B Gata H Kei

Heck yeah! In an age where tonnes of love-coms just flip up and morph into slut-shows in a matter of episodes, who would have guessed that we’d find something this season that is the exact reverse! This show certainly wasn’t on my radar – I figured that if a show about maids and butlers can turn out to be the drunk-party of uncensored nonsense that it is, I certainly didn’t want to imagine what a show outright about sex would end up being. But now that I have been cajoled into giving it a shot, I’m surprised. We may actually have a sweet and juicy love-com on our hands here underneath that thin layer of brittle slut-show wrapper.

A few things about the show so far that’s cool:

• The main protagonist is a girl. This has two important benefits. Firstly its actually somewhat fresh to watch an echhi show from a girl perspective. It’s also a plus that Yamada is really quite cute, funny… and does not have 55% of her body mass focused on her upper torso. Secondly, it conveniently and thankfully leaves out the old “clumsy protagonist falls face-first onto hot tsundere’s crotch” thing. We really, really need to move on from those ;)
• The male lead (I’m assuming he’s the male lead) actually earns a liking from me. No completely stupid or gratingly insensitive brat that only redeems himself with occasional demonstrations of GAR. This guy is… really quite sensitive. And unlike most annoying male leads who stick out like sore thumbs, this guy actually seems to try his best to blend and not stand out. He’s a gentleman too. *stamp of approval*
• The show is really kind of amusing. In the good sense that it’s jokes are actually funny. It’s also thankfully modest despite it’s adult themes. You don’t know how relieved I was to discover no outright and unadulterated nudity. I used to think that I’m pretty fanservice tolerant, but some of the recent shows are starting to freak me out.

The best part of it is that this show isn’t really about sex. That’s just the comedic device – where all the jokes come out of. It also helps to underscore Yamada’s eccentricity – and that’s about it. All that ever gets talked about in the show is Yamada’s perverse dream, but as you watch the plot unfold and observe the way the characters behave, it soon becomes quite clear. This show is about adolescent confusion and tight and mushy feelings. And that’s a love-com in its native element.

Oh did I mention having Yukari Tamura, Mamiko Noto and Kana Hanazawa on board?

Sold :)