Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru | First Impressions

Like all Slice of Life anime, which is what I consider Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru to be. Unless you have something that distinguishes yourself from the rest you end up becoming like all the others, and I think that’s the case for Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru.

On a whim, first-year Ayumu Tanaka quits the Kendo Club to join the illegitimate Shogi Club. Urushi Yaotome, the president of the club and a master of shogi, is thrilled to finally have a playing partner. As Ayumu’s upperclassman, Urushi endeavors to be his shogi mentor and student role model. Too often, however, she finds herself blushing with embarrassment! Stone-faced and honest, Ayumu sees no issue with calling Urushi “cute.” Although Ayumu likes her, he refrains from confessing and promises himself to first beat her in a game of shogi.

Through school life and shogi games, the two students have many hilarious and heart-warming adventures. Ayumu enjoys every second with Urushi, but he is still a long way from beating her in shogi. With the commitment he made to himself, will Ayumu ever get the chance to confess his feelings to Urushi?

Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru reminds me of many anime, such as: Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi, Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai!, and Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san. Just to name a few. I will give Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru the benefit of the doubt however, nowadays, all Slice of Life look and feel the same there are very little things that can help with distinguishing one from another. In Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru case, while the characters do not feel too strong (will be discussed shortly), this anime has shogi. Which is something you don’t normally see in a Slice of Life.

Let’s face it, shogi isn’t all that interesting of a topic, but its a feature of the anime.

Anyway, time to move onto the characters. I’ll be honest, our two main protagonists, Ayumu Tanaka and Urushi Yaotome are not all that great. They have personalities that we’ve seen before. Two individuals who like each other but don’t want to admit it, so they say things or do things that would suggest that. In our case, both Aumu and Urushi are very straightforward individuals, they convey their feelings for each other openly which is unusual. Urushi doesn’t convey emotion, he is very much like a robot while Urushi is your tsundere.

The best way to describe their relationship is one where their not officially a ‘couple’ but they hang out and say things towards one another that would suggest that they are a ‘couple’. Long story short, our two main characters are in that awkward phase.

Are these interesting characters? Not particularly. Like I’ve said already, once you’ve seen one, you have seen them all. That’s the problem with Slice of Life anime in particular, it’s one of those genres where its a ‘once size fits all’. It’s one of those genres where once there is a winning formula, then it’s the base template for all that come after and that so happens to be the case here. It is because of this ‘one size fits all’ deal, that makes our characters feel very generic.

Luckily however, It seems as though we have something going with regards to the supporting cast. So hopefully in the coming episodes, we see them take a more prominent role in the anime. To me, supporting characters in Slice of Life’s are what can make or break the anime. When the characters do not feel strong enough, it’ll then be up to the supporting cast to pick up the weight. Only time will tell.

Overall I’d say that Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru is alright. I’ve definitely seen better starts than this one.