My Love Story!! (2015)

[俺物語!!]

Director: Morio Asaka
Studio: Madhouse
Starring: Takuya Eguchi, Megumi Han, Nobunaga Shimazaki
Episodes: 24

Synopsis:
A gentle giant who is easily misunderstood finds love.

Impressions:
Art style is one of the main things that will initially draw me in to a series. This can result in me overlooking some gems because they don't immediately appeal to my personal sense of aesthetics. Thankfully in this case, I was willing to check out a mashup that was able to quickly change my mind. It would've been a terrible waste if I had missed out on this because it's one of the best romcoms I've seen. Rather than relying on a drawn-out "will they, won't they?" situation or contrived conflict born of an infuriating lack of honest communication, we just have an incredibly sweet couple being adorable together. That's not to say that there are no bumps in the road along the way, but the main couple's dedication to each other gets them through the rough patches. Not only is Gouda and Yamato's relationship extremely heartwarming, but so is Gouda's friendship with Sunakawa, which is given equal weight to his relationship with Yamato (and Sunakawa works as a good mediator for the times when one or the other is feeling insecure during the aforementioned rough patches). The series paints a rather optimistic view of humanity with just about everyone being portrayed as a good person, even if they need their edges sanded down a bit first.

With this series being a Mad House production, you can expect some quite good production values. There are a number of recurring visual gags I like quite a bit, like unspoken dialog appearing in text around the characters and Gouda's T-shirt changing based on the situation, which I imagine came from the manga. Tatsuya Eguchi's bombastic performance as Gouda also warrants note (as does Megumi Han for the sugary Yamato). If you're looking for a pick-me‐up in contrast with more conflict-driven love stories, this is just what the doctor ordered, though you may have to get a prescription for some insulin while you're at it, because this show will give you diabetes. This is one for the collection, so I highly encourage you to get it.

Rating:
Own It