First Impression – Kimi to Boku

 So. How ‘bout that Kimi to Boku, eh? It finally aired, and some of us watched it. You wanna know what we thought? Read on!

A megane and twins; what more of a reason do I need to watch at least the first episode of this?
While reviewing Fall titles, this caught me off guard and I came to the realization that if I liked this, I might actually find out the mystery of why some people like K-On! Anyways, wrong place to say that because Hato is a HUGE K-On! fanboy, returning finally to aniblogging this season. Let’s join him, Hime and Fosh for this tag.
Well this is a huge jump from my usual choices in anime; after all I don’t see any giant mecha! Or the usual fan service girl character with any awesome boob physics just based on the cover art. I wasn’t really planning on watching this series, I was just going to skip it and avoid it forever! But I did check out this first episode!
It’s finally here, eh? After a lackluster return of Ika Musume, I’m hoping that Kimi to Boku will be able to redeem what I’m watching this fall. Will it be a hit? Will I continue watching this right though to the second season (Yep, a second season has already been announced)? Well why not check out what the show was all about first?

 

We start this show off meeting the friends. We have a long haired lout, known as Shun Matsuoka. He’s being generally aloof until his buddies show up. Kaname Tsukahara, the dark-haired dude with glasses, and the twins, Yuki and Yuta Asaba. These two generally sound like they don’t want to live very much. As they all meet up, the look at the sky, and we have a voiceover from Shun saying that this is their second year at high school. Seriously. That’s it.

Once we jump back from the opening, the four have magically appeared at school and Kaname buys a tea from a vending machine. Because of this, Yuki and Yuta think he’s a rich-ass mo-fo and they starts giving him shit for it. Literally. He buys a drink and they’re all up in his grill like ‘Oh dayum son, why you got all this paper? You so rich, you gonna start buyin’ up all our women’. After that happens, they all go to the roof and eat some food. Except Kaname doesn’t because there’s a slight breeze and he doesn’t want sand in his food. Seriously. That’s it.

After eating, Shun wants his hair did, so he gets Yuta (or Yuki (I really don’t care at this point either)) to brush his hair over and over again. During this time Kaname argues with Yuki (or Yuta) about something. I kinda forget. But somehow, it leads to flashbacks of Yuki, Yuta and Shun all taking a nap in pre-school. Shun is all freaked out because apparently sleeping in the middle of a group of people means you’re going to die first. So they call up Kaname to sleep with them, so there are four people. But not really, apparently, because twins count as one person, so they are both gonna die. They eventually work it out but then Kaname has the hots for his pre-school teacher, so he somehow seduces her to sleep with him, so Shun will die. Seriously. That’s it.


And from that it’s a perfect time for a scene change and Kaname bitching at Yuki (or Yuta) about not joining a club. So they try to make him play basketball. He slumps around the court like a drugged hippo until Kaname says he should do something. So then the author decided “Alright, I guess I gotta make him do something” and made him really good at everything. Because if this, an infinite number of women now wish to sleep with him and he ends up being not interested in anything because he’s too cool for school. Some pedo-looking teacher named Koichi turns up from nowhere, spiting Kaname and suggesting that they try clubs that aren’t sports. So they try a few different clubs (oh yeah, and Yuki (or Yuta) is a good cook too. Of course) but most notably the tea ceremony club. He also hates that too.

After the group fail to find him a club, they all give up and Yuki (or Yuta) just decided to be lazy and read some manga. Of course, he’s a massive anime and manga fan, so Kaname sends him off to join the Manga Society and leaves in a huff. Shun says Kaname really does care about people because of something he did in the past, but then Yuki and Yuta says he’s not because they forced him into doing that said thing. Yuki (or Yuta) goes to join the club only to find out that the club does nothing and they all go home at the end of the day. Kaname is pissed of because nothing was resolved; Shun says that there will be plenty of changes to come (I seriously doubt it) and the episode ends. Seriously. That’s it.


End Thoughts:

I can honestly say that was the most exciting and manly episode of anything I’ve ever seen. The style is pretty cute, and there is a megane and twins! Woohoo! Kind of felt like I was watching a really watered-down version of Ouran High School sometimes though, and sadly any attempts at humor fell pretty flat. Dialogue was particularly uninspired at points and didn’t really contribute anything memorable towards our four femboys. That being said I have seen worse ways of introducing characters this season.

The whole thing just seemed really lack luster and subdued. The music was nice and the animation pretty but it just didn’t leave much of an impression, if any impression at all. It was a really boring twenty minutes with nothing but lazy characters wandering around a school, with the occasional injection of a random “cute” sequence to try and break up the monotony. It wasn’t bad or anything, I just wanted something a bit more entertaining.

Kimi to Boku really failed to keep my interest so I doubt I’ll be following it for much longer. I still tend to watch the first 3 or so episodes of the new season before I make that judgment but unless something substantial actually happens it’s getting dropped pretty quickly.

I actually liked this a lot. I wasn’t expecting it at ALL but I liked it. You would ask? Well, I can’t really put my finger on it but it reminded me of my high school days when the sunshine was awesome, I was carefree and I had the most interesting friends. If I look back at my school life, the most fun I had was in high school and the good times was all meaningless fun that wouldn’t amount to much in case of ‘activity’ but just simple hanging around. This just took me back in time and put a smile on my face. I just like the sakura petals falling and even the nekos strewn around the transition of scenes. Small things in life.

So, in one word Kimi to Boku. is kawaiii. Because it’s all about hanging around the people you have become so used to that you know their each and every quirk. I already had my eyes for the twins (Natsume lookalikes HNNGG), but I never expected to like the other two dudes too. Even when Yuta got most of the screentime, showing the audience how cool he is (another Usui Takumi?!), the best thing is he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about it. Sure, girls fawn over him but nothing much ‘resonates’ with him due to his solitary internal meanderings. Would he encounter the girl we glimpsed remotely in the otaku club? We’ll get to know soon.
And no this is NOT YAOI. Stop mixing up canon with fandom, people; sure, there are ships being supported and fanart already piling up but I like it not for that reason rather just how well the characters gel well together. It’s like Kaname is the father, Shun mother while the twins are the mischievous kids who are always up to something. That whole bed swap at the end due to peer pressure by Kaname was HILARIOUS. The twins are just SO EVIL and not outrightly so and I love it. I’m definitely sticking with this show as it’s going to be the feel-good show of the season. And knowing me, you already know, I like feel-good anime. So, if you do too, watch this.


Alright! I didn’t really mind this at all actually I ended up laughing at some of the more comical side of things like the whole tea room thing? I died laughing when one of the twins was checking on the tea cup for where Kaname took his drink from, just to avoid an indirect kiss. I died laughing when everyone got together and started to whisper about Kaname really wanting that to happen! It was so funny watching the characters expressions during that scene.

I won’t lie I was trying the whole time to compare the guys to various K-on girls! I already found the Mio of this series and that was so easily Shun! Well as a kid he was so jumpy and easy to scare, I mean your life is shortened if you sleep in the middle?! Ahahahah what the hell! And high five to Kaname! That kid was staring at teacher like mad; well he was just a kid with a crush back then but still WAY TO GO!  Let’s see who else the twins are hard to choose from, the slow one probably more the Yui type? And then the sporty twin he would easily the Ritsu of the group. But I have no idea on the other Kon girls! I guess we will learn soon enough if I keep watching.

So huge question here! What was with all the random cats? For a minute there I was like am I watching Nichijou again? You know how they have those random eye catch things popping up? Something like that! But I do have to hand it to JC Staff again! They did an awesome job on the animation, well the environments looked great. However those character designs are a bit derpy looking and the eyes? Those are some very weird eye designs.  Well I might check out the next episode just to see where things go! Because even thou we have five dudes as the main cast, there are some girls at the school! Thankfully it wasn’t an all boy’s school right? Well thanks for reading!

So… How ‘bout that Kimi to Boku, eh? I seriously thought it might be interesting. I thought it could be interesting to a point. I really had high hopes. Sure, the art was decent, but I really think that was the only redeeming feature (if you can even call it redeeming). There was barely any humor, voice-acting was pretty sub-par and even the structure of the episode was horrible. It was in bits and pieces, like J.C decided to get all SHAFT on us. Also a charcter with long hair is interesting, but they could’ve made him look more like a dude. Dudes with long hair don’t really look like chicks.

Also, I’m going to agree with Hime on this one. THAT’S how you’re going to introduce the characters? You just have them look at the sky then cut to the OP? And in their first interaction they all pick on some guy BECAUSE HE BOUGHT A DRINK FROM A VENDING MACHINE?! If that was law, I’d be the most hated man in the universe. I was sort of hoping it would be a show that didn’t try to be all cutesy and shit and most likely get some sort of fanbase. However, I think they’ve gone for the whole ‘I know, if we cater for the audience with the IQ of a hippo, we’ll get all of the fans!’. Well, sorry, guys. Most people have an IQ greater than a hippo (I’m really liking the word hippo today).

So, I guess the decision for me is final. Kimi to Boku wasn’t very good at all. The first episode was enough to make me wonder why I actually wasted my time to watch it. If someone died, that would’ve been cool. If they pulled a Desperate Housewives and killed someone that would’ve been awesome! Or too much like Ano Hana? Goddamn it. Nothing is original these days. In any case, I don’t think this show as quite a spectacular return to ani-blogging.

Curses!

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We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
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37 Responses to “First Impression – Kimi to Boku”

  1. jGLZA says:

    @Hato: You can’t win them all.

    Interesting GL fact: My sisters favorite animal is a hippo, she’s actually started a fund to buy herself one.

  2. Kyokai says:

    You took the wrong series to blog. Go do something about Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon.

  3. kidd says:

    This first episode I will admit was rather dull and boring I only laughed at a few scenes but guess what? that was the point the plot of this show and yes it does have a plot, is that the 5th member who is talkative transfer student makes the group of boys lively there’s even a love triangle in the mix at one point. This show is going to be cute yes, its going to be slow yes, but its also going to have a fair bit of drama. I honestly cant wait, plus if you are nt into all that you can always just admire the cuteness of they boys they are pretty moe.

    • Hato-kun says:

      From what I’ve read about the 5th character he seems like the most interesting of the group. The fact is if you have a terrible first episode (or even a first few), you’re going to lose a massive part of your audience. People don’t want to have to sit through something mentally exhausting to get to something good.

      Just look at Endless Eight.

      • kidd says:

        and yet Haruhi S2 sold more than S1 LoL also Madoka ep 1 was rather generic oh and should I mention Steins;Gate as well.

        it is not uncommon with modern anime to have slow first episodes.

        • Hato-kun says:

          The thing about Steins;Gate, Madoka and Haruhi is that they weren’t just slice of life. They had interesting aspects to them.

          Apart from a promised 5th character and possible drama, I feel like there’s nothing holding me to this show. Even a mecha could hold my interest right about now.

          • kidd says:

            Madoka before ep 3 was generic moe, really really generic moe.

            • Hime says:

              The job of a first episode is to hook you. There was nothing remarkable or even interesting about this first episode. It was just kind of “there”. They could have even shown scenes from later on in the series (you know, in case it actually gets interesting) and started off with that. At least then we might have had a reason to stick around.

              Kimi to Boku might improve with time, it might not, but it’s first impression was weak. There’s no getting around that.

  4. BlackBriar says:

    @Hato: Sadly, you can’t everything you want. It did have some cute female characters going for it though.

    Despite knowing it might not be interesting, I still gave it a shot and I’m unimpressed. This feels like just another School life/Slice of life anime. But it was better to check it out and confirm something than just standing there wondering if it’s good or not.

  5. Toori-chan says:

    A male version of K-ON… Another boring anime by J.C Staff again… What are you doing J.C Staff!!! The character drawings are a bit not-J.C Staff and what’s with Shun? He’s a total guy with a girly look.

    Still I’m still gonna stick with this even though I said all those things (call me a hypocrite if you want).

  6. Snowley says:

    Hm, so basically it’s about boys going to school. I’m not having my hopes up, but let’s see if this is getting somewhere.

  7. Overcooled says:

    If they wanted to have a show about people acting girly and mulling about, they should have just made the main characters into girls. Have to agree with Hato about the pandering to hippos. They’re cornering the hippo market, but that certainly doesn’t include me. Dropped until someone convinces me otherwise. :/

    …I wonder how many posts on Metanorn use the word “hippo.”?

  8. Dan-go says:

    Boring art style is boring

  9. Kitty says:

    I really liked Kimi to Boku. Simply because I did not know what to expect from it. But any anime that can keep me laughing for 20mins straight is worth my attention. I loved the ‘sleeping in the middle’ section. Its so like little kids and they were so adorable. The art I found interesting, we all know J.C Staff can do better so I wonder what they are thinking?

    As far as slice of life goes, I don’t think I could compare this to K-ON or any other for that matter. I don’t foresee an ending like Myself;Yourself or a paranormal aspect thrown in like Sola or Air. Its actually more of a comedy to me. Regardless I rather enjoyed it. Thanks for the blog!

  10. Amutofan123 says:

    It was oaky. Kind of boring though. The guys are cute and all, but it felt so slow. I’ll stick with more episodes to see if it gets any better though.

  11. Mina says:

    For me who knew the manga before the anime, I was so looking forward to this. I jumped at the news that this got an anime
    I

    • Mina says:

      kill internet!!!!!!!!!!

      I’m happy. also with the choices of Seiyuu… expect for… Kaname. Kaname is more aggressive and loader…. Suzumura Kenichi was speaking him in the Drama CD and he did it a LOT better
      but well… I love this kind of stories, and Kimi to Boku is WUAH and BUHU and it’s really ONLY about friendship, sometimes it hurts my heart to think of yaoi in this xD

  12. Yvoon says:

    I actually quite liked this. It would be a good series to watch when you just want something calming or a no-brainer in the middle of studies or something.

    I must admit, some bits were a bit awkward, but overall, i think i might follow it just cause i really like slice of laifu~

    The art ,especially the falling sakura petals, were really pretty and the music isn’t too bad either. 🙂

  13. Yvoon says:

    my comment isnt appeaering…

  14. Yvoon says:

    I’m actually quite looking forward to this~ It would be a good series to watch when you want something light or a no-brainer during studies or something.

    True at some parts it may have been a bit awkward, but I’m gonna follow it anyway since I like slice of laifu.

    The art, especially the falling sakura petals were really pretty and the music isn;t too bad either. 🙂

  15. Samantha Zan says:

    I won’t lie, I thought this was going to be a guy version of K-On minus the instruments xD. But I don’t really think this is a bad show, but the charcters don’t really seem that interesting to me.

    I mean, seriously, the whole time I was thinking throughout the episode that the character of Shun could be replaced with a girl and it would still be the same thimg throughout the episode. And I hate to say this, but I’m not liking the twins so much, there personalities are just meh. But I guess its better that the annoying twins that talk at the exact same time all the time. I think Kaname is probably my favorite person out of the whole group, gotta love the straight man sometimes. Or at least the one whose trying.

    Anyway, no sudden impression yet, it was cute, but in no way was this hooking me in. I think I like the ending theme a lot more than anything I liked throughout the whole episode.

  16. akagami says:

    I was kind of looking forward to this, but as others have said, it wasn’t interesting at all. It’s like a really bland and boring version of Ouran and they somehow lost their Y chromosome along the way.

    The ED song was pretty nice however.

  17. Sabine says:

    It´s such a bad thing to read when a blogger is Soo negative from the start ;__; Expecially when you end loving the series the writer crushes down only because he/she doesn´t like it… *sulking in the corner* I liked this series yosh! Everyone got their opinions.. >_< *fades away to watch some Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai next*

  18. AkatsukiYuki says:

    …My first impression: WHY ISN’T THIS SOME BL/YAOI ANIME?!!!well,just my personal preference while looking at the pictures…==

  19. […] “The whole thing just seemed really lack luster and subdued. The music was nice and the animation pretty but it just didn’t leave much of an impression, if any impression at all. It was a really boring twenty minutes with nothing but lazy characters wandering around a school, with the occasional injection of a random “cute” sequence to try and break up the monotony. It wasn’t bad or anything, I just wanted something a bit more entertaining.” – Metanorn […]

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