Man, we go from Winter to Spring 2026 with no rest at all for the weary blogger. I enjoy first impressions time – it’s probably my favorite part of the season. But I do enjoy it more when I have a few days of downtime before it really kicks off. Because winter had so many 13 episode series – and the Olympics – I got exactly zero days. C’est la vie. At least we’re starting off with a relatively low-stress premiere in Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! – although it is a double-episode for some reason.

That’s a decision I find a bit odd, because the manga (by noted BL mangaka Syundei) is all of one volume. How the hell does one volume get you a full cour, you ask? Well, there is a sequel manga that also ran a volume. And according to Samu – a big fan of the manga, the first of many faves of his going live this season – they’re inserting a lot of padding that isn’t in the source material. It’s also worth noting that this adaptation was delayed for almost a year, though there are no obvious signs in the premiere of production turmoil.

The first thing one notices about Nakamura-kun – and I mean right from the first previews – is how old-school it looks. Like, seriously retro – like T.P. Bon went back to 1992 and smuggled it to 2026. If you like the look of romcom anime from that era (think Rumiko) this will certainly work for you (as it does for me, as I do). This is obviously deliberate – the ED (for the first episode – it changes, apparently) couldn’t be more 1990’s if it carried around a Beanie Baby and a VHS to return to Blockbuster. And when the story kicks in, the second thing one notices is that the title character is in love with a male classmate and other than that fact in and of itself, no attention is really called to it.

I think this is pretty significant. BL animanga are one thing, with all the requisite tropes that go along with them. But a straight-up (so to speak) romcom about a gay protagonist that makes zero big deals about it? That’s pretty rare. Nakamura-kun is 15, a freshman just starting high school. On his very first day he falls in love with Hirose-kun, his chestnut-haired classmate. Hirose is affable and popular, Nakamura awkward and a loner (his best friend is his octopus, Icchan). Nakamura is desperate to work up the nerve to talk to Hirose, never mind ask him out, and has an overactive imagination. In short a romcom premise that could hardly be more boilerplate, except the hero happens to be gay.

Is Hirose, too? That’s a question for later, I suppose. Most of the humor in the first of these eps is driven by Nakamura’s disastrous attempts to initiate contact, and the contrast they provide with how he imagines they’ll go. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of live octopuses (note: that is the correct term) being “observed” in high school biology, but it does provide both for some amusing antics and the first interaction between the two boys. For the record, octopuses are indeed amazing and smart, and renowned escape artists.

Of import is that Nakamura-kun gets his love advice from “Lovable Lunches“, a BL manga. And as if the whole Rumiko vibe could get any stronger, the protagonist of that (in Nakamura’s imagination) is played by Yamaguchi Kappei. That plays a bigger role in the second ep. And, perhaps inevitably, so does Nakamura’s sexual orientation. It’s not realistic for it to be a non-factor in a Japanese high school, really. And it must be said, considering Nakamura-kun is still hiding the truth, he’s flying pretty close to the sun carrying that manga around and reading it out in the open like that.

The main disaster this time comes from a cockroach. And Ganbare! takes an unusual (maybe like, I’ve never seen an anime do it) of making it a cute one. Nakamura-kun tries to look cool in front of Hirose-kun by catch-and-releasing it, but it winds up crawling into his clothes (I almost passed out just watching that). Hirose comes to the rescue and Nakamura gets more intimacy than he ever imagined possible, but is unable to enjoy it. Worse, Hirose catches him with a copy of “Lovable Lunches” when he trips over a mop bucket and drops it, but he manages to evade being exposed. Only until later, though, when they run into each other at the bookshop.

The thing that makes this work for me – besides Nakamura’s misfortunes – is that Hirose is seemingly a totally chill dude. He’s fine with gokiburi, he’s fine with Nakamura reading BL (though maybe not “Redacted”). In short, he’s genuinely nice and not judgmental at all. The kind of kid anybody would want as a friend, certainly not excluding Nakamura-kun.  But what if Hirose is straight – as indeed, early returns suggest he might be? That’s obviously an elephant in the room for this series. Any time you fall in love with somebody without really knowing them, the possibility of misalignment is very real. And for a gay kid, the odds are worse.

What I like about all this is that the gay/straight thing is only important as a matter of practicality – there’s no judgment attached to it at all. It’s not ignored – it’s just treated as something perfectly normal. None of that would matter if the story and characters themselves didn’t cut it, but so far it’s all pretty charming – both well-written and well-directed. The retro feel totally floats my boat and the humor is offbeat and avoids lapsing into mean-spiritedness while still having an edge. In short, Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! is off to a very solid start, with a chance to be a tentpole romcom in a season that doesn’t look too strong in that department.