Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun is a prime example of why you should never drop an anime based on the first episode. Each episode actually gets better and better throughout. It's one of those anime that really knows how to start badly and knows how to climb to the top spot and gain more popularity, and it's all because of the story. The first episode has been seen as unappealing for the public, but for me, it is appealing as I believe that great character developments can start from the shittiest, worthless, and cringe type of character. You can call this anime as "Character Development The Animation: Gamer Version." Should you set your expectations very high? I don’t think you should, maybe at a medium level.

Story - 8/10
Characters - 8/10
Art and Animation - 7/10
Sound - 7.3/10
OP Song - 7/10
ED Song - 8/10
Enjoyment - 10/10

Story Review:

Basically, the anime has been about correlating and a little bit of differentiating video games and life, along with improving your social skills and profile in life and transitioning from a loner and reject life to a normie, lively, and fun life. It's an anime that uses life coaching as the plot with video games as a theme. The story manages to point out how video games and life are the same and in what ways can you get better at life in an accurate and detailed way, and often uses gaming terminologies such as XP, Character, Level, Tasks, Objectives, and etc. in its narration. In this anime, our main man Tomozaki vows to try this game of life and do whatever it takes to beat it with the guidance of Hinami while balancing Tackfam, school life, social life, and the objectives set by the game. The reason behind his willingness is because Tomozaki is a gamer, and like most gamers, they intend to beat any game that they want to. Throughout the story, it has been mostly character development and what makes it interesting is how the anime uses a gaming-themed life coaching as a plot and "hook device" very effectively. It does so by making life coaching become so present and very detailed in each episode. A thing that I like about the anime is how attractive the plot is (for me). It's like you know much about life, but you never put it in a gaming perspective. Another thing is how the plot, theme, and story complements the drama genre. It objectively fits so well because good dramas tend to lean into understanding which has been the focus of the anime: understanding life better but in gaming edition. Plus, life coaching as entertainment leans towards understanding and would include some drama and romance. What separates the anime from other life coaching entertainment is the gamer theme and the concept of shifting an unsociable life to a lively one. Other than that, we get to see the usual school and social life where Tomozaki encounters other students, creates relationships with them, and learns about them more (in interests, backgrounds, etc.) and their struggles in life. These two things also add normal drama and romance to the series, and it wasn't excessive and was used to widen the anime a bit more, rather than keeping it narrow to Tomozaki's character development only so that the audience can explore the anime more.

The downside of the story is that the anime tends to keep things rushed, especially things that don't involve in Tomozaki's development. It's like the anime shows a task and then proceeds to show the progress of a task and then show the result, and rush anything else and I see it as a hindrance in widening the anime. The story tries to widen the anime more by adding the usual school and social life, but it really likes to narrow the anime to Tomozaki's character development. Although, there are people who are fine with the story being narrowed to character development and it's not bad at all if that's the delivery route that the anime is taking and observingly, it's what makes the anime appealing. Another downside is that it has cringe moments, but they aren't cringe for nothing. They have a meaning to the cringe moments, and it takes understanding to hold the cringeworthy scenes. Do I think cringe moments or scenes are bad? It depends on what I'm watching.

Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun is one of those anime that its story is worth learning from. I have seen people in social media admitting that they are taking down notes of everything that the story teaches. If you're someone who is a complete introvert, who is willing to break out of his/her shell, or someone who has very bad social skills, then this anime is for you so start taking out your notebook and ballpen and write everything that this anime has to teach. So why not give it a try?

Characters Review:

Tomozaki is one of those characters that looks lonely and a reject with philosophies of his own but what makes him great is how he developed in the anime. He was open to changing his way of living which became a key factor on making each episode better and better. From living like a loner to embracing a normie and fun life, it's up to you whether Tomozaki would be a respectable person because for me, he is. Hinami is one of those people that you can just admire and respect when it comes to learning about social skills. She is also a key factor in making each episode better as she takes advantage of Tomozaki's willingness to get better at life. These two characters formulate the story and the progress, and makes it very good along with minor/supporting characters that really supports the story and the presence of Tomozaki and Hinami very well. Might as well talk about other characters. We have Nanami who is an energetic and lively girl, Kikuchi who is a cute and silent girl, Izumi who is one of those open-minded girls, Mizusawa who is like a male version of Hinami, and more. Pretty much most of the supporting characters have a substance to themselves that makes a life-coaching story better.

Art and Animation Review:

As for the art and animation, it has been flat good. Just good art and animation with a good amount of effort exerted into it. It's not flashy or unique but rather, it's just simple. It's like a schoolwork that you put in average effort with the product being flat good. It doesn't hurt anyone's eyes and that's for sure. Though I wish it was the same as the ones in its Light Novels. There is still room for improvement though, but seeing that Project No.9 is the studio, I can't set my expectations high if they try to improve the art and animation.

Sounds Review:

The voice acting was good. The seiyuus really did put a good amount of effort. It was reflective on the characters' personality and it suited the characters really well. It doesn't hurt anyone's ears and that's for sure. It's the similar case to the art and animation, there is still room for improvement, but I rate the sounds higher than the art and animation. Also, I hope Takei's seiyuu improves because the voice acting just sounds so unnatural and forced.

My Thoughts:

It didn't get any hype and it just crawled it's way to popularity in social media anime pages. The anime started poorly which was very understandable considering that it knew how to start off badly. I would guess that this should continue to rise in popularity since in comparison, Hachiman and Oreki garnered a lot of attention because of how they are and Tomozaki is similar to them in a way. It would be really bad if it doesn’t get a season 2. Would I watch more of this? Yes. Would I watch a season 2? Definitely. Would this be a good recommendation to people who would want to start watching anime? Definitely and it's an anime that can set good expectations about anime to people who are new to anime. Would I rate it more than an 8? No, objectively I cannot. This is an anime that deserves a 7.3 ~ 7.8 score.