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NBCUniversal Delivers Laughs with Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota World Premiere

Producer Genta Ozaki took the stage alongside host Kwok-Wai Hanson at NBCUniversal Japan's world premiere of Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota at Anime Expo. Having worked at the company for about two years, Ozaki took the time to discuss some of NBCUniversal's anime productions, as well as talking about his role on Inexpressive. He had mentioned that he became interested after hearing about the manga on social media, and even held up signs reading"Please Clap" and "Very Happy" to comically emphasize the anime's theme of expression. The audience's applause when the "Please Clap" sign might have been forced, but the giggles that were brought on by the "Very Happy" sign were very genuine indeed.

Regarding the other shows in NBCUniversal's production line, new and upcoming titles like Watari-kun's ***** is About to Collapse, Mission: Yozakura Family's second season, and Tune In to the Midnight Heart were discussed with huge audience approval. But it was the discussion of Grand Blue Dreaming's upcoming second season that really piqued the audience's attention. When Ozaki was asked how he would describe this show to people who hadn't seen it, the audience reacted accordingly: "Peak Cinema! Best Waifus!"

The audience also caught wind of a Grand Blue Dreaming 2 Whiskey collaboration, which was met with some very curious reactions from the crowd. "With the tenth anniversary [of Grand Blue Dreaming]," Ozaki-san said, "we wanted to make something, so of course with this program it'd be alcohol, and something that people could keep in their house for a long time, so it became whiskey."

The last thing discussed was the Charpy Impact before airing Inexpressive's first episode was the Tester that was flown all the way from Tokyo after hitting the stage at AnimeJapan. That's right: you, too, could be given the dream to be, well, impacted by the Charpy Impact Tester featured in Grand Blue Dreaming. And IRL! And down in the convention's center South Hall 1927, no less. There was even a form that audience members could fill out via QR code in an attempt to win the Charpy Impact Tester for their local university.

"Instead of destroying the thing," Hanson said, "we're actually giving it away so that your club can have it! so instead of destroying the thing, your local university could be the next Grand Blue Dream! And you can bring it out for a picnic day, or your welcome week, and be like 'hey you should join our club!'" Can't argue with that logic. The SOS Brigade could only wish they had such deft recruiting tactics.

As for the premiere of Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota itself, it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling that very few comedies can right off the bat. This was another tale of opposites attracting. sure, but its unique spin, solid direction, and clever gags left a smile on my face that for 20 minutes just wouldn't leave.

The episode opened up with an intense game of old maid between our two titular characters, and every attempt made by our boy Oota to crack Kashiwada's tough exterior goes for naught, each one leaving our Oota an emotionally explosive mess. This turned out to be the running joke of the episode, which had Oota doing everything could to get a rise out of Kashiwada, from shoving toy spiders in her face, to roping her into water gun fights in the pool, and more. There was even a moment where the two of them become unfortunate victims of bird defecation that leaves the boy visibly shaken on all ends while the girl's upset remains as walled up by her stoicism as ever. Naturally, she still sees enough in him to keep this gag rolling.

The designs and art were solid enough, but I really admired the use of colors this episode of anime had to offer. The aforementioned pool sequence held a balance of blues and greens that complimented themselves really well. There are also a good amount of reds and pinks that gave things the art a very pasty, garish look to them, even by cutesy high school rom-com standards. Of course being a fan of light-hearted things, this is far from a flaw, and I'm intrigued to see how all of this plays out.

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ANN's coverage of Anime Expo 2025 is sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!

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