Review of My First Girlfriend is a Gal

Gyarus otherwise known as Gals are hot, at least in anime, but that can be said about any type of character. What really makes them stand out for me is their promiscuous and assertive nature, while being able parade their body around in a sexual manner like it’s nobodies business. With that in mind the show presents a romance story with a gal in the mix in order to shake it up only to be a sub-par standard rom-com that just sets into being a bad harem-”comedy”. The story of the show follows Junichi a high schooler who has one thing in his mind, and thatis wanting to get laid. The problem however is that he and his friends are total losers, which is no surprise given the way they act in class. It would seem that all hope would be lost if it weren’t for his friends suggesting he go with a gal because of how “easy” they are to get with. This of course lead to Junichi begging Yame the main girl into going out with him which for whatever reason she agrees to. While they do start going out, the show focuses less on their relationship and more on introducing more gals into the mix. While fine the first time since it was yame’s friend they overdone it with the next two, as it became repetitive with each new girl being propped up in order to be placed in in junichi’s slowly growing harem.
You may think it’s ridiculous to call it a harem as he already has yame, but after getting all the girls the next few episodes are dedicated on the entire group and just taking a step back it really just is a harem show. What really nails the coffin for this show are the final two episodes like most incomplete adaptations tires to rile up the final moments with tension and drama only to fall back into the status quo with nothing truly getting resolved, and this show is no exception. It becomes obvious from the time it starts that it’s an obvious bait and switch. While they aren’t the first one to do it, and surely not the last, it just shows that the show didn’t have much going for it.

Who cares about the story anyway. This is a romance story where the characters and their chemistry matter the most. Yet even in this department the show does a terrible job at doing this. Junichi our main character who follows the nothing special archetype is mostly dragged along for the ride starting with his friends tricking him to go out with yame. Which is odd considering while they are trying to reap off junichi reward of establishing a connection with the gal crowd, they also get jelous and lambast him for progressing in his relationship. Anyway he’s dragged along in the relationship, and mostly reacting to anything yame or any of the other girls do. This also becomes the main source of the comedy which takes place in his horny little mind as he goes on these wild fantasies or getting lucky. I guess he does develop a bit in the end when he see’s yame as a person he loves rather than a goal to lose his virginity, but it’s not much considering it was the only path it would have really gone.
The supporting characters at least for the males barely get anything in terms of characterization and are one note with junichi’s friends being glasses guy, blond guy, and fat pedophile. The women do get better characterization since each has an episode dedicated to them, but it’s really not that much. I would have put yame in her own separate category if it weren’t from the fact that she really is just a part of the harem with her title being [actual girlfriend]. Each girl having their sights locked onto junichi due to their rather flimsy, contrived, or unexplained motivations. What’s more apparent about these gals is that they're all probably virgins as well which is obvious for 3/4 since one is kind of a lesbian for yame and the other two are pretending to be gals. Yame herself is also hinted at being a virgin because despite her teasing nature towards junichi, she really has a tough time for the more sexual stuff like reading an erotic book. Which is a real damn shame as it loses that promiscuity of what makes a gal so great, it’s not like start off virgins are the only characters suitable for romance anime righhht...

The production value for the show already looks dated and looks like it was made during the mid to late 2000’s. while being colorful and vibrant like most rom-coms for their light hearted tones, it’s also follows the same stock format as similar shows with a notable example being characters who blushes go across and out of their faces. The only character designs that really looked good were Yame and Ranko because they are supposed to look like gals and therefore look slutish and attractive. Everyone else looks bland or bad such as bowling ball tits nene and pedo-man. Don’t expect anything in terms of animation except for some bouncing boobs every once in awhile. The show also sounds ok. The soundtrack is really nothing notable and the voice acting is competent enough for the show, but that’s about it.

The best way i can describe the show is the same way i can describe the gals in the show. It’s too damn tame. Even the uncensored version of the show looks tamed in comparison to other shows like DXD. it had a concept that could have dealt with subjects such as sex and love, but instead opts for having characters who are a certain archetype in name only and basically becoming just another rom-com without much rom or com. Even a hentai would be better because at least there would be some pay-off