My Love Story!!

Disclaimer: I haven't written a review for an anime in two years, so I might be a little rusty with how I articulate myself here. I apologize in advance. Feel free to check out my other reviews though!

SYNOPSIS
Ore Monogatari, also known as My Love Story!! follows Takeo Goda, a giant guy (way too tall to be a high school freshman especially) with a heart of gold. However, because of his large stature, he comes across as intimidating and all the girls end up liking his good-looking best friend Sunakawa Makoto (nicknamed Suna by Takeo), rather than him. This doesn't bother Takeo though, and he's learned to accept this. One day though, he saves a girl named Yamato Rinko from a groper on the train, and he falls in love with her instantly. Takeo suspects that she might be interested in Suna rather than him, like every other girl. However, is that really the case?

STORY
This was SUCH a cute series. It's very warm and fluffy, and has such heartwarming moments between Takeo and Yamato as a couple. The romance relies on extreme innocence since Takeo is pretty new to all of this (Yamato too). Something I really like is that this a shoujo romance with a male main character, which is not very common, so it was a nice change from a lot of other shoujo that I read and watch.

The plot is pretty stagnant, and like I mentioned before this is because of how Takeo and Yamato's relationship is developed on the guise that this is pretty new to them, so they're essentially learning how to date. They have extremely cute moments, but sometimes I did kinda wish they would move the plot along. Every episode felt the same, so I think watching this weekly might have been more enjoyable than binging (which is kinda what I did towards the end). However, I like that this series starts with the couple dating early on, something I wish more shoujo romances did. This leaves room for the series to actually progress the relationship, so you them go on dates, and hang out with their respective friend groups, and have issues of miscommunication and being afraid to bring things up, things like that.

Another minor issue has to do with the amount of drama. There's virtually none in this series, which mind you is not a bad thing, but sometimes I wish they did include some things to test their relationship. And then when they decided to finally throw some wrench in their relationship, it's at the end of the series, and it feels completely shoehorned in. It's kind of a shame, because while I did love all the pure fluff of this series, I wish they could have developed in that aspect more. I think in the manga there is such an issue that comes up later between Takeo and Yamato so who knows, maybe I will read the manga.

Oh also? The comedy is great. This show is so funny.

CHARACTERS
The strongest point of this anime is definitely the characters.

Takeo is such a good guy, and is never afraid to help somebody out. He’s extremely good-natured towards everyone, even towards people with shallow opinions about his appearance. His innocence about dating is also really adorable to watch, making him incredibly dense towards romantic cues.

Yamato is a kind and adorable girl as well, and her tunnel vision for Takeo is nice to watch. She also likes to bake. Besides that though, she unfortunately doesn't stand out as an individual character. Like if someone asked me to describe her, I would say she that’s cute, likes to make sweets and she loves Takeo, and that's about it. I like Yamato, I just wish there was more to her, because Takeo is shown to be more than what he is outside of being Yamato’s boyfriend.

Now the star of the show in my opinion is Takeo’s best friend Sunakawa. This guy is Takeo’s anchor, his ride or die. Suna is truly a unique shoujo main character in the sense that he does not compete with Takeo for Yamato’s affections. If anything, he is Yamato and Takeo’s support system, and it’s shown by how often he’s seen with the couple throughout the series. Even though as a pretty boy he gets a lot of attention from girls, Suna is shown to have virtually no interest in romance, and instead comes off as emotionless or apathetic, but really this isn’t the case. He’s definitely more of a silent observer, and doesn’t speak much unless he’s giving advice to Takeo. He’s actually a very kind and loyal friend in this regard. I wish more characters existed like him in other shoujos because I hardly ever see second male leads that are just there to support rather than compete for affection, let alone have zero interest in romance.

I like the side characters too. I'm a big fan of Takeo's mom especially.

ANIMATION
Madhouse is probably one of my favorite animation companies, having animated some of my favorite series like Death Note, Acca 13-Territory Inspection Department, and Hunter x Hunter, so naturally I was pretty happy with their work here as well. Of course it's like every other shoujo: a lot of pastel colored-backgrounds and sparkles everywhere, and I eat this up every time.

MUSIC
The music in this show is nice. I like the OP and Ending a lot. The background music is also placed nicely in the scenes they're used in. Not much more to say here, no complaints from me.

CONCLUSION
Watch My Love Story!! if you need some fluff in your life.