Dense anime protagonists, take note of Takeo’s initiative.
What They Say:
Ai, Sunakawa’s sister three years his senior, is shocked to learn during a home visit that Takeo is dating. Having secretly harbored feelings of her own for Takeo, Ai is suspicious of Takeo’s girlfriend and launches her own investigation…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Three episodes in, My Love Story!! gave us a solid couple that most such series wouldn’t get close to after a cour or two. From there we saw Takeo called upon to handle even more extreme life-or-death situations to show off how incredible he could be, as well as filling the series with some amusing camp that has existed in one form or another throughout most of its run thus far. Most importantly, that confirmed that Yamato is completely genuine in her opinions of Takeo, as she not only speaks so fondly of him to her friends but is extremely upset when she hears them speaking poorly of him. There’s still something she’s hiding, though, and Suna’s sister Ai pops up to bring this into question a bit more.
Ai appears to be the cool older sister archetype, three years older than the boys, but upon being introduced and learning of Takeo’s relationship, she immediately breaks down and makes her own feelings for Takeo known while also insisting that no other girl could possibly find any worth in him. With those thoughts in her mind, Ai joins the next date and examines Yamato’s character for herself, inquiring as to the source of the feelings each member of the couple has for the other. Yamato’s reactions make it all the clearer that there’s something left to be told, and everyone realizes it by then. Ai’s assumptions, combining the thoughts of the typical teenage girl conditioned to the societal standards of what kind of people belong together and a girl who wants to believe that she’s the only one right for the boy she loves, might’ve been possible, even if highly unlikely given what we had seen of Yamato from the first three episodes, if not for the previous episode’s confirmations of what she’s really like, so that was well-timed.
What’s most important in all of this, though, is that Takeo realizes that he’s dense all on his own, not only without anyone telling him but without anyone even knowing the truth behind what’s being kept secret (even the audience, although more accurate speculation can be made than what the characters have offered so far), and takes whatever steps he can think of to better himself in this regard. Countless anime star dense guys who have all the most obvious hints shoved down their throats throughout their entire series without thinking about it for a moment, so to have a character who initially seemed the most clueless think this deeply into what’s going on and what he’s missing for the sake of the girl he loves is, especially so quickly, is another example of what makes My Love Story!! so good, aside from being as cute as is possible. The fact that the second major female character to be introduced has also been in love with Takeo all along, even though she’s three years older and saw him throughout his much more pathetic childhood, calls to mind more standard formulas for such series, but so much of this one has been handled so masterfully that I imagine it will at the very least not turn into a full-blown, inconceivable harem story.
In Summary:
Takeo’s dense, but he knows it! That in itself makes him far less dense than most protagonists in his shoes, and his immediate instinct to do his best to see more of what’s below the surface continues to build on his character as a great one, and the big question is sufficiently intriguing.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
HP Envy 14.