Spring 2022 First Impressions – Aharen-san wa Hakarenai

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Raido starts his high school career with one goal in mind – to make friends in spite of his somewhat intimidating visage. He starts with Aharen-san, the petite girl who sits next to him in class, but no matter what Raido does he can’t seem to get her attention. After school, however, it’s a different story – Aharen-san suddenly seems stuck to him like glue. This hot-cold treatment continues until he learns that Aharen-san has issues with coming on too strong with people and making things awkward. Raido vows to be a good friend to her, no matter what it takes.

The first challenge to overcome is the fact that Aharen-san speaks so softly that her voice is barely audible. Raido tries all sorts of communication methods, including passing notes, learning lip-reading, and even attempting to use a carrier pigeon, before he realizes that, after a while, his hearing has just adjusted enough that he can understand what she’s saying. As their friendship grows stronger and the two get closer, it seems there may be someone on the outside who isn’t so happy about their developing relationship.

Impressions: I’m sure we all know people whose observance of others’ boundaries is a little unusual. Maybe they butt in on conversations and overshare about their own lives, or perhaps they’re more reserved and seem overly aloof when friendliness is preferred. Social mis-matches like this sometimes make me uncomfortable, but I’ve reached a point in my life where, as long as these folks aren’t actually causing any harm (by touching inappropriately or saying actively hurtful things) I try to interact with them with kindness. Lord only knows that I’ve got my own weird issues.

Many anime and manga bank on these kinds of misfit stories; one of my past favorites is One Week Friends, in which a character’s amnesia causes their memory to re-set every week. These stories aren’t always very realistic, but when executed well they speak to emotional truths that are easily understood in spite of their framing.

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai straddles the line between comedy and light slice-of-life drama, which serves it well – for one episode. There are plenty of clever sight gags as the camera cuts to Aharen-san standing face-to-face with Raido or glued like a suckerfish to the window of a crane game machine. The episode does a good job of establishing her as a part-time gremlin. What it doesn’t do a great job of is being particularly convincing about the pathos surrounding Aharen’s situation. There’s a brief moment where we gain some insight into what’s made her so unusually cold and hot – her tendency to come on too strong to anyone showing her kindness overwhelmed prior friends, and now she’s gun-shy about any and all relationships – but the extremes to which this is expressed through her actions always feels over-the-top and more for the purposes of humor.

While I appreciate a well-executed gag series (even if the humor itself doesn’t always hit) I can’t help but feel that in this case it’s partly at the expense of someone whose obvious social issues would otherwise be cause for concern. Sure, anime is anime and I shouldn’t expect realism when that’s not what’s intended, but when there’s a teeny bit of real emotion peeking through the cracks I can’t help but wonder what what the end product may have been like if the emotional truth had been brought to the forefront a bit more.

Pros: Overall the tone of this episode is friendly and cute. While there are bits of the content I might change, the kind-hearted interactions between the two focal characters are heartwarming and pleasant.

The art style is also nice to look at – it’s round and soft, which suits the material well. The animation during the ED is especially nice, with light sketchy linework and entertaining, whimsical imagery.

Cons: So, this is also a criticism of anime as a whole to some extent, but I’m not a fan of the tendency to portray petite characters (generally but not always girls and women) in a way that makes them look like children. While I recognize that animation has its own visual language shorthand, this particular aspect of it rubs me the wrong way.

Content Warnings: Aharen lacks a sense of physical boundaries that, while mild in context might still be uncomfortable for some.

Would I Watch More? – While the episode is entertaining, I find that my interest in “weird anime girl” focused series tends to flag very easily unless there’s some real exploration (and perceived understanding) of what’s going on inside their heads. I don’t know if this series is really concerned with that angle, and in that case I don’t know if it will maintain my interest.