If you’re someone who dislikes annoying voices and contrasting attitudes, then Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! Isn’t the anime for you. However, if you’re willing to look past those two negatives and the weirdly disproportionate figure of our female protagonist, and if you’ve got time on your hands, then I suggest you give this anime a watch. For me, Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! Isn’t too high up there as an anime I’ll watch above all other anime, or is something that I’ll be rewatching anytime soon. Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! is an anime that should be watched here and there whenever you have time.
Genred as a: Slice of Life, Comedy, Romance, and Ecchi. Adapted from the Manga and produced by a studio named ENGI. I didn’t know what to expect. As I’ve seen countless rom-com anime this year, I knew what I wanted to see and wanted to experience. It was just a matter of whether or not by the end of the anime I thought it lived up to what I expected from a rom-com.
At the start of her freshman year in college, Hana Uzaki reunites with Shinichi Sakurai, an upperclassman who was in the same club as her during her high school days. However, much to her surprise, the once active senior has ended up becoming a “lonesome” student, preferring to spend his free time in quiet peace.
Uzaki does whatever she can to keep Sakurai from being “alone,” from convincing him to go to the movies to going to his part-time workplace. While Sakurai finds her irritating and tiresome, he still goes along with Uzaki’s hijinks and shenanigans, even if he knows that her perky personality will only lead the two of them into various comical situations.
Even so, as the days pass by, their relationship only gets better, to the point where people around them misinterpret them to be a couple. At any rate, whenever Uzaki wants to hang out with her upperclassman, fun and adorable wackiness is sure to follow!
Written by MAL Rewrite of MyAnimeList.net
When you read the synopsis, it sounds interesting, yes. However, it also gives that ‘stalker’ vibe or that vibe of ‘this person is annoying, but since they’re my friend, I’ll deal with it’ sort of feel. This story is the latter. We follow our two protagonists Hana Uzaki and Shinichi Sakurai, as they spend a lot of their days (much to Sakurai’s annoyance together on little adventures). Sakurai is your typical introvert, someone who’d rather be alone within his comfort zone, preferably in peace, surrounded by his hobbies. In comparison, Uzaki is the complete opposite.
What bothered me most about Uzaki was, of course, her necessarily disproportionate body but also her voice. At times, I thought it was annoying throughout the anime, but whenever I watched a comedic/exaggerated exchange between our two characters, it strangely fits perfectly well. That saying of “Loud is funny” stands true with anime because often the best moments, the most entertaining and the funny moments came when Uzaki and Sakurai were yelling at each other for whatever reason.
Looking back on Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! There wasn’t much that stood out, and it felt ordinary. The comedy felt forced at times. The supporting cast of Itsuhito, Ami, Akihiko, and Tsuki didn’t add much. Their importance in the anime depends. For example, Tsuki (Uzaki’s mother) only really plays a role during the later episodes. Akihiko often served as a soundboard for Sakurai as he thought things out (while offering a little bit of comedic relief); finally, we have Itsuhito and Ami. The anime would have been better without Itsuhito’s constant intrusions and weird fixation of trying to get our two protagonists into some relationship. I thought he was very unnecessary because, especially since he made every attempt extremely obvious, we already had Ami, who had a similar goal in mind. However, she was only in it to watch the friendship between Uzaki and Sakurari hopefully turn into something more.
I didn’t need two of them with the same objective, with contrasting strategies. I was not too fond of the forceful nature of Itsuhito; it didn’t help the anime.
Another thing I didn’t like about Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! was where its comedy came from. While I did enjoy the whole ‘loud is funny’ stuff, the constant bickering between Uzaki and Sakurai carried the anime 100%. They were like childhood friends. I didn’t have a problem with that. I did have a problem with how it eventually led to those ‘loud is funny’ moments: miscommunication and terrible use of words.
There were countless times throughout the anime, where a poor choice of words led to a misunderstanding. This then led to the two of them (Uzaki and Sakurai) yelling at each other in frustration or embarrassment or saying something out of context that causes misunderstanding between our protagonists and the supporting cast.
Towards the midpoint of the anime, more often than not a misunderstanding and a poor choice of words led to comedic relief. When the outcome is already known before knowing the events that led to that outcome, whatever leads to the comedic situation does not carry that same happiness and enjoyment intended by the comedic situation. Were there funny and genuine moments? Yes. But there were more predictable funny moments than genuine ones, and I think that’s the anime’s primary issue. I don’t find that fun.
Despite my issues with this anime, on MAL, I’ve rated Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! A 7/10. Why 7 out of 10? It’s only because I enjoyed the little character building that took place throughout the anime. At the start, Sakurai couldn’t stand Uzaki. He always wanted to be alone. However, Uzaki kept wanting to hang out with him. Throughout the twelve episodes, we saw Sakurai slowly venture on more adventures with Uzaki and started to show more and more of his inner personality, something you wouldn’t typically see given his scary complexation. At the end of the episode, we see a different Sakurai when we were to compare his personality in episode twelve to episode one. He’s a lot more open with Uzaki and now enjoys her company because it makes it fun.
That’s the part I liked about the anime. Since the second season of Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! will happen, you can bet I’ll be watching it. My hope for the second season of Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! is an overall improvement in comedy because this first season sucked in that department.
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