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Being the lonely mf that I am, one day I had an urge to watch a good romance that would make me feel even worse. A quick Google search turned up a top 50 MAL list that promised Yona of the Dawn was a “must watch” shoujo masterpiece. I suppose in that sense, they were right. In the realm of shoujo, Yona of the Dawn is decent, but that is ignoring what it truly is: a bundled up collection of overused tropes.

Yona of the Dawn follows its titular pretty spoiled princess on her journey to becoming a fierce warrior… and that premise is good ... until you realize you actually never get what you were promised. Yona is supposed to be growing and becoming independent, but all she’s doing is collecting servants. Yona is surrounded by all these capable people that she basically forced into servitude, and not once does she think to try to learn their skills. What kind of progress is Yona making if she’s ousted from her cushy palace life, but then gets five bishonen bodyguards that worry themselves to death if even a single hair on her head is out of place? The plot is basically a reverse harem with extra steps. You’ve got all manner of boyfriends: the childhood friend, the princely goofball, the introvert with trauma, etc. All of them are bound to Yona by the legacy of her hair. Again, they have no choice in it either, so there goes any interesting subversion. Her new friends are actually just lifelong servants who listen to everything she says because it’s destined.

Halfway through the series, the main conflict of the show isn’t explained or even mentioned apart from the opening sequence. The supposed villain can’t even figure out his own motivations, much less the audience. It just happens, and then we get a double narrative situation (Yona and the villain contrasting their lives) that is completely irrelevant. Now, the double narrative could have been cool if Yona’s development brought her into direct conflict with the villain. However, her reason for collecting her boyfriends is very simply, “to live”. That’s all. At this point in the plot, Yona’s goal cannot be only “to live”. That’s everyone’s goal. What is she going to do with her life when she finishes her collection? We don’t know. Granted, I haven’t gotten to the part where she gathers everyone, but she shows no sign of thinking beyond present. At the very least, Yona isn’t even thinking of the state of her country (up until this point).

And of course, Yona herself is the most useless one of the lot. At around the 40% mark in the series, we are shown Yona trying to learn a skill, and putting all of her effort into it. The show really pushes that this is huge character development for Yona, but it’s kinda just a nothing burger. Yona cannot possibly believe that mastering one skill will allow her to be independent. That’s like thinking your perfect sunny side up guarantees you can live for a year in the woods. But then, Yona has five capable boyfriends, so maybe it’s more realistic that she doesn’t think she needs to learn much.

Yona of the Dawn has a whole host of other issues. However, its main problem is that it relies too much on the opening sequence (where the main conflict happens) to carry all of its exposition and setup. Everything Yona does is in reaction to this main conflict, but with a bit of critical thinking we can see there is nothing of substance. Yona of the Dawn wants to have a central cast with cute quirks like Ouran High School Host Club, but in a story meant to be about personal growth, it just doesn’t work.

And I still ended up not satisfying my romance anime urge. Maybe I’ll go watch A Silent Voice or something.

Final Rating: 5

I feel compelled to write this review to offer some kind of explanation for why this anime is on my favorites list. It's very simple really, Kakegurui is what happens when writers are given free reign to do whatever they like. Kakegurui is batshit crazy to a degree that fully and utterly transcends typical degeneracy. This is NOT your average fantasy isekai. The plot is structured but completely wild, the characters are clinically insane, and all of them are into each other. Even the fanservice in this anime can't even truly be called fanservice. Fanservice is meant to please the audience, but what you get ... here is borderline disgusting and the show makes sure you know that it's gross.

All the characters are superhuman geniuses who spend their entire day gambling at a school with NO teachers. Somehow the student council president has the same level of power as the leader of a small country. The gambling games are highly complicated and not even explained well. They don't need to be, as everything is a power fantasy for Jabami Yumeko. Essentially, Kakegurui is so bad that it ends up reversing in the other direction and becoming diabolically entertaining. There are a lot of shows focused on escapism, whether it be isekai or shoujo romances, but in Kakegurui you're escaping and descending into freakiness.

Kakegurui is an experience and in all honesty, I absolutely loved it. There's that famous quote from the Dark Knight, "some men just want to watch the world burn", and THAT is what I felt watching Jabami Yumeko eviscerate her opponents while her breasts triple in size, her eyes turn into glowing red sirens, and her face becomes that of a monster.

Final Rating: 7

Given the sorry state of BL anime these days (chock full of non consensual harassment and overdone seme/uke tropes), I was eagerly awaiting something different, more real, in No 6. Instead of focusing on only the romantic aspect, here was a BL that wanted to tell a story, and a dystopian one no less. Suffice it to say, it was a massive disappointment that I should have already foreseen looking at its middling MAL score. No 6 turned out to be an amalgamation of BL tropes all the way down from the miscommunication to the overly aggressive seme to the needless angst. And all this ... is loosely tied up together with a nonexistent hair-thin plotline. This is all you really need to know about what I think of this anime, but since I am rage writing this, I will get into spoilers below.

No 6 loses its vision after like the third episode. The plot should be about realizing the current utopia is flawed and rebelling/taking action, like most other dystopian fiction. Instead, all the action happens quickly and is left unresolved, and then everyone just settles down to wait…?

There’s this strange killer wasp that seems to be a weapon of the utopia, but halfway through the series we’ve gotten no progress towards the characters finding out its creator or purpose (even just realizing the administrators controlled it would be fine). And so brown hair turned white haired boy camps out with the seme love interest and everything up until the halfway point is them beefing with each other in the most angsty way possible.

White haired boy can’t understand why the love interest hates society, and he won’t tell him either. So there’s a stalemate where eventually dark hair will probably give in because white hair is such a cinnamon roll. It’s so pointless because why can’t they just sit down and talk about it? I understand there are topics that are hard to talk about for people, but in writing there are ways to show that and have them open up. One of those ways is definitely not having the angsty character trash talk and threaten the cinnamon roll and then underscore that with a heap of sexual tension.

I’ve never written a review for an anime that I haven’t completed before, but this one made me so annoyed for no reason. No 6 has a plethora of other issues, but if I talked about them this review would get to be as long as my Fruits Basket one. Just know that it’s bad.

Final Rating: 3

I cannot, with a good conscience, give this anime anything higher than a 6. It’s awful, degenerate, and grossly self-aware. And yet, as much as I will decry the endless fanservice (and the entire episode dedicated to it), I still found myself somehow enjoying the stupid and immature comedy. Say what you will about my own shallowness that I could enjoy the perverted and overused jokes, but that's how it was. Honestly, it was more like a "wtf, so THIS is how far they'll go" moment every time the show surprised me with an even deeper level of depravity. Naturally, the character writing and plot ... development are unceremoniously thrown right out the window from the start, but whatever remains still manages to be begrudgingly funny.

Final Rating: 6

Skip to Loafer is an anime I dived into with a fair amount of expectation. I had come from an anime analysis video on character writing that compared its protagonist, Mitsumi, to the likes of Frieren and MaoMao (two universally agreed-upon examples of quality female characters). Comparing any character to these two is already a high bar and sets up a lot of room for disappointment. Yet, Skip to Loafer manages to be wildly entertaining, wonderfully cheeky, and remarkably sincere in its messaging and character development. It comfortably met my expectations and even bagged some points for the voice work and animation.

Mitsumi should be ... a landmark achievement for the slice-of-life genre. She is one of the most heartfelt, genuine characters I have ever encountered in an anime. Among all the obnoxiously hyperactive female leads, Mitsumi stands out for her presence and relatability. She constantly changes throughout the anime as she navigates high school, bettering herself and the others around her. Like any normal person, Mitsumi is capable of assessing situations critically and planning an appropriate course of action, even if her quirks cause her to run into problems. As a character, she also comes with believable (but lighthearted) flaws, the most prominent of which is her tendency to space out. In many other shows, this is brushed aside as a comedic eccentricity, but Skip to Loafer takes the time to develop this aspect of Mitsumi’s personality. Who would she be if she tried actively fighting this part of herself? And is it even worth it? After all, Mitsumi's eccentricity is part of her charm - it comes as naturally to her as breathing. These are the types of questions that Mitsumi grapples with on a daily basis. Mitsumi challenges herself to always stand back up, and though she may not know it, her appeal is that she is a simple girl with unassailable confidence.

While the praise for Skip to Loafer’s protagonist is completely deserved, the supporting cast is remarkably well-developed. Fumi is introduced as Mitsumi’s best friend, but it's almost like she is a medium between the audience and Mitsumi. Mitsumi can be a lot to take in at once, so Fumi slows her down and provides background. It’s from this connection that the audience can see the relationship between the two girls who know everything there is to know about each other. Like most Genki girl protagonists, Mitsumi slowly changes the people around her. Whether it is the exceptional character writing, or simply a result of Mitsumi being so effortlessly human (or both), the relationships in Skip to Loafer feel rich and spectacularly authentic. The dialogue and events are, of course, dramatized for entertainment, but the core writing remains true to normal exchanges. There is no screaming, incessant healing tears, senseless comedic violence, or melodramatic cringey moments in Skip to Loafer. Scenes that feature a shoujo trope end up gently subverting it with refreshingly mature and straightforward interaction. Every character in the main cast is revealed to have another side to them, with hidden motivations and individual mannerisms that create comedic tension.

While it’s true that Skip to Loafer gets a lot of things right in terms of characters, the lack of a controlling plot does hurt it. Initially, I brushed it off, but that was more of a reaction to how well the ensemble cast was written that I could minimize a noticeable issue. Slice of Life is not supposed to have a straightforward plot, but generally, it will have a controlling aspect. For example, the show may be focused on music, sports, or a life lesson. Skip to Loafer lacks this, and while we know all about Mitsumi and her dreams, her lofty aspirations are still quite far off, and, for now at least, she’s just living her life.

The first time going through Skip to Loafer, I felt something was missing from the Shima backstory. It was handled well, with nothing to complain about, but it would have been nice if it looped back to a central plot point. At times, Skip to Loafer can feel very aimless, and each episode can be boiled down to just being filler. However, this show, inherently, was never about a massive all-encompassing plot. Rather, the lack of a storyline focuses on the vibrant web of character dynamics that more than makes up for Skip to Loafer's shortcomings. And on a different note, this overarching topic of whether an anime needs a plot to be considered good (especially a genre that emphasizes not having a clear plot direction) is probably one that merits some more discussion.

I like to throw around the phrase “turn off your brain” a lot for slice-of-life anime, and it certainly does apply here, but in a different way. Skip to Loafer is very relaxed and lighthearted, and this is one of its main appeals (at least to me). So while “turning off your brain” to watch this anime is perfectly fine, the character dynamics are intriguing in a way that makes it still possible to appreciate and ponder their motivations and actions. This is an anime that knows how to present a proper Genki girl and her entourage. The free-flowing comedy and cozy atmosphere of this tight-knit gathering of distinct individuals is what makes Skip to Loafer so heartwarming, and so perfectly iyashikei. The anime just wants to gently remind its audience that sometimes it's worthwhile to slow down and work through life with your friends.

And if you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! I have a confession based on what I wrote at the beginning of this review about MaoMao and Frieren being universally good female characters. Recently, I’ve revisited a lot of my top-rated anime to see if my opinion of them was influenced by their popularity or production value. In that process, I discovered some issues with both Frieren and MaoMao as characters. However, this is a weighty topic deserving of a whole other review (or more), but I just wanted to put this out there now.

Final Rating: 8

For a pretty old anime, I didn’t expect such colorful and vibrant animation. It gave me the same homey, fantasy vibe as the SoL episodes in Frieren (also how Zen is much like Himmel). The protagonist, Shirayuki, is introduced as a strong, capable, and independent female lead. She shares a lot of similarities with MaoMao from The Apothecary Diaries, in that they both work in medicine and advance to become aids to people in powerful positions. It feels strange to talk so much about other shows when writing a review for Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, but this is where one of the main setbacks with the ... series comes from. All the mentioned series feature powerful and complex female protagonists, which Akagami no Shirayuki-hime strives to do, but falls short of. In creating Shirayuki, the writing borrows inspiration from her damsel-in-distress namesake to have a character that tries to balance uniqueness with traditional shoujo tropes. However, the issue with this “happily ever after” aspect of the show is that it inhibits Shirayuki’s characterization and gets in the way of her doing anything. 

A main plot point of the show is that Shirayuki’s hair is unique and stands out so much that it gives her trouble. This is further expanded to touch on how people treat a woman who is seen as desirable to have. However, it’s just a little questionable that EVERYONE in this fantasy world wants Shirayuki and her hair (you’re reminded of how her hair is so special about every other episode), but for the show and the message it’s trying to convey that’s acceptable. Up until this point, Akagami no Shirayuki-hime was pretty interesting and a fun watch. 

You can probably imagine my disappointment later when time after time, Shirayuki ends up in situations on account of her hair and needs (very conveniently) for either the male lead or one of her friends to save her. Shirayuki ends up in this awkward place because while she tries her best to deal with her situation, she never gets anything done. In one of these situations, Shirayuki clearly shows to us that she can fight back by herself. However, the plot being what it is, her enemy recovers instantly, cueing Zen to miraculously appear and save Shirayuki (not like she couldn’t have saved herself). This is the rough structure of the entire show. Something happens to Shirayuki, she then voices her opinions and takes action but it fails, and then Zen needs to come to her aid and actually get things done. 

Shirayuki's pairing with Zen is justified heavily by the show because apparently he has some sort of inferiority complex with his brother and needs to find people of his own to protect. This is alright, but the show pushes this point so much that Zen frequently has to drop EVERYTHING to go and save Shirayuki. Sometimes it feels so contrived, just to make room for romantic/melodramatic moments. It's frankly disingenuous that this show presents an independent female protagonist but then willingly undermines her agency at every turn. This is not to mention how Shirayuki is wholly devoid of flaws. Clearly, the only bad thing about her is her unique hair (pointed out multiple times). Some other reviews have mentioned that she is a Mary Sue, and this is very accurate. 

Nevertheless, I liked the show and it was still nice to watch with the beautiful, cozy backgrounds. This review functions for seasons 1 and 2 because season 2 is simply more of the same “damsel in distress” storyline. Don't be like me and get fooled by the premise: this anime is one that you should go in with no expectations and you won’t be disappointed. There’s a likable cast of characters, and the dynamics between them are fun to watch. And although Zen has that habit of constantly saving Shirayuki, that doesn’t mean he’s any less of an adorable sweetheart. Akagami no Shirayuki-hime has a nice fantasy setting (albeit without much world-building) and a little drama with a happy ending, so if you want to watch something cute, this is for you.

Final Rating: 6.5 rounded up to 7

Season 2 didn’t change much from Season 1, but they made a lot of improvements here and there. The fundamental problems with the show remained, but Season 2 was all about tying up the loose ends. There was more work done on the relationship between Hozuki and her mother, which was lacking previously. At first, I didn’t really like Hozuki, but her characterization in the 2nd season brought her back around full circle to being a likable character. Akira’s arc mid season was done pretty well. Given the context of the show, having Akira develop an inferiority complex from being surrounded by brilliant people and ... her family’s expectation was very fitting and relatable. I did feel as if her problems were resolved maybe a little too quickly, but that wasn’t a major issue. The few episodes leading up to the finale appropriately raised the tension and stakes for the schools involved in the competition. And so, there was a nice “dynamic” between the three best performances: Himesaka emphasizing harmony, Hakuto with their solo act, and finally, Tokise focusing on emotional impact. However, I didn’t really understand the point of the talented dark haired character from Hakuto high school. He just seemed like a gifted person who was ignorant of their own value and, honestly, kind of entitled.

A good thing was that there were less cringe worthy moments. This held back season 1 by a lot since it felt really cheap to have the characters overreact to minor things. The audience could also see more of the dynamic between the club members and their advisor. All these minor improvements ended up making season 2 solid. If nothing else, the finale’s Tenkyu piece sounded very good and didn’t need the show to explicitly tell viewers that.

Final Rating: 7

Kono Oto Tomare is fairly average. Its characters are barely more complex than 1-dimensional cutouts. The main cast are all (gently) dolts, Chika and Hozuki especially because they’re a copy paste of the tsundere archetype. Chika needs special mention here because, even among the dolts, he manages to be about as dense as a block of lead. All the characters end up overreacting to pretty normal things.

The vice principal has a huge grudge against Chika for no apparent reason other than that he’s a delinquent and therefore the vice principal needs to go out of his way to harass Chika. Hozuki’s mother goes through ... a complete 180 (without any more context) after her husband dies and people start to slander her family’s reputation. Kurusu is dumped by her boyfriend because of a single lie that everyone somehow believes, and then suddenly becomes a reverse Batman because she can’t handle seeing other people happy. It’s alright though, because none of their actions were wildly unreasonable, albeit even if they are slightly melodramatic.

In this same vein, there were frequent borderline cringeworthy moments with the characters and even the performances themselves. The green dragons effect when they were doing the Ryuuseigun performance was very noticeably forced. None of the pieces stood out to me as sounding great, and I found it coddling that the show needed to “tell” the audience whenever there was good koto playing. I understand the anime is about the power of friendship, but the characters don’t have to look constipated whenever they try to say “I enjoy playing with you”. It’s hardly natural, but again, given the context of the anime, it’s fine as long as it wasn’t taken overboard, which it wasn’t.

And as much as I cringed whenever there were melodramatic moments, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this show. Kudo's character growth was healthy and his blockhead antics were amusing. It's a wholesome anime that doesn't try to go for much (except when trying to hammer home its emotional points), and that's perfectly fine.

Final Rating: 6

I liked Season 1 of Fruits Basket, but not enough to watch the sequel. But once I heard there'd be development for Tohru x Kyou, I couldn't stop myself. So here I am, writing this review because Season 2 of Fruits Basket failed horribly. It's all over the place.

A good story needs to have, first and foremost, a clear plot/goal for the audience to see its characters work towards. The entirety of the show felt like I was being force fed word salad with the aggressively mediocre writing. You could realize that all the character backstories boil down to the same thing and skip ... basically the entire season except a couple episodes at the end and nothing remotely would change about the plot. Yes, because there isn’t one.

The plot is an amalgamation of slice of life, rom-com, and mystery interspersed with episode long trauma dumps. There never actually is any progress toward the main goal, which seems to be breaking out of the zodiac curse. The show is just so preoccupied with "setting the mood" using layers of traumatic character backstory (that always ends up being a variation of parental abuse) that it completely forgets what to do with them. Essentially, Fruits Basket is permanently stuck in an endless loop of exposition. There is an excess of inner monologue and no action to support the epiphanies everyone seems to get after witnessing Tohru's magnificent healing tears.

So first, let's ignore the fact that every backstory boils down to parental abuse. What sets each one apart, then? Nothing. They are all copy pasted onto each other with the sole difference being who Tohru Honda is providing her therapy services to. Pick any one at random, and you will see how the plot edges to a point where the characters can finally start taking initiative, but it always ends up in a fakeout involving Tohru crying hysterically, achieving nothing but fake pity points narratively.

The other major issue is the ridiculous double narrative. There was Tohru being quirky and obscenely happy all the time and then, separately, a storyline about Yuki joining and running the student council so he can stop being depressed. This is fine and all for developing his character, but in a show that is all about character backstory, it felt like Yuki was getting preferential treatment. And on a more subjective note, his struggles weren't really compelling. His character arc was needlessly convoluted and obnoxiously stretched across the entire season’s runtime. Every other episode HAD to have its mandatory 10 minute monologue about how he was horrifically and that Tohru Honda is an angel because she’s unique and quirky. This split narrative just eats up time that could have been spent trying to salvage the mess that was the main plot. The screen time spent creating all these new characters could have been utilized to actually develop the existing characters.

The double narrative could have been slightly more worth it if there was a well written pay off, but there wasn't. Yuki’s character arc was ripped from another show and stitched together with Tohru Honda’s happy-go-lucky slice of life. All the work on the student council plotline ends up in a weird big reveal fake out where Yuki admits that he sees Tohru as a mother figure (which doesn't make sense at all - his friend even calls him out for it). This had the potential to be a nice departure from the typical love triangle trope in shoujo, but here it only served the purpose of giving Kyou the green light with Honda Tohru. Out of all the things to do, surely there must have been some better way to write platonic love that wasn't so incredibly tedious and convoluted.

Honda is the most annoying character in the whole series. Her gimmick of being kind, ditzy and quirky was cute at first, but as the story progresses, her character traits are overemphasized to the point of practically being a caricature. Tohru only has two modes to her personality: she is either hysterically happy or excessively emotional. She manages to burst into tears every single time a character tells even a mildly sad story. Tohru’s constant crying is the writing’s best attempt at emotional depth, but only manages to superficially represent the complexity of the feelings people go through during abuse and trauma. It simply gets boring because the impact of these big blowout emotional moments is lessened every time the formula is rinsed and repeated. Most problems in the show are somehow always miraculously solved through a few kind words and tearful embrace from Tohru. It is completely unrealistic at best and insensitively demeaning to true victims of abuse at worst.

Tohru herself remains the same across the entirety of the show. This is probably fine seeing that Tohru’s existence is meant to serve as a catalyst for all the characters to develop. However, a character who doesn’t change isn’t necessarily a bad character or one without complexity. A few people have mentioned this already, but at one point, Tohru is called out by Hiro for constantly mentioning her mother, unaware that most of the zodiac family has strained relationships with their parents. Tohru gets depressed for a bit and then returns to being happy again and this plot point is left completely wide open. This was a golden opportunity for Tohru to have some kind of development beyond being the same “nice girl” trope she has embodied for 2 seasons already.

So what could have been done to "fix" Honda Tohru? Just my 2 cents as an viewer:
- Tohru drops her constant bipolar sugar rush hyper emotional state
- Tohru says things other than “Yes!” every time someone says a nice thing to her
- Tohru doesn't burst into tears immediately when someone says something mildly sad
- Tohru calls out people for their overreactions (she can’t atm because she herself is melodramatic)
- Tohru shows the audience that there are more sides to her than being happy/sad (trying to be logical would be a good start)
- Tohru actively tries to solve the problems that she notices
- Tohru’s flaws (being too complacent and trusting) are addressed in a meaningful way
- Tohru’s relationship with her parents is explored more, specifically her feelings about her absent father and her mother’s past
- There is actual romance on Tohru’s side (she is happy and complacent and nice to everyone that the only thing that indicated she liked Kyou was the blush lines)

All of the other characters are aggressively mediocre. Where most badly written characters are simply one dimensional, Fruits Baskets characters are (surprise) also one dimensional, BUT at least they come with a tragic past to explain their unreasonable actions!

I have a soft spot for tsunderes, so due to my bias I probably won’t have much to criticize about Kyou. After all, he was my favorite character of the series and despite knowing s3 doesn’t fix any of the problems the show has, I’ll still probably go ahead and watch the episodes that focus on Kyou.

Kyou and Yuki’s rivalry was overblown from a gag to becoming literally incorporated into their respective characters. It’s understandable that certain people might not get along or that they should get along, but the writing never made an attempt to bridge the gap. The audience is told the true reasons why Kyou and Yuki hate each other, but there is never a moment where both characters are forced into a confrontation and admit that on some level they admire the other.

During the confrontation with Akito at the beach house, Kyou goes through a rollercoaster of emotions that aren’t clarified at all. From my understanding, after Akito’s verbal harassment, Kyou has accepted that he’s a monster and he’s been gaslighted into thinking confinement is appropriate for him. So he makes up his mind to cherish the time he has left with Tohru. That’s fair and can be used to set up some cheesy but wholesome moment with Tohru later, but that it never happens because Tohru seems to forget all about it! Kyou doesn’t even seem to recognize the implications of this threat, and so his promise evaporates and he undermines himself.

Kagura was infuriating from the start. The good thing about her is that she appears only when the show feels the need to recycle the cheap violence gag. The tragic backstory about her unrequited love does NOT save the fact that she is still a cardboard cutout yandere. It’s hard to believe that Kyou forgave her after the amount of physical abuse she heaped on him.

Dark Hatsuharu was the show trying to be so edgy for no particular reason. The fact that Haru is aware of “dark Haru” but treats it like a completely separate person/entity (thus avoiding all responsibility) for comedic value is just bad writing.

Shigure goes right past edgy and straight into flat out creepy. Where all the other characters get at least some form of explanation for their actions, Shigure gets a one liner that doesn’t make any sense at all. Then, he’s shown getting freaky with Akito (which is even worse when the show reveals Akito is a girl and starts sexualizing her). Shigure gets his moment with the shadows on his face and makes his rude, snarky comments and then audience is told it's all part of his plan to get Mayu and Hatori together, which is somehow meant to show him being good in the most convoluted way possible.

Ritsu was plain annoying after the show reused the apologizing gag for the 10th time in a row and then he also disappeared forever, which is a good thing, I guess.

Kureno was built up to be this great info mine where the audience could finally find out how to break the curse. He then somehow rejects her because he made a promise to a little girl once (???). I never understood this line of reasoning, especially when he has indicated multiple times that he isn’t happy in his current situation and that he has an attraction to Arisa. But then we find out that he has been getting freaky with Akito, and then it's just weird.

Akito was underwhelming and frankly, kind of annoying. She trashes other characters and abuses them for literally no reason. The final reveal in season 2 of Akito secretly being a girl is supposed to be super shocking (?). All it really did was introduce an unnecessary sexual element to all the abuse Fruits Basket characters love to give each other. And despite all the hyping up Akito gets from all the other characters, she isn’t even remotely threatening when she finally shows up. The characters seem terrified of her, but she’s never shown doing anything besides pushing people. It’s just that the people she pushes don’t fight back. Her big plan of making everyone live with her because she’s lonely was so vapid because maybe everyone (besides the sexual abusers) wouldn’t hate and fear her if she didn’t bully them (???).

I really did try to love this show. For all the nitpicks and critiques I have, at least some of its other aspects were tolerable. The op/ed songs were fine and the Cinderella episode near the end was fun. It’s just that this show’s lack of proper plot and pacing was very noticeable. There were so many wonderful directions that the plot could have gone that would have enhanced character relationships, but in the end the writing stayed in its comfort zone of SOL with depressing copy pasted backstories. And that's not to mention the questionable glorification of creepy sexual behavior with Shigure and, more subtly, Kureno. But generally, most of the show’s shortcomings stem back to Tohru Honda and her ridiculously saccharine and lazily written personality.

If anything, Fruits Basket can be good in that it is an example of how not to write a bubbly character or characters with similar backstories.

In any case, if you’ve made it this far into my review, thank you so much for taking the time to read my messy and unplanned review. I don’t usually spend this much time thinking about a show, but for this particular one, I was so invested into Kyou and his individual character development that it was frustrating and even a little disappointing when the rest of the show didn’t hold up to my expectations.

Final Rating: 4

This anime is probably the most overhyped romance of the winter 2024 season. The show is shallow, and mainly serves as a fantasy for people to indulge in. A Sign of Affection is often praised for how the male lead (Itsuomi) interacts with the female lead (Yuki), being so patient and understanding regarding her disability. However, this is where the problems start with this depiction of deaf people and their struggles.

The entire show has one message for the viewer and that is deaf people are "inherently" weaker and more susceptible to danger. While that may be true, this idea of helplessness extends deep into ... these characters personalities and ideologies. All the characters, including Yuki herself, believe that she needs to be treated like some kind of pretty princess. Yuki follows the shy girl trope, introverted and innocent, and her deafness is treated like some kind of accessory to this instead of an actual condition. There are often times where Yuki just completely freezes up when people talk to her and conveniently needs the male lead to dive in and save her. Then this moment is treated like some wonderful "ooey-gooey" reaffirmation of their pure love. This is honestly fine given the target audience of this show necessitates moments like these. However, what is frustrating is that Yuki NEVER makes an attempt to try to confront her issues. She just sits around waiting for someone to help her. If it was real life and nobody was around when she froze up, she'd probably awkwardly stand in place forever. This could have been a plot point to work around, where there would be an arc that shows Yuki trying her best to do away with this omnipresent idea that deaf people need to be babied. Even the concept of Yuki being so sheltered because of her deafness is hard to believe when she is literally going to college and is shown frequently online.

There is nothing remarkable about Yuki aside from her deafness, which the show tries to sell as making her this super nuanced character that paradoxically functions as a self-insert. She has never shown any kind of interest in anything at all, besides Itsuomi, of course. We see Yuki go to college, but we are never told what she is studying. Probably worse of all, she seems to only be capable of thinking in terms of Itsuomi. Everything that is done in the show is done on Itsuomi's or someone else's initiative, down to the dates and the walking and the kissing. This may be insensitive of me, but the episode where the circle of friends goes out into the woods for a sign language learning session rubbed me the wrong way. I felt the impression that it was meant to be all about her, another example of the whole world infantizing her. Again, this show would have been interesting if Yuki used all these patronizing ideas as a pivot to show people she can have her own agency. But of course, Yuki seems to bask in all the glorious attention that she gets.

The way Itsuomi treats Yuki is how she thinks everyone should treat her. Itsuomi is, naturally, the perfect boyfriend who somehow nails all the sexual advances flawlessly, despite not having ever been in ANY previous relationship. The show tries to push the idea that Itsuomi is also excited and giddy in his own way, but this just falls flat. It does not seem like Itsuomi is a guy trying to make things right for his girlfriend, rather it feels more like he is an experienced older guy collecting a trophy. This, combined with his touchy tendencies and patronizing actions makes him a GLARING red flag.

The message the show is trying to push is that because Itsuomi is so very considerate of Yuki's shortcomings as a deaf person, he has to shepherd her and guide her through all her choices. When asking Yuki questions, he even provides options for her automatically ("do you want to or do you not"), giving the impression that those are her only choices. I can see how this might appeal to viewers part of the target audience, and convince them that this relationship is perfectly healthy and wholesome, but to me it just radiates perverseness. For one thing, the power balance is so horribly skewed in the relationship. Everything revolves around Itsuomi and he calls all the shots. The best way to describe their relationship is that Itsuomi puts Yuki on a pedestal like a glorified, charming and quirky pet. He is so weirdly territorial about Yuki and has so much passive aggressive energy. The territorial thing would have been better if Yuki wasn't so emotionally and physically dependent on Itsuomi.

As for the side characters, Oushi showed the most promise. From the beginning, he was presented as a flawed character, and I was (pointlessly) holding onto the hope that the anime would take a turn for the better and show Yuki trying to change his ideas. Oushi and Itsuomi have the same energy of trying to take care of Yuki in that patronizing way, and it creates this competition that the anime wants to emphasize. So it was even more frustrating when Yuki clearly rejects Oushi despite the fact that Itsuomi's actions are the exact same as Oushi's, albeit a little gentler. Unlike Itsuomi however, the viewer is given some measure of depth into Oushi's backstory and his motivations. His natural protectiveness turned into unrequited affection over time. Oushi being a foil for Itsuomi ended up making him a hundred times more interesting than Itsuomi could ever be.

You won't enjoy this anime if you're not in the target audience. I definitely am not, but I was drawn to the premise that promised a unique take on shoujo romance. This anime could have been noticeably better if the author would have just been braver and attempted to write a story that most would dislike. This show's high rating baffled me at first, but this just goes to show how the author made the right choice numbers wise.

Final Rating: 1