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「豚足と呼ばれた男」 (Tonsoku to yoba reta otoko)
“The Boy Who Was Called Pig’s Foot”
Anime romance typically falls under one of two “styles”: the serious, guaranteed to devastate your tear ducts variety, or the more laid back, comedic romp through the jungle. Piecemeal crossover between these groupings is common, but all the stories adhere (more or less) to one of these varieties. When previewing Masamune-kun no Revenge (MnR, because I’m lazy), I pinned this one firmly in the latter camp. Yeah it’s a tale of revenge—a healthy spring for more serious stories—but the series sticks firmly to the tried and true genre tropes, emphasizing the funny over the awkward. We’ve got the jovial imouto, one cute loli mother (14 is the new 30 didn’t you know), the friendly trap, and the ever supportive class rep. It’s all but your ubiquitous romcom setup, much in the vein of Oregairu and Oreshura.
MnR does distinguish itself from its peers in a few areas, however; besides the novel revenge plot, we have two archetype breakers in Masamune (Hanae Natsuki) and Aki (Ohashi Ayaka). While Masamune isn’t your oblivious protagonist who ends up with all the girls just because, Aki tests just how far one can take the tsun in tsundere. It is the relationship between the two which drives MnR here, propelled along by Masamune’s reason for vengeance and Aki’s obliviousness. At face value Masamune’s revenge is incredibly petty—getting back at a girl for humiliating you as a kid, really?—but kicks into gear once you consider Aki’s exceptionally disgusting personality. This “cruel princess” wastes little time in publically humiliating one of the school’s popular guys, using his personal tastes to fashion him a denigrating nickname. The unfortunate bespectacled introvert who also writes her a love letter? Similarly shamed into lowly insignificance. God help poor Yoshino (Minase Inori) too who is treated as little more than a tool fit only for berating. No matter how great those legs may be, Aki will definitely test peoples’ opinions. At least this episode showed why Masamune might have such a hard on for taking her down a peg or six.
Masamune of course is up to this girl’s (not so) unique challenge, which is where a lot of the humour comes out. Masamune deviates from protagonist tradition by becoming a literal Casanova, able to get away with damn near everything, but who remains hilariously surprised by the results. Enjoying the labours of tennis players? No big deal. Sleeping in class? Gosh darn how cute. Secretive meetings with dweebs? Oo so mysterious. Makes it all the more ridiculous too when Masamune catches Aki flatfooted with the hilarious hypoglycemia spiel and rescues her from the unfortunate bespectacled reject. It’s like an introduction to female seduction 101 (i.e. game), buoyed by Masamune’s fantastic motto of “everything depends on whether you’re hot or not”. I’d personally tack on a no shits given personality to that primer, but Masamune effectively sums it up in full, with one particularly important lesson of the day: a girl mad at you is a girl interested in you. No really, I speak from experience.
Although little actually happened this episode, MnR did firmly establish the foundations and illuminate the path going forward. The story may be conventional, but plentiful comedy is likely and a few bumps along the way are certainly not unexpected. After all someone apparently knows who the new Masamune is, and it’s not at all clear who that could be. With both OP and ED hinting towards a few twists to come, MnR definitely hasn’t shown all its cards just yet. Stay tuned boys and girls, the fun is only beginning.
Random Tidbits
With a face like that you could only ever be the designated bottom.
Love how Aki carries a gaggle of girls (it’s the scientific term) with her, but relies solely on Yoshino for her sustenance. You know that could never end badly.
OP Sequence
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OP: 「ワガママMIRROR HEART」 (Wagamama MIRROR HEART) by Ayaka Ohashi
ED Sequence
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ED: 「Elemental World」 by ChouCho
https://randomc.net/image/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge%20-%2001%20-%2016.jpg
Loli mom, best boy, and a protagonist better than most of harem protagonists. Yes, I like this already.
Loli mom makes the show for me. Combination of homemade donuts, adorable face, and that ridiculously soft, cute voice. It ends me.
I’m _very_ happy with this conversion so far. The art is lovely (if you are a leg fetishist, this is your show!), Aki’s death glares had intensity and impact, and the pacing is good.
There are some valid reasons why some people might dislike the show. The premise does sound unpalatable. All main characters you’ll encounter will have a less-than-perfect personality, so if you feel annoyed the first episode because e.g. Aki is a horrible bitch, you can safely drop the show. However, if you can make the abstraction and simply watch their antics as-is, you’ll be rewarded with a clever show which has some of the smartest continuous and gradual non-reset character development that I know. What all main characters (not just Makabe and Aki!) think of each other and why is in constant flux, which is something I really like.
And all other things notwithstanding: Don’t forget that this is primarily a romantic _comedy_. So take it easy and enjoy the ride!
Well she annoys me alright,but she’s meant to do that so ’tis fine, for now…I’d personally prefer it if Masamune would carry out his revenge ’till the end and give her the middle finger or something, go solo or out with another girl if anything tho’ not betting on it.
Anyway, if the antics do deliver, I’ll bite, bitchy Aki or not 😛
I dropped this the moment I saw the mother, but I guess I should give it more chance
Masamune’s manga is scheduled to reach its climax in the next chapter, which readers usually associate with the manga ending soon. This also increases the likelihood of the anime adapting the entire story.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2016-12-24/masamune-kun-revenge-manga-enters-climax-in-next-chapter/.110255
https://randomc.net/image/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
Maybe we’ll see shota dad soon?
can the manga end in 3 months time (12 eps *1 ep per week*)? probably… the probable scenario i see is that they will announce a season 2 greenlit in last episode and have it air on a later season lineup in this year. or, they can end it in 12 – 13 eps if the author already said his/her plans for the ending to the animation studio. seeing the opening video, i predict that Show Spoiler ▼
That’s the mom?
Oh yes, that’s the mom. Don’t ask questions, just enjoy it 😛
Right…. Loli mom…
Takami Chika has a loli mom…
Kamijou Touma has a loli teacher…
It all makes sense now……..
I think I know where this going what i need to figure out now is if this will affect my viewing pleasure
i immediately have my first candidate for this season’s best anime OP… and a loli mother is always a win. i thought it was the one eating is the mother but fck no. story may not work on others but this anime certainly has a good plot, one that will make you watch till the end
I chuckled a few times.
Funny first episode.
The star eyed trap voiced by Hayami Saori’s reminded me of Mayo Chiki’s Subaru.
Nice first episode. 🙂
Why do i feel like this entire series is centered around a misunderstanding? Time to watch the whole thing and see.
I’d laugh hard if it was ultimately a misunderstanding. Imagine all that time spent improving yourself to crush a girl’s hopes and dreams, only to find out she actually meant something else. The joke all but writes itself lol
Someone please tell me in a spoiler if AKi still remains a bitch or actually has a good reason for acting this way? Because while I’ve seen worse characters, I have a feeling that the way she acts and the fact that everyone just openly allows it is going to grate my soul. Because seriously….Yoshino is at the verge of passing out/fainting herself but Aki goes all “I’m hungry, I’m about to pass out!! Get me food servant!!” aaaaaand, she herself looks to be in more healthy condition. God-forbid you walk with your “friend” to buy the food (even though Yoshino 99% paid for it).
Like you can’t blame her for what she did to him as a kid because as kids (despite what anime tries to convince us) our brains are nowhere near being fully mentally developed. It’s just that it seems that her brain didn’t develop at all when she got older. So I’m seriously hoping that the MC doesn’t fall for her near the end and that he goes with some other girl. Because that’s the breaking point if he does go with her. Either that, or she needs to realize she needs to get off her high horse. Because it does happen occasionally. The biggest example would be Ange from Cross Ange. She was a total bee’otch at first but then she actually steadily developed into someone likeable (still got to say despite all the flack that show gets it does win the reward for most logical and realistic character progression/growth)
Because when the dude was about to cut off her hair and the show decided to make it all “tense”, I just went…. “whatever….I don’t really care about you. Sorry show but I’m giving her zero sympathy during this scene.”
Well…
Show Spoiler ▼
I recommend not to take sides in this anime. All main characters are deeply flawed. Rather, take it easy and enjoy the antics between them.
Thanks for the heads up. I don’t think I’m gong to continue this one. Not necessarily because of the way Aki acts, but its just the I can’t stand the whole “Queen-Bee” character trope in media. You know, where there’s one female that everyone adores and gets waded on hand-to-foot. I have a big suspension of disbelief for those type of things since they never happen (I realize its fiction but its still a personal gripe). Not sure if stuck-up is the right word but I don’t really have a problem with characters who act the way Aki does, its moreover when other characters allow that kind of personality to happen. They’re essentially enabling her to be the way she is.
Hello there!
https://randomc.net/image/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
I feel like this anime had a list of boxes to check for cliches and was determined to hit them all. I have some generous oversight when it comes to things like this, but I’m struggling a little on this one.
It’s definitely a paint by numbers type of show, but I’d argue there is some potential here. All comes down to how well the revenge plot is expanded on, and whether we can get some serious development for Aki in particular IMO.
It is pretty much impossible nowadays to find a romcom _without_ people claiming that it’s all oh so cliche – because it is impossible NOT to use tropes which have been used elsewhere.
And I simply disagree that Masamune no Revenge is a 08/15 harem. It’s wrong. The premise is completely uncommon, the lead characters are fairly uncommon, and the non-reset way the character developments will be taking place is uncommon, too.
This is a show where I could completely understand when people drop it over “not my cup of tea, the lead characters annoy me, it’s oh so terrible” – fine. But it’s certainly NOT your run-of-the-mill style of show, no.
This show looks fun. Nothing too serious, familiar scenarios, lots of laughs. Definitively one to watch every week.
“a girl mad at you is a girl interested in you. No really, I speak from experience.”
Wait, what? I hope that was sarcasm, my friend.
Only partially 😛
If a girl is mad, she’s got you on her mind. If she’s thinking about you, you’re halfway to getting her interested in you. The difficulty comes in turning that anger into pleasant interest. Aki may be showing continuous disgust at Masamune, but she wouldn’t be showing it if she thought he was insignificant. Masamune is a mysterious unknown who knows her secret and isn’t phased by her lashing out, the perfect recipe for building interest and infatuation.
In anime this may be true, because anime seems to operate on a weird mirror-world logic not quite our own and here Aki is so obviously tsun tsun.
But in the real world? A girl who is mad at you is a girl who is mad at you. The tendency for some guys to think anger=flirting is something that grinds my gears. If I tell a guy to piss off it’s because I want him to piss off (and hopefully never come back), it’s not code for sex.
A bit embarrassed to share, but whatever. It happened to me irl. There was a girl in school who was mad at me for no reason, she would kick me in the shin sometimes, but she would always stick around. Later she toned down her boyish side a little and would send me chirstmas, birthday cards (long time ago lol). When I went to a different school, then I realised she was interested in me and I was receive exclusive treatments from her. When I started watching Anime then I realised she was a real life tsudere, experssing her interest in a different way.
Quite interested after watching the episode. But I really have to ask, do any of the other girls have any hope of ending up with Masamune? I don’t really want him to end up with Aki, because that would be too predictable, but I also don’t want this to go according to his plan. A strange situation where the ending seems to guarantee disappointment.
https://randomc.net/image/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge/Masamune-kun%20no%20Revenge%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
Kojuurou Shuri, delicate as an orchid, fair as a cherry blossom, the personification of feminine grace and also… a dude. Tall as a willow, slender as a reed, a dude. Radiant in shrine vestments, dude. The sun dips low in a rosy sky, secateurs buzz, Shuri is a dude.
– Masamune Makabe
Just kill me please. I can’t take it anymore! Though like Charlotte Dunois… I’m really hoping for Shuri to be a girl! Quoting Ichika’s classmate… “He’s just too adorable, cute and pretty to be a boy!”
Saori Hayami as the Trap Friend….that’s just unfair…
Sorry I am not on tis train
MC is shallow narcisst, and main heroine is even worse, making the point of brutally crushing nayone who confesses to her… I was almost hoping she got few of her precious hair cut off by that assaulter. Maybe she would get into her empty self-centered head concept of kasrma.