Review of The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil

Kanaten on the surface seems like it might be just another generic romcom. After all, it is obviously based on the centuries old template of Romeo and Juliet, with the forbidden love of enemies, an Angel and Demon, falling for one another, and with the initial reaction to this anime I was concerned the adaptation had been massively screwed up. Having been following the manga this is based on for nearly five years, I can safely say that isn't the case. This adaptation kicks ass and greatly exceeds my expectations. The most simple description of Kanaten would be a romantic comedy with action elements. The romanceaspect is great; Akutsu and Lily have fantastic on screen chemistry that grows very naturally feeling. No step of their relationship feels forced. The comedy is top notch, think Cromartie High School with a mix of the competitiveness between the leads like in Kaguya: Love is War. The fight scenes, which are Angels vs Demons in nature, are much better than any RomCom has any business being.

As for the adaptation aspect, all the characters look and sound great. The studio did an amazing job bringing the manga to life. The jokes translated so much better from the manga than I thought they would. Animation wise it's REALLY good for a RomCom, I was actually surprised and impressed with a lot of the scenes. All of the voice actors really nailed their roles; everyone sounded great for the characters they were playing.

All in all, Kanaten is in my opinion, the best romantic comedy anime to come out in years, and judging by the current score is extremely underrated. If you like romance, anime humor, some action scenes, this will give you the fix you're looking for. I hope you'll give it a shot. My personal score as a longtime fan is a 9/10, but even someone new to the series will find plenty to enjoy.