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EP. REVIEW: Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie


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L'Imperatore



Joined: 24 Mar 2014
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 11:36 am Reply with quote
I'm not following the manga. Will there be some sort of obstacles/conflicts awaiting them?
Like, you know... third person...
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 11:54 am Reply with quote
The side characters are just setpieces, but the main characters are cute so it's a breezy watch.
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b-dragon



Joined: 21 Apr 2021
Posts: 429
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 12:30 pm Reply with quote
One thing I don't see myself getting tired of in the near future is rom-coms with couples that actually, legitimately, communicate. Wacky misunderstandings are not needed to move the plot forward, and having characters talk about their inevitable issues paints them as a bit more likeable to me. Its why I really liked Wotakoi and the first episodes of Horimiya.

Its a great show to watch on my lunch break, at present, though I do hope it develops a more compelling identity going forward.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:20 pm Reply with quote
So far I think Doga Kobo is doing an amazing job of adapting the manga. The animation, the direction, the VA work, are all incredibly on-point and just as adorable. Saori Onishi is great as Shikimori.

I'm actually kind of surprised at the negative reception I've seen online in other circles. I guess it seems like maybe too much of a fluffy romcom with no "meat" compared to others in the genre or too much of a wish-fulfillment dynamic in the leads' relationship. I've seen a lot of people that just don't care for Izumi or find anything believable in Shikimori going out with him, other than the fact that she seems necessary in terms of keeping him alive or getting Isekai-ed by Truck-kun.

I hope future episodes improve peoples' opinions on the series or maybe it just doesn't have what they're looking for...although I still really enjoy it.
FilthyCasual wrote:
The side characters are just setpieces, but the main characters are cute so it's a breezy watch.

I think Inuzuka being nice!Bakguo and Hachimitsu being such a mood stand out pretty well.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:26 pm Reply with quote
Haven't had time to watch this yet, but the manga this is based on is genuinely charming. If there's one thing to complain about, it would be progress for the main couple, spoiler[at 144 chapters, a kiss on the cheek is about the farthest they've gone yet...]
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pharmboy23



Joined: 05 Oct 2018
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:48 pm Reply with quote
Hachimitsu definitely turns out to be a scene stealer and I actually DO think that the adaptation is moving faster than the manga, possibly to its detriment?

However, the first volume of the manga was so boring that I had to have friends who stuck with it saying how good it was to go back to it and now it’s one of my faves. This is a story about a relationship between two people very much in love and that is it. That’s the story. And, honestly, the mild bumps in the road are fine but it doesn’t need high drama

This is a love for the sake of love story and it’s absolutely perfect that way, for my money.


Last edited by pharmboy23 on Tue Apr 19, 2022 2:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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09jcg



Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 522
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 2:35 pm Reply with quote
MFrontier wrote:
So far I think Doga Kobo is doing an amazing job of adapting the manga. The animation, the direction, the VA work, are all incredibly on-point and just as adorable. Saori Onishi is great as Shikimori.

I'm actually kind of surprised at the negative reception I've seen online in other circles. I guess it seems like maybe too much of a fluffy romcom with no "meat" compared to others in the genre or too much of a wish-fulfillment dynamic in the leads' relationship. I've seen a lot of people that just don't care for Izumi or find anything believable in Shikimori going out with him, other than the fact that she seems necessary in terms of keeping him alive or getting Isekai-ed by Truck-kun.

I hope future episodes improve peoples' opinions on the series or maybe it just doesn't have what they're looking for...although I still really enjoy it.
FilthyCasual wrote:
The side characters are just setpieces, but the main characters are cute so it's a breezy watch.

I think Inuzuka being nice!Bakguo and Hachimitsu being such a mood stand out pretty well.
I think the show is running into a perception issue. It was being hyped up as the next big rom-com. Thats working against it, considering the last 2 years has been stacked with really fantastic rom-coms like takagi 3, Kaguya season 3, love after world domination, MDUD, Tonikaku Kawaii, and Nagatoro.

I really want to like it, since Rom-Coms are my thing but right now it just comes across as dull. Tonikaku Kawaii and even Nagatoro (though more in the stuff that happens after the first season) are able to pull off wholesome romance without ever feeling boring.
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Takkun4343



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 1493
Location: Englewood, Ohio
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:00 pm Reply with quote
My thoughts on Shikimori based on the first two episodes are... conflicted, to say the least. It looks very pretty. The opening theme in particular. Some of the supporting characters are pretty fun, especially best girl Hachimitsu. And there's definitely some dramatic intrigue there that I trust the show will treat with a respectful amount of seriousness. But it doesn't really feel like anything is happening, even in the context of a slice-of-life. The atmosphere of its script is more than a little bland. Shikimori's "coolness" is too inconsistent for what my expectations of them were. Izumi's unfortunate luck is even moreso, and actually wore down on me faster than it did in Tenchi Muyo! GXP when it was Seina's gimmick. In the second episode, it got way too predictable to be worthy of even a sensible chuckle, and aggravating enough that I'm convinced half of it is the fault of Izumi being too stupid to remember that he was, to quote every synopsis of Ah! My Goddess I've come across online, "born under an unlucky star". He's the kind of stupid that ableists use to justify why some children should be left behind. I won't be surprised if I end up hating him enough that it breaks me free of the curse I've had since "Stanley's Cup" of me liking every protagonist I come across, even the incorrigible ones. I also won't be surprised if the show itself improves enough by the halfway point that I can say, "it's pretty good".

Last edited by Takkun4343 on Sat Apr 23, 2022 10:09 am; edited 1 time in total
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2251
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:14 pm Reply with quote
b-dragon wrote:
One thing I don't see myself getting tired of in the near future is rom-coms with couples that actually, legitimately, communicate.

Two votes. It's that interplay that tells you "hey, these people really like each other and we think that's super rad." I know there are other reasons to like Spice & Wolf, but the two main characters just talking to each other pushes the series to another level of excellence.

You love to see it.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:35 pm Reply with quote
09jcg wrote:
I think the show is running into a perception issue. It was being hyped up as the next big rom-com. Thats working against it, considering the last 2 years has been stacked with really fantastic rom-coms like takagi 3, Kaguya season 3, love after world domination, MDUD, Tonikaku Kawaii, and Nagatoro.

I really want to like it, since Rom-Coms are my thing but right now it just comes across as dull. Tonikaku Kawaii and even Nagatoro (though more in the stuff that happens after the first season) are able to pull off wholesome romance without ever feeling boring.

I feel like it's very similar to Tonikawa in terms of quickly establishing the couple and focusing more on their drama-free romance and growing relationship with some supporting cast...and I'd say Shikimori is kind of in the same cool beauty vein as Tsukasa, they just emphasize it more, but I think that's to the shows' benefit. Although I think a lot of people found Nasa maybe more palatable than Izumi is at a first glance.

I definitely think there's a lot of competition this season...Kaguya season 3, Love after World Domination, Aharen-san, Science Fell in Love, and I guess even DAL is kind of romcom-ish amidst all the Battle Harem antics. But I think Shikimori does what it's base appeal is very well, and I enjoy watching it.
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b-dragon



Joined: 21 Apr 2021
Posts: 429
PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:00 pm Reply with quote
I appreciated Izumi's parent's quite a bit. Good folks that don't really know what to do about their son's....condition? State? I dunno, but it is nether normal nor healthy. And are incredibly supportive of Shikimori as well.

As for her, we get a few teases on her family circumstances. A decent relationship with her brother, but the parents are absent, either literally or emotionally (that part's just a guess, given her "haven't had a homecooked meal in forever" comment.) I'm curious, definitely.

Its a solid show thats gotten better each episode imo. Its releasing at an awful season, with so much competition its genre, but I've been enjoying it a lot.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:08 pm Reply with quote
I feel like this episode did a good job of showing exactly why Shikimori loves Izumi (and the first time she's explicit said she loves him) and cares about him so much. He's constantly at risk or hurting himself but he pays it no mind and is still such a kind and outgoing person, and puts others above himself, which is why she fell for him and why she's so determined to protect him.

Feel like girls in romcoms being good with horror movies while their boyfriends aren't is becoming a new thing. Well, other than Marin.

I was not expecting Hiro Shimono as Shikimori's brother. I also love Shikimori with her natural wavy hair and glasses. And the Shikimori fashion show! Her actual date outfit was perfect.

That was a pretty cute and fun meet-the-parents moment. Shikimori basically making Izumi's parents fall in love with her as much as Izumi did and Shikimori finding out the klutziness is genetic.
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Leviathonlx1



Joined: 10 Dec 2018
Posts: 192
PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:44 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
Haven't had time to watch this yet, but the manga this is based on is genuinely charming. If there's one thing to complain about, it would be progress for the main couple, spoiler[at 144 chapters, a kiss on the cheek is about the farthest they've gone yet...]


That's pretty bad for a story where they are allegedly already a couple lol I think we got more from even Nagatoro.
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Thesarum



Joined: 25 Mar 2022
Posts: 391
PostPosted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 3:28 pm Reply with quote
I think I warmed up to Izumi a bit this episode. He came across a entirely too passive about his terrible "luck" in previous episodes. Oblivious and pathetic. The most fight he could muster was to vaguely hope nothing would go wrong. This episode we see him at least try to take some concrete steps to take responsibility for himself. The universe isn't going to let him have that of course, but it's important for us to see him trying if we are to respect him. He also tells Shikimori she's cute, something he didn't do (out loud) in the previous two episodes despite it clearly being something she was looking for from him.

Similarly, while I didn't previously have much issue with Shikimori having a thing for him (love is just like that, it's not rational and doesn't need a reason), it is nice to get a glimpse of Izumi through her eyes.

Inuzuka also deserves credit for being the best friend a man could ever hope to have. This episode and the last he's really gone above and beyond for his buddy.
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kgw



Joined: 22 Jul 2004
Posts: 1048
Location: Spain, EU
PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 3:54 am Reply with quote
I am liking this series. True is, nothing actually happens, but nobody says that Shikimori's attitude is wrong*, and both main characters deserve each other. Maybe I'll get bored later on, but so far, so good.

* But then again, the OP song goes "My girlfriend is quite more the boyfriend than me!"
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