Posted by Lynk Former
Reviews7 June 2020

The Great Anime Marathon of 2020! #26 – #30: Love is in the Air!

When it comes to love stories in anime, they come in all kinds of strange flavours, from your average vanilla teenage school drama, all the way to the strange love stories that span time and space. You can be pretty confident that, whatever flavour you’re into, there’s an anime that has what you want.

Here’s a selection of five that are a bit of a spread, but are still only a small slice of the kinds of anime love stories that are out there…

The following is a spoiler-free list of anime I’ve seen this year in no particular order:

#26: Recovery of an MMO Junkie

I went into this one blind, not knowing what to really expect. All I knew is that I hoped it wouldn’t be like “Gamers!” where there were video game references haphazardly plastered all over the place. Thankfully, I found none of that and the gaming elements were all very well done.

What I did find from Recovery of an MMO Junkie is a very well told story about a person who is exhausted with her life, quits her job and decides to spend the rest of her days hiding away in her apartment, retreating into the fantasy world of MMO gaming that she uses to create a shell around herself.

Of course, as the title suggest, our main character, Moriko Morioka, ends up finding a group of friends online as well as a special someone that end up being closer to her offline than she realised. What we end up with is a series of events that allow Moriko to break out of her shell and help her to lead a more healthy lifestyle and find love in the most unlikely of places.

On the surface, it seems like a very simple premise, but its executed extremely well and I definitely recommend this one to everyone who likes a good, simple and satisfying love story.

It also has killer opening and ending animations with awesome music. In a lot of anime, I tend to skip the OP end ED, but with MMO Junkie, I watch all of it all the way through every time.

#27: My Love Story!!

This one is another simple story but with a quirky twist of “what if the big brutish looking guy fell in love with a tiny cute girl” type thing… which, on the surface sounds like it’d be a fun time.

As fun as the premise sounds, for the most part, it gets pretty repetitive and the premise feels stale for that large middle part of the series. It’s not until you get to the end where things start to get a little more interesting with a bit of conflict added to the mix. However, before you know it, the series has already come to an end.

I don’t mind the characters and the premise, but there’s just not a whole lot to this one. It shouldn’t be standard, but it’s standard.

#28: DARLING in the FRANXX

Now we get into the love across time and space territory with mechs and earth shattering stakes, etc. This one is… interesting, in that it goes all over the map in terms of what it does.

It starts off as a standard post-apocalyptic fight against aliens on earth with mechs scenario, but then you learn some things and realise we’re in a kind of Gurren Lagann situation and, well… there’s a lot of “we want to capture the feel of Gurren Lagaan, but as a love story” vibe going on with this one.

It’s an enjoyable watch, but it’s hard to really place this anywhere but square in the middle of, it’s not bad and it’s definitely not great, it’s just, alright. It definitely goes out there by the end though… way out there.

I know, I’m sending mixed messages here. DARLING in the FRANXX is an enjoyable watch and it does take you places, but it has its flaws that sets it back somewhat. Mostly, it’s the fact that are too many things about it are a little too on the nose. If you end up watching it, you’ll see exactly what I mean.

#29: The Ancient Magus’ Bride

As I started watching this one, I got the distinct impression that this particular anime was designed for the female persuasion rather than males. It features a young woman who knows not the ways of this strange new world and is swept off her feet by a powerful man. It’s a fantasy story that focuses a lot on how the main character feels and her general emotional state. There is very little in the way of action and it is more of a quiet, still story.

In my investigations, I found that the author of The Ancient Magus’ Bride is a woman named Kore Yamazaki who has had three of her manga’s published in her lifetime. Out of the three, there is a mix of relationships and fantasy that are the main focus, with The Ancient Magus’ Bride having a mix of these two elements. However, what got me about this story is that it’s listed as a “shounen” manga rather than a “shoujo” manga as I had expected.

From my understanding, a story like the one portrayed in this anime fits more along the lines of what a “shoujo” manga would be. However, I soon discovered that the demographic names of “shounen” and “shoujo” didn’t really fit with “young male teenagers” and “young female teenagers” as I had originally thought… at least, not any more.

The issue stems from the kinds of works that are now attached to the “shoujo” targeted demographic, which includes niche interests such boy-love type stories, etc. Shoujo, these days, tends to focus on the niche, while the “shounen” demographic focuses more on the broader spectrum of the audience.

That’s why a love story such as The Ancient Magus’ Bride, which is clearly focused more on the women-folk, is listed as a “shounen” manga… because you reach a wider audience of everyone, male and female. In contrast, listing it as a “shoujo” manga suggests you’re targeting a small niche of the female audience only.

Anyway, I’ve gotten extremely side tracked. Is The Ancient Magus’ Bride right for you? If you want a more feminine feeling love story, definitely.

#30: Toradora!

Allow me to start off my description of “Toradora!” in such a way that echoes what I wrote about a different anime in a previous anime marathon entry…

The basic premise is that a boy named Ryuji Takasu has only one friend because everyone in school thinks he’s a delinquent due to his scary snake eyes, though, he’s really just a housewife at heart… and now we’re having flashbacks of my description of Kodaka Hasegawa from Haganai.

Thankfully, this series is nothing like Haganai as it doesn’t involve any kind of strange fetish or harem elements. This anime is more of a romantic comedy that ends up taking a very interesting path, featuring characters that are very well constructed with character interactions that are all very well done.

Ryuji Takasu has a crush on Taiga Aisaka’s friend, Minori Kushieda, while Taiga has a crush on Ryuji’s friend, Yusaku Kitamura. When the two discover this about each other, they decide to team up and help each other get with their respective crush.

However, as you can probably guess, things don’t turn out as they expect and end up getting complicated… very complicated. This love story goes on one hell of a roller-coaster ride as it strings you along right to the very last episode, right to the very end credits in a post credits scene!

The first time I watched the anime, I was pissed off at how much it strung me along. However, after watching Haganai, I had to wash the stench of that show off of me and decided to re-watch “Toradora!” one more time. On the second viewing, I have come to appreciate the hell out of this anime and think very highly of it.

Everything about “Toradora!” is so well done, from the characters themselves, to their interactions with other character, it all gets you so damn invested. I also like how its humour is used more to set in motion a series of events rather than being as an over the top gag reel like in a lot of other romantic comedy anime series.

However, what really sets “Toradora!” above the rest is that it’s a coming of age story where the characters realise, in their own ways, that they have to grow up and become more than they are… especially for one character that everyone tries to protect throughout the series. Sometimes, you just have to learn to stand on your own two feet before you can commit to something greater.

This one, along with The Recovery of an MMO Junkie are my top recommendations for anime love stories.

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