Otonari ni Ginga | First Impressions

As I actively go about avoiding getting up to date with all the other anime I decided on watching. Here I am diving right into another one, today’s anime of choice being; Otonari ni Ginga. I’ll be honest, there wasn’t really much that pulled me towards watching the anime. I decided today (June 14th), that I give it a watch because why not. As such my expectations for the show are relatively low, which may end being a good thing.

Ichirou Kuga has suddenly found himself taking on the responsibility of caring for his two younger siblings after their father’s untimely death. To make ends meet, Ichirou rents out rooms in the apartment complex he inherited and works full-time as a shoujo manga artist. However, his manga sales are low, his assistants have recently left, and deadlines are fast approaching.

As stress threatens to overtake Ichirou, salvation comes in the form of an extremely competent novice artist, Shiori Goshiki, who becomes his new assistant. With her skills, they are able to tide over the difficult situation, and things begin looking up. But in a bizarre accident, a supernatural experience unfolds between Ichirou and Shirou, which leads her to declare them engaged.

With this seemingly innocuous action upending his life, Ichirou now has to manage his new and peculiar relationship with the mysterious girl, all the while following his own passion and fulfilling the duties that rest on his shoulders.

Otonari ni Ginga
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On the surface, a mangaka and assistant seems a little bland. One person is doing it to make a living for himself and his younger brother and sister. While the other (assistant) is some extraterrestrial person; I guess that’s how they’re able to distinguish this anime from all the other ones that follow a similar story. If you can call it one.

Now I will admit, I do not think that both Shiori Goshiki and Ichirou Kuga are interesting people. Three episodes into the anime and I feel like they lack depth and feel very one dimensional. The direction of the anime is clear as day and isn’t something that should shock you. You can tell that they’re going to end up liking each other.

This was made very clear to me when they both agreed to find a way to annul the “engagement” so that Shiori Goshiki can fall in love the proper way. Which as we all know basically means that they’ll end up falling in love with one another.

I think the only real twist I see for this anime is if Shiori Goshiki has to return home and has to pick between her people and the person she loves. If I were to guess, I think this decision would end up coming at the very end of the anime — if this does indeed end up happening. However, given how straightforward everything has been up until this point; I doubt something that complex will end up happening.

My first impression of the anime could be summed up in one word, mediocre. Nothing really stood out at me, Otonari ni Ginga very much felt like a pretty normal anime. They just added their own twist (Shiori and this engagement thing or sorts) to justify the events that will happen later on the anime. Which is alright, but far from ideal because I do not think it differentiates itself enough.

On the plus side, I did like the OP because the animations during the OP coordinated with the song lyrics. It was almost like a song recalling all the fun they (Shiroi and Ichirou) had/are going to have together. While this was relatively minor, I thought it was pretty neat because it felt as though the OP was connected to the anime and its story. You can argue that all OPs do that in their own way, but for whatever reason, the OP “Tonariawase (となりあわせ)” by Chinatsu Matsumoto just works.

But yeah, overall, to sum it all up; mediocre first impression. It was horrible it could have definitely been worse. So we’re off to a good start for sure.