Ore Monogatari!! Episode 1 (First Impression)

On the left, you have a hot, cool guy. On the right, you have an extremely tall and muscular guy. Which one seems more approachable? You’re probably saying the hot guy, right? Well, for our main man Takeo, it’s actually the other way around, but because of instances in his life, he doesn’t even realize that the cute girl is actually paying attention to him!

I love when there’s a twist in shoujo manga, because it’s usually the same things repeated. Shy girl catches the attention of the hot, cool guy that all the girls fawn for, and they end up together. Some of those stories can be good, or just boring, but it’s always nice that shoujos set in a school setting has something different. And for Ore Monogatari, it’s Takeo. Takeo is really tall. EXTREMELY tall. Yamato barely reached his chest! In anime standards, and I suppose standards set by society, Takeo doesn’t fit the mold of an attractive person. More like he’s the scary guy. Even if he may seem scary on the outside, he’s actually really kind and a softie. He got angry knowing there was a prowler in the city, afraid said prowler was going to hurt the children. So he stands outside of an elementary school with the scariest glare on his face. Instead of the prowler being scary, it was Takeo who was and had the police called on him. He really cares about people, and gets crushes on girls like any other guy, but his appearance always interferes.

Sadly, the girls that he likes always have a crush on his best friend, Sunakawa. Ever since kindergarten, Takeo’s crushes have always confessed to Suna, whom he has no feelings for at all. Every. Single. Girl. Takeo likes, they ignore him and confess to Suna, who turns them down each time. And again, when graduating from middle school, Takeo runs off to confess to the girl he likes from student council, but comes across her and Suna. Like all the other times, she instead confesses to him, but nah. He turns her down, and he and Takeo walk home. They seem like a strange pair, but they get along. They live in the same apartment complex, their apartments right next to each other, and their moms are friends too, so they became friends at a very young age. Suna looks like any other pretty boy from shoujo anime, and he really looks like the guy from Wolf Girl or whatever it was called. He looks generic, but I guess it was done on purpose to make fun of the “girls falling for the hot guy” trope. And he contrasts greatly when standing next to Takeo.

Our lovely lady is Yamato. How these three came to meet, Takeo and Suna spot a molestor in the train when going to school. Takeo rushes over and grabs the guy’s arm, threatening him to leave in the next stop. And there he catches eye of Yamato…cue shoujo sparkles. They take the gross guy to security, and when the guy says terrible things about Yamato, Takeo just PUNCHES him in front of security, then he got suspended lol. Yamato visits him and Suna at their apartment, bringing a cheesecake to share as a thank you for what they did. She leaves, but accidentally forgets her phone in Takeo’s room. They arrange a tim and place to meet, and they meet the next day. Again, she has sweets to share amongst them as a thank you. Turns out she’s a baker, and she baked all the desserts they’ve eaten. At the end of the day, they become friendly and decide to meet up another day to eat more of her desserts.

Takeo immediately becomes infatuated with her. She’s cute, sweet, and polite. But he thinks she has a crush on Suna! So he basically gives up on falling for her because she’ll just ignore him anyway, but the way she was acting around him, it was different. It wasn’t romantic or anything, but she never shoved him off to speak with only Suna. She smiled at him, and payed more attention to Takeo, I think. But Takeo doesn’t see that, and he declares himself her cheerleader for Suna’s love. And to make matters worse, it looks like Suna is slowly falling for Yamato. He’s always turned down girls, but when speaking about Yamato and calling her nice, he smiled, which Takeo noticed. But when Yamato thanked Takeo for the handkerchief in the end, we got a small expression from Suna, which I’m guessing that he knows that the girl he likes (Yamato) likes Takeo instead. Or something like that.

This episode was simply adorable. I like the story and the twists, though I feel like we might step into love-triangle territory, which I’m not too crazy about, but I hope if they do, it won’t be overly dramatic and dumb. I like Takeo. He’s very silly, charming, and kind. He may have trouble with the girls, but it seemed he was really respected and loved by his clubmates from middle school. Comparing Takeo to that red ogre in that story was a nice touch as well. I really enjoyed this episode, and I can’t wait to see where this will go. Me and Hideki already decided to share this together, and I’m sure we’ll have more fun covering this show than our other one from last season!

Watching: Guaranteed!

Blogging: Guaranteed!

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Hideki First Impression

 

First off, i’m going to start off with siding with Berry. I absolutely ADORE this show. During the first episode I found myself laughing and “Awwing” several times. There’s something about this show that’s so charming.

Something that’s rare for me, is that I like all three of the main characters. Needless to say, Takeo is fucking hilarious. He really is an amazing character. The only issue I have with him is that it’s incredibly obvious to a person watching the show that the girl totally has a crush on him, but because of his past, he couldn’t possibly believe it. I’m sure this is something that will end up being frustrating in later episodes, but as of now, it’s cute.

As for the stereotypical bishonen, I actually like him too. he treats Takeo like his friend and you can really see their friendship shining through in places, like how he’s the only one that can make him laugh. The only problem I see happening here is that I can already tell that suna might actually like this chick, and with Takeo thinking that Yamato likes Suna, this might get all sorts of confusing.

As for Yamato, what is there to say other than, she’s fucking adorable. she is just the sweetest thing, and I can’t wait for her and Takeo to end up together.

This show did something I didn’t think was possible. It made me extremely interested in a Romance show. I cannot WAIT till next episode. If the whole series was out, I’d be marathoning it.

Good job show. Good job.

Head: I love the original twist it took on the whole romance genre. It’s a cute idea and it’s a breath of fresh air to the stagnation that is this genre. Not a lot happens but it doesn’t need to. It’s a great premise and it’s executed well. 8/10

Eye: the animation is adorable. He’s just as unattractive as he needs to be but also in a cute way. it’s strange I know. The animation lends itself well to this and fits the moment. 9/10

Heart: Pretty much throughout this whole episode I got sucked in not wanting the episode to end. I became attached to these characters in record time and want to see all of them be happy. Takeo is quirky and fun, Yamato is an adorable spaz, and even Suna has some really funny moments. 9/10

Overall score 9/10

I can’t WAIT until next week. See you guys all next week for episode 2, when it’s my turn.

WATCHING: GUARANTEED!!!
BLOGGING: GUARANTEED!!!

-Hideki