Take a love-struck high school girl and make her an assistant for her favorite mangaka, who, as it turns out, is actually her crush. What do you get? You get a shounen anime that actually should be a shoujo yet is hilarious, beautiful, and overall at least close to a work of art that would exceed any expectations you have of it. Trust me, I didn't have a lot of expectations for Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, or Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, at first, but over time, it just got to the point where this would become my favorite anime of July 2014.
Our protagonist here is Chiyo Sakura, a girl who is in love with her classmate, Umetarou Nozaki. She finally manages to confess, and you know how he responds? He gives her an autograph. After that, Nozaki-kun invited Chiyo to his house, where he makes her help him out with his manga. As Chiyo discovers, Nozaki-kun is actually a shoujo manga artist by the penname of Yumeno Sakiko. In order to get closer to Nozaki-kun, Chiyo ends up becoming his assistant, and over time, she meets a bunch of people who help him and/or serve as inspirations for his manga.
There may not be a huge story in Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, but it's just one of those anime that relies on comedy. It does an EXCELLENT job with comedy. There aren't that many flops with the comedy, leaving you to just laugh at the many things that Chiyo, Nozaki-kun, and every other character in the series go through in their lives.
Speaking of characters, this anime provides us with many likable characters. My favorite character is Mikoshiba; he's just so adorable in many ways and has made me laugh from the moment he first appeared. Chiyo is quite outstanding herself (RIBBONS IS LOVE), and Nozaki-kun may be oblivious but in a hilarious way that just makes it likable. Most of the other characters are amazing in their own ways, as well. If there's one Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun character I don't like, it's Maeno, Nozaki-kun's previous editor. He's just so annoying!
The art and sound here are just plain amazing. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun was animated by Dogakobo, the studio that brought us YuruYuri (another great anime), and trust me when I say that Dogakobo has done a good job with the animation once again. Also, each one of the voice actors fit the character they're playing very well. The music is amazing, as well, especially the OP, "Kimi ja Nakya Dame Mitai" by Masayuki Ooishi. Whenever it plays, I just know that I'm in for another outstanding episode.
Overall, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is a great anime. I honestly wanted to give it a 10, but the flops in comedy that it's had (not to mention Maeno) made me drop it to a 9. Even so, it's something you won't want to miss. Who knows? You may get a look at exactly how comedic the world of shoujo manga may be!
29.5 out of 32 users liked this review
