Romantic Killer

Many spoilers below!!!

Despite this being a 12-episode rom-com anime that Netflix released in the middle of this anime season, the turnout was a lot better than I anticipated. The story follows Anzu, a freshman in high school that only has three desires; her favorite video games, chocolate, and her beloved cat Momohiki. A wizard named Riri appears and takes those three desires away so she can get some romance in her life. Anzu rejects this and thus follows twelve episodes of her dodging and rejecting any aspect of romance in her life.

Starting off with Anzu, undoubtedly stole the show. From her quirky obsession with cats and making hilarious faces to her sincere and in-depth character of being a genuinely good person, I was hooked since episode one. Anzu in a sense broke the barrier on what a girl should be like since almost every girl around her was obsessed with guys and how they perceived them. Her difference being a breath of fresh air to her first love interest Kazuki was absolutely predictable but completely well executed. Anzu making a complete fool of herself with her inner thoughts ridiculously trying to avoid Riris tricks brings a great comedic aspect around it.

Kazuki is an amazing love interest, with him at first being a blunt and distant pretty boy him having a back story that explains his behavior is expected but not to that magnitude. The way the show realistically has Kazuki respond to his stalker and all females' attraction to him gains a complete round of applause from me. It explains a lot of his character and brings him into a whole other light that I didn't even know existed. Pairing this with his interaction with Anzu, Kazuki coming out of his shell and being his true self around her really makes their whole friendship very heartwarming, especially since all of their interactions are basically platonic. Even though Kazuki caught feelings for her in the end I still enjoyed how it left a light-hearted note of Anzu still being herself and these guys following her enjoying the adventure.

Junta, was one of the more disappointing characters in my opinion, although I do see room for development in his character with his insecurities and love of baseball, this season really just kept him in the stereotype of the head-over-heels best friend that happy just being by their side. Junta did have his funny moments along with the rest of the characters but in regards to how he contributed to the storyline, it felt like he could disappear at any point and the story would still continue the way it should. No hard feelings toward him, still like him a lot, but was just lacking a lot compared to Kazuki and Anzu.

Koganei was also a character that was lacking but a part of me wasn't really upset by it. He came in pretty late so he didn't have much time to develop his character with a backstory or change of attitude but he still gained a lot of laughs from me. His believed superiority over others and brash attitude made for a lot of gags paired up with Anzu's repulsed reactions. Koganei's involvement also gave the viewers insight into how Anzu really holds her personal morals above physical possessions, even though those possessions were all essentially her greatest desires minus Momohiki. Even though I didn't enjoy his character much, he was still funny in his own way and contributed a good amount to the story.

This show in the second half of the story touching onto sexual assault and victim blaming really put a sort of realistic aspect into these characters that didn't change the flow of the story at all. It sort of humanized these comedic and ridiculous characters to where you can relate to them even more. Even though I didn't expect the tone change, it really shot the value of the story all the way up my list and made me enjoy the plot and stayed glued to my screen until the end.

All of this tying together you would think that Anzu would choose one of them of course. Nope, she stayed true to what she wanted since episode one and I feel like that was such a good conclusion to her story. It also creates a great theme of how you don't need to be in a relationship or chase a guy to make a lot of friends and still have fun platonically with no romance involved. Even if there's a second season with Anzu choosing someone and being in a relationship I would still enjoy it because it would most likely now be on her own terms after she creates a genuine connection with someone, which is absolutely fine by me.

Overall, this has to be one of my favorite Rom-coms with how it had a great ending and I had some really good laughs in there. Playing with the stereotypical tropes in romance anime and twisting them in shows has a special place in my heart.