Anime Hajime Review: Sukittie Ii Na Yo

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Sukittie Iinayo. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

For the past sixteen years, Mei Tachibana (voiced by Ai Kayano) has hesitated to get close to anyone. Past experiences with her so-called “friends” have ended in nothing but betrayal.

Mei's reserved demeanor has made her a social outcast, causing her classmates to look down on her. Yet, it was Mei's surprising honesty that caught the attention of Yamato Kurosawa (voiced by Takahiro Sakurai), the most popular boy in school.

Kurosawa confronts Mei about how interesting he finds her, but she dismisses the advance. Kurosawa refuses to give up and says that if Mei needs him at any time he’ll be there. Such an incident does occur. Through the circumstances of the moment, Kurosawa gives, or rather, takes Mei’s first kiss.

After that, Mei opens herself up to Kurosawa. She was able to experience her first romantic relationship. Not only that, Mei finally understood what it means to have friends.

Series Positives

Yeah…I like this one.

Mei

Sukittie Ii Na Yo did start off as a typical generic romance. Then it surprised me when it started being clever. Sure, there were plenty of moments that you'd find in any standard love story. That's fine since I’m a sucker for that crap. More often than not, though, the show's filled with well-written scenarios. Not to mention plenty of heartwarming and touching scenes, as well as a good mix of jovial and dark moments.

Mei and Kurosawa

Kurosawa

Our two leads are the seeds that make this show blossom. The growth of Mei and Kurosawa, not just as a couple but as individuals, is the crowning jewel of the series.

By the end, Mei is no longer the quiet, shy girl with no friends. Instead, she is the quiet, shy girl with the confidence to smile and enjoy herself. Mei was never going to be the outgoing type. She will never be the loud one and small talk will most likely always make her feel awkward. She will always feel nervous around new people, but unlike before, she won’t shut them out of her life.

Kurosawa was the one who gave me the biggest surprise. At first, I thought he was nothing more than the stereotypical pretty boy. And for a while, he played that part almost to a tee. Once we started learning about his past, Kurosawa became vulnerable and much more relatable. It was the complete opposite of sunshine and rainbows. What brought it home was when Mei was able to render him speechless and flustered. This was a feat which was usually the other way around.

As a couple, their relationship was held together by two aspects.

The first was their inner characters. On the surface, it seemed as if Mei and Kurosawa couldn’t be further apart in this aspect. In reality, they were actually quite similar. They were both honest with other people.  Not in the arrogant, “I know better than you” kind of way. They were constructive and said what needed to get said at the right time.

The second aspect was their relationship. It was built not only on a foundation of deep-seated love. There was also trust. For Mei, this was a much bigger hurdle because of her history. Kurosawa, never even considered betraying Mei. But he took a long time to realize he needed to put in a lot of work to show his loyalty to her. A realization which didn’t click until after his friends had to beat it into him. Usually, that meant figuratively, but in one case it was quite literal.

The show did an amazing job at showing this inner struggle through Mei. She wanted nothing more than to give Kurosawa her trust. When that moment finally did come, it was a great and triumphant moment.

Series Negatives

Sukittie Ii Na Yo does plenty to make itself stand out. There were a few moments that felt like the show was playing by the numbers. The beginning, in particular, felt almost identical to countless other anime. The popular boy falls for the quiet girl because she doesn’t treat him like anyone else. If you can get past that, you’ll do just fine.

No Anger

While Sukittie Ii Na Yo did a great job at showing trust getting built, it didn't show much else. There was never a confrontation between the two. Both of them, usually Kurosawa, would do something that made the other feel uneasy. But they never did anything that made the other angry. The show spent a lot of time on trust and not enough time in disagreement.

I didn't expect a shouting match between the two. Neither Mei nor Kurosawa was the shouting type. Yet, anger and being mad doesn't have to be loud. There just needs to be a conflict of perceptions.

Anger and hate don't have to go together. You can be mad at someone and still love them. Any relationship that’s worth a damn isn’t easily shattered by conflict. I believe Mei and Kurosawa’s relationship could have, without a doubt, survived an argument.

It would have been interesting to see at least.

Final Thoughts

Like I said, I liked this one.

If you’re a romance junkie like me, this couldn’t be any easier to recommend. The writing was solid. The scenarios were fascinating. The entire tone of the series was one that will leave you satisfied. To top it all off, Mei and Kurosawa are one of the best couples in anime.

I suspect that this will be one of the romance stories that I will compare all future ones too.

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