Douse, Koishite Shimaunda.

Aspiring manga artist Mizuho Nishino has grown alongside her four childhood friends: Kizuki Hazawa, Shuugo Hoshikawa, Shin Kashiwagi, and Airu Izumi. But on Mizuho's 17th birthday, Kizuki suddenly asks to be her boyfriend. Having no previous experience with romance, Mizuho brushes it off easily, but Kizuki is genuine and intends to win her heart.

Kizuki no longer hides his affections, and Mizuho hesitates, worried about the consequences their potential relationship could have on their whole friend group. As Mizuho works through the confusion of youth, it seems that the other three boys have fallen for her as well—and she must find a way to sort her feelings out without shattering the close-knit group she holds dear.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Izumi, Airu Main

Chiba, Shouya Japanese

Kashiwagi, Shin Main

Yoshitaka, Sion Japanese

Hazawa, Kizuki Main

Ura, Kazuki Japanese

Nishino, Mizuho Main

Shinfuku, Sakura Japanese

Hoshikawa, Shuugo Main

Inomata, Satoshi Japanese

Hoshikawa, Tougo Supporting

Umehara, Yuuichirou Japanese

Kashiwagi, Miki Supporting

Kashiwagi, Umi Supporting

Tsukada, Yui Japanese

Izumi, Sarina Supporting

Kawaguchi, Megu Supporting

Kawaida, Natsumi Japanese

Herek, Samantha Producer

Sakurai, Takashi Producer

Yamamoto, Junichi Director

Ebina, Yasunori Sound Director

Reviews

Mar 31, 2025

ryuu_no_yoake

Recommended

I feel compelled to write this: I RECOMMEND THIS ANIME! If you enjoy romance stories, reverse harems, shoujo manga, just watch it, there's no shame!

Some of the criticism I see is that it's full of negative shoujo stereotypes. It's not. The FL is hard working and driven, and ends up having a career around something she loves. She is *not* a stumbling crybaby whose only redeemable quality consists of cooking skills (now that would be a shoujo stereotype!). The male characters are not toxic at all, they all have positive hobbies or ambitions; they generally solve their conflicts using their words; having a long-standing friendship ... with the FL, they care about her and about each other, and generally behave as well as one can expect a 16 years old to. Some have a crush, maybe they are a bit pushy or competitive, or maybe they are oblivious or not honest about their feelings at all. That's the beauty of having a sparkling adolescence, which kind of is the message of this season at least.

There were a few things that I liked from the beginning: the use of two timelines (makes the story much more interesting), the slow progression and quiet atmosphere focused more on their interactions and conversations (which gave me the feeling of really seeing someone's memories).

Overall I liked the character design, they are all quite distinctive and memorable. And gorgeous, it's anime, it's to be expected. The animation quality has issues, some angles and proportions are not the best and there's a lot of stills, but at least it's consistent throughout. I didn't feel it worsening terribly towards the end like I've seen in other shows recently.

I am not a big fan of the opening with the blurry camera frames, nor the songs, nor did I like that they draw "extras" using stick figures but at least it helps you follow the story more easily.

I think there was certainly some room for improvement, and I don't know how long the story will take nor how well the relationships will evolve, but I honestly enjoyed watching it. To me this season was consistent and I am looking forward to the next one. If anything, I wish there were more reverse harems with actual romance and a decent storyline.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 27, 2025

Marinate1016

Mixed Feelings

Koishima is basically what happens if someone takes every single negative shoujo stereotype, rolls them into one and makes a series out of it. It’s not a good story by any stretch of the imagination, the characters frustrate the hell out of you, but for some reason it’s addicting. It has a similar addictive quality to Rent a girlfriend where you know you probably shouldn’t waste your time watching it, but you can’t turn your eyes away. I “hate watched” it for 3 months thinking I was going to give it a very low score, but by the end of it, I found myself caring ... about the characters and wanting to see how things end. Mindless entertainment is still entertainment at the end of the day.

The best way I can describe this show is it’s like a soap opera. There’s so many cliches, so much wish-fulfilment, I mean drop dead gorgeous girl somehow has never had a boyfriend and is childhood friends with the 4 hottest guys in school who all are in love with and competing for her ? It’s the sort of stuff a 16 year old might write as a fanfic on tumblr. But goddamn it, I kind of liked it. The messiness was fun to watch. I like seeing drama play out and this show had it in spades. My one big issue with the story is that at times, Mizuho just feels like a prize to be won by the boys rather than an actual character. Like she’s floating back and forth between the main two dudes depending on the time of the day. Everyone just does stuff to win her over without giving her feelings any concern or trying to talk to her.

The show bounces around from present day(2020) to several years in the future with Mizuho established as a manga author. This was kind of frustrating at times because we would get really invested in something in 2020 with the pandemic year and then we’d bounce around to the future and vice versa. I’m not sure if it went like this in the manga or what, but in the anime it sort of kept you engaged in watching the show because you wanted to see what happened to all the guys and who ended up winning. They gave us bits and pieces of that all the way up to the finale episode where there’s a big reveal that alone makes me want to watch season 2.

The guys are all basically the sort of caricatures you’d get from a fanfic. Smart guy with lofty ambitions of being a doctor, cute twink model, the hot aggressive jock who’s way too into you, etc. All of them have their own personalities and quirks, different designs reflecting that and varying levels of aggressiveness in pursuing the MC. What I find crazy is how all of these near perfect guys end up going for the SAME girl. Like were there no other girls on this island? I also had an issue with the main guy who has some serious stalker energy.. feels like the author rewarded a guy for harassing the MC and making her uncomfortable, not respecting her personal space etc., again, really reinforcing those negative stereotypes of shoujo romance.

Production values are atrocious here. It’s no doubt the worst put together series of the season. The animation is a PowerPoint, the art is passable, character designs are cute for the leads, but literally every other background character is greyed out. Not sure if that’s a stylistic choice or if it’s budget constraints as I haven’t read the manga, but it’s certainly one of the looks of all time. This show also has a very weird tendency to hold frames and scenes for way too long, creating this awkward pause in the action that makes it uncomfortable to watch. I refer to this as “dead space” because it feels like space on a video editing timeline where you’d normally cut to create a jump cut or make things flow together better. This is a constant in the series and it makes watching it feel very melodramatic and cringe at times, and this is coming from someone who LOVES shoujosei more than anything, so don’t feel like I’m attacking the demographic.

Koishima isn’t a great show, but it’s like watching a train wreck. You somehow can’t take your eyes away from it even though you know it’s not a good thing. There’s a reason why the score went up from the first few weeks until the end. It does gradually grow on you and because of all the cliffhangers, you find yourself wanting more and more. I’ll be around for season 2 because I need to know how things end in present day and the past timeline.

Koishima gets a very frustrating 6 out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 3, 2025

duskwoven

Not Recommended

Douse, Koishite Shimaunda. is... well, it’s undeniably a romance anime. You’ve got the soft color palette, the dreamy atmosphere, and the whole “childhood friends to lovers” setup that practically screams nostalgia. Visually, it does what it needs to do, except when it doesn’t. And by that, I mean the animation sometimes looks like it’s running on a budget of three potato chips and a prayer. The movements can be so stiff it’s like watching paper dolls being dragged across the screen. The lighting is pretty, sure, but that doesn’t save the occasional janky frame that makes you wonder if you accidentally paused at the wrong ... moment. My eyes deserved better.

And once you get past the aesthetic, what’s left? A story that feels like it’s running on autopilot. The plot follows Mizuho, a girl who believes her birthday is cursed, and then suddenly, her childhood friend confesses. Sounds like it could be interesting, right? Well, joke’s on us because the romance just kind of happens. There’s no real development, no tension, no satisfying buildup, just “I like you,” “Oh,” and then we’re off to the races.

Mizuho herself? She doesn’t do much. She mostly reacts rather than actually making things happen. She’s not bad, but she’s about as engaging as a piece of slightly soggy toast. And Kizuki, the childhood friend turned love interest, is just... there. He’s popular, nice, and apparently head over heels for Mizuho, but their chemistry is about as exciting as watching paint dry. He’s into her, and she just kind of stands there like, “Oh wow, guess I have a boyfriend now.”

The other childhood friends? They exist. They contribute to some minor drama, some misunderstandings, but it all gets resolved so fast that it barely matters. The show flirts with emotional depth but never actually commits to it. Worldbuilding? Almost nonexistent. Themes? Something about fate, I guess? The emotional beats should hit harder, but the pacing rushes through everything so quickly that nothing really sticks.

And let’s circle back to the animation for a second because dear lord. There are moments when it looks fine, but then there are others where I had to physically stop myself from squinting at the screen, wondering if my internet was lagging or if the anime itself just decided to take a nap. The frame rate? Suspiciously low at times. The character expressions? Occasionally so awkward that it feels like they’re buffering in real life. It’s not horrendous, but it’s definitely the kind of thing that makes you go, “Ah, so this is where the budget went… nowhere.”

TL;DR: Douse, Koishite Shimaunda. is soft, sweet, and completely forgettable. It’s romance without weight, drama without depth, and animation without smoothness. If you just want something light and easy, sure, it’s watchable. But if you’re looking for a compelling love story with actual emotional depth and animation that doesn’t make your eyes feel personally attacked, this ain’t it.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day!

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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