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To preface this I should say that I have been a long time fan of Shaft/Shinbo, and generally don't have an issue with their style getting shoved into anything they do. With that said Mekakucity Actors is easily the worst show I forced myself to sit through this season. It's a fundamentally broken concept, held back even further by execution that was botched hard enough to make Studio DEEN blush. To cut the hyperbole, it would oversell the show to call it a disappointment, and leaves a massive black mark on Shat's, fairly solid, filmography.

Let's get the positive out of the way first. The show, ... while not amazing and a little generic in the Shaft canon, looks fine. The colors are vibrant, and the backgrounds have a generally nice amount of detail. It isn't Production I.G. or even PA Works, but by broadcast Shaft standards it looks suitable. Though it is worth pointing out that Nisekoi looked a lot better week to week. Similarly the voice acting is passable, and the OST is inoffensive. I'm sure when the BDs come out the typical Shaft #quality will get touched up, and on a technical scale Mekaku will sit in comfortably within the Shaft catalog.

Unfortunately everything goes downhill from here on out. The story and characters of Mekakucity Actors are a mixed bag at the very best, a bad joke on average, and infuriating at the shows lowest point. Story seems like the logical place to start, since the core pillar that stages the show's downfall stems from the structure used to tell what little story Mekaku has. It's not the nonlinear fashion that the events unfold itself that ruins what could have been an enjoyable tale, it's how shallow everything is. The order in which the events were put on display do not support one another. It's hard to really get engaged in any of the stories that the show throws at you when you know that they're going to be over in either the episode that they are introduced, or the end of the next one. On top of that there is very little continuity between them, and the order that they are told in (for the most part) feels arbitrary at best. Mekakucity Actors is trying desperately to be another Bakemonogatari, but it lacks the subtlety that makes Bake such a great watch. It wasn't until the better part of nine episodes in, that the show established any real conflict, but even after it establishes said conflict it goes right back to telling its boring backstories; waiting to the final episode to resolve the first conflict.

The terrible story, what little of it is there, wouldn't be enough to drag the show down this far on its own, but just like the story the characters are also equally as laughable. I would like to draw a comparison to another Shaft anime that finished airing about a year before Mekaku started, in the winter of 2013, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai. Sasami was probably one the most criticized shows of its season. The story was ridiculous at best, and the tone was all over the place. However, the reason that Sasami sits at a five on my list, and Mekaku has a three, all comes down to the characters. While the characters in Sasami-san weren't the most developed or interesting, or even original, they did their job and made the show enjoyable enough to watch week to week. Mekakucity Actors on the other hand comes up with an equally generic band of archetypes, but wastes s solid nine or so episodes of screen time trying it hardest to make you care about them. I feel like the Bake comparison also becomes almost unavoidable here. What made Bake a good show was how the characters interacted with one-another, in fairly realistic ways, in relation to an above average setup. None of them were shockingly original, or deep, there three tsunderes for example. However they all end up feeling well fleshed out enough to support the fits of dialogue that the show throws at you. In short: they characterize the the characters with their interactions with other characters. This is what makes them feel fleshed out. Mekakucity Actors, on the other hand, is trying to hard to set the people in its story up as meaningful characters, and ends up depriving them of the interaction that this type of show relies on. We never get to experience anything about the characters, that the show infodumps on the viewer when its relevant, instead it's time to hop back on the backstory train again. It robs the characters of any sense of depth, and sucks the life out of the show.

To be concise, the interaction of the structure of the story and the use of character archetypes do nothing but clash with one-another in the worst possible way. It took what could have been another average character driven supernatural drama, and boiled it down to the worst components of the genre. There is no real progression, the characters are flat, and it wastes the viewers time with needless backstory. There is no reason to watch this show unless you watched it weekly, or you really just want to watch everything that Shinbo has made.

The first season of Kimi ni Todoke is really something special. To put it briefly, it is a show that simultaneously both rejects and indulges in the structure of its genre. It defines many of the core aspects and tropes of its genre, while demonstrating why they are relevant and valid. At the same time it also casts out many tropes and clichés that distract from the main driving focus of the show. Even when the show is dead set on incorporating some tired plot contrivance, it manages to execute it with tact and finesse. It's show that knows what it is, what it's doing, ... and why it exists in the first place. Coupled with Production I.G.'s distinctive aesthetics, and direction, Kimi ni Todoke is a show with an air of absolute confidence. It has a goal, and achieves it flawlessly.

Kimi ni Todoke is a Shoujo in the purest sense of the word. To call it anything else not only sells the show itself short, but whatever genre it gets lumped in with as well. Its foundation is so concrete, and unabashedly in love with its forefathers, that it's almost not even a point of discussion. It does everything a typical Shoujo should do. Timid, loner, socially awkward female protagonist? Check. Said protagonist falling in love with the most popular boy in her school/class? Check. A token bitch girl who is also in love with the protagonists boyfriend? Check. Said bitch hatching an elaborate scheme to win over the protagonists boyfriend? Check. Side characters that exist for comic relief, with only one real, major, subplot? Check. Christmas episode? Check. Cultural Festival? Well no, but there is a sports festival that's used in much the same way. Small, multi-episode, arcs that are only tangentially related to one another? Check. I could go on all day about this stuff, but I think the point is fairly self-evident: Todoke has no real aspirations to dramatically alter the formulas or structures of its genre. Instead, more often than not (which we will get to later), it seeks to validate these tropes and give them the credit they deserve. The protagonist Sawako herself is a great example of this. She fits the shy, introverted, Shoujo protagonist mold to a "t" (or rather a "d"). While she does have unique, defining, traits that do make her stand out from the horde of other shy, and introverted, Shoujo protagonists, these differences do not define her as a character. Everything from her appearance (save perhaps the excessive hair length) to her personality is still firmly rooted in that proverbial mold. The only difference is that she is fleshed out just enough, such that she could pass off as a truly authentic human being. Her actions are always, and I repeat ALWAYS, within her character. The subtle embellishments made to her character just allow her to never have to break character. The amount of flexibility added from the changes to her mold, as well as the characters around her, make it so the work can remain as true to its archetypes as possible, while maintaining a distinct presence and letting the plot flow as naturally as possible. In short it made a necessary sacrifice in order to improve upon its foundation. This goes for almost every trope in the show. From the rest of the cast, to the events that take place, everything (for the most part) is only slightly altered from the blueprints of the genre. Beyond giving the work a slightly more distinct style, these alterations also draw attention to the tropes in the first place. I can't even begin to count the number of times I saw something happen, made a prediction, was either right or wrong (it usually didn't really matter), and then reflected on what I had just watched. The scene where Chizuru went on a walk with Ryuu's brother is a prime example of this. I was waiting for the moment where he would do something bad, or at least morally ambiguous, because, you know, that's just the thing that happens in Shoujos. It gives a reason for the protagonist in question to give up on their idol. However, throughout the scene, as well as the show, he doesn't really do anything but good for Chizuru, instead acknowledging Chizuru as somewhat of a spiritual sister. I actually had to take a minute, pause the episode, and digest exactly what had happened. After a few, quiet, minutes of thought I came to the conclusion that the scene actually still had the same desired effect, and outcome, as the run of the mill, predatorial meetings that are so commonplace in the genre. It both created, and resolved, drama, and gave the protagonist a legitimate call to action. Throughout the scene I was fully aware of the trope being used in the moment, as made obvious by my premonitions, however the work managed to somewhat trick me into thinking that something else had actually happened after the fact. It wasn't until I actually sat down (or rather stayed sitting) are really thought about what was taking place, that I saw the scene for what it was. It was exactly what I thought it was, just turned on its head. It was a clever little trick that really got me to think about that that scene was meant to do not only in Todoke itself, but in Shoujos in general. By repurposing the plot point to fit the story, it offered a valid case for its possible effectiveness when executed correctly. A trope that I had initially thought was played out, now seems to have just a little more life thanks to this show.

With that portion of the gushing out of the way, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the other side of the coin. Just because Todoke is so in love with the Shoujo archetype, does not mean that it doesn't see the general shortcomings of some of its most popular tropes. The show will disown a trope just as quickly as it embraces one. One of the most notable examples of this, as well as the first time I noticed it myself, was with the conflict that many Shoujos spend a loin's share of their runtime resolving: rumors. Yes Todoke does in fact have a typical "Shoijo Bitch", and yes one of the early conflicts in the show does revolve around lies she is spreading about the Sawako's friends in order to break up their friendship because it's getting in between her and her future boyfriend. The blame for starting these rumors obviously falls on Sawako, because obviously nobody has the mental capacity to remember who actually told them the story, and her friends catch wind of it. Through a few misunderstandings, and awkward conversations, the trust of Sawako's friends start to wane as the suspect that she might have possibly been involved in this. At this point most shows would devote the next three to five episodes playing this drama out before the protagonist was eventually exonerated. It's generally a tedious process that is what turns most anime fans I know away from Shoujo in the first place. However the way Todoke handles this conflict is remarkable to say the least. Instead of having the friends wildly jump to conclusions in order to force some drama out of the show, they instead simply have them do what any logical sane person would do from the start: they simply ask Sawako, who has been nothing but 100% honest with them up until that point, if she started the rumors. Sawako says no, and that's good enough for them, and the viewer. While the trope itself isn't dumb, they did include it in the show after all, its execution does bring up an obvious point. Most of the time this trope is simply misused, and just thrown in to cover up whatever deep seeded issue a show has. Most of the time it only adds superficial drama when used, and is constantly dragged out for far to long. Just as I reflected of the scene with Ryuu's brother, this moment made me give another long hard mental deconstruction of this trope. The small amount of payoff, solving the superficial problem of the group being split up, for the amount of time it takes makes a fairly obvious statement about the writers disposition about the trope. It's elegant, while still being obvious. While Todoke only does this kind of thing from time to time, it helps reinforce the structural aspects of its genre does embrace. It lets the viewer know that while Todoke does love being a Shoujo, it is still cautious in its decisions of what to accept whole-heartedly.

The only real, serious, issue I had with this show was pacing. If I am being completely honest with myself the show does sag a little bit around the Sports Festival arc. When I actually watched this show, I put it on the back-burner around episode 12 or so because I felt that the show was just kind of treading water. In this arc, the token bitch character is given her chance to grow and evolve, but despite that she stays fairly stagnant over the five or so episode arc. It's the same arc we've all seen a million times, and Todoke really didn't really do much different. Stop me if you heard this one before, but, one of the most popular girls in the school has really been masking her abusive personality all along. To make matters worse Todoke pops the true personality card early in the arc, and all that's really left to see is her plan fall apart. It wouldn't be so awkward if it wasn't so obvious she was going to fail. Much like the fools gold arc in the second season of Spice and Wolf, there is really no reason to think that the cannon pairing will be split apart for any reason. The buildup is bland, and the payoff is also lacking. They even go as far as to make a big deal out of establishing the bitch as a token rival, but then never do anything with her again (within the season, calm down). This coupled with the awkwardly placed recap episode make the second quarter of this show a little bit of a drag compared to the rest of the content.

I could mention the art by Production I.G. or the fantastic voice work, but I don't really think those points need to be discussed, so I'll just close out. The simple fact is that Kimi ni Todoke does far to many things extremely well to really level any just criticism at it. The sag I mentioned was really only a sag in comparison to the rest of the show, and by general Shoujo standards it was by no means bad. On the flipside the show redefined what it really means to be a Shoujo. It deconstructs the very structure of the genre, offering its own criticism, while offering an enjoyable ride on the surface. To top it all off it executes everything with such sincerity it's hard not to fall in love. Even though this show takes a bit of prior knowledge to truly appreciate, it is still one of the ideal entry points to the genre as well. It is truly a must watch in every aspect of the word, and has set a standard for the shows that came after it. If for some reason you haven't seen it, and are digging deep enough for this review, just watch it, it's probably not worse than anything else you're gonna watch this season.