Anime Review!

Koikimo

This is an anime about a high school girl being pursued by her best friend's older brother. He's a player at first, but pulls himself together so that he can pursue her. She doesn't want to be pursued at first, but she does welcome it, and pursue him back when he starts to believe he's not good enough for her because of how he used to be. She's the first person he's actually fallen for, and he's her first relationship. 

There's a lot of people that love this anime and a lot of people who think he's being a pervert. Who's right? Let's talk about that.

My rating: 8 out of 10.
Crunchyroll rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Rating breakdown:
Overall: 8 out of 10
Plot Potential: 7 out of 10
Plot Development: 9 out of 10
Characters: 8 out of 10
Animation Quality: 9 out of 10

Please note: There will be spoilers. I will be talking about specifics of this anime from the beginning on. If you would like to watch the show first and then come back, please do. Also, I am discussing an ongoing debate over the show, but please be mindful that I will not tolerate inappropriate comments. Please keep any comments made within the Wattpad conduct guidelines and please remember that if I feel uncomfortable with any comments made, I do reserve the right to delete your comment and mute you.

Before I launch into the whole "is Ryo a perv?" debate, I'd like to simply discuss the show. I do genuinely enjoy the show and it is pretty fun. The characters have some flaws that irritate me, but I'm still as much of a sucker for shojo as I ever have been. 

This show starts off with our girl Ichika saving Ryo from falling down the staircase at the train station. The big, long staircase, mind you, that would have resulted with him being either seriously injured or possibly the d-word. In any case, he thanks her and she gives him her lunch because he seems woozy. 

Later that day when  he goes home after work, he meets her again. As it turns out, she's the friend of his younger sister, Rio. As thanks, he offers his body to her, to which she responds (as I think most of us would) by calling him a creep. While this disturbs him, it also flips a switch in him and her chastising ends up with him falling for her on the spot. Maybe because she's hard to get or maybe because he actually is a masochist as his friend suggests later on - who knows? But he does. 

In response to his first ever crush (thanks, Masuda, for letting us know during the bar scene and for all the fan service - you're the best), he begins sending her presents and flowers regularly, and then progresses to calling her at about the same time every night. She has many chances to completely push him away, but she doesn't want to. Not because he's her friend's brother, but because she doesn't want to admit that she may like him, even if only a little. 

Unsurprisingly, Ryo finds out about her class's participation in the school's culture festival and decides to show up with his best friend, Masuda. In the nick of time, as well, as they show up in time to save a poor girl in the class from being sexually harassed by a couple of idiots. 

Around this time, Rio, who's in charge, tells someone to go on break (this is only relevant later on) and then goes out with Ichika to greet the two. Because she likes the idea of her brother actually falling on someone or maybe because she likes the idea of her best friend and her brother getting together or maybe because she wants to be a matchmaker - who knows? - she sends Ichika on break to show Ryo around while Masuda is forced to participate in an eating contest.

After walking around and a few good laughs, Ichika and Ryo decide to get food. On the way, she starts to go up some stairs, but falls and Ryo catches her, sneaking in a hug in the process. 

This is all the calm before the storm (for Ryo) that is Tamaru. 

He saw their little hug at the bottom of the stairs, and outright asks her when he's lending her a manga if they're dating. She of course says no, and he suggests that Ryo is just messing with her. Which, yes, is a possibility given the differences in age and experience, but when she mentions this to Ryo, he's obviously upset by her saying it. She eventually apologizes and he tells her it's fine, but when she can't hear him, he properly thanks her for saying it. (Flashbacks to that scene in Horimiya, anyone?)