Let's get one thing straight. This show is not to watched if you are looking for something serious. That being said, when I go into a show, I never expect something serious. There are probably a few spoilers in here but whatever.
First off, this is a light harem show. You may say "harem is harem" if you want and ignore it completely. I've seen people complain about it solely for being a harem show. That is a load of bull. Most harem shows that I have seen result in the whole harem aspect just being accepted by the characters, I'm looking at you every
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generic harem isekai out there. Fortunately, in this show, the different girls consistently try to butt everyone else out of the competition, even if they are a bunch of manipulative assholes.
Secondly, the name of the show is ingenious. Literally all of the main heroines are childhood friends. Some have said that it is a cheap trick, but I think it is hilarious. After watching many other romcoms and harem shows, the concept of multiple childhood friends has been done before, but this show did it in a unique way.
Osamake starts off in exactly the way you would expect from the title. The mc has a childhood friend that is in love with him, but he is in love with someone else. The viewer is led to think that this 'nice' childhood friend will finally be able to be with the mc.
Yeah.... that kind of went out the door after the first few episodes. Turns out, my guy's got a total of 3 childhood friends in love with him. (Technically 6 because Kuro's sisters are kind of also in love with him, even if they aren't a big focus). The more I think about it, the show would have been much less interesting if Kuro was the only childhood friend. Romcoms like to make you doubt who will be together in the end. It's pretty obvious though that it will be between Kuro and Shiro. Honestly, the author set it up in such a way that makes you really question who the winner will be, especially after watching other romcoms.
I guess I'll go through the rating categories now. For fun.
Art: 7/10
Yeah... the studio did a good job with that art. All of the characters look really great, other than the four jealous monkeys that have no reason to exist. Seriously though, they did a great job making all of the heroines look fantastic, so much so that our pouty mc go insane.
Sound: 7/10
Music was good, it fit with the mood. None of the SFX stood out much, but that's to be expected with most generic anime. The OP was ok, and the ED was ok. I watched it all in one sitting, so I didn't really watch through them every episode. I was satisfied with what I heard though.
If voice acting counts as sound, then hell yeah! The voiceover was done very well, despite some odd story moments that could get sort of cringy, the actors did a great job bringing the story to life in such a way that kept me into it.
Characters: 6/10
A lot of people say that all of the characters are shitty, and they aren't wrong, to an extent. I do not think at all that the characters are bland and don't feel like they could be real people at all. I'll probably get some hate for that but whatever. To me, they just seem like a bunch of naive teenagers. I expect teenagers to be teenagers, so their absurd antics do not hit me as shitty at all. In my time in high school, I can say without doubt, that compared to a lot of the people I met, the characters in Osamake seem at least sane. lol
I'll start with good ol' mc himself, Haru the Pansy. He's your typical romcom, harem-lite protagonist. Oblivious to a bunch of stuff. And he is a big perv, because of course he is. If you were a harem protagonist and you had three beautiful girls confess their love for you, you'd probably oggle them too. You could try to hide it, but they know. He acts exactly the way you would expect, except for this one camera girl that just gives him degenerate-itus. There is no reason for that other than some tacked on drama, but whatever, I don't mind it because it isn't real. Other people hate him for it lol.
Next is everyone's 100% favorite manipulative bitch #1, Kuro. Imagine that your oldest childhood friend that you cared for many years, stood by in hard times, and showed blatantly obvious affection for, up and fell for some hottie he saw at school. How would you feel? I'd feel pretty bitchy. That's why I get where she comes from in her antics against our ill-fated mc. During an event early in the story, she makes a mistake that she immediately regrets for the rest of the show, and it takes a long while for her to honestly own up to it. Yup, her dodging of real issues was a big oof, but it doesn't make her a shitty character. Honestly, I've seen it in life. People make mistakes and they try to avoid them by shifting the blame. Seems a bit relatable to me. Hate her if you want. I'm cool with her.
Shiro is basically that girl from Haganai, except her history as a childhood friend was revealed very early on. She uses that as a big snare for our unfortunate protagonist. My guy really should have gotten himself some friends that were actually guys in his youth. Shiro is a literal bitch though, seriously. Even though her love comes from a good place, much like all of the other characters, she is just so very manipulative. She seems to care about nothing other than our mc friend, that would be endearing if she had something actually going for her.
That reminds me, a big thing about the weird character traits, is that we are told Mr. MC and blond boi are fantastic actors, but we don't really see it, as well as Shiro's writing skills. They get hyped up by each character, but the demonstrations are so lackluster. 'Acting' constitutes dancing on a set rather than a plot performance. I don't even think Shiro's writing was even shown in a literal sense. In the beginning, I thought she wrote a play for Mr. MC to act in, which actually would have made sense but nooooooo. It was a friggin dance with song lyrics that weren't even all that great. That little bit at the end of the show with actual acting was also a let down, it just seemed like the characters would act normally tbh. I just really don't think the author could find a good way to get their skills across well. -1 point. lol
Momo is pointless, so there. Like literally, she adds nothing to the story other than a bit of extra banter.
And that's all I care to write about these tragic characters.
Story: 6/10
Just a harem-lite romcom. Not much else. Much of the story is just how the characters interact and try to get ahead in the battle for our poor, pansy mc. Just a lot of teenagers being teenagers, battling it out trying to get a boyfriend/girlfriend. All the characters are manipulative bitches, anyone that tries to say that one character is more manipulative than another is way too affected by this fictional story. I actually got quite a bit of enjoyment out of seeing these characters manipulate each other and the MC only seems to harp on Kuro, because duh, he has the best and deepest relationship with her. Fight me. I could easily see a lot of these events happen in life.
Enjoyment: 9/10
I don't care what anyone else thinks, that show had me laughing at how stupid these teenagers were. Reminds me of the idiots back in high school. Good times watching such interesting and absurd shenanigans.
Overall: 7/10:
Many flaws, much enjoyment. Hate me, hate Kuro, hate all the characters, I don't care. That show had me on an acid trip. If I had the chance, I would read the LN just to see how the shitshow of teenage drama ends. But rip official English translations. I'd love to waste my money on a generic romcom. Aight, if you got this far thanks for reading my nearly 1.5k shitty take on a show that a lot of people have unreasonably strong opinions about. :P
Mar 19, 2022
Let's get one thing straight. This show is not to watched if you are looking for something serious. That being said, when I go into a show, I never expect something serious. There are probably a few spoilers in here but whatever.
First off, this is a light harem show. You may say "harem is harem" if you want and ignore it completely. I've seen people complain about it solely for being a harem show. That is a load of bull. Most harem shows that I have seen result in the whole harem aspect just being accepted by the characters, I'm looking at you every ... |