Murai in Love is a very strange show. Its premise is strange, its characters are strange, and its animation is strange. So strange that it practically begs to be watched. I admit that I was mildly non-plussed by Murai in Love at first and found it difficult to sink my teeth into. But once I got into the meat of the series, I quickly found myself lost in its oddball charm. This is a show that revels in all of its eccentricities, pairing its bizarre story with even more bizarre directional choices that propel the show forward in a manner that feels genuinely unique. In short, the result was something way better than I expected it to be.

Based on the first few episodes alone, I had the feeling that Tanaka and Murai's relationship would continue to venture into creepy territory. She's a teacher who's also an otaku with an otome game obsession, and he's the student who dresses up as the man from her games to impress her. Man oh MAN, is he too obsessed for his own good. The relationship starts out on that freaky yet flat note, only to let it simmer during the middle run of the series, and finally starts to pick up towards the end. A few bizarre love triangles are woven into the story to give Murai and Tanaka more character development, the former being involved with his childhood friend while the latter gets involved with another teacher. Murai also has the added benefit of Tanaka's brother becoming something of a rival for him. While there's not too much depth given to these plot points, there's enough to add stakes and tension that makes the romantic drama all the more believable, even if weirdly so.

The series maintains its idiosyncratic pace throughout its twelve episodes while allowing itself to cool down towards the end. It's predictable from the get-go that Murai and Tanaka end up together by the series end, as as such the show slows down a bit towards the end to allow for more sentimental moments. To lightly spoil the end of the tenth episode, Tanaka lets loose her unresolved feelings about her mother to another man, leading to Murai trying to resolve what he perceives as a crumbling away of whatever relationship he has with Tanaka. The end result has Murai and Tanaka standing together under the stars in a scene that's one of the most emotionally and visually engaging scenes Murai in Love has to offer.

The animation and visual gags throughout Murai in Love aren't laugh-out-loud funny yet crude enough to become so entertaining that I can't stop looking away. If you're cynical, you'll see the animation as static images and layers lazily moved around in Adobe Premiere. The direction does bear a very crude style to it. Admittedly, the bulk of it is redundant and a matter of style over substance, but what a style it is! A lot of the gags are so visually intriguing that even when duds show up (and they do), they go by so quickly that there's always a much better one to make up for it. Perhaps the best recurring gag involves a theater of the mind taking place in Tanaka's subconscious, where the hunk of her otome game is present alongside woodcutters before having to move to Murai's subconscious in a way that feels as if they are purposely half-assed vibes derived from Evangelion's finale. I mean this in very complimentary terms—the psychological dilemma combined with the atmospheric direction of the scene helps heighten the characters' internal drama. It's a very inventive decision, even if it's not the most necessary or original one.

The greatest strength of Murai in Love is also its biggest downside. I can't emphasize this enough: it is a very, very bizarre show, and speaking as an eccentric myself, it's understandable to see how people could be turned off by its presentation. Even I lambasted it for being flat and having a lot of corners cut in its production. The anime has an under-budgeted look and an initial three episodes that don't exactly land like they should. To see the show go from one weird scene to the next at such a frantic pace can come across to some as annoying and redundant.

Having finally ventured across all twelve episodes, I can confidently say that the corners are indeed cut to the point the slash marks are obvious. But that's to the show's benefit. If you are willing to go beyond the first three episodes, then you'll find a romantic comedy-drama so strange in its presentation that you cannot resist its crazed charm (or its soundtrack, for that matter, which I sadly overlooked the first time around). I maintain what I said before: best anime of the season? Probably not. Anime of the year? Hell no. One of the more interesting? Yes! Seriously, this anime ended up growing on me. For better or worse, you won't find an anime this season that looks and feels this unique. I'd like to think it's for the better.