Yeah, so Kirio Fanclub is a bit of a weird one. I haven’t read a drop of the manga. It doesn’t get great reviews (not terrible either, for the record). Don’t really see a big track record with any of the key staff, and Satelight has hardly been a beacon of excellence over the past few years. But I had a sleeper vibe about it, for reasons I can’t really put my finger one. Just a gut feeling, as they say. Sometimes they turn out to be right, sometimes you wonder what the hell you were thinking.

Unfortunately, my first reaction is I was probably straight tripping. I didn’t hate the premiere, but I can’t say that I liked it either. It was weird, I’ll give it that, and weird can be a good start. The premise is two high school girls named Aimi and Nami are in love with a boy named Kirio. Of him we see almost nothing. He has basically no dialogue, apart from asking the girls “Have you ever counted the moles on your body?”. In short we have absolutely no idea why these girls are in love with him – though it’s entirely possible that’s the point.

The other key element here is that Nami and Aimi are basically stalkers. They don’t do anything harmful (or illegal), but this situation is definitely kind of fucked up. They basically play a standard manzai team, except neither is exactly a tsukkomi per se. Aimi is the earnest and kind of clueless one, Nami takes pleasure in messing with her. I don’t think Nami is in this strictly for that – her obsession with Kirio seems real. But she’s definitely more in control of the experience than Aimi, and enjoying it more.

The only thing making me hesitate in tapping out yet is that there could be something more to this dynamic than we’ve seen in the premiere. I mean, if Kirio is basically a mannequin that makes the whole setup incredibly boring and pointless. Maybe there’s something more to him, or the triangle evolves beyond juvenile gags and unrequited obsession. If not this is going to be a very short ride, sleeper or not.