This is a fairly big day for the second-tier shows this season, dropping a volume of them all at once. Hinomaru Zumou proved quite solid, about what I expected – and now we have Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet. The sleeper cupboard was pretty bare this season, but this show was one of the few that very mildly gave me that vibe – mostly because I’m a huge fan of Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari and Takuno Seiki directed both that show and this one. As well, the general buzz about the source material was modestly positive and there’s very little in the way of romcom this season, so…
Well – it was fine. In truth, this feels like a pretty standard manga and anime romantic comedy setup. And the Romeo & Juliet connection doesn’t change that, since that story has been the subject of many a series, some more literally adapting it than others. An elite boarding school (let’s face it, standard doesn’t get any more standard than that), two factions headed by a guy and a girl secretly in love, budding romance that must be hidden from subordinates. Surely even a casual fan can tell the players without a scorecard.
Because we’re talking about variations on a theme here, it’s execution that’s going to be the telling factor. And that’s fine too, for lack of a better word. The cast is full of big names and they’re all, er, fine – including Kayano Ai and Ono Yuuki as Juliet Persia and Romio Inuzuka, the forbidden lovers in question. The two factions are the White Cats and the Black Doggies (“Persia” and “Inuzuka” – get it?), and they’re arch-enemies because the nations they represent are eternal arch-enemies. Stop me if any of this is new information, but originality isn’t everything – sometimes familiarity can have its charms. And there are a few charming moments in this premiere.
Apart from a somewhat discordant moment when three of Romio’s rebellious subordinates use pepper spray in an attack on Juliet (what were they planning if uninterrupted?) the tone here is mostly comedy-forward. And most of that is driven by Romio’s angst over his feelings for Juliet, which he’d be too shy to share even if it weren’t for the politics involved. He’s aware of his feelings, she’s not – or at least has convinced herself she’s not, though her agreeing to date him suggests she kind of knew all along. A positive is that the preamble was sorted in the first episode, so at least we don’t have to endure weeks of buildup before these two actually become a couple.
Frankly, it’s hard to envision a particularly high ceiling for Boarding School Juliet. We kind of know where this is going, and I have a hard time imagining Takuno-sensei can find enough that’s fresh in the material to really make it soar. But likewise it’s easy to imagine this show as an effortless, comfortable escape – the comic chops seem sharp enough, and both the mains likeable enough. What that means in terms of potentially covering it remains to be seen, but while I’m not exactly enamored at this point I haven’t seen anything to turn me off yet either. The bubble may have its first resident of the season.
