Review of My Love Story!!
Okay, now that I've seen all the episodes, I can finally write a review about this extremely lovable anime, even though I've never written a review before. I am absolutely smitten with this anime. Let me elaborate. WARNING: THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS SO PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE ENTIRE THING. This anime tells a love story, obviously, as the title says. Our main character is Gouda Takeo, a 2-meter tall, muscular, even a bit scary-looking high school freshman who doesn't look his age by any means. Despite his scary appearance, he's good-hearted, energetic, always willing to help out anyone in need, which earnsrespect from his classmates and also other girls (which he is painfully unaware of). Then there's his love interest, a teeny-tiny petite shy girl named Yamato Rinko, who is really into baking cookies, helping out others in need, basically, she's just as pure-hearted as Takeo. Their love story begins when Takeo saves Yamato from a groper while on the same train. The two fall in love on first sight, although Takeo has a hard time believing she really does like him, due to his unusual appearance and girls' tendencies to dislike guys like him. Which is, frankly, so damn adorable. Takeo is not your usual anime dude. Even though he posesses superhuman strength and is adored by absolutely everyone who gets to know him, he is super modest and a little bit insecure. He also respects Yamato a great deal, going so far as having trouble calling her by her first name, being super nervous about holding her hand, promising not to even lay a finger on her until she wants him to. She, on the other hand, is embarassed by having occasional dirty thoughts about him, gets super excited about holding his hand, is amazed by his strength, always cheers for him, and so on. The contrast between the two (she's super-tiny and delicate while he's an awkward giant) is SO. DAMN. ADORABLE. Their relationship is SO. DAMN. ADORABLE. The story is SO. DAMN. ADORABLE. even though it revolves mostly around their lovey-dovey encounters ('Takeo-kun, I love you so much!', 'Aaaah, Yamato, I love you too!' and so on and so forth). It's SO FREAKING ADORABLE that I don't even give a damn about the story not being as developed as you'd expect it to be (hence why I gave it a 9 instead of a 10).
Though I must say, I really applaud the development in the latest episodes, and the small hardship the two faced (not gonna spoil it. But it's a happy ending, of course.)
STORY: 9/10
Maybe the reason why I liked this anime so freaking much is because I'm in a relationship with a guy similar to Takeo... and we're kinda like Takeo and Yamato... so it hits too hard home. Oh well. :D
ART: 10/10
The art is really crisp, the colors are nice, the backgrounds are nice, basically there's nothing to dislike. The whole thing is very fresh-looking.
SOUND: 10/10
The soundtrack isn't as offputting as you'd expect your typical shojo anime soundtrack to be. The opening song was actually really nice, I'd sit through the opening humming along to it, which is what I never ever do (when I watch anime I usually skip openings, except if I really like the song). Whoever sings the opening and ending songs did a great job, their voice is really gentle and nice, and not making me want to stab my eardrums with a fork until they bleed. Background music during the episodes is also enjoyable, there's not a single thing to complain about.
CHARACTERS: 6
While I absolutely adore Takeo and Yamato, I found myself wanting to punch the writers in the face for not showing basically any background story relating to Takeo's best friend, Sunakawa-kun. Sunakawa-kun is your typical bishounen on the outside, extremely gorgeous, but very quiet and mysterious on the inside. But we don't find out anything about why is he like that. We don't know why doesn't he pursue girls (other than disliking them for talking shit about Takeo behind his back) and why is he always so distant. He has no other significance in the anime other than being around Takeo, helping out Takeo 'n shit... everything is always revolving around Takeo. I was hoping Sunakawa-kun would find a girlfriend by the end of the series, but I ended up being disappointed. The girl who showed up as a potential love interest for him ended up being turned down for no apparent reason even though she might be a good match for him. AND WE DIDN'T EVEN GET ANY DEEPER EXPLANATION AS TO WHY WOULD HE REJECT HER, WHY IS HE ALWAYS LIKE THAT. I was so, so, so disappointed. Also, Sunakawa-kun's sister... and the guy who's interested in her (Oda-kun)... very little to no development at all. The plot revolves way too much around Takeo for my liking and doesn't give space to other characters and their development. Which made me really sad and disappointed.
ENJOYMENT/OVERALL: 10/10
Even despite the aforementioned flaws in character development, I really enjoyed this anime, as I've stated before. It's not your typical shojo anime, it's crisp, enjoyable, and it's definitely worth a shot if you want to watch something light and cheerful without any deeper story to it. For all of you out there who like adorable love stories but with a slightly different charm to it, without a lot of shojo cliches, you could really enjoy this anime. I absolutely recommend it. ^^
Hope this review was helpful enough. Cheers!