Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

There are few media as recursive as the modern light novel industry. Whenever anything succeeds in this space, there will immediately be waves of imitators trying to capitalize on that success by using the same surface level elements. You know what I’m talking about – villainesses, abandoned by my party, cheat skills, reincarnated as something unusual, the list goes on and on. But the light novel fad that most fascinates me is “self-aware”. In an environment where a large number of the works present are just Frankensteined together collections of tropes, it’s only natural that some works would emerge that make a point of drawingattention to how trope-y they are. And really, who doesn’t love seeing the same tired tropes again and again as long as they’re accompanied by a wink and a nudge? The appeal of “self-aware” works for me is that they serve as an invitation to deconstruct the tropes that they’re working with. Like, it’s interesting to me how Nukumizu is himself a web novelist. It’s extremely common in this type of series to see the protagonist reading light novels or living in a room covered in Aniplex posters and figures, but this is the first example I can think of where the protagonist is a writer in this space, at least without it being central to the plot. These protagonists, loners who have trouble initiating social interactions, are meant to serve as relatable self-inserts, so this decision is Makeine presenting itself as the light novelist’s light novel. Or, let’s break down our heroines a little bit. One of Makeine’s strong points is that neither Nukumizu or the girls are looking at each other as potential romantic partners, although the audience is still encouraged to imagine dating one of them. Or the sister, for some reason. Yanami Anna is the popular girl who would totally get you if she just took the time to get to know you, who will bring you out of your shell by introducing you to colorful new experiences. Komari Chika is basically a girl version of you! She shares all of your hobbies and interests and will always understand your otaku references. And she’s got crippling social anxiety, so you get to be her hero! And then there’s Yakishio Lemon, who’s a sporty tomboy, I guess. Honestly, I don’t see what the wish fulfillment angle is supposed to be here, and I don’t understand why she was the most favorited character from this show on this site about halfway through its run. Are you all just tanline perverts? If you’re someone who had favorited Lemon earlier in the show’s run, but have since rescinded that, I want you to know that I’m fascinated by you, and please message me, because I’m desperate to know more. But while I’d love to talk about deconstructing light novel tropes all day, I know that’s not what you’re here for. So instead, let’s talk about what really matters. Let’s talk about Yanami Anna. Anna is an absolutely perfect character, and completely carries this entire show. As fans of the light novel will breathlessly tell you, Nukumizu isn’t an active presence as a protagonist at the beginning of the series, often just being there to voice uncertainties or to be a shoulder to lean on for other people’s character arcs. In contrast to that, Anna is a little full of herself, and is the type to act first and leave the thinking to other people, so she gets to drive a lot of the narrative for the first two arcs, by running into other people's drama headfirst, and dragging Nukumizu along for the ride. I love how much of the series is dedicated to someone approaching the two of them for advice, which then results in them going on what is functionally a date, while the distressed party has to awkwardly thirdwheel. Their chemistry is fantastic, and it's not just a dynamic that's fun to watch; it’s clear that the reason Nukumizu is able to grow as he does over the course of the series is because he has Anna’s company influencing him. But Anna’s perfection extends beyond her role in the narrative. It’s clear that the animators were in love with her as well, because her animation is always so lively, and even when she’s just in the background, she’ll have some fun little sight gag going on. About two thirds of the time, she's being comically owned, which does actually serve to highlight her character's self-assurance. My personal favorite background Anna moment is when the gang are all together eating sushi, and she nabs the last piece of one of the rolls just as Nukumizu begins to reach for it. It’s just a little moment, but it’s filled with personality. This is absolutely the case of an adaptation that elevated its source material; Imigimuru's character designs perfectly lend themselves to animation, even if I'll never forgive him for those stupid quadruple bowties. I will concede that I feel Anna has the weakest ED of the three girls, but it’s still not a bad song by any means, and really, I think it’s always cool when an anime has character specific ending themes. Okay, fine, there are things I liked about Makeine that weren't Yanami Anna. I liked how Nukumizu's relationships with the girls were all platonic, at least as far as this adaptation covers. I liked how present all of the cast was in each other's arcs; there's a genuine sense of community in the literature club. I especially liked Komari's arc, in part because we had already seen her development taking shape even before she formally stepped into the spotlight. While I talked earlier about Anna being a positive influence on Nukumizu, I think the same could be said for Lemon's effect on Komari. And I liked that we did spend some time getting to know the "winning heroines", even if this distinctly wasn't their story. But still, if I could choose between the story we got, and one which throws out all of the harem tropes and instead delivered on a classic romance story with Anna, well... Earlier this year, Sousou no Frieren and Dungeon Meshi were smash hits, and it's noteworthy that both were traditional fantasy stories, undisguised by the ironic veneer of the isekai genre, written by mangaka unashamed of their own ideas. In episode 9 of Makeine, as a girl falls down a set of stairs towards our protagonist breast-first, he remarks that he recognizes this scenario from the light novels he's read. Light novel key words may be helpful for getting an author's work discovered, but it's the substance that determines whether it'll actually be remembered. And really, I do like Makeine's substance, so I wish that the author had more confidence in their work and didn't feel the need to bury it in tropes. What I hope I've communicated over the course of this review is that I'm the type of person to approach this sort of series with a lot of cynicism, and despite that, I absolutely fell in love. I think this anime excels at what it's trying to be, so much so that I wish it had tried to be something more ambitious. I'm sure there will be another season of Makeine, and I'm sure that I'll watch it when it comes out. But I won't be watching for more losing heroines, I'll be watching for Yanami Anna.

So in Make Heroine ga Oosugiru- - The MC gets dicked around by the rejected girls - The heroine who got the most screen time yanami anna gets 0 character development - Lemon is basically a forgettable side character - komari is insufferable-0 romance in a "romance anime" -yanami's repetitive dialogue with the MC about her crush who rejected her - dramatic camera shake's - nice hair animation Original concept like this have so much potential but always gets destroyed by shit writing. Had high hopes for this anime but left feeling disappointed. I personally would've liked to see -A little less drama - A little more romance - Equal screen time between three heroins -Some personality in the MC - Not so much talking about the ntr'd crush - MC not getting used as a convenient tool

This anime might seem like a good cure for a broken heart, but it is the opposite. If you are into melancholy and the feeling of hopelessness this is for you. The hero is your typical "good boy" who does nothing significant, but this time also nothing significant happens to him. He is just there, watching how various girls get rejected and then bottle up their emotions because they have to see their crushes every day. It is realistic, that is true. But it depicts that cynical reality of the "I don't care, I give up" people. The anime has no point, it leads tono conclusion. No idea, no message, no moral... nothing. A waste of time.

Makeine was an anime that I had high expectations for. The ammount of hype and praise it got right after its release and the promise of showing us a realistic highschool romance experience was enough for me to pick it up. It should be obvious that it was a horrible decision on my end. Makeine is the single worst "romance" anime I have ever seen in my life. I won't go into a lot of detail about it but the reasons are as the following. Makeine was the first anime to make me suffer as much as I did. Not because I related to the painful realityof rejection when it comes to highschool romance or anything. No, the reason behind me suffering is how boring this anime was. By the final episodes all I could do was to scream for it to end. The decision of using the male MC as a tool for showing us what the female cast is experiencing is certainly a unique method of storytelling. I mean, I think it is what they aimed for because the male MC (whose name I sadly have forgotten during the time of this review) is the lamest and meaningless excuse for a main character I have seen in any romance anime. He shows no sign of character for the majority of the anime and when he does it is the most idiotic showing of character imaginable. The female cast is insufferable. All of the main girl characters are incredibly annoying and far from being likeable. The show's main plot of being overlooked by your childhood friend when it comes to romance is also a huge part of the reason the main female cast suck. They all have the same problem so they all whine and cry about the same thing. What even was the reason to have multiple girls if they all go through the same things with no satisfying resolution in the end. The only positive aspect of this anime is of course the art and animation. It is perfect. Nothing more to say about it.