There’s something in the water with shows with the word “Girlfriend” in it this season. You have Girlfriend, Girlfriend’s second season, which was a hilarious sequel, and then there’s this one, something quite special honestly in the harem genre, a genre that is seen as low-brow entertainment. A guy that gets together with so many girls, one might say it’s a bit of a wish fulfillment fantasy, but when one watches it, from the outset, there’s just something different about it.
I always say that if a show is trashy, it might as well be as unhinged as possible, and this one certainly understood that assignment. The premise is pretty stupid, as it’s about a guy, Aijou Rentarou, who confessed to one hundred girls, only to be rejected every time, and then as one would certainly expect, divine intervention was needed to get this guy the rizz he needed. A slip of the finger because God was playing a video game, and Rentarou was given one hundred soulmates that he could find, the kicker being that they had to get together or else the girl would die.
So what’s so unique about this harem anime? Yeah, there’s its fair share of fan service, but what I found that was great about this anime was its self-awareness that it’s trashy, and so the comedy is very self-aware as well, and breaks the fourth wall often. It’s very meta, as people might say, which is probably why people enjoyed the manga in the first place, the fast pace of comedy that has references of media that we’ve seen before, which can always provide that extra chuckle that other comedies might not be able to do. Unlike shows like Rent-a-Girlfriend, this anime thrives by not taking itself seriously, while still having moments that develop the characters.
The comedy is great and all, but the real draw of this anime is the main male character. Harem protagonists are usually the most one-note, boring characters ever, as they almost always follow the same trope of taking way too long to either recognize the love interest’s feelings, or taking too long to confess. Rentarou however, is probably the best harem protagonist I’ve seen in a while, mostly because he shatters all those tropes, and somehow can effectively care for every single girlfriend he encounters. As each girlfriend gets into the picture, they also have their time to shine, and it’s not just superficial development either, there’s actual heart behind it. Who could have thought? A harem anime with genuine heart and soul poured into it!
I expected that I would like this anime, but I’m coming out of it genuinely surprised at how wholesome it was even with the dumb premise. It embraces its stupidity and is shameless to the maximum, and it proved to be one of the best anime to watch every week, and honestly was one of the best anime of the year in terms of pure enjoyment. Can’t wait for Season 2, just inject this into my veins!
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