Review of Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms

If you're looking for a romance anime with the most fan service, this one has to be in the conversation. Though this is a modest show and isn't spectacular in the animation by any means, it's still effective and can make your heart race with the situations it comes up with, which all are very typical but work for a character like Mona Kawai. Speaking of, besides the fan service, she is the main reason why many seem to not enjoy this show as much. In my opinion, she's no different than a character like Nagatoro: someone that falls in love with the guy, but hasissues accepting it not only with the world, but with herself. So there's satisfaction to be found when we see her slowly (and I reiterate, SLOWLY) learn to deal with her feelings and understand why she's the way she is.

Though Mona isn't that deep of a character, there's nuance to her. She goes around in circles, wanting to make Medaka Kuroiwa fall in love with her, but she fails to comprehend why she truly wants to do that for a long while. I came to terms with the fact that she's very stubborn, so seeing her take so long to even recognize the possibility of her being in love wasn't a problem for me, I rejoiced in those moments she would bemoan about her being embarrased instead of Kuroiwa, just like those moments when Nagatoro would have a plan turn upside down on her and be just as ashamed as Naoto was in their show.

The side characters I found really lovely, besides only a couple weird storylines, such as the introducton of Haruno. Anyway, having a best friend for heroine Mona and another for rival Asahi was excellent, which makes me sad Mona's friend, Tomo, wasn't introduced earlier, since she truly gets things moving, and it's so sweet to see just how much she cares for Mona and gets excited when she learns about Mona's developing feelings for Medaka.

Medaka's friends are always pushing him to be more kind towards Mona, even though they seem to like her to some extent, but they're very understanding and comprensive of her, so when eveyone notices she has found a sort of liking to Medaka, no one gets in their way. In the end, every side character pushes Medaka, Mona or Asahi in some way, either to get them closer or get them to make a move.

Medaka though, is unfortunately one of the less explored things in the season. His dialogue is incredibly repetitive, but it makes sense and the delivery and context honestly made it fun for me everytime. I would have loved to learn more about his religion, his family or their temple, but it's all left unexplored for now. Such stuff makes me excited for the second season!

One last thing I'd like to mention, I really liked the ideas this story has. From the very supportive and charismatic bunch of side characters, to have them all go together to the amusement park. It's all good stuff. As over-the-top as the comedy or the fan service may get, there's a bunch of heart and fun to be found here.

OPENING: It's been stuck in my head for a few days ahhhh. That dance sequence is rough, to be honest, though it would only need some slight work to be more pleasant in the eye.
ENDING 1: Very bubblegum-y, good stuff. Love seeing their chibi versions spin around in the end.
ENDING 2: Two endings in a 12-episode season? Perhaps they should have saved the money here and invest it in the others... Anyway, this one barely has animation, and the song is probably my least favorite of the three, but it's still good