Review of My First Girlfriend is a Gal

Ok, this is my first review, so please be kind. I did not read the manga, so I focus on the anime only. First of all, I do not really understand the many extremely low ratings for this show. Hajimete no Gal is a comedy show with romance plot, with many satiric references to common tropes and other Anime / Manga / LN, and has ecchi scenes and lewd humour, and I will judge it as this. If one would rate an ecchi harem as bad, just because it has girls and boobs in it, all of them would get a rating of 1, from Highschool DxD (which ismy favourite in the harem genre) down to Masou Gakuen (which is an ideal bad example for me, make it a real Hentai show and go for it).

I started and binge-watched this show mainly because I was bored and just wanted something to laugh.
Yes it features some boobs, but I'm two decades away from being a teenager in emergency state, and so they are nothing but a nice plus, but I didn't come for them, 3D is much better anyway ;)

I have seen many shows that were quite funny or entertaining, but shortly after watching I didn't remember any details.
But Hajimete no Gal is, at least for me, different and stands out in some way, just after a few episodes I realized that it would stick in my brain for longer, and I was right.
Now I rewatched the series, and feel my first opinion was right.
So I decided to write this review.

The story sounds simple: Our virgin protagonist is forced by his 3 completely perverted friends to confess to the ultimate gal, because gals are said to be easy to lay, but they just expect him to fail, and he goes like a lamb to the slaugter.
But to his very surprise and anger from his friends, she agrees, although she guesses the real reason quite well.
And so they start their "relationship", which brings some more female rivals into the story, but it is never a real harem show.
The last two episodes add some drama, and get a little more serious, but I liked the resolving and the end.

The art was fine, simple but quite nice and cute. Nothing really outstanding, and more important, no annoying bad CGI shots.
The censorship is a two-sided sword, I thought is was kind of funny how the harder-ecchi scenes were censored with handbags, costume jewellery, hands and stuff, and even some "adult only" comments.
But come on, you don't have to censor every single panty shot and stuff just to raise the Blu Ray sales...

The sound was ok as well, OP and ED too were ok, but no earworm for me.
The only thing that annoyed me was how fast the voice actors talk in the outro, sounds like someone had accidentially pressed the fast forward button.

The characters were not fleshed out very deep, but still deep enough to understand their actions and enjoy the show.
It is a 10 episodes show after all, and moreover a comedy romance, so I see no added value in explaining everyone's very lives down to the deepest detail, it's just not necessary.
In the spoiler section below, the characters are discussed more in detail.

As I said before, I really liked Hajimete no Gal, it was fun to watch, fun to discover the allusions and parodies, and it went far beyond my initial expectations as just some funny time-killer.

*** The following sections contain spoilers, but I think they are needed for going into detail. ***
*** If you haven't seen the show or don't want any spoilers, just stop here. ***

The protagonist Jun'ichi is quite the typical guy with no outstanding ability, despite his lack of self-consciousness.
He is kind, but shy, and - most important - he is a virgin, and very unhappy with that and under constant self-pressure because of that.
So unhappy and desperate that he would do almost anything just to finally get laid - at least in the very beginning.
While the series progresses, he gets some chances to actually really get laid, but refuses for different reasons.
He is not the usual super-dense protagonist, but instead feels kind of realistic, at least for a comedy show.
And he gets his development, he discovers his feelings for Yukana and realizes that there is more to life than just have his cherry popped.
And he finally overcomes his low self-esteem, which was the reason for his conflict with Yukana, and moreover confesses the real reason of his first confession, and then confesses again, now with his grown true feelings for her.
Yes he is a little perverted, but mostly in his thoughts, and not as much in actions like his friends.
But to be honest, whom of us was not when we were hit hard by puberty, at least a little bit?

The "gal" Yukana seems like the typical gal trope, she has big boobs, open-hearted clothing and likes to tease boys and girls, the loosey-goosey and genki type of person, except she hates perverts.
But she definitely is not a slut in any way, she is kind, intelligent and seems as unexperienced as Jun'ichi, although we never really get to know.
When Jun'ichi confesses to her, she instantly suspects his true motives, but finds him some kind of cute except his pervertedness.
She sees how shy he reacts when seeing her panty and boobs at close range, and knows he is not the type to violently bring his virginity to an end with her, and so she accepts.
She teases him a lot, but more in an innocent way, not to offend him.

Her gal friend Ranko is the trope to the extreme, plus she can get quite violent.
She has also more to offer under her shell, she loves Yukana and doesn't want her to get hurt, and beats up anyone in her way.
She even goes so far to try to seduce Jun'ichi to break his newly begun relationship with Yukana, because she suspects him of abusing her for losing his virginity, and to protect her.
Although he is quite blindsided and petrified as she teases him harder and harder, he manages to refuse her, which gives him some bonus points, although she does not fully trust him.
She also likes to tease Jun'ichi, but far more direct and dirtier than Yukana, and constantly calls him doutei-kun (doutei=virgin).

Jun'ichi's friends, the "perverted trio" of the show, often try to convince him of committing lewd acts such as reading ero mags in the classroom, and of course confessing to Yukana to get laid (and happily expecting him to fail).
At first they envy him because his confession was some sort of success, but they cope with it, and try to support him.
Shinpei is quite the leader, he knows everything about women from his ero mags and impresses the others with his wisdom and knowledge, which leads to many comedic scenes, because reality is a little different from his porn mags.
Keigo is the least fleshed out, he mostly moves just with the flow initiated by Keigo.
Minoru is an extreme lolicon, just to the extent that even his friends say he will end in jail sooner or later.
He is where most critics from other reviews goes, and I must admit that this kind of humour is a hit-or-miss.
Yes, he makes constant statements about where to find cute elementary school girls and how much he likes them, and that girls his age are way too old for him.
But the lolicon trope is soo satirically overdrawn here, you just can't take it serious, well at least I can not.
Just look at some other shows where loli and lolicon tropes are heavily used, but as fanservice and not as a joke.
Maybe I'm seeing to much in this, but I think it holds the mirror to all lolicon otakus.

Nene, Jun'ichi's childhood friend, is another example for the comedy character of this show, she is the energetic loli "little sister" with extreeemely huge boobs.
Some call it fanservice, I call it satiric and tropes over the top.
She has feelings for the MC from the beginning on, and as his relationship with Yukana started, she turned herself into a gal and appeared naked in his bed to get him for herself.
But he refuses her, as he does not want to destroy their friendship, and wants to lose his virginity to someone he loves.
Finally she accepts that, and even supports him in his relationship, although she still teases him.

Yui seems kind and dignified from the outside, but is a himedere and secret internet gal under her shell.
She tries to twist him around her finger and make him her pet dog, like she does with all others around her, and even confesses to him to reach her goal.
But after he refuses her, she begins to grow real feelings for him, I think just because of that, which is another trope.
She changes after she discovered her real feelings for him, but still sometimes falls back to old patterns.

The show also features some inner dialogs and fantasies, mostly of Jun'ichi.
In these dialogs, his different character traits discuss with each other what to do, one of them being his "Ero-Me".
His fantasies depict the outcome of some special situations, and some of these are not recognized as fantasies right until they are over and the real plot goes on.

During this show, I found several references to other works, like when Shinpei appears dressed up as Kirito from SAO when they all play ousama game at Yukana's home.
During the girls' job at a cosplay café named Hybrid Heart (HxH), they are supposed to read ecchi passages from light novels to the customers, namely Highschool DxD, Shinmai Maou no Testament, Nisekoi and Masou Gakuen HxH.
Not to forget the hommage to Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu when the boys dress up in full combat armor to peek on the girls in the onsen.
Oh, and his "Ero-Me" in his inner dielog reminds me of Hentai Kamen, with the panty over his face.
And I think there is more to find for the connaisseur...