The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You probably comes in as the biggest wild card of the season for me. Title long enough to be a LN, with a pretty dumb-sounding premise. But it’s a manga and a pretty well-regarded seinen at that. And a couple of folks in my circle predicted that I might like it. So I want into this premiere not really knowing what to expect. And to be honest, I come out of it pretty much the same way.
Kimi no koto ga Dai Dai Dai Dai Daisuki na 100-nin no Kanojo (let’s just agree that’s the last time I include the whole thing) is the story of a boy named Aijou Rentarou (Katou Wataru) who’s been a serial confessor since eight months old, and always rejected (much to the puzzlement of his “Friend A“). After he finishes junior high with a .000 batting average he goes to a love shrine to pray for improved luck in high school. The Kami himself (Chiba Shigeru) appears and tells him he’ll meet his soulmate in high school. But not only that, he’ll meet one hundred of them.
After a quick cut to opening day (the fourth wall is pretty much non-existent here) he meets the first two by literally bumping into them. That would be the classic tsundere Inda Karane (Tomita Miyu), and Hanazono Hakari (Hondo Kaede) – who I guess would be a deredere if anything. And what follows is a series of gags riffing on their respective character class romcom tropes, like the whole indirect kiss thing. Some of this is pretty funny, some of it not so much – which considering the pace at which it’s hurled at the audience is probably inevitable.
As it turns out Rentarou was basically screwed by the God of romance, who was distracted by a showing of Miyazaki’s “Castle in the Sky” (whose fans flash-tweeted the magic word “Balus” in record-breaking fashion during an airing a few years ago) and signed him up for 100 soulmates. Hey, I don’t blame him – that’s my second-favorite Ghibli movie – but considering that when soulmates don’t wind up with their fated partner they die, that puts an awful lot of pressure on Rentarou here.
I have questions. I mean, it’s not like even with two cours you’re going to be able to flesh out 100 actual girlfriend characters. So how much of a pass at that is the series actually going to make? And while all this is obviously intended as satire, it still comes off as resolutely sexist in the premiere. It’s all self-referential enough that I suppose one won’t take that too seriously, and better to see tropes satirized than observed robotically. Even so, though, it’s a bit much at this point.
I’ve learned with romcoms – especially seinen romcoms – that you can’t base your conclusions on the first episode or two. So while a lot of what happened here didn’t really work for me, I’m not that worried – these things usually take time to unspool the thread. There was stuff that made me laugh, and the general consensus seems to be that 100-nin ni Kanojo is not a mean-spirited sort of series. I’m not even close to forming a firm opinion and I probably won’t be for at least a couple of episodes.
L0ken
October 9, 2023 at 9:49 pmConsidering this series has some following from LGTBTQ+ folks and female audience due to being essentially wholesome polyamorus relationship, this series is hardly offensive and sexist, especially seen when girlfriend number increases, number of dynamics grow, quality and insanity escalates. In fact, people argue it’s one of the most respectful to the girls in a genre (who all legit all main characters and relevant still to this day), from how Rentarou treats to them to easily passing Bechdel test etc, I’m not going to get into the details.
Regarding fleshing out girlfriends and how much we there will be in the season, this series takes things gradually and not rushing anywhere, so assuming rumours of split-cour is true, first 12 episodes unlikely to cover more then 6 girlfriends and in 24 episodes I doubt it will have more then 11 girls. Flexible, regular and rotational formula of the series works in this methodical pacing, where everyone screen time accumulates with time, expanding in width and in depth slowly, chapters can have solo focus, small groups or whole group, it can be solitary chapter or mini-arcs, so writing structure is surprisingly clever for handling large cast (1st season content will be mostly solo or everyone in a chapter). While it’s heavy on comedy and fluffy romantic shenanigan’s, it has occasional drama and seriousness that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.
I particularly recommend waiting at least until 4 episode to see how it function with more then 2 girlfriends and showcasing more appeal beyond comedy.
Guardian Enzo
October 9, 2023 at 10:03 pmAs I said, my track record with seinen romcoms (Tomo-chan is a good recent example) is you have to give them a few episodes before drawing any conclusions.
ruicarlov
October 10, 2023 at 12:23 amThis was easily one of (if not the most) enjoyable premiere of the light-hearted variety this season. The 4th wall-breaking is strong in this one, and they managed to land some hilarious jokes without being mean spirited, and making me like the cast with all their exaggerated traits (tropes).
Simone
October 10, 2023 at 4:20 pmAdaptation wise, this was some top notch stuff – it even found good ways to translate the meta jokes to the new medium and add new ones keeping in the spirit of the manga. Content wise it’s still very much tame and “normal” compared to what comes later.
The question “they can’t possibly really handle 100 characters, can they?” was the same we all asked when the manga started. 152 chapters and 26 girlfriends later, I am now convinced that yes, they DO absolutely plan to try and the absolute madlads might even succeed. Honestly just witnessing the mangaka attempting this feat and all the tricks they’re using to succeed is half the fun of the series.
Guardian Enzo
October 10, 2023 at 7:17 pmHe has the luxury of time that the anime almost certainly does not…
Simone
October 11, 2023 at 1:27 amWell, at the usual pace a two cour seasons would probably cover up to 70 chapters, which would be half of the existing material. Unless someone in the production committee goes completely batshit insane (ahem PROMISED NEVERLAND S2 ahem), they’ll just adapt what they can, stop there, and then if it works well it’ll get a S2. A 100 GF in two cours would indeed be madness, and anime original madness at that.