Review: 'My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU'

Anime: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFUGenre: Romantic Comedy, Slice of Life, DramaAge Rating: Good for AllStudio: Brain's BaseMusic: MonacaAuthor: Wataru WatariDub/Sub: SubEcchi Level: Non-Existent

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Another anime discovered through Facebook clip shows. And what I saw in the clips pulled me into the anime, unfortunately. Right off the bat, I want to say that this isn't a bad anime. In fact, it's perfectly mediocre. But it had tons of potential with a plot line that it never really pursued. So, here's the rundown.

The main character is Hachiman Hikigaya, the kid in class that everyone ignores, and a protagonist who is uniquely one of the most self-deprecating characters I've ever seen in an anime. But he's forced to join this club by his middle-aged, attractive, and abusive principle...maybe? I don't remember it every really stating her role, so whatever. Anyway, in this club is Yukino Yukinoshita, the typical anime perfect girl who runs a club that helps people with stuff. Just...stuff, whatever they need help with. The premise is cool, but the limited amount of stuff they actually do with it is disappointing, on top of it being a slooow starter. It takes at least an episode or two before it really draws someone into its fold.

And to further compound on the disappointing and unintuitive nature, despite being a romantic comedy, there's barely any romance at all. Just the typical anime tropey bullshit where one character may like another character but will never admit it outright to them. However, back to the clips that drew me into the anime, enter Saika Totsuka. An androgynous little feminine boy from the tennis club who Hachiman practically falls head over heels for. And every time the young tennis prince is around, Hachiman swoons, which is fucking hilarious. I love the interactions between these two characters.

Now, this anime could have easily made a huge name for itself by adding more story between these two characters, however, it doesn't. Instead, we get to have more typical anime grumbling between Hachiman and Yukino, with Yui sometimes having jealous tendencies. It's the same anime stuff you've seen a hundred thousand times over with other characters in more interesting settings.

That being said, I did enjoy the series. I liked the characters, despite the fact that they're always unapologetic assholes to one another regardless of the situation. Some of the most drama intense situations in the entire show are ruined because of their need to be assholes to one another. Despite this, I still liked the characters enough to watch the rest of it. The writer did well to actually capture different personalities for most of the characters. As well as make an adorable little sister for Hachiman.

Honestly, the good parts in this show were too few and far between for me to recommend it to someone. If you're thinking about watching it, just know that I basically shrugged after it was over. I really hope another season will do this show justice.

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TLDR: Basically, the best scenes were scattered too far apart for this to be an amazing series. They should have made it a love story between Hachiman and Saika, and had the rest in the background. But this is what we've got, unfortunately. As it is, I would say to only watch it if your time can't be spent doing something better. I really hope they improve because they have good characters that could really make an amazing story.

RatingsAnimation: 5/10Music: 7/10Story: 7/10Comedy: 6/10Overall Rating: 6/10

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SPOILER TALK: Honestly, the Hachiman x Saika clips I saw on FB got me excited for an actual romance that never really happened. At most, Hachiman only daydreams about Saika, and never really acts on anything. I guess that'd be out of character, but it's still brutally disappointing. Saika, by the way, is probably my favorite character in the anime and is likely what drew me to watch it in the first place. Hopefully, they get some work done in season two.

Best Girl: Komachi Hikigaya. Honestly, I will almost always love the little sister characters the most, as long as they're not bitchy little drama queens. And Komachi isn't one at all. She's adorable and tries despite everything he says to get him hooked up. Rarely can a better sister be found. Rarely...