Yagate Kimi ni Naru Review: Some consistent, relaxing romance

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I’ll be honest. I didn’t talk too much about this series as it was airing because it felt pretty low-key to me. It’s not a show that goes to great lengths to be flashy, despite the insane attention to visual details in the animation itself. However, it is a show that has a clear character dynamic that it executes well. The main character, Yuu Koito, is a girl searching to understand the feeling of love. She meets Toukko Nanami, who seems to share her plight, but Touko instead falls for Yuu and confess to her.

A large part of why I thought the show was a pleasant viewing experience is the fact that it doesn’t shove its yuri component in my face. While it’s certainly a factor in Yuu and Touko’s relationship, there’s no constant reminder of how forbidden or taboo the love is (as you might see in a show like Citrus). While it’s probably true that the relationship between the two girls would cause uproar if it was made public, it wasn’t a constant source of drama driving events forward.

Yuu, as a character, was surprisingly relatable for me. While she shows the empathy of a kind person, she approaches her feelings with a sense of rationality that can hold her back. As the series progresses, we see her start to take more chances to learn more about herself and the love she’s trying to find.

On the other side, Touko isn’t such a simple character herself. While she gives off the initial appearance of the typical model student, we learn that there’s more to that personality as she opens up to Yuu. It becomes a bigger decision point for her, as she also tries to discover who she really is, rather who she believes she is.

Unfortunately, the story is forced to stop at a bit of a weird point, given its relatively slow pacing and the unfortunate consequence of being an adaptation. It’s sad to see so much time devoted to setting up the all-important student council stage play only to have series end before it can be resolved. It’s not really fair of me point it out, but it did leave me wanting more. Maybe I should just read the manga, right?

I’d love to go more in detail about the visual appeal of the series, but I’m, as always, woefully underqualified to do so. I will say, though, that it doesn’t take too much training to notice how much effort goes into every scene. The show is pleasing to look at, keeps a mellow atmosphere without pushing the drama to unrealistic levels, and delivers interesting characters who feel oddly realistic.

Overall Score: 8/10