Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out, your silly fun romance show of the season. Some shows just aren’t meant to be taken super seriously or over analyzed, they are meant to just enjoy and have some fun with. But I feel like that statement kinda comes with a notice or a warning. You will not love and enjoy this show if you come back to it in 5 years, or even 2 years. If you come back to this show in a couple years while binging old stuff, you will find this incredibly uninspired and a complete waste of time. It is the same way with all of these lighthearted comedy romance shows, they all work great in the here and now but not at all in the future.
In general, this show does nothing special or interesting at all. It isn’t revolutionizing characters or visuals or sound or storytelling. The characters are simple and easy to explain; 2 characters like each other but don’t want to admit it and 3 characters just want to watch these 2 interact and at times cause them to grow closer to satisfy their needs. That pretty much sums up the characters, and for me watching the show as it airs week to week it is good enough. You get 22min of enjoyable silliness with these characters, just enough to like them but not enough for them to start getting on my nerves. Now despite the silliness and simpleness, we do get a surprising amount of character growth that shows that progress is occurring. At least with the main 2 characters that is, the rest of the more side cast doesn’t really get much growth at all.
The visuals are quite simple and cheap, and very much fit that generic style that is current popular. You will never see a stunning vista that makes you want to screenshot it. Or that gorgeous panning shot that combines 3D animation and 2D animation in such a fluid way you wonder how they could afford it on a shows budget. Instead it is simple and easy to follow, and you do get moments were things just don’t look right or particularly good at all. But this isn’t that style of show at all, it isn’t meant to be a large budget anime. It is an enjoyable adaptation that stays true to the original art pretty well.
One thing I will praise is the voice actors. They all do a really good job and match the characters perfectly. Overall, they sound just like how I imagined they would sound while reading the manga. In particular I love the Voice Actor for Tsuki Uzaki, Saori Hayami, the airheaded mature voice fits the character just perfectly.
Overall, I’d say give the show a shot. Especially with the second season planned to continue the story more. Especially if you already like the manga. But if you are going to be binging the series later on, just know what to expect and don’t be disappointed to not find the blockbuster of the season.
I’ll also add that if you did end up enjoying the anime. Definitely go track down the manga in whichever way you feel and give it a read. They look similar and the stories are the mostly the same, it is just more time with the enjoyable characters and seeing everyone grow.
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