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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.

First viewing of a non-english speaking film in a cinema, so that was a nice experience.

I consider the volume 0 manga counterpart to be better than the main series, and my feelings here remain the same; the film is better than the show. Its central narrative premise is intriguing, containing a rather saddening concept that beats out Itadori’s generic shounen story.
Because I have similar feelings of this to the manga original, that means I share the same problems. Mainly how the fighting exists just because there needs to be action. The transition in focus from Okkotsu to “war” felt like 2 non-correlating threads just ... forced together. I must add how all tension is lost too, either from already knowing the outcomes because of manga, or knowing outcomes due to callbacks in the original show (they mentioned how Okkotsu was away overseas). Film also did a good job of being a prequel that you can watch first before the show, giving brief explanations of the world.

Adaptation wise, it was a well done job. Mappa is of course extraordinary with animation, really setting new standards and proves they utilise a movie budget perfectly. The soundtrack is more effective and memorable compared to the tv series also. If I had to pick out something, it would be how obvious it was that this is just 4 continuous episodes as a film. No fluidity between them, quite disappointing.

Funny, exciting, and overall a good adaptation of the singular chapter.

If you aren't aware of the original chapter, it's basically identical, but instead of a teaser for season 3, it teases the anime adaptation. Why does this matter that they changed it? Well, I think the original "meta" works a lot better when they're showing "their favourite manga is getting an adaption" rather than "their favourite anime is getting a 3rd season". The metaness lands much more natural and clean in that use.

Since I have read the manga and therefore viewing this chapter a 2nd time but instead it's animated, the whole experience just ... seemed to weakened. I feel like this whole episode just works a lot better, not just in jokes, but in enjoyment as a manga chapter rather than in animated form, and since it's an announcement chapter, it only works one time round, and can't be rewatched with the same joy since the meta is gone.

I am glad, however, this is a separate thing, and works a lot better than the previous ova we had. The 2 side chapters and 1 main chapter used previously were just not that good. Whilst here, the original chapter was creative and funny, plus it worked as a canonical chapter rather than a side chapter, which is why I'm assuming this mini episode is canon, just like the 3rd part to the ova.

Having an outsiders perspective on a conflict is always an interesting thing. What's great about it is that we get to see how their perspective is. Now whilst there isn't really a conflict in the original Kaguya-Sama: Love is war series, there's still a battle, a battle of love and brains between 2 highschoolers. With highschoolers, of course, comes gossip, people constantly shipping each other if a male and a female student are close in friends. This 4koma manga shows off what an outsiders perspective to these 2 lives is like, but from 2 obsessive fans always misinterpreting the situations they are seeing.

Characters:
There are 2 ... main characters within this story: Karen Kino and Erika Kose. They're not exclusive to this story as see them as background characters within the original manga. Heck, they're in the first chapter, they're the ones who mentioned that Kaguya and Shirogane must be a couple. So instantly, not even from this manga, we know what these 2 people are like, kind of. From the original manga, we realise these 2 people must be normal highschool girls, shipping people as mentioned earlier, but no. It's much more extreme. Karen and Erika are both different yet the same. They're both obsessive. Karen is obsessive over shipping Kaguya and Shirogane, going as far as to write fanfiction of them 2, to from a normal minded person can come across as creepy and disturbing. To some, this may seem as relatable. In the anime/manga community, there are definitely people who enjoy writing stuff like this, no matter who extreme the, let's say details are in the romance. Erika is obsessed over Kaguya herself, idolising her, imaging her as some goddess, so superior to everyone, to where even just looking at her or being alive in the same time period as her, is a win in life. This is basically the main premise of the story as a whole, but what's nice is to see how these 2 characters interact with themselves, others, and kaguya. And because what they both do is out of the norm, at points in the story they gradually realise this, and their struggles with having these obsessions, trying to overcome them or improving themselves as people. Both of them are in the mass media club, and attempt to exploit this fact in writing specifically about the student council. Both aren't complex characters, and their developments can seem inconsistent at times, but it's there, and it's fine being simple. This is a comedy spinoff of a comedy. It's not supposed to be the most serious and well thought out thing in the world. It just needs to work and do its job. As time goes on, because of their changes in character, we see some alteration in their perspectives to others and Kaguya.

The side characters in this story include mainly the characters from the original manga. This includes Ishigami, who helps Karen with her fanfiction by critically analysing it and giving her feedback. This allows Karen to see Ishigami in a different light. As we know from the original, Ishigami is portrayed as this gloomy, introverted character who many people avoid interacting with. But here, it uses the same idea's from the original, but changes around the character and setting. Whilst being completely unoriginal, it fits both characters perfectly well, to where it's acceptable. Sadly this means the appearances of Ishigami doesn't really improve his character. Hayasaka, who becomes more of a main character as time goes on, joining the 2 main characters in a Kaguya fan club, having to note these 2 characters actions, in case they become a problem for Kaguya, once again putting on a fake persona to get along with them; her role in this series is one that I would say is more important to a character than anyone else. She's, what I would like to say, the main side character in the original series, and seeing her more behind the scenes being cautious around people who are constantly obsessing over the person she has to protect, gives her more structure as a character. Like with Ishigami, we see her familiar actions and personality from the original and uses it in this story, but unlike with Ishigami, it actually adds more. Having to be around 2 Kaguya experts puts up as a challenge to Hayasaka, sometimes there's glimpses of her nearly giving herself away and being contradictory, but due to the stupidity of the mcs, she's able to be free, but having to make up more about her story to them. Understanding the struggles behind Hayasaka is very important to her character, we see this a lot in the original, but never to people who could easily defeat her [ well except chika]. We also see characters like Nagisa, Maki, and Shizuku [the mass media club president]. Nagisa and Maki are used to show how Erika and Karen interact with others which connects the main story, and Shizuku mainly serves as an obstacle when Erika and Karen try to exploit their club for their own benefits. These side characters help the world feel more real, which was always one thing I loved about the original manga, there's exploration around the school which just made everything more detailed. In other high school series, it was usually hard to get a grip on the structure, people, clubs etc of the setting, but Love is war does it perfectly, and is even further improved by this spinoff.

Story:
The story is just Erika's and Karen's life through high school, but follows the same timeline and events as the original, from a different viewpoint, making it episodic with still a story in the background. And it works. To create a good spinoff, you have to add to the story. In this case, it's adding more detail to a story, rather than adding more story. What I mean by this is that it's not its own thing , or a prequel or anything, it's the same story, but from an outsider view, which may seem boring in concept, but the fact we see the humour of Erika and Karen's misconceptions over the main story line, it adds more flavour to the original and doesn't feel boring or tasteless. Being familiar with the story all ready means when we know at what time a chapter is in, we understand what's happening, and comparing this manga's view on that event and the original, is always fun. Every chapter isn't like this though. Sometimes we see more to the original behind an event, sometimes we see new events involving Kaguya and other main characters, and sometimes chapters just focus completely on Erika and Karen in their lives. Mixing in all these adds variety and life to the story. Not every chapter is just the same gag of Karen and Erika fangirling over Kaguya, we see more to why these 2 characters, are characters and not just devices for comedy.



Is it better than the original? Of course not. Is it worth reading? I would say yes, but only if you're interested in the original. The 4koma is only really for those who are a fan of the original and doesn't get tired of it easily, due to the excessive amount of callbacks and references to the original, which drives this manga's purpose. If you get bored of that, then this manga isn't really for you. But if you love the original, and want to explore more of it with newish characters and existing characters, then go for it. It's easy to read, with a bit of boredom at the start, but once you get into it later on, takes no time.

7/10