The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten sadly did not spoil me rotten; this anime ended up being incredibly dull and pathetic. The story is contrived from start to finish and packaged with bland, cardboard characters, poorly written dialogue that feels like someone tried to rip off young adult works from Wattpad, and a generic, mediocre narrative. In this regard, it is much like Demon Slayer. However, unfortunately, it does not have talented staff to turn it from nothing into something. Instead, it got one of the worst studios a light novel adaptation can get—project No.9, the bloodsucker of the light novel adaptations in the 2020s. At this point, one can start to think that they have a special unit in the studio to find light novels with the corniest dialogues in the country.
The premise of this animated calamity is—a dude is kind to a cute girl once, and she conveniently lives next to him, so she cleans his room and begins to cook for him. This is the most unrealistic, escapist fantasy plot development imaginable. The author didn't even bother to make the male protagonist look like he tried to do something to make a change in his mundane life. He continues his daily routine, and one day when he comes back from school, he sees the most popular girl in his school in a dire situation and decides to help her out of pity, which is an act that contradicts the rest of his character, or what was supposed to be his character. This writing is absolutely abyssal.
The dual protagonists of the story, Mahiru and Amane, are exceptional characters if exceptional was synonymous with dry and uninteresting. Not to mention, the development of these characters is nonsensical—and like their pathetic dialogue—likely written by ChatGPT. These two characters (if such a term even applies to these walking pieces of white bread) interact in ways that most newly formed couples wouldn’t. Close friends do not act like this with each other, which makes it painfully apparent that the author does not know how people interact and how the romance develops. These interactions are also terribly forced and awkward. It’s painful to watch, really. Their interactions made me want to go and touch grass, so I can finally remember real people are not this gross while interacting with each other. Also, the reveal about Mahiru's parents feels like the author didn't plan it from the start and just wanted to give Mahiru a sad backstory out of the blue. Because there is no way someone who lived the life of Mahiru becomes a teenager without any awful personality traits. The author needs to bring her maid into the story and make that woman the kindest and most caring person in the world. Otherwise, her character arc will be an unnecessarily over-the-top drama.
This show is also a disaster when it comes to production values. I don't know if it's because half of project No.9's staff is working on finding the next boring light novel to adapt, but this show's visual quality feels like three college students decided to make fan animations for fun over the weekend. Character designs, animations, and backgrounds are terrible, as expected from project No.9. Amane's apartment feels like made on Sims by a first-time computer user. It's unimaginative and dull, just like the main characters.
In conclusion, this anime is just a waste of time with its lackluster production, attempt at a generic narrative, and laughably terribly-written main characters. I really wish I didn't watch this one and touched grass instead.
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