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[series:3804#628] | ||||||
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(Rent- or Watch+) (All episodes watched}: This show has an amusing premise--two scientifically minded lovers who are intrigued by the concept of romance and take a rational, logical approach to it ("Himuro, upon what evidence did you determine that you love me?"). They conduct various experiments and draw up graphs and a pie chart to illustrate the results. Episode one was genuinely funny, though before it was over I started to get tired of all the data and wanted their romance to move on. This show needed to remain 'fresh' rather than get repetitive in order to be fun. It was already clear that there would need to be a longterm plot to this in order for the show to be truly good, not just more and more non-LOL jokes about how this couple is taking a rational approach to an emotional thing. The mention that neither of them has any romantic experience makes the premise a good deal more plausible. Episode two didn't seem quite as funny as episode one, perhaps because to a certain extent the novelty of the premise had worn off. Again, there needed to be a serious story to this show, about how Himuro and Yukimura's romance progresses, because the jokes alone aren't good enough. And for that to work, we will need to get to know each of them better, so that we care whether they really commit to each other or not. Episode three was more fun as yet another character is introduced, the blond guy who brags of being a love machine but turns out to have a somewhat different set of standards for girlfriends than the average person would (he's an otaku). Himuro and Yukimura go on a date which has been carefully planned for utmost efficiency. In episode five we meet the professor, a guy who takes a speak-softly-but-carry-a-big-stick approach by virtue of being extremely muscular and sometimes frightening. Contrary to what one might expect, he is intrigued by the research these students have been undertaking. The show felt a little tiresome as the cast kept fooling around with scientific theories on romance but the romance itself seemed to be largely at a standstill. Do we really know the two lovers well enough to care how it ultimately works out for them? As it turns out we sort of get to know them, but not intimately. I was relieved when things were refreshed a little by a new character who was introduced in episode eight, a former student who is now a mangakka and thinks the story of Himuro and Yukimura would make a great plot for a new manga. I was again getting a little tired of this show when episode ten livened things up with a scientific conference at which two of the students were presenting research papers. Perhaps it was the fresh situation of having to stand in front of a large audience and defend your work from probing questions. Each of the two employs a different tactic and I found it genuinely humorous. I wish more of the show had been spent on situations like this rather than the usual 'let's go to the beach' (episode nine) stuff that anybody might engage in. If the characters are researchers, spend some serious time on situations which only researchers might find themselves in. The conclusion was OK, but in the end the plot wasn't all that novel or interesting and the really good jokes were thinly stretched. People trying to write the script for anime might be advised to do the following: first, write a decent plot; then, add the jokes. That way, even if the jokes fall flat the show will have something to offer. Last updated Thursday, January 20 2022. Created Thursday, January 23 2020. | ||||||||
