Reviews for The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten

The Angel Next Door presents only two characters with identifiable traits: a generic male protagonist named Amane, and Mahiru, a girl similar to Tsukasa from Tonikawa Over the Moon for You. For no good reason, she becomes protective of Amane, but his name does not matter since he is an avatar for the audience. He is devoid of traits so that anyone with a similar fantasy can project onto him. Sometimes, monotonous characters lacking personality can develop and become more fleshed out. As of the third episode, there has yet to be character growth. Even for those who find this sort of escapism appealing, there’s nothingthat elevates this above its contemporaries. For a production of this middling caliber, it’s no shock there’s not much animation, and the background art lacks detail. You’ll recognize the generic character designs if you’ve watched studio Project No. 9’s other tv series, such as HigeHiro and Tomozaki-kun. Excluding Inukai-san’s Dog, this has the laziest opening and ending visuals I’ve seen all season. The songs are fine—generic—but the visuals are simply reused footage, panning shots of Mahiru, and slideshow animation.

For anyone who’s seen this premise done before, you’ll know the generic male fantasy makes for a pretty dull story. All the steps are predictable; Mahiru takes care of Amane in every episode, then they develop feelings for each other. It tries to be simpler than most unbelievable fantasies, which may give the impression that it’s classier—there’s no comedy, melodrama, or fan service. It’s like unsalted chips: Flavorless junk food entertainment.

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten sadly did not spoil me rotten; this anime ended up being incredibly dull and pathetic. The story is contrived from start to finish and packaged with bland, cardboard characters, poorly written dialogue that feels like someone tried to rip off young adult works from Wattpad, and a generic, mediocre narrative. In this regard, it is much like Demon Slayer. However, unfortunately, it does not have talented staff to turn it from nothing into something. Instead, it got one of the worst studios a light novel adaptation can get—project No.9, the bloodsucker of the light novel adaptations in the2020s. At this point, one can start to think that they have a special unit in the studio to find light novels with the corniest dialogues in the country.

The premise of this animated calamity is—a dude is kind to a cute girl once, and she conveniently lives next to him, so she cleans his room and begins to cook for him. This is the most unrealistic, escapist fantasy plot development imaginable. The author didn't even bother to make the male protagonist look like he tried to do something to make a change in his mundane life. He continues his daily routine, and one day when he comes back from school, he sees the most popular girl in his school in a dire situation and decides to help her out of pity, which is an act that contradicts the rest of his character, or what was supposed to be his character. This writing is absolutely abyssal.

The dual protagonists of the story, Mahiru and Amane, are exceptional characters if exceptional was synonymous with dry and uninteresting. Not to mention, the development of these characters is nonsensical—and like their pathetic dialogue—likely written by ChatGPT. These two characters (if such a term even applies to these walking pieces of white bread) interact in ways that most newly formed couples wouldn’t. Close friends do not act like this with each other, which makes it painfully apparent that the author does not know how people interact and how the romance develops. These interactions are also terribly forced and awkward. It’s painful to watch, really. Their interactions made me want to go and touch grass, so I can finally remember real people are not this gross while interacting with each other. Also, the reveal about Mahiru's parents feels like the author didn't plan it from the start and just wanted to give Mahiru a sad backstory out of the blue. Because there is no way someone who lived the life of Mahiru becomes a teenager without any awful personality traits. The author needs to bring her maid into the story and make that woman the kindest and most caring person in the world. Otherwise, her character arc will be an unnecessarily over-the-top drama.

This show is also a disaster when it comes to production values. I don't know if it's because half of project No.9's staff is working on finding the next boring light novel to adapt, but this show's visual quality feels like three college students decided to make fan animations for fun over the weekend. Character designs, animations, and backgrounds are terrible, as expected from project No.9. Amane's apartment feels like it was made on Sims by a first-time computer user. It's unimaginative and dull, just like the main characters.

In conclusion, this anime is just a waste of time with its lackluster production, attempt at a generic narrative, and laughably terribly-written main characters. I really wish I didn't watch this one and touched grass instead.

While ignoring previously released anime, I usually keep myself entertained with the medium through the seasonal romances. Sadly I can't watch them all, so I have to choose only a few based on the synopsis and possible manga responses. The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten didn't exactly pique my interest fully, but I decided to give it a go nonetheless. Safe to say it's a perfectly fine show that ticks all the boxes for the romance addicts like myself to be satisfying and watchable. However, if you are looking for an experience superior to other romance shows then move along and find something else,because this generic romcom is nothing special.

A common trend nowadays with the (sub)genre is an episodic format of shorts compacted into a single episode. These 8-12 minute long chapters focus on various interactions between the lead duo. The girl is usually attractive, gawked at by those around her and is outwardly flawless, only for it to be a façade to lock up her insecure "bad" traits. Accompanying her is a bland, background boy with indistinguishable characteristics who shares the same design as every male lead ever. Clearly this caters to the male fantasy I bet a lot of the viewers have, the male being their surrogate so they can lust over the new seasonal waifu. Any taste of identifiable differences would risk losing that connection between the average male viewer and the male lead. But what's surprising here is that the male and female lead interact and treat each other as equals - one is clearly more successful with school, social life, and responsibilities though- and what's no shock is that they're both shallow characters. Like egg shells, it seems there's no filling, with their outsides cracked and no hope of repair. It's been 3 episodes sure, but I've yet to see anything unique about either of them besides the typical archetypes I explained earlier, and no pathway revealed to guess how they will form. The foundation setup being Shiina visiting to cook confuses me. She reasons with her passion for the activity, but then she goes ahead and cleans his apartment too? I guess her façade led to some isolation, which we get some hints at, but to partake in unrequired chores for another's house isn't the best way to start. The cooking alone would've been fine as that's the focus mostly, which also aids bonding the 2 together, so I don't see the unnecessary extra tasks having reason. Fortunately the show doesn't glue to their neighbouring flats, and occasionally flicks to their school - something I hope they continue doing more regularly - where they vowed to hide their knowledge of each other. Their pseudo-friendship slowly blossoms into an authentic one, and it's appealing to see Fujimiya struggle to conceal the girl's identity when in question.

The voice actors of the 2 are unknown to me, but I can comfortably claim that Iwami's work here is excellent. It boasts confidence without reaching arrogance, she understands the limits of the character without being theatrical. Honestly it's some of the best this season despite how monotonous it may appear to be; it's the subtle nuances that show the talent present that impresses me the most.

Interestingly, the visuals are akin to classic romances mixed with modern quality animation. Think of mid 2000s art that is synonymous with the period, whilst still fitting with now and you'd get the style used in this. Oddly it works, and leaks some nostalgic allure that effortlessly attracts me. In a way it's kind of refreshing, but it's not enough to fully travel me back to the home era, sadly. I won't bother mentioning the music - it's nothing special and the OP/ED are both mediocre, perhaps decent upon familiarity.

I wouldn't say I've completely despaired over the show. It's apparent it will be a slower paced tale, which is fine if there was actually any meaningful content. Until I see said content, I'm left vastly underwhelmed and cannot give it my recommendation. If you embrace the genre like I do, then I'm sure there's some fun to snack on. For those who are indifferent with the romcom scene, I would skip this one for now.

As a hardcore fan of the light novel I am slightly disappointed with this anime. The greatest part of the light novel was how it went at a nice slow pacing to build of the relationship between the two main leads. A lot of in story time has pasted since they meet and to where the story is by volume 4. The anime is adapted around 5 chapters per episode when in my opinion it should be more around 2-3 chapters per episode. Another problem I have with this show is the studio making it Project No.9. The light novels art by Hanekoto is breathtaking while ProjectNo.9 is just bad and just look flat.

The light novel is slow and is mostly just the characters talking which works well as a book it does not translate well into a tv show and it just feels dull as you watch barely animated characters talking, *cough* *cough* Project No.9.*cough* *cough*

Overall the style and vibe that made me fall in love with this light novel as been sucked out of the anime making a shell of what it could have been.

To put my thoughts best in to words "I'm not mad just disappointed."

DIABETES the Animation. Oh God, does this NEVER seem to be enough! I KNOW about novelist Saeki-san's Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken a.k.a. The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. The immaculate, well-received LN that has earned its fair share of mixed reactions of the unkempt story between the average boy and the much-adored Angel female, along with illustrator Hanekoto's very beautiful and impressive art that never fails to impress. Yet, while Project No. 9's adaptation here seems to be on the very rough side of things from cut content to the abysmal animation, the heart of the series is neverforgotten, and all I can say about this is that the anime is carried by everything else except for the production.

Of the synopses that I've read for this LN, Yen Press's one has got to be the best summary of all: "A HEAVENLY ENCOUNTER!", because it's really just that: the "It should have been me, not him!" self-insert of the awkward, generic male MC Amane Fujimiya, he looks like he's been living under a rock, unapologetic of his circumstances, and the worst thing of all: living in his lone apartment where he is nothing but a failed existence, supported by his parents of amicable money just to make a living. But there is somebody who will turn his life around: the Angel of his school, the beautiful and untouchable Mahiru Shiina (no relation to Sakura-sou's Mashiro Shiina, though it's pretty darn close in personality and character design (if comparing the LN)), showing up unfazed in a rainy day and full of loss of thought. And with the slight exchange of shielding the Angel with his umbrella, starts the growing relationship of the average commoner with the Angel, right at the step of their own homes.

The Angel that is Mahiru Shiina, she's the embodiment of a perfect waifu: pretty, beautiful, someone who also does chores for a living (because like Amane, she's of self-sustenance) and takes care of her own wellbeing very closely. She is to a degree, a woman of no faults, and any guy would've been all the more pleasant to be her partner, for better or for worse. But, since this is the Angel that "Spoils Me Rotten", it's Amane who will be on that receiving end of getting ridiculously spoiled bad by the Angel herself, being someone that is kinda of a wash-out and devoid of his life's existence. It feels like a cop-out that Amane's existence is all but only Mahiru to see, and while thankfully isn't the case, it's in situations like these that both of them can be vulnerable to each other, which in turn, displays the real side of themselves as opposed to the facade that they carry once they step outside of their houses. Mahiru, given her Angel appeal, is adorable on the outside, but a possessive girl on the inside, not being sure of what she really wants until it becomes a need. This is due to the sentimentality of her relationship with her parents, which they do not get along with each other well, often leaving Mahiru to her own devices and providing her with just enough money for her survivalist mentality. As for Amane, he's the very sensitive guy who is subconsciously aware of his surroundings, stemming from his somewhat awkward relations with his parents, especially his doting mother Shihoko, which I thank the Heavens that she's a kind parent and something which Mahiru experienced parental love first-hand. This, thus, creates the relationship that's basically more a need than a want, and I have no doubt that Mahiru and Amane's relationship, as sweet as diabetes as it is, will grow to become one of dependence and heartwarming love kinks between the two.

Alas, for a relationship to work, you need to have a side pairing that would help to spur the main couple along, and this exists in the form of classmates Itsuki Akasawa and Chitose Shirakawa, Amane's best classmate bud and the girlfriend. The dynamic of having a side couple help support both Amane and Mahiru in their own need, is pretty much understated really, because as much as you can say that they're the wingman/girl couple that helps both MCs to get their point across each other, all they really want other than the exclusivity that Amane has to himself about Mahiru, is genuine friendship and support to keep the four of them going altogether, obviously behind closed doors because this secret is not to be revealed publicly, otherwise it would have serious implications, especially for Amane himself. I do love Itsuki and Chitose's times where they are there just to have fun, and being friends, I don't see any reason why not to be inclusive this way, because as much as the Angel Mahiru herself is a sight to behold, she is just like them: regular humans with a sense of need of community, and small ones like these are better than nothing. Overall, Itsuki and Chitose's servitude towards Amane and Mahiru, really, is no short of wholesome and uplifting. This is the same for Yuuta Kadowaki, which he is just the floating friend of interest and understanding.

The one sole problem will be on the production side of things. Project No. 9 is not a studio that's well-known for quality, so don't expect a lot of things forthcoming with how the anime looks overall. To my eyes, it still looks pleasant and sparkling with flavour, but yet, what the studio did was to create a Sayu version 3.0, if you will. That's because the studio has produced both Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun and Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou. a.k.a HigeHiro before, with the lead female's character design practically left unchanged, so the similarities are frankly quite obvious. Even with limited animation (that I've stressed this since Tomozaki-kun) that's not the best adaptation of one of the best LNs of the modern day, debut director Wang Lihua may not have the best hands onboard with her production team, but may this prove to be a stepping stone in her first-ever directoralship.

The OST frankly is great, and I might as well say that this show definitely has one of the best OSTs this season. You know the man, Masayoshi Ooishi himself, I have always loved his fantastic and uplifting vocals whenever he is chosen to do Anisongs, and his OP "Gift" is no exception to that rule. What's even more surprising is of the ED and insert songs, "Chiisana Koi no Uta" and "Ai Uta". If you know your anime history, you'll know when Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san came out 5 years ago in Winter 2018, Takagi's VA Rie Takahashi did a cover of the two exact same ending songs back all the way in Season 1 for Episodes 9-10 and 11 respectively. And now, these two songs are replicated here by Mahiru's VA Manaka Iwami, which I feel is a nice touch that I was not expecting to hear of a new take of a variation on old classics.

Even with the circumstances of a poor production, I would still think that Otonari no Tenshi-sama is undoubtedly one of the finest shows of the Winter season that's just as a delightful watch from start to finish. I know I'll never get enough of the anime based on the original source material that's the superior version, and to anyone who is interested in more, please pick up the LN as the manga adaptation's equivalent (as of this review) has been all but covered in the anime.

That said, you can do the anime no wrong by its one major flaw, and that is, WE NEED MORE OF IT! Great showing that demands more.

This show came 20 years too late. The animation style, the coincidental romance tropes; everything is so flatly predictable, so you'd hope for interesting character personalities. No. The MC has seemingly no sense of humor. Dry sincerity, with occasional bored replies to his "too-cool" filler sidekick friend and his happy-go-lucky girlfriend. The "Angel" is insanely serious, which is the obvious point, but so far the show hasn't really given a reason to like her. She can cook. She's cute. Troubling insecurities because of her wealthy parents. Anything sounding familiar yet? The art style is similarly nostalgic. Rigid movements with big eyes, awkwardly-drawn hands, and 80% ofthe camera work is just zooming into their face and eyes. Lots of exaggerated tropes: sitting out in the rain is going to make you DEATHLY ILL, which is a nice segue into treating the MC in a personal one-on-one. A little hurt? The MC has a full trauma kit and four pairs of spare clothes to assist. I'm guessing next episode some hot hunk wiseguy is gonna borderline sexually assault the Angel, and our MC will do a 720 kickflip into Ollie reversal into double haymaker. Creep goes down, pisses his pants. MC drapes the Angel in a blanket. Crowd cheers. MC pulls a fully intact peach cobbler from his backpack. "Uhmmm.. check please?" Roll credits.

I really hope I'm wrong and this takes an interesting turn, as I've read several dozen people praise the manga. Please I just want to be wrong.

When they said there was an angel next door, they weren't kidding. Not to mention a very cute and sweet angel at that. Story and characters: 8 Honestly, there are nice side characters to this anime, and I'd even argue that a lot of the personalities, feel very welcoming, and warm. It's the sort of anime that'll make your heart feel sweet((Even one of the MCs, but we'll get to that in a moment.)), even if some of them, or least the background characters, will sound a bit like mindless mobs, but thankfully, the focus isn't on them. The focus is more on the core. The corebeing the glue that holds this anime together, and drives it forward. What I'm talking about is our protagonists in the form of Mahiru and Amane.

Imagine one simple act of kindness, can spawn a very interesting but warm friendship, that maybe could develop further to boot. That is where we find ourselves. Amane walking home from school in the pouring rain with his umbrella, only to see a young girl in Mahiru sitting on a swing, without such. Offering said umbrella, before going home and catching a cold. This is the spawn of our story developing, and has caused these two to act more so than ever, and it'll come off as a very sweet, and charming interaction, that you just feel that over time, you'll come to love and adore, much like they may with each other.

Mahiru is a model student. People not only admire her, but people adore her too. For good reason, she's sweet, she's thoughtful, she isn't too judgmental either. As the times she is, it's more in a thoughtful manner, that isn't toxic at all. Which further reflects the idea that she is in fact an angel, all she's missing is her wings haha. As for Amane, he can seem a bit stand off, a bit cold in his nature. Lazy is the most obvious trait for him.But down the line, there is a real good heart there, as after all. He could've just passed on, without giving such to Mahiru, but he didn't. Animes like these are built upon good relations with their characters, and it's done really well here.

Art and sound: 8

Colourful and great looking is what I would use to describe the art of this show. In parts, you can really feel the warmth of the show. Like as if it's friendly looking tones, really drive you in that it's a welcoming experience for you to enjoy. It's not action packed, but that's the thing. It doesn't need to be. What it as, has a great and warmth filled style, and sound design, that match so well together, that'll draw you in for a good comfy ride.

Otonari is filled with warmth and sweetness, and is a great watch for any in general, but also for those who want to experience something of that level. I'd highly recommend it.

Dull Junk-food Entertainment Here is a hard-to-swallow pill: Women will not just come to you begging to be your girlfriend. Many people who watch The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten will realize it is pure fantasy, a fantasy pandering to your subconscious need to be taken care of like a child returned to their parents. I'm sorry, men, but the sooner you break the fantasy that a 1-dimensional stereotypically perfect girl will come to be your mother/maid/girlfriend, the sooner you will grow up. Male fantasy fuel anime like The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten perpetuates a sense of entitlement and can lead to feelings ofbitterness and resentment towards ordinary women. It is not helpful or healthy for men to think that women will spoil them. Men need to focus on developing healthy relationships with other people, not on being spoiled by them and setting unrealistic expectations.

The Angel Next Door presents only two characters with identifiable traits: a generic male protagonist named Amane, and Mahiru, a girl similar to Tsukasa from Tonikawa Over the Moon for You. For no good reason, she becomes protective of Amane, but his name does not matter since he is an avatar for the audience. He is so devoid of traits that anyone with a similar fantasy can project onto him. Sometimes, monotonous characters lacking personality can develop and become more fleshed out. As of the third episode, there has yet to be character growth.

Even for those who find this sort of escapism appealing, there's nothing that elevates this above its contemporaries. For a production of this middling caliber, it's no shock there's not much animation, and the background art lacks detail. You'll recognize the generic character designs if you've watched studio Project No. 9's other tv series, such as HigeHiro and Tomozaki-kun. Excluding Inukai-san's Dog, this has the laziest opening and ending visuals I've seen all season. The songs are fine-generic-but the visuals are simply reused footage, panning shots of Mahiru, and slideshow animation.

For anyone who's seen this premise done before, you'll know the generic male fantasy makes for a pretty dull story. All the steps are predictable; Mahiru takes care of Amane in every episode, then they develop feelings for each other. It tries to be simpler than most unbelievable fantasies, which may give the impression that it's classier-there's no comedy, melodrama, or fan service. It's like unsalted chips: Flavorless junk food entertainment.

Watching The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten kinda reminds me of the 'girl next door' type of media, where a girl next door transcends beauty. Or at least, they are far more appealing to the eye than anyone else in the same show. Then, the character we're specifically talking about here would be Mahiru Shiina, who represents the "angel" of this series. To put it simply, this isn't about a girl next door. This is about an angel next door, and our main protagonist Amane Fujiyama is about to have the experience of a lifetime. Based on the light novel, The Angel Next Door SpoilsMe Rotten has some common tropes viewers should watch out for. The idea of an ordinary person meeting someone way out of their league is among one of these. Furthermore, you'll need a lot of patience to embrace the personality of Amane Fujiyama. Trust me, he isn't exactly the type of character that can carry this anime with his personality and being the epitome of an ordinary guy. On the other hand, Mahiru will spark curiousity for the viewers for representing a beauty and compared to that of an angel. She is popular among classmates at school and carries a mysterious vibe. As the anime ventures on, we find out more and more about her character beyond just her angelic appearance.

Amane's meeting with Mahiru looks like something out of a modern soap opera. Under the raining sky, they bond over the simple idea of her helping cooking a meal. Yes, Amane lacks cooking skills so he often eats takeouts and to be honest, it's nothing to be embarassed out. Fortunately, he discovers that she is his next door neighbor. The nicknamed Angel at school Mahiru lives right next to him. As the two grow closer together, they discover more about each other including their parents, hobbies, and dreams. The show adapts a rather innocent romance story that tries to get the viewers interested in their relationship. However, I will tell you this: this anime expects you to be patient, very patient in fact. There's no doubt the two has a connection but Amane and Mahiru aren't exactly experts on romance. They are teenagers who are experiencing what is like growing up. They deal with real life problems such as keeping their relationship a secret, dealing with grown-ups, and spending special days together such as Christmas or New Years. From this point, the show honors the anime's premise and never steers off rail from it although it's clear that the show has a rather one dimensional plot.

Outside of our lovely duo, we do have the charismatic pair of Chitose and Itsuki They represent as foil characters for Amane and Mahiru because of their contrasting personalities. Still, the anime does take opportunties to get all four or these main characters together to bond and share the joy of life. However, viewers should be aware that the show also adds moments of despair and characters dealing with their past. Most noticably, we find out why Amane has a hard time trusting others and his own problems dealing with his parents. Indeed, trust is an important word for characters must develop a connection to understand each other. Amane and Mahiru are the most prominent examples for they are able to develop such trust.

Ultimately, The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten is probably an anime you've experience before if you're familiar with melancholic dramas. Even though there's always joy in the series, there's also moments of sadness and despair. It always feels like something is missing between our main characters' relationship and the question lingers on whether 'will they or won't they' become a real couple. It's this type of writing that can be frustrating at times as even though there's progress, we are never treated with a true ending. The anime adapts only 12 episodes so this isn't much of a surprise, yet as I said before, you'll need a lot of patience to the end. However, it's also clear this type of anime isn't aimed for everyone.

Project No. 9 and its producers handled this anime with delicate care. They made Mahiru look like an angel in human form with her innocent look and beautiful face. With a youth appearance and feminine charm, she lives up to her nickname. Outside of her character, the rest of the cast look like extras. Seriously, it's hard to name one other character that stands out in terms of appearance when comparing to Mahiru. Unfortunately, the anime's art style doesn't bring anything special to talk about unless you become a fan of the angel herself.

I'm not going to say this is anime is unwatchable or represents the pennacle of romantic comedies. This is more of an average anime dedicated to connecting to two characters living next door. Whether you agree Mahiru lives up to her 'angel' nickname is up to you. With such a small cast of characters, you'll really have to ask yourself if they are worth the time. Because time and time after again, this type of anime just doesn't do justice for the rom-com genre.

I have more chemistry with a piece of bread than the main characters together in the 5 episodes so far The main characters realize they are neighbors and start eating meals together, and slowly they fall in love with each other. Why? No idea. The show doesn't know either. They have no shared interests, they don't discover anything significant about the other that could spark any sort of romantic interest The male mc doesn't have any good points, he only washes the dishes after the girl has made the food It reads as a self insert of the author that wrote about his dream scenario of finding his perfect wifethat will magically fall in love with him

Very bland, will probably keep watching because it's not terrible and I've seen worse

Watch with very low expectations.

I'm not gonna be that guy that says "the manga is better" or "the main source is better", but the adaptation is disappointing. here's a list: bad art style the art style on both manga and light novel is godly. while I'm not really sure about the art style on the anime. on one point, they manage to capture Mahiru's cuteness perfectly. but then on the other it's bad. on episode three, when Amane turns to Mahiru when she asked him about the cake, it hurts my eyes. I cant even keep track how much I said "god it's bad" when watching it. Too fast pacing in the lightnovel and the manga, the pacing feels natural and their relationship builds up every chapter. Another guy pointed out that the anime used 5 chapters for 1 episode, and it should be 2-3 chapters per episode. and I agree. Because by this point there's a couple of things that got cutted off from the main source that should be able to satisfy the feelings of wanting to see Mahiru's cuteness animated. and they blew it.

either way, i'm grateful that it got an adaptation. but I wish for a remake or they'd change studio on season 2.

Undoubtedly an anime that is worth watching if you are looking to have a great relaxing night and enjoy how love gradually emerges from two cold characters who do not know each other. Without a doubt this can become one of the best romance anime In this anime you will be able to appreciate how slight gestures can make two people who feel nothing start to want to be closer to each other. If you really like a series where love arises from small gestures without wanting to receive anything in return and with which each chapter makes you feel great appreciation for the two main characters, youwill certainly not end up disappointed with this anime.

If you have ever experienced a single shred of genuine human connection, "The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten" will feel less like a romance and more like a psychological lobotomy. This isn't a story; it is a meticulously crafted simulation designed to cater to the lowest form of "lonely-boy" wish-fulfillment, stripping away everything that makes human relationships interesting: conflict, personality, and reality. 1. The Protagonist: A Cardboard Cutout Our lead is the quintessential "blank slate." He has no defining traits, no drive, and no personality other than being a "lonely, messy guy." He doesn't earn anything. He is a "log" in every sense of the word.He is rewarded with a goddess-tier domestic servant simply for existing and performing the monumental feat of sharing an umbrella once. It is a Wattpad-tier fantasy that insults the viewer’s intelligence.

2. The "Angel": A Function, Not a Character

Mahiru Shiina is not a girl; she is a programmed appliance. She doesn't have flaws, she doesn't have bad days, and she doesn't have a life outside of cleaning a stranger’s apartment and cooking for him. She exists solely to "caress" the ego of the protagonist (and by extension, the audience). Watching her is like watching a robot programmed with "trad-wife" subroutines. There is zero chemistry because there are no two people to have chemistry—only a self-insert void and his trophy prize.

3. The Plot: Watching Paint Dry on a "Safe Space"

The show is terrified of conflict. Every "problem" is resolved within two minutes of polite blushing. There is no tension, no stakes, and no growth. It’s a 12-episode loop of "Oh, you cooked for me?" and "Oh, you cleaned my room?" followed by agonizingly slow-paced dialogue that says absolutely nothing. It is a "healing" anime in the same way that a coma is "resting."

4. Production: Visual Makeup for a Hollow Script

While the art style is polished and "shiny," it serves as a deceptive mask. The direction is stagnant, and the animation is minimal because, frankly, characters sitting on a couch for 20 minutes doesn't require much effort. It uses its "clean" aesthetic to distract from the fact that the writing has the depth of a puddle in a drought.

Conclusion:

This anime is the peak of "Pandering Culture." It ignores the messy, beautiful, and difficult nature of real love (seen in masterpieces like Cowboy Bebop or GTO) in favor of a sterilized, saccharine delusion. If you enjoy watching a sentient toaster cook rice for a shut-in for four hours, this is for you. For everyone else, it is a soul-crushing waste of time that earns its 1/10 by being the most boring "romance" ever conceived.

First thing first, this review contain my bias toward the anime that most if not all of you would definitely disagree with me Okay, let me ask a question, when did the last time you, as a single, felt so frustrated because an anime? (don't lie my comrade, I had your six) This anime basically told everyone, hey go get some girl to date with, why waste your time watching cute couple while you're still single? God Bless for every one of us that still single and can't find girl to date with Okay, enough blabbing to the review. At the first episode two character that polaropposite each other was met at park during heavy pour, for the first episode it didn't sold me because I know so much anime with this type of setting where the protagonist is gloomy and the FMC is popular character, in the end it would be garbage Romcom, yet it almost make me want to throw myself to nearby cliff because how pitiful I am.

Amane Fujimiya, the main protagonist with your typical gloomy and rude personality, he also can't clean his room and can't cook well (in short, it was YOU & ME) but at one point after he gave his umbrella to Mahiru Shiina, the female protagonist, he got sick, at this moment his encounter with Mahiru Shiina continue.

When things getting good for two of them, finally something about Mahiru situation was revealed, and yet again, the moment where I thought the protagonist would definitely messed up with dirty jokes in fact he played his role so good that make me smile all the time, this anime probably would easily went to top of the chart if the pacing wasn't being cut off from original sources. Although the pacing kinda weird, yet it still works out very well, probably because the source material was full of stuff that backing up each other as a story.

After several time continue, so their interaction one another also developt, what make me stay for this anime, is how she depicted as well mannered and well dressed female characters, unlike many other Romcom with ecchi scene, in here I almost didn't see it at all, in fact there's a moment where I think 'ah! there is the fan service moment' where Fujimiya start giving piggyback for Mahiru, yet he didn't react like disgusting perverted at all.

The main protagonist personality was likable because how not thick headed dense he is, but is how he trying to considerate toward Mahiru Shiina, even at some point where Mahiru start getting closer to his personal space, he still respect her personal space and trying not to do anything that would ruined their relationship, on the other hand, Mahiru Shiina, she.... erm, cute creature that needed to be petted and hugged every single time, I guess?

Which led me to the bottom of the ocean floor after enduring 7 full episode of suffering and how painful reality in our world. Also, don't worry mate, if you're suffering just like I do, we will make it, we will fine because being single doesn't mean we're can't find girl to date with, right? God Bless for us

From the anime quality, I wouldn't say that this anime was great, there's some hiccups here and there at the animation that sometimes quite irritating to see, but I forgive it for stay consistent with the story, otherwise I would definitely drop this. The sound effect sometimes can be perfect for the mood, but sometimes it didn't work out well, the music though, the first opening it didn't catch my attention at all, yet the ending manage to caught me off guard completely, twice actually.

The anime wasn't perfect in term of how quality it produce, but completely worth to watch because how fluffy their interaction was, in fact, I suggest you to NOT watching this if you're hate being in relationship because this anime would surely make you want to have a girlfriend, a girl with kind heart that accept you for yourself, a girl that doesn't complain about everything and always disrespectful at your personal space, (don't worry mate, we're the same)

So to make this story short, this anime so painful to watch as a single, to make matter worse, anime girls doesn't exist in reality world, oh lord please go easy for this poor soul.

Exacerbates stereotypes on the ideal woman and excessively utilizes basic tropes. This anime pretty much glorifies the idea that the perfect woman is one who is pretty, cooks well, cleans, and feels the validation to do so to feel needed (because of course she has trauma). I really don't understand how other viewers find this show to be wholesome. I really tried to give it a fair shot despite cringing during every episode. Despite being a bland, average character himself, on purpose to make the average male audience relate to him, he is portrayed as not being like "other guys". All the characters follow common animetropes, which makes the characters boring and predictable. The reactions of the characters are really unnatural as well, which adds to the cringe. This anime essentially caters to the average male viewer and echoes wish fulfillment trash of men who want a house wife hidden under the guise of a wholesome relationship. Note, my favorite anime genres are romance, shoujo, and slice of life, so I do not have any problem with romance anime in general.

Originally, I planned to review Revenger from this lack-luster of a season but it was so boring that I’ve dropped it after 6 episodes. What do we have here instead? Another boring romcom, of course! Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken was the highest rated romantic anime of this season and one of my podcast mate said this anime is a freaking masterpiece, so I gave it a shot. After finishing this anime, I can confidently say that this story was not a good recommendation AT ALL. But what went wrong, you may ask. Well, if you don’t want to readthis review, I immediately come up with the conclusion: Basically everything. If you’re curious what are those flaws which made this series a nearly unbearable experience to watch, here are the details.

Amane Fujimiya, a first year student, who is not very popular at school meets the beautiful, rich, extremely popular, almost completely flawless Mahiru Shiina who is happened to be one of his classmates and she turns out to be she’s one his neighbors. They got close to each other very soon, Mahiru goes over to Amane, she constantly acts like a cold bossy bitch, she tidies the MC’s room and also cooks for him. Amane finds her annoying at first, he doesn’t want this kind of relationship and he’s right, what I saw is not a realistic relationship but doing what real people would do in this situation wouldn’t make a 12 episode anime series, let alone a successful light novel.

Amane is a completely uninteresting main protagonist who is also a self-insert, all he did was lend his umbrella to a girl, who starts acting like her girlfriend in return. He isn’t likeable, he is lazy, messy and even rude sometimes. Mahiru as I mentioned is a typical girl lonely men fantasize about, she’s pretty, kind, she would also make a good housewife, of course. She’s also a typical female lead, who has this different persona troupe and it’s good when it’s done right but her schoolgirl persona has literally no personality, the „I’m with Amane” persona is annoying, completely unrealistic and really boring. It takes seven episodes for something to happen when Amane notices that Mahiru is arguing with her mother. She admits to Amane that she’s actually an unwanted child but this backstory’s only significance to the story is how they first met. The dialogues are incredibly corny at best, written by eight-year-olds at worst, if I had watched this anime with my native language’s subtitles (which is Hungarian) instead of English sub, I would’ve thrown my laptop out the window from the seventh floor, they were that bad which is not too appealing, knowing the fact that ninety percent of the show is basically these two horrible characters doing „lovey-dovey” things. The romantic progression is awfully slow which wouldn’t be catastrophic if the supporting characters weren’t as bad as the main couple.

Like in many romcoms, Otonari no Tenshi-sama also has a secondary couple but the boy has no personality, he’s almost invisible, I can’t remember what he does in this god damn show, but her girlfriend really takes the cake. She’s not just an annoying one-dimensional painfully unfunny comic relief of a character, the entire purpose of her existence is just shipping the main couple. She’s so obssesed with them that I wonder why she is still with her boyfriend. They could have been as great side characters as Kazama and Sakurai were in My Senpai is Annoying where Igarashi and Takeda’s romantic progression was pretty slow, the secondary couple in that show was amazing. Amane has a popular male classmate too, he’s not an important character either, the other classmates are mindless NPCs, don’t bother with them. The rest of the supporting cast are Amane’s parents. Their only role is being supportive towards their son. they seem to get along, they are also the most likeable characters in this anime.

The character design is the same as in Project No. 9’s previous light novel adaptations, if you’ve seen Higehiro for example, I’m sure you’re familiar with the character designs. The backgrounds are under-detailed mess, the scenes are barely animated, the color palette is best described as the 50 Shades of Shit, the characters have barely any facial expressions, they also feel like robots who have been brought to life recently and started learning how to be human, so this shows art is the definition of ugly as sin. The official soundtrack of this anime is nothing amazing, you will immediately forget it after you finished watching this series. Many people think that in modern anime bad voice acting is simply non-existent anymore but oh boy, Manaka Iwami is horrible in Mahiru’s role, it’s just painful to listen to her voice and worst of all, she will be the seiyuu of Akane Kurokawa in ’Oshi no Ko’, who is my favorite female character in the original manga (please check out the score I gave to Fruits Basket before you want to give me a friendly reminder that she also did Tohru Honda).

The Angel Next Door Bores Me Rotten is a terrible disaster that makes me baffle its popularity. It’s completely generic, low effort and there isn’t a single aspect of this show that is unironically good. I wonder why would anyone enjoy an anime like this. I don’t want to sound like a gay leftist whose reviews used to be botted but this series is definitely a male fantasy trip for lonely men to fulfill their escapist desires. If you don’t want to waste your time with this filth mocked as an anime, avoid at all cost, if you’re craving for escapism, don’t watch Otonari no Tenshi-sama either, go to the gym instead.

If the unoriginal character designs and cliche synopsis didn't turn you off from watching *insert unnecessarily long name here* let me do that for you. Anime writing has truly only become more incestuous in the last two decades. At some point, I guess the industry collectively understood that well-crafted narratives, human-like personality traits and eye-catching artstyles weren't a prerequisite for making a good return on investment - because holy shit people will actually watch garbage like this and enjoy it! I get that I'm not the target demographic for this anime as a 25 year old man; I should probably only be watching a fewselect shows that are actually worthwhile like Chainsaw Man, Mob Psycho 100 III, Vinland Saga, Attack on Titan etc. (I couldn't find any recent shows that I really enjoyed that weren't action oriented. There probably are some that aren't that popular idk), but I just cannot help myself from doing some dumpster-diving since I kinda quit watching anime for some years.

Point is that this show is really bad, and for some reason every anime on this site, quality notwithstanding, will have a score of anywhere between 6-8 unless they are absolutely unwatchable, and somehow this anime sits at a score of 8 (almost) on this god forsaken website.

Why? The characters talk like actual fucking robots. I am not overexaggerating when I say that the dialogue sounds like it has been written by an outdated AI; surely, ChatGPT would be able to churn out more compelling conversations than what is at display here, right? Like, while I was watching this, bored out of my mind, I decided to re-enact the dialogue but in a robotic manner - and I could feel something I can only describe as a convergence between how I interpreted the text on screen in my head, and how I imagined it would sound if someone actually held these conversations in real life. It's hard to describe exactly what that means, so you'll have to take my word for it... or actually watch the anime yourself (don't) and try and mimic my scientific findings.

The main character looks like a Kirito-clone. It is actually a little offputting now that I think about it. In the very least he doesn't look like Kyouske, in which case we would have bigger problems ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

No, but seriously: Nothing actually happens in this anime. They stay inside some tiny apartment throughout at least 70% of the runtime. Which I assume was a cost cutting measure? The romantic interest is the most cookie cutter, boring excuse for a waifu I have ever laid my eyes on. She is so devoid of any interesting character-traits that don't boil down to being a stereotypical anime love interest, that it is almost deserving of some kind of reward. She has good grades, makes food for the main character because he can't cook, is really shy, and can't read a romantic social queue to save her life.

The side characters are so forgettable that I don't even know if anything were to change if they just disappeared entirely from the story. I guess that could make for a better story in the very least, if this piling steam of shit just did a 180° and turned into a post-apocalyptic setting, à la Steins;Gate when Rintarou changes timelines.

It really does boggle the mind how anime like these can continue to be shat out the asshole of these lazy studios without the audience ever growing tired of it. There are probably some redeeming aspects of this anime that could be mentioned, but I don't wanna do that because fuck this garbage, that's why.

When I first heard of Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Saretita Ken, it was from people that I knew who read the light novels from this series saying that it was a pretty wholesome romcom and very good, and I know I like to watch romcoms so I decided to give it a shot, but after seeing it was going to made by Project No.9 and that it sounded extremely generic to its core I started to lose confidence, and it’s good to know that my total lack of confidence in this thing didn’t disappoint because not only it looks ugly, butit is in fact generic to its core, and I’m not saying generic as an actually bad thing but in how it is implemented.

Amane is the same protagonist as always, he is a sadboi who has one single friend, just that Amane has even less personality than your usual MC. He moved from his previous school due to some people that didn’t consider him a friend and used him just to pay stuff and that’s why he barely has any friends now, that’s basically him, that’s all there is to his character for easier self-insertion. But suddenly one day he finds Mahiru, the so-called angel of the school, not only she has perfect grades but she is also apparently the most beautiful girl, stupidly popular among her peers, and other things you already saw from other perfect heroines. So, as he sees her alone and sad and the rain starts falling, he gives her his umbrella and he gets sick due to being exposed to rain, and after all the help she received, Mahiru goes to his apartment since she feels guilty for him giving her the umbrella. Now, they conveniently live in the same building floor, I have seen other series with that so I’ll let it slide, but as soon as she puts a foot in Amane’s apartment, she says that she has to start cleaning the whole room and that he looks pale, so she also starts cooking for him every single day to the point that they eventually decide that she can cook on his kitchen. So, I can confidently say, Mahiru is not Amane’s love interest, she is his actual mother, she works as his mother better than his own mother.

Mahiru constantly mentions all the help Amane gives to her, and I hear those dialogues and just wonder, WHAT HELP IS HE GIVING YOU?! I think she didn’t perceive the series in the same way I did, since I just saw her helping him every single time, besides the little stuff from the rain and when she was a little hurt on episode one, so I guess she says it due to the stuff he buys her, but I wouldn’t consider it as helping her. But then there was this scene that gave us insight of Mahiru’s past, she wasn’t loved by her parents so that’s why she put effort to be perfectly perfect in every single way, but they didn’t love her back and even want nothing to do with her once she finishes high school, not only this isn’t a flaw to Mahiru because she is still perfect, it’s their parents who are heartless, but after she tells Amane all of this and he comforts her she finally falls in love with him. And I’m sure telling your tragic backstory and working as the mother of a guy won’t make yourself fall in love with him, but hey, this series has been this way since the beginning.

There was this scene in episode 9, where Amane and Mahiru went to shop, and Amane was waiting for Mahiru to look for some stuff and then suddenly two girls appear in front of him and ask Amane if he wanted to hang out, but he is grabbed by the arm by Mahiru and the two go away from those girls. At that moment I had to pause the episode and I started laughing hard, I think so-called “comedy” anime don’t make me laugh at something this easily, but I’m not laughing because it was made to be a funny scene, I laughed at how blatantly stupid it was, I was laughing at it not with it, especially because this series doesn’t have written jokes or jokes at all, I think it cannot be possibly categorized as a comedy, I already thought it was dumb enough for the most beautiful girl in the school to suddenly become the mom- sorry, the love interest of the MC was unrealistic enough, but this was even beyond that. And this is the usual quality of the scenes in this series, they go on and on being stupid, without taking into account the million dialogues about “we are not dating” “I don’t feel anything for her” despite the fact they basically live together, she cooks for him, she cleanses her house for him, they hold hands and shit like that, I mean, this series even went and made Amane have a wet dream about Mahiro, talk about not being attracted to her.

If I had a dollar for every single off-model frame in this anime, even I could fund a better show, because this show looks horrible, the animation is super stiff, there are so many off-model frames that my eyes hurt watching at the screen, there’s one like every couple of minutes, I’m not actually surprised since a studio as mediocre as Project No.9 is the one handling the series, but even then, what about everything else? This series has as many settings as a 4 camera sitcom, there is the school, the park, the house with the couch, and they spend tons of times in the couch, I feel like the producers read the novel and said “these idiots spent most of the time sitting on a couch, it looks very cheap to animate” and they went with it, but even if it looked cheap to animate since there aren’t many movements, you could at least try to make the characters look on-model.

So up to a point, ever since I stated watching this series I thought that Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Saretita Ken is just Kawaii Dake ja nai Shikimori-san if it wasn’t even trying, and that show barely tried anything at all. You heard that right, it’s basically the same premise but Shikimori-san goes with some logic as to why the girl is so infatuated with him since the beginning, like the girl is actually the MC’s girlfriend since the start, think what you want about their relationship as being bland, but not even them who were categorized as having more of a mother and son relationship go as hard as these two on that Oedipus angle, Mahiru acts much more like a mother than Shikimori can ever hope to and the two guys are incapable of doing anything without them, it’s just that this series looks ugly as sin and the other is a Doga Kobo show, so it looked pretty basically the whole time even if the series itself wasn’t that good. And I mean, look at the novel illustrations of Otonari no Tenshi-sama and now compare them to the anime, they are clearly butchered in designs.

And I don’t mean harm to people who like this series and can get behind all of this ugly off-model fluff of a series, but I can’t help but wonder why I choose to watch this one to aside from Nagatoro-san, as the other “remarkable” romcoms this season were stuff like Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko whose whole gimmick is the girl is a tomboy and Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai that aside from being delayed it seems to be almost the same as this one, so I probably didn’t make the wrong call in which romcom to watch, but I should probably have gone for Tomo-chan or downright not watch this one, as it’s just bad.

Thank you for reading.

Honestly based on some reviews I went in pretty skeptical with how recent basic and trope filled shows like More Than a Married Couple,Cookoo (idk the one where he and the girl were switched at birth), Don't Mess With Nagatoro (ps I like it but God they aren't even together in the manga yet), etc have gone but this show is actually so cute not hyper generic like some people have said. Like the MCs best friend and the best friend's girlfriend? They actually have a neat dynamic and the girlfriend is actually pretty funny and close with the MC and not to mention thisisn't some amazing girl falling for a nobody they have tons of legitimate interactions over months of time and he does a ton for as well. There is a ton of reciprocated things going on all of which are cute and feel genuine. The guy is actually a handsome dude with some smarts and potential but has been in a meh phase of life. He's by no means the MC from Rent a Girlfriend or Married Couple and the girl is actually a little sparky but not in the annoying trope way. I love that a lot of the annoying tropes that drag things out with awkward misunderstandings and secrets between characters seem to not be a thing too. It feels like things are developing pretty naturally 5 eps in and I'm excited for more episodes. SPOILER my only gripe is them being so secretive about their friendship with the school like if they are fully platonic pals at first what's the issue? That's my one complaint. Overall,this is my favorite romcom of the season rn.

*This review will be long, and spoiler heavy I believe that this anime was designed to make me viscerally angry, and most definitely achieved that, as I don’t think I have despised an anime so much since I started watching anime entirely. Before you all start ratio-ing me, I will try to explain the best I can why this show did not work for me personally, and this review is in no way designed to change your mind if you enjoy this show. I’ll start with the low-hanging fruit, the fact that this is a wish-fulfillment fantasy aimed toward an adolescent to young adult male audience. Everyoneknows that. It promotes a very poor view of women in general, and a very patriarchal view at that, insinuating that all a girl is useful for is cooking and cleaning, which in this day and age, is a very old-fashioned way of thinking, and behind the times. There is zero sense of realism here, as the fact that the whole premise is kick started by Amane, our main male protagonist, seeing Mahiru, our main female protagonist, looking down in the dumps while sitting in the rain. To be a nice person, he hands her his umbrella, to stop her from getting a cold, which I never understood, but as the age old anime trope goes, being in the rain for more than five minutes will make you extremely sick the next day. Mahiru accepts said umbrella, and after the revelation that they’re actually next door neighbours, she proceeds to take care of Amane, starting by nursing him back to health, then cooking for him, and cleaning his mess of a house. Now, helping out someone after they helped you out doesn’t seem all that out of the question, but she does it EVERY DAY, looking like a newlywed wife in the process. I’ll talk about the relationship between the two characters soon, but to say there is any sense of realism here is baffling to me. It encourages the fact that the world is transactional. You do a good deed, and you expect to get something in return. That does exist in our world today, and it’s fine, but when the return of a good deed gets this blown out of proportion, it made for a poor premise out of the gates. It reads as a self insert anime which completely throws the meaning of romance out. Romance doesn’t wait for you a lot of the times, effort needs to be put in.

Now, let’s talk about Amane. He’s your typical romcom protagonist who’s a bit awkward, a bit of an outcast, he constantly self-deprecates himself, and doesn’t have the best living conditions or backstory. He has zero personality. Zilch. Nada. His “personality” is built upon such a shallow backstory of him getting used by other people in the past for his money. Like I said before, this anime says a lot about a transactional world, so it’d be great if him and Mahiru could have connected over this theme, but it just didn’t happen. This past of his is supposed to make us sympathize with him I guess, or relate to him, but the fact that he decided to move out from his own home to another school and live alone, while he can’t take care of himself is just way too much. His parents approved of this too? It really wasn’t all that serious, it wasn’t even that they were physically bullying him. We also see that he seems to not trust other people a lot, as seen when he interacted with Kadowaki, and that just makes me chuckle, since that sad backstory of his wasn’t much at all. Give me a break. Does he improve throughout the story, to an extent, yes, but not nearly enough for me to consider him a remotely well written character.

On to Mahiru, she has this angel persona that just doesn’t bode well for me. Sure, she cook good, she clean good, she cute, but what else is there to her character? Her backstory is that her parents neglected her and now she has to take care of herself, and then her mom waltzes in on her during the anime and just says more mean things. The writer is simply dumping every bad thing imaginable onto Mahiru’s backstory just so we “sympathize” with her, or to allow Amane to sympathize with her, but the backstory means nothing if it’s not explored meaningfully in present time. Aside from the backstory, her angel persona is annoying to see, because she clearly doesn’t like acting like that at school. So what if she just dropped her persona? Would everyone stop liking her? I doubt that, but even if it did, she would still have Amane, Itsuki, and Chitose. I always say that it’s not the amount of friends you have that matters, it’s how many friends who will have your back no matter what, that’s what truly matters.

Now, as for the side characters, Itsuki and Chitose, they don’t add much to the story except for being the peanut gallery to Amane and Mahiru’s relationship. They definitely have more vibrant personalities and a better relationship than Amane and Mahiru do, but that didn’t contribute to any progression.

Finally, to the meat of what I wanted to talk about in this review, was the romance between Amane and Mahiru. Now, let me preface this discussion by saying that many romance anime have “Will they, won’t they?” progressions, or confessions that don’t happen until really far into the series. Most of the time, that is fine, as long as the progression is meaningful. I consider myself to like most romance anime that I watch, so these kinds of formulas are not new to me.

Romance stories which have a delayed confession can be considered realistic sometimes, because I’m sure most of us think that confessing to someone is one the most difficult things. If you’ve known the person a long time, you like to keep to the status quo. A lot of the times, when there is no time-sensitive factors involved, such as the other person moving far away, or the threat of them loving someone else, many people would think, “Why change how our relationship is right now, after all, it’s too embarrassing to admit my feelings.”

The fundamental reason why this relationship simply doesn’t work for me, aside from the premise itself, is that Amane and Mahiru have been with each other for at least half a year, and most of that time has been spent in the same home together, yet, they somehow didn’t get together for so long. You might argue and say that this type of formula is quite common in romance anime, since the romance progression usually is slow, but to that, I’ll say, “Most romance anime don’t have the main duo together for 95% of the anime!” By having these two together all the time, there is no internal monologue that can be found, at least in Mahiru’s point of view, and if there were some internal thoughts from Mahiru that we could have seen, it would have made it a least a little more engaging to watch. Time and time again, Amane also insinuates that Mahiru is being too carefree around a guy like him, and questions her what she would do if he made a move. He also questions her a lot of what she sees in a guy like him, which is self-deprecating. To that, I’d say, please read the room. If Amane paid any attention to how his interactions with Mahiru have been going, you’d have to see that Mahiru has been enjoying her time around him. I know dense male protagonists are common, but this show danced around their relationship for so long, it got aggravating quite quickly. Emotional suppression to this degree should not be seen as a virtue, it is pure stupidity. The status quo might be comfortable, but when they’ve been virtually cohabitating for this long, it’s baffling how they still insisted they were not in a relationship for this long, despite all the touching, patting, and hand holding in public. The fact that they did all this while not in a relationship, while doing all this made the entire show devoid of any meaning, and all the interactions felt useless since by their standards, it doesn’t mean anything remotely romantic anyway. The dialogue certainly didn’t help either, as it was extremely repetitive.

Simply put, romance does not work like this at all. I don’t know if the show was trying to be realistic, but if it was, that is simply laughable. By having the two characters not confess to each other and hold their feelings in is supposed to be wholesome? In the end, even with the backstories that Amane and Mahiru shared to each other, their relationship still feels superficial and shallow, as they don’t have much of an organic connection together, it all just comes from an umbrella being handed to a poor girl in the rain on the swings. Suddenly, she literally becomes his “wife” or “maid” or even “mother”. The world just doesn’t revolve that way, there is no realism in thinking that one day, the perfect girl of your dreams is going to drop down into your lap and become your maid, girlfriend, whatever you want to call it. Romance and love are not a one-way street, an organic relationship has to be formed.

Now, to the production side of things. It was not good, and most of it was outsourced to other studios anyway, so did Project No.9 even work on this? The animation was a slideshow to put it lightly, the expressions were bland, and the settings were dull. Most of the anime was just Amane and Mahiru on the couch talking like NPCs. Amane’s house was so bland as well. A beige coloured background with nothing on it, not even posters or other interesting furniture. This all screams laziness and a poor production schedule as well. The music was fine, but the OP did not capture the essence of the anime at all. The OP is energetic and fun, while the anime was as interesting as watching paint dry on a wall.

I enjoyed the first two episodes of this show, but after that, the relationship got so drawn out to the point where not even a confession could save the trainwreck that this was. Endless edging basically, is what happened here. I cannot believe that this series can pass itself as a realistic portrayal of romance, because I just don’t see it. What fun is there if the characters just dance around the relationship with the same dialogue over and over again? It portrays characters in the most monotonous and boring of ways, and any semblance of growth in the characters was not good enough.

If you were able to enjoy this show, great, all the power to you. This review is just what I think, and not a reflection of what you have to think. I would never wish for people to hate what they watch.

For everyone who is read to the end, I truly appreciate it, and thank you for hearing me out.