toliman

0/10

Put this off for a while to see what the reaction would be, it's ... pretty much what it says 'on the tin'. romcom vignettes, based on miscommunication drama and odd expectations, etc. highschool drama. Technically well produced, the art style, comedy and action flow is also exceptional. Characters are, strong typed initially, so you get to unravel a few of them, but they're all tinged with melancholy and confusion, which makes them semi realistic as teenagers. The drama elements are, most likely from people's own personal stories with a touch of dramatic license, combined with just fantastic recreations/rumour/narratives to avoid embarrassing the writers, i.e. they're just different enough from cringe-y to be sugary reimagined versions, i.e. what if my crush said Y instead of walking away or ignoring me, etc. In a writing sense, they could "milk" romcom tropes for decades because they never have to make the characters real for more than 5 minutes or give them lives to live. They also don't focus on the erotic or adult too often, which is, arguably where the show will fall down for some viewers too, as they want the entire clutch of romantic angles in a big glorious 12 minute episode "basket". And, there's options to thread /weave in standard characters later on that have longer lives, or returning roles or more interesting lives., i.e. mis-directed crushes, gay characters, fast/slow mismatches, age differences, uncomfortable sex or nudity, the third/fourth/fifth wheel, etc that Koi to Uso (love and lies), or more directly, Kuzu no Honkai (Scum's Wish) plays so heavily on. I think fans of the anime romcom setting will probably either adore or hate this format, or tolerate it, because either they want to be the voyeur, or enjoy the schadenfraude, the failed romance, yearning, or crushed hopes. there's probably a very large audience for that as well, the "tsun" aspect. i wouldn't say it's low brow, or high brow drama, it's like relationship candy. for 3 to 6 minutes, you get a short, driven fantasy that's supposed to capture your feelings, then it switches to another couple. Nothing too complicated, nothing too demure, just candy for the drama itch that the audience wants to say no to, but just one more, and another, and another. In this sense, you can binge watch an entire series of shorts like this for days on end, but not feel like anything has happened either. Some of the "flavours" in the relationship are significantly forced into being, but overall, like an assortment of candy in a grab bag, the sour and the sweet, the bitter and the bland mix well, and you'll keep on devouring more and more to see what's next.