Spring 2023 Impressions: The Dangers in My Heart, My Clueless First Friend, The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far

The Dangers in My Heart

Short Synopsis: A high school loner with violent fantasies becomes obsessed with the hottest girl in his class.

Lenlo: What is it with anime and weirdly fetishized middle/high school settings? Like whose idea was it to create a shitty rom-com about an edgy school shooter and a quirky idol? Because whoever it was, I want them fired. Is this the worst rom-com I’ve seen? No, of course not. I’m just getting so tired of these kinds of Incel & Idol shows is all. There’s never any real chemistry between the characters, nothing to actually make them feel like they belong together. It’s just fantasy wish fulfillment for Otakus physically incapable of talking to women without insulting them, trying to convince them that their perfect demure sex-object exists out there. Suffice to say, I’m not a fan, but I’m sure if you liked Nagatoro then this might be for you.
Potential: 5%

Wooper: Male lead characters in anime romcoms keep getting downgraded, huh? From the hapless teasing victims in series like Takagi-san and Uzaki-chan to the epic gamers who require crash courses in hygiene like the guy from Tomozaki-kun, we’ve gotten a lot of bottom tier dudes in recent times. Not wanting to rock the boat, The Dangers in My Heart has crafted what’s sure to be one of the most pitiful romcom protagonists of the year – a vertically-challenged wannabe high school slasher with massive bangs swooped over one eye. Just listening to this guy introduce himself as a “bloodthirsty beast” who wanted to gain possession of his crush’s body by killing her was enough to make me question my temporary return to anime blogging. But I kept watching, and the show settled into a pattern of him stalking the girl in question and narrating the experience with nonviolent language, which I suppose was an improvement(?). Spying on her through the gaps in a library bookshelf, hiding in a store where her photos are on sale in a fashion magazine, trailing behind her as another guy unsuccessfully tries to get her LINE info – these are the scenes that made up the remainder of Dangers’ first episode. Unfortunately, the bar for romcom leads is still a little higher than “stalks girl instead of brutally murdering her,” even in 2023, so there’s no room for this show in my heart.
Potential: 0%

Amun: I want to chime in from having previewed it – the anime adaptation did not solve any of the problems it needed to. While it gets less murdery, it’s unlikely to get less bad. I liked Nagatoro (well, the first season, I quit during the second), but this is a 0% from me.

My Clueless First Friend

Short Synopsis: Excitable transfer student misunderstands classroom bullying and tries to attain Shinigami powers from a very confused shy girl.

Lenlo: What are these designs? And that weird fade in the hair, as if every character had a bag of flour dumped on their head? And this eternal fade into a bright light on most of the backgrounds? Clueless Friend might be the ugliest thing I’ve had to watch so far. Just on those issues alone I have no desire to watch it. But add on to that a wholesome, but ultimately toothless, main plot where an introvert meets an extrovert that we’ve seen a thousand times before, and you just have a boring waste of space in the season.
Potential: 0%

Amun: Okay, let’s keep it real here – the art is really bad (I hate this new trend of weird gradients in the hair and clothes). However! I strongly disagree that we’ve seen this exact formula before: anyone who has been a part of an introvert-extrovert relationship of any kind will appreciate the dynamics going on here. Instead of the borderline bullying that occurs in other shows of comparable genres (Nagato-san, Kubo-san, etc), My Clueless First Friend is about an energetic outsider who doesn’t understand the history of the classroom and looks at things from his fresh perspective. It’s completely anti-bullying – not toe-ing the line for humor but turning what everyone else views as a negative into a positive. That’s what makes this show so refreshing and wholesome. I didn’t realize this was Studio Signpost, but I have great confidence in their making of wholesome stories (Letter Bee, Beelzebub, and Morose Mononokean). Now…it looks atrocious. But I’m onboard with the characters, so this will probably get at least half a season out of me!
Potential: 60%

The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far

Short Synopsis: Neet gets stabbed protecting a cute girl, Isekai’s into a fantasy world with magic as a Noble with multiple divine blessings. Isekai ensues.

Lenlo: Yes hello, I’d like one order of stereotypical trash Isekai with a side of shitty art-style please? Yes, I’m feeling fat today. Jokes aside, it took me 2 minutes to know exactly what this was and exactly how generic and forgettable it would be. Of course I still finished it, can’t be intellectually dishonest here. But there are probably better Isekai, definitely better adventures, and without question better productions this season. Don’t bother with this.
Potential: 0%

Amun: Oh look, the first isekai of the season! It’s so cute and full of potential…until you finish watching the first episode. Jokes aside, I’m still hunting for my isekai diamond in the rough for the season (last season’s was Handyman Saitou, which was wildly better than expected). At first glance…Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure isn’t it. But that doesn’t make it unpalatable – in fact, this was a nice power-fantasy, low-stakes, harem romp (looks like he’s accidentally snagged a king or something?). If you need some feel-good filler for the season, you could do worse than this. I’ll keep it on my watchlist till something else comes along.
Potential: 40%