“Binetsuma (微熱魔)” by ZUTOMAYO (ずっと真夜中でいいのに。)
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is back. And to be honest, it’s not a scenario I ever expected. This series had “one and done” written all over it, the latest in a string of similarly quirky and charming romcons with modest followings. The first season was certainly well-received but the manga has never been a commercial monster, and has since ended. But here we are, and anything else is sort of irrelevant. We do have a hundred chapters to cover where S1 only had 67, but I’m happy just to get another cour.
This premiere was a reminder of everything I love about this series. And everything that frustrates me about it, unfortunately. That isn’t remotely surprising, but we tend to remember the good stuff and look back with rose-colored glasses. Especially when I’m as abjectly fond of this show – and its protagonists – as I am. The overall picture was more mixed, though, which is why Aharen S1 just missed out on the 2022 top 10 list (it placed 12th in a pretty deep year).
The nut of this is pretty simple. Raidou and Aharen are lights-out as a leading pair. And the comedy their relationship generates is frequently hilarious. But the series has a propensity for really annoying side characters. In the first season it was Ooshiro. This time around it’s Tamanaha Riku (Touyama Nao). She’s the (re-)transfer student who dominates the B-part of this episode. And especially given that time is going to be of the essence with 100 chapters to blow through, I hate to see more than half an episode spent on her. Especially the first episode of the season.
What we got of Reina and Matsuboshi in the A-part was great, we just needed more of it. They’re 2nd-years now and officially going out. Everyone lands back in the same class, including Ooshiro this time (she’s refreshingly restrained here). But this time the homeroom teacher is Tobaru-sensei, with her hyper-sensitive aware radar. And with Raidou and Reina now a couple, someone better be standing who knows her blood type. The hook with this pairing, of course, is that it’s Matsuboshi’s hyperactive imagination which dominates our perspective and drives most of the laughs. He imagines perhaps that Reina has been hibernating, storing up her energy levels for a spring metamorphosis. But… no.
That’s when the aforementioned Tamanaha-san comes in. And truthfully, it’s not like she’s awful or anything. She’s annoying but not Ooshiro S1 annoying. It’s just that there’s so much of her. To the point where we don’t see the two mains together for at least 90% of the second half of the episode. And as a result, both the charm and comedy meters shoot way down. The deal is that Tamanaha is the friend Aharen-san thinks she scared off by being too guigui in elementary school (she recognizes her eventually). But Tamanaha is neurotic herself, convinced she drives away friends (including grade school Reina) by acting “weird”. Which to be fair, she kind of does (I mean, what’s with only having one shirt button done up?). But Reina is not the judgmental type, and soon enough it’s all cleared up and Tamanaha is part of the team.
That’s all fine for what it is. The issue is I just didn’t need 15 minutes of it in the first ep of the season. There are side quests that work with this show – the stuff with Reina’s siblings is great, for example. But what makes Aharen-san wa Hakarenai special is Raidou and Aharen being adorbs together and Raiidou’s crazed fantasies about her. Give us a lot more of that going forward and everything is going to be just fine, as those are two of my favorite things in modern anime.
ED: “Twilight (トワイライト)” by shallm
