Jarrbearr

If you're looking for an anime with romance and relationships, this isn't what you're looking for. If you're looking for an anime with endless hilarity and gags that runs off love and romance, this is what you're looking for. This anime thrives off misjudgments and the characters. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is an anime thats been the laughing central of this summer. With the theme of manga-artists becoming more popular lately such as, Manga-ka to assistant-san or mangirl ,it's becoming much more attractive and interesting to watch. This is a gem that's becoming popular due to its laughable characters and misinterpretations that occur all the time. Thestory follows Sakura, a girl who tries to tell her crush that she likes him, but gets misinterpreted and ends up becoming his assistant. She often tries to get closer to him, but always gets misjudged and makes for some hilarious comedy. The story follows their life at school along with some other cast members to make the show enjoyable and a lot more entertaining to watch as a whole. With the running gag of it being comedy, some things may seem predictable, but it still stays original and has comedy in every episoded. The characters are all really unique in their own way and is the strongest part of the show. With all the different characters you get hilarious situations that really makes the show stand out from the rest that's airing and one that takes comedy to the next level with their personalities. You have Sakura, a girl who tries often to get close to her crush, but is always misinterpreted. She's a great person who makes the show better with her retorts and delusions that she thinks is going to happen, but the exact opposite happens. Over time she develops a bond with Nozaki and really makes for some friendship and gave a light feeling to make you smile at every scene. Second you have Nozaki, a manga artist and one that people often misjudge. Since he stays up to draw and produce manga, he looks like he gets into fights, but really is only just aches and pains from the constant drawing and late nights. He's oblivious to Sakura's feelings and really makes up for some hilarious reactions that he gives to what he thinks she's doing. The art style is nothing new to the 2014 style, yet brings out details that makes it better than some of the anime airing. With all the details in the characters clothes, to the beautiful scenery that they go through in their situations, it brings out a sense of comedy to support the bickering and the interactions between all the characters. With the art being one of the strong points, you have beautiful details in every aspect that they bring to the table. The characters all have unique features and traits that belong to them and wonderful backdrops such as the school, or just at their house. The opening is nothing to be praised for, but is super catchy. The background music for this anime is one that supports the mood that the anime gives off perfectly. The opening and ending gives off the perfect feeling to start every episode and is one that I never skip. The voice actors are all really well and give the characters life to make the anime as enjoyable as possible. The voice actor for Sakura is relatively new to voice acting, but does a wonderful job portraying her character and is one of the best in the show. Overall this anime is one of the best of Summer 2014 line up and is definitely worth watching. With it's wonderful characters and hilarious situations they get themselves into, this is one that brings out the comedy in the simplest things. You have the standard 2014 art style, yet it makes it better by adding details to make every quality shine and make it so everything stands out to the fullest. The OST is wonderful and support each scene perfectly and the opening is so catchy that you just can't help but enjoy listening to. I recommend anyone who didn't check this out yet to start watching it.

Veronin

It's a rare thing to find a romance anime that appeals to both a male and female audience. It is even rarer to find one that does so without sexualising its characters. Gekkan Shoujo gives us hope for the stagnant, often juvenile climate of the romance genre. It doesn't rely on obnoxious misunderstandings to keep the two main characters from joining together (although misunderstandings do still exist with a sense of self-aware humour), nor does it need onsen scenes, pantyshots and implied homolust to keep the audience's attention towards its characters. All it's interested in doing is giving the audience a good laugh while nudging afew heartstrings along the way, and it does so with its head held high. A quick glance at the synopsis would be enough for some to roll their eyes and dismiss the show as 'Yet Another Shoujo Anime'. An innocent girl attempts to confess to the boy she likes in an empty classroom room dyed of scarlet (the setting of seemingly every confession scene in anime), only to find out that he is actually a famous shoujo mangaka. And one of her favourites, no less. Uh-huh. Right. But Gekkan Shoujo knows better. It is aware of its absurd premise and the clichés inherent to the genre. It embraces them, plays with them with a clever sort of irony, never taking itself too seriously nor forcing its viewers to feel a certain way. At its core it is certainly your typical shoujo anime, but the way it handles itself is quite the opposite. The story primarily follows the events of Chiyo and the titled Nozaki. Chiyo, perhaps reluctantly, but nonetheless willing to follow the company of the boy she likes, assists Nozaki in his daily tasks as a mangaka, hoping one day he might realise and respond to Chiyo's feelings. Gradually she begins to understand that Nozaki doesn't quite live up to the 'cool, handsome and composed' image she had of him, and that in reality, he is so lacking in common sense that it is a mystery how he was even serialised in the first place. Nozaki's obliviousness is undoubtedly the show's main source of laughter. In one scene, Nozaki accidentally draws one of his characters above the ground and, having the issue pointed out to him, draws a random box underneath the character, nodding his head and acting like everything is now right with the world. He then starts drawing boxes underneath the character in every scene afterwards, which understandably results in one of Nozaki's friends yelling to him how it makes no sense for the character to be carrying around and standing on random boxes all the time. Nozaki's response? "Right. I have to add an explanation." The comedy works so well because Nozaki's train of thought always makes, at least in his own little world, a slight fraction of sense. He just has no idea how people actually behave and ends up misinterpreting the actions of others in a completely asinine, facepalm-inducing and yet hilarious manner. That's not to say that each joke is masterful and clever, or even that all of them work (because a few certainly do fall utterly flat), but the simple manzai format works in perfect harmony with the ridiculous premise of the story. It knows how to make fun of itself while still holding onto a semblance of sincerity. One of the more respectable aspects of Gekkan Shoujo is how it also focuses on its side characters beyond the usual 'idiot friend', 'strict class president' and 'arrogant love rival' archetypes. Hori and Wakamutsu in particular are two characters who would normally be treated as nothing more than background fodder in the average anime for not having a colourful character design or 'wacky' personality. But in Gekkan Shoujo they are given important roles and treated with about as much attention and respect as Nozaki and Chiyo. They even have their own love interests who play relevant roles on their own (as opposed to simply being a plot device, as many often are in anime). There's a surprising amount of complexity to the character dynamic despite the general simplicity of the show's format. I suppose if there was one thing to criticise about the characterisation, it would be the inconsistency of Mikoshiba. He's handsome, eloquent-- so much so that virtually every girl in the school is head-over-heels for him-- but at the same time he is portrayed as introverted, socially awkward and obsessed with otaku hobbies, to the point where he uses eroge to study real-world interaction. The latter aspect of his personality does not feel convincing in the slightest, so his comedic scenes often fall pretty flat. To feel comedy is to empathise with the characters, and there was little to no empathy between me and Mikoshiba. Those watching strictly for the romance will likely find themselves disappointed, because, really, aside from a small handful of scenes, maybe three or four, it is virtually non-existent. The most heartwarming thing about the show is not the idea of the two slowly becoming a couple, but that Chiyo still loves Nozaki from the bottom of her heart despite finding out about his glaring flaws. The love here feels genuine, far more so than most 'serious' romance anime where the girl screams at the guy when he stops acting like a prince. Progression itself isn't what makes or breaks the romance in a story. Gekkan Shoujo is visually pleasant. The characters (particularly the males) are drawn realistically, and while it does still portray them all as idealised and attractive, it never goes overboard by drawing them in lewd or excessively 'moe' scenarios. The sound on the other hand is nothing special aside from the opening track, although, to be fair, it is a pretty great OP. It captures the silly yet relaxed nature of the show exceptionally well, and by the final episodes I found myself thinking it sacrilege to skip it. Sure, while it may not be doing anything outstanding enough to be remembered decades in the future, Gekkan Shoujo is still an excellent experience for anyone who simply wants to relax and have a few laughs. It doesn't bombard the viewer with melodrama or degrade its characters through fanservice, and what little romance there is is handled with care and sincerity. That it also happens to appeal to so many people at once without leaving anyone uncomfortable is perhaps just a bonus. Oh, and Chiyo is possibly the cutest thing ever.