Focused on the relationship between Fujimiya Amane; a teenager with few friends without being the classic anime antisocial and Shiina Mahiru; the popular teenager of the class who despite being so, keeps her distance from everyone around her, at first glance, it is the classic anime centered on the cliché lonely man + popular woman. Cliché already so used in this kind of works that makes it something I usually overlook when watching them, focusing more on how they develop what is already massified instead of inventing the wheel and, from that point of view, although Otonari no Tenshi-sama won't change your life, it is —at least for me— a pleasant surprise.

(Spoiler alert hereinafter)

The starting point of this story focuses on how Amane, who is living his first year of high school in a new school, with few —and new— friends, one day walking back home, finds Mahiru sitting on a swing, in the rain, crying. As he watches the scene, he stretches his umbrella over her to cover her, asks her if she is all right and leaves it with her, then goes home.

So far, one cliché after another. However, the story takes a turn when we are told that Amane and Mahiru, although they only know each other from school, are neighbors. This is where their relationship is born, when Mahiru returns Amane's umbrella and notices how he is sick, she feels responsible for this and enters his apartment to take care of him. There she discovers that Amane lives alone, his apartment is a mess and he eats poorly, the latter being the point through which their relationship will be born, a relationship where she offers to give him homemade food daily and will worry about him when she sees the state in which he lives, being repaid with affection and company beyond appearances, which is why despite being the popular student in her class she is so lonely. Each, in their own way, has what the other needs.

This caring dynamic will be the main tone of the series, where both characters, as a result of their own personal circumstances, faced with the loneliness in which they live, will find in each other someone who cares about them and about whom to care as well. The origin of this relationship is based, mainly, on the need for companionship of two lonely people.

Thus, throughout the series and as they become more and more involved in each other's lives, both will slowly make Amane's apartment their home. A place where they share dinner every day, where they play video games, share household chores or just hang out. Both Amane, who came to live alone looking to leave his former life where he was a victim of bullying at an early age, and Mahiru; an unwanted daughter of a wealthy family who is seen as a burden, will find in each other someone who understands and accompanies them in the most intimate part of their lives such as living together.

Although I think the main plot may seem implausible as the school setting may not seem the most appropriate to narrate a story of a couple living together (Shiina and Amane act more like a married couple than a teenage one), if you look at it from another perspective and, instead of questioning why they live together you question how they got there, you can understand that the psychological problems they both carry are very common adolescent problems: Shiina, carrying the weight of projecting an image that does not represent her, surrounded by people who look at her for what she is not and does not feel she is, and Amane, with his problems socializing as a result of his past as a victim of bullying.

If you can watch this anime turning a blind eye to its obvious problems of realism/verisimilitude, with 13 episodes, Otonari no Tenshi-sama is a fairly light romantic anime to watch, without great plot twists or deeply written characters, but throughout the winter season 2023 it became my comfort series, where to share with the protagonists during each chapter that home they formed and feel the warmth of a warm and simple relationship.

If you are looking for a simple romcom without great aspirations, Otonari no tenshi-sama may be the series you are looking for.