The Otaku Exhibition

Tag: romcom

  • In Defense of Rent-A-Girlfriend

    What does it mean to hate-watch an anime? There’s complex psychology behind a willingness to consume media you don’t like, don’t think is good, and wouldn’t recommend to others. Sometimes that phenomenon is referred to as a guilty pleasure; it is that which you enjoy, but know you shouldn’t. Frankly, that’s cowardice. It is 2022,…

  • Tsurezure Children is Everything I’ve Been Looking For

    If you’ve been writing publicly for a good chunk of time, you tend to take it for granted that your readers are familiar with the running themes of your work. I think if you’ve only read a small portion of the approximately 250,000 words I’ve written here, though, you will have a good sense of…

  • Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie is Peak Fiction, You Cowards

    If you’ve been paying attention to the seasonal anime beat for any length of time, you know about the heel turn in quality. An anime might tap into something special, either a phenomenal adaptation or an original that shows you something you never dreamed of. The God of High School was the best thing to…

  • Horimiya is STILL the Best Rom Com

    It’s been quite some time since I last talked about Horimiya, in a way. Last year around this time, I lauded the anime adaptation’s ability to trim the excess and give itself a breakneck pace that separates it apart from other romance anime. However, in another, truer sense, I also talked about Horimiya in January,…

  • Is Fruits Basket Overrated?

    I understand that I am pushing my luck here. When I rip into Evangelion or Death Note, I am spared by the fact that those shows have a fair number of detractors. Mushoku Tensei is controversial, to say the least, so the ratio of comments agreeing with my points is about 1:1 with comments telling…

  • My Dress Up Darling Proves Horny CAN be Wholesome

    My lack of interest in ecchi anime is well-documented. Generally, the more an anime goes out of their way to be titillating, the less invested I am. How Not to Summon a Demon Lord bored me to tears, while I watched High School DxD for the plot, and I do mean the plot. Food Wars:…

  • Love of Kill Review: Comedy Assassination

    Studio: Platinum Vision Director: Hideaki Ooba Streaming on: Crunchyroll I don’t often get to time my posts well; I stick to a strict schedule, so anything coming out at an opportune time requires a lot of hassle and even more luck. It just so happens that I accidentally saved this season’s dark romcom Love of…

  • Sasaki & Miyano: Pure Cotton Candy Fluff

    Studio: Studio Deen Director: Shinji Ishihara Streaming on: Funimation I’ve been wracking my brain. I wrote an essay about Given, where I disparaged the musical romance for failing to offer up any good music or romance. To sum it up, romance anime is an oversaturated market, so yaoi gets a crap hand; if you aren’t…

  • My Dress-Up Darling Review: Work Hard, Cosplay Hard

    Studio: Cloverworks Director: Keisuke Shinohara Streaming on: Crunchyroll, Funimation In my essay “How Anime Excels in Making You Care” I wrote about the niche genre of anime; a subgenre that focuses on hobbies, games, or Japanese art forms that fall outside of the mainstream. Chihayafuru, Rakugo Shinjuu, and others like them are all about people…

  • Blue Box Review: Shonen Jump’s Sports Romcom Scores

    Art and Story by Koji Miura All chapters available on the Shonen Jump app I’ve been doing my best to catch more manga in the early stages so it feels like I’m actually reviewing a new series, not just what’s out there and popular. Unfortunately, that’s pretty hard if you’re not fluent in Japanese; by…