English Dub Season Review: Girlfriend, Girlfriend Season One

Based on the Japanese romantic comedy manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki under the alternate titles “Kanojo mo Kanojo” or “She is my Girlfriend Too” the story follows a high school kid named Naoya Mukai who is currently having the time of his life after his childhood friend Saki finally accepts one of his countless confessions. Ensuring that their relationship will stay strong, he spares no effort in showering affection on his now beloved girlfriend.

However, one afternoon, another girl named Nagisa Minase suddenly confesses to Naoya following months of preparation. Even though he politely rejects her, Nagisa’s irresistible charm and determination continue to attract Naoya. Wanting to fulfill both Saki and Nagisa’s desires, Naoya ends up proposing a crazy idea—to date the two of them simultaneously, with both girls fully aware. This unprecedented state of affairs ultimately causes wacky and hilarious situations in whatever they do to keep their unusual relationship going…

On the technical side, The Anime was done by the animation studio Tezuka Productions and was directed by Kuwahara Satoshi with scripts by Inukai, Kazuhiko, and Morita, Mayumi. Akiko Toyoda din charge of character design. Miki Sakurai and Tatsuhiko Saiki composed the series’ music. The band Necry Talkie performed the series’ opening theme song “Fuzaketenai ze”, while Momo Asakura performed the series’ ending theme song “Pinky Hook”.

Every once in a while, there’s an anime that comes out of nowhere that revels in its own ridiculousness that strikes a nerve with audiences. And while the concept of polygamy/polyamory isn’t anything new within anime’s past. Very few take a realistic approach like this show even if the idea sounds like it came straight out of a hentai. And is easily a difficult subject to make tame jokes about without resorting to low-hanging fruit like sex jokes and innuendos. However, Girlfriend, Girlfriend brings a very different approach to the Harem subgenre with a unique relationship dynamic that, while seeming innovative and different, demonstrates how lost and desperate romance anime has become in the past few years.

This is because wacky romantic comedies or romantic subplots within anime are often plagued with the egregiously forced “will they/won’t they” relationship dynamics for the sake of dragging a story for too long and consequently falling victim to its own increasingly repetitive cycle while not always knowing what to do when it comes to finishing/concluding a show. And while the cringe-humor excels in places, it’s the characters that are hit or miss in terms of elevating the humor while keeping it lighthearted to a certain degree.

The chemistry between the main girl’s Saki, Nagisa, and Mirika, and the protagonist Naoya all have great moments with each other despite Rika often coming across as a nuisance. And while the show does its best to further differentiate each female love interest, they sometimes come across as wacky, archetypal, and sometimes generic. Often times making illogical decisions (including the male lead Naoya) that conflict with their own interests. Every joke increases in severity and all manner of sexual desires and insecurities will occasionally crawl to the surface which creates some truly cringe-worthy moments With the exception of a character by the name of Shino whom in the last 3 episodes, unexpectedly stole the show as she’s a very serious character which is honestly a nice contrast to how wacky this anime is.

Overall, while this show isn’t for everyone, I didn’t feel one bit insulted as this anime really isn’t meant to be taken seriously. And yet It somehow managed to give me a good laugh once in a while during its proceedings. Still, it accomplishes something so subversive that it makes we the audience wonder if the writers, artists, and actors were all in on the joke. With the recent announcement of season 2, we’ll most likely expect more of this wackiness to escalate in the future and that might not be a bad thing.