Boku no Tsuma wa Kanjou ga Nai

If you've ever had a chat with an early version of character AI and found yourself having a very deep conversation about love and relationships, you might have thought, "Damn, if only I could marry this AI." Well, this anime will make you yearn for that even more.

Despite its wholesome and lighthearted tone, Bokutsuma hides a rather sad story about a man's loneliness. He is so lonely that he's willing to put a ring on an advanced rice cooker and make it his wife.

One day, he will kiss her goodbye and all he'll feel is a porcelain plate touching his lips.
In the morning, he'll ... wake up to see her cooking some food, hug her from behind, and smell her hair, only to find it smells like a solar panel.
One day, he'll spread her legs and all he'll see is a titanium coochie.
And when he does the deed, he'll feel pain as the tungsten spring locks his manhood, and with tears in his eyes, he'll say, "It's fine,"
and so on.

But then again, this anime mostly focuses on the couple's lovey-dovey moments and not on the loneliness aspect. They keep the plot simple and not overly complicated like some anime involving AI developing feelings. The MC of this anime is a lonely, overworked man who hasn't experienced romance for quite some time, so expect rather awkward dialogue along the way but it's not a big deal if you are already used to watching anime.

The animation is great; they definitely put quite a budget into animating her eyes. Also, the heroine is not really "emotionless" by normal means,it's just that her face can't move; it's just a resin plate. "I have no mouth and I must kyaa >///<."

So if you are into that clank-clank type of romance and humanoid machines sexually arouse you, give this one a try.

Approaching My Wife Has No Emotion blind, it appeared to be an unwatchable bargain-bin drama or romcom where the salaryman's waifu is frigid and maybe even suffering from some kind of disorder to explain a "lack of emotions." That's not far off from the truth, but this is an android-raising simulator featuring one of the creepiest couple of bridge trolls for main characters that I've ever seen. It doesn't even work as passable fetish fuel like Chobits, where the pervert fishes his waifu out of the garbage. Instead, Mina is built like a Tesla, and you can't smother the fire by normal means and have ... to let it die out on its own, so this is an extra-toasty dumpster fire.

Mina, effectively making the show look like Chobits with down syndrome, has a sharp uncanny valley vibe: Metallic plates cover her whole body other than her face (making for peak try-not-to-cringe comedy when characters blush from seeing her full-metal body), her eyes bulge like zoom lenses, and she possesses a face with only one beep-boop expression, making her resemble a moeblob blow up doll from hell. The clear idea is that she will develop her emotions and the like, but these shows operate on an illusion: The girl must be cute and visibly completely human except for exotic moebits that might accentuate her appearance compared to real women, like those distinct robot ears they sometimes have. Typically, the android is supposed to be more moe than the human girls, but it's the other way around here. It's so strange to see them try and pull this off with Mina looking barely a step up from a kitchen appliance attached to a doll carcass someone fished out of the scrapyard...

Anime gets a bad rap for pandering to otakus with incel or loser mains who get the wamans without even trying, but this dude is the lowest of the low. The MC is downright creepy. Look at his eyes! Vertical slits, just like a snake! The pupils and irises are so thin, stretched, and reptillian within the sclera of his moeblob-sized eye sockets, slapped down upon his long, oval-shaped face, and it appears as if the character designer is intentionally or inadvertently presenting this guy to be as unpleasant as possible. Yet I've never seen anyone else mention this, so it seems to be working on a primarily subconscious level. While this is an unwise decision from a marketing standpoint and will reduce the appeal of self-insertion fantasies (a problem considering that's the entire anime), it's the perfect design for this creep, who has a face not even his own mother could trust. His appearance, behavior, mannerisms, and stammering dialogue are so slimy that I'm waiting for him to slip out of his skin as a molting snake would. Always slithering around on his underbelly, he grovels and is so uncomfortable with women that he's too embarrassed to even maintain eye contact with his waifu appliance that he bought, until he downs an entire fridge of beer, that is.

Ruddy-faced and chugging his beer to summon every ounce of courage he can muster to flirt with his appliance, he tilts his head in this creepy way, saying, "*Hiccup* You're what I like best Mina-chan. Think you'd be okay with being my wife?" This is nearly the first "meaningful" interaction with her, and—poof!—he's married to his appliance—a glorified rice cooker—before episode 1 is even half over. Mina's quizzical probing about his actions humiliates him, so he blushes, closes his eyes, and does the cliched hand-behind-his-head-school-boy routine. Upon showing this miserable (sub)human being the slightest affection, which is presumably part of her programming, he's infatuated with her, thinking to himself, "I wonder if she likes me? I hope she does." In a roundabout way, he more or less asks her what kind of men she likes. Is this guy, who "went on a date once, but it didn't work out," really so delusional and love-starved? The answer is, unfortunately, yes. I'm convinced the "date" the MC went on was with an instant messenger chatbot that he immediately asked to marry him, which turned him down, obviously.

The situations in the first few episodes can be roughly paraphrased as... "Dishwasher-chan (literal appliance), you're so moe that I want to ease your burden, and I don't feel like a man unless I help you wash half the dishes. M-m-maybe someday you'd, uh, like me to get out the dolley and, ermmm, roll you to the park, and, ah, we'll go on a date and eat ice cream. You t-twist my heart into knots every time I, uh, go into the kitchen! M-maybe you'd like to sleep with me tonight on the futon, dishwasher-chan? You make me, um, sooooo horny. NOOO... Dishwasher-chan don't ask me what horny means. NOOOOOOO, DON'T SEARCH IT ON THE INTERNET, DISHWASHER-CHAN! I'm so ashamed!" That's exactly how this show feels, just that the appliance is a bit more human looking, can talk like a seasoned ventriloquist, and spit out Wikipedia phrases and dictionary definitions.

In one of the most cringe scenes I've ever seen, the MC's co-worker says his bento lunch looks full of love and inquires as to whether he has a girlfriend. The MC admits the cook is an appliance. Later, he corners his senpai in the breakroom because of his nagging guilt at having besmirched his waifu in the previous scene by calling her an appliance. "Ummm... S-Senpai, earlier I said she was just appliance, but she is so much more than appliance. She's, um, the best, and she is family!" The senpai plays it cool, takes a swig (probably wishing it were alcohol), and delivers a polite, encouraging response, giving off a "I'll say whatever you want me to say, buddy" path-of-least-resistance vibe. Other great lines of dialogue include "There's a girl who will 'vibrate' for me."

Predictable as ever, this series raises a question about the possibility of androids possessing or developing emotions, where a certain amount of experience and "precious memories" will make them sentient by some abstracted magical sci-fi something something process. This title is an inferior Frankenstein product that seemingly grafts on every tired idea it could find from android-raising simulators, shut-in romcom trash, and slave fetish shows. Most of these series present the female android as hyper-feminine and more desirable than the surrounding moeblobs, yet there is one difference that makes this title potentially semi-unique.

The author presents our doting bag-of-bolts automaton as primitive and outdated. For basic improvements, she applies makeup and upgrades her wardrobe. I've heard she gets a leg extension upgrade (she needs a bolster when cooking or cleaning at the kitchen counter because she's short), and she is looking at upgrades in one episode, so there is the promise of her gradually becoming more woman-like in a physical sense. There's even a hysterical bit of potential foreshadowing: Mina reveals a compartment situated in her lower torso that seems oddly womb-like, in which she places an egg and heats it up. To appear more feminine, Mina lets her long hair down to flow freely in the wind. The MC, of course, blushes in response. Despite there being some admitted irrationality to what she did with the egg, she wanted to do it, anyway, meaning she went against her programming in what would constitute an error. This is clearly an important scene for either foreshadowing or bait. If anything, this drives home the android's attempted transformation into a "woman" far more than usual. Another seemingly throwaway comedy scene, following an escalation in intimacy, involves water pouring out of her "womb," which might have one thinking of a woman "breaking water" during pregnancy. Additionally, Super Mina is a separate character and a more advanced version of Mina, representing an ideal to strive toward and go beyond for our determined little rice cooker that could.

Armitage III already had androids with reproductive capabilities and similar themes were in Blade Runner and a bunch of sci-fi novels, so an idea like that wouldn't be much of a stretch here. These series tend to be anti-natal due to the non-reproductive nature of machines, but this is not about mere attraction or romance like other titles. Skipping any formalities or buildup, the series represents an intense wish-fulfillment scenario of having a subservient wife and the typical family setup. Remember, "she is not just appliance, she is family!"

A recent trend in terrible anime, including this rice-cooker special, is wish-fulfillment so heavy that there's not even any conflict. It's like when one dozes off, thinking about how he saved his romantic interest's life and became king without any effort. Even most isekai usually have easy conflict. While I would hesitate to call the MC a Mary Sue because of his hideousness, the setting and plot are Mary Sueish, for everyone is highly tolerant of what is presumed to be transgressive. However, if no one cares, is it even transgressive at all? Most of the MC's anxiety seems unfounded because everyone in his immediate circle bends over backwards to please him and are like, "that's cool/great/hot that you're married to a rice cooker." Some even praise the anime for eschewing conflict and focusing entirely on the slow-cooked development of the relationship, but what we're left with is a tasteless paste.

The android effectively doesn't have a free will or there are obvious limitations, though she goes against some of her programming and clearly has poorly communicated emotions from the get-go, in spite of the title. The MC foists a more "equal" arrangement upon her, but he could always take it away if he wanted. Hey, it's none of my business what someone does with his rice cooker in private, but it's hard to believe anyone would create this series and think it was a story worth telling in its current state. Either way, this "family" thing won't end well if taken to its logical conclusion; since it looks and reads like a hentai gone "wholesome," imagine what'll happen when the main gets his wish completed and this jittery mess has to take his non-functioning waifu in for repairs after filling it with a gallon of semen. Have fun explaining that one, given that you're almost too flustered to even cross the street side by side with your "wife."

Granted, the guy can only have this idealized arrangement through buying a machine, and the series would be far more interesting as a harem with a less pathetic protagonist, where the android whom he saw only as a rice cooker had to gradually gain his affection, preferably from a combination of emotional development and appealing upgrades. Would anyone want to admit they're in love with an android (a highly primitive one, no less) and make it visible to the world? At least make it seem like something more "meaningful" than a last resort for a snake-eyed, down-on-his-luck loser who seeks companionship with an archaic AOL chatbot on steroids that can cook an omelet. While this is a standard wish-fulfillment series, it's hard to to tell if it's meant to be a super-cringe "so bad it's good" comedy or a "cozy and wholesome" romcom meant to be enjoyed unironically.

This is an odd one. The premise sounds interesting and the execution thusfar is, well I don't really have anything to compare it too. Many people mention Chobits thou I haven't seen that. The story sums up to a guy falls in love with a android, shocker I know, and it slowly learns about being human. Initially I figured it would be all in the guys head, but as the episodes go it looks to be more a study of one of the possibilities of AI evolution.

It's not a bad show, thou it feels lacking. Probably because when most people think emotionless they think what ... is it Kuudere which this is not, but it is as the android does not have the ability to change facial expressions. I kind of gives me Bicentennial man vibes but a much slower burn, and the android does not start with human emotions and then work to express them but starts with no to perhaps very basic emotional understanding and grows them. As far as recommending it, like I said at the start it's an odd one. If your looking for Romcom this probably isn't for you, at least not as of ep 3. If your are looking for Strick romance its probably the same. If your interested in AI and its possible implications this may be worth a watch. I think the biggest thing holding this back is the MMC as while again he's fine, he doesn't do much to bring up the show.

The art is solid, good even.

The sound direction is good, OP and ED probably aren't going on any playlists but they are a fun listen too.

and yea that's about it.

I am at risk of coming off as really pretentious talking about a seasonal rom-com show the way I'm about to, but whatever. I believe the subject matter of this show elevates it and makes it something special. This isn't a show about a guy falling in love with a normal anime girl that just happens to be a robot, Mina is made out of metal, she cannot feel emotions, her love for Takumi is explicitly an emulation, she is pre-programmed to be loyal to him. By engaging with this anime the same way we engage with any other rom-com show, the viewer is forced ... to deal with the question of whether or not Mina and Takuma's love is real or if it ultimately matters that Mina's displays of affection are coming from mechanic programming. Obviously the writer has an answer for this already, he clearly thinks that love between man and machine can be sincere, but I think he does a really good job of tackling the question in a nuanced manner. Because of this I really do believe this show is genuinely fascinating, and it concerns a topic that will be way more important as we move into the future.

Also Mina is really really cute

I mainly started watching this purely for the curiosity of the premise's potential. How far can they take the concept of a human and robot falling in love and keep things believable and interesting? How long until robots start exuding human qualities too much to the point where it doesn't really make sense anymore? And why does this particular human fall in love with this robot and are those reasons something to be appreciated or validated? All these questions raced through my mind as I gave this a try.

And yeah the show's relatively interesting so far I'd say. The robot maid so far pretty much ... acts like a believable robot. Her actions and logic are not driven by human-like reasoning or emotions, rather by analyzing human sociology and psychology through the internet. There may be a couple of times where some subtle actions may seem irrational or human, but even then you could circle instances like that by computer reasoning and logic if you wanted to.

And as for the MC, he's not all talk. He loves this robot, and it's very wholesome and cute to see. Every new thing he learns about her is a moment he relishes in and admires. There wasn't a moment where I believed he ever regretted his decision, and his reasons for these convictions are fair. Even when challenges present themselves that could paint his robot as emotionless or outdated does his love not waver.

The robot's interesting, the romance's interesting, the MC's cute. This show's interesting and cute.

The idea of love between man and machine is nothing new in fiction. Even when looking at just anime you can point to one of the first series to exist. Astro Boy begins with a grieving father creating a mechanical boy to replace his son who tragically died in a car accident. The question of “if love like this can be truly realized” has been on our minds for as long as mechanical men have existed in the imagination of authors around the world.

Many stories feature a robot learning to love although it often requires the robot to change and become more human first. The ... little wooden puppet must first become a REAL boy, THEN we can accept him and see him as one of us. This is mirrored by the common tale of the nerdy girl who must cast off her glasses, let down her hair, and shed the “ugly” parts of herself before she can be loved by the handsome football star. There is a reason this tired trope has been mostly derided by modern sensibilities.

Change, in and of itself, is not bad or unexpected in a romance story. It would be false to say that a person does not change when they are in love. As the iconic meme featuring the long-loved Garfield plush who has become warped and deformed after years of being held reads “to be loved, is to be changed”. This is true for us all. It is another thing altogether to say we must first change ourselves and abandon our identity to even be worthy of that love in the first place.

This story takes a different approach. In this world advanced robots already exist, the uncanny valley already conquered. Superior machines built to be seen as human with soft skin and realistic personalities walk the streets. We are outright told that people choose to purchase these robots to fill familial roles. Regardless of if we are shown directly, we can easily believe that love between humans and these “Super Minas" can exist.

But here we have OUR Mina, our regular Mina. An extremely limited base model designed only for cooking. No realistic skin, no emotive faceplate, seemingly no emotions at all behind her cold monotone voice. Truly a machine that was never built to be loved. And yet, despite everything, she is loved all the same.

The question of “Is the love Mina shows real or just an emulation?” may never be answered. But that doesn't matter. No matter her faults, no matter her shortcomings, She will always be worthy of the love she has been shown. If that's true for her, then maybe it's true for us too.

This anime is definitely worth watching. I saw a lot of myself in the robot heroine. Like her, I often feel like I don't fully understand the world and live my life by chance. Many feelings seem out of reach for me, and I lack experience in interacting with people. That’s why this story resonated with me so deeply.

Boku no Tsuma wa Kanjou ga Nai explores themes that aren’t commonly discussed in popular shows. It delves into the relationship between a human and an android, raising questions about self-identity, emotions, and social interaction. These kinds of stories can be really touching and thought-provoking, making us ... reflect on what makes us human and how we perceive love and connection.

What I found especially moving is the way the anime portrays love. It presents love as a complex and mysterious force, something that can be profoundly felt even in the absence of traditional emotions. There's a sensitivity in how small changes or words can deeply affect the characters. This subtlety and mystery make the anime not just a narrative about love, but also a reflection on our own emotional experiences and connections.

For me, the anime captures the essence of what true love might be – a great mystery that isn’t fully revealed. It's this nuanced portrayal of emotions and relationships that makes "Boku no Tsuma wa Kanjou ga Nai" such a special and memorable experience.

In the ever-growing AI technologies we live in, the idea of falling in love with a robot becomes far less a world of sci-fi and more of a world of normalcy. Who has not played some waifu simulators with a ChatGPT backend.. anyone? ...

Anyone?

Anyway..
This anime is about an overworked protagonist who falls in love with his robot maid. Together, they learn how to love each other and grow as a married couple.

Unfortunately, this anime misses the mark. The robot-love trope has existed since "Chobits," often presented with a lighthearted, comedic touch. However, this anime adopts a more serious tone, which feels ... off-putting and awkward instead of warm and endearing.
The pacing is also quite slow, making staying engaged or caring about the characters' journey challenging. It’s hard to tell where the story is heading, and I lacked the emotional investment needed to fully appreciate it.

The bottom line is that this anime is unlikely to appeal to a broad audience and will probably resonate only with a niche group of fans. Unless you're specifically interested in exploring robot-human relationships, it's best saved for a binge-watch.

This is...
Really, really bad.

The robot is a combination dishwasher/microwave/mannequin.
Yet for some reason the MC feels attracted to it.
Now, coming as an outside observer, I'm pretty sure they are setting up an "I, Robot" Scenario, where the bot is actually a hyper advanced prototype that gets unlocked later in the series, so looking at it from outside, one MIGHT be able to explain the attration.
But when you try to immerse yourself into the situation, getting flustered by a dishwasher doesn't make sense.
I don't get flustered when my dishwasher beeps at me that I need to refill the salt.

It's basically a rip-off of Chobits, only way worse.
...
The bot's eyes were well animated though, especially in the zommed in bits.
The animators somehow managed to double up on the uncanny valley:
They quite literally made the anime dishwasher seem uncanny and creepy, but, more importantly, they somehow managed to make you understand that the people INSIDE the anime ALSO experience the uncanny valley when looking at the bot.

Animation, 8/10, would love to see the studio work on a proper show.
Story, 0/10, because it's entirely predictable and makes no sense in-universe.
Overall 4/10 because the animation saves it.

Please save your time from wasting on this anime!!

Forbidden love of time, space, age, destiny, death, and nature are common and most familiar to everyone. In the 21st century, people got really interested in making the forbidden love of technology. There is obviously some good content in this subgenre, but ‘My Wife Has No Emotion’ is the most pathetic one of them.

A story of a kitchen appliance that was bought by a middle-aged guy who works nine to seven. Overall, that’s the synopsis. It’s not the reason it was labeled as pathetic; the reason was the male protagonist (Takumi). He is really creepy, ... and I am not exaggerating it at all. I mean, even though he mentioned in the first episode more than once that she (Mina) is a kitchen appliance, then why do you get horny?! Literally, that said out loud, "II am feeling so horny." It’s goddam creepy. Even a kitchen appliance looks down on him, lol. I don't know about the future, but the so far it was really something unforgettable.

Besides that, dude, other things were good enough. The animations were also considerable; to be honest, that’s more than enough. The VA or OST is good enough for an average anime. But rest is garbage. Nothing to watch, nothing to enjoy rather than a pathetic middle-aged loser who has no hope whatsoever. A literate shit.