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BASIC STORY AND PLOT SPOILERS BELOW
- BE WARNED -
This is a timeless, archetypal story about a boy awkwardly becoming a man, it's a Shounen trope that relies on ankle break plot twists, and gotcha moments but that has a solid japanese subtitle cast, good consistent sound & animation quality for a shounen, and that which delivers on enjoyment consistently. At least for my 26 year old male self, i find that i can identify with Asta and Yuno, friends who are the main protagonists of the show, and rivals of one another.

Yuno is good at everything, Asta is well, not. In the past yuno ... was supported by Asta, who at the time before they had magic to seperate them, the former was the weaker of the two. As they get older, we see Yuno clearly assuming the mantle of prodigy with exceptional mage for his age, Asta with no magic whatsoever. They grow up together, and are friends and Asta never once is shown to resent Yuno for having magic. Instead of wallowing in despair for his lack of talent born, he makes up the gap in hard work.

Yuno is no pushover though, and they grow in character from taking lessons in one anothers conduct. Asta is the model of work ethic, who motivates Yuno to work hard despite his innate talent. They both want to become the strongest mage in the land, the Wizard King.

Yuno, the quiet & conscientious one, acknowledges Asta, the rambunctious persistent one, ever since an event occurred in which Asta saved Yuno from bullies due to his drive to never give in, and to protect his friends. He may not be the most attractive character, but throughout the show he showcases Grit, which makes the viewer want to see him succeed. Asta and Yuno build relationships on top of a solid foundation of integrity, for two orphan boy who is fighting and struggling to find his place in the world.


I am a veteran of many, many anime seasons. I've seen most shounen anime tropes, and like most of us who have seen similar protagonist character tropes, i see sampled elements in Asta that i've undoubtedly seen before. He's got that never say die attitude common to a spunky main character who starts off with nothing, and is all about his bonds of friendship. Deku from my hero acadamia for a recent example, or very similarly to Ichigo in Bleach.


Often, for most people trying is not enough, but for these characters they will make you reflect inwardly on things maybe in your own life you could be putting more effort towards. This is where i find the value in watching the show. Driving myself to get better, aswell as valuing my relationships more.

A great show to watch for a procrastinator, and the plot is sufficiently different from its source material brother and sister animes that it makes it it's own
8/10

At first, I thought this was mediocre writing; rushed characters at best, with a outsiders boorish perspective on what love should be. Emphasis on first & should. The main character, Yuzu, presents as a neurotic, and clingy manipulator as MC. I did not fathom, as an outsider, why mei, accepted Yuzu with her many flaws. But then, inevitably, the thought struck me that the outsiders perspective i am lensing this relationship through, as the standard observer, that I was. An attempt at logically disseminating in my mind that which, isn't at all going to be logical. One could say this is a reach. It may ... be.

After all, mature adult reader see these exaggerated reactions; often blown out of proportion from our perspective of Yuzu. But we have been there, haven't we? Some, long ago, others, much more recently. Caring so much, you feel physically sick trying to constrain your emotions, often, during our first initial forays into love sickness. It wasn't in my experience at all a rational, key here, experience. I lacked experience at the ripe age of 16. I thought i could solve anything. And there is the genius in this frantic, hurried storytelling. In the sense that it just works conveying that sense of inexperience. This story does a great job of reigniting the embers of memories i could say i would have been oblivious to, had the MC not stoked them. She makes mistakes, she stumbles, she is emotional - through her as a vehicle to remember, this story does a great job.

I mean, How could anyone ever be bothered with how much trouble and distress she puts herself through (Though, often of her own unwitting design)? Before i realized quite why, i was at episode 8 in the anime. I couldn't understand why i kept watching, and then after at the time of writing, began reading (the manga).

But before long, and however briefly, I felt like a teenager, i REMEMBERED. Being woo'd by the emotional pendulum of Yuzu, reacting alongside her. And as i did, the story became less about tearing about the flawed character design, to an understanding.

We are flawed, and what time moreso than the first teenage lovesick period in our lives are we more emotional? I'll admit, i didn't want to feel this way, i was thinking already in my cynic perspective about the very nature of how flawed Yuzu was. But it's her first love. Not only that. Remember what you went through. Then imagine it was your same sex step sibling. the feeling of two people against all odds, obstacles, distance, things legitimately out of my control, i thought of them being controllable, these, above all, are feelings i remember having. I even thought about marriage at 14.

First love isn't Logical
Remembering the Frantic
Reactive
Neurotic
Freshness that is our "first love"
People can call it child love
I did
At First
But after awhile
Yuzus childs naivety, turned to
Accepting nature
Her Fear of loss, turned to
Willingness to love
This hit me alot harder than i thought it would
Than i expected
And by the end
I did shed a tear or two
Because i remembered what it was like to be Yuzu