Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun Ep 1 [First Impression]

 

Well okay I’m just dead from happiness DEAD I TELL YOU DEAD

 

Hey errybody it’s me, Oki! And let me just say OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

This is a public service announcement from Oki,

 

THIS GONE HAVE A LOT OF CAPSLOCK OMG

This ends our scheduled announcement.

This romance I just.

 

Okay, so I’ve always been a fan of romance. So I was like okay whatever romance and shit. So I like. I read the summary of this and I’m like NO WAY IT WILL BE AS PERFECT AS I CAN IMAGINE IN MY HEAD THIS IS NOT A THING THAT WILL OCCUR.

 

I was wrong internet. I was so wrong. All of my feelings. ALL OF THEM. This show is. It’s perfect. It’s perfect.

Shizuku is a perfectionist who dreams of a huge salary and being the top in her class. She’s also kind of distant from everyone and everything, but agrees to bring classwork to a fellow student in return for her teacher buying her an extra textbook. Yay bribes!

 

Well she goes to give it to him, only for him to jump out of a window to avoid her. She thinks nothing of it until he tackles her from behind a bush mere moments later as she leaves the building. But as soon as he hears she just dropped off work for him, he goes all OMG. And so begins ADORABLE TIMES.

The episode is full of crazy shit. Haru’s friends take advantage of him and Shizuku tactlessly says they are, so he poors his soda on her. So she then chases him out the door and throws HER drink at him. Guys I was like LAUGHING AND CRYING AND LIKE YES THIS IS WHAT I WANT THIS SHOW IT MAKES MY SOUL CRY WITH GLEE

So after he realizes his friends really are jerks and Shizuku surprisingly stands up for him, he walks her home. Only for him to cry and her to recall she couldn’t even cry over the dead class pet, but she feels like crying when she sees him cry. SO THEY HUG

IN THE FIRST EPISODE

 

HUG

 

IN THE FIRST EPISODE

 

GUYS THIS IS A LANDMARK THEY HUG IN THE FIRST EPISODE OH MY GOOOOD

 

So then to prove he really loves her, he goes back to school and tries to make friends but he sucks. So he follows her around, hijinks ensue, and then MORE STUFF HAPPENS LIKE SHE’S ALL I HATE YOU YOU GOT BETTER GRADES THAN I DID AND HE’S ALL BUT I AM LE GENIUS AND SHE IS ALL

WUT

WUT

WUT

 

AND THEN THEY STOP TALKING AND HE’S ALL SAD

AND THE TEACHER WHO BRIBED SHIZUKU IN THE FIRST PLACE GIVES HARU A LOVE BOOK AND HE DOES STUFF FROM IT HE IS SO STUPID BUT SO SMART AND OH MY GOOOD

OH MY GOD AND THEN AND THEN THEY DO MORE THINGS AND THEN THEN THEY KISS

Oh hell I can’t explain this shit man. GO WATCH IT IT’S GREAT

They kiss in episode one!!!!!!!!!

 

Freaking out dude!!!!!!!!!

 FIRST IMPRESSION:

Art: Really good, weird style but animated well enough to make the weirdness of the style become beautiful.

Story: Slice of life can be dull but this keeps it up and running.

Romance: kgjfdkgjfdlkhfkjghkdjhd

Characters: Haru and Shizuku, who are really the only ones in episode 1, are amazing.

Will I cover this: YES AND YOU SHOULD ALL WATCH IT

Cough, intelligent discussion time.

 

After Haru kisses Shizuku abruptly he notes that his heart isn’t fluttering, but it was before. He still loves her though. But the ton of this implies one of two things, and I thought I’d discuss them. This isn’t actually shown as negative or bad for them, and even suggests it’s just something from the book. But I’d like to discuss it.

 

The first point is, if they are going for the idea that books over exaggerate and real love isn’t supposed to be this big fluttery mess of anxiety, I really respect that idea. It’s really cute how fast and well paced at the same time the anime is. I’m really happy and excited about basically everything they do in this show and it’s just…FFFFFFFFFFF.

 

The second point is a longer one. This is based off of something I learned in a course of mine. Basically, that the heart fluttering you feel or the butterflies is actually a form of anxiety gained from now knowing if you’ll be rejected and being scared at the idea of losing someone or being told. Basically it is a form of immature signs in romance, and also a signature of beginning of romances. The idea that he actually has stopped feeling anxious and is more mature about how he feels really really gets my hopes up and wants me to see them be together forever.

 

I mean come on they kiss in episode one!!!

Oki