Review of Magimoji Rurumo
Alas, Majimoji Rurumo one more in the list of those anime that squander potential. That is not to say that this anime is terrible. In fact, I found it quite enjoyable. However, it is not a balanced anime, and it ignores its strengths in exchange for staying within the safety net of the same old tropes. Both times I have watched this series, I have had to strain my senses so as to not lose the golden thread that runs through the mud. That golden thread is all that can be seen of what could have been a great romance story about love across boundaries betweentwo characters who are both awkward for different reasons.
The serious interactions between Rurumo and Kouta are few and far between, and they are the only moments that really made me feel like the story was progressing. In between these moments (or sometimes obscuring them) are a plethora of overused perverted, comedic devices. Occasionally, there is some genuinely good comedy, but regardless of the comedy's quality, the story is rarely progressing. But how could it? After all, the story premise itself is based on the relationship between Rurumo and Kouta. And yet, that relationship takes a backseat to the comedy. On top of that, filler episode format is used - swimsuit episodes, lingerie episodes, etc. There is little to no sense of progression in the episodes because the production team tunneled too heavily on creating funny perverted scenarios, even though a gem of a relationship premise was staring them in the face. In the final episode, we finally get a truly serious emotional episode plot, and yet it falls flat because there has been so little development beforehand. Perhaps the gentlest way of viewing the production's failure is to say that they tried to create a sense of the "fun" that Rurumo and Kouta were having together as a means to show the relationship's progression and empower the final episode. With that optimistic view, the show appears slightly more endearing, but ultimately it still suffers the same problems.
As for the individual aspect grading...
The story, for the aforementioned reasons, gets a 3. If the golden thread had been the focus, it quite possibly could have been an 8 or 9.
I'm not a great reviewer of art. Nothing popped out at me, but it wasn't ugly either. The same could be said for the soundtrack. Both get a grade of 6.
The characters were a strong point, but their strengths were badly obscured by the constant, poor comedy routines. As a result, the potential 9 is hard to see beyond the 7.
The enjoyment of the show ranks average as well. Being forced to strain ones eyes for the gold among the mud makes it difficult to find that feeling where you get really drawn in. I found myself drawn in for mere single scenes before being alienated again by poor comedy.
Overall, it is a 7 in my books. Or perhaps a 6.5 if I could use partial points. The obscuring of the story being poor comedy made for a frustrating experience. However, the glimpses of that story were pure gold. This is certainly one anime for which I will be checking out the manga, in the hopes that the poor communication of the most important aspects of the story were due to its adaptation and not its authorship.