So I randomly saw this clip and youtube from crunchy roll promoting season 2 for this anime and it hooked me. I only looked at a few seconds of the clip but I thought it looked cute and decided it was something that I needed to see. I wasn't expecting anything too crazy, just a simle slice-of-life anime about a high school boy and girl. And oh boy how I was surprised.

I was watching the first episode, it was going chill as expected, there was the standard ultra shy anime protagonist being Gojo who was envious of Marin because she's popular and easy going. He has a very unusual hobby, he makes clothes for these 'Hina' dolls. In school he feels alone because nobody has such a specific hobby like him. One day, Marin catches him using the sewing machine in school. He expects her to think that he's really weird, but instead she really admires him for his skills. It turns out that she's really interested in doing cosplay and decides to ask Gojo about an outfit she made. Her outfit was horrible and Gojo criticised her for it. She ends up asking him to make an outfit for her to which he agrees to and the first episode wraps up there. I thought this was a very solid and wholesome set up. This super shy boy who reminded me of myself in his inability to socialise was suddenly paired up with this super popular girl to make an outfit for cosplay. Then I watched the second episode...

He ends up needing to take her measurements so that he could make the outfit to fit her perfectly. And this lead to a very drawn out scene where she stripped right down to her undies. She was completely comfortable being half naked around someone she barely knew. Which, you know, there are people like that saw I thought maybe she's a bit eccentric is all. But then there's a part where his measure tape has to wrap around her breast. Naturally, he feels very uncomfortable about the situation. Marin though? She's completely fine about this and totally comfortable despite being a high schooler. And then in order to make a bust bag he needs the measurement between her nipples. He asks her to do it, she teases him about the situation and says 'Yeah, I guess I can't show you those.', and I'm like of course not girl! Why are you treating this so casually! But again, I'm sure there are people like this in real life who would act like this, right? I know it might sound like I have a big problem with her behaviour, but I don't have a problem with it, i just find it surprising is all. What I do have a problem with though, is how they portrayed this whole sequence.

Boob shots, ass shots, oddly specific camera angles, and to top it off - lot's of jiggling. Marin is supposed to be a high schooler goddammit. Maybe I don't watch enough anime to know better but how on earth are people okay with anime sexualising minors??? It's not like this is some old anime that came out in the 90s or something. This released in 2022. And on top of that the anime got good ratings. Why are people okay with this?

I was so incredibly confused. I thought this anime was supposed to be wholesome? I decided to check the genres and....yep - there it is: Ecchi. At this point I had to question whether or not I was going to continue. Wouldn't it be kind of immoral to watch an anime that wasn't afraid to do such things? But the thing is... that first episode had already hooked me. I cared about these characters and I wanted to see how their futures played out. So I felt a bit guilty, but I decided to continue. And to be honest - I am glad that I did. I think the anime was mostly fine. The story wasn't crazy but it was a nice comfort show. However the it did have a lot of fan service and it felt so obnoxious. I just can't help but feel like this must've been written by a bunch of middle aged man to fulfil their childhood fantasies. Because these moments do nothing to improve the show. In fact, you could remove them and it would be a much better more accessible anime. It just stinks that the anime has to be brought down in quality by such a stupid thing because it really is great aside from that. There's these 2 characters that are just absolutely aggregious. Basically they're 2 sisters, one in middle school and the other in high schooler. Similarly to Gojo and Marin, these sisters are total opposites. The older one looks really young and you would think she's a middle schooler. The younger one - well, you can see where I'm going with this - looks older. And she doesn't just look old enough to pass as a high schooler but she's...curvy. She, just like other female characters was very sexualised and it's ust so incredibly appalling. I mean THIS IS A FRICKING MIDDLE SCHOOLER. WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE HAS MASSIVE YOU KNOW WHATS.

Ugh it's just, how are people so accepting of this that it's getting a season 2?? But then again maybe I shouldn't be talking? After all I did watch the whole of season 1 and I did have my eyes on season 2. But tbf I did at least watch it on a pirated site so at least there's that. Maybe I really am part of the problem...