Review of My Clueless First Friend

This anime is probably one of my favorite slice of life animes. The premise of the entire show was just so adorable, wholesome, and just beautiful. Plot: The plot is very simple, it’s about Nishimura, a young girl who is often bullied by her classmates because of her eyes that resemble the Grim Reaper. But her life is turned around when she meets Takada, a young boy who is very energetic and oblivious to things around him. Because of his energetic nature, he befriended Nishimura despite whatever his classmates tell about her. This plot is very adorable and wholesome and is actually progressive, seeing throughout that Nishimuraimproves in her social skills, befriending Takada’s sister, Umi, Kasahara, and Hino as such.

Characters: Although the art seems very simplistic, it also fits the anime’s lighthearted nature. The character designs are decent, but what I like the most are their personalities (excluding Kitagawa’s). Nishimura from a very introverted person to a now much happier girl thanks to Takada’s sunny personality that helps her get out of her shell. I love their dynamic because you can really see that Takada is very outspoken in how he thinks of Nishimura, completely ignoring his classmates’ opinions of Nishimura.

Their crushes on one another is also very endearing, but the scene that really took the cake was the scene he found out about Nishimura’s deceased mother. I love how considerate he was of her feelings, feeling extremely bad for calling her the Grim Reaper (albeit in a loving manner) since it seemed “related” to the fact that Nishimura’s died because of her through difficult childbirth (or maybe some other reason, since it was unsaid). I loved how he cried and apologized and they just held hands on the way home, taking longer routes to stay together longer to comfort Takada. That episode really struck me.

Another character that I love is Nishimura’s father who’s very supportive and loving towards Nishimura, marinating eggs for her so that she could strike conversations with friends easily, accompanying her in buying a swimsuit, and also crying with joy when she sent him a photo of her and her friends eating lunch together. I love how his love is displayed very well even if those scenes were very brief.

I also love Kasahara’s character development, starting out as one of the major bullies to now being Nishimura’s good friend. Initially, I was very annoyed with how she would keep bullying Nishimura, but then again, they’re children but that also isn’t an excuse to bully someone. However, during the school festival, I love how she was patient in hearing out Nishimura’s plea for her to represent their class and for her to run since Nishimura couldn’t run as fast she could. This scene really showed that Nishimura knew her limits and was willing to ask others to help her despite her want to be with Takada during the relay race. From there, Kasahara started warming up to Nishimura to the point she stopped herself from bullying her, deciding to stay silent instead.

Edit: I love that scene where Nishimura and Takada witnessed Kasumi-neechan's kiss with her crush, like that awoke something between the two of them and it made the relationship even cuter. I love how Takada wanted to kiss Nishimura, but she held him off by telling it to give his first someone he really loved but then he said that he wanted it to be her. LIKE AYO THEY ARE SO ADORABLE AGHHHH

Animation: The animation is also good, not as high as Mappa or StudioWit, but it’s good enough.

OST: The music is also good enough.

Overall score: It’s a 9/10 for me! I highly recommend this anime if you want your dose of serotonin and wholesomeness!