Review of My Love Story!!
This show is like a cake, and no, I'm not just saying that because the main girl loves baking. It's sweet, and designed to make you smile. There are very few moments in this anime that will make you experience negative emotions while consuming it. Story: 6, With the fact that I gave this an overall score of 8, you might think this is a pretty low score, but the story itself really isn't anything special. The plot isn't anything overly exciting, and it never managed to catch me off guard. I can confidently say there was never a moment that I didn't know whatwas coming next, but in a show that is designed to make you happy, that's not always a bad thing. Sure, the story is nothing spectacular, but the show shines in many different ways.
Art: 9, A thing I always look for in the art of an anime is that the quality manages to stay consistent and Ore Monogatari did that perfectly. The art stays at a high quality for the entirety of the series, and moments that are exceptionally important, definitely shine. Sometimes this can be a negative, as the moments of more poor animation are more noticeable when the animation drastically shifts towards top notch, but since the average scene is animated very well in this, the difference between the stellar and the standard really isn't that significant.
Sound: 9, Watched the English dub, and the entire casts VA did an amazing job. Takeo in particular had an excellent VA, who really captured the charm of his character. The OP was good, but not enough that I didn't end up skipping it most of the time. On the other hand, the ED, which is a lot more common for me to skip, was something I listened to at the end of almost every episode.
Character: 7, For a romcom, usually you want characters that blow you away and make you fall in love with them. This didn't really have that for me; it was hard to feel great feelings of depth in the characters. Takeo was certainly the deepest character, with his true nature unfolding more and more in the later episodes. Rinko felt like she could've been given a bit more spotlight; maybe its just me, but it almost feels like her personality is purposely under-defined to make it easier for girls to project themselves upon her. Seeing as this is shoujo, that would make sense, even if I'm not a fan of this decision. If I had to put everything about her liking Takeo, and everything else about her on two sides of a scale--that first group would definitely be the heavier side.
Enjoyment: 9, As I started with, this show was as enjoyable as cake, and you didn't even have to worry about the calories! I can only think of two times where I had slightly negative feelings in these entire 24 episodes, and both times they managed to resolve themselves in a matter that may have been predictable, but was enjoyable nonetheless. The wholesome nature of this show was unique; my least favorite part of many romance series is their overlap with the drama genre, but this series certainly managed to keep rolling without borrowing too many drama-based plot devices.
Overall: 8, This show isn't anything amazing, and I don't want to give you the impression that it is. I could see certain people giving it a 10/10, but its missing the one thing that I need when I watch something. I think that since I'm a writer, this is probably something that applies to myself more than a lot of other people, but what Ore Monogatari is missing is the ability to inspire. Most shows, even shows that I would rate lower than Ore Monogatari, have at least a scene or two that managed to inspire me, but not this. Ore Monogatari simply doesn't exist to inspire, but nonetheless it still managed to bring a smile to my face. At the end of the day, if you're not opposed to watching two love-sick idiots go all goo-goo for each other, then I would recommend giving Ore Monogatari the chance to make you smile.