Ariel Watches: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun Ep. 1

Sakura Chiyo confesses her feelings to the guy she likes, but instead of love, she ends up with his autograph and a job working as his production assistant. Together they release shoujo manga for a monthly magazine. It's kind of adorable. Let's talk about it.

The episode starts off with her confession of love, which we see Sakura kind of bumble through, and right off the bat we see she's naive and a little ditzy as per your typical hight-pitched, blushy, lovestruck teenage girl trope...but I can dig it. Even though it's not an original character, we've definitely seen this all before, she's so adorable I don't really care.

Now let's talk about her hugaboo, Nozaki...

Here he is in all his sparkly glory: our leading man. Looks-wise, he kind of reminds me of Ryuuji Takasu from Toradora! Unfortunately the comparison ends there. Like, I really don't see the appeal. According to Sakura, he can do no wrong. I mean the dude stares at a cat for ten minutes and Sakura still sees the glitter coming out his ass. He, on the other hand, is super oblivious (of course) and, not gonna lie, a little dull. At this point, I'm just hoping he'll grow on me.

This anime features a lot of close ups on drawing supplies.

Suddenly I'm aware of all the ways I have not been riding a bike.

If you don't do this with me, we're over.

Cats.

Overall: 5/10 It's cute, it has potential. Really light and fluffy, but sometimes that's just my flavor (I tend to watch fluff series in between heavier anime). Obviously don't watch this if you're looking for something with a little more meat to it, BUT it does have its funny moments and from what I hear this series tends to poke fun at itself, which is something I tend to gravitate towards in a Slice of Life type of anime. While I'm not completely sold on their chemistry, or Nozaki's weirdness, I'll probably keep watching it, if only to see the character development that hopefully happens between these two cute idiots.