➤ story
➤ characters
➤ art
➤ music - op/ed
➤ extra
➤ my rating

please keep in mind that the final rating might be solely based on my personal enjoyment!! the review itself is just me discussing all the factors mentioned above.

warning: please be aware that this is not a spoiler-free review

╰┈➤ story

"he dresses up as a girl?? that's cool, but i wonder why!! let's see how this will be dealt wi-- WAIT THAT GUY IS GAY??? OR BI?? oh wow that's interesti- THAT GIRL HAS ISSUES TOO??? oh man..." - someone binge-watching the show, probably.

imagine you have a high school love triangle romcom story. that's pretty average, right?? WELL, GUESS WHAT!! no. not exactly. under that silly-sounding anilist description hides a show that has much more to say and show than just that. in the end you kind of forget it even was a love triangle story in the first place!! like, unironically, which really makes me think if the show has any idea what it ACTUALLY wants to be. it starts out as your regular romcom with a little twist, then becomes the said love triangle, then it's a BL, and then it just focuses on its slice-of-life coming-of-age drama aspect. not knowing what you want to be is generally a big theme for this one; it is a story of self-discovery, after all.

now, just to summarize the plot: first-year student saki aoi confesses her love to her senpai, makoto hanaoka, only to find out he's actually a crossdressing boy. unbothered by this, she decides to still pursue him, promising that she'll become his first love. soon enough she finds out makoto's childhood friend, ryuuji taiga, is also in love with him!! from then on the story focuses on all of the characters's confusing feelings; their main concerns regarding gender, sexuality and self-worth.

╰┈➤ characters

the three concerns i finished the last paragraph with are exactly the subsections i will divide this part by. i usually don't break it down like so, but as the characters are clearly the focal point of this show i believe it is necessary. before i discuss the main cast in detail though, i'd like to say that the characters in senpainoko are very likeable and fun; watching them was truly a pleasure.

➤ gender - makoto hanaoka

the title character and the show's main focus. unsurprisingly, makoto's character reaches the most visible conclusion out of the main cast. to quote his words from the last episode:

"dad asked me earlier. if i wanted to live as a boy, or if i wanted to live as a girl. and i finally found the answer. i don't want to live as either. i... i want to live as myself. i'm a boy, but i like things girls like."

i don't believe there's an actual need for me to get DEEP into makoto's character, because the show did that well enough, but there's one thing i'd like to make clear using the quote above: makoto is not a trans girl, and i cannot stress that enough. i saw a few people claiming he is since he "does everything a trans girl would do" or something along those lines. what these people fail to understand is that there's a BIG difference between gender identity and gender expression ~~and if you don't understand this, then please search it up before voicing any kind of opinions on makoto~~. for example, do we assume that every tomboy is a trans boy?? i don't think so. it could be just a girl expressing herself in ways generally seen as masculine; makoto is exactly that but vice versa. while gender identity and gender expression are often connected, it's not the case for makoto. as he says, he just wants to live "as himself", and explicitly says he's a boy. makoto is just makoto, and there is nothing that indicates otherwise. he might not be cisgender, but the anime has not specified that ~~though i guess you could say that that quote of his makes it seem like his identity falls under the nonbinary umbrella~~.

that said, makoto captures the joy of expressing your gender the way you want to flawlessly; i think he's an amazing and relatable queer representation that ought to be comforting for lgbtq+ folks (aka what some people call the target audience of senpainoko). as someone who isn't cisgender, his character makes my own feelings on the topic seem much more valid to me.

➤ sexuality - ryuuji taiga

aka my favorite character from the show and the cutest boyfailure. at the beginning of the show ryuuji assures saki that "the love i feel isn't the kind of love you're thinking of", but he soon enough finds out that he was completely wrong. over the course of the show ryuuji came to terms with liking makoto, but he still feels more or less guilty for doing so; guilty enough to break up with with makoto after he accepted his confession. a part of it is that ryuuji knows makoto doesn't like him like that, so that decision, while sad, is perfectly understandable.

nonetheless, ryuuji went from "it would be weird for men to be in love, right?" to "there's nothing that allows or forbids you from falling in love!" and that's. that's some solid progress. i can't tell how relatable was that experience since i'm straight, but watching him develop and realise that overtime was certainly a bittersweet experience, just like the show overall.

➤ self-worth - saki aoi

saki's character was definitely the most odd one out of the main bunch; not a single character i've seen in media before is quite like her. not only that, but understanding her is a challenge, as most of the time she's a "show don't tell" type of character. sadly, she's also the least developed in s1, but i assume we'll see more of her in the upcoming movie sequel. last but not least, or so they say, right?? well, saki certainly has a habit of putting herself last and disregarding her own value. therefore, she wants to be someone special; it's a desire she herself does not understand, as she never felt strongly about anything, both positive and negative stuff. considering her past, it seemed to me like a coping mechanism of sorts that she has no control over. it always felt as if she expected things to go wrong, but when they did it wasn't easy on her at all; the best example of that being her dad leaving much more quickly that anticipated when visiting her. but even so, saki always said she was fine with whatever. there were times when she got actually emotional, like for example when her grandma was sent to the hospital, but most of the time she had this very uncanny yet happy "anything goes" attitude that was just awfully painful to watch.

when she was proudly exclaiming "i swear i'll become your first love, senpai!", what she really wanted was to be special to someone, and it just happened to be makoto for reasons we viewers did not get to see. by the time you finish the show you'll forget that the confession scene even happened - she gave up on makoto after seeing ryuuji's love and realising she doesn't actually "love" makoto, proving that what she really craved was feeling important to someone. to add, she saw her grandma mentioning how "special" was saki's grandpa to her, and got the idea that once someone will fall in love with her, she'll finally be worth something, she'll finally be "special" to someone. for most of her life she basically didn't have parents, so who else could possibly give her value if not a romantic partner?? therefore, her quest to make makoto fall for her begun, but soon enough ended.

for me, saki represents struggles of self-worth because she constantly seeks validation through others. there's still a lot to unpack when it comes to her character, and she may still be struggling to find her own little place in the world, but i'm happy she got reunited with her mom and is finally starting to feel valued.

╰┈➤ art

in contrast to the characters, not much can be said about the art. undoubtedly very pretty and consistent; simply put, it's a well-executed but typical 2020s anime art style. if there's anything unique about it, then it's for sure the extensive use of chibi art. it personally never annoyed me and i found it to be a good way to save some budget money; i'm assuming that's a part of why the rest of the show got to look so good. i can see why it would annoy some people though...

╰┈➤ music

the opening absolute ATE. it's so cute, so catchy!! it captures the bittersweetness of the show well, and i'm absolutely in love with it. the ending is nice as well and has some very neat art in it...

╰┈➤ extra

to be honest, i didn't plan on writing a review for this at first, as i'm in my senior year of high school and it's been awfully busy, but it's been over a week since the last episode aired and there's not a single review for the show yet. no wonder - it's a hard show to review with how complicated the characters are, so i hope i did well. tbh when it comes to summer 2024 anime i wanted to review giji harem at first, but there's already reviews of that so...

as to possible recommendations: while it has no drama at all ~~which is not the case for senpainoko~~ i believe tomo-chan is a girl! is similar regarding the coming-of-age and comedy aspect.

╰┈➤ my rating

a beautiful story that, even if it's a messy or even chaotic melodrama at times ~~i mean come on, did ryuuji have to see saki and makoto hug so out of context?? scenes like that were so frustrating...~~, depicts em' confusing teen feels well. they might not understand themselves fully just yet, but senpai is an otokonoko lets us witness the formation and development of these characters's identities in a way few anime can. i don't like calling it a "love triangle" story; most importantly, it's a story about self-acceptance, coming of age, and focusing on what you want ~~or at least trying to~~ instead of playing along to other's expectations. personally, i find it to be an enjoyable show with a very fun cast that i won't forget anytime soon and can happily give a 9.5/10 to.