First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

OP Sequence

OP: 「セイシュンゼミナール」 (Seishun Zeminaaru) by Study［古橋文乃（白石晴香）、緒方理珠（富田美憂）、武元うるか（鈴代紗弓）］

「天才と[X]は表裏一体である」 (Tensai to [x] wa Hyouri Ittaidearu)
“Genius and X are Two Sides of the Same Coin”

While the first few minutes didn’t do the show any favors, I have to admit that I found myself really liking what I was seeing by the end of the episode.

General Impressions

Have you ever had that feeling while watching something that you might be watching something that just totally isn’t for you? If you haven’t, I am jealous of your innocence and ability to not let things get to you. But for those of us who have, I hope I wasn’t the only one who was afraid that they were about to get bamboozled into watching a show that was going to turn into one giant ecchi fest.

Amazingly though, there was a lot less ecchi than what the introduction foreshadowed and a rather compelling story about a group of kids who need each other’s compassion and support to overcome their weaknesses. And sure the overarching plot isn’t anything breathtaking (I’m sure you’ve all seen this whole geniuses at one thing try to get better at the thing(s) they’re terrible at), I really enjoyed how the episode executed it. If I were to try and specifically point out what got me, I think it’d have to be the characters and their personalities with Yuiga managing to keep it all together. A point that I think really needs to be highlighted since it wouldn’t be that hard for a show like this to completely fall apart without the right male lead. And before I get any flack for that cringy moment when our leads were studying together in the library, I thought it was handled rather well all things considered. As a high school kid who’s hyper focused on his studies, I was happy to see Yuiga not completely lose his cool with two cute girls on both sides of him.

In any case, this first episode for Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai was pretty good! Kicking things off with a strong start, I can’t wait to see just where things go from here since it feels like we have a lot of options to choose from. And so long as the show doesn’t succumb to using stupid ecchi moments to try and pad for time, I think we’ll be in for a great ride no matter what direction the plot decides to go in. That said, it looks like we’re going to meet swimming girl rather soon and I personally can’t wait to see just how and where she plays into things. If only next week could come sooner!

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「Never Give It Up!!」by Study［古橋文乃（白石晴香）、緒方理珠（富田美憂）、武元うるか（鈴代紗弓）］

Preview

13 Comments

  2. Bokutachi’s mangaka is a family man, married with 2 little children. (IIRC the eldest is a girl.)

    Some of his previous weekly author comments were him gushing over how adorable and cute his daughter was:
    https://i.imgur.com/kyj3twP.jpg

    My daughter can point at the (Bokutachi) characters and say their names. She really is a genius!!

    Interesting, considering some mangaka try not to talk about aspects of their personal lives or children. (Which leads to rumours some are permanently married to their work…)

    zztop
    Reply

  3. I found this was kind of rough around the edges. I can’t say that I appreciated the voice acting either. Apparently tutors are the new idols, or something like that. But despite the obvious similarities with shows like Gotoubun and the other one this season, it also reminds me of R-15, which isn’t a good connection to make. I hope that they can figure it out.

    Mockman
    Reply

  5. I hate how they downplayed Yuiga being from a poor household. In the manga, the scene where you discovered it was so poignant, and it adds sympathy to the character (who was, at this point in the manga, a bit of a jerk).

    But here in the anime, it’s just a throwaway line revealed by a side-character. Suddenly all sympathy for Yuiga is lost and now he has to rely on his “moe” side to win the audience over. His original jerk-ass nature is gone as well.

    Mediafag
    Reply

  6. Well, I’m glad you (and others) like this. I watched this determined to do my best to not compare it to Gotoubun which I loved, but it’s really hard to not subconsciously see how the characterization lacks subtlety, the heroines lack a sense of distance and plainly telegraph their feelings with blushes and constant emotional venting, and so on. The characters aren’t really compelling to me. But maybe I’m just biased against the 2 main heroines because their character types don’t personally interest me. After all, I love the imouto somehow, yet she can’t be called a deep character either.

    Hopefully the author will take the themes of wanting to understand people’s hearts by deconstructing them scientifically, or being driven toward science by sentimentally poetic feelings, and do something interesting with them.

    Player
    Reply

    1. >quints
      >>subtle

      current Show Spoiler ▼

      conundrum. sure subtle in there.

      but light trolling aside, we’ve been spoiled by good romcoms as of late. this can’t much compare to kaguya in terms of haha factor, imho. and of course quints are, well, quints. and by that i mean, of course, nino.

      cpn mango
      Reply

  8. welp, after watching the episode I might consider it a go…
    the very process of teaching/learning things outside your comfort zone might be fascinating enough, romantics aside
    and there is “sporty swimsuit genius” coming next week? I will gladly have her since I have some related fetish. No I won’t give deetails. Shoo!

    ewok40k
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *