Being the Protagonist is Hard!
- Episodes : 12
- Genre : Comedy, Romance, School, Harem
- Airing Date : October 2019 - December 2019
- Producers : Connect
Contains Spoilers
Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo (ORESUKI Are you the only one who loves me?) Introduction and Story
Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo—simplified to ORESUKI—follows the tale of a young high school student named Amatsuyu Kisaragi, or Joro as his friends call him. Joro has plenty of friends; from his bubbly childhood friend Hinata Aoi to his baseball hopeful best friend Taiyou Ooga or better known as Sun-chan. What Joro lacks is a girlfriend and that has made him believe he’s not the main star of this series—ORESUKI breaks the fourth wall a lot—to his dismay. However, one day during school, Joro is asked out by the student council president—Sakura “Cosmos” Akino—and Hinata! On different days Joro meets the two thinking these are dates but quickly learns the girls don’t want Joro but instead have their sights on Joro’s best friend Sun! Due to his kindness—Joro’s one major weakness—he decides to help both girls try to win Sun’s heart but quickly learns something is amiss about this whole situation!
During his attempts at manipulating his friends—for various reasons we won’t spoil—Joro meets one more girl named Sumireko Sanshokuin—nicknamed Pansy—who has been watching (stalking) Joro for some time. Pansy then reveals to our secondary character that she is not in love with his best friend but loves him! ORESUKI then ends up becoming a strange web of love as various characters reveal their feelings for one another—Sun reveals to Joro that he likes Pansy and the girls begin falling for Joro—making this tale into a comedy unlike many others. Joro’s life gets even rougher as more women are added to his group of potential girlfriends and we begin to learn of nefarious plots from each girl to capture his heart. We won’t spoil the later episodes of ORESUKI—as you need to watch them for maximum enjoyment—but we will say this…ORESUKI becomes a series where love is indeed more painful than any other emotion to be had! Can Joro find his true destined love or will he fail and lose the true love of his life?
1. Harem Comedy at Its Finest
One of the best elements of ORESUKI hands down is how comedic each episode is from the first episode to the last. From simple ecchi comedy to the reappearance of a notorious bench—which some have dubbed as Bench-kun—ORESUKI nails the harem comedy without missing a beat. Never did we sigh or grow annoyed seeing similar jokes replayed as ORESUKI rarely relies on the same gag more than a handful of times.
2. Serious but Not Melodramatic
A big flaw of comedy like ORESUKI is when it tries to delve into the more serious tones. Thankfully, this series rarely ever felt melodramatic. ORESUKI explores friendships that are corrupted due to sharing a love for the same person and it never feels over the top or groan-inducing. ORESUKI stays close to the comedy element to avoid that unnecessary pitfall a lot of series fall into when trying to be drama-oriented.
3. Lovable Cast
From our main man Joro to the stalker-like Pansy, there isn’t a single character in ORESUKI that isn’t well done. Even Joro’s later possible love interests don’t end up getting underdeveloped but instead, fulfill their roles perfectly and only add more characters to laugh with. Most comedy series like ORESUKI have one character that makes you write ten-page long forum posts on—we’ve all done it—but this series isn’t one of them and that is truly an impressive feat.
1. Needs More Ecchi?
This is going to sound strange but ORESUKI actually could have used a bit more fan service in our minds. There’s a joke in the earlier episodes where the series breaks the fourth wall and makes the statement that it used fan service to grab viewers but as the series progresses, the fan service kind of just goes away. Yes, you’ll get the occasional panty shot—usually from Joro’s childhood friend Aoi—but if you were tricked and wanted more fan service from ORESUKI, you might be a bit disappointed.
2. Ho Hum Animation
In our honest opinions, we don’t usually connect harem/romance/ecchi series with good animation. That being said, ORESUKI looks just okay and it feels more like an older series. The character models/expressions are perfectly fine but other elements such as the set pieces and more dramatic events don’t ever look that great. ORESUKI is an amazing series but the animation isn’t anything to write home about.
3. That Ending…
Alright, here’s where we will avoid spoiling ORESUKI completely but still talk about the ending a bit. ORESUKI’s ending eludes to a sequel or possible OVA but the way the episode ends is frustrating. We can’t argue it is going against the way the series is—as it again breaks the fourth wall to tell us this isn’t over—but having Joro possibly losing his “challenge” for Pansy’s heart just as the end credits hit leaves a sour taste in our mouths. Was it a horrible ending? No, it truly wasn’t a bad ending. Just don’t expect for the series to end on the same note as it began and expect that cliffhanger to hit you…hard!
Final Thoughts
Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo reminded us of how funny harem-like series with romance/drama can be even now in 2019! With a strong cast, some laugh-out-loud moments and a truly great style, ORESUKI is a series we could watch again in a few months and find those same scenes just as funny later. If the series gets a proper season 2—or maybe OVA series—we will say ORESUKI is near-perfect but as is, ORESUKI just comes short of perfection thanks in large part to its ending. Still, we highly suggest checking out this wonderful anime by studio Connect and know many of you guys/girls will not be disappointed! For those who already have seen ORESUKI, comment below what you thought of the series! If you enjoyed this anime review we have plenty more to check out here at Honey’s Anime!
Author: Aaron
