Anime Review: Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou

Name: Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou

Aired: April 4, 2014 to June 20, 2014

Producers: Brains Base, Sentai Filmworks

Content Advisory: PG-13. Suggestive sexual humor, mild fan service 

Episodes: 12

Genres: Romance, Comedy, Slice of Life

An anime that would resemble this one would be Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo. Both animes’ protagonist lives in an apartment/dorm that is filled with eccentrics. They both want to live a normal life, but fail to do so because of their peculiar neighbors. A key difference between the two anime is that Sakurasou focuses more on drama and Kawaisou aims for romance.

We have our protagonist, Kazunari Usa, moving into the Kawai Complex, expecting a fresh high school life that will make up for his “miserable” middle school life. His hopes for a “normal” life is crushed when he meets a masochist for a roommate, a drunkard sour “old miss”, and a dual faced player. Usa plans to leave until he learns that the girl of his dreams is living at the same apartment. That is where the story builds up.

I first had little expectations, if any, for this anime. The artwork didn't look appealing and the story wasn’t really anything new. Despite my low expectations, I continued watching the anime. Before I knew it, I actually started liking the anime. Each episode of Kawaisou has formula to it.  You get informed of the overall setting of the episode, so you can get a sense of what is going on. After you processed the overall atmosphere, the anime tosses in jokes. The humor occurs at the expense of the residents of Kawai Complex. We have our masochist guy who enjoys getting beat up or verbally abused, the busty “old miss” that sulks about her unsuccessful love life and destroys the happiness of others when it comes to love, our protagonist fantasizing about his crush and being teased by others, and more. Now, this may be seen before, but what makes this different from others is that the anime occasionally charges up your emotions by having a serious build up. For example, we get the monologue of a character that regrets for the harsh words she said, with the emotional background music supplementing to the atmosphere. But the moment your heart actually moves, the anime reveals that the whole emotional buildup was a trick or they just kill all sentiment with laughter. For those who don’t like repetitive progression in an anime, this anime might not their cup of tea. But Kawaisou actually makes you forget about the “sneak attack” when they present you an emotional scene, because the sentimental moments are rather well done. If not sentimental, at the very least, it should be heartwarming or “cute”.  So the formula should be effective.

Shirosaki, enjoys the glares of disgusted women.

As I mentioned earlier, Kawaisou focuses more on the romance aspect. Due to the concentration of romance, character development is limited to our protagonist and his love interest. The other characters stay rather static, however, they are round. You get to learn more about the more important characters, but a change in character in terms of personality, motivation, etc. is within the boundaries of our main character and his crush. EXCEPT for one side character, but she is used as a plot device, so she is crossed out. If you like the "couple" of this anime, you will enjoy this.

Our "couple": Ritsu Kawai (left), Kazunari Usa

Focusing the character development on our hero and heroine is actually what makes this anime stand out from other romantic comedy anime. Because of how the hero and heroine are highlighted, the other characters are used as devices to enhance the relationship between our two star characters. You get to see how the two progressively and subtly draw closer to each other. Their interactions are much more fleshed out than a few dates you see in generic anime. You get to see how embarrassed they feel because they are too conscious of each other. What makes their relationship unique is that the view gets the impression that they are close, but you realize that they are actually not as close as you think. This reflects on the complications of real life romance. Don’t you get the feeling that you and your crush is getting closer and a love is about to start, but you realize that the two of you aren't that close after all? Kawaisou does this well.

Just so you know, this anime isn't really tear-jerking nor does it have an epic climax. It’s an overall light hearted romantic comedy that draws a warm smile on your face. So the ending is essentially a cliffhanger, so a sequel is required. Yes, the anime can indeed end there, but it would be better if a sequel were to come out, because a love story needs to be finished.

Kawaisou residents

Final Verdict

Story- Overall lighthearted and has an effective formula for each episode.

Setting- Setting is designed to effectively develop the relationship of the couple.

Characters- Character development is focused on the couple, the rest of the cast are devices for the hero and heroine.

Animation/Art- Animation was good but not noteworthy. Artwork was pretty.

Sound- Besides the OP and ED, nothing really stood out.

Enjoyment- First seemed boring, but was enjoyable after watching a few episodes. Formula never got boring.

Overall Score- 7/10

Recommendations - Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (similar but focuses on more drama), Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! (reminiscent romance, couple progressively develops)

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!