_This review contains Spoilers for Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!_

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▶ Video With the Summer 2024 season approaching, every romcom lover, including me, was excited for the enormous hype revolving around Roshidere. During that period, I accidentally came upon the poster for a new addition, highlighting 3 girls with either short or blue hair and a random dude chilling in the back. This was, in fact, the formula for the show. The story of romcom's losing heroines and their perspectives. The story without a core protagonist. Welcome to the dark horse of the season. Welcome to Makeine.

Production quality

Since, you've finished listening to the OP above, I'm sure you're well aware of how A-1 Pictures performed. This is, perhaps, one of the most well-produced romcoms in a minute. Let me elaborate.

In short, the animation is breathtaking. From stellar shots to just simple movement being so fluid and satisfying to see that it urges the audience to go check out the studio adapting it. The characters look amazing and move so fluidly that it often prevents the viewers from noticing the incredibly aesthetic and detailed background (there were actual manga volumes in one episode), as well as the 'camera angles'. They masterfully collaborate hand-drawn shots and CGI, to the point where nobody questions anything about the visuals. Be for real. If you complainin about Makeine's looks, then you're exceedingly picky and I'm coming for you.

As if having those wasn't enough, there's actually an even more important aspect when it comes to the execution of Makeine. The voice acting. Holy crap, it is good. It has no business being that good. The seiyuus picked embody their characters perfectly and make it so that each one is enjoyable. Not only that, by the time the series moved on to heavier topics and drama, the enjoyable voices turned into emotional performances that forced one to empathise. Already well-known VAs like Shion Wakayama (Takina from Lycoris Recoil, Nanahoshi from Mushoku Tensei) and Atsumi Tanezaki (Frieren from Sousou no Frieren and Futaba from Rascal does not dream), as well as promising VAs such as Hikaru Toono and Momoka Terasawa brought the series to life and added the touch it needed.

The soundtrack fit perfectly in touching moments and the creators were kind enough to provide us with gorgeous EDs for each and every arc. All good enough to be listed as bangers.

All of this doesn't mean you should sleep on the characters and their writing either. Let's move on to the main cast and why literally picking any of the losing heroine as your favourite wouldn't bother me.

The star of the show

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Yanami Anna is undoubtedly the icon. That's easy to understand because I keep getting bombarded with her edits whenever I open social media. She has the most recognizable design out of the losers, and on top of that, her personality is a mood. With her bubbly nature and carefree attitude, she captures the attention of the audience, single-handedly delivering most of the comedy and trendy dialogues. She is an absolute unit of a personality.

We first get to see the reality of losing heroines' situation from her whole thing with her childhood best friend, Sosuke, whom she had unrequited feelings for. I must say, it felt really nice to explore the losing side in depth and comprehend just how tragic it is for them. Yanami's arc was definitely weaker compared to the other two's, but what can I say? If you got blue hair in a romcom, you're getting robbed. As a gluttunous woman once said 'You're either the childhood friend or the homewrecker'. UWAGIDAYO! Don't worry, though. It's quite obvious she's gonna end up as Nukumizu's partner.

Bittersweet Lemon

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Yakishio Lemon probably has the best and saddest arc in the show. She's a sporty girl who loves running. She's deeply in love with her childhood friend Mitsuki and has been locking those feelings up. It's sort of like her coping mechanism to run. Mitsuki has a girlfriend and Lemon does not have a place to fit in inside his heart.

Everything starts hitting in the feels when she accidentally tells Mitsuki that she had fallen in love with him. The viewers learn of her perspective, how she felt horrible for having this intrusive glimmer of hope that Mitsuki might actually come to love her and not his current gf Chihaya. Even more tragic when Mitsuki explains that he did have feelings for her in the past. Naturally, Lemon being the mature teenager that she is, after running away, organizes her thoughts and talks it out with Mitsuki and Chihaya.

feel her soul

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Then enters best girl, Komari Chika, a shy girl from the literature club who has social anxieties and feelings for her club prez. No wonder she got two arcs. Her voice acting, specifically the stuttering and the high pitch reactions always impressed me. She's the most interesting and the most considerate one in the group. Remember the time when she immediately called Yanami when she thought Nukumizu was about to get bullied or the time when she voluntarily went running with Lemon (something she's bad at) in order to give Nukumizu and Yanami some alone time? I remember. Her chemistry with Nukumizu, with other characters in general, was always the finest.

Her first arc was, of course, about her losing. In this case, she's the homewrecker. The club prez and his childhood friend Tsukinoki are senpais who truly cherish Komari. However, during the process, Komari falls in love with the prez, which leads to quite a drama. Contrary to what everyone believed, she suddenly confessed to him out of the blue. Atfer the display of courage there, she was rejected, but still managed to maintain her loving relationship with her seniors.

Her second arc gave off the best atmosphere so far in the show. Tsukinoki and the prez were getting ready to graduate, so they left the responsibility of the club to Komari. A sentimental and nostalgic feeling overwhelmed me personally, as I thought about my own graduation. The literature club was the only place (aside from her home) where Komari felt at home, so she felt the strong need to preserve it. The pressure driven from the responsibility was huge and Komari didn't want to rely on anybody else. She wanted to do this for herself and for her senpais, but this only created more pressure. Who knew she could shout like that? Nukumizu saved the day.

The protagonist?

Nukumizu Kazuhiko is the main character of the show. Supposedly. The reason I'm saying that is because he doesn't act like one. He views himself as a supporting character in others' romance stories and forces the viewers to feel that way too. He doesn't even have to be the protagonist because he's already the best supporting character you could have. Every arc I mentioned, every tragedy I talked about in this review wouldn't have been solved peacefully without Nukumizu. He doesn't like standing out, but when somebody needs him, he's always there to talk. Always there to think of them first.

Lastly

I guess I haven't talked about the comedy. Such random ass visuals and random bold jokes were used to make it a more enjoyable experience for both the watchers and staff themselves. What do you do when writing and production are both superb? Trust me. It may sound simple and small from my explanation alone, but if you give it a chance, it'll hit hard. Some might relate, some might simply empathise. Makeine shits on generic romance tropes and excels at the tropes they do implement. Thus, creating peak a romcom, devoid of corniness. A certified classic, in years to come.

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