OP Sequence

OP: 「STARTING NOW!」 by Mizuki Nana

「問題がある人たち / さよなら内巻くん」 (Mondai ga Aru Hitotachi / Sayonara Uchimaki-kun)
“These People Have Problems” / “Goodbye, Uchimaki-kun”

Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru! was one of the anime I was most anticipating this season, even if my expectations for it were only moderately high. I hadn’t read enough of the manga to get a sense of the content, but after looking over the staff list and the promotional material released up until this point, I had a feeling we had a hidden gem in our hands. If popularity polls are anything to go by, then it appears many people overlooked this series as well; it’s not surprising given how loaded this season is, but that just means it ends up a pleasant surprise to those unaware of its existence.

This is what happens when you take an amusing little manga and hand it over to a talented director and animators. In case you couldn’t tell from this episode, this is being produced by Studio feel. and is directed by Oikawa Kei, who gave us the impressive Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Zoku. While it was evident this is a much more lighthearted comedy than Zoku, the talent of the staff still shone through in this episode. There’s was a nice balance of humour and seriousness that didn’t feel forced or uncharacteristic. What we have here is a classic club comedy with a bunch of kids who are dumb and fun, and the occasional moment of romance or at least the hint of development. I love comedies, and I love dramas, so I’ll be eager to see how the two balance out in Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!

Although the opening shows plenty of characters, this week focused only on three (and a fourth if you count a certain girl hiding in the locker). Our main heroine is Usami Mizuki (Ozawa Ari), an energetic middle schooler with a passion for drawing apples and is quick to emotional outbursts. She could very easily have been an intolerable tsundere, but is instead cute and amusing with her uptight view of what counts as ‘art’. On the other hand we have Uchimaki Subaru (Kobayashi Yuusuke), who is quite the character. Don’t let that cute exterior fool you, because this boy has a brutal side to him. His preference for 2D waifus over real 3D girls is amusing, especially when he deals poor Mizuki plenty of ice-cold insults that she takes to heart. Their banter and shipping potential is through the roof, but there stands at least eighteen waifus between them if there is going to be any development in that department. The third club member we have is the aptly named, President (Tone Kentarou), the president of the art club, who mainly sits back while all this drama and hilarity unfolds, clearly much smarter than he lets on.

I had hopes this would be good, and I’m glad to report it was even better than I expected! The characters may not be the most original – but you don’t need originality with comedies like these. The production quality is high here, and the talent from the staff sure helps make this a seamless watch – especially in the outdoor scenes with the warm colours and striking closeups. Something about the art and animation reminded me of early Kyoani, which is most certainly a good thing. We’ve got all the pieces for a solid comedy here, so I’d recommend everyone who overlooked it to give it a shot – especially if you’re a fan of school club anime about a bunch of bubbly eccentrics. It may not be the most thematically rich show currently airing, but if it continues on this path I may consider blogging it just for a fun of it.

Full-length images: 14, 15.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「恋する図形」 (cubic futurismo) by Uesaka Sumire

Preview

21 Comments

  1. This anime is a hidden gem no doubt.. Got me hooked on the first episode. When I watched this I thought its just some random comedy club anime with no plot but it changed when the second part came. There was romance!!! The OST is nice too. Cant wait for episode 2

    Jeffers
  2. So much win in 1 episode. That scene on the overpass plus the sunset? That makes me place this anime immediately on my watchlist. The emotion, you can feel it on that part. So kudos to the staff of this anime. Well done.

    The Last Idiot
  3. the search for the Ultimate Waifu begins now…. & it will goes to become a Dakimakura’s, figma’s, figures & other merchandise plus his own manga & became a pixiv awardee

    :-)
  4. Velvet Scarlantina
  5. Definitely on my watchlist, mostly because I want to cheer Mizuki on and I like the gags. Subaru’s love for 2D and insults towards Mizuki may be played for laughs, but I really thought it went too far when Mizuki started crying that maybe Subaru deserves a few whacks from Mizuki’s bat. Speaking of bats, it looks like Mizuki’s trademark tool as she seems to use it often. Also hearing Ozawa Ari in another starring role made me remember Nozaki-kun all over again.

    Zhinvu
  6. i would love to punch uchimaki on the face for making usami cry. such a jerk for loving fictional 2ds while you have a 3d (in that world, 2d in our world lol) cute girl who will truly, unquestionably love you.

    DarKissEmblem
    1. I totally agree with you in that the romantic aspects of this show are really messesd up. I know it’s a comedy and you shouldn’t take it very seriously but the interactions between the two main characters are just irking me to no end. The worst is that you get the feeling that Uchimaki still gets that Usami likes him but he pretends not to catch on this. So when he said that line of “Just joking” after he saw that Usami was crying, I thought that he behaved in the most plainly terrible way possible. He just hurt the feelings of Usami without any good reason and the next way he pretends that nothing happened which just gives false hope to the girl. I realize that the show is trying to be funny and maintaining the status quo of the two mains is elemental to (not) advancing the plot but in my view all the jokes turn sour when I notice that Uchimaki acts lake a real jerk and gloats about his waifus in front of the only person who is willing to accept his likes and interest while still seeing him as a mostly normal boy.

      As you rightly said about your anger toward the boy, I also had the urge at the end of the episode to just slap Uchimaki really hard and tell him to get his priorities right or at least apologise to Usami and ask her if he could help her in any way to sort out her problems. I wouldn’t even be annoyed if Uchimaki were portrayed as a pervert tone-deaf otaku who had no interest in his sorroundings and hurt the girl involuntarily because then the show would have admitted that the boy behaves obnoxiously but not entirely out of ill will.

      All in all I went into this show pretty open-minded. However after realizing that Uchimaki is kind of an insensitive imbecile I just lost any intent on continuing watching it.

      Faolin Eye
  7. One Pinch Man
  8. Usami-san and Uchimaki-kun are both 14 year olds. Why do they sound, respectively, like a 6 year old and a 30 year old who’s only mentally a 14 year old? Kono Adaptation ni wa Mondai ga Aru. (I’ve read the manga, and it’s a lot better.)

  9. Not much I can say except that I’m already loving it.

    And the funny thing is that, with all of Uchimaki’s talk about not being interested in 3D girls and only wanting a 2D waifu…

    https://randomc.net/image/Kono%20Bijutsubu%20ni%20wa%20Mondai%20ga%20Aru/Kono%20Bijutsubu%20ni%20wa%20Mondai%20ga%20Aru%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2021.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Kono%20Bijutsubu%20ni%20wa%20Mondai%20ga%20Aru/Kono%20Bijutsubu%20ni%20wa%20Mondai%20ga%20Aru%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2023.jpg

    …there is still hope.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  10. This first episode was surprising in the best way. Sweet, funny, and gorgeous to look at. Plus it has potential with these really fun characters. I already ship those two so much. I am excited

    sosbrigade1991
  11. I just have to say the panty joke just isn’t working for me. I dropped the manga when that joke came up because I felt like the comedy relies on harassing Usami too much. Unlike your typical “accidentally walking into a girl changing” trope, you have the President actually taking a photo Usami’s underwear. It stops being funny at that moment, and it comes off as sexual harassment (not to mention we don’t know whether Subaru deletes it or not). Dagashi Kashi had its own fair of sexual jokes, but none involves the male characters actively trying record it down on camera. You don’t see Tou filming Hotaru showering, or taking a photo of his sister’s panties for Coconuts to keep (he does flip Saya’s skirt, but that’s a different matter).

    Does anyone here feel the same way? There are people that defend this, but I just don’t see how it is acceptable it. Like I said, it’s completely different from stumbling into a girl changing than to actually take a photo of said girl in her undies. This incident isn’t played off as an “accident” at all, but as something deliberate.

    Problem Child
    1. I hear where you’re coming from but I’m just not as affected by it. I don’t think it is right, it is pretty severe sexual harassment however I didn’t drop this anime/manga because of it. The quirkiness of each character to me is the main driving force of the comedy. I don’t recall something of this level happening again too so I was like, I’ll continue it. I also have a completely separate mindset when consuming media. I watch stuff to not think and to just enjoy whatever content something has be it offensive as hell or pg. But boy did you drop this early on.

      Engel
    2. I thought it was pretty shitty action of the President as well but after that she hit him in the face with a metal baseball bat, so yeah it’s not like his action had no consequences.

      Tbh I think you’re overreacting. In real life it would be pretty bad but so would be hitting someone in the face with a baseball bat or punching a hole through someone else’s painting. It’s just a work of fiction so I don’t think you should take it that personally.

      Tepoc
      1. I hear that argument a lot, but I don’t think it justifies his actions. Those two actions were completely different. Hitting him in the face with a metal baseball bat has no consequences whatsoever in a comedy series. Physical violence are always downplayed, so it can’t be compared to sexual harassment. Sexual harassment, however, has a lasting effect in a show like this.

        There is no such thing as overreacting. That’s just an invalidation technique, and it’s a poor way to argue. Sexual harassment in the anime has the same effect as it does in real life. However, hitting someone with a baseball does not have the same effect as IRL (as you can see). Otherwise, the President would be long dead in the series already. The former is realistic, whereas the latter is not. Do you understand?

        A work of fiction doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be criticized. I think you’re getting a little bit defensive. It’s not about whether I take it personally or not. The worst way to argue is to blame the opposing party for every flaw regarding the topic. “Oh, the show is bad to you? That’s your fault because you’re oversensitive. You should turn off your brain like me”. Like the writers here at Randomc, I have my own preferences too. Do you go around telling the writers to stop criticizing the shows you like because they “take it too personally”? Oh wait, you guys did. You guys didn’t like Enzo’s reviews for IBO.

        While I really don’t agree with anyone that defends this action, I have not resorted to name-calling or attacks against them. I didn’t call them misogynistic bastards or insensitive creatures. That would be pointless. Yet, here you are. You did the very thing I didn’t bother doing. Saying that I’m “overreacting” and taking it too “personally”. Attacking my character right from the get-go.

        I believe that your response deserves a long reply. It’s mostly because I disagree with your tone, and how you resorted to invalidation and ad hominem. It has been months and I don’t care about this show anymore. But you. Your response. That, I care about. Whoever comes across this reply, I hope that you can agree with me on this matter. You can disagree with me regarding the subject of sexual harassment, if that’s what you want. By “this matter”, I mean using invalidation and ad hominem to argue. It’s so frequently used that it gets annoying. You can even give a show an 8 out of 10 + criticize it, and you’ll be described as “overreacting”. “Oh, the physics is wrong in a show and takes you out of immersion? Shut up you oversensitive freak. You need to give it a 10 out of 10 with no criticism allowed. This isn’t real life, so stop criticizing what I like!” I assume that many people have faced these situations in the past as well.

        Problem Child

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