Mcsuper

Oh, those elementary school days. When things were so simple, and every day was seen through rose-tinted glasses. The goofiness of those days was so fun, and this anime made me reminisce about those days back then. It’s a rather simple anime, where a quiet girl, who is seen as unlikeable and gloomy, meets a boy so positive, upbeat, and dense that a supposedly derogatory nickname like “Grim Reaper” is just so cool to him. We all likely had a first friend we made when we were kids, and that person was probably special to us. A lot our time was probably spent in the companyof that first friend, and perhaps some of our fondest memories came at that point in our lives. For Akane Nishimura, the gloomy girl who everyone calls “Grim Reaper”, her first friend in Taiyou Takada, the most positive guy around, was something special. Someone who found her presence endearing, someone who wanted to be around her and hang out, something seemingly trivial like that can mean so much. It was simply such a wholesome ride seeing their friendship blossom, to the point it made me tear up multiple times throughout the show. Sure, there’s some romance in there, but it’s more innocent and sweet than anything else. It isn’t the most realistic anime out there, especially with its portrayal of bullying, but that’s not to say it isn’t believable, since kids do tend to call either names in elementary school. Visually, the ceiling was low, but I did like the simplistic art style, with a relaxing colour palette, and fun character expressions. The soundtrack was not hugely noticeable, but complimented the show well. The ED was both great in the song itself and visually, and quickly became one of my favourite endings of the season. Romcoms can fall into the common theme of staying in the status quo for a long time, and while the male protagonist in this show is dense like you’d see in other romcoms, it’s a very endearing and adorable type of dense, as you’d expect from a kid. Even so, the progression and development of characters was pretty solid, with some “little kid drama” that was resolved without it dragging for too long. The pacing felt pretty well done for some organic and natural interaction between all the characters. I’ll keep this review pretty brief, this was just such an adorable show that had me smiling (or tearing up) for most of its episodes. For me, it reminded me of my childhood and the goofiness that entailed it. It was a warming, healing experience every Sunday morning, and was one of my favourite anime of the season without a doubt. It was pure sweetness, yet had its share of impactful moments. Highly recommend this one!

Marinate1016

My clueless friend is legitimately one of the most wholesome, heart warming and endearing anime I’ve ever seen. A true hidden gem in a packed season that deserved much more love. Being a kid is hard. Children are often picked on and made fun of for the most minuscule of reasons. While many times it’s harmless, often times it crosses into downright cruel bullying. The most unfortunate part of it is that you never know what other people are going through. People crack those jokes and have no idea the impact of what they’re saying. The overall message of this anime is to be kind. Treateveryone with respect and try to understand those that are different. My clueless best friend is both entertaining and informative as I do genuinely believe seeing something like this motivates you to be a better person. To be more empathetic and to be kinder to people. The things that Nishimura is subjected to simply because of her quiet nature and appearance really broke my heart and hit a little close to home. I absolutely loved she and Takada’s relationship, though. Him coming to her aid every time she was getting picked on put the biggest smile on my face. Their relationship is the purest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Every time someone puts Nishimura down, he’s there to offer a compliment to restore her self confidence. Not just to make her feel better, but because of how he genuinely feels. There’s romantic subtext as the tag suggests, but it’s more of a friendship story with the two of them learning what it means to truly have a friend you can rely on. I really liked seeing the characters’ backstories in this one too. Both Nishimura and Takada have had very sad events to occur, but despite it all Takada keeps a massive smile on his face and tries to spread that positive energy to everyone. A message that I think we can all take something from. In fact, we all need a friend like this. This is probably one of the most realistic depictions of a middle school I’ve seen. The characters behave how kids at that age do, for better or worse, and that’s really impressive for an anime to pull off. Art style is quite unique for anime as well. They went with a unique colour palette and character design that I think fits the tone of the story and the characters well. I could honestly go on for hours talking about this show, but you just need to watch it, man. It is beyond cute. Arguably the cutest show of the year thus far. Words don’t do it justice. You’ll will not regret this one at all. My Clueless Friend Gets 10, out of 10.