Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu

Kyoutarou Ichikawa may look like a shy and reserved middle school student, but deep within his heart is a bloodthirsty killer. His ultimate desire is to see his classmate Anna Yamada's beautiful face writhing in pain before he ends her life. But this fantasy may never come to fruition, as Ichikawa starts to see an entirely different side to Yamada.

Often seeking refuge in the library, Ichikawa frequently runs into Yamada. It is during these encounters that Ichikawa realizes his model classmate is actually an airhead who can never read the room. As they spend more time together, the boy cannot help but feel not only a sense of endearment toward the very girl he wishes to murder but also a desire to protect her at all costs. Is it possible that this sudden change in Ichikawa's perspective could lead to something more?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yamada, Anna Main

Youmiya, Hina Japanese

Ichikawa, Kyoutarou Main

Horie, Shun Japanese

Ichikawa, Kana Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Sekine, Moeko Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

Yamada, Sanae Supporting

Minaguchi, Yuko Japanese

Imaginary Kyoutarou Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Hara, Honoka Supporting

Toyosaki, Aki Japanese

Kobayashi, Chihiro Supporting

Asai, Ayaka Japanese

Adachi, Shou Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Yoshida, Serina Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Sotokawa, Akihiro Producer

Kurashima, Youichi Producer

Endou, Kazuki Producer

Reviews

Feb 16, 2025

SSJ-SUP3RM4N

Recommended

As one of anime’s more anticipated adaptations of 2023, The Dangers in My Heart had some big shoes to feel. With school rom-coms being a dime a dozen as they are for as long as they have been, it takes a lot to stand out. There are some such entries that rise above, setting a standard in some form or another, and this one does so in a unique way. That and more will be addressed in this review. Let's begin.

Per the synopsis, our two MCs, Anna and Kyoutarou, dominate the screen time. First impressions are somewhat rough and it takes time for things to ... get going. In the beginning, Kyoutarou is neck-deep in his chuunibyou mindset. While his train of thought is somewhat disturbing, it still comes off as quite childish. It is jarring but that circumstance is what gives way to the strongest aspects of the story here. Especially in shonen romance, perceivable development of the male lead is something that can be too easily lost or mishandled, but this one does a great job of examining Kyoutarou’s maturity and portraying how he confronts his own insecurities, both due to and outside of his relationship with Anna progressing. In addition, even after accounting for his chunni phases, he actually comes off as relatively reasonable and mature for someone his age, especially when compared to his classmates. In that regard, it is a good starting point in terms of recognizing that both (1) he does have some desirable characteristics when it comes to why Anna is interested in him and (2) the changes in his development and maturity have a steady base and are shown consistently throughout the anime. It comes down to simply a gradual and natural growth, revealing the intentional effect of why everything feels so rough in the early goings. His struggles with self-esteem and meeting with that special someone that pushes him forward is a realistic and relatable situation, though this exact execution in this scenario is not as much so.

Anna also has some issues from the onset. She is as airheaded as much as the synopsis suggests and more, and that's on top of having the elements of an immaturity we would expect of a junior high student, accentuated by her snacking obsession. She does reek of waifu bait given her appearance and some other parts to her character that are introduced throughout this first season. Like with most of the story elements, it takes a bit of time to get to the meat of her character, but it's written consistently enough where those parts of her never feel too overbearing or annoying. They actually become a bit endearing after a while, as those parts of her character help with making the main pairing stand out as the plot progresses. What also helps is that, like Kyoutarou, she is a good person. Though immature she may seem a lot of the time, she reveals often that she can be quite considerate of others when she really tries to be. Though her character development pales in comparison to Kyoutarou’s in these 12 episodes, more of the focus being on her is one of the highlights of Season 2.

Even with all of the flaws mentioned above, both Anna and Kyoutarou avoid many of the more heavy-handed tropes typical of school romances. They are also both relatively deeper characters than their first appearances. Given that both come off as awkward in their own ways at the start, it is a given that the first few episodes of interactions between the two are also awkward at first. It is easy to spot this as an intentional effect as the two with their very contrasting tendencies get a feel for each other in their own ways, helping the early buildup of the relationship feel more natural. They do get into misunderstandings, but they hardly last very long (one episode, at most). The ‘rom’ and the ‘com’ between them have a good balance as well. Anna’s cute bluntness combined with Kyoutarou’s herculean efforts to keep his composure create for a good variety of tones between the two. Many moments are intimate as expected, but there are also many where it’s him clapping back at her for some trouble she gets herself into.

As for the other characters, there are actually a lot of them relative to other shows with similar structures. Anna's clique gets a lot of screen time and, like with Anna and Kyoutarou themselves, they take a few episodes to get used to. They all know that Anna is a pretty unique person, and Kyoutarou gets on the same wavelength with them as he learns that about Anna throughout the show. Kyoutarou also has his own group of friends. Both of the MC's families also get time. Their roles all vary a decent amount. The variety gives way to lots of opportunities for middle school level antics but it is easy to point out the interactions that are meant to matter the most to the story. Some of them play wingman, many are ignorant, both willingly and not, to the whole thing, and some even try to get in the way.

The art here is very good, almost near the top of the genre. The fidelity is good and the original manga’s style, while not 100% perfectly emulated, is done so cleanly with very little inconsistency. The use of effects is masterful and elevates the visuals. Most of them are actually quite subtle by anime standards, usually being some sort of mid-scene lighting change. They are almost exclusively used for setting the mood, highlighting key moments between the two leads. In terms of the character designs, they are all pretty generic given the contemporary setting. The main pair has some visual contrast that is immediately apparent, e.g. the obvious height difference, but also has elements that reveal themselves over time. Many of the backdrops are pretty standard, nothing too unique given the modern-day setting, with school and Kyoutarou’s house getting most of the screen time, but they look good and, as mentioned, the lighting in particular was given a high level of care and attention depending on what is happening in any particular scene.

The sound design was the biggest strength of this anime. Hina Youmiya has emerged as a big name in the business and her performance as Anna is her strongest to date, skillfully characterizing Anna’s unique charisma, cheery mood, and peckish tendencies. Most will likely recognize Shun Horie from Rent-A-Girlfiend (which, amidst many arguable controversies story-wise, has top-class voice acting) and he turns in a strong performance as Kyoutarou. A lot of the comedy stems from his inner monologues, which almost always betray his outward indifference, so getting those right is critical for the transition from manga to anime and they are executed perfectly here. The two leads together are in great sync as well, really breathing life into the main duo. The music is also fantastic. The OP and ED fit well in both the song choice and the visuals. Kensuke Ushio is one of the industry's greatest minds of music and sound with his signature minimalist style, and his work on the OST in this entry only further adds to his legacy. As mentioned, even more mundane moments between the main pair can feel quite intimate, and the OST is the main driver of that. The soft piano tracks that ebb and flow in the background during those pivotal moments as Anna and Kyoutarou act with and react to each other heighten the senses during those interactions.

This anime was fairly anticipated, and in its wake, has set a standard for the romance genre in terms of the adaptation and how it brings the story to life. The audiovisual package here is at the top of the genre and the physical watching experience is sublime. Pretty much every single character comes off a bit strange at the start but such a feeling only multiplies the fulfillment of the developments over these 12 episodes. The pairing here, both as a whole and as the sum of its parts, is not perfect, but such an effect also feels somewhat intentional with their relationship developing naturally. For any and all romance enjoyers, this one easily fits itself right in the must-watch tier, and it only gets better in Season 2 as the best aspects of the characters begin to really shine.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 17, 2025

angelmaycryy

Mixed Feelings

If you are a fan of comfy fun romance anime then this is definitely a show for you. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel or asks any thought provoking questions most of the time, its a simple story about a lonely boy who falls for the popular girl. The progression is decent and and the animation is pretty good. One thing i like about this anime is that the “fanservice-y” moments are there not to necessarily arouse the viewer but more so to show the awkwardness of sexuality during your adolescence.

Although i do have a complaint with this show and this specific gripe i have ... is something thats preventing this show from being an 8 in my opinion and that is, they pretty much remove the plot of the protagonist having murderous urges. At the end of the day he is just another edgy kid. Going into this show i was honestly expecting something like if Dexter was in a rom com anime but that wasn’t the case. Three episodes in the whole “wanting to kill her” thing is pretty much gone which is unfortunate cuz i thought it would be more gradual and earned. That’s not to say that this show is bad but it definitely could’ve been something much more.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 22, 2024

BadGuyBoog

Not Recommended

(Updated review because MAL doesn't let you make new ones for some reason.)

Original Review:
You know, I don’t really mind when a show divulges (or better yet evolves) from its premise, even if it was character based. Of course as the character grows, motivations change and the circumstance changes with it. Like in Love is War, the whole premise is trying to get the other to confess, but when they get together, that premise is gone, but still because of how the characters were developed, there was still a lot more story to tell. The premise evolved and changed. That is a good series. But I’m ... sorry, you cannot just forget your premise of, oh yeah, your main character planning the murders of his classmates! Like seriously, this kid is actually fucking deranged, carrying around a box cutter waiting for the perfect moment to kill people. That is the actual premise of the show. A loner who plans to murder people falls in love. And the show just glosses over it. He’s just added onto the pile of loners who get with the popular girl but like… This kid was going to kill people, you can’t just pretend that didn’t happen! This show makes him seem like just another loner character, but other loner characters are just sad and unconfident, not psychotic. Basically you’re just supposed to forgive him and feel sympathy for him because now he’s in love. Even though there was literally a moment where he was about to stab her before chickening out. What the actual fuck? And the girl isn't even all that. She has 3 character traits: she’s ditzy, she likes snacks, and she has big boobs. Her big boobs are one of her 3 personality traits. Did I forget to mention she’s in middle school? The more I think about this show the worse it gets. I mean if you want to make the argument saying it’s a statement on how tragedies including loners who snapped could be avoided, then I’ll say, do you really think this show is smart enough for that? Be real. I don’t think anyone has ever actually made that argument, but now that I think about it, that’s the only way this premise could work. But that takes smart social commentary, a focus on his murderous intentions and the reasoning behind them, and a full character evaluation on both the protagonist and the love interest. This show is not smart enough for that.

Updated Points:
This is a review I wrote casually and I wasn't expecting it to get the attention that it has, and because of how nonchalantly and somewhat jokingly I wrote it, I have gotten a lot of angry comments complaining about my review. So I thought I might press my point and address theirs.

The main argument my somewhat angry fans pointed out to me was his murderous intentions were never meant to be a focus and were never meant to be taken seriously. What I'm assuming they meant was his thoughts of killing people were meant to highlight his isolation and loneliness, therefore emphasizing the impact the heroine has on his life. Following that line of thinking, my point of them abandoning his delusions early on is nonsensical because from the moment she enters his life, his loneliness diminishes and so does his desire to kill. It's a progression of the story and his character and not an oversight or lack of competence by the writer.

My response to that is, what kind of deranged or dethatched people think that murderous fantasies of people you know is a normal response to being a loner? Maybe I'm wrong because I was never what you would consider a loner, I always had at least one friend. However, lets look at what his fantasies are supposed to represent. Our main character feels like he doesn't belong. No one has reached out to him and because of that he has grown increasingly jealous of people around him. With this, a person can go two ways. Either blame it on themselves and have extreme low self esteem or blame it on others and grow spiteful. Our MC is the latter. So now he's spiteful of his classmates for having friends and a 'normal' life and is enraged at seeing their happiness. I understand this.

However, in no time during this did his classmates ever act malicious towards him. They might have pointed out that he was a loner, but as far as we know from this season, the MC hasn't been bullied or threatened, or even excluded on purpose (maybe, it's been a while since I've seen it ngl). My point is his murderous intentions aren't out of response to some severe stimuli, where he feels murder is his only option, it is a result of nothing but jealousy.

And the argument that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously doesn't work either. We, as an audience, know that he, deep down, doesn't have the guts to do what his delusions are telling him to do. We know that he's not gonna kill. But the protagonist has convinced himself he is. And he's prepared. And he carries a weapon with the intent to use it. I mentioned how he planned on killing the heroine at one point. We know he's not going to, but he thinks he's ready to do it, only chickening out due to a lack of guts, or willpower, or maybe some part of goodness in him. But the fact remains that he believed himself capable of killing her. And she had done nothing wrong to him. In fact, she had been nothing but kind to him up till that point. That takes a deeper level of hatred then just jealousy in order to get to that point, and if it's not that, then something else is going on mentally to get him to that point.

The writer never addresses this, never explains how he got to that point and never intended to use his murderous intentions as part of his story. Notice I said murderous intentions instead of fantasies, because the moment he brought the knife, it became an intention. My point was, that his 'bloodthirstiness' was nothing but clickbait to get peoples attention and a mark to differentiate his character from the other thousands of loner characters. The writer never wanted to write a character with deep rooted problems, or show his character in deep distress, because he just wanted to write a romcom. Perhaps he was too afraid of his Protagonist being too unlikable, but buddy, that's the point of writing stories. Those fantasies are real and dangerous, and to use it as clickbait for your story is both lazy and disrespectful.

I stand by my original opinion. Also the other complaint I got was I called the heroine bland but like, dude, I'm not gonna argue over your fucking middle school waifu. I didn't care for her, I thought it was kinda funny so I added it to the review. My bad.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Jun 17, 2023	385 replies	by JeonGoober »» Feb 21, 7:55 PM
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	Support cast likeability Laplace_kun - Apr 15, 2024	24 replies	by MyOwnGod »» Feb 3, 11:13 PM