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Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie (TV)

Genres: comedy, romance, slice of life
Themes:

Plot Summary: Shikimori seems like the perfect girlfriend: cute, fun to be around, sweet when she wants to be, but she has a cool dark side that comes out under the right circumstances. And her boyfriend Izumi loves to be around when that happens.

Apr. 9, 2022 (Saturdays; Crunchyroll)

1:

Ah yes, this show.

Heard quite a lot about it even before it came out. Ngl it draws some parallels with My Dress-Up Darling: the premise is similar (the odd couple), but more importantly, the show centers around the girl (in this case, Shikimori). So in a show where the limelight is on the main couple, I'd be more interested in how the dynamic works.

And I'm a bit worried: it's showing to be one-sided from the get-go (and the show's pretty self-aware about it). Izumi has the worst luck, and Shikimori is always the one rescuing him. With this kind of setup, there's a bad habit that this show will just become a one-trick pony and use this as the main (only) hook of the show. In other words, it may get tiring pretty quick.

To me, the actual hook of the show is Shikimori's constant wrestling with wanting to be cute and ending up being cool. It's a gap that I feel will become the running gag of the show. But that's the thing: what else is there going on for me to enjoy the show, maybe other than them being cute?

I'll be blunt: I feel that Izumi is only here to support the main star who's carrying the show, so the only reason I would watch it is for Shikimori. That's not a lot going for the show; at least in My Dress-Up Darling, we get to see Kitagawa's adorable swooning and love for cosplay, Gojo's earnest love for hina dolls, the art of cosplay, etc. Here, we're just seeing Shikimori trying to get as many "cute likes" as possible without ending up being cool instead.

I'll stick around, but I admit that I was a bit underwhelmed. Hope the show gets better along the way.

P.S. Shikimori tying her hair in a ponytail (and the show blatantly zooming in on the nape) starkly reminded me of that school ruling that made the news where that hairstyle is banned in a school in Japan because "it sexually excite male students". Still sounds ridiculous every time I hear it.

One of my favourite romcom anime was Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun. Why is that and how is it related to this show? Because reversing aspects of gender norms is really cool.

To be honest I responses to Izumi was that he looks cute, that his last minute worry about making sure his hair looks nice, and following bad luck, plays much more like a more typical heroine, especially with otherwise personality. And when paired with his girlfriend, Shikimori, suddenly becoming cool, protecting him and looking much more like an anime dude, I was getting rather excited. He should be allowed to be a soft cutie to be saved, and she the cool hunk that protects her man.

Kind of then feels like the lowest part is that it can't fully commit to it. As the title says, Shikimori still has to be a cutie, she has to be looked at as 'cute', rather than say Ayaka from Witch Craft Works who is more cool. And him just seen as dull, because I guess his type of cuteness is only supposed to work with female characters.

2:

I'm beginning to see a clear pattern.

Izumi fumbles, as always. Shikimori aces, as always. Izumi does everything wrong. Shikimori does nothing wrong. Izumi thinks she's cute and cool. Izumi ends up being cool but always thinks that Izumi thinks she's being cool even when she wants him to think she's cute. Izumi clears that misunderstanding up toward the end of the episode. Shikimori blushes.

This is basically what has happened for the last two episodes. Two bucks, this pattern will continue toward the end of the series.

I'm not a fan of static relationships. At all. It bores me. Unless this relationship develops into something else, I'm not going to be interested in them that much. Perhaps the only promising thing is their background stories; from the OP, I'm getting the hint that Izumi and Shikimori have their own story to tell on why they are what they are. At least that I'm looking forward to.

I was not expecting too much from a show like this by reading the description, but for a new show for the season I thought to give it a watch as well. On the surface it seems like what the other posters have mentioned so far: Izumi keeps getting into small or large situations where Shikimori needs to help out, in ways that seem to be a little out of proportion for a normal high school girl. I am occasionally guilty of reading too much in what a given anime show tries to project to the audience, but I saw little hints in these couple episodes that maybe there is something more to Shikimori, a secret side that no one knows about. Who knows what is going to happen, but I hope to be suprised by her and Izumi.

3:

Ngl when I learn that this is going to be a "date" episode, I was expecting it to be a bore. There's nothing with "date" episodes—there have been good ones; My Dress-Up Darling was a delight—but given how plain Izumi and Shikimori are as a couple, I was not expecting anything particularly interesting to see.

And I wasn't wrong.

The saving grace was Shikimori interacting with Izumi's mom. Even if the conversation was highly predictable, it was something a little different for a change. But more importantly, it was another instance of Shikimori reinforcing her stance that she is going to protect Izumi no matter what. In other words, it's foreshadowing: why she's so bent on protecting him is going to be focus of the show.

The pattern still remains: Izumi still gets into trouble despite doing everything he can (because the show just wants him to, and probably wants him to stay that way), and Shikimori is still the savior. I mean, even the show seems to be self-aware about it:

P.S. I'm gonna be petty: Izumi's parents look off The mom looks perfectly fine... the dad, however. He looks like a unrelated supporting character with no relation to Izumi. Seeing them together just looks... strange.

4:

Izumi's mom is the only character who has my interest.

Please let me see more of her.

Wonder who will steal who.

Is there any possibility at all, that she's not just a normal human?

As of nine volumes of the manga: spoiler[no, she is just a normal high school girl. Beautiful, athletic, with great reflexes but otherwise normal. Also no special training (ninja etc.). Surprisingly, neither of them is a dummy. Both rank well in class standings with the guy a bit better.]

6:

This episode is a little better than the previous one for one main reason: Shikimori's not the one playing the knight in shining armor this time. Izumi finally tells Shikimori that she doesn't need to try to be cute all the time, and that she's fine the way she is. It's analogous to how I personally feel about seemingly "perfect" characters: they're actually boring, and I actually want to see their imperfections more because they're what make them more interesting as characters.

And you know what? Izumi should've been voiced by the actor who plays Midoriya from My Hero Academia. Because why not; his buddy Shuu is essentially Bakugo but more chill anyway, ammarite.

In 2004 34 , prior to a shot of two girls in team numbers 23 and 55 , next to team members 7 , 9 , and 11 , while playing a game of Lacrosse , one of the girls hesitates on making a long pass to Nagisa . Remembering her friends· advice to believe in and trust her teammates , Shiro makes the pass , and Nagisa catches it .

In 2022 in Shikimori·s Not Just a Cutie S01E02 , there·s a shot of SaNa sporting the scar that was lasered on to me one fateful morning at Mahou Shouju school , around this time last year .

at this distance

7-8:

Kamiya is way more intriguing as a character than Shikimori and Izumi put together. No, make that everyone else in this show put together.

Even from the onset when the show first introduced her, I always felt that there's something more to her. The way she presents herself, it immediately felt as though she's carrying a heavy burden or hiding something from everyone. The Tragic One.

With that, I kinda feel that characters other than the main couple are what's saving this show.

I've been watching this show every week with a Discord group and we all absolutely love it.♥

It's so adorable and wholesome. I've heard it being criticized as "boring" but I'm really not at all when I watch this. The characters are funny and beautifully designed; the eyes especially.

The ED is amazing and I really want someone to make a video/mobile game out of it.

"Protect The Boyfriend From The Flying Objects" Laughing

...doesn't that already sound like an anime title by itself. xD

(and yeah, I was calling Inuzuka "Chill Bakugou" when we started rofl)

9:

I still think Kamiya is the most captivating character in this show. Kinda makes me wonder why the show centers around a boring couple and not Kamiya instead. She even deserves her own arc imho.

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