Relationships can be one of the craziest puzzles of life, and are without a doubt one of the most enjoyable parts of being a teen. Unless of course, you can’t get a girlfriend and you look really plain and boring. That’s the problem with Takasu Kosuda. He’s average looking and not all that exciting. But somehow he manages to find himself in a weird relationship with one of the hottest girls in his high school, Yamada. The problem is he doesn’t understand that she only wants him to bang him because her whole goal in life is to have one hundred “fuck-buddies”. So essentially, she’s the biggest slut around and is the main character of this romantic comedy anime, meaning I’m supposed to enjoy watching her trials and errors in getting to shag Kosuda.
The problem with this idea is the fact that she is so reprehensible and reminds me of every episode of Dr. Phil showcasing wild, sex crazed teens. But we’ll talk about her in a moment. Right now, let’s touch a little more on the story of this anime.
Guy meets girl. Girl’s a slut. Guy falls for girl, not realizing she’s just in it to bang him because she thinks he will be easy. Girl falls for guy and that’s it. There is of course some competition over the guy and a girl who likes him but won’t admit to it. It’s just straight up genericism, which is a word I’ve been using way too often for romantic comedies. I mean, I can deal with some plot conventions and the obligatory scenes, but there comes a point in time where you ask yourself why these shows can’t be just a tad different. You pull the characters from one show, put them in another; pull the backgrounds from one show, put them in another. Original romantic comedies are hard to come by, and admittedly my favorite, Toradora, is quite honestly very conventional. And B Gata H Kei follows the same conventions that just get to be like a chore. Here’s the obligatory scenes I seem to mention for every romantic comedy review:
-The Pool (x2 even!)
-Festival (Why is it that every time you go to the pool it is followed by a random festival?)
-Cultural Festival (Why is it always a maid café or a café of some sort?)
-Field Trip
-Bath
-Bathhouse
-Christmas (x2)
And the formula for these areas aren’t changed at all. It’s all very typical and uninventive. Some people might get their panties in a bunch because of some of the mentions and my being too picky about what is conventional and what isn’t. For them I have to say that there are millions of things to do and places to go yet romance/comedy series always wind up at these same places. I have even gone so far as to commend one anime for the sheer fact it used a karaoke establishment as a setting. I mean, this anime I will commend for the love hotel scene, which I can’t commend as much for the content as the use of the hotel. Because while I do enjoy a good bout of sex every once in a while, the sex scenes in this show are idiotic. I mean, they aren’t really “sex” scenes because nothing ever gets accomplished (at least, in the “climax” sense) but they still exhibit a sort of reprehensible aura. And I didn’t feel it as much from main character Yamada. She’s the one who wants to bang, yet she’s very reserved and kind of shy about it. Kosuda, the quiet and boring one is the most feral of the two and for a virgin, he sure goes right for it like a playa.
What’s even more reprehensible is if you actually look at how many times Kosuda and Yamada have gone out and how much they really know about each other, their having sex is completely ridiculous. Just the fact that they love each other and know jack-shit about each other in and of itself is weird. The romantic parts of the comedy just fall short because of that.
Though I will admit that the sex scenes and a lot of the sex related humor toward the end were hilarious. But otherwise the anime isn’t that funny. About partway through there is a point where Yamada tells the camera “That last bit wasn’t raunchy enough”. To tell the truth, up to the very end, which is actually pretty unexpectedly risqué, B Gata H Kei isn’t all that raunchy. It’s comedy is an attempt at raunch, but not a good one. Let’s face it, boner jokes aren’t all that funny after you’ve had a couple hundred over the course of your life and you can’t make me laugh with more boob jokes. The condom joke is overplayed and it just isn’t very funny most of the time.
The animation is okay. Characters do look decent, and backgrounds as well, but it’s all very average and unexciting.
The opening theme could be pasted onto any romantic comedy, as could the ending. The music during the show is basic. Characters all sound good.
The character section is typically where I bash a show and this is no different. Let’s start with Kosuda who I found to be a piece of cardboard at first. He had no character whatsoever. Which is part of the whole idea, he’s a basic looking guy with no distinct personality traits. But as stated previously, the moment that sex comes up he becomes an animal. Which, yes, he’s a guy so that is easily the case. But a virgin? And he’s so embarrassed by it too yet goes at it like a trooper. His character is just confusing because of those mood swings.
Yamada is a different entity that I’ve touched upon a bit. At the start of the anime she’s reprehensible. She’s borderline disgusting. I mean, the first scene of her entails her checking out her private bits and complaining because it looks weird. And then she goes to this one hundred fuck buddies deal and she just degrades from there. As things develop between her and Kosuda, it starts off downright horrible where she is just using him and abusing him. She doesn’t seem to like him and he likes her. And while this romance is both rushed and unrealistic, it still is painful to watch her string him out and when she finally admits to liking him a great weight is lifted from my chest. And so many people like this character! Sure, she was a bit more likeable toward the end, but she was still a bad character who never grows on you.
And yet one of the most hated characters of the series is Kyouka Kanejou? Sure, the creepy brother love thing was creepy, but she was just as bad as Yamada. She is of course, your typical rich bitchy girl who hides behind a cute mask. She’s essentially Ami from Toradora. Hell, she IS Ami from Toradora with a brother complex. She even tries to steal Kosuda from Yamada at one point, just like Ami attempting to steal Ryuuji!
The other major character is Mayu Miyano, who is just as boring as every other character. She’s a klutz, she likes Kosuda but can’t get the balls to tell him, and is just there. She doesn’t do much or accomplish much.
It’s sad when my favorite character is Mami Misato, who was one of the characters with the least role in the show. She’s a tiny, crazy girl. She’s in love with Kanejou’s brother (just like Kanejou) and is actually fairly entertaining.
Otherwise, the rest of the characters aren’t interesting enough to get into.
There are so many questions I want to ask the creator of this show. Where did the idea come from? Where is the funny? And then there are just general questions I ask myself such as: When did incest become a conventional plot device in romantic comedies?
You know why something like Toradora worked despite being fairly conventional? Because it had likeable characters, that while cut and paste, acted realistically and took on a life of their own. Also, the relationships and emotions were believable. Something like this cannot even compare to that. The best merit I can give this anime is that it has a clearly defined romance and it ends satisfactorily.
Otherwise, B Gata H Kei is pretty bad. Not as bad as MM, at least this has some funny moments, but otherwise, bad. I can’t believe the sheer amount of good reviews this gets. If you’re in middle school it may be funny because “SEX” and “CONDOMS” and “BOOBS” but if you have grown to an age where you are more mature than that, you’ll realize that this is idiotic and a waste of time. I mean, I respect everyone’s good reviews of it, but I just don’t understand how anyone can love the character of Yamada. Even if you take her as a funny caricature of a typical high school girl she’s still downright unlikeable.
There are much better romantic comedies out there.