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I can't believe no one gave a review to this, so this is my first time writing the first review on a series.
You might think "huh, what's his point mentioning "first time" now...? must be a virgin...", but I hope you'll understand once you have read a few chapters.

After the first few pages, I first thought of this as just a more well-behaved rip-off of "Hajimete no Gal".
I mean, both start with a gloomy unpopular virgin MC being forced to confess to the hottest gal girl around his entire school, and he even most surprisingly starts dating her.
And both series even feature a femal side ... character who wants to take the top spot, and have every male, especially the MC, wrapped around her little finger.

But as you read farther and farther, you come to see the very differences of both.
I would even say they go in polar opposite directions.

"Hajimete no Gal" is clearly focused on comedy, ecchi, raunchy jokes and has lots of references to other works.
And I flatly admit it, I like it for being that way, because it matches my obviously somehow twisted sense of humor quite well.

"Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me" on the other hand feels well more serious and true-to-life.
It's sweet and adorable, yet with a slight undertone of sadness and unease.
To me, the characters feel realistic and relatable, and I've really been drawn into the story.

When I read about Ryuuto's reactions, I think the clumsy me back then would have acted similarly shy and blushing just like him, as were my thoughts regarding having sex.
When I learn about Runa's past and the way she was treated by all of her former boyfriends, I just want to hug and comfort her, while suppressing the urge to shove a big cactus up those worthless guys' asses.

It's too bad that now, at the time of this review, there are only 2 volumes available, I'm desperately waiting for more.

Hmm, how should I start this...?
To be honest, I was just browsing Wakanim because I had some time to kill, the short summary peeked my interest a little, so I thought I would give it a try.
I was expecting just some typical rom-com stuff that would raise my mood a little.

But how was I wrong, the first episode already hit me like our beloved Isekai (or Zombie) Truck-kun and got me in.
Nothing and nobody in this show is as it seems at first sight.
There are tons of twists and turns, some of them are quite predictable, some slightly different from what you would expect, and ... some are just like WTF?!?
It's like a blindfolded rollercoaster ride, you know there will be ups and downs, bends and turns, inversions and helices and all that stuff, but you don't know what will come next, how fast the car will be moving, and how intense it will be.
And here, nearly everything is really maxed out.

I really enjoyed the frequent 4th wall breaks, the anti-steretypical actions, and of course "The Bench" accompanied by a Darth-Vader-like music theme.
The singularity of that particular baseball match the year before is quite a funny running gag.
The nicknames are also interesting - if you omit this and that kanji, it will become this and that - the girls are flowers, the MC is the watering can, and his best friend is the sun.
Quite the message, huh?

The only thing I really absolutely hated is the cliffhanger ending.
Sure, there is an OVA announced (no second season though), but why not simply make 13 episodes instead of 12?
I really hope the OVA will be longer than the usual 25 minutes, the 12th episode already felt quite cramped and rushed.

All in all, this would have been a straight 9/10 from me, if not for that dang blue balls "ending".
So the best I can give is 8/10.

Now for a little more detailed explanations...
--- BEWARE OF SPOILERS! ---

The show starts introducing Jouro,our totally normal, kind, shy, dense and oblivious MC, and his cheerful energetic childhood friend Aoi ("Himawari"),of course including a small pantyshot.
You see the hints of affection between each other, like it should be in any good show, right?

Then, enter Sakura ("Cosmos"), the well-mannered and kind - but a little bit shy - student council president, who asks our lucky MC out on a date.
After enjoying their fun date, they sit down on a bench, and Cosmos confesses to him... that she has feelings for Jouro's best friend Taiyou ("Sun-chan") and asks him for help.
Boom, that hit hard! Could become interesting...

The very next day, he meets with Himawari, she cheers him up without knowing why he is so down, and after having some fun time together, they sit down on a bench, and Himawari confesses to him... that she also has feelings for Sun-chan and asks him for help. Déjà-vu time!

Ok, nothing special up to now, until he is back home and totally freaks out, that him deliberately playing the rom-com MC nice guy didn't work out as planned, but he would just take the loser chick.
That's when I was just like "WHAT?! You're a jerk for thinking that way, though the girls would deserve it for how they ignored your feelings. But hey, you're not dense, so just go for it and enjoy!" This will be fun to watch...

The next day, it's déjà-vu time again. On his way to school, he introduces himself - but now as a mere supporting character - and meets Himawari. After receiving his daily greeting slap from her, his monologue is exactly what I am thinking when seeing situations like that in other shows.
Yes, he's not a spineless whimp - have I already mentioned that this will be a fun show?

After some first fruitless attempts to deepen the relationships between the two girls and Sun-chan, Jouro goes to the library to calm down and think a little.
Enter Sumireko ("Pansy"), the glasses-wearing librarian.
She cheerfully tells him she knows everything because she stalks him, and now even blackmails him to stay and talk with her.
She even has gone through the effort of having a bench being express-delivered to the library room.
So she invites him to sit next to her and have a talk, where she confesses to him - it's déjà-vu time again... that she is in love with... him! And she also knows he is acting, but prefers his Mr.-Hyde-side (she even shows him the darn book).

That scene is just so hilarious! When the bench appears, there is some Darth-Vader-theme-like music. When he moves towards the bench, he walks like a robot with mecha sounds. Her text is just the same as the other two girls (well of course, because she has been stalking him), and he constantly thinks "it's Sun-chan of course! Sun-chan!". And finally the Edvard Munch (The Scream) visuals accompanied by yodeling sounds, when she confesses to him with a sweet yandere voice.

Now that finally made me grinning all over, this is just freakin' sick, whacky and twisted, gimme more! And I immedialtely binged the whole thing.
The last time (at least for rom-com shows) that happend to me was "Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru" (NouCome).

Well, some people say this show is trying to be kind of a deconstruction of the harem rom-com genre, but utterly fails at that because the MC deliberately chooses the harem route after the first arc.
Of course, I don't know the real intentions of the original author and director.
But for me, personally, it just doesn't feel like Oresuki was even trying to be a "serious" and "intelligent" persiflage, but a parody with many insane twists and layered personalities instead.
And I really appreciate new and unique ways of telling a story, and how Oresuki matches my (obviously) odd sense of humour.

The MC is not just a spineless and dense whimp without personality like many other harem or rom-com MC's, or an open pervert like Issei from Highschool DxD (but he has his charm in his own).
Some call him spineless because he calls Himawari and Cosmos bitches and goes for the harem route, but to be straight honest and blunt, they actually were bitches treating him like that in the first arc. And it's comedy after all, so get a grip.
In fact, he has a quite kind personality who tries to help others, but also has a darker and more selfish side.
But that's not a bad thing, nearly everyone has some hidden dark sides, and for me, this makes a character far more relatable and believable (although not the full extent, because this is a comedy show) than a personality-less whimp who finally miraculously gets a girl.

The only thing about him I could absolutely not bear, is the fact that he wants to make up - and actually makes up - with Himawari, Cosmos and Sun-chan after they tricked him so miserably and made him hated and mobbed by the whole school.
This must be something related to Japanese culture, because it is seen in many shows.
But I personally - after being tricked badly many years ago, by someone I considered a very close friend - stick to the saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Himawari, Cosmos, Sun-chan and some other girls also have that darker side and layered personalities, although their softer, honest and romantic sides are far more present later on, except at the end.

Pansy is kind of special in that way, she doesn't even hide schemings, stalking and stuff like that.
Her threats against Jouro are often misinterpreted.
When she tells him to come to the library or something bad will happen, that doesn't actually mean she would do something to him, but if wouldn't have come, he would not have heard the revelation of Sun-chan's schemings and betrayal

But you kind of need personalities like these for running the show.
You know something will happen, but will it just be something ridiculous, something bad, or even something far worse than you could imagine.

The cliffhanger ending really freaked me out.
Jouro seems to know confessing to Pansy and entering a relationship with her won't stop Yasuo ("Hose") from approaching Pansy, so he goes for something different instead.
Let aside Jouro's real feelings for Pansy and if she would still even accept his confession now.
So he thinks of something different instead, but you just know Jouro's great plan will backfire really hard.
And it does, oh my.
You could have guessed it when Himawari and Cosmos talked with Luna ("Tsukimi") and Momo ("Cherry"), their respective counterparts from another school.
Cherry and Tsukimi are in love with Hose, but he ignores thier feelings and goes after Pansy, and they even support him.
So his plan is kind of like a popularity poll between Jouro and Hose, where their respective friends and Pansy will vote after the baseball match between their schools, and the loser will be forbidden to further approach or even talk to Pansy.
According to his calculations, the worst possible outcome will be a draw, and Pansy would be the deciding factor.
So here comes the surprise: All three of Jouro's friends - Himawari, Cosmos and Hina ("Asunaro") immediately vote for Hose.
You've seen that coming, right?
Other than Hose's friends, who strictly follow the common "we may be rivals in love, but we're friends after all, and we will support each other and accept any shit from our beloved" trope, Jouro's friends are eager to use the opportunity to eliminate Pansy as one of their love rivals, screw the fact that Jouro wanted to help Pansy, and that they called Pansy a friend before.
BAM! The end.

I can only guess, but I'm sure Tsukimi and Cherry will vote for Hose as well.
So, he dug his own grave - and a deeep one at that -, how will he escape, will he escape at all?
Will he be tearing strips off Himawari, Cosmos and Asunaro, and tell them to drop dead and what bitchy scum they are?
Will an alien spaceship abduct him, like in good ol' "Life of Brian"?
All in all, their reactions are quite understandable - far more than the typical happy love rival friends - but of course overly exaggerated.

But you can't just let a show end like that, this is like "Well, err, 12 episodes are over now, that's all folks, now be a good fan and go buy the LN and manga, but don't bother me for any kind of conclusion".

I have just recently started reading manga, but I have watched a number of anime before, including the Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo series.

I liked the anime very much, and it has kind of a final conclusion, so I got curious how the manga would be, was anything left out, or would it continue the story?

So basically, the anime covers the first 90 or so chapters of the manga with slight modifications, and then continues on to the next mysteries.

The story is kind of unique and has many plot-twists, some of them are quite predictable, sometimes you just feel there is a twist coming along ... but it gets different from what you think, and sometimes they just hit you all of a sudden.
Although the story deals a lot with body switching, gender-bender and other stuff that would come to mind for a pubescent youth, there is no overly used fanservice. For sure there is some of it, but for this manga, I appreciate it that it was not more lewd as it is, I think it could have ruined the story and development.

All the main and important supporting characters get their "screentime" and development, although logically not everyone gets the same amount of development. They mature and learn how to overcome the insecurities that build up during the process of becoming a grown-up.

I liked the manga very much, but there are a few things that bother me a little bit.
The last few story arcs felt a bit rushed and less detailed compared to the previous chapters. And there were some kinds of plot holes which made me wonder...
But still, it is a very enjoyable manga.

*** The following section contains heavy spoilers! ***
*** If you do not want to be spoilered, please stop here. ***

I wished the final rescue of Urara Shiraishi would have been a little more fleshed out. For me, I was not really moved at that time, compared to her first rescue (that got my eyes a little wet indeed).

The "10 years later" ending was ok, but could have deserved a little more pages. It was so crammed, I just didn't get into the nostalgia-mood like I had with some other stories with the same type of ending.

And there are some parts of the story that I just couldn't really fit together.

First some minor things:
Nene Odagiri is heavily in love with Ryu Yamada and always tries to approach him, but suddenly during the last arcs she completely changed, doesn't blush or get sad and hardly appears in the story at all. There was no final talk between the two of them to clear things up and no phase for her to overcome her feelings.
In the very end of the story, she ends up being married with Ushio Igarashi who loved her since first year in Highschool, but she always had turned him down and had absolutely no feelings for him.

Noa Takigawa has fallen for Ryu too, and always acted lovey-dovey around and towards him, but after she becomes Ushio's spotter, she hardly interacts with Ryu anymore and doesn't appear much in the story, and if she is, it doesn't seem she ever had feelings for him.

We learn that only people with some sort of problems normally get a witch power, kind of as a means to compensate their weakness for their wishes and goals. But to use the power, they have to kiss someone, and not all powers are obvious.
For exaple Meiko Ootsuka is a very shy girl that doesn't even talk to anyone. How come she got to kiss somebody? And how come she realized she could send her thoughts and commands to the person she kissed, when she concentrates on that person?

We learn that there are always seven witches (plus one "witch-power copier" and one "witch-power thief") at Suzaku High, if one of them graudates or gets expelled, another student inherits the power.
We learn that the Student Council always tries to get the cooperation of the 7th witch who can erase memories, and that the Council tries to prevent witches from wreaking havoc.
We learn that all 7 witches together can grant any wish by holding sort of a ceremony.
We learn that there is a lot of secret written reports about witch incidents since the school was founded 100 years ago.
We learn that the 7th witch and her/his spotter can sense the presence of witches of the own group, and can see who is under a spell.
We learn that the new Student Council gets told about the witches from the retiring Student Council, so knowledge of the witches is always assured.

How does the Student Council get to know about who the 7th witch is?
The 7th witch chooses her successor herself, and if she didn't cooperate with the Student Council, she would't tell them about who the new 7th witch is.

But later on, we learn that there are actually two groups of 7 witches, but the Student Council actually only know about one group.
Why didn't anyone before notice this, in all the past decades? There must have been incidents before with witches from the different groups, and the 7th witch would have noticed if a witch power was not related to the own group.

We learn that the class rep is the "Akashic Recorder", and she is not affected by the memory losses except the final one.
But what exactly is she, and why has she that ability?

In the final arc, we learn that Urara is actually the one and only true witch.
We learn, that from time to time, somebody possesses some kind of special power and fulfills the criteria to become a witch, and gets informed about this by the Student Council President. This person has to sign a contract with the Student Council, and gets granted one wish in exchange for all students forgetting about her after graduation.
At first, Urara refuses to make the contract, but after her really very first encounter with Ryu, she accepts, and her wish is to be with Ryu.
How does that fit together?

She had the only wish to be together with Ryu, how come they not just become close friends, or he not just falls for her, confesses to her, and they spend 3 happy years of Highschool?
How come her simple wish gave birth to seven witches, herself being one of them in the beginning, and another group of witches?
How come these witch groups seem to be existing since the founding of the school, with tons of records and stuff?
How come the knowledge of the one witch is forgotten and it's instead the knowledge of the 7 witches?
How come she must approach a 7th witch to have everyone's memory erased, and how can he actually alter the contract so that Ryu's memory wouldn't be erased in exchange for her own memories?
Are the memories of the Student Council altered? If yes, how would future Presidents know about the one witch if that knowledge is gone?
Are the two groups (or one of them) of 7 witches always appearing if a true witch signs the contract, or just because of Urara's personality and the way she wanted to be together with Ryu?

Didn't all the subsequent memory losses and troubles contradict to Urara's wish of being together with Ryu? When the story starts, they don't really know each other because of 2 memory losses, and the kissing accident is just a coincidence. So that would all be part of the Great Plan?
When does Urara remember the truth? And why doesn't she tell Ryu about it? She always wants to know what Ryu is planning, so she could do the same.
Why does the curse, the last memory loss, disappear when they kiss after he has finally saved her? I mean it was the price for getting her wish granted.

Please feel free to contact me, if you have any clues...

To be honest, almost everything about Absolute Duo has already been said.
But still I want to write my opinion, because I think some of the bad reviews are at least a little unfair.

Yes, Absolute Duo uses many clichés.
The story is quite generic, a Highschool harem fighting show.
Tooru is the typical male MC that was too weak earlier, and now wants to become stronger to be able to protect everybody.
And the personalities of the harem cast are as well quite generic.

But there were a few things that made me like Absolute Duo more than my first impression.
The most interesting thing for me was the fact that ... the female lead was not a Tsundere, but the more dandere and innocent Julie.
So, the interactions and dynamics between the main characters were quite different from what we usually see.
Everytime she said "Ja" or "Nej" (Swedish for Yes and No) with her quiet voice, it was just soo cute.
Tomoe, a tsundere-like character who is quite fixated on morality, often misinterprets situations between Tooru and Julie and acts the tsundere way, but she even honestly apologises after her misconceptions are cleared up.
Not to forget Tatsuno, or Barbarian-kun, a very tall and muscular student who never speaks a word for the entire show, but grunts like HUMM, MHMMM or stuff like that, accompanied by some bodybuilding poses instead.
And last but not least Deathneyland, a famous amusement park.

Yes there is some ecchi and fan service, most of it is standard, but some is even cute and sweet.

So I think Absolute Duo has some aspects to lift it above the vast amount of mediocre and boring standard shows.
It entertained me quite well, although it is certainly far from being outstanding.

Tsugumomo looks like a typical generic shounen action harem show, at least at first sight.
You've got Kazuya, our weak and average male MC who has to get stronger to fight some supernatural creatures, Kiriha, the supernatural and strong female lead who helps him, some more harem cast, and some ecchi of course.

But right after the first episode, I knew this would be different, and I would like it.
And after finishing, I knew that I was right.
Yes it uses generic elements, but many of them in a rather unusual way.
But there is more to it than just generics.

Tsugumomo has plenty of ecchi scenes, but more in ... a funny way.
Not like for example Shinmai Maou no Testament which is sometimes borderline Hentai, and you see lots of detailed boobs, butts, and lewd SM stuff going on, to make you pitch a tent between the fights.
Instead, you don't get to see any details, but plenty of lewd comments from the acting persons what's going on, or unambiguous visual substitutes of what happens.
And there is definitely a lot going on, in fact his whole harem (including his childhood friend and even his big sister) at once gets him off multiple times, and there are quite obvious hints that even more has happend with some harem members, something quite rarely seen, although not really voluntarily from his side...
You don't get to see many panty shots except those for some comedy, I think mostly because Kiriha does't wear any anyway, which is another comedic element here.
Really, I laughed my ass off during these scenes, I liked very much how explicit Tsugumomo was without being visual explicit.

Comedy has a big role in the show, be it stereotypical, lewd, or unconventional.
Have you ever thought of a local goddess getting so weak due to lacking belief and overuse of her powers, that her body transforms to a very young girl?
And of that literally poor goddess begging for money of another goddess, and a very lewd one on top of that?

And Tsugumomo actually has a plot, though not the most innovative kind, but with quite interesting reference to Japanese popular beliefs.
I mean, seriously, who ever thought of fighting with an obi (a kimono belt) as a weapon, but it works and you get some decent fights.
It's just a little disappointing that not everything is explained, for example what exactly had happend to Kazuya in his past and why.
That calls for a second season, but I think one has to read the manga...

Character drawing is sometimes quite simple, but without looking lazy, and sometimes more detailed, mostly during any kind of action.
The only thing I didn't quite like was Chisato's hair style, the high forehead without hair looks a bit awkward.
Animation is fluent and nice to watch.
I also liked the visual substitutes, like a bunch of hearts popping up, a massive telescopic crane, or the Rin (a cup gong), these always made me grin lewdly.
You won't see any full front nudity, the most important parts are always covered with towels, arms, soap, blur or stuff like that.
I'm fully ok with that, it fits the show very well, you don't always have to have massive boobs swinging right before your eyes (although that can be quite nice from time to time, too).

Sound is nice and decent, all seiyuu voice their character very well, I especially liked Kiriha's voice with that lewd tone, and Kokuyou's deep voice and formal mode of expression.

Character design is quite ok, the more important characters all get some sort of development, although that is not the most important part for that kind of show.
I wished that Kokuyou had some more screen time, I really liked her dry comments...

As Tsugumomo is a comedy show, character design can not work without using stereotypes, because it would be a waste of comedic resources.
You just have to use the tropes in a clever way instead of showing the exact same template like the cheap generic shows.
I'm sure we all have seen many different male-wants-to-take-a-bath-but-nude-female-is-already-there-scenes, and the female char screams, beats up the male char, or both.
But when Kazuya rushes in, Kiriha just tells him to wash her back, because he as her servant surely is here to do that anyway.

I liked Tsugumomo a lot, and even rewatched the most hilarious scenes, still laughing like the first time.
If you are here just for some boobs, you will be disappointed.
But if you like lewd humour, I think this is for you!

Once again, I was just looking for something nice to kill some time, and "Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta?" or NetoYome sounded quite interesting.
And said in short, I was not disappointed with that one.

The synopsis sounds simple: Teenager confesses ingame to his beloved cat-girl-character, but she refuses him because she is actually an older "he".
How could he have seen THAT coming...?
Now he strictly separates online from offline, and the series starts with our MC being part of the guild "Alley cats", consisting of 4 players.
Did not sound like a probably awful SAO clone, but like some fun and playing with MMORPG ... tropes.

The story offers no great surprises and dramatic plot twists, you can guess the outline of the plot quite well just by looking at the title pic, perhaps with one little exception.
But nevertheless, it is still fun to watch.
Although there are many girls involved, it is not a harem show, and I think that fits quite well for NetoYome.
The romance part does not feature deep crisis and other dramatic events that are often found in romance series, but instead shows the transition of a relationship from online to offline, with both characters being far from normal, and their transition.
As for the comedy part, it made me laugh a lot, it featured a lot of different tropes, often presented in an unusual way.

Art is well done and enjoyable, except some minor CGI parts.
Game graphics is presented in 2 ways, rather simple, blocky and pixel-ish when shown on a monitor, and realistic, often switching back and forth.
There are lots of panty and boob shots, and the mandatory beach and bathing scenes are present as well.
Censorship is minimal, some strands of hair or a little foam over the most important parts, but no annoying beams of light or massive amounts of vapor over half of the screen.

Sound was decent and enjoyable, VA fitted quite well.

Characters are put together from different tropes mostly, but in a funny and somewhat believable way, not just annoying standard.
They all have some kind of development, not forced but feeling quite natural.
Details in the spoiler section below.

As I said before, I liked NetoYome a lot, grinned and laughed a lot.
The humour, self-awareness, irony, tropes abuse and uniqueness is what makes a comedy show stick in my head for longer.
Boobs and ecchi stuff are fine, I don't deny that, but if that is all a show has to offer, I will forget about it quite soon.
But there were also some things that made me think a little, like the hikikomori hints (see below).

*** The following section contains spoilers! ***
*** If you do not want to be spoilered, please stop here. ***

The male lead is Hideki or "Rusian" (I think this is some misspelled form of "Lucien", "Lucian" or some sort of it, at least it often sounds like that).
Because he confessed online to a girl character who turned out to be a man, he strictly separates ingame and offline.
Now he is finally married ingame with the female character Ako, after she confessed to him multiple times.
They have chatted a lot, and he likes her character very much.
But he doesn't care who/what that character is offline, at least at first, the only important thing to him is that she is a cute character, as some kind of self-protection.
He is a gamer and kind of an otaku, but still has some offline friends.
When they all meet, Ako treats him as his husband because of their online marriage, but for him, they are two different persons.
It takes him some time to realize that Ako is Ako, be it online or offline, and to overcome his rejection from earlier.

Ako, the female lead, is a very reclusive girl with no offline social skills, she often skips class and has built up a wall around herself, but she seems satisfied with that.
At her first appearance in the show, she collided with Hideki, hung her head and ran away.
Online, she is also clumsy and stuff, but Rusian was always kind to her, and supported her, so she began to like and even love him.
For her, online is somehow more real than offline, and she does not separate both at all.
She is married with Rusian online, so when they meet offline, she calls him and sees in him her husband, which leads to obvious problems.
She loves Rusian, be it online or offline, that is no difference for her, no matter how desperate her friends from the guild want to explain that difference to her.
Hideki confesses to Ako multiple times, but she always refuses him.
Not because she doesn't like him, but because they are already married from her point of view, so that would be a downgrade of their relationship.
During the show, she grows in self-confidence, a small step for a normal person, but a giant leap for her.

Akane is a classmate of Hideki, she seems absolutely normal and does not want to have anything to do with otaku or gaming culture.
She acts like a typical tsundere, although Hideki comments he misses the dere part.
As we get to know soon, she is a secret gamer, and is a member of the same guild as Rusian, although she plays a male character named Schwein (which is German for pig, and she doesn't know that meaning, it just sounded cool for her).
When the guild has its first offline meeting, she is shocked that anyone could find out about her playing online games, and that her days as a normal student could be over.
At first, she acts as if she didn't know Hideki or Ako, but Ako doesn't care about that and even calls her by her online name.
Later on, she opens up to the others offline as well, and kind of overcomes her fear from being seen as not normal.
Her online character changes from male to female after is was revealed that she is a girl, at the first occasions only some short flashes, but then permanently.
We get some quite subtle hints that she might have feelings for Hideki, but she never makes direct any moves towards him, only the way she acts sometimes and a Freudian slip.

Kyou is the student council president.
Her parents are very wealthy, but she doesn't brag with it, they own just some companies and schools (one of them being the school they all attend) and stuff, it is just normal for her.
She had never had any friends, maybe because of her family's wealth and her kind of untouchable aura, but she was never happy with that.
As it turns out, she is the leader of the guild, and she also plays a male character, which changes to female later on.
Because of her wealth, she owns tons of expensive special game items, and doesn't care at all how much they cost.
After the offline meeting, she got real friends for the first time in her life, which makes her complete domestic staff cry for joy when she invites them to her home.
She even installs a computer game club at their school, so she along with her new friends and guild members have a club to go, and to teach Ako the difference between online and offline.
For her, we also get some very subtle hints that she might have feelings for Hideki, when she asks him to call her by her first name, she completely blushes, and when she slightly blushes whe she wants to oil up Hideki with suntan, but she doesn't make the slightest move either.

Ms. Saitou, a young teacher at their school, is a strict but very caring person who understands her students very well.
She is happy that Ako has made some friends, and is concerned when she skips class to lock herself in.
Later in the show, it is revealed that it was in fact her, to whom Hideki once made his confession, she just couldn't tell him that she was a teacher, and she didn't know that she was his teacher.
Her online character is cat-like with ears and a tail, she often ends her sentences with nya (meow) and exposes a very childish behaviour, just like a teenager.

Before the guild meets offline for the first time, Hideki thinks his guild consists of 3 males and a female or perhaps just 4 males, but now he is suddenly surrounded with 3 pretty girls from his very school instead, one of them claiming to be his wife.
Reality flipped upside down, who would have seen THAT coming?
Ok, you could have guessed it from the title pic, just like I did, killjoy...

During the show, we get an interesting view of how an individual becomes a NEET hikikomori.
Ako is socially (self-)isolated, fears the offline world and immediately runs away from any danger or uncomfortable situation.
She skips class and is well prepared to lock herself into her room for a week at any time, she even has a refrigerator in her room.
She even thinks of dropping school completely, to have more time for her online game, where she feels safe and comfortable.
Although presented in a comedy manner, it made me at least think a little...

Comedic highlights: When Hideki comes to Ako's home trying to convince her to continue school, he unlocks the door and sees her in her underwear halfway on.
He is embarrassed, immediately closes the door and tells her to get herself ready, but when he opens it again, she sits there completely naked and asks him to be gentle...
I like it when tropes are mashed up!

You can't have an ecchi show without the mandatory bikini presentation and suntan-rubbing scene, but this one here is different.
When Akane and Kyou arrive at the beach, they are disappointed that Ako is already there, because they wanted to show their bikinis at the same time to Hideki, to get him a nose bleed.
After that, he gets oiled up by all three girls simultaneously, and feels quite abused.

Or the typical bathing intruder scene: Hideki is sitting alone in the men's bath, when suddenly the door opens, and he jumps up.
Ako, wrapped in a towel, wants to bathe with him, and now sees him standing in the basin, completely naked.
When she is pulled away by her friend, she refuses loudly and wants to stay.
Did I already say that I like it, when typical tropes are put through the grinder and flipped completely upside down?

Ok, this is my first review, so please be kind.
I did not read the manga, so I focus on the anime only.

First of all, I do not really understand the many extremely low ratings for this show.
Hajimete no Gal is a comedy show with romance plot, with many satiric references to common tropes and other Anime / Manga / LN, and has ecchi scenes and lewd humour, and I will judge it as this.
If one would rate an ecchi harem as bad, just because it has girls and boobs in it, all of them would get a rating of 1, from Highschool DxD (which is ... my favourite in the harem genre) down to Masou Gakuen (which is an ideal bad example for me, make it a real Hentai show and go for it).

I started and binge-watched this show mainly because I was bored and just wanted something to laugh.
Yes it features some boobs, but I'm two decades away from being a teenager in emergency state, and so they are nothing but a nice plus, but I didn't come for them, 3D is much better anyway ;)

I have seen many shows that were quite funny or entertaining, but shortly after watching I didn't remember any details.
But Hajimete no Gal is, at least for me, different and stands out in some way, just after a few episodes I realized that it would stick in my brain for longer, and I was right.
Now I rewatched the series, and feel my first opinion was right.
So I decided to write this review.

The story sounds simple: Our virgin protagonist is forced by his 3 completely perverted friends to confess to the ultimate gal, because gals are said to be easy to lay, but they just expect him to fail, and he goes like a lamb to the slaugter.
But to his very surprise and anger from his friends, she agrees, although she guesses the real reason quite well.
And so they start their "relationship", which brings some more female rivals into the story, but it is never a real harem show.
The last two episodes add some drama, and get a little more serious, but I liked the resolving and the end.

The art was fine, simple but quite nice and cute. Nothing really outstanding, and more important, no annoying bad CGI shots.
The censorship is a two-sided sword, I thought is was kind of funny how the harder-ecchi scenes were censored with handbags, costume jewellery, hands and stuff, and even some "adult only" comments.
But come on, you don't have to censor every single panty shot and stuff just to raise the Blu Ray sales...

The sound was ok as well, OP and ED too were ok, but no earworm for me.
The only thing that annoyed me was how fast the voice actors talk in the outro, sounds like someone had accidentially pressed the fast forward button.

The characters were not fleshed out very deep, but still deep enough to understand their actions and enjoy the show.
It is a 10 episodes show after all, and moreover a comedy romance, so I see no added value in explaining everyone's very lives down to the deepest detail, it's just not necessary.
In the spoiler section below, the characters are discussed more in detail.

As I said before, I really liked Hajimete no Gal, it was fun to watch, fun to discover the allusions and parodies, and it went far beyond my initial expectations as just some funny time-killer.

*** The following sections contain spoilers, but I think they are needed for going into detail. ***
*** If you haven't seen the show or don't want any spoilers, just stop here. ***

The protagonist Jun'ichi is quite the typical guy with no outstanding ability, despite his lack of self-consciousness.
He is kind, but shy, and - most important - he is a virgin, and very unhappy with that and under constant self-pressure because of that.
So unhappy and desperate that he would do almost anything just to finally get laid - at least in the very beginning.
While the series progresses, he gets some chances to actually really get laid, but refuses for different reasons.
He is not the usual super-dense protagonist, but instead feels kind of realistic, at least for a comedy show.
And he gets his development, he discovers his feelings for Yukana and realizes that there is more to life than just have his cherry popped.
And he finally overcomes his low self-esteem, which was the reason for his conflict with Yukana, and moreover confesses the real reason of his first confession, and then confesses again, now with his grown true feelings for her.
Yes he is a little perverted, but mostly in his thoughts, and not as much in actions like his friends.
But to be honest, whom of us was not when we were hit hard by puberty, at least a little bit?

The "gal" Yukana seems like the typical gal trope, she has big boobs, open-hearted clothing and likes to tease boys and girls, the loosey-goosey and genki type of person, except she hates perverts.
But she definitely is not a slut in any way, she is kind, intelligent and seems as unexperienced as Jun'ichi, although we never really get to know.
When Jun'ichi confesses to her, she instantly suspects his true motives, but finds him some kind of cute except his pervertedness.
She sees how shy he reacts when seeing her panty and boobs at close range, and knows he is not the type to violently bring his virginity to an end with her, and so she accepts.
She teases him a lot, but more in an innocent way, not to offend him.

Her gal friend Ranko is the trope to the extreme, plus she can get quite violent.
She has also more to offer under her shell, she loves Yukana and doesn't want her to get hurt, and beats up anyone in her way.
She even goes so far to try to seduce Jun'ichi to break his newly begun relationship with Yukana, because she suspects him of abusing her for losing his virginity, and to protect her.
Although he is quite blindsided and petrified as she teases him harder and harder, he manages to refuse her, which gives him some bonus points, although she does not fully trust him.
She also likes to tease Jun'ichi, but far more direct and dirtier than Yukana, and constantly calls him doutei-kun (doutei=virgin).

Jun'ichi's friends, the "perverted trio" of the show, often try to convince him of committing lewd acts such as reading ero mags in the classroom, and of course confessing to Yukana to get laid (and happily expecting him to fail).
At first they envy him because his confession was some sort of success, but they cope with it, and try to support him.
Shinpei is quite the leader, he knows everything about women from his ero mags and impresses the others with his wisdom and knowledge, which leads to many comedic scenes, because reality is a little different from his porn mags.
Keigo is the least fleshed out, he mostly moves just with the flow initiated by Keigo.
Minoru is an extreme lolicon, just to the extent that even his friends say he will end in jail sooner or later.
He is where most critics from other reviews goes, and I must admit that this kind of humour is a hit-or-miss.
Yes, he makes constant statements about where to find cute elementary school girls and how much he likes them, and that girls his age are way too old for him.
But the lolicon trope is soo satirically overdrawn here, you just can't take it serious, well at least I can not.
Just look at some other shows where loli and lolicon tropes are heavily used, but as fanservice and not as a joke.
Maybe I'm seeing to much in this, but I think it holds the mirror to all lolicon otakus.

Nene, Jun'ichi's childhood friend, is another example for the comedy character of this show, she is the energetic loli "little sister" with extreeemely huge boobs.
Some call it fanservice, I call it satiric and tropes over the top.
She has feelings for the MC from the beginning on, and as his relationship with Yukana started, she turned herself into a gal and appeared naked in his bed to get him for herself.
But he refuses her, as he does not want to destroy their friendship, and wants to lose his virginity to someone he loves.
Finally she accepts that, and even supports him in his relationship, although she still teases him.

Yui seems kind and dignified from the outside, but is a himedere and secret internet gal under her shell.
She tries to twist him around her finger and make him her pet dog, like she does with all others around her, and even confesses to him to reach her goal.
But after he refuses her, she begins to grow real feelings for him, I think just because of that, which is another trope.
She changes after she discovered her real feelings for him, but still sometimes falls back to old patterns.

The show also features some inner dialogs and fantasies, mostly of Jun'ichi.
In these dialogs, his different character traits discuss with each other what to do, one of them being his "Ero-Me".
His fantasies depict the outcome of some special situations, and some of these are not recognized as fantasies right until they are over and the real plot goes on.

During this show, I found several references to other works, like when Shinpei appears dressed up as Kirito from SAO when they all play ousama game at Yukana's home.
During the girls' job at a cosplay café named Hybrid Heart (HxH), they are supposed to read ecchi passages from light novels to the customers, namely Highschool DxD, Shinmai Maou no Testament, Nisekoi and Masou Gakuen HxH.
Not to forget the hommage to Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu when the boys dress up in full combat armor to peek on the girls in the onsen.
Oh, and his "Ero-Me" in his inner dielog reminds me of Hentai Kamen, with the panty over his face.
And I think there is more to find for the connaisseur...