English Dub Season Review: My Tiny Senpai Season One

Overview:

Takuma Shinozaki is a new hire, who always has the support of his senpai Shiori Katase. The two seemingly develop feelings for one another, which leads to a lot of awkward interactions between them inside and outside of the office.

Our Take:

Katase is Shinozaki’s senior, and she always treats him favorably. She’s always giving him a hand, as well as praising him for his work. These two always act friendly to each other on the surface, but tit looks like they’re developing romantic feelings for one another as well. Their conversations get awkward fairly often, but they also usually have sweet conclusions and they’re normally funny overall. Plus, it’s nice seeing Katase and Shinozaki grow closer as the show goes on.

I enjoy both main characters. Shinozaki is kind and hard-working. He’s not the most notable protagonist, but he has his entertaining moments. Katase is also very kind. There are a lot of scenes that depict her with cat ears and a tail. This is fitting because she does like cats, and other characters describe her as having cat-lie qualities.

The show offers plenty of entertaining characters. Chihiro Akina is the departmwnt manager, and he’s always meddling in other peoples’ love life, mainly Shinozaki and Katase. He’s still a nice guy, and it never feels like he’s crossing the line when he tries to get involved. Chinatsu Hayakawa is the most level-headed member of the team. She brings a more grounded level of humor to the show, but that can change when she gets mixed up in Akina’s antics. Takuma’s sister, Yutaka, is a mostly deadpan character. She loses her mind when she meets Katase, and she’s also pushing for her brother and Katase to get together.

The voice acting is very good in the dub. The standout performance for me is Megan Shipman as Katase. Most people may know her as Anya Forger in Spy x Family, but I think this role helps solidify her range as a voice actor.

This show’s humor can vary quite a bit. The awkward interactions are funny, and there’s also a bit of lewd humor involved. It’s not too lewd, but the show does focus a bit on Katase’s proportions. It can be funny in some scenes, but it can be a little much in others. This show can go from being sweet and wholesome to being a little uncomfortable in spots. The scene that shows the two having overlapping dreams is a prime example of how weird it can get on occasion.

It can be frustrating watching a rom-com because a lot of them have a “Will they, won’t they?” plot. You can watch the show for an entire season, or even longer, and never get an answer to whether or not the main characters will become an official couple. My Tiny Senpai is no exception, as it also follows this plotline. There is one scene in particular that is extreme frustrating because it feels like it stops the romance plot dead in its tracks. Thankfully though, the show is able to recover eventually. There are also a couple of small romantic subplots between other characters that can keep the viewer engaged.

Overall, My Tiny Senpai is a very enjoyable workplace romantic comedy. It has a lot of fun characters, plenty of great comedic scenes, and some sweet wholesome moments. It doesn’t make the most of everything it has to offer, but I still feel fairly satisfied with how it turns out.