Reviews for Sing "Yesterday" for Me

This is a show about a bunch of permanent adolescents who whine and bitch about stupid shit they shouldn’t be whining and bitching about anymore, and they do so all whilst acting like the petty elements of their lives which they’re whining and bitching about are actually mature in their complexity and worthy of deep contemplation. Ultimately, this show is either one of two things: a very young, amateur author’s idea of what adults’ emotional tribulations look like, or a cynical ploy by a very intelligent author who knows exactly how to pander to impressionable audiences and trick teenagers into watching a show by presentingit as being more high-minded than it actually is. Your ability to relate to the show on any given occasion is predicated on whether or not you’re a fucking crybaby, which would honestly be fine if all the characters were petulant little brats, but they’re not, at least not physically. They’re (petulant little) young adults...right? Is that not the selling point of the show? Because I forgot as it dragged on, and the show refused to remind me, because despite the fact all the concurrent events have the characters in their twenties, every plot-relevant detail to the drama is drama which took place in their highschool and college years—which, if nothing else, is the true marketing genius of the show: giving young viewers adult characters to project themselves onto yet also keeping the ideas at hand simple enough for even a toddler to lament.

The main guy is a loser who never came to terms with being a loser, and seeing as he had no reason to become genuinely, seriously depressed, he just became a gloomy incel who works as a convenience store cashier to get by with his shoebox apartment. Despite having no human worth whatsoever, he still holds feelings for his college idol who’s ninety lightyears out of his league—but wait! Her being above this guy in every way and the two having zero chemistry isn’t the real issue, the real issue is she herself held feelings for someone else, that someone else died, and she can’t get over him and move on. Then there’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl, a highschooler who breaks down the awkwardness between the two by turning the whole thing into a contrived love triangle where no one is actually in love with the right person because drama. Main Guy likes Tragic Heroine but that can’t happen because she’s held back by Dead Plot Device Boyfriend; Tragic Heroine insists she likes no one despite constantly leading on Main Guy and giving Manic Pixie Dream Girl the idea she has a rival; and Manic Pixie Dream Girl herself likes Main Guy because she borderline stalked him after they had one single human interaction which was so insignificant, he literally forgot it happened between them. There’s more characters, of course, like Seemingly Asexual Best Bro or Anti-Romance Younger Sibling, but if you’re looking for a character which can’t be permanently defined by an archetype you’ve seen too often to count, you’ll find yourself very much out of luck.

The show tries to come across as down-to-earth and relatable by keeping things quiet, but seeing as no character has even the thinnest shred of a personality, the plodding nature of the show just comes across as torturously boring, and that’s not even mentioning how much the set-up itself utterly butchers everything which it’s blatantly attempting to rip-off. If any facet of the concept sounded familiar to you, it’s probably because it is familiar. It unabashedly steals dramatic pretexts from genre staples like Maison Ikkoku and Welcome to the NHK and keeps forcing together this bizarre concoction of unoriginal plot devices out of their bastardized elements until the monstrosity that’s left can actually stand and walk on its own two feet, even if it’s less of a walk and more of a drunken stumble through meaningless interactions, trite conversations, and an absolutely depressing lack of any lasting character development whatsoever. Like, it couldn’t be content with just being vapid, it had to then go and reel people in with dramatic familiarity and unfounded nostalgia only to outright disrespect them, seeing as the price of admission for relating to this cardboard cutout of a show on any given occasion is your ability to project your real feelings onto the fake ones this show instates upon its non-characters for the sole purpose of killing time: both its and yours. A worthless coming of age starring individuals who should’ve already done so which glorifies the fact they have yet to.

Which I suppose is the one and only silver lining to this pathetic realization of a fundamentally hackneyed script, because if you take it to be intentional, you could then make the argument it is, indeed, actually the thematic heart and soul of the work. “The Asuka in your head and the Asuka in hers.” Shinseiki Evangelion described this dynamic ingeniously over two decades ago, and while I think comparisons to one work are not valid criticism for another, I also think watching three uncharismatic assholes project their emotions on one another until they’re all caught up in this maddening downwards spiral of melodramatic nausea and childish misunderstandings which don’t even resolve themselves over the course of twelve full episodes of TV anime is the dictionary definition of hell on Earth, and if that’s your idea of engaging media, then my review will be of no use to you. This show is cold, hard proof the current generation—Gen Z, Millennials, Zoomers, whatever you want to say—is so pathetically coddled, their immaturity has effectively pushed back the age at which teen melodrama can be acceptably portrayed in media. It repurposed elements from more mature and meaningful works as a vehicle to deliver on a product not only inferior and worth no one’s time, but a product which is so mind-numbingly juvenile, the stolen elements cease to even reach their intended audience any longer, and do little more than add to the already towering mountain of melodrama. While it’s easily Doga Kobo’s most beautifully animated project in years, it’s just as easily their most unenjoyable project since ever.

Thank you for reading.

[Spoiler Alert] Never in my life have I felt so angry, depressed, displeased, irritated, and resentful as when watching this anime. It's the first time that this has happened and all because of a girl. It was not because of the hatred I felt towards her, but instead of love. The love that I had for her is not something that a mere being like me can express as she deserves but it doesn't matter, I know it's there. Yes, I'm talking about Haru Nonaka - an 18-years-old girl whose only desire was to be loved. Did you know her Height is 153cm and Weight 42kg? Youprobably have forgotten about that but surely I haven't. I remembered that since the first time she said it to Rikuo. The latter barely gave a shit even though, when "realistically" speaking he should have. People think "realistic" means stuff that might happen in the real world too, but without realizing everything we know is not that real, to begin with. What it really means is the way you envision it to be.

So, to make it fair I visualized myself as the main character and according to me, I'd instantly fall in love with Haru. Remember when in the first couple of minutes of the first episode Haru shows up and asks for a bento? Asking for such a thing, a cute girl with a voice of an Angel would surely make anyone fall in love. Unfortunately, in this abomination of an anime that didn't happen because the protagonist is an incompetent homunculus. He is by far the worst thing of the entire anime. Because of his inability to see through people's feelings (something he should be able to do with ease), he has made suffer over and over again Haru but the worst thing about this is that he never realized that.

When Haru said to Shinako that she wasn't going to lose to her, I immediately knew that the latter was going to be a pain in the ass. Which it turns out she was. Shinako (the main villain of the series) is the girl who had told Rikuo several times that she didn't want to date him and that they were just friends. The truth is, because of the contrived writing that doesn't turn out to be the case since you know, Rikuo has spent more time with Shinako rather than Haru, you know, the promised girl. In all of this, it also turns out Shinako has loved somebody else but in the present storyline, he is dead. As Rikuo wasn't enough to have gotten manipulated by Shinako, it also turns out she has also manipulated his once lover's little brother which it turns out, he loves Shinako, because of course, he does. Of course.

It's all confusing that serves nothing but to make Haru suffer, just for the sake of it. Is like, why? Shinako rejected Rikuo many times, yet, the two still meet but not as friends but rather as... I guess lovers? For the lack of a better term, I'll go with that. In the continuity of the story, it doesn't make any sense and it shouldn't have gone that way at all. I don't think there's anything else to talk about since it's the same stuff. Only misunderstandings that aim to solely wound Haru. Everything goes like that and It's repellent. It sickens me.

As for the finale - I would be lying if I said that I'm not happy for Haru ending up with Rikou, but there's a big NO here. There was little to no development here. It should have been more development on the two's relationship for that to work. What I saw was futile. Not worthy but Haru was at least lovely, so there's that. Still giving 1 for all the suffering Haru has gone through, though.

I'm sorry for continuously repeating "Haru" but goddammit if that's frustrating. Don't you think that way as well? You don't? It's fine - yet every time I see her being left alone, my soul gets empty. I can't avoid that. Do I really have fallen in love with her? Huh, it seems so.

Life is complicated, especially when it comes to love. Who do we have feelings for, are they enough for a close and familiar relationship or is it more of a friendly nature? This anime focuses on these aspects and presents them in everyday situations that can also be imagined in real life. Yesterday wo Utatte was one of the most hyped series for the Spring season in 2020, so let's take a closer look at it: STORY: Friendzone or more? Many of us have already gotten into this situation. If the feeling of love is only one-sided, even friendship is in danger. Our protagonist Rikuo is also affectedby this and experiences how difficult and uncomfortable it can be. Initially without big goals and dreams, he continues to develop with the help of his friends. He really loves his old college female friend Shinako but she had a sad past and lost the person she loves the most. She isn't sure about her future...in the meantime we also get to know Haru, our energetic and happy girl. She loves Rikuo and is willing to do everything for him. Also Haru had a hard past where she dropped out of school even. But in the end it doesn't matter how hard or uncomfortable the past was, whether old love reappears, the most important question is how the future looks like. Where do I get the motivation to change my life? Our protagonists must also ask themselves all these important questions.

CHARACTERS:

The characters play an enormously important role for love relationships, they are the absolute main aspect. Without being able to understand their thoughts and actions, this anime would not have succeeded. The nice thing is that you can put yourself in the role of the characters. We can understand their joy and their pain very well. We experience how they develop, set new goals and all of that step by step. Love relationships are complicated, but every person wants to love and be loved.

ART:

The environment gives you a very idyllic, but also realistic feeling. Every single scene was presented as it could be in real life: from the houses, buildings to the decoration in the rooms, everything was very well thought out. The expressions and emotions of the character also come out well. Not even the smallest detail has been forgotten.

SOUND:

Nowadays we experience not many animes that do not have an OP. "Yesterday wo Utatte" is one of the few exceptions. After a short opening scene where we normally expect the opening song, it is left out. In the beginning maybe a little unusual, but suitable for this anime. During the episode everything was well thought and even the smallest detail are presented perfectly: We hear quiet engine noises during a dialogue in the background, we can hear their emotions from the characters' voices, even the pouring of water sounds like in reality. Perfect ED songs complete the whole thing. The lyric of these are suitable for the feelings and also the music is tuned accordingly.

ENJOYMENT:

After the first episode, this anime got my full attention. The everyday situation, a complicated love affair, all of this captivates the viewer. Everyone wants to know what's going on. Where does the journey of our characters go, who gets together with whom ... the anime answers all these questions a little more with each episode. One or the other will probably ask herself/himself what she/he would have done in such a situation.

BUT!!! Without spoilering anything, it can be said that 12 Episodes is definitely not enough to cover the whole plot. A rushed ending can give you a very unsatisfying feeling.

All in all, I recommend everyone to give this anime a try, even if you might not like such genres in general. With all its good aspects, "Yesterday wo Utatte" will surely get your attention.

I don’t usually give of a review this early into a series, but since I can tell how things will sort of along the episodes I feel a need to give my honest opinion regarding my current and future expectations of what will come out of this show. Once I saw the Seinen and Slice of Life tags I was hopeful. Finally a show that will approach the unpredictable waves of life, It’s always a nice fresh air to watch something different after a long journey of constant Isekai binge-watching. Our main character is Rikuo. Rikuo like many people around this times faces a lack of ambition.This lack of ambition makes him work at a convenience store, a place where usually part timers, make money for college. He has a degree, but won’t go forward with life, and settles for the routine to keep him from getting hurt. One of his enjoyments in life was his crush, which he never confessed to because he also lacked the sense of worth.

After a while dealing with monotony, his former girl friend crush appears once again on his life, and also a quirky younger girl that apparently knows him from somewhere. Rikuo is faced with the past and the future when he can’t even settle himself in the present.

We later find that Rikuo, Shinako and Haru even though they are in different life situations have trouble dealing with the past. Dropping school, having a respectful job or having an ‘’embarrassing’’ job, no matter how it looks in today’s society, doesn’t matter since we all are human and we all are emotionally scarred by personal fears.

Yesterday wo Utatte set a high bar for me since the beginning. The saturated color palette, the realistic vision of the main character really got to me. I was expecting a rough, bittersweet journey of this show, like a journey of a person finding its meaning on the world. This vision fell down right quick after I acknowledge the deception.

Even though the thematic is interesting, new and rather useful for people who actually can relate with any of the characters, the fact that the romance is the motivation of their change is kind of ridiculous in my opinion. Realistically, it isn’t love that solves your lack of ambition, a grievance or a sense of miss. It may help but, it’s all about how YOU deal with it by yourself.

I don’t like this approach, and I can tell there is going to be love triangles and clichés, which are a turnoff since I am about the age of the supposed adults and they still act like teenagers. I just wished this show went in another direction.

This is a modern coming of age story focused on 4 individuals who are trying (and struggling) to find direction in their lives. It's a story about relationships, the various circumstances in which they can take root, and the ways they blossom, pitifully, and beautifully. While watching this anime, every other line of dialogue just seems to hit way too close to home, and there is enough character development by the end of every episode to make you feel like you've watched an entire season. This is one of the most grounded series I've watched-- no frills, no gimmicks, just silent, heavy realism. Story: (10/10) The plotflows naturally like everyday life, without any apparent purpose. But it is in these normal interactions that these characters shine-- growing, and learning about themselves. It truly feels like a mirror into real life, the brooding thoughts, the huffs of anticipation, the silent insecurities ... they're all reminiscent of some of the most difficult thoughts we have from within the depths of love.

Characters: (10/10) Oh, but love is messy. People are messy. The reasons we give others and deceive ourselves with ... can at times make perfect sense, and still make no sense at all. The characters in this series are complex. They deceive themselves, and contradict themselves. They are inscrutable and yet ... painfully familiar.

Art: (8/10) You really need to focus on the backgrounds, which set up the perfect ambiance for every scene. The muted color palette, the camera angles, it's all exquisitely executed.

Sound: (10/10) Again, perfectly sets up the ambiance. This series is light on the music, and whatever music there is, is sparse-- to really make you focus on the dialogue between the characters, adding just the perfect amount of garnish to the emotions of the scene. In addition, there is incredibly realistic and well-engineered background noise that immerses you in the characters' surroundings: the mellow whistle of the winter breeze, the birds chirping in the distance, the incidental rustle of dry leaves. Ughhh it gives me shivers like I'm practically there, eavesdropping on these heartfelt conversations.

Enjoyment: (10/10) If you haven't realized by now, I *really* freaking enjoy this show, lol.

Overall: (10/10) tldr; Watch it. Give it just 1 episode, 2 max, and I assure you, you will be drawn in

This is not the usual anime. Whose destination where you find fun and enjoyment in watching, essentially for inexperienced people. It's more like a long serious novel you don't find in your everyday anime, which their purpose was to move adults emotionally-- in the case of telling a great story of how several characters grow in their minority to adulthood. The coming-of-age narrative "Sing Yesterday for Me" tells a story about a young man with little ambitions in life after college, who works at a convenience store in order to make a living. Story: 9 "You have nothing to hurt people or to be hurt by.You lie, you play along with what people say, and have a BS life." Beautiful, yet bittersweet emotions. The story can typically be summed up by announcing that it's regarding a love quadrangle. There are two young men and two young women, just springing out in life after school, and we accompany them as they try to determine who will marry who and what each will do as a profession. Not simple for them. The writing is very emotionally resonant It captures past adolescence so painfully well. There will be moments where characters will throw out a random line and without obtaining a significant opportunity out of it you imagine "Damn. That hits way too close to home." Each episode in this anime has been so deposited in substance it feels like you've gone through a complete season in just 15 minutes.

"You seem pretty evasive about life. Do you think you'd look dumb if you were a tryhard? You're just self-deprecating to give yourself a way out, aren't you? So that you won't get hurt, no matter where the chips fall."

Art: 8

Doga Kobo does a great job of animating from manga to anime. The art is given a fascinating feel to it. Every episode that I watch, I enjoy the scenery and the landscapes. What caught my attention the most, is that the animation made it worth watching. And you should too.

Sound: 8

The actors are pretty capable and no one does badly. The opening is really good. The ending is really good as well. The opening for sure is a song that I cannot skip. One day, it will be iconic. The ending theme song really caught my consideration.

Character: 9

Without the characters, this anime wouldn't be the same. The adult who feels raw, depressing emotion in his past adolescence.

Uozumi Rikuo: The main character who has little to no ambitions in life after graduating from college as a student. He has a love for photography. Working part-time at a convenience store to pay off his rent and supplies to maintain his health.

Enjoyment: 8

I enjoyed every part of the anime. By the end of the first episode, I was already 100% invested. This is an unconditionally exquisite production and I'm thoughtfully astounded that after all the cute girl shows that Doga Koba is known for, they've instantly attained their time to shine with depressed adults do existential crisis matters.

Overall: 8

There are still some flaws in this anime. This anime falls in its own spot. This is definitely not the best anime that I've personally seen, but this anime depicts such raw human emotions that any adult that enjoys anime would watch for sure. In summary, this is a remarkably descriptive depiction of earnest adolescent Japanese people as they pass through the most significant beginning degree of their experiences.

Do I recommend this anime? Yes, by all means, please watch this anime whenever you get the chance to.

I love seinen and shoujo anime, so when I heard about this one, I had pretty high hopes for it. It felt like it was going to be something unique from this season, and being named after a song by the great musician Paul McCartney? Even better. Yet, it was my biggest disappointment in this season. I forced myself to keep watching to see if it would get better, but well, it didn't. Giving it a 3 because it wasn't completely trash to be hateful, just disappointing. The idea of this show, as they said, is to be "slow-paced", but it feels more like dead-paced. The charactershave no development, their arcs have no sense and the story goes nowhere.

Take Rikuo, the protagonist: He has no will in life, doesn't get over Shinako, whom he had a crush on during college and works on a job he hates. This is a good starting point, and when he got rejected by Shinako and later decided to take Haru's picture I thought his story would be about valuing the people around him. But after 5 episodes (during those we also had a timeskip), what changed? Not his life, nor his mind. We have no further characterization from him, and all he does during this time is mistreating Haru, the girl who likes him.

His crush, Shinako, is equally boring and annoying. Her entire story is about mourning a friend, and that would be reasonable if he wasn't dead for 7-8 years already. And as expected, nothing changes about her besides her hair during the time the story covers. Everything she does is about her dead boyfriend, everything reminds her of him, like Rou, his younger brother and the one who should be suffering the most from his death.

The problem with Rikuo and Shinako is that their stories are too heavy to be introduced so soon. We are supposed to care about them, yet we have no motives for it. The reason why some anime with drama manage to be good (like Sangatsu no Lion, ERASED, Bunny Girl or even battle-shounens like Mob Psycho) is because we first know the characters and their goals, we like them, and then we feel it when something bad happens to them. This doesn't work with two characters who have no personality, no goals nor a reason to care about them.

All we know about Rikuo is that he is childish, annoying, treats people poorly and mistreats his friends, people who have been nothing but kind with him. He is worse than the "Welcome to NHK" protagonist (from where most of the basis of this anime came from) as he is a terrible person. And he is supposed to be a "self-insert" protagonist representing Japanese young adults, and it's ridiculous to think that in real life a girl would like and insist that much on someone that is not interesting, has zero qualities and doesn't have a good appearence either. He deserves way less than the life he is living.

Shinako has no personality. She is not a "punching bag" but a wet cloth, you twist it and tears come out. All she does is crying, all her scenes are supposed to be dramatic, but at the second of the one hundred times it's used it becomes tiring to watch. Every time she appears you care about her even less.

The best one of the main characters might be Haru, designed to be the optimistic, energic best girl of the crew. Her contrasting with the rest of the boring, undeveloped trash cast was one of the reasons I managed to watch it for so long. I was expecting Haru to be the wild card of the series, the one who was actually going to be developed and be a good character. Yet, she ends up having the same destiny as the rest. Rikuo mistreats her for months, yet she continues to be in love with him. She realizes what he does, knows he is a bad person and that she could be with someone better when Minato asked her out, but she doesn't change.

A shame, because maybe if she left Rikuo the story could change and actually progress. She had so much potential, but they decide to stuck her in a toxic relationship, which is also a dead-paced story.

The entire anime has no pace, no progress, all the episodes do a full 360º, they end right where they began.

In other aspects, the animation is good and I have no problem with it. Yet, the character design is mediocre as all the male cast (besides Rikuo's co-worker) have the same appearence. I already had a problem trying to separate Rikuo from Rou from something besides the hairclip, then Rou's brother appeared in a flashback looking exactly like him, and also his teacher, who I first thought as Rikuo. In episode 5 we also met Minato, that is basically Rikuo with a short beard.

There is no OP, but the ED song is great, maybe the best thing of this whole anime.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, not even seinen or shoujo fans such as myself. The flaws are too much to take the interactions and sad scenes seriously and there is no plot.

It reminds me of My Little Monster, as the story there also goes nowhere. People like to say that drama is like this, a dead-paced nonsense full of boringness, but I guess they never actually saw any other drama on their lives, or at least not good ones.

To be honest, I did not expect anything from this anime, nor did I plan to write a review, but now I know I should write one. At first, I thought it would be some kind of usual slice of life anime with a bit of drama (or sadness) as anyone would've probably imagined. But then, I realized that I was wrong. The story of this anime is just so realistic. Not too much, nor too ordinary. So realistic, yet so mysterious, I don't know why I kept on watching. It started pretty much decent, then as more episodes went by, it became something else, likemore stories (and secrets) were revealed, and made me all curious. I ended up guessing all sorts of stuff, but each time I guessed, the stories kept running like they opposed all of my speculations, so I don't know what to expect next. And in my opinion, that's what makes this anime exceptional.

Another thing was, normally an anime would just end each episode with something that makes the audience curious about what will happen in the next episode, right? But it's not the case with Yesterday wo Utatte. Each episode somehow ends with a peaceful conclusion, but for me, it's what makes me get all curious about what'll happen next. The peaceful conclusions give me a better mood to continue to the next episode.

All in all, I'm looking forward to the next episodes of this Yesterday wo Utatte. And to any of you who's still stopping by to think whether or not you should watch this anime, please, do watch, and don't stop after the first episode. Watch until the 5th episode, and decide by then. You won't regret.

Yesterday wo Utatte is an anime that had great potential, but unfortunately wasted it. When I saw its premise, I immediately felt a strong sense of connection to it. It's been more than a year since I graduated from college, and the show reflects the uncertainty I've felt about the future recently. Not everyone will find their success story immediately once they set foot on the real world. Feeling like you're in limbo during the time between graduation and employment is normal. Perhaps, these are just assurances to comfort me as I’ve been stuck in one place for a while now. Watching the first fewepisodes made me reflect if I made any real progress in life as an adult. It made me root for Rikuo's character, hoping things get better for him eventually. The show could've been an emotionally compelling coming-of-age story about overcoming obstacles that adult life brings. Instead, it ended up being a complicated romance story with mixed results.

Even if the show didn't end up going for the coming-of-age route, I became invested in the romance. Rikuo finds himself stuck between two women that showed interest in him. One of them is Haru, who is the eccentric yet cheerful type that has a massive crush on Rikuo. The other one is Shinako who Rikuo has a crush on ever since they were classmates back in college. To make things more complicated, we also have Rou who's in love with Shinako even though they are childhood friends. The show does a decent job initially in exploring each character's backstory and making the audience understand their train of thought. I honestly didn't care who will end up with who as long as enough time is given to flesh out their characters. The show's focus on romance was starting to get the justification it deserved until it got ruined with one logistical decision that led to its downfall.

As the show progressed around the halfway mark, it started to have a noticeable drop in quality with each episode. They no longer have the same impact as the earlier episodes. It felt like a long period had passed between episodes, and the show's continuity suffered because of that. I soon discovered that a lot of content from the manga were skipped over, and most of them are considered crucial to the story's progression. New episodes would have developments that startled me and made me wonder if I wasn't paying enough attention to the previous episode. The characters' actions started to make less sense, and I still tried to connect the dots despite that. It's almost like Doga Kobo was in a rush to conclude the whole thing, which is a disappointing move that even the extras that are supposed to fill in the gaps couldn't remedy.

I can't help but feel that this anime could've been way better as I reached the final episode. It started extremely well, began to lose focus, and ended up with a conclusion that didn't feel earned. The main characters didn't get the proper exploration that they deserved. Every major decision they make doesn't feel justified later because the show starts to make less effort to help us understand what made them reach that decision. They all feel like the same flawed person they were at the start. They deserve to be more than that because they feel like real people. At least, their interactions made it feel that way, whether it's those moments of awkward silence or sudden outbursts of emotion. If there's anything that I got from watching this show, it made me want to read its manga. I want to know what the story would be like untarnished by the limits of an adaptation. I want to learn more about the characters and understand them better. I want to forget the bitter aftertaste this anime gave me after pinning such high hopes on it.

Spoilers for the story’s end in the last paragraph - because everyone deserves to know what a vomit-inducing ending it is. “What if we took Welcome to the N.H.K. and bastardized it into pure wish-fulfillment? We’ll earn millions!” The isekai LN title of this series would be “I’m the most dull, unremarkable, and devoid of appeal ‘literally me’ MC in existence, yet I’m inexplicably beta-orbited by an underaged manic pixie dream girl and an inexplicably single 9/10 woman in her prime.” In case you don’t like isekai LN titles and prefer comparisons to the previously seen shows, NHK ni Youkoso! is a perfect one. Imagine NHK. But insteadof a mentally ill shut-in, Sato is just a nondescript part-timer schmuck. And instead of the troubled characters with deep backgrounds, Misaki and Senpai are just wish-fulfillment waifus. And instead of the bizarre, eccentric and cringy story arcs - nothing happens. In other words, imagine NHK but entirely devoid of depth, fun, or identity.

Yesterday wo Utatte is an insanely frustrating show to watch because it’s not awful consistently. Despite being full of the massive red flags that scream “this is garbage, drop it without finishing a single episode,” it occasionally manages to have a genuinely poignant moment of drama that would be great in a better show not ruined by its awful premise and awful characters. No, “occasionally” isn’t the right word - that’s literally how every episode is structured. They follow the pattern of the first 15 minutes of nothing that leaves you all the time in the world to ponder how terrible this series is and what are you even doing with your life, followed by the 5 minutes of decent drama. Yeah, here is a wise saying: if you mix 5 barrels of wine with 15 barrels of mud you’ll get “don’t fucking watch this show, it’s bad.”

Since the characters are the main issue, I’ll elaborate on those:

Rikuo is what happens when you make your characters out of the TVTropes quotes. Here: “A soulful, brooding male hero, living a sheltered, emotionless existence. If only someone could come along and open his heart to the great, wondrous adventure of life.”

Haru is by far the worst thing about the entire show. You know how some characters, say, Haruhi get called a Manic Pixie Dream Girl just for being quirky and female? Not the case. She fits the definition of MPDG to a “t” - an assertive eccentric girl with wild hair and a pet raven that has no goals, agenda or purpose beyond attaching herself to the male protagonist. That’s unironically her entire character - her life is empty so she pursues the MC just to have some meaning in it (which doesn’t explain why she pursues this particular wet noodle). She’s so awful, the moments where she is being emotionally hurt are by far the most enjoyable moments in the show for me (and there is no shortage of those since Rikuo treats her like furniture). Also, she’s 18 y. o. because this is anime and you can’t have anime without a JK (the MC is 25 y. o.).

Shinako is the protagonist’s former classmate who kinda liked him in the past and now they’ve met again by chance. I wasn’t joking about the whole NHK comparison. And the comparison makes the biggest problem with her glaringly obvious - there is a snowball's chance in hell a woman like this wouldn’t be married or swarmed by dozens of potential suitors at this point of her life. That’s just not how it works. Senpai in NHK was married despite being an absolute mess - because that one is a well written story. Shinako here is not because this one is not. I mean, she has a half-decent story reason for staying single - but that doesn’t explain why every single male acquaintance doesn’t try to ask her out or why she spends all of her free time beta-orbiting a boring fucking nobody.

Rou is basically a male clone of Haru in a sense that they’re both teens unhealthily beta-orbiting a much older person that treats them like a piece of furniture. Outside of that his personality is that he has a safety pin for an earring.

There is also that one flirty shoulder-length-middle-parted-blond-hair-with-a-hairband guy that I swear I’ve seen in 50 shows before, even though I can’t recall his name in any of them. He’s not relevant or anything, I just want to point out a trite cliche.

That’s really all there is to it - the main characters all kinda make sense in a vacuum. What doesn’t make sense is why these 9-10/10 women would be throwing themselves onto this 4/10 man and how fucking dumb the show thinks I am if it expects me to not question this masturbatory fantasy of a premise? Literally just replace the MC of the story with Satou Tatsuhiro (i.e. a loser that is at least distinct enough to tell him apart from a potato sack) and this will instantly become a barely watchable poor man’s NHK, instead of an unwatchable morally hazardous shlock.

And now, the ending:

So, yeah, the manic pixie dream girl “wins” - after the MC first dates the actual woman for a while and then breaks up with her and decides, “Guess I’ll go for the back-up now, it’s not like that tool has anything to do besides waiting until I whistle.” They meet, kiss and the series treats it like a happy end. But not before actually lampshading what a piece of shit the MC is for doing that. Hey, author-san, just because you acknowledge a thing is horrible doesn’t mean you get a free pass to do that exact thing and frame it like a happy end. Go fuck yourself.

2/10 for “degeneracy.”

I lost my dad when I was 15 to prostate cancer. Growing up without a father during some of the most important times in a boy’s life is hard. Whereas most people would turn to their fathers for advice and help with relationships, life, decisions, etc. I instead turned to anime/light novels/manga. One of the mangas that has been the most influential in my life and development since my father’s passing was Yesterday wo Utatte. A tale about unrequited love, the struggles of adulthood, the pain of loss and learning to accept the way things are. Needless to say, when I heard that the animewas in production I was ecstatic. DG have always been a favourite studio of mine due to their success in the CGDCT department, but they’ve also made more serious shows that taught me life lessons like Plastic Memories.

YwU is another impressive entry into their already solid line up with stunning visuals, life like animation and masterful direction that makes you forget you’re watching anime and feels very real. In fact, speaking of removing the anime-y feel, the series has no OP which I believe was a great touch and enhances the experience.

The story is a relatable one. We’ve all had crushes in uni/hs and wondered how things would go if we reconnected with them. We’ve all had unrequited love, we’ve all done things that go against our best interest, and we’ve all felt lost in life. These are very human things. We are by nature, irrational. YwU does an amazing job of capturing the complexities of human emotions and crafting an engaging narrative.

The seiyuu castings for all of the characters are perfect as well. For me, seiyuus are quite important. They can make or break my experience with a show and in this case, they made it. The older I get, the more I struggle to deal with the traditional high pitched squealish anime voices and much prefer the deeper, more realistic tones which this show features.

To avoid rambling(I could go on and on about how much I love this), suffice to say YwU was, in my opinion, anime of the season. While it takes some rather large shifts from the manga, the story remains every bit as emotional, educational and thought provoking. For me, a masterpiece. Yesterday wo Utatte gets 10 crows out of 10.

edit: allow me to point out that like me, others here have written their first ever MAL review solely for this show. If the frustration factor is enough to bring some people out of the woodwork, take this as a warning: first few episodes are totally swell, then it turns to unmitigated crap. I went into this show with not only zero expectations but zero knowledge. I literally only began watching this because there's a VA I like in this; I had absolutely no concept of what this would be whatsoever. Point being, my review is as much an assessment of the show as it standson it own as possible, free of external bias. This is also my first and probably only review, but I need to vent about the failed opportunity and enraging character choices. This will contain spoilers because it must.

The short version is this: it doesn't go anywhere and it wanders all over the place. It seems entertaining at first, but it isn't. Nothing fucking happens, and characters do things with no motivations. When the motivations are there, you don't know WHY they're there. It's meant to be a serious, somewhat slow presentation of adult relationships and the complexities/problems that arise when these form between people who are or feel aimless and searching for a purpose. That's totally fine. What isn't fine is that the characterization, or lack thereof, becomes insufferable, and this show is about nothing *other* than characters and their interactions. They had one job and they've failed. As such, I will only be focusing on the characters, because in a show like this, nothing else matters.

As I said I began watching this show because I like Haru's VA. I saw someone comment on her MAL page "Haru carries the show, hard." Which made me wonder what show, and I found and started watching this, and they were right. Without Haru this show would be worse than wonderbread bland, but that's just blatant opinion, so pardon that. Allow me to explain the groundwork and then the problem here:

Yesterday (heretofore called YwU) is about a guy (we'll call him Guy, I'm not spelling his name a bunch of times) who graduated from college and didn't want to do anything with his life, so he now works at a convenience store part time. A girl, Haru, develops an interest in him and tries to get a relationship between them going. Guy had a crush on his college friend, Shinako, and still does; he was essentially in the friendzone and for the most part still is. Shinako isn't interested in Guy romantically and isn't over a years-old crush on a guy who passed away years ago (who she never had a romantic relationship either). That dead guy had a younger brother, who has a crush on Shinako as well. I find this dynamic somewhat on the weird and creepy side, and there's really not much to it at all either, so I won't be talking about him or this relationship.

As another review or two has mentioned, the mediocrity from this show comes from its frustrating, irritating, sometimes infuriating lack of development alongside character actions or lack thereof. It starts out strong when it sets everything up, it builds the groundwork, gives us fully fleshed characters, backstories, connections, the whole deal. After the first couple episodes it's easy to come away pretty positively thinking "finally, a mature show that deals seriously with adult relationships." Instead, what happens is that everything they establish in the first couple of episodes remains mostly unchanged, and characters consistently make decisions (or lack thereof) that will annoy or frustrate the audience enough to make them want to slap the character.

Haru is great. She's an adorable, quirky girl full of life and energy, and even though things get her down (totally reasonable, as it's usually a result of Guy's rebuffs) she fights through it and somehow forces herself to be positive. She picks herself back up, dusts herself off, and keeps going. Her vibrancy, tenacity and cuteness are a solid positive addition to the cast.

Guy McDudeguy starts off seemingly good. On first impression he strikes you as a reserved man who's disappointed in his choices in life but cares too little to do anything about it. He seems at first to be a charming deadpan snarker and a mature guy who doesn't get his feathers ruffled easily (boy is that wrong). He's pretty indifferent about the things that surround him. He was close friends with Shinako in college and always had a crush on her, but was in the friendzone. Haru is always trying to get his attention in her own adorable way, but he simply doesn't care. And that would be fine, if that's all it was at first, but instead he gets more and more cold and heartless to her for no solid reason, while his attention is raptly held by a woman who is clearly settling for him and "dates" him for months without even holding hands or kissing him. You quickly learn that Guy is actually pretty wimpy, and had so little self-respect that he's perfectly fine with being upgraded from outright beta orbiter of Shinako to beta "sort of boyfriend" by episode 10 and 11. This will of course be a subjective statement, but I'm willing to wager that most people who watch up to 10 will conclude Haru is the far, FAR better option for Guy, yet he's constantly treating her poorly and ironically is insufferably head over heels for a woman that treats him as a Plan B fallback "I'm not really attracted to you" option. The only thing that really changes with Guy is that he changes from a part time job to a full time studio position. Even technically becoming Shinako's sort-of boyfriend changes nothing about how he and her interact. He's an unlikeable moping wimp who gets too flustered too easily and puts Shinako on a pedestal, at one point basically telling her he'll wait as long as it takes.

Shinako could arguably be worse, depending on your perspective. She isn't introduced as anything special and she doesn't have anything that defines who she is, other than being unable to get over her long-dead crush and how everything everywhere reminds her of him. She starts off in the show as bland and generic romantic interest, and gets worse with her meandering indecisiveness and selfish romantic actions. She outright admits to herself that she's selfish (reluctantly) basically by keeping Guy on a friendzone leash and leading him on in other ways. Haru, who is interested in Guy, wastes no time in declaring war to her face (god bless you, Haru), and Shinako, who is NOT interested in Guy (and I would argue still isn't; dude, if a girl is settling for you, she isn't attracted to you) responds by saying she just wants to be friends with him. Haru then retorts that that's not fair; if you're friends you can't "lose" in a romance war, he could be friendzoned forever, and it's selfish of Shinako to do that. But that's what she does anyway. Shinako spends all her time every episode hemming and hawwing over what she should or shouldn't do, rejects a kiss from her "boyfriend" of three months, invites him up to her apartment before changing her mind and apologizing for not allowing him to come in, etc. etc. There is absolutely zero romantic or erotic dynamic between the two of these people, and it does nothing but evoke images of a cold, awkward, uncomfortable and benign "better than nothing" relationship of convenience. One in which one party holds all the interest and the other is reluctant and indecisive about not only whether to have a romantic relationship with him but whether to even do anything, ever, even when in one. Regardless of what the show may later claim is how Shinako truly feels about Guy, her actions and inactions scream far louder: she isn't attracted or drawn to him, and is using him as a security blanket, there to keep her occupied or help her out whenever needed. Guy, equally intolerably, allows her to walk all over him and insists on having infinite patience as though she'll wake up one day and see how in love she is with him. Instead of, you know, telling Shinako "okay that's enough" and spending time with the younger cute woman who actually has passion and interest in seeing him.

Thus far, there's no lesson to be learned here. No one has grown or become better from their experiences, and aside from Haru getting hurt over and over again pushing her towards giving up completely, nothing happens. Even when things "happen" they don't, because nothing changes. Shinako and Guy McBetaWimp still interact in almost the exact same friendzone way three months into their "relationship" as they did at the start of the show. There's no arc. There's no inspiring message. It's one step forward, one step back, with Haru's kawaii genki qualities being the only thing making the show tolerable. It is simply not a good anime about relationships in general, let alone adult ones, and the actions and motivations or lack thereof are complete garbage. I suppose you could chalk things up to a difference in culture but my god if this is a good metric of relationships in Japan, there's no hope for that birthrate :(

Adding insult to injury, a number of characters say that Shinako is a "pretty lady," because they HAVE to, because the art damn sure doesn't make that clear. If I told you she was a plain, boring, 40 year old generic slice of white bread schoolteacher, you'd believe me. Haru, on the other hand, actually is portrayed physically and otherwise as cute. So why does Guy treat her like nothing? Because he isn't interested. Why not? The answer to that question should be the mantra for the show itself: "I don't know."

edit2: Final episode just aired and it's as rage inducing as the previous 11 episodes combined. Knocking this down to a 4. It's like they thought the rationalizations and justifications given in the final episode were meant to be heartwarming and romantic but instead they're just stupid and explain absolutely nothing. "I was over the moon" he says yet this is never portrayed in any of the previous episodes at any point. "I like it when a woman is nice to me" he says yet he's a total dick to Haru who is super nice to him. "We were just confused" he says as if that magically handwaves away all the BULLSHIT that did and did not occur in all previous episodes. Trash. I hope to Christ the manga isn't this unforgivable.

In summary, writing characters like the ones in YwU as they are is fine, as long as you DO something with them. If you do NOTHING with them, and make them meander or make stupid choices or portray decisions with little to no proper motivation behind them, you've failed at presenting an actual story, and failed at actually crafting characters. Even if the relationships change in a few episodes, they've wasted over half a season with no accomplishment, no changes, no morals of the story, nothing actually happening, and no character development along with no motivation.

Almost there, going nowhere. I don't mind a realistic, slow-burning slice-of-life anime, nor do I have a problem with melodramatic teens experiencing love for the first time. My taste nowadays will probably gravitate towards the former, but sometimes you just gotta have some of that seasonal high school angst in your life. A young girl who just had her heart broken and is running home screaming while some classical music is blaring in the background? In small doses, but more importantly, when done RIGHT, it pleases me a lot. The (main) problem with Yesterday wo Utatte is that it wants to be both... and doesn't succeedsin any. It looks like a mature show at first, but upon closer inspection, something is just... off.

It wants to showcase the struggles of real people with real, believable problems while also soaking the whole thing with soap opera nonsense. In experienced hands, I could see that working, as the contrast between two extremes can add to the experience, but Yesterday's serious approach is nowhere near as strong or present as its daily drama vein. Its realistic approach is "well done" to a fault: the experience very akin to watching paint dry.

First, we're introduced to Rikuo, the main character, an empty slate of a person at odds with what to do after graduating from college. He runs away from allumi meetings, stopped searching for a real job, and is satisfied with working part-time at a convenience store. He's a bit socially awkward, but considerate, even going out of his way to feed crows with expired food from the store. Ever been on your smoke break, feeding 'em birds, having thoughts on how life went out? Of course you did.

That's when he runs into another big member of the cast, Haru. Haru is... not as empty as Rikuo, and that's about the most I can praise the character. Her initial appearance just screams of Manic Pixie Dream Girl. And oh boy, if only that was her sole problem... She missed her train, now she and her crippled pet crow (perhaps the show best character when all is said and done) are hungry. Rikuo handles her a lunch box on a whim and she leaves. And then a friendship is formed... except Rikuo doesn't feel like reciprocating, which is completely understandable. In fact, he's pretty bummed out once he founds out it wasn't a random encounter between them and she's hanging out at this workplace almost every day now. Because that's how love starts, right?

(As It turns out, Haru was actually stalking him from the get go, being in love with him FOR YEARS after a five-second interaction between them that happened a long time ago. I'm not making this shit up. It's contrived as hell.)

Rikuo has a lot more on his mind, still having a crush on a friend from college. They meet each other again, but it turns out that person, Shinako, has someone she likes. And she, now a teacher, knows about Haru and her nebulous past (a past so nebulous we don't even get to see it for more than two minutes). It's a sticky situation, a boring one at that, because: a) Rikuo doesn't mind waiting for Shinako, b) Shinako doesn't mind Rikuo waiting for her and c) Haru is there to annoy both because that's the sole reason her character exists.

Pretty early on, Haru declares war on her former teacher, a scene as bombastic as cheap fireworks in the rain. Such declaration came out after gems like "I don't even know who I am", "can women and men be friends?" and (my favorite) "what is love?", so the viewer is already used to all the telenovela dialogue, but it still sticks out like a sore thumb, because the anime just showed us Shinako's backstory, by far the most emotionally powerful thing in this series. To follow that with some brat spewing bullshit is pretty jarring. But being jarring is Yesterday's bread and butter.

There's also Rou, the youngest of the main quartet, who is basically the male Haru, although he is more cocky than creepy. He's more tolerable mainly because sometimes he just disappears for a while and his motivations are linked with Shinako's, so the quality of his character is elevated a little by mere association. Still, at the end of the day, his main characteristic is that his earring is a safety pin.

"Well, now the main quartet is finally established, time to watch it all bloom into something significant!" was my train of thought, but... it doesn't go anywhere. Shinako moves on from a tragic past with a lasting impact on her life to... a hair cut. Rikuo gets a new job, but not the spine to tell Haru off. Rou is, huh... less entitled now... sometimes. Haru still can't get a clue and doubles down on her stalking. Nothing ever changes, no matter the angle you look at. Shinako's actions can be forgivable because of how much she has on her mind, how hard is for her to let go of her past, but it keeps playing that same beat until the end to the point of staleness. It's a character-driven show that fails on the romantic side and doesn't fare better when focusing on other relationships.

There are a few side characters, but they basically come and go without adding much. I found it hard to tolerate our main cast, so there's no reason why I would care for Haru's hipster-ex-classmate or blonde-guy-who-worked-with-Rikuo. Dude goes touring with his band, apparently. Good to know someone in this show had any fun.

This "coming and going" is a thing the show does right, but literally on accident: sometimes in life people stop being constant, and in Yesterday this is showcased well... like, two times. The first would be a spoiler, and the second is on episode 6, when it (re-)introduces someone from Rikuo's high school past (in well-tread fashion - it's basically the same way Haru enters his life sans a crow), and their interactions feel genuine for once. She looks and acts her age, a far-cry from the dumb teens and emotionally-stunted adults. For once I thought the story was headed somewhere, and then... she's gone in a flash like all good things in this anime.

And here's the main question: Are we supposed to care for Haru? Am I just not part of demography anymore so her clinginess and over-the-top devotion doesn't reach me? Her love isn't an obsession - it's nonsensical. She's a stalker, attention-seeking moody young adult whose most realistic trait is having a pet crow. Erase her from the plot and the whole thing is a lot more bearable, down-to-earth. Still mind-numbly boring, but still! Maybe the anime adaptation just butchered a confusing, mysterious character, I don't know. Maybe her best is yet to come, as the show just spun its wheels in place for torturous 12 episodes. I knew things looked bleak when she declared war on Shinako, but when she screamed in frustration while waiting for the lights to turn green (the closest I got to relating to this show, ironically), I had to check if Mari Okada didn't write the script. Maybe she ghost-written it while high on sleeping pills.

Perhaps the better question would be: are we supposed to care about ANY of these characters?! My main problem is with Haru, but your mileage may vary: every single one of the leads are insufferable in their own frustrating ways. Charisma is a word absent from Yesterday's monochromatic dictionary.

The art in Yesterday is okay, faring well because of how dire things look in the writing department. It has clear, crisp animation and a decent budget. I liked the color palette at first (no pink moe hairstyles in sight!), but it starts to blend together in an ugly grey-ish mush as the episodes go on. The places the characters visit are mostly desert, the streets they walk feel empty and cold, which sometimes adds to the experience, but it is so overplayed, it loses its impact very fast. Characters are walking back home in a grey background to a grey apartment. Next scene, it's the end of the afternoon and everything is a nauseating orange. This, but it's 12 episodes. And the grey easily overshadows any other color used, to the point the stunning display of cherry blossoms in the second episode begin to look like a dream. Man, the late 90's were whack. Thank God mankind invented different colors!

The sound is on a similar note. The main trick here is the lack of any background music to add weight to some of the characters conversations. This would be a good thing... if they had anything good to say instead of repeating their doubts and fears EVERY.SINGLE.EPISODE. And when the music and the dialogue stops simultaneously, it's more unbearable than anything you ever experienced in real life, because it also goes on and on and ON AND ON.

Other times, they just go with a cheesy piano noodle here and there, some strings, you know the deal. The show doesn't have an OP (which means an extra minute and a half of awkward silence and sighing every chapter!), but it makes up for that with three decent different EDs. I like the second one's theme (an arcade game - one of the few times the show executes the "vintage anime" aspect well is through videogames) and the third one is wasted on this wreck, its bright colors not fitting the dull experience that preceded it.

Direction-wise, it nearly equals the train-wreck the script is, the staff running out of ideas on how to handle scenes so equal in action and tone. They had to adapt a long-running manga with 11 volumes and they just decided to fill half of it with filler in the form of silence and the characters looking hurt/sad. It fails to build any sort of atmosphere.

Were you to create a drinking game where you take a shot every time the characters are staring at each other in silence or sighing, you probably would end up in a hospital bed halfway through it.

Oh, and as the anime draws to a close, they ditched the organic-if-boring approach to one sprinkled with cliff-hangers. Pathetic, cliché ones at that, and so out-of-nowhere that you wonder what was the point, it's like the show is AIMING to be tone-deaf. These cliff-hangers stand out not because they're shocking or well-placed, but because they are one of the few things not repeated to death in the anime. They're there because the previous 23 minutes didn't show any progress, so these final 10 seconds need to.

Some of the cinematography shines, though (Shinako's flashbacks, Haru's hanging out with the hipster), but mostly in the beginning, because as the repetitiveness of the show comes crashing in, it's hard to keep adding new spins to another stalking/walking scene. The last episode has some interesting camera shots and perspectives, despite the content.

Yesterday grabbed attention for being a seinen with adult characters past high school, but with the way it is written, it fits better with the adolescent crowd, and honestly I don't see it faring well against recent high school (melo)dramas, with even flawed titles like O Maidens In Your Savage Season showcasing more depth. The discussion surrounding Yesterday in anime forums simply boils down to "exciting" shipping wars - although I don't see this one being remembered for very long.

Compare Yesterday with, say, Welcome to the NHK (adult life struggles + zaniness) or the more recent 3-gatsu no Lion (where a contrast in tone succeeds) and nothing remains. As a cautionary tale for a younger audience, its messages ares all muddled -- "teens will be teens"? "moving on is hard to do when what you need to move on is yourself"? "focus on individuality, romance can wait"? None of these felt earned or properly addressed. Perhaps "life is boring and grey" is more fitting.

For those that want something similar to this show but done extremely well, look no further than Honey and Clover. It's a stellar show that executes the end of adolescence and the start of adult life with perfection, with one its main characters being very similar to Rikuo but with actual payoff. It even has romance if that's what drove you into Yesterday in the first place. The anime adapts all the manga in two seasons, too.

What I got from this in the end is the following: it's a mediocre show with average-to-downright-terrible characters, severe pacing issues, a glorified walking compilation not worthy of its pretty visuals. It's just a very basic soap opera that occasionally paints a realistic portrait of grief and loneliness, but instead decides to focus on artificial creepiness and over-reactions. It's a love triangle/quadrangle between two different age-demographics where everyone acts as kids, a coming-of-age story that doesn't really go anywhere. It makes any other love story with the slightest bit of characterization and proper storytelling look better in comparison.

Yesterday is now tomorrow and I need a break - here's hoping I don't run into a stalker with a pet crow.

If Scums Wish and Domestic Girlfriend had a child. I think this anime is a pioneer in the field of seinen and slice of life, two genres which are my favourite. I recommend this to anyone who likes either of this genre along with romance. The anime might feel a little childish at first but this anime gives off the vibe of Blue Period while merging into the romance genre, the show is slow in dialogue but its actually very crammed into 12 episode and a lot of emotions and stories are conveyed in as little time as possible. The main takeaway from this animeis "Value the present more than the past".

"You're not making sense to me...You seem pretty evasive about life. Do you think you'd look dumb if you were a tryhard? You're just being self-deprecating to give yourself a way out, aren't you?" For an understated and reasonably well-made and interesting show, Yesterday has earned itself a lot of controversy over the course of its short run. A lot of people were attracted to this show as it started, and many of these fans were seriously put off by how the series progressed, particularly over the course of the season. Having an understanding of why this show is polarizing to its fans is important fordeciding whether or not to pursue watching this show.

I agree that there are some significant problems with this show, particularly with how it was adapted and published. In June 2020 the community is understandably peeved as the season ends, as the nature of the 6 "extra" episodes was miscommunicated, at least to the English-language market, leading basically everybody to realize that instead of the 192 minutes of plot and character development left in the season, there was really only 48. This was an extreme exacerbation of a core problem the series had all along - the source manga is a bit too long for 12 episodes to begin with, and 18 full-length episodes would not only be original but appropriate. Even if we knew all along that 12 episodes were all we had, the pacing was going to be a bit of a mess.

Consequently, the story, character, and relationship development in this show is rushed, skipped, implied, and maybe just flat missing, particularly in the second half of the series. There are huge (months-long?) and invisible time-skips. Sure, maybe "nothing happens", but this is a slice-of-life romance show. We're here because we want to watch nothing happen in romances. The story earns a solid 3/10, at least in this adaptation.

I did not care for the story, but I also did not much care about the story, because it was never the strength of this show.

Photography and still art are a major motif in this show. Uozumi is a photographer, Hayakawa is an artist, and flashbacks are often "animated" as still manga panels. In a medium defined by movement, this focus on still art as a capture of a memory or an unchanging moment in time drives the theme of looking backward hindering forward progression. What is holding these characters back? When we see these pictures, can we see what they see?

Likewise, for the show itself, its strength is not in its narrative, or the development of its plot or relationships, but in the specific moments of reflection it creates. It effectively and artfully delivers powerfully relatable emotional ideas several times per episode in every episode. This show is incredibly consistent and uniquely understaded in its mood, tone, art, and acting, as well as with its delivery of these moments. Clearly, the production decision to condense as many of these reflective moments into the anime was to the detriment of the story, but I also think that this was the correct decision.

Although this means the show does a poor job in changing the characters through events that occur during the show, this focus on moments and ideas of importance to them means that every major character is developed deeply based on what has happened in their past. They don't act like each other, they don't act maturely, and they don't act perfectly, and all of those differences are motivated and interesting.

This creates a hidden strength of this show - whereas most shows have the "3-episode rule" for a viewer to decide whether or not a show is for them, 1 episode is more than enough for Yesterday, because it starts handing out these little photographic moments right away. If you're like me, and you got walked over by the scene where Kinoshita undresses Uozumi's idea about being fine as a loser, then I can wholeheartedly recommend this show, because these little-picture moments never stop until the very conclusion of the show.

This show is not for everybody: the dueling-love-triangle setup can accidentally suck in and disappoint a lot of people who are in it for the romance, comedy, and drama of the waifu war. But a lot of people also feel stuck, like they're fine being a loser, or like their romantic inexperience is symptomatic of a toxic personality that needs to be cured, or like they don't know whether to pursue or drop an unrequited love, and they wonder what it would sound like for someone to attack their vulnerability. This show is not shy about using the relative experience and intelligence of its main characters and the tool of shifting perspective and point of view to expose and dissect these emotions, and the show's artistic decisions, skills, and quality make these uncomfortable emotional positions easy and even enjoyable to take in.

I really like this show, and I may even love it - time will tell. I don't like the same thing in every show, but usually I will choose to value a show based on what it does differently or well. Because of how it spoke to me early in its runtime, these little-picture moments were what I looked forward to every episode, and they never stopped coming, and they never stopped impacting me. The way the show realistically, artfully, and honestly attacks the brokenness and weaknesses of its characters reminds me a lot of OreGairu and Charlie Kaufman's movies, which I love as well.

I don't think this show will be seen in the future as a pivotal or groundbreaking work, and if its rating continues to fall, it may not end up even being popular beyond a season where 3/4 of everything else was canceled. So if you read some reviews or watch the first episode, and decide that it's not for you, or you're not sure how much you like or identify with the characters, just skip the show, you won't miss much. On the other hand, if you read some reviews, watch one episode, and feel sucked into the "2meirl4meirl" vibe, this show is a must-watch.

look, i'm gonna be real with you here, you ever seen welcome to the NHK? yeah well imagine that with 2020 animation budget, a mediocre soundtrack and hugely degraded story and set of characters. it's a soulless, bloodless show with little originality, and clear inspiration from other shows whilst managing to lose the edge. i'm not gonna complain about taking inspiration from other shows, but seriously it seems to have a crisis of identity and a storyline which is both predictable yet simultaneously unenjoyable. not every show has to be 100% original, or follow some kind of original plot, I understand that this was based offof a light novel/manga series from before NHK was even published, but the vibe of the show clearly draws inspiration, as well as some character redesigns and even the directing in certain cases.

i don't think i need to say anymore. it's not a 'bad' show because it follows the formula correctly, theres just nothing that makes it special at all, and honestly it feels like a corporate spoonfeeding of a young adults own emotions.

Don't waste your time - NOTHING happens here. Just some mundane people doing mundane things. No character development, no sweet love moments, no cool twists, even the drama is not up to par! Nothing. The two main female characters behave extremely inadequate and disrespectfully towards the male characters. I swear, if someone treated me like that - constantly changing their mind and giving me false hope - i would immediately kick them out of my life, rather than feeling bad AND CLING TO THEM!! I really don't know why I kept watching - probably was hoping for something to change, but then came the finalewhich was downright cringeworthy.

That aside, the animation, music and overall setting are on point - a typical slow-paced slice of life anime. I read here that the manga is good and I feel bad for the people who was looking forward to the series.

There a lot of long reviews out there that conveys my feelings so I'll keeps this short. Anime started out nicely, after setting the main characters we saw some of their old acquaintances. Everything going average till this point but the last few episodes are where things start to go downhill. While the author may have tried to present that adult romance is like what is shown on the anime between Rikou and Shinako, it is not. They are not adults per se, they are just human garbage. Rou and Haru shows their emotions and expect an answer while these two supposedly adults think itis ok to just play around. This isn't realistic this is just extreme selfishness that makes you a human reject in my opinion. I don't for a second think that it is ok to show this as normal, adult relationships and shove it off later by calling it confusion.

Do yourself a favor and skip last few episodes.

TL:DR

Shinako is a human garbage.

Rikuo is a human garbage whose only redeeming feature is that he makes Haru happy.

Haru and Rou deserve much, much better than those garbages.

Really lads, I thought I was going to be able to hold the whole stupid love triangle drama involved between the main characters but I just absolutely had to pull the plug and drop the anime altogether..... I really tried giving this show many chances but nothing is honestly changing here.. It's just all of them going back and forth with no proper conclusion to happen whatsoever.... I very much rather if it was about the side characters Kinoshita, Minato and Chika. They were actually a lot more likeable than the MCs tbh. I thought I liked Haru but the more I watched the show, the lessI liked her just as much as the rest....

I had high hopes for this series but yeah I just couldn't stick it any longer. If you like your love triangles then this is for you peeps!

Everyone reaches crossroads in their life. You have nowhere to go but forward, but you hesitate. Which road will you take? Who will you meet at the intersection before moving on? Rikuo Uozumi is stuck. A college graduate with no future goals and a dead-end job. His friends have begun their lives as adults, leaving him behind. Throughout Sing Yesterday for Me, he encounters other stuck people. Shinako, his old friend from school and now a full-time teacher, struggles to move on from a loved one’s death. The two reconnect when she comes back to town for a local job. She seemingly always had a visionfor her future, Rikuo admires that. He conflates his desire to find purpose with his unrequited love for Shinako. After he confesses to her early on, her choice to just stay friends is for the best because until Rikuo figures himself out. You’d expect them to both grow as people and come together, but that was not the case. There is no real growth, and what we get is artificial at best. Sing Yesterday for Me is a trainwreck moving at 5 miles per hour.

Then there’s Haru, an eccentric high school dropout with no future goals, only her love for Rikuo. They’re both so dysfunctional it’s easy to picture them sorting through their problems together like the nuanced romance in Welcome to the NHK—this is not the case with Yesterday. What we get is miles less interesting. Yesterday’s outlook on the world is bleak and hopeless, similar to that of an immature teenager struggling with adolescent melancholy. “The world sucks, I hate everyone. No one gets me.” Although the use of symbolism to convey this mood is commendable, it’s skin deep and juvenile. I must not be in the target audience because everything about this show made me want to take a permanent nap.

Rikuo immaturely believes he can’t find meaning in his life without a girlfriend’s help; This is the logic of a high schooler. Shinako has what he lacks, but if you enter a relationship expecting your partner to give you what is missing, you will be disappointed. That’s just not how life is. For a man in his mid-20s, Rikuo has more in common with a neckbeard manchild. He’s bland, frustrating, and he has less spine than a jellyfish. In response, you may say flawed people can be good characters—that’s sometimes true, but in this case, it isn’t. Rikuo never learns what is wrong with his outlook towards finding a goal. He never grows up by the end. In his own words, he is “high on the idea of being an outcast.” He is indecisive, he rarely commits to anything, he makes terrible decisions, and his behavior is inconsistent. We’ve all been there, but people change. They grow up.

One moment Rikuo will be frozen with awkwardness while Shinako talks to him, but in the next moment, he will smugly shrug off his coworker, asking who she is. Like any blank slate character, he is completely apathetic. If you can’t self-insert into this manchild wish-fulfillment fantasy, you have no reason to watch it. Despite still being in love with Shinako, he continues to lead on Haru. He is well aware that Haru is in love with him, yet he still hangs around her because he needs a backup option. Anyone who treats potential love interests like this is the scum of the Earth. If you genuinely relate to this man, consider that women aren’t objects.

As Shinako spends more time with Rikuo, inevitably, Haru gets thrown under the bus. For the latter half of the show, she becomes an afterthought. She’s proud to be his side-hoe. I’m not a fan of Haru, but it’s infuriating to watch Rikuo lead her on and treat her like a dog. Rikuo never commits to his feelings for her. However, I understand his aversion to her. Haru is supposed to be adorably persistent. Instead, she comes off as irritatingly persistent. She appears at the most convenient (or inconvenient) times. Rain or shine, night or day, she finds her way to Rikuo’s doorstep or his job, always unannounced, to intrude on his mundane life. She follows him during the night, observing him from a distance, appearing when he is alone to comfort him with reaffirming attention. Like a stalker, she always seems to know where he is. Does the writer think this is how real women act? The majority of Haru’s scenes are spent with Rikuo, talking about him, or thinking about him. With a change in music and framing, this could have easily been a horror story. For some reason, the show never calls her out on being a creepy omnipresent stalker, so we’re just supposed to accept it. Good luck getting a restraining order, Rikuo. Characters like her get created to teach the depressed loner protagonist to appreciate life and all its adventures. Her secretive past and present prevent her from being developed. The more I learned about her identity, the less I cared. She’s just not interesting. Despite Haru’s curious personality, with her pet crow perched on her shoulder, she never becomes more than an archetype. An accessory to Rikuo.

“Rikuo is an asshole. He doesn’t think about how I feel. He thinks I’m settling for being the backup. I hate that bastard!” She looked at the guy once, then fell and love, and now he treats her like a plastic bag. I’m a believer in love at first sight—this is not love. By design, Haru is a Mary Sue existing only to shower the hero with unconditional love. It’s generic, cheesy, and boring. Haru proclaims she is Shinako’s rival in the battle to win Rikuo’s heart. In that one moment, I related to Shinako. We both looked at Haru and wondered, “This girl is batshit crazy.” In the awkward conversations between Haru and Shinako, in which their words are implied rather than spoken, their awkward glances say more about the writer’s uncertainty than the characters. Neither of these characters has a personality outside of their confusing love for Rikuo. These cringe-worthy exchanges, repeated ad nauseam, are enough to embarrass any self-conscious director.

Shinako. What’s her deal? Why can’t she make up her mind? It’s been six years since her boyfriend died, and she’s still crying. She hangs around his little brother Rou, and he now has a crush on her, so it’s no wonder why she hasn’t gotten over her ex. There’s not much to say about him. Rou is possessive of Shinako. He comments about Shinako wearing make-up, suggesting he believes she might be interested in a man. When he finds Uozumi talking to her, he becomes enraged and confronts him while he’s at work. His desperation to protect her is just bald face misogyny mistaken for romantic interest. He’s a normal kid, and he develops predictably. Shinako’s indecisiveness to move on from Rou and her ex is frustrating. Her desire to help Rikuo stems from her need to help herself, which is evident to anyone except her. Her problems are of her own doing. I will sum up her entire character arc in two sentences: “It’s not you, it’s me” and “I think we should just be friends while I figure myself out.” We have all seen this archetypal character countless times, and this ancient 90s manga adaptation did nothing original. Why does Rikuo love someone so generic? That’s easy.

Early on, Shinako says, “You give the impression of someone who needs to be taken care of.”

“That might be why I like her,” Rikuo monologues. And isn’t that every man’s dream? A relationship with a woman that takes care of you for life.

There are a few background characters who furnish the scenes in between the love quadrangle interactions. They exist to prompt the main characters to exposit their life story and current feelings towards their love interests. A few side love interests pop into the show for a single episode to shake up the Love Quadrangle. After they get their miniature character arc, they’re gone forever. It’s the laziest way to get rid of a character short of randomly killing them. You’ll quickly realize their existence was just a distraction from the main plot akin to a filler episode. The script also suffers from what I call “Cafe-syndrome” in which the writer uses a cafe/restaurant whenever he needs to spoon-feed exposition to the audience. After all, this is a love story about children, except the characters look like adults to seem mature. I hate this new trend of anime about “adults” when they are indiscernible from angsty teens. Take away the cigarettes, give them school uniforms, no one would bat an eye.

The script is so artificial and contrived that not even the talented animators at DogaKobo could save it. Although, it would’ve helped to be less faithful to the manga art. The background art is drab and uninteresting. Characters’ apartments appear sparsely decorated, but the art quality is crystal clear. When the artists can design pretty backgrounds, like a grocery store, they use real photos with a gaussian blur creating a hideous effect. It’s supposed to feel artistic, but it just looks lazy. The story would’ve been more suited as a live-action adaptation because it strives to be realistic. The loose line-work on the character designs worked against this. As a stylistic choice, it made no sense. Animation requires a level of suspension of disbelief, preventing you from immersing entirely. With live-action actors, they could have captured the subtle character responses the script needed. The animation medium has done less than nothing to benefit it.

It’s not always an ugly show, but it’s always poorly produced: Rough editing, distracting staging, and an endless stream of plot contrivances that you can predict to the moment. Scenes are stitched together with too much breathing room or none at all. Within seconds the scene will change multiple times with different characters, times of day, and location. The production is incomprehensible, yet the writing is incredibly simplistic. Invariably, musical cues get used to direct the audience on how to feel. As a last-ditch effort to save the script, the music hardly elevates it beyond mediocrity. Most egregiously, to underscore pivotal moments of romance and regret. Aside from those moments, the score gets scarcely used. Awkward pauses plague the script, devoid of music as if the director was uncertain what emotion they were trying to evoke. Other times musical cues will signalize humor where there is none. Given this was adapted from a 90s manga, the comedy is pretty outdated. Exceptional audiovisuals could’ve enhanced this faux-intellectual story. Instead, the entire show felt like one long elevator ride to nowhere.

As popular as this animated mundanity has become, it’s trainwreck ending is likely critic-proof. Designed for self-insertion, an infinite number of reasons will get fabricated to excuse the vapid writing. If I can convince just one of you to look beyond the milquetoast characters and vacuous script of Sing Yesterday for Me and watch the infinitely better Welcome to the NHK instead, then my hours of boredom will have been worth it.