English Dub Season Review: The Dangers in My Heart Season One

Based on the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Norio Sakurai. The heart of the story follows a disgruntled loner student named Kyotaro Ichikawa who has twisted fantasizes about murder and dismemberment towards his popular classmates, often reading murder encyclopedias and learning about human anatomy, with the beautiful class idol, Anna Yamada, being his prime target. However, when he observes that Anna is rather strange and unusual in her way, and when she becomes increasingly friendly towards Kyotaro, and gradually warms up to her, the two start to become closer…

 The series was produced by Shin-Ei Animation and directed by Hiroaki Akagi, with scripts written by Jukki Hanada, character designs handled by Masato Katsumata, and music composed by Kensuke Ushio of Devilman Crybaby, Chainsaw Man and Space Dandy fame. The opening theme song is “Setting Sun” by Yorushika, while the ending theme song is “A Few Sentimental” by Kohana Lam.

In the headspace of most teenagers, we are sometimes put on a path to figure out who we are as individuals. We endlessly struggle to understand our true feelings, thoughts, interests, sexuality, etc. We even reflect on what phases we went through or certain events in our lives and how we are shaped by them as individuals. And without warning when we least expect it, we sometimes find love even if it’s the youthful high school/middle school stuff that leaves us coming to terms with those feelings at the forefront.

Much like, Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki, the series is mostly about personal growth through social interaction. Only Kyotaro doesn’t see self-improvement as a Videogame objective like that aforementioned show. Kyotaro at his core embodies that same level of youthful edge lord creepiness in tandem with his disturbing thoughts. However, the series takes an unexpected turn by juxtaposing his unsettling tendencies with moments of genuine kindness and introspection. I connected with this a bit since I was a teen in the mid-90s and early 2000’s being exposed to many unapologetically darkly comedic, offensive, and violent TV shows, movies, music, cartoons, games, etc. that were never child-appropriate, to begin with. And yet none of it made me a violent criminal that most unfounded bullshit narratives on the news often pushed.

The first few episodes are a bit of a slow burn. This is because Kyotaro as a character is a weird middle school kid who is often directionless in his Edgelord mentality. But like most developing impressionable minds, we sometimes encounter someone who has a different yet intriguing flavor of weirdness that draws us to that person, even if we often don’t know what to make of it until it’s fully realized. It’s clear that Kyotaro has never experienced this level of playful affection before and struggling to understand his true feelings. This also helps the audience root for him since it’s a real and believable scenario that timelessly resonates with people beyond most romance stories as a whole.

Yet at same time, you also feel a small sense of unease since in Kyotaro’s mind, Anna is out of his league and doesn’t think there’s a reason for her to take an interest in him. On Anna’s end, we the audience rarely know what goes on in her mind, but at the very least she’s an interesting character in her own right who isn’t a “manic pixie dream girl”. And from the little we do see of her, Kyotaro already sees a deeper human side to her fun and cheerful attitude. She also has an oblivious way of flirting with the dude that is very cute and funny to watch.

The art is passable in terms of presentation. From the first-person angles, to color palettes, to the framing along with how grounded the scenery and characters are. And the music is also decent, but then again, Kensuke Ushio has an extensive track record. So as we know it’s a level of quality that’s delivered in spades.

Overall, Dangers in My Heart was at times wholesome yet uncomfortable for all the right reasons. Mostly because it felt like a reflection of the person I used to be in my youth, VS who I am now. In some ways, it both highlights and satirizes the edge-lord creepiness most guys in my school years were guilty of having. Yet it also shows that it’s possible to grow out of that if we’re around the right people who show us that we have the potential to be something more. With the recent announcement of a Season 2. I’m curious how far their relationship will progress as I somewhat enjoyed it even if it took me a while to mentally process what kind of message it conveyed…