Review of Sing "Yesterday" for Me

I almost dropped this show once I realized what kind of pace it's going to move in: Extremely slowly, and only 2 meters forward in total. There are a lot of things I'd want to complain about, and only a few that were really worthwhile, so I'm 80% annoyed and maybe 20% glad that I stuck with it after all. The setting of the show is the everyday life of someone who hasn't figured out what he wants to do after college, and the show is trying to make this as painfully relatable as possible. For anybody who has been or still is in a similar situation, itmight hit a little too close to home. If you're looking for a motivator to overcome your hurdles and inhibitions, I would recommend something like "Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru" instead, because you will only get very little mileage out of Yesterday in that regard. As I mentioned, the main character Rikuo makes very little progress over the course of the series. So at best, he might serve as a bad example and make you realize that you definitely don't want to appear as an indecisive wishy-washy loser like him.
His romantic misadventures on the other hand - and this is the main focus of the story! - are probably a lot less relatable to a Western audience, or even a modern day Japanese audience. I already figured that the story must be set in the late 90s due to some clunky product designs featured in the backgrounds. Looking up the original manga's debut date did confirm that it's set in 1997. And I would say that societal conventions have changed a bit since then, if they ever were as bad as they are depicted in Yesterday. Characters of the opposite sex always keep their distance, act awkward and evasive with each other, let alone make any sexual allusions. The show does end on a kiss, but until then the highest forms of physical affection were two weird hugs and one person tugging on another person's jacket. Two of the four main characters who are involved in the love triangle(s) are relatively open about their romantic intentions, but even they limit themselves on how much they will push the topic, usually out of consideration for their love interest's circumstances. So most of the time, you'll only watch two characters walking each other home at night and then awkwardly saying goodbye while holding back what they actually want to say. It's just frustrating when these people get nowhere, or when nothing of consequence or significance happens in an episode.
That's not to say that this extremely mundane drama is entirely anachronistic. I'm sure that a lot of awkward people will still find these relationships very relatable. It's just not what I watch animes for. And in this specific case, it felt like a huge waste of time.

Maybe the fact that it IS an anime instead of a live action drama is Yesterday's biggest raison d'être. As a live action drama it would become even more obvious how boring the plot is, while the artstyle and animation quality of the anime are often way more elaborate than they have any right to be. Like sometimes, someone will turn around and take off their coat and that motion alone has more keyframes than an entire fight scene in an action show. That alone shouldn't justify the creation of a show where this little happens. In a way, that makes it stand out from all the regular stupid romcoms that come out these days.
Though that still doesn't make Yesterday an entertaining show.

Things that I did enjoy:
- The minor side-characters who were way more colorful and interesting than the four main characters
- The fact that Rikuo and Haruo got together in the end because the alternative was just annoying
- The 2nd ED being an 8-bit shmup