Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken: r/anime Awards 2023 Thoughts
This is part of a series of posts, reworking my casual writing from the r/anime Awards about the various shortlists and nominees. I do a lot of writing for the awards which never gets released outside of awards, so I figured I’d try bringing some of it out and putting it here. They’re not meant to be anything too serious or in-depth, just reworking my thoughts as I posted them in the awards server to here. This isn’t representative of the awards themselves or anyone other than myself involved in the awards. I’ll make a larger post with all the shortlisted shows from each category in the Write-Up Collections tab after I’ve posted all of the individual write-ups for that category here.
Of the categories I was juror for in the 2023 r/anime Awards, Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken was shortlisted in just Anime of the Year, and so that was the category where I discussed it.
Watch Links: Crunchyroll
To start off, yes, this is largely a male wish-fulfillment show about a loner guy who meets their manic-pixie-dream-girl who’s perfect in every way and has many wifey traits and falls for him for some reason, with a bit more thought put into it than many of this type of show. If that sounds like a bad time to you, you already know what you’re getting into. Maybe that’s a bit reductive, but while I think that the show sets itself apart from some others in that genre, it is still very much nestled in that genre, so if that premise is one you’ve hated before, then I doubt this show will change your mind. That said, I do think that the writing has something there which does help elevate it at least a bit above other shows like it.
I don't think this show has exceptional banter or dialogue, but I did enjoy the dynamic between the main duo, even if the main guy is the edgy, loner self-insert and the girl is the wish fulfillment waifu bait everyone fawns over. That isn't to reduce their characters to only that, but I do think they are constructed with those aspects in mind. The show seems to have a decent understanding of what makes these kinds of shows work, and builds a suitable enough relationship between the couple over the course of the episodes while still keeping things fun. I don't think this show is particularly complex with its dynamics or super well written, it's very safe, but I did feel like it earned its pay-off at the end. The main reason for this is that the motivation for the characters to be in a relationship is actually a bit understandable and tied to the themes of the show in a way.
The show touches on themes of insecurity and self-worth. Both of the mains have an interesting interaction with this main theme, which keeps things engaging as an emotional core is formed and we can see where the characters connect. Mahiru has trouble forming meaningful relationships because she feels the need to be loved by everyone else because she gets no love from her parents, but the perfect image she has crafted to get people to love her has led her to feel like no one actually loves her for who she is, but she can't just be herself because then she might lose everyone else. Our main dude (who I don’t really care to learn the name of) is less insecure, but is very down on his self-worth, and doesn't think himself worth anyone's time. So yeah, these themes are kind of the core character arcs for our main duo. Do I think the show has any novel or interesting commentary on these themes? No, not really. But it's a good enough time nonetheless and I think the themes help to give the show and characters a trajectory to follow to its conclusion, which is worth something. As for how it helps their connection make sense, Mahiru becomes interested in the main dude because he isn’t interested in the facade she puts up, and so she tries to figure out how to get him to like her since she’s so desperate for everyone’s approval. The way the show goes about this is still playing into tropes in a lame way, but at least there’s some thought put into why someone like her might care even a little bit about what this random asshole thinks.
As for the rest of the cast…the side characters are not particularly worth mentioning. I do like the friend's girlfriend and the main dude’s mom kinda for some of their teasing. The popular guy who befriends the main dude is interesting in the way he plays into the wish-fulfillment. Mahiru's mom is really fucking weird. I guess both her parents are, but her dad never appears on screen. The mom is just such a cold person. She's not standout as a character herself, but her effect on Mahiru was worth noting probably. No one besides the main couple really matters in this show, honestly, outside of their role as plot devices.
