Review of Love Tyrant

Plenty of rom-com series focuses on school life relationships these days between young teens. I can’t say this enough but every season seems to have them in some way or form. Then, there’s Renai Boukun which seems normal at first. But then, you add a thing called the “Kiss Note”, a red headed yandere, a Shinigami, angels, and you get a show of bizarre shenanigans. Adapted by the manga of the same name, Renai Boukun is what I envision as a parody or perhaps deconstruction of the rom-com genre. The series starts off with Aino Seiji, a normal high student living his daily life asusual. That is, until one day…he encounters Guri, a female Shinigami who shows him a Kiss Note. It’s a supernatural notebook that makes anyone who has their name written together instantly fall in love if they kiss each other. Things take a weird twist when Seiji’s name gets written into the book and he kisses his long time crush, Akane. See where this is going? A bizarre rom-com that adds in supernatural context to entertain the viewers. For me, I think it’s some popcorn comedy that will easily draw some laughs.

If there’s one thing to mention, Renai Boukun excels at selling its humor. The show has romance but delivers it in such a way that you can’t help but laugh at it. The comedy is played out that can feel ridiculous with characters such as Akane, the beautiful and popular yandere. In almost every scene they are together, she obsessively attaches herself to Seiji. Whenever she senses that Seiji may be “cheating” on her, she goes into full yandere mode in comedic fashion. On the other hand, there’s Guri who seems rather oblivious to the concept of love. The first few episodes shows that she is a very playful girl with a childish personality. Akane doesn’t get along with her as she sees Guri as a “love rival”. In essence, the show portrays their rivalry as a humorous gag rather than a serious drama story.

Of course, that’s not all. The show introduces more girls into Seiji’s life that adds more humor into the show. Yuzu (half-sister of Akane) adds some subtle yuri context as she seems to be in love with Akane. Her relationship with Seiji is mixed as she sees him as an obstacle but also seems to falling for Seiji as the story progresses. Shikimi Shiramine (Yuzu and Akane’s cousin) adds perhaps a more dramatic element of the show. She doesn’t seem to get along with anyone and sees life like a game. Manipulative and cunning, she enjoys afflicting people and having fun with her games. The relationship she share with Seiji can get quite indecent at times. Unlike Akane, she doesn’t seem to be actually in love with Seiji but often tries to seduce him for the fun of it. Her role in the show adds more drama than any others as some of her actions really influence the plot and characters.

Despite the amount of humor injected into the show, there’s also some genuine relationship building in particular with Seiji’s sister, Aqua. As the tomboyish sister, Aqua seems to have a rocky relationship with Seiji and we’re shown why through some background storytelling. The series takes a more realistic approach at developing that relationship after certain evens happen in the show. So in a way, not every relationship in this show is a comedy gag. Akane also faces emotional troubles of her own and the series brings that into more light in later episodes.

As most viewers can expect by now, Renai Boukun is pretty much saturated with comedy that doesn’t even feel like rom-com. Some may can it at a harem given the male-female ratio of the cast. I would say that the show can be enjoyed if you watch it for humor. However, the storytelling itself isn’t well written and in particular, I can’t really connect with the plot from most of the episodes. Only a few episodes portrays itself in a more serious manner and even then, it brushes off in a quick fashion afterwards. The supernatural context can quickly grow dull once you’ve seen it a dozen times. One other issue I find in this show is the presence of Yuzu. This girl has a personality that seems even more childish compared to Guri and I find her presence to be extremely annoying. Seiji himself isn’t an interesting character either. In retrospect, the characters in this can easily be distracting to watch and despite their humorous roles, they don’t stand out particularly much on their own.

In terms of animation, I have some rather mixed feelings. Characters such as Guri, Akane, and Shikimi stands out by their designs while others such as Seiji and Aqua looks too normal. Comedy is portrayed through character expressions that is effective to sell its comedy. However, it sometimes relies on it too much at times that feels uncanny. Oh and some characters just looks ridiculous. I mean, a demonic penguin? An angelic cat? Really? The character designs also has some distracting outlines around them that can be bothersome to look at.

To say the least, the soundtrack of Renai Boukun is just silly. The OP and ED theme songs parodies character relationships and puts little effort into the choreography. It’s only catchy enough with its lyrics although on most parts, I find it to be absurd. However, I would add that character voice mannerism is memorable particularly with Akane’s yandere tone and Shikimi’s manipulative voice.

Should you watch Renai Boukun? Is it worth the time? Honestly, the answer to that is up to you because supernatural rom-coms like this is adapted to create laughter. By the end of the day, it hopes to make you laugh rather than getting you invested into the story. When I finished watching this show, I can’t really look back and say “I should have watched this sooner”.