「俺ってほんと、どこにでもいる平凡なモブなんだ」 (Ore tte honto, doko ni demo iru heibonna na nda)
“I’m Really Just an Ordinary High School Student”

Ore Suki seems like a generic romcom. The key word being ‘seems’. It is anything but.

A while back, predating Ore Suki by three years, my secondary school friend coined quite literally the same concept. Guy plays the smooth handsome guy with plans to amass his own harem, is asked out by a couple of girls to meet them, only to be told that they were actually in love with his friend. Unfortunately, it was something of a oneshot. I had always wondered how what the continuation would have been like. Now, I no longer need to speculate. This is what I’ve been waiting for.

What did I love about that first episode? The way the anime know exactly what trick they want to play, by building up a cliched illusion for half an episode, before sucking punching us really hard. With how much of a nice guy he was being on the face of things, you would not have expected that Joro was a scheming bastard deep down. With how touchy feely Cosmo and Himawari were being with Joro, then asking him out on a date, you wouldn’t have suspected they were actually in love with Sun-chan. Both falling for him on the same day, when he shed manly tears after putting up a brave effort before losing the Koshien qualifications. There were also hints of Pansy throughout the episode, so people must have had their questions about her, especially because some people will get deja vu from her character design. Let’s say, I don’t recommend going down that rabbit hole. And it’s just Joro’s luck that the only girl who’s into him is an obsessive and crazy stalker. She appears in the background of so many scenes! Talk about how the turntables turn. Watching him go from optimistic and smug, to depression, to anger, then just acceptance, followed by misery in the space of 24 minutes was a thing of beauty. As for Pansy, she’s straight up darkness. The way she psychologically tears down Joro’s cool and calculated attitude by setting up her confession in exactly the same way Cosmos and Himawari confessed about their feelings for Sun-chan, only to subvert his expectations was brutal. Not to mention blackmailing him with all the information she gathered to force him into compliance. Looks like there’s no escape for him. But here’s a question, and it’s unfortunate Joro interrupted her before she could get to explaining it. Why does Pansy love Joro, even though she knows full well what a scheming bastard he truly is? I guess we’ll find out eventually.

In technical terms, the animation was really good, aside from some fuzzy background perspective shots. I appreciated the details they put into drawing key frames. And there are so many amazing reaction faces for me to add to my collection. Really couldn’t ask for more from this show in terms of its visuals, and the foreboding Imperial March style OST that played when Pansy deconstructed Joro bit by bit alongside fitting sound effects were absolutely perfect. Incredible adaptation by all rights, and I highly recommend that people stick along for the ride, because it will only get better from here on out. Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. What did you all think? As always, thanks for reading my post and please do comment about your opinions below!

15 Comments

  1. Thank you for review first episode, I hope it will be that good that you will continue with the series. I really enjoyed first episode, comedy was a top notch. At least for me. I really liked that its kind of opposide of harem. Some people started already to hate the series, but imo I like that finally protagonist is not some kind of pussy and has his own opinions and they show bad side of love(?) interests. Too many times I saw anime girls giving misleading signals. I expect stalker girl to be beauty behind glasses – I just hope they wont ruin it into turning it into cliche. I also hope they will keep gag faces from protagonist, I need to save more of them to my collection as well ;D

    shirocat
    1. I might just continue. We’ll see.

      Gag faces have been really on point and I hope that continues for the entire run of the show. I expect more to come given how the absurdity won’t be having any breaks, if my memory serves me correctly.

  2. This was kind of fun, although given the premise it was really only a third of an episode (thrice repeated).

    I wonder why Sumire is so undesirable that Joro recoils at the mere thought of her as a woman. She doesn’t seem to be particularly tall or anything.

    The artists put a lot of work into those eye shots (although I’m sure that the effort was shared among the three girls).

    Mockman
      1. https://randomc.net/image/Ore%20wo%20Suki%20na%20no%20wa%20Omae%20Dake%20ka%20yo/Ore%20wo%20Suki%20na%20no%20wa%20Omae%20Dake%20ka%20yo%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2042.jpg
        PaoLUL: “♪ Ware wa Kangun waga teki wa… ♫ Nooohoho…”
        Noble (Lost Pause): “Oh, no no no no nooo…I don’t like where that’s going…”

        Also, Joro’s reaction to seeing “that bench” in the library is basically the same reaction I have whenever I’m reminded of that damned work.

        Incognito
  3. It’s a little disappointing that they did not adapt the entire scenes from the manga. A lot of funny moments and punchlines from MC have been omitted, and those were supposedly super laughable. Maybe I’ve set my expectations too high. Also, is it just me or the CV of MC was a bit off? I’ve imagined a different voice for him particularly when he’s in his true form. I guess I’ll watch a few eps more and see if my opinion will change.

    kirruwa
  4. That imperial march with the amazon-ordered bench was inspired. I really had to rewatch it to bask in its glory. The mechanical sound effects of Joro walking were incing on the cake.

    ruicarlov
  5. Zaiden: I assume that you’ve caught up with the manga? I kinda doubt that you’re a virgin watcher? 😉

    Pansy only darkness might be a bit much. I’d say she’s the demon spawn from Senjogahara and Natsukawa Masuzu.

    Mentar
    1. Needed to go back to work and hurriedly inserted a random word in there, which happened to be ‘darkness’. If’s a mix of wanting to be in line with what the viewers know, without giving too much away about the future as someone who’s familiar with what happens later on. Words can be difficult like that. But that’s the beauty of language.

  6. – Two beautiful/cute girls both invite you to go on separate dates with them on Saturday and Sunday.
    – At the end of both dates, those same girls admit they’re in love with your best friend instead of confessing to you.

    My most likely reaction when put in that situation:
    Damn it all!

    To be fair, Joro definitely isn’t lacking in the “reaction faces” department, as well as Engrish reactions that would make Joseph Joestar proud. (“What?”, “Oh, no”, “Oh, déjà vu” [I’ve just been in this place before], and the classic “Oh, my God.”) Also had a laugh at his mixed-language quips, as well as nicknaming Aoi and Sakura “b***h” and “abazure” (a.k.a.: the new names of the princess formerly known as Malty/Myne Melromarc), respectively…

    https://randomc.net/image/Ore%20wo%20Suki%20na%20no%20wa%20Omae%20Dake%20ka%20yo/Ore%20wo%20Suki%20na%20no%20wa%20Omae%20Dake%20ka%20yo%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2025.jpg
    Joro: “This, and yet she doesn’t even like me. Is that nuts or what?”
    https://randomc.net/image/Ore%20wo%20Suki%20na%20no%20wa%20Omae%20Dake%20ka%20yo/Ore%20wo%20Suki%20na%20no%20wa%20Omae%20Dake%20ka%20yo%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    Joro: “It doesn’t mean anything when you grip the hand of a man you don’t even like.”

    And I see Joro’s channeling his inner Deadpool as well… Did I also mention that Joro’s basically a more savage Masamune Makabe? (From Masamune-kun no Revenge.)

    Well, came for the Saki Yoshida lookalike (plus all the baggage that comes with knowledge of that work), and I’m definitely staying for the comedy side of this romantic comedy. I can’t wait to see how the English dub handles this show.

    Incognito
    1. Seeing Joro become so jaded was great. Can’t wait to see Pansy push more psychological experiments and torture onto an unwilling subject like him, given how she coerced him into meeting at lunch everyday now.

  7. I just started watching this…. It’s a messed up version of OreGairu but hey! That’s what makes it lovable and the Darth Pansy is certainly a Force to reckon with

    Henrietta Brix
    1. Just stumbled onto this gem…
      Imperial March parody playing when she invited Joro to DA BENCH was brilliant
      as was her reneging on just promised right to deny her request
      “I am altering the deal…”
      Joro is scum to be sure, but now he has run into evil incarnate!

      ewok40k

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