ANIME REVIEW | Ore Monogatari

Ore Monogatari (My Love Story in English) isn't your typical shoujo.

First off, it's written from the perspective of Takeo Gouda, a freakishly large and strong young man entering high school. He's a hopeless romantic, but frequently gets sidelined for his freakishly handsome friend Makoto Sunakawa.

At first glance, I thought I had it all figured out.

"Oh! Obviously Gouda will like the cute girl, but she'll go for his friend instead. Then the whole series will be him trying to win her over." Right? RIGHT? WRONG.

What the show does really well is establish a subtle, realistic way that someone might second guess themselves. The love interest, Rinko Yamato, is a freakishly feminine person and so Gouda is quick to step aside and cheer her and his friend on. What he doesn't realize though, is that she's been dropping all sorts of hints throughout the first few episodes that Gouda's the one she's interested in!

It can be hard to get passed the SUPER sweet style of Yamato at first, but her gentle character wins you over eventually.

This sort of low self-confidence, while fresh when written from a guy's perspective, is really familiar in the shoujo setting which is why it sits so well when the tables are turned. I also like how the main male love interest isn't your typically drawn protagonist (like Sunakawa). This show has taken all the standard tropes in a fresh way, with some really good comedy thrown in!

The animation is minimal, nothing crazy like Kill la Kill, but the style of the characters like Gouda keep the show interesting for me. I love the extreme expressions he has when juxtaposed with Sunakawa's nonchalant energy. They make a really good pair!

Obviously this is a story driven by character, so someone new to shoujo might find it a little slow. However by shoujo standards this show is amazingly fast! I think the show's only on episode 5 and Gouda and Yamato are already together! Sometimes this small thing could take an entire season. Denial is one of shoujo's strong points as a genre. Many stories end up being such a slow burn that I get burned out, when relationships typically aren't like that anymore (at least where I'm from).

I would definitely check it out if you're a long-time fan of shoujo whose looking for a twist on the typical story!