My Senpai Is Annoying (TV Series 2021) Poster

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8/10
Working Daze
robinsonaustin-0749013 November 2021
Just loving the trend of wholesome shows lately. My Senpai is Annoying is about the smol office worker Futaba Igarashi and how she is often annoyed by her senpai Takeda Harumi due to his loud, boisterous demeanor. He is also incredibly massive. Though, of course, everyone in the office is aware of her feelings for Takeda and often serve as shippers on deck for them.

The basic premise is episodic, so you could expect a few things: Futaba tries to make people take her seriously only for that to fail and only enhances her childish side. Or she would deny that she likes Takeda but then would perform actions that show that she does care for him. Takeda would be ignorant of her feelings to the point where it could be argued that he views her as a little sister or a "daughter." Or you would have side plots with a few of the supporting cast.

But while the show is simplistic, it is not a detractor from it. The cast of characters is endearing; its light-hearted tone; and its warm depiction of city life calls to mind that feeling you'd get coming home from a grueling day of work.

Animation is also great. It has vibrant colors that add to its feel-good nature. The character designs appear to have been crafted with a great amount of care. Add its piano score, and you have yourself a soothing show.

Speaking of characters, Futaba. She is the most adorable character this year (not counting other contenders like Kana or Illulu). She can best be described as a bit crabby. Because of her small stature, she is often mistaken for a child much to her chagrin. So, she tries to compensate for that with trying to be the best she could be at her job, and yet, her childish demeanor would betray her if she overexerted herself.

Futaba is that one character that you can't help but not only feel sorry for her, but also pet her head and hug her unless Takeda is doing that himself. Her Napoleon complex also goes into other things in her life such as envying her best friend or her coworker Sakurai due to their developed assets. But despite her snippy personality, she is truly a good person at heart: she once saw an elementary student was cold so she gave up her own scarf, or in other instances, she would help people with directions. That is not getting into how she actually does care about Takeda greatly, not that she would ever admit it.

Next is Takeda, who is, without question, the best man of the show, not best boy, best MAN. This dude is the goat. Heck, not even the goat even but the entire farm. He is as opposite from Futaba like the east and the west with being loud, somewhat obnoxious, and is a powerhouse. But even then, the dude has a huge heart and is caring as evidenced by his teasing of Futaba. The best episode demonstrating this is when he notices some creep taking an on-the-ground photo of Futaba and he seriously grabs him and throttles him. Given how this is known to happen a few times in Japan, this is cathartic.

Going into the other noteworthy characters, Sakurai and Kazama. Their chemistry is just as strong as Futaba and Takeda's. Kazama is the stoic type who hardly smiles, but it is obvious that he has feelings for Sakurai but is so self-depreciative, he believed that he had zero chance with a girl like her.

Sakurai herself, however, has eyes only for him and often delights in teasing him. But her problem, opposite of Kazama's, is that while she conveys her feelings through body language, she cannot spit it out that she likes him.

Then there's Mona, the most bizarre of the staff. She has a weird way of thinking that is incomprehensible to the others and carries out her decisions without a second thought. She also carries around a vodka bottle which she claims to be just water, but then she would go as far as to put vodka in everything so I think she is drunk on the job all the time yet still capable of performing her tasks. She even made chocolate loaded with vodka for Valentine's Day.

Hijikata is the Cassanova Wannabe who is pining for Sakurai because he knows that she would be too nice to turn him down despite her being Kazama-centric. Funnily, would ship him up with Mona for the lulz.

Lastly, there is the department chief called such because his name is not known. He is a benevolent boss in a lot of ways: he allows his employees to eat lunch outside of the office; values the emotions of his employees; ensures that everyone leaves the office before 8 PM; and allows sick leave without penalty. For someone owning a white color company, these are MASSIVE improvements due to the overwork culture native to Japan. Overall a good boss even if he has a toothbrush mustache.

While My Senpai is Annoying is not an immediate must-watch this season, its steady pace and lovable characters are sickeningly sweet and addictive.
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8/10
An adorable show with an unsatisfying final episode. A fun watch
Kristi_Hicks21 March 2022
Worth the watch. Similar to "Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!" Talented writing, nicely drawn and out of the ordinary. They could be a little less stingy with romantic development.

I hope it gets another season.
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8/10
Well rounded romantic comedy starts slacking after a strong takeoff
Rakshun14 May 2023
Found this unexpectedly after looking up a nasty meme and got into it immediately. Slice of life is close to my heart and I also really liked - instead of highscoolers - the office dorks in Higehiro, even though, that show has some bad reputation reasonably.

Well, it's not the case here. The small, but strong headed Futaba and the big shaped and big hearted Takeda lead a really healthy relationship here as they are getting closer to each other. The show comes with a nice set of supporting characters with all the different and bit cliche stereotypes, but nonetheless, they are likeable, the jokes are funny, the story is not annoying or forced and altogether everything is okay, from writing to animation. I watched it with the English dub, it's pretty good. The tough-as-nail biker grandpa and the drunken Russian(?) girl with the vodka bottle and Siberia jokes were my absolute favorite side characters. And yes, it's a must to mention that Takeda is a real gentleman with excellent communication skills - he is a sales guy after all -, not some annoying schoolkid, which does lots of good to the show... senpai is not annoying a bit.

Not a must watch per se, but as a romentic comedy for grown ups or younger adults it can be recommended easily.

UPDATE: After my preeliminary review just lowered my points to 8 from 9 and the reason for that is... well, I should better not spoiler it. It was still fun to watch, but I feel sorry for the missed opportunity.

(I really wonder if I just watched highschoolers in an office environment, because at the end, some maturity was certainly missing from the characters... And at what point it became a hard requirement for _any_ romantic animes to include: a beach episode, an aquarium episode, a bathhouse/hotel episode and - even if it's about salarymen -, a school episode? Feel like I can scream or something... where is originality? Second part was a downhill.)
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7/10
Really?
Mysterygeneration13 January 2024
Really, what even should be the name of this subgenre? The Japanese Birthrates Declining Genre? Those who are unfamiliar with the genre may not understand what I'm talking about, but in recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in anime that is similar to this. Unlike the typical high school romantic comedy, this anime has all the elements of a high school romantic comedy, including a cast of characters whose behavior and emotional development are fundamentally similar to those in high school romcoms, but it is set in an office with seemingly adult characters.

Consider propaganda used in military recruitment. They portray strong, competent troops battling with their dependable comrades in weapons in thrilling acts of valor for their nation. Then they say, "That might also apply to you!" In order to get people to willingly sign up and only discover the truth of the situation after they've committed and are less able to back out, it's important to romanticize and idealize a position that is actually far more demanding and unsexy than they're made to seem.
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