Saturday, October 25, 2014

Rewind: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

I like to have at least one light-hearted, fun anime on my watching list every season. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, aka Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, filled that slot nicely in the Summer 2014 season.

I admit, I wasn't sure about it when I first read the descriptions on Anime-Planet and Crunchyroll. It's about a girl who gets so flustered in front of her crush, she can't confess her love, and he misunderstands, thinking that she's just a fan of his manga. See, I'm pretty empathetic. I tend to feel embarrassment on the behalf of characters, and in fiction, misunderstandings tend to lead to embarrassment at best and broken hearts at worst.

Still, Nozaki-kun seemed pretty popular, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. I needed the comic relief, and embarrassment was kept to a minimum.

Sakura thanks Mikoshiba for help she doesn't need, because he clearly
wants to act the part of the senpai. He's too earnest to notice the sarcasm
dripping from her voice and expression (ep 2).
Some parts of Nozaki-kun are just plain ridiculous. But I could identify with some scenarios, like the one pictured above. Sakura has just started helping Nozaki-kun with his manga. Mikoshiba has been his assistant for a while now, so he's her senpai. He makes vague comments and puppy dog eyes until she finally asks him for help.

When I watched this episode, I'd been working at my summer cashiering job for about a month. The other employees were always happy to help if I had any questions. One was particularly eager to give advice. Sometimes, I needed it. Sometimes, I didn't, but I still pretended her advice was novel and valuable. She, like Mikoshiba, needed to be affirmed as a helpful senpai, although she wouldn't think of it in such Japanese terms.

Lets see... what else should I make sure you know? There are some fun romantic elements to this show, although it's kept comedic and light. For a shoujo mangaka, Nozaki-kun is surprisingly thick when it comes to love. He has no clue that Sakura is crushing on him. By the end of the series, I felt a bit bad for her. But hey! At least this way, they can develop a good friendship before messing with all that romance stuff. And we get a good show out of it.


2 comments:

  1. I've seen a few people saying some very positive things about this anime, so i'll have to check it out and let you know what I think!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I look forward to hearing your opinion! While I had fun watching Nozaki-kun, it's not a top favorite by any stretch. I gave it 4 starts out of 5. But others rate it higher. Hope you enjoy it!

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