Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie

Anime openings truly are magical, aren’t they? The excite us, inspire us, and stay in our memories for years. Just this season, the OP for SPY×FAMILY, where it begins looking like a hyper-stylized spy thriller, but then quickly devolves into children’s artwork perfectly encapsulated the charm of the series; the OP for Summertime Render was so slick and atmospheric; and Paripi Koumei’s OP was a brilliant modern classic for obvious reasons, but the two runner-ups have to be Shikimori-san and Love After World Domination. They were both absolutely stellar, and Shikimori’s was so delightful, it almost successfully gaslighted me into thinking I was actually watchinga good anime. They say 70-93% of human communication is non-verbal, and I stand by these findings completely. This show has one of those OPs where, whether the show delivers on its promise or not, it at least suggests a level of personality and energy which I personally find so endearing and infectious. Like, even if the show has no personality (which, spoiler, it doesn’t), then the expressiveness and artfulness displayed throughout the OP can successfully brainwash me into thinking it does. It feels like a mixture of the Engaged to the Unidentified OP and the After the Rain OP, and no matter how shitty of a day I was having, no matter how fucking miserable I felt, it always made me smile. The problem with all of this, of course, is that after the OP ends, the show starts, and it’s not great. The OP would make me think, “Oh, gosh! These two are so CUTE! Everyone looks so happy and expressive, the animation is astoundingly beautiful, and the artistry the director used to illustrate the trials and tribulations and the clumsy, invigorating course of their budding love is all just so invigorating! I just can’t wait to see this show with these characters and this artwork and this direction and—oh the show is boring as fuck………okay…great.” Generic, bland, banal, whatever word you wanna use, anything works. It’s just a boilerplate teen romcom with gimmicks that get old instantly. There are definitely some things to like about this show. It’s a Doga Kobo project, so no matter how bland the art direction and character designs are, and no matter the fact this is clearly one of their lower effort productions, nothing ever looks unacceptably bad. The main couple are in a relationship at the start of the show, so you don’t have to deal with the usual melodrama involved with getting together, which itself is assuming you’re lucky enough to be watching one of the very few anime where the two main love interests actually at some point do fucking get to together. However, other than those few concessions, the entire show has very little in the way of redeeming qualities. The gimmick is that Shikimori isn’t just a cutie. She’s also the female equivalent to the domineering ikemen in shoujo manga, and she endearingly protects her effeminate twink boyfriend, Izumi, all the same. I found it cute enough for a while, but my breaking point was already reached by episode five. Each stock friend character is just standing around doing their ONE thing, saying their ONE line in their ONE tone. Contrary to the bustling, energetic opening, the show itself has lifelessness leaking out of every orifice, including its fucking voice actors. As far as other, more recent waifu-bait shows go, Shikimori is comparable in quality to My Dress-Up Darling, an anime which I gave a 4/10. …clearly should’ve put some more thought into that one. Thank you for reading.

They took the whole ‘not much happens, feel good’ thing way too far. Now some of my favorite shows and movies are things where not much happens. My Neighbor Totoro, K-On!, Horimiya, Tsukigakirei; all of these have nothing going for it plot-wise but are some of my all time favorites. But this show had me straight snoozing. I thought I would like it because the premise said that the main characters were already a couple, which is not something you see much. I loved that aspect in Horimiya and Tsukigakirei so I thought a show where you just see a couples life could be wholesomeand comforting. But this is way too unrealistically perfect. There is no conflict, no drama. They are always doing happy stuff and saying romantic things for no reason. Both the characters and the plot are straight up Boring. I remember she was really athletic and he had bad luck but that was all there was to it. I honestly forgot there were other characters when I started writing this. All this show had to offer was feel good vibes but even those seemed artificial and fake. This was not a relationship, this did not show any love. It was a vain fantasy world where everyone is happy and innocent all the time. For some reason I feel like the person who wrote and directed this show has never been in an actual relationship before. Or got out of a bad one and is making it out of spite. And the other people working on it just kind of want the paycheck. It’s bland, the nonstop smiles kind of piss me off and my dude couldn’t even kiss the girl at the end. They’ve dated for 6 months I think and in the final super ‘romantic’ moment, my guy had to go for the cheek. Fucking loser. Still better than Rent-A-Girlfriend though. Also it’s hilarious that the title is grammatically incorrect. It’s supposed to be “Shikimori isn’t just a cutie”. Fucking dumbass.

Disclaimer: I don't hate Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie. I just don't think it's a good anime overall. What's up with their eyes? No, but seriously, this is one of the weirdest eye designs I have ever seen in anime. It actually looks good from some angles, but most of the time it's rather creepy. The blonde girl literally has dead fish eyes. And it looks horrible. Since I see people that seem to be saying that the ratings of this show are low from a lot of watchers because "the expectations were too high", " everyone thought this will be Dress-Up Darling 2", and "yall just watchmainstream media & shounen": sorry to break it to you, but that isn't the case! (at least for me). I went into this with no expectations, and Dress-Up Darling wasn't the best show in existence anyway; yet, Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie was just not that good. Just like Tonikaku Kawaii. And my most watched/read genre is romance, so this low rating is not because I get bored without an interesting plot, cool fights, a lot of action, or anything that is not usually associated with romantic comedies. Basically, you don't need to find excuses as to why not everyone enjoys it. CHARACTERS Contrary to whom most seem to consider to be the worst character in the series (Izumi), I'd say that it's actually Shikimori herself. She is obsessive, very jealous, and possessive. She doesn't have any hobbies and sticks to Izumi like glue, and doesn't seem very pleased with the fact that he has friends. Even worse than that, her whole identity is basically just trying to be seen as a cute girl while also "protecting" Izumi. That's all she cares about, aside from winning in every game/competition. Well, honestly, it's not like Izumi is much better. I get it, he's unlucky, but for being a main character, he sure doesn't have a lot of focus put on him. Rather, it's like he is there just for Shikimori (and 2 other girls haha, didn't know this was a harem) to have someone to be cute & a mommy for. He doesn't have any presence, like, at all; I almost forgot he was the other main character while writing this. He just exists to be the kind, cute prince that captures the hearts of lonely girls just by being kind to them. But, I mean, he's trying to overcome his unluckiness and do sweet things for his girlfriend and friends. At least he's trying. And his culinary dishes are said to be delicious. (On a side note, Izumi's unluckiness is not even that bad. His worst unlucky moments were him jumping in the bushes to avoid being run over by a bicycle and drowning, though the last one is pretty bad. The rest were just random, almost harmless inconveniences, with him losing his wallet or tripping; so, no, he didn't deal with it well or anything, since there wasn't really much to deal in the first place. The only thing I remember was him trying to be prepared for anything that could go wrong on a date, which I mean was cute, but not that smart? Since he knows he often loses his stuff no matter what he does, why doesn't he let someone else keep them when he's going out? Like, giving his wallet to Shikimori would have resolved the problem.) As for the side characters, they surprisingly have more character development than the leads (who have, like, almost 0 growth). Two of them, to be more specific; they have a whole episode dedicated to each of them, and it was quite nice to see. Though, the extra characters that were used in one of the episodes were just pure mockery. But all in all, the side characters are better than the main ones, that's how bad this show is. STORY/ CHARACTERS' RELATIONSHIPS Just in case you were wondering… I haven't mentioned anything about the story because there is literally no story. It is a slice of life romcom with school setting; and instead of going for a boring, generic plot, the mangaka (since I suppose the "story" is the same in the manga) chose to not have one at all. Which is not a problem at all, don't get me wrong; however, it means that in order to make the anime/manga enjoyable, it is a must for the characters to have amazing chemistry (among other things). And sadly, this is not the case at all. The main focus of the show, Shikimori and Izumi's romantic relationship, is very awkward and unrealistic. They are supposed to have been together for one year already, yet act like they have only known each other for 4 months at best. It's like they don't even really know each other's personalities that well. It's just... very weird, you know. They don't seem to be comfortable with each other at all, and it bothers me. It feels like they are both looking at an idolized version of their partner, only seeing what's at the surface: a soft unlucky guy that needs to be protected and a cool, beautiful, perfect girlfriend. Well, the point is that their chemistry it's rather weak, and nowhere near good enough to make me want to watch more of it. Though, a 12-14 years old person may find it cute and enjoyable, I guess, its demographic is shoujo after all. The friendship of the rest of the characters feels off sometimes as well, but overall it's passable. The trio of girls (Shikimori, Nekozaki and the other one) seem rather awkward with each other for being friends for more than a year. Again, it's like they have only known each other for like 4 months. ART STYLE/ANIMATION When it comes to art style and animation, well... The animation is as good as it can get, and the style itself is pretty nice, though generic. Very charming color palette, well suited for the genre, atmosphere, and demographic. But like I said, weird eyes. Oh, and while I did say the animation was good, it had some slip ups here and there. ~~CONCLUSION/ENJOYMENT~~ Well, having said all that, here's the catch: it's not a horrible anime. As far as entertainment goes, it is actually passable. In short, I didn't hate watching Shikimori trying to look cute for a date, Izumi having to spend his time at a school event in the library, Nekozaki laughing or smiling most of the time, and Inu's laid back attitude. I mean, if I did, I wouldn't have completed the anime. What I'm getting at is that it is not that bad of a show, either. At least when it comes to the enjoyment. The best thing about KS? Its OP! Hands down one of the best this year. The ED was pretty enjoyable as well.

The final show to end the supposedly high-key season that is Spring 2022, and this one...really gets a major bad rep about how mangaka Keigo Maki's insanely popular series has managed to last this long for 3 years plus (like come on, at least it ain't Reiji Miyajima's work that is nothing but a cuck wasteland of padding torture at this point). And since I'm seeing that the majority of the community sees Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san a.k.a Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie as a target of objectification worth its massive hate (and to be unbias, it's warranted), so let me be the Devil'sAdvocate to tell you the other side of the story why this rom-com works, is overall very good (but not great) for the most part, and most certainly, doesn't deserve its maligned status of being overhated to hell and back. Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san a.k.a Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie is a show, that like many anime and sources of the same kind (the similarities draw close to works like this Winter's Sono Bisque Doll, Nanashi's Nagatoro, HERO's Horimiya, and most certainly very striking to Kenjirou Hata's Tonikaku Kawaii), already establishes the main couple's status from the get-go: the unlucky boyfriend that is Yuu Izumi, facing mishap one after another no matter how good or bad the situation is, and the "ultimate heart-throb" of a girlfriend that is "Micchon" Shikimori exuding in her coolness that makes people's heart beat. It's your stereotypical standard of a rom-com that does its job of whatever gears towards the author's train thoughts of view (in this case, it's Keigo Maki). Together with friends, both Izumi and Shikimori's typical lovey-dovey high school couple life takes its chances to jab how perfect of a girlfriend Shikimori can be, why she is ultimately Izumi's saving grace to his accident-proneness life, and with friends, create the recipe for an intentional, unintended, mitigating disaster henceforth that builds up the frustration, but can be wholesome as well. As I've already mentioned, Shikimori-san shares a lot of similarities to Tonikaku Kawaii (which is a rom-com that's better in every way and definitely recommended), and given Kenjiro Hata's status as one of the best well-known authors back in the heyday for Hayate no Gotoku! a.k.a Hayate the Combat Butler, it's fair to assume that eventually someone else will do an imitation of it, and that's what mangaka Keigo Maki did to pen this series a full year after Tonikaku Kawaii's release around the same time period in February 2019. And boy, it blew up like wildfire, that is still wildly popular and successful to this day. This, you can't discount that although Japan's reception was lukewarm (even though it was advertised quite a lot), over in the West, this was some hot stuff. With that said, let's start with the comparisons: Yuu Izumi for one, he is very similar to Nasa Yuzaki in the case that while they both have blue hair, the latter is ridiculed for his bizarre name (that's literally named after NASA, but that also meaning the starry sky (hoshizora)) while the former has been leading an accident-proneness life, from breaking things to getting hurt over minor scuffles, so much so that even his parents have gotten used to their only child that's a DNA inheritance from his mother Motoko, who's also just as accident-prone. Despite the constant issues that arose from his non-accident-negating personality trait which contributes to his terrible luck (which is where all the hate comes from the community), Izumi is a good-natured, upbeat and friendly boy whom knows how to cook, but he is rather unassertive (or as the term is now coined "herbivore men", young men whom lost their "manliness"), but through Shikimori, he intends to become bolder (which is still a work in progress), and overtime we see that he can overcome his tumultuous bad luck by not consigning himself to the cliche "red thread of fate" of succumbing to the predictability of his ways, and pushing forward even if the adverse hits him hard. Character development on Izumi may feel blasé, but that's to be expected of the girl who's been standing by his side, the fercious and jealous Shikimori. And this is a good segue to talk about Shikimori, which like Tsukasa Yuzaki/Tsukuyomi, she turns up as the cool and assertive girlfriend that garners everybody's admiration, for any potential guy that would come to date her, will be the best boyfriend to offer. Also, if that ain't enough, both Shikimori and Tsukasa have light pink hair, and is adored by everyone around her as the precious gem (in Shikimori's case, it's her nicknames: getting called Mi-chan at home and Micchon from her friends). But in hindsight, Shikimori is not the same Shikimori we know of now, as she was raised like a tomboy whom is proficient in martial arts, and despite being a girl, doesn't know what girls do to be cute. And this is where her older brother Fuji comes in to change her perspective to try to be more like a girl, arising the "Not Just a Cutie" tagline of the manga, that everything is also built from scratch: learning what and how it feels like to be a girl in love. And that is the story of "How I Met Your Mother", like geddit? Izumi and Shikimori noticing each other in school, thus, laying the groundwork for the relationship to prosper in both the good and bad. So, obvious comparisons that are nothing more than just a passing resemblance for similarities, literally a copy-paste tactic that's more or less the same. But what's the main couple without their gang of friends, and they fill the missing void that surrounds the couple's life, whether is it in school or outside and hanging out. Izumi has a Best Boy friend around him: Shu Inuzuka. Izumi describes him as "being true to himself", while being the absolute goofball that doesn't like to slack off, and this is evident throughout the anime. Also, if you'd noticed that he sounds and looks a lot like My HeroAca's Bakugo, you're right as VA Nobuhiko Okamoto also voiced both characters. Shu's essentially the kinder version of Bakugo, if you would imply. For Shikimori's side, there's 2 characters: Kyo Nekozaki and Yui Hachimitsu. I'll start with the latter, as Yui is pretty much like Shu being a very goofball character, but a lifeless version of it. But what she makes up for is her skill of observation, being a very petite and gentle girl, and like Izumi, prefers the indoors rather than going outside. I feel for Yui, because she is a person of few words, but what she can appreciate having, she wears it with a smile. With the former, Kyo is a very outlandish and supportive character of Shikimori's (almost to the point of being her right-hand woman), being the sportier and outgoing person. But it's here that Shikimori would face a rival: Kamiya, because you see, both her and Nekozaki are from the volleyball club, and contrasting with Shikimori, Kamiya's like the school idol that is instantly likable by everyone. But when it comes to romance, the level-headed girl becomes more meek (and some like me will say: cutesy kawaii), and that is the result when she finds that the kind-hearted Izumi is someone she'll pursue that's just your standard "like and love" affair. I understand the pain when someone you like and/or love has been requited to somebody else, as it releases another side of you that the one you love would appreciate. But nevertheless, it wasn't meant to be, and one can only think that Kamiya's love for Izumi exists only as a footnote in the know-how of the actual girlfriend that rather than bringing her down, actually lifts her up by acknowledging that love and becoming friends. That's something that's IMO, it's pretty tough to execute in the real world. For the most part, romance adaptations are also Doga Kobo's bread-and-butter (other than the usual CGDCT-expected works), and for the most part, it presents itself nicely...if not for the fact that 2 episodes were delayed due to COVID (it's still a thing, and not funny to make a fun out of it). Regardless, it is valiant to look at the beautiful backgrounds, much less Shikimori's panned facial gestures when she decides to get serious, that's some quality commitment there amidst the usual soft palette colours that I have long expected of the studio to produce when the source work ain't all CGDCT-like. The OST is also nice for such a rom-com series like this. Nasuo☆'s OP "Honey Jet Coaster" has so much personality in both music and visuals, that amidst the nice song, lies an "in your face" OP visual that pops with flavour, and it's a job well done with the musically-timed scenes. It's the same story with Yuki Nakashima's ED "Route Blue", that showcases the couple of Izumi and Shikimori walking side-by-side, and the cool girlfriend just trying to protect the bad luck boyfriend from all sorts of calamity in a frenetic order, only to have Izumi protect Shikimori from something as simple as a lone ball hit that shows his side of assertiveness. Both visually creative OP/ED set and nice songs that's in complementation by sound director Takeshi Takadera (Fumetsu no Anata e a.k.a To Your Eternity) and music composer Hiroaki Tsutsumi (Takagi-san franchise, Jujutsu Kaisen etc.). You can love or hate a series that's entitled to your opinion, and Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san is no different in that aspect. Sure, what both the anime and source material has to blame for in Yuu Izumi's accident-prone constant repetition that is always shoved in your face so much that we've gotten so used to it, but the flipside is that if there is no action taken, nothing will bear fruit, and Izumi for all his problems, even acknowledges his faults and does things to soften that impact. And for that, I'm willing to see eye-to-eye with Izumi's shortcomings for Shikimori to smoulder all of her strong love and affection for him, that makes this show look good for what it tries to do. I may be the minority part of those whom likes this show, but I can most certainly understand the majority's hate, and while Shikimori is by no means perfect, it's at the very least, acceptable for all to watch a few.