"Ahh! It's annoying living with a woman who's not your girlfriend!"
What the hell was this show? What the hell was this show about? What the hell is there to say about this show?
These are all questions I asked myself once I had finished the final episode, and these are all questions I will aim to answer here.
Firstly, I will give some context. I was recommended this show about 2 years ago after I had finished a reasonably sad show (I can't remember which) and this was supposedly a "light romance" that was going to help cheer me up. Having finally watched it, this is most definitely not a light romance. Senryuu Shoujo is a light romance. This is something that borderlines on romance. The line that qualifies a show as a romance is here, and this show is about 5 steps into it. Maybe 10. Baby steps.
Here are the 4 elements that I think makes this show qualify for the romance tag:
"Aka..."
\* Exhibit 1: The 2 main characters have sex in the first episode. Sex is (usually) an action performed by 2 persons romantically interested in eachother. Therefore this classifies as an act of romance.
However, this is ironic because in this case, these two people have known eachother for under 24 hours. In fact, the only previous interactions they had to this point was watching a movie together (coincidentally - not planned) and eating dinner together. So it's not that they had sex because they shared romantic feelings towards eachother, but rather because a horny salaryman took advantage of a younger girl who's current mental state was literally a battlefield as a result of her home recently burning down in a fire. It's a good thing SJWs don't watch anime because if they did, they would certainly get on our main character's case for something like having "raped" this girl and whatnot.
"I have a line what I want to say now."
\* Exhibit 2: A bond forms between the 2 main characters. People in a romantic relationship (usually) share a deep bond with eachother, one filled with trust and joy. Therefore, this classifies as an act of romance.
You see, our heroine is actually a 20 year old aspiring voice actress. She aims to one day become as big as her favourite voice actor - Audrey Hepburn. However, at the moment, she is nothing more than the newest recruit at her office. She actually just graduated from their in-house voice acting school recently. And as a result her career is not exactly booming. So, simply put, she's looking for work.
On the other hand, our hero is a 26 year old run-of-the-mill office-working salaryman working in the marketing department for a candy promotion(?) company. The show does not cover if he's new there or not, but assuming by the way his boss and colleagues treats him, he's no newbie to this sort of thing. Despite this, not one of his marketing ideas have been accepted yet. Not one. How pathetic, right?
Both of those things change today.
In the early hours of the morning, Fumihiko Matsumaru's apartment door was both simultaneously opened and closed without him knowing. What happened? Was he robbed? A break in? Did he leave his door open and a drunk local hottie happened to stumble in? Unfortunately, no, no, and he wishes. It was nothing less than the act of our heroine, Aka Onda leaving his apartment. Of course, not before she had written and left a note. Common courtesy, right?
Well, is this it? Is this the end of their relationship? Did it end up being a one night stand in the end? No, no, and, lucky for him, no.
Basically, the company Fumihiko works for has finally decided to accept his marketing campaign for their new product, Ha, and it's about as poor as the crisp-candy-leaf mixture product's name. Better yet, they're looking for a VA for the campaign.
"Which movie?"
\* Exhibit 3: The bond between the 2 main characters breaks. No matter how deep, a bond can always be broken. People in a romantic relationship will (usually) experience the bond they had built up with the other person eventually break. The reason can be attributed to something trivial, such as a wrong word or phrase said, to something more serious as an arbitrary complete overhaul change of feelings. Either way, no bond is unbreakable and people who have healed either their bond, or from the bond being broken, know this best. Therefore, this classifies as an act of romance.
Our two characters meet at the candy company's auditions for the VA behind the new mascot - Nekoki! Half cat, half tree, 100% cute voice acting!
Coincidence? Fate? Who can say for sure. All that matters is a mere one night stand is not enough to fulfill a man's horniness, so our hero goes in for a second round.
Aka eventually gets the job. This goes without saying, right? Afterall the show is 9 episodes long, not 2. And, as her home had recently undergone a fire, she has nowhere to go but the very same place she left earlier this morning. So that wasn't a goodbye note after all! Fumihiko is jumping for joy! Something is finally going his way! After being held up by Tanaka from accounting for a dude 10x his size, he's finally found a woman he can use take out all his manly desires on. Or... not?
Predictably, he tries it again. But this time, Aka is not happy. You know what they say - "everything heals with time" - well I guess all it took to heal Aka's mental battlefield was about a day because she was not having it this time. She expressed to our hero that yesterday she was simply too shocked to think straight, and he shouldn't even think about trying something like that again because she's just a woman living with him, and not his girlfriend. This is where Fumihiko realises he can't push around girls as he likes, that they, contrary to his belief, are not sexual robots designed to fulfill manly pleasure but actually beings with a head of their own and can choose if they want to partake in certain actions or not. He seems to be let down by his new discovery but, whatever. Better a life without a criminal record than one with, right? Quit while you're ahead, one's plenty, and all of that.
They eventually start living together as more normal people, and their feelings starts growing deeper, but alas, a turn of events await ahead!
By god's will (or rather, her panties) (long live manly pleasures!), Aka finally starts landing jobs. Her schedule grows and grows, and she simply becomes too busy to be a on-off stay-at-home maid for Fumihiko. Doing nothing but welcoming him home, wishing him safe journeys, preparing food and the such. Not only does she have a mind of her own, but also a life of her own!
This, amongst other stuff, finally leads to Fumihiko breaking. They have an argument, and Aka says she'll leave as soon as she saves up enough money to do so.
I don't know about you, but a blind man with a fish eye lens could have seen this predicament from 5 nautical miles away. A climax was going to happen sooner than later, so this development was not exactly surprising.
"My original."
\* Exhibit 4: The bond between the 2 main characters is healed. Bonds get broken. This information is nothing new to anybody. Chemistry has been showing us this since the start of time. People get emotionally hurt. Again, a fact of nature. What matters, especially in a romantic relationship, is the rebound. (usually). Therefore, this classifies as an act of romance.
But, what will you do about your broken heart? Will you let it fall to shards - broken fragments of what once was? Letting your once loved love get away? Or will you Wilt Chamberlain the hell out of that bitch?
After their argument, Aka spends her nights sleeping at the office. She refuses to go back to Fumihiko's apartment. He thinks she's ignoring him. She is. Giving him the "silent treatment" would be an understatement. She is not just treating him to silence. This is not treatment. This is $10,000 per session silent therapy.
In awkward situations like these, neither party wants to see the other. Or maybe that was just my experience. Unfortunately (what unfortunate event is this? 4th?) work forces our hero and heroine to meet again.
The train journey to the hot springs is awkward. They're sitting opposite eachother, but none decide to even bat an eye at eachother for the duration of the journey. At one point, Fumihiko is staring out the window and Aka's reflection shows up, showing to the audience that she, also, was looking at the window, and that prompts both characters' reflexes and both start looking at the floor. In an embarrassing fashion. This was probably my favourite moment in the show because of the little details.
They eventually arrive at the hot springs, and a couple of drinks later, Aka heads to the hot baths. Eventually, so does Fumihiko. They eventually meet because, get this, plot dictates that after 10pm it becomes mixed bathing and Fumihiko just happened to have seen the sign that Aka missed. They finally speak to eachother. For the first time in a long time. A while later, Aka's manager persuades Fumihiko to speak to her. She had received an awesome new job that meant that she would no longer be able to work for Fumihiko's sweet company, so she wouldn't get the chance to see him again if she takes the job. Holy shit, Aka is the most low-key tsundere I have ever seen. All this time, she was using work as an excuse to see Fumihiko, rather than just seeing him. This sly, sly $10,000 therapeutic tsundere.
So, how do our favourite hero and heroine arrive at a resolution to this tragic problem? They make up. What a surprise. Aka can carry on pursuing her new career as a voice actor, and he can carry on seeing her without needing some childish excuse. And getting welcomed home. And getting wished a safe journey. Every day. At least when she's not working late.
"..."
I know it probably seems like I've been attacking Fumihiko throughout this review, but it really hasn't been my intention to. Everything was meant in good-hearted satire, and I don't actually think he's too bad of a guy, beyond maybe overflowing horniness and a bit of childish attitude towards Aka at times. With that said, here is some other things I wanted to mention about the show that couldn't fit in my prolonged evaluation of the events that concerned the "romance" between Aka and Fumihiko.
In fact, Japanese work culture is literally personified through Aka's manager. She tells her that a "job is a job", upon being presented with Aka's uneasiness doing VA work for an HGame. Basically putting aside Aka's personal ethical views in order to make money for her company. She also invites Aka to sleep in the office. Was this really free bedding, or was it a motive to work overtime at the office? This point gets defeated by the fact that Aka's job is literally a VA, so there's not much she can do regarding paperwork but the very idea that work is so demanding there is a possibility to "sleep at the office", to minimise all time in a person's day which is spent not working will come as a heavy surprise to the majority of the Western culture. In addition, she also basically makes Aka hold up her restaurant date in order to get introduced to some award-winning director so she could potentially star as the lead role in his new movie. A major job vacancy? Sure. Also totally ruining what Aka's plans that evening and could have been sorted out tomorrow? Yes, again. Yet another part where she disregards her very own talent's personal life for the sake of business. If this does not accurately portray Japanese work culture, I don't know what does.
The funniest thing I found in all of this is how, ironically, attending work, though maybe indirectly, fixes Aka's and Fumihiko's relationship, Even though Aka's manager own motto is to keep personal life and work seperate. lol.
"Be my girlfriend."
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