English Dub Review: The Dreaming Boy Is a Realist “I Like You. Please Go Out With Me”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Wataru Sajo is a self-described ordinary student. He’s got a crush on his classmate Aika Natsukawa. He dreams of dating her, but he’s also perceived as the “stalker guy.”

Our Take:  

It’s a struggle when your crush is distancing themselves from you, no matter how often you attempt to ask them out. However, it’s also irritating when you do the same thing to them, who are now trying to get your attention. This brings us to the latest rom-com anime involving two classmates struggling to confess their feelings to each other, and it all starts with someone realizing they’re a stalking pervert. Isn’t love neat?

The someone I’m referring to is Wataru Sajo. Wataru is a student who consistently confesses his love to the most beautiful classmate in high school, Aika Natsukawa, who treated him with kindness after Wataru was rejected by a girl in middle school. Of course, she turns him down multiple times because…well, he’s a stalker. After a close encounter with a flying soccer ball, Wataru then realizes the truth about himself. As a result, Wataru decides to change his ways, starting by distancing himself from Aika after learning he’s not good for her.  

This would’ve been a really short series had it not been for Aika’s curiosity about Wataru’s sudden personality change. That, and her jealousy toward Rena for interacting with Wataru following her breakup with her boyfriend, Kazuki. After Wataru discusses why he fell in love with Aika before leaving her alone, Rena reconciles with Kazuki. This leads to Aika visiting Wataru to find out why he’s avoiding her, with Wataru telling her they’re better off as classmates.

Judging by the first episode, The Dreaming Boy Is a Realist offers an interesting twist in the high school romance genre to keep it from being derivative. You have a male student falling in love with a gorgeous girl, only to discover the creepy truth about himself, resulting in the girl getting more upset about him ditching his stalker vibe. It’s an intriguing approach to the male characters’ stalker romantic personalities that could either make or break the series. As for the episode itself, it didn’t do much with its humor and plot to get me convinced about the rest of the series despite its fresh idea. With Aika being this complicated after finally getting what she wants, I’m betting that this approach might get gradually tiring later, but we’ll see.