Review of A Couple of Cuckoos

My expectations for this show weren't high. I went into it with the full expectation of it being a mildly entertaining but ultimately average romcom harem show. Incredibly, despite the bar being in hell, it doesn't even manage that. Instead, I was treated to some of the most obnoxious and tedious episodes I've seen in one of these kinds of shows. The only actual important part of these kinds of shows are the characters, more specifically the girls. Generally speaking you should expect a loose through line that connects a bunch of stereotypical events which are held up by the girls' personalities and fanservice. Idon't think they got the memo about the second half of that statement because this cast is horrendous. The main character, Umino, has the easiest job available as the main character. Initially you would expect him to be a proactive yet stoic character based on his profile, someone who puts studying above all else but looks after those he cares about to a fault. Instead he's nothing but a massive idiot who overthinks every situation and has a personality that drags down every scene he's in, which isn't exactly great when you're the main character. Even the herbivore men who populate the modern landscape of romcoms outperform him because they typically receive some amount of characterization and development (and generally have low presence compared to their female counterparts). His flaws become worse as the show makes attempts at introducing plot elements because despite being the smartest in his grade he's unable to figure out the extremely basic nature of his situation. Everything about him runs contrary to the kind of character he was set up to be and he alone prevents this show from reaching mediocrity.

It's not as if he's receiving much help from the female end either. The main girl, Erika, is equally as obnoxious although not to as egregious of a degree as Umino since she's at least supposed to be annoying. The core issue with her mainly comes from how the show attempts to portray their relationship. Umino and Erika have the least chemistry of any of the pairings, and yet every other character constantly goes on about how they're a surprisingly good match. This isn't even a case of "they fight a lot so they must get along" there is nothing going on between them whatsoever. They attempt to rectify this a little in the second half by forcing them to interact more often but it comes across as entirely inauthentic and fails to compel me. As a consequence, the only character Umino actually has any chemistry with, Segawa, is constantly being mistreated and just as deliberately written out of scenarios. The early moments between Segawa and Umino are the only moments in the entire show that I actually enjoyed because they have natural chemistry and a connection that actually progresses reasonably. It's just such a pain when you go from a Segawa episode into an Erika episode because the absolute gap in quality of interaction and story is extreme. Again, I think they realized this and had to run "damage control" in order to make the standings slightly more even, coming at the hefty cost of Segawa being benched and repeating the same few scenes for the entire second half. The third character, Sachi, also has decent chemistry with Umino and has a somewhat compelling plotline but even more than Segawa she feels like a background character more than anything else. Sachi is allowed the least amount of time in the spotlight, even during arcs which are supposed to be hers.

The show's characters suffer mainly from an unapologetic amount of favoritism. I get that Erika is supposed to be the main girl but every interaction she has with Umino comes across as forced and inauthentic. The cast of girls isn't even as large as most harem shows, which usually standardize at four girls, and yet the distribution of screen time is insanely lopsided. None of the characters experience any development either. Their personalities stay exactly the same from episode one to episode 24, which isn't exactly a good thing when most of their personalities are their weakest aspect. In terms of Umino he actually loses important parts of his character as the show goes on, transitioning into someone who's constantly yelling about the situation at hand. This can also be observed in Segawa although that could just be a product of her screentime constantly dwindling.

They also suffer a lot from the show's absolute lack of direction. The core premise is initially fine but then it just never goes anywhere and if you even think about it for more than a couple seconds it falls apart easily. There isn't much of a plot, character specific or overarching, either. Sachi is the one that has the most semblance of one but Erika and Segawa mainly revolve around a feedback loop of watching Umino interact with the other girl and getting grumpy about it. I mentioned earlier that they attempt to introduce some plot elements later in the show, but these end up being so incredibly weak that it only added to my frustration with the characters. Many characters attempt to add some sort of deeper meaning by speaking vaguely to Umino, and even though the things that they tell him are not difficult to understand and he's supposed to be a "smart character" he broods over them like some kind of Neanderthal. Episodes don't even feel connected, they'll end in one place and start somewhere else only to loosely pick up the events of the previous episode(s) in some other location. This is especially felt in the later episodes as the amount of flashbacks, reused footage, and drawn out scenes begin to skyrocket. I was actually surprised that this ended up being a two cour show because episode 12 felt so much like an ending point, and everything after it felt incredibly redundant.

It doesn't help that the show has piss poor production value. Your reward for putting up with all this garbage isn't even some nice looking anime girls because the show is just ugly. High animation budget isn't a requirement to make one of these but it seems they spent all their budget acquiring big voice acting names rather than anyone who's ever drawn moving characters before. I don't think the animators truly understands the function of perspective or how to utilize it properly because whenever a character has to move in a non linear direction it looks horrible. Everything just looks choppy and amateurish as well and it's clear they ran out of budget halfway through because, as mentioned before, the amount of reused scenes and panning slideshows starts to ramp up considerably. Another case of not meeting incredibly low expectations. They do make a lot of attempts at fanservice but they typically fail because they both don't commit enough and the artstyle doesn't compliment that kind of thing anyway. The characters generally look very average but that doesn't cut it when the entire point of the show is to make you like the characters.

I really did not like this show. Every episode compounded the issues of the last and by the end of it I was so annoyed with it all. It's not even a show that's so bad or ridiculous that you can laugh at it. It's so painfully mediocre and obnoxious that it's genuinely difficult to sit through episodes. There's a very set blueprint for these kinds of things and they stick to it a little too rigorously, all the while option selection the worst possible choice at every turn. The bar is in hell, and they couldn't even manage that.