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.

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.