“Are We Being Followed?”
What They Say:
The teen romantic comedy follows the “indecipherable” daily life of short, quiet Reina Aharen and Raidō who sits next to her in class. Aharen is not so good at gauging the distance between people (or personal boundaries), and Raidō initially sensed some distance between the two of them. Then one day, when Raidō picked up the eraser that Aharen had dropped, the distance between them suddenly became uncomfortably close.
From “way too distant” to “way too close” … Aharen is simply unpredictable.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Aharen shows up to school all beat up. Whoa, what happened!? Did she get into a fight with delinquents!?!? Nah, probably not. But what if she did!? It turns out that she simply had something in her and constantly crashed into things on her way to school. Oh, well, that explains everything. She probably should have cleaned out her eye though. It’s a good thing Raido has some eye drops. Aharen should be fine…except that she’s terrible at applying eye drops herself. It seems her depth perception isn’t the best. It’s okay, Raido has got her back. What are friends for, right? Aharen repays the favor later in the day when Raido gets something in his eye. You can probably imagine how that went, haha.
But enough about Aharen’s hilariously bad depth perception! Raido has a feeling that they’re being watched. Everywhere he goes, he feels someone’s gaze. Even in the bathroom! Creepy. Does someone have something against him? He’s never done anything to warrant such hate…or has he? Raido thinks back on all the terrible things he has done in his life such as kicking a ball into someone’s flowers, not finishing his bread, and eating his sister’s pudding. What a monster! I’m not going to lie, this scene made me chuckle. Eventually, Raido discovers that his stalker is actually Aharen’s childhood friend, Oshiro. She thinks that he’s been preying on Aharen because she’s so cute. Clearly, there has been a misunderstanding. Oshiro also admits that she’s been hesitant to approach him because he has a scary face. Hey, that’s rude! Poor Raido. Aharen comforts him and explains that he’s not scary or a bad guy. Oshiro accepts this but still plans to observe Raido from a safe distance. So basically, nothing changes. She should probably stop spying on the poor guy, especially in the bathroom! Does she have no shame!?
Do you know what sucks? Having your fly down the entire day without noticing. Do you know what sucks more? Trying to tell that person that their zipper is down with no success. Yup, Aharen spent the whole day trying to get Raido to notice that his fly was down. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t she just tell him? No-brainer, right? Unfortunately, Aharen was sick on this particular day and couldn’t raise her voice at all. That means there was no way that Raido would be able to understand her. And thus, a hilarious day ensued. Aharen did everything she could to get Raido to notice his blunder but to no avail. You’d think at some point he’d realize it himself. By the way, Raido wears strawberry boxers. Fancy. At the very least, Aharen was able to protect Raido from embarrassment by covering it up in amusing ways. It’s only when he gets home that Raido is told by his sister that his fly has been down the entire day. How embarrassing! Hey, at least it was at home and not at school.
I almost forgot about Aharen’s friend, Oshiro! She’s still observing from a safe distance. In reality, she’s a bit jealous that Raido gets to hang out with her. She used to hang out with Aharen all the time. She needed to be protected! I can see that she doesn’t plan to stop stalking them any time soon. In a hilarious bit, it’s raining and Oshiro thinks Aharen hasn’t gone home because she forgot her umbrella. She constantly throws her umbrella near Aharen but she doesn’t take it. In fact, she thinks it’s cursed. I don’t blame her. Aharen doesn’t need an umbrella anyway because she had one all along. But now Oshiro doesn’t have one. Luckily for her, Aharen is willing to share with her. I guess we’ll call this a win for Oshiro since she got to walk home with Aharen in the rain.
In the after-credit scene, Aharen destroys Raido in Reversi. He didn’t technically lose, but we know what would have happened if the bell didn’t ring.
In Summary:
Get yourself a friend like Aharen who would die for you instead of letting anyone know your fly was down. Seriously, she suffered so much protecting him. But she made sure that no one saw his strawberry boxers! What a champ. I still find it funny that Raido never noticed, even when he went to the bathroom! I loved Aharen’s look of utter disappointment when she saw that Raido still had his fly down after leaving the bathroom. That entire bit was great. The eye drops gag was also fun. The Reversi scene after the credits had me rolling with laughter. I think Raido and Aharen’s relationship is progressing nicely. And lastly, Oshiro has no chill. Seriously, she doesn’t.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
