Giji Harem

Who needs 100 girlfriends when you can have 1 girlfriend with 100 personalities? Giji Harem takes “get you someone that can do both” to the next level and is one of the most satisfying seasonal romances you’ll see. A nonstop heartwarming ride that’ll have you covering your face and gushing like an idiot. Eiji and Rin are one of the cutest couples around, and what makes them standout in a crowded field of romance shows lately is the romantic progression! Going from a kouhai-senpai relationship with the personality switching acting gimmick to a full blown relationship, dates, kissing etc all in the same season is ... almost unheard of these days and makes this a must watch for any romance fan.

Giji harem was an amazing time for me. The persona switching gimmick was something different and I like how it was a way for Rin to communicate her feelings with Eiji under the guise of practicing her acting skills. Episodes were idyllic bliss and went by in a flash. Every scene with the two leads together just felt like a cuteness overload and I would’ve been content with just seeing 12 episodes of them goofing off. But what made this such a memorable experience is that we see the two of them develop so much throughout. Usually gag series just kinda stay as gag series, but it’s clear the author had a plan in mind and wanted the couple to grow together which is beautiful. Rin slowly goes from only being able to express her emotions via the personality switching to saying how she feels on her own. Eiji gets the courage to tell Rin how he feels to her and not just her characters, and by the end of the series we see a couple that’s able to be themselves around each other. My only real complaint about it is that the off screened some of the big turning points in the story which seemed odd to me as a creative choice. With a little bit of common sense you can easily see the shift in the relationship and fit the pieces together, but I really think it would’ve been nice to show those moments to the audience!

I think this might be Hayamin’s magnum opus. She truly shines like never before in this show because of the number of personalities she portrays. We see a range that I didn’t know she had and she brings Rin to life. The chemistry that she and Eiji’s seiyuu have shines through and makes their relationship that much sweeter. Normally I talk about the animation and art, but this is a show that truly is elevated by amazing voice acting. It does of course look great too, Rin is genuinely a star girl and the amount of screenshots I have of her just looking cute is astonishing.

If you’re a romance fan and just want to watch something that’s pure, no fanservice, no uncomfortable scenes, no spineless MC who can’t tell a girl how he feels, just two people that fall in love and get a satisfying conclusion this is the one it’s really as simple as that. It’s as advertised and I will certainly miss it.

Giji Harem gets a very easy 10 personalities out of 10

Welcome to the review of a much awaited adaptation manga adaptation. Maybe too "awaited". It honestly felt like a small studio saw that for some reason no one decided to adapt this semi-popular romance manga and decided to give it a go. The results are what you would expect.

The story is pretty cute, with a very positive and feel-good vibe. Its not a story with a lot of hard-hitting and thought-provoking elements because, honestly, it doesn't need to be. It's what a weekly rom-com should be while trying to be as inoffensive as possible and it achieves of making the viewer watch the show ... with a smile. The story is definitely the best part about the show (mainly because the source material already did a good job). Of course, because its a romance anime, it sometimes accepts some plot-holes in order to advance the story, especially at the ending (even though I thought the last episode was the best).

Now we are done with the good things because I want to move on to the very bad stuff, the animation and music. Honestly, the only positive I can find in the technical side of the show is Rin's voice actor being very good. Other than that the show fails miserably, making us wonder why they even bothered animating the panels. The animation is very bad, its very rigid and slow, shots linger for too long and its clear when you pay attention that the backgrounds had no thought put into them. The music is even worse, the opening is actually one of the worst songs I have ever heard and the ending song is very forgettable. The music during the show is also so bad its distracting from the scenes and sometimes the show just says "fuck it" and just doesn't do music for a scene at all. It feels like a lot more love could have gone in this show and its kinda sad to see such a nice manga receive such lackluster treatment.

That's why my final rating for this show is a 6.5/10. It can be enjoyable and fun but I just can't really recommend an anime that is so clearly worse than a manga that isn't even that impressive artistically.

**The End of My Torture Watch**

The premise of this anime is simple. Nanakura Rin meets his sempai Kitahama Eiji whilst going to the high school theatre club room. For some reason, they hit it off. Eiji wanted a harem, and so Rin, in order to make sure of her acting skills, takes on different personalities, thereby creating Eiji's Pseudo Harem.

The low rating I am giving is because it feels like torture watching this as far as I'm concerned. This is the case of an anime clicking for some people but not for me. Some have described this show as 'diabetes' and perhaps equivalent to ... what my native language calls 'kilig.' I have no intention of disputing their experience.

So here are some positives that I can find. It's drama-free. They are cute, especially Rin. I couldn't care less about Eiji, but I really like Rin's character design. Plus, she is voiced by Hayami Saori whose voice as Falin in Dungeon Meshi is so soothing. If anything, this anime has demonstrated her vocal range in voicing different character types.

Negatives: I cannot understand what made Rin fall for this Eiji bloke. He seemed struggling at the start but met Rin and seemed to impress her despite being a so-so person. It's a good thing that Rin inspired him to be better, but if I were Rin, I wouldn't pick him as a mate.

The animation is subpar. For example, the wheels are spinning in the opposite direction of where they should spin. LOL. Admittedly, this type of anime doesn't require an impressive animation and something serviceable like this would do. But you can't help faulting if it's too slipshod on an anime you don't enjoy.

The episode format is a mess, especially the earlier episodes. I believe in the manga, each chapter is a different skit of varying lengths, and the succeeding ones may or may not be related to the previous chapter.

Adapting it to anime makes them not flow so well. After 5 minutes of a skit, it's a different skit altogether and it made me pause this anime so often. The last few episodes were good and more tolerable. The succeeding chapters had a better connection to what came before.

Ironically, as far as I'm concerned, it became better on some occasions when Rin had a chance to interact with other characters. And even Eiji's interaction with Rin's younger sister was a net positive rather than being all about Rin and Eiji. Like I said, YMMV. Some people find Rin and Eiji's interactions so cute and charming but me personally they're cute only to some extent.

I might have liked this better if these were YouTube shorts of varying lengths. Some skits are only worth 5 minutes. But some skits like the ones shown in the last few episodes are perhaps okay to be shown as a full-blown episode.

This is also why I think MahoAku suits me better. It has half the episode length and I couldn't get enough of it.

In conclusion, I apologise if I have to give this a low score and mark it as 'do not recommend.' I hate that I did not enjoy this as much as others did. I did not drop this because I have a no-drop policy, but if I were to follow the 3-episode rule, I would have dropped this as early as Episode 1.

Even if I said I don't recommend it, it is up to you to try it and see if you will enjoy it. And if you enjoy it, I offer you my congratulations.