Giji Harem

Why does it seem like anime studios don't put in any effort into their shows? This is actually an anime that I've read the manga for first and really enjoyed. I loved the characters and they actually have great chemistry for once. I don't know why but for some reason in anime romcoms, the writers are so hellbent on focusing on how to force circumstances onto their characters to progress their love, that they forget to make them actually have an interesting relationship. Like these two characters are a really fun duo. You believe their romance because you see their friendship first. They play off ... of each other well and have a trusting relationship that is fun to watch, and it's because we see how much fun they have together that we root for their romance. It may just be my ideals from the American culture in which I grew up, but I prefer relationships built on enjoying the others presence more than emotional residence. Anyways, I love the characters and I really loved the premise of acting out a harem. It's cute, charming wholesome and just a good time.

So, why the 3/10? You see, I was talking about the manga. Now, what I'm about to talk about is not one of those "the manga was better" spiels (even though it was). The biggest issue I have with the anime is the fact that the 10-page chapters that the manga had, where it was just focused on one sort of gag a chapter (kind of akin to American comics like Calvin and Hobbes) does not translate well to the cinematic format. These are not episodes of a show. They are five unrelated circumstances that have the same characters, mushed together jarringly into 20 minutes. It is a series of gags, not a story. This worked for the manga because of how manga is formatted. Where it takes like 2 minutes maybe to read a chapter in the manga, it takes 5 for it to play out in the anime. It does not work for anime. Why is Japan so insistent on just copying the manga verbatim?

Now that kind of series of gag show can work. Nichijou is amazing and it does the same thing. So does Saiki K. But those work because their gags are short and there is enough variety that it remains interesting. This show only has two actual characters and each segment of the episode is 5-6 minutes. As much as I love these characters, these unrelated string of 'things that happen' is not engaging enough for a 20 minute episode.

Why can't they make an original story, with the same characters, the same premise, the same humor? Just add a story. That's all you need to do to make this show great. Deviate from the manga and make a story that fits into the 12 episode run-time. The whole manga is based around the Drama Club, right? Why not make a story about them going through a troubled production, or just give us a sense of time progressing like Horimiya? Add new characters, add emotional depth, as long as you keep what made the manga so great (the chemistry and the humor), we won't complain. I am asking as a fan of the manga, to not just copy and paste, but do something with the source material so it can fit the anime medium. But they would never do that. Because making an original story takes effort and risk.