My Teen Romantic Comedy Review

My Teen Romantic Comedy is exactly what the title says - a romantic comedy anime. With your typical shut in schoolboy, in this case Hikigaya Hachiman, and a harem (not really but hey), what could go wrong?

Surprisingly, not much.

Story & Characters

As with KonoSuba and a few other romance animes I dare not mention, the actual story of Teen Romantic Comedy (from now on abbreviated to TRC) doesn’t really move much. It’s based around the trio of main characters solving other students issues - remarkably similar to Bunny Girl Senpai.

The anime is based around the main character, who has the typical attributes of being a shut in and having no friends. Then, you have the two girls who accompany him in, Yuigahama and Yukinoshita. The anime setting is not very original you may be able to tell, but I find that the characters do make up for it.

Whilst the story isn’t the most original thing in the world, it is good. The pacing is well done, and the characters make the show. Much like KonoSuba, you watch TRC for the characters and their development, rather than for a packed story. Let me elaborate.

Firstly, the main character Hikigaya Hachiman. Whilst he has the typical high school romance anime traits of being a loner, Hikigaya also his very pessimistic, and I found that this bounced very well off the optimism and cheeriness of Yuigahama. In addition to this, the coldness and bluntness of Yukinoshita works well with the other two characters. The three main characters work well, and they bounce off each other. Because TRC is based around the characters, the writers knew that they had to make them good, and they are. Not amazing, but good.

The side characters are also interesting. You have Saika Totsuka, a boy who looks like a girl, and I find that they provide a lot of humor to the show (if you watch it, you’ll see what I mean). The interactions between them and other characters really adds humor to the show. In addition to this, you have a female character who loves homosexual relationships (similar to Oreimo), and a few others that add spice to the story.

I do think that the characters could have had a little more done with them - the main character doesn’t really change much despite having two good friends, and nor does Yukinoshita. I feel as if the authors could have developed the characters more in this aspect, and the anime would have been considerably better if that had occurred. In addition, I feel as if the author could have done more with the romance that Yuigahama shows towards Hikigaya (considering that this is a ‘romance’ anime).

Interactions between characters are done well, and were believable and often funny, and overall. I just feel there was some room for improvement, but overall, impressed with it.

Animation

In the first season, I did find the animation to be a little off now and then. Some scenes were drawn oddly, and there was certainly room for improvement. However, as you watch more you’ll start to not notice it.

However, the second season dramatically improved the animation, and it was good from the start of the season. The face of Hikigaya did change significantly though, which was a little odd.

Sound

The opening and ending were nothing remarkable, but not terrible. Nothing to complain about here. Voice acting was fine.

Conclusion

A nice and fun watch. More could be done with the characters, but other from that, they are engaging, and make you want to keep watching. Whilst the setting is certainly not original, I think that the fun characters make up for it in this lighthearted show.

I would recommend watching this show - there are certainly better things to watch, but My Teen Romantic Comedy is an enjoyable and light show to watch.

tl;dr: A decent show with enjoyable characters.