show.  It’s a fairly simple and quirky office series with no notable characters except for vodka lady (I love her) and Harumi, since he’s so big and jolly.  This series has all the ingredients to be a competent feel-good office anime, but it’s immediately soured when I have to acknowledge the fact that Futaba exists.

To be fair (I’m being generous here), Futaba is a sweet girl and wants to do her job well, BUT the fact that she looks like a literal child is so distracting that it’s impossible for me to relate to her adult troubles.  There is a huge difference between being a short person or even someone who looks young for their age and looking like a child, so I don’t want to hear that excuse in the comment section.  I seriously don’t understand why she couldn’t be made to look even slightly more like an actual adult? Have we forgotten that we had a perfectly good office rom-com a few years ago? (I’m talking about Wotakoi).  Why can’t we have nice things like that? 

It doesn’t help that that show continues to reinforce the fact that she looks like a child and also acts like one most of the time.  Even Harumi admits the reason he looks out for her so much is because he sees her like a child and can imagine his future daughter looking exactly like her.  I wish their relationship would remain professional, but the series is committed to developing a romance between the two of them (which given the line I just mentioned, GROSS). 

It’s important to remember that the narrative constantly compares Harumi’s fully grown adult body to Futaba’s body, which makes it incredibly uncomfortable to root for them as a couple, especially knowing the implied nuances to their relationship (YUCK). I really hate lolicon characters and frankly, I don’t have the energy to get into that discourse; just know that I hate it exists at all. 

 The side characters aren’t worth mentioning, but based on the ending credits it looks like another love story is waiting to happen–if only it wasn’t soured by zoning in on the woman’s employee’s boobs and treating it as a joke.  I could go on a long hate rant, but I think it’s best that I stop here.  

This show is a NO for me.