Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru is one of those anime that's in a genre impossible to peg down.
I could say it's a harem- All the traditional elements are there, but the term 'harem anime' immediately springs to mind episodes filled with nothing but busty women getting into "wacky" (read: tasteless and innuendo-laden) antics to try and win over the (un)lucky everyman protagonist which... doesn't apply here.* Plus, the term, and the image it brings to mind, make me cringe.
I could say it's slice of life or a school life, which isn't entirely inaccurate either. However, it feels unfair to pigeonhole it in there, too.
To try and explain in one line, Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru is a philosophical piece about Mizuho, a nice (and slightly effeminate) boy who finds himself in unusual circumstances. I think that's as best as it's going to get described.
On his deathbed, Mizuho's grandfather wishes for him to attend the same academy his mother had. What's worrying is, it's an all-girls school. Though he initially laughs the notion off as absurd and impossible, his childhood friend Mariya shows up with everything she needs to make him look like a her, and, considering how androgynous he already is, does a knockout job of it. From there, we're introduced to the kinda-but-not-quite harem- Mariya is the sporty, boyish childhood friend, Kana is the shy-yet-cheery underclassman, Yukari is the big-eater genki girl, Shion is the clever, beautiful, selfless school idol, Takako is the tsundere student council president, and Ichiko is the excitable cute ghost girl that lives(?) in the dorm Mizuho is staying in. There's at least one other, but she's more of a side character and stays pretty well in the sidelines throughout the entire thing: Kei, the theatre club director, whose sole purpose is to know way more than she lets on, or at least look as if she does. She may or may not be psychic. We dunno.
Anyway, aside from a couple slips and plot points, Mizuho looks and acts his part well enough that he may as well have been written as a girl from the start. He doesn't really do anything to make it obvious he's male (aside from a slipped pronoun here and there), doesn't chase after any of the potential love interests, and generally presents himself well enough that everybody in school is completely fooled. Of course, only a couple characters chase after him because, well, everyone else thinks he's a girl.
Where the show really shines is in character development- Everybody is an archetype, sure, but each also has a chip on their shoulder- Mizuho respects his grandfather and his wishes, but can't help but wonder what he was thinking. Shion was elected the school representative a year prior and then got so sick she was unable to perform her duties or even graduate. Yukari feels as though she's constantly living in her big sister's shadow. Ichiko fell in love with Mizuho's mother during her stay, and died waiting for her to come back, so she could finally tell her feelings to her. Mariya and Takako have a long-running feud that basically boils down to a misunderstanding that was interpreted as a betrayal. There are next to no two-dimensional characters in here, everybody is believable and reacts to situations in believable ways.
This, coupled with the scenery, is what makes the show absolutely amazing. Every background is intricately detailed, every camera angle is well-chosen, and it helps draw you deeper into the world of the characters. I usually don't give a flip about art direction (story/premise first, characters second, THEN art) but there are cases when it definitely is a part of the experience, and this is one of them.
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru isn't a show about a guy in drag, it's about everybody around him and how he tries to help them. It's about putting your demons behind you so you can face the future, about living your day-to-day life as best you can, and about getting along with everybody, difficult or not. It questions our perceptions of gender as inoffensively as it can, spending the vast majority of its time ignoring Mizuho's situation instead of shoving it in our faces every five seconds. "Yeah, that's a guy, so what?" it asks, "You got a problem with that?"
I try and keep myself to a schedule of one episode of something of something per day, and yet this is one of those shows that absolutely grabbed hold of me and demanded I put everything aside until I'd finished it. It might not be everybody's cup of tea, but I was hooked. Give it a try, it might surprise you.
*Okay, fine, there are some antics, on rare occasion, but everybody involved is in on the secret and they're really just trying to give him a hard time.
P.S. ...Did I mention that the comedy relief chibis are frigging awesome? Because they really, really are. Seriously, look at Mizuho up there.
I could say it's a harem- All the traditional elements are there, but the term 'harem anime' immediately springs to mind episodes filled with nothing but busty women getting into "wacky" (read: tasteless and innuendo-laden) antics to try and win over the (un)lucky everyman protagonist which... doesn't apply here.* Plus, the term, and the image it brings to mind, make me cringe.
I could say it's slice of life or a school life, which isn't entirely inaccurate either. However, it feels unfair to pigeonhole it in there, too.
To try and explain in one line, Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru is a philosophical piece about Mizuho, a nice (and slightly effeminate) boy who finds himself in unusual circumstances. I think that's as best as it's going to get described.
 | ||
| One of these girls is our "(un)lucky everyman protagonist". |
Anyway, aside from a couple slips and plot points, Mizuho looks and acts his part well enough that he may as well have been written as a girl from the start. He doesn't really do anything to make it obvious he's male (aside from a slipped pronoun here and there), doesn't chase after any of the potential love interests, and generally presents himself well enough that everybody in school is completely fooled. Of course, only a couple characters chase after him because, well, everyone else thinks he's a girl.
 |
| "What did I do to deserve this...?" |
This, coupled with the scenery, is what makes the show absolutely amazing. Every background is intricately detailed, every camera angle is well-chosen, and it helps draw you deeper into the world of the characters. I usually don't give a flip about art direction (story/premise first, characters second, THEN art) but there are cases when it definitely is a part of the experience, and this is one of them.
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru isn't a show about a guy in drag, it's about everybody around him and how he tries to help them. It's about putting your demons behind you so you can face the future, about living your day-to-day life as best you can, and about getting along with everybody, difficult or not. It questions our perceptions of gender as inoffensively as it can, spending the vast majority of its time ignoring Mizuho's situation instead of shoving it in our faces every five seconds. "Yeah, that's a guy, so what?" it asks, "You got a problem with that?"
I try and keep myself to a schedule of one episode of something of something per day, and yet this is one of those shows that absolutely grabbed hold of me and demanded I put everything aside until I'd finished it. It might not be everybody's cup of tea, but I was hooked. Give it a try, it might surprise you.
*Okay, fine, there are some antics, on rare occasion, but everybody involved is in on the secret and they're really just trying to give him a hard time.
P.S. ...Did I mention that the comedy relief chibis are frigging awesome? Because they really, really are. Seriously, look at Mizuho up there.
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