Kakkou no Iinazuke

Sigh… Alright, where do we even begin with this one? First of all, if you actually finished all 24 episodes of this dumpster fire, like I did, I applaud your dedication, but sometimes I really do question the decisions I make, such as continuing to watch this week after week. Studious male harem protagonists have been somewhat of a repeating character archetype, like Futaro Uesugi from The Quintessential Quintuplets, or Nariyuki Yuiga, from We Never Learn. I am convinced however, that Umino Nagi is one of the worst harem protagonists that I have seen. He’s literally Kazuya, but gets good grades in school. He’s indecisive, and rather dumb for a studious kid. I felt like the author of the manga just gave up on keeping the source material at least at a decent quality, because the anime just stopped trying to be good as it went along. Just like the anime, you’ll also probably find that this review you’re reading will also drop in quality as it goes along, who knows? My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20 STORY: 5.5/25 I’m not even going to question the whole swapped at birth thing, it’s animanga, and animanga does these stupid things, and we know this. Perhaps it’s just easier to turn your brain off and just appreciate the harem anime as it is, but it’s quite an infuriating show to watch. So, we can as usual, assume that every girl likes Nagi, even his little sister, and that’s to be expected. What angers me is why the girls try to play wingwoman for another girl when they clearly like Nagi in the first place? Guess romance is weird like that. The pacing is honestly slower than I imagined, especially in the second cour, where there were cliffhangers galore. Sure, there were some well done moments, but for the most part, it just wasn’t very well written or entertaining. ART: 7.7/10 The animation is fine. It’s colourful, quite a good job honestly. The character designs are quite decent. MUSIC: 8.3/10 I will say I enjoyed both OPs and both EDs, they’re honestly one of the highlights of this entire show. CHARACTERS: 5.5/20 I’ve already mentioned my disdain for Umino, so let’s talk about the girls in the story. First, there’s Erika, an “Instagram Influencer”, who lived in a rich household, and once she moved out to live with Nagi, she didn’t know how to do many things, and found a lot of mundane activities very new. She’s pretty inoffensive for the most part to watch, but her feelings for Umino were rather muddled. Then there’s Hiro, who was probably my favourite character, since it seemed like she might have a little bit of a good backstory, but her character writing was rather inconsistent. Sometimes she’s extremely kind, but sometimes she can come across as a bit overbearing and overly annoying as a character. Lastly, ooh boy, there’s Sachi. Why is she even in this harem? There was no need honestly, and she didn’t even have much of a role to play. Guess she made this whole show a bit more trashy. ENJOYMENT: 3.5/15 I admit, there was a bit of cheap enjoyment to be had, and there were a couple very solid episodes, but most of it was a snoozefest. THEMATIC EXECUTION: 4.5/20 The themes were rather muddled, honestly. What were we trying to do here? Figure out why Nagi and Erika were separated at birth? Just have a slice of life harem? This show is so lost, and the directions they took in the second cour really lost me as well, as any sign of writing quality went completely awol. OVERALL: 35/100 This show was a mess, and it’s probably not going to end anytime soon, at least in the manga. I’d compare this show to a lost, misguided child. Someone, please steer this back onto a road of at least passable writing quality, please? Well, to be fair, I wouldn’t really care either way anyway…

Episode 1 is promising, from 2-9 is ok, episode 10 there's a bomb drop but after that it does nowhere and they never follow the story after that. The ending never tied all the lose endings and we just disappointing, too bad because until the final episode it was a 7 but after that ending is just a strong 5. It doesn't even give you that trill of "ok now I need to read the manga to see where this is going" its just a disappointment after the final episode. Honestly not worth the 6 months invested in it and not recommended.

Rom-coms have been dozens aplenty since the AniManga industry's early days, with most of the memorable classics (e.g. School Rumble, Ouran High School Host Club, Lovely★Complex to name a few) to modern-day juggernauts (e.g. Hataraku Maou-sama!, OreGairu, SaeKano, Date A Live, NiseKoi) making the scene yearly with no signs of the genre slowing down and becoming one of the most popular genres for just about any AniManga fan. Yet, for all of what the rom-com genre has to offer, there have been more bad nuts also appearing (Masamune-kun no Revenge, KanoKari) to fuel the fire for distastes. And most particularly for one mangaka by the name of Miki Yoshikawa, her fame that came from the rom-com that's the much beloved Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo a.k.a Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, I'm left baffling at how one of her most recent works that is Kakkou no Iinazuke a.k.a A Couple of Cuckoos literally turned into a NiseKoi that's gone too far and being dragged on to the point of being unsalvageable. But first, an educational lesson about cuckoos. Cuckoos are brood parasites, which means they have the tendency to find a nest from another species of bird that already has eggs in it, remove the other bird's eggs and lay their own there, letting the other bird species raise their young. In this way, the cuckoos trick the other birds into keeping the cuckoo eggs warm and caring for the young cuckoos. This is more exasperated in the West, particularly Germany that coins this term: Kuckuckskind a.k.a Cuckoo's child, meaning a child whose father is not his biological father, because the mother fathered it with another man and left the child and his social father in the belief that they were related by blood. This colloquially pejorative term as a cuckoo child includes a criticism of the mother who subordinates a child conceived with another man to her (spouse) partner; this designation may be perceived as stigmatizing by the child concerned. And this is exactly what Miki Yoshikawa had in mind when she wrapped up Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo back in 2017 and was just floating around releasing One-shots a.k.a standalone chapters. And of the 3 one-shots stories released in 2019, Kakkou no Iinazuke was the one that was well received enough to get serialized the year after. The story (or literary plot device rather) about babies accidentally switched at birth, only for them to be taken care of by the other family, until they've each grown up to tell them the truth that their biological parents were someone else. This is the case for Nagi Umino and Erika Amano, a boy and a girl fatefully picked up by the other's family and raised like their very own, until their sweet 17th birthday that the news is broke to them that despite being cuckoo children, they are forced to be in an arranged marriage (which in these days in Japan has dropped significantly and doesn't happen very much anymore). And almost immediately, both Nagi and Erika vehemently refused to this plan, but it's not like their parents are willing to give up either. With such a case like this, it's a "do or die" situation to proceed the relationship as a "tryout" with both Nagi and Erika being the wiser to see where it would go. The characters in Kakkou no Iinazuke, believe it or not, goes farther than just the NiseKoi situation of finding which girl holds the key to the MC's pendant and then calling it a day to declare the supposed girl the key to his heart as well. Starting off with Nagi, his biological Umino family is a family of the rich, with his father being a hotel tycoon, but thanks to the mix-up he was living a frugal life with the other family and being a close-knit son. In school, he the most stellar person always acclaiming to be that No. 1 spot that he is constantly losing the spot out to one such girl that he also has a crush on. In essence, Nagi has 3 things to worry about: marriage, school and family, and he does not have 3 clones to help him negotiate through troubled waters, because there is a girl each behind each of those situations that he has to balance with as well. I don't think I need to say this, but it's an intertwining web of perchances, misunderstandings and emotions that'll put Nagi on a stand to choose which girl is right for him. On the marriage side, there is the already aforementioned Erika Amano, whom she has distinguished herself as a popular social media celebrity and going to a girls' school, which has a strict non-tolerance of relationships. Both her and Nagi met out of a mere coincidence when she was trying to take videos that put her safety in peril, and Nagi assumed that she was in danger if she put herself that way to get some views (you know how this all goes). That mere coincidence hit the two off, until they were called forth for the aforementioned marriage arrangement, and making the matter worse, Erika was forced to transfer to Nagi's school upon the confirmation that she was hanging out with him. She would be what you call a spoiled brat, thanks to the mix-up that allowed her to live a high life, and initially against Nagi, the two being already living in 2 separate conditions (rich vs. poor) has them bickering like birds from both families agreeing to place them both in a commune house to stimulate conditions living together (like as if they're married already). But overtime, she has both softened and hardened her stand towards Nagi, with moves that slowly inch that Nagi would be her desired fiance to come. On the school side, you have Hiro Segawa, the consistent No. 1 student in Nagi's grade, and the girl whom Nagi wants to beat her in the literacy department just so that he could confess to her. Other than her family's job in a temple and working as a miko, she is the definition of a guilt-trip character, egging people on so that they could reach to that spot, only to tell them that "Oops, I didn't mean it! It's just meant for my entertainment to play and toy with your feelings, oopsies *tongue out*". And this is her relationship with Nagi, with the latter being forced to be better than her, only to know that she's engaged as well, but who knows if that is even true in the first place. All she does is guilt-trip over Nagi to lead him to believe that if they weren't "engaged" in the first place, their relationship could've been so much more than just school rivals. On the family side, Nagi isn't the only child in the Umino family. There is also Sachi, but based on her family name, she is in fact Erika's biological sister and stands in Nagi's family as the adoptive daughter. Sachi is the epitome of every family's rebellious kid, one who's unable to keep herself in one place, whether will it be following the family or being overly dependent on Nagi which arises on her brocon personality. Being away from Nagi feels tough for the kin who is seeing her brother already engaged with some other girl, and the best way to be close to him is to run away from home and live together with them? That sounds like some shenanigans move right there, and I guess the semblance of the brocon trait also helps her be aware of what's he doing also. But then again, we've seen so much brocon and siscon stuff in other shows, and when Sachi herself realizes that she is in conflict with treating Nagi either like a brother or a potential lover, that's where she begins to have dangerous feelings, which also pits herself in the direct line of fire against both her older sister Erika and schoolmate rival Hiro. I'm not surprised that chief director Hiroaki Akagi is handling this alongside Yoshiyuki Shirahata here, at least I can trust the former because he has directed the Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san series and others at Shin-Ei Animation, he's almost like a respectable in-house director who knows his talents well. The only exception is Yoshiyuki Shirahata, and this is his debut directorial work here, so at least for his first rondo, give or take, he still has a lot to learn. That being sai…

Kakkou no Iinazuke is a romcom with a harem tag, and I'll go straight to the point : this anime isn't original and doesn't feel unique at all, but that doesn't imply it's a bad one, I'm just pointing it out for readers who might have hoped for something innovative, that's not the case here. To explain my rating and why I recommend it, I'll give you some details about the pros and cons of this anime, without spoiling anything. Pros : + The male mc, Nagi Umino isn't the loser/virgin type you can often find in that kind of animes, he's similar to mcs like Fuutarou in Gotoubun, or Hachiman in Oregairu. He's assertive, and he'll say what is on his mind without hesitation, which helps making the show more credible at times. + Aside from the initial situation of this show with this baby swapping thing at birth, everything else feels coherent. Obviously, in a slice of life context, it doesn't seem hard to achieve such a feat, but I'm trying to emphasize it because it's done better than in other romcoms. ( I'm thinking mostly about the characters' profiles, they all make sense and the show/manga respects the traits given to the chars along the story. ) + It's linked with the last point, and it's kind of hard to describe without spoiling, but let's say that regarding the harem tag, this show isn't "binary", usually in those romcoms there will be the obviously shy introverted girl, then the obviously extraverted girl etc... In Kakkou no Iinazuke, while the female MC do have some common traits, the story remains interesting because their profiles are kind of similar but different enough at the same time. ( I know this might seem like a detail, but I'm writing about it for the same reason mentionned above : I think this point in particular is done better than the norm for romcoms ) Cons : - This show contains brocon. Now, to qualify this fact, keep in mind that there's no suggestive scenes at all ( and this show doesn't contain that much fanservice btw ) and there is the usual excuse that those siblings aren't blood related, but yeah, I'm marking this as a con because some viewers will hate the show for this sole reason. - I think that the pace of the story isn't done really well, but that's kind of a double-edged criteria. On the one hand, if you enjoy the characters and the sol vibe, you'll enjoy every episode and you'll be glad there are 24 of them, but on the other hand, if you are eager to see some quick evolution, plot twists and so on, you'll be heavily dissapointed/bored by the show. All in all, I recommend Kakkou no Iinazuke for anyone that enjoys romcom : as a matter of fact, the show has an interesting enough cast, and the dynamics between characters all feel coherent, making the story easy to get into and you'll feel much love for your favorite character(s). The main problem with the show is its rythm/length, I reckon that in the span of 24 episodes, there might not be enough things happening, and you shouldn't bother with it if a story focused anime is what you are searching for. Furthermore, this show contains a bit of brocon, nothing unbearable, but it's always questionnable to see that kind of stuff.

If you don't like Slice of Life anime, don't watch this since you will be one of thoes who will be bored because they don't see anything new, no progress, no whatever it is that definies Slice of Life anime. The reason why this anime dosen't have said tag is because there is some progress so it dosen't qualify. However, after watching all 24, I can reasure you that this is a Slice of Life type, even if it's not 100% Slice of Life. And now you understand why this anime gets scores lower then good. Yep, people did not see this anime as a Slice of Life so of course they where dissapointed that "nothing happens" (despite events and some drama)

Harem shows in general have been uninspiring and repetitive, and Kakkou no Iinazuke is no exception. And, given the number of episodes to work with, one might expect the progression between the MC and the potential love interests to take a step forward, but in all honesty, there are not much differences between the first few episodes they were together and the finale. My expectations for harem shows are generally low, but this one had me wondering if it was really worth watching. Nagi is your typical harem MC, and when it comes to seeing girls as a love interest, has generally been dense and unable to see the appeals of girls surrounding, with the exception of Hiro Segawa, whom, in all honesty, I don't see why he's that interested and wants to be in a relationship with. Segawa-san is easily the least likeable of the three, reminding me of Ichika (the slimy bastard and snake-like trait) and Yotsuba (the cheerful and overall aggressive trait) from 5-toubun. And as for Sachi Umino, she has always had feelings for Nagi, but I'm not sure why she has fallen for him because none of the events or scenes depicted in the series justify her falling for him. The only logical route and girl is, of course, Erika Amano, but, as one might expect, the MC is dense and refuses to admit his feelings for her and see her as a love interest majority of the time. Whatever the show decides to throw at us, Erika should be the one Nagi falls for, or none at all, or we will riot. The story didn't really progress that much over the course of 24 episodes, and it felt more like a slice-of-life comedy than an actual harem romcom. The show is basically what the premise has written, with some twists here and there but nothing that is a game changer for the show. The OPs and EDs are quite good, giving a good impression of the show and what to expect. On the surface, the show doesn't appear to have much to offer and is labeled as harem because the MC has three potential love interests. It lacks the I'm a unique show like Kami Nomi and Grisaia, which offers us a fresh and refreshing story with a unique plot. It is a harem show that doesn't feel like a harem because of the slow build up and the fact that the actual romance isn't prevalent throughout the show, only occasionally with some blushing here and there but nothing game changing. With the exception of Erika (obviously the most logical choice of 3), whose interactions with Nagi carried the show, the show's comedy and lightheartedness are mostly a miss. There weren't many awwww, that's sweet and/or heartwarming moments that made you want to root for one or more of them. Would I recommend the show? Those who enjoy slow-paced romcoms and/or slice-of-life stories with little to no plot, most likely. And I suppose if you're okay with trash harem formulaic shows, you'll enjoy this one as well? With many unanswered questions, this season is clearly a set-up for Season 2.

Kakkou no Iinazuke is just a plain average slice of life anime. You thought this was a romance show? well, it is but throughout this season, we only seen the characters do things that you usually see in slice of life then in romance. Do not expect any romance happening in this 24 eps anime because you will not get any. When it comes to Harem anime, what comes to my mind is 5-toubun no Hanayome. All of the girls have some kind of charm to them that makes the show entertain and feel competitive in a way that you will not sure who will win, P/S Miku is best girl. Anyway, this anime is more like a slow burn romance where the love between our main couple slowly getting to know each and fall in love. Unfortunately, we didnt get to see any of that romance and it felt like the author is just messing around with the viewers by giving us these lame ass characters. First of all, i was surprised that the author is the same as the one who wroted Yamada-kun. To be quite honest, i am disappointed because i really enjoyed Yamada-kun. Kakkou no Iinazuke's character are so bad and unlikeable. I am ,officially , sick and tired of having a smart mc but a complete tool when it comes to other things. Not only that, his character design is straight up bland and uninteresting to look at. Now, i do not hate this guy completely but he just not enjoyable to watch and the fact that we spent a full episode of him stalking Hiro and Erika around is just another thing to add on the list of dumb thing he's done from a 'smart' student. The girls in this show is not good either but im not gonna waste my time explaining it. All in all, Kakkou no Iinazuke is an average harem anime. Do not waste your watching this, i beg. If you do not mind wasting your time watching 24 episodes of nothing happening, then go for it.

I wouldn't bother watching this show. I gave it a shot and at the end....nothing happened. It's the same old issue with harems where the author wants to continue making it so none of the characters ever commit to anything. I haven't read the manga so maybe some things change, however trust me when I say that NOTHING happens this entire series. The characters don't get fleshed out at all. The MC seems interesting and different at the beginning of the series but slowly turns into a sack of nothingness that most all harem MCs are. The girls are just average as well. I have NO idea why Sachi is even involved in this story. She adds nothing to the harem at all and it seems like she is just in here to kill time.

Okay, lets be honest. I thought that this might be THE romcom I wanted to watch. Not just a 12 episode long series where every episode feels like a filler. (This anime has 24 episodes. Its just an example.) It started pretty good. I was hyped because I thought that the plot is actually pretty deep so It cant be just a "normal" romcom. Well, It is. Through the whole series I thought, "Why do they take this so lightly? They were swapped at birth and meet their real parents after 16 years so why?" I thought that this anime would be a bit more serious. It started pretty good, I liked the character and I expected an interesting show. After some episodes, though, I noticed that it isnt what I expected. But here is the thing. You might think "Then why did you continue to watch it? Just drop it" Well, everytime I felt like I wanted to drop this anime, something happened that gave me hope. Hope that this anime might still get more interesting. But shortly after, they just continue like nothing happened. At the end of the day, I finished this anime and was dissapointed. Plot: 3/10 Yeah, like I said: The start was pretty interesting. Swapped in the hospital by accident and then meeting their real parents 16 years later. The rest, however, was dissapointing. They just did what they always do, like nothing happened. Its like they didnt even care. Its not like they just found out that their family with whom they lived for 16 years isnt their real family. Character: 5/10 There was very little character developement. Also, like I said, I dont get how they take their situation so lightly. There were only 2 characters who had a bit of developement in this series. The rest were pretty boring characters. There is one character I though was really interesting but that character had about 10 minuetes of screen time so... Sound and VA: 6/10 First of all: The openings. Liked them. It was nothing special but I liked them. Its nothing I would listen to in privat but they were fine. I liked the endings too. The first was better than the second imo. But again, nothing I would listen to in privat. The OST's were also pretty basic I guess. Nothing special. The only one I really liked was when someone in the anime thought of something in the past. You will know what I mean if you watched it. The VA's were fine. Dont get me wrong, they did a good job. But, Its the same as any other romcom. Nothing too special. Props to the VA of the mc though. The MC screams pretty often and the VA did good. Animation and art: 7/10 The animation was pretty decent. I really liked the facial expressions and the character designs. The outfits are also pretty cool. What I liked the most was when a character smiled. So, I will say this: Dont expect too much if you want to watch this anime. You will be dissapointed at the end.

if you are a masochist and enjoy putting yourself through mental torture then this anime is perfect for you. the main character nagi was swapped at birth blah blah blah he ends up getting forced to marry a popular instagram influencer. enter his sister and random girl at school he has a crush on because she is smarter than him, now we have a quadtriangle where now his sister (thats not blood related) starts liking him which was quite torturous to watch cuz they've been together since his birth and the other girl that is smart likes him too but he doesn't really catch any hints from any of the girls. for someone so smart the main character is pretty fuckein dumb.. idk if he is a closeted homosexual or something because he has genuinely no interest physically in any of the girls. i put myself through 24 episodes of agony if you like this theme of forced marriage please do not watch this anime because its just gonna waste your time. watch i got married to the girl i hate most in class or nisekoi. i spent 9.6 hours of my life which i will never get back watching this abomination save yourself before it's too late

Kakkou no Iinazuke is basically a Nisekoi ripoff that went too far. This show is one of those animes where it could have ended in the first few episodes and it would have been better that way. It focuses on "rivalry" romance where the mc gets to choose from the selection but the show forgets the essence of that selection. Similar to what other people said in their reviews, the show had a lot of gaps and loose ends, but neither of those were solved, this also includes the manga. Ironically, the latter half of the show is somewhat a bait for the viewers to read the manga to "know more" and yet the manga itself became confusing and made more loose ends. Overall, save your time and spare yourself from watching this 24-episode show. It is a massive disappointment and it's a show that confuses itself.

short intro this show is a proof that you should never decide whether you watch an anime or not by it's rating or the reviews, this anime's rating is poor and the reviews are really harsh on it but i still liked it and there's nothing wrong about it, while another show for example might be the fan's favorite and has a really high rating and u may not like it, it is just a matter of taste and i was about to skip this good show just because of the Majority effect, this show really taught me to always watch 3 ~ 5 eps of whatever the show i find interesting and then decide for myself whether i like what i see and i'd like to complete it or not and i'll definitely be going back to some drafted shows that i've decided not to watch based on poor rating and bad reviews About the Anime, This show is about a couple of kids who got switched at birth by mistake, their parents discovered this after 16 years if i remember correctly and decided it was too late to re switch back so they decide to introduce the kids to each other and engage them in order to get them married to each other in the future, it's a conflict of love, romance and comedy with self desires because each of them has his own stuff to look forward to like ambitions careers lifestyle and even crushes and the effect of their relationship on everybody around them through their way The Bad,, the story is not that deep tbh, it may seem a bit childish and shallow, some events are really shallow and feel forced as well and i guess people who hated the show for this are absolutely right if they really really care about the plot and event flow but however it is only mediocre at those, it is not very bad like shallow no events, progression or development whatsoever shows but they did not nail these aspects right in this show as well you might also find some cringe thoughts and actions especially some that are repetitive makes the anime kind of predictable and not so fun for plot and depth enjoyers The Good,, IMO they nailed every other element rather than the story and the plot in this show, the characters are cute, not cringe and funny as hell and tbh i don't like shallow shows with no events or a weak story plot myself but this anime is absolutely forgivable because it provides so much fun and comedy as a chill anime that did not lose the entire story thing (like Horimiya for ex) it still has some sort of a story, events and end goals and progression which is understandable if you really know what romance and comedy shows are about and even the repetitive hesitations and events are kind of reasonable to some extent because who would not be hesitant about his love life when he's 16/17 years old right ? my opinion,, you should definitely give this a try and treat it as a chill anime, don't expect deep story or plot..etc expect the funny events the good romance with some cliches, just some, and you'll have a good time with it if you enjoy these kind of shows, the story is not good enough to be taken seriously but as a chill anime it really serves it's purpose and for me it is special because it will make me try every show i get interested in myself rather than skipping shows just because others didn't like them.

SWEET HOME JAPALABAMA!! The premise to “A Couple of Cuckoos” is simple. Nagi, a gloomy, honour student with no friends and a mean right hook who comes from a poor family discovers he was swapped at birth with Erika, a beautiful, semi-famous and kinda stupid influencer with no friends who comes from a rich family. Their parents decide to arrange for them to be married as a way of solving that slight mix up so they can be both sets of parents children. However, this doesn’t sit well with Nagi because he only has eyes for Segawa, a beautiful, over-competitive honour student at his school, and it doesn’t sit well with Erika as she's fiercely “independent” and hates having decisions made for her. It also doesn’t sit well with Nagi’s bratty little sister Sachi either, who kind of likes the thought of her brother not being her brother at all for harem anime reasons that you can probably guess if your brain has been poisoned enough. Did you get all that? Good. Although the show uses a lot of old harem tropes such as accidental boob grabs, the main couple forced to live together, prolonged will they won’t they moments interrupted by coincidental accidents, etc, etc, it’s surprisingly entertaining. This is definitely down to the extremely likeable core cast of characters, who have strong, memorable personalities and character chemistry, so the story is able to mix and match between the four whenever and comedy will ensue. Despite how safe the show feels as a harem rom-com there are enough subversions to make it stand out from it’s trashy peers. The cast is small so we spend a lot of time getting to know them as people instead of having a new, shallowly produced girl being awkwardly squeezed into the harem every other week to try and shake things up, there’s an actual, real love confession made by episode 4, Nagi has an actual personality and although he’s not good with women he’s not a wimp who can’t stand up for himself or speak his mind, although the fan service is still present it’s usually Nagi doing the accidental stripping and I like the mascot they use to censor his peep-peep, and the show is actually laugh out loud funny which if you’ve watch a lot of harem rom-coms you’d know is rare. Segawa became one of my favourite characters very quickly. It’s not perfect as a show though. The animation is fine, but it could be better, and I do not like Shion, the forced, male “best friend” side role who I actually think I’m supposed to dislike as part of that subversion I was talking about, but his vibe ends up clashing with the core cast too much and it’s annoying. I also think the actual romance is a bit too slow and meandering at points. There are some moments between Nagi and one of the three love interests which feel distractingly forced and it can really takes you out of a scenes believability, but when it does get those moments right the show can be surprisingly sweet. “A Couple of Cuckoos” is totally ludicrous even for a slice-of-life harem anime, but if gotta admit, it’s very enjoyable. A real “Romeo and Juliet” story once you’ve take two steps backwards and asked yourself “What the fuck?…”. I was a bit worried that this would be the anime equivalent of a southern-American mouth-breather and admittedly it felt that way a few times, but not enough to stop me from watching and enjoying this very silly yet, very fun harem show. 7/10 Good.

My expectations for this show weren't high. I went into it with the full expectation of it being a mildly entertaining but ultimately average romcom harem show. Incredibly, despite the bar being in hell, it doesn't even manage that. Instead, I was treated to some of the most obnoxious and tedious episodes I've seen in one of these kinds of shows. The only actual important part of these kinds of shows are the characters, more specifically the girls. Generally speaking you should expect a loose through line that connects a bunch of stereotypical events which are held up by the girls' personalities and fanservice. I don't think they got the memo about the second half of that statement because this cast is horrendous. The main character, Umino, has the easiest job available as the main character. Initially you would expect him to be a proactive yet stoic character based on his profile, someone who puts studying above all else but looks after those he cares about to a fault. Instead he's nothing but a massive idiot who overthinks every situation and has a personality that drags down every scene he's in, which isn't exactly great when you're the main character. Even the herbivore men who populate the modern landscape of romcoms outperform him because they typically receive some amount of characterization and development (and generally have low presence compared to their female counterparts). His flaws become worse as the show makes attempts at introducing plot elements because despite being the smartest in his grade he's unable to figure out the extremely basic nature of his situation. Everything about him runs contrary to the kind of character he was set up to be and he alone prevents this show from reaching mediocrity. It's not as if he's receiving much help from the female end either. The main girl, Erika, is equally as obnoxious although not to as egregious of a degree as Umino since she's at least supposed to be annoying. The core issue with her mainly comes from how the show attempts to portray their relationship. Umino and Erika have the least chemistry of any of the pairings, and yet every other character constantly goes on about how they're a surprisingly good match. This isn't even a case of "they fight a lot so they must get along" there is nothing going on between them whatsoever. They attempt to rectify this a little in the second half by forcing them to interact more often but it comes across as entirely inauthentic and fails to compel me. As a consequence, the only character Umino actually has any chemistry with, Segawa, is constantly being mistreated and just as deliberately written out of scenarios. The early moments between Segawa and Umino are the only moments in the entire show that I actually enjoyed because they have natural chemistry and a connection that actually progresses reasonably. It's just such a pain when you go from a Segawa episode into an Erika episode because the absolute gap in quality of interaction and story is extreme. Again, I think they realized this and had to run "damage control" in order to make the standings slightly more even, coming at the hefty cost of Segawa being benched and repeating the same few scenes for the entire second half. The third character, Sachi, also has decent chemistry with Umino and has a somewhat compelling plotline but even more than Segawa she feels like a background character more than anything else. Sachi is allowed the least amount of time in the spotlight, even during arcs which are supposed to be hers. The show's characters suffer mainly from an unapologetic amount of favoritism. I get that Erika is supposed to be the main girl but every interaction she has with Umino comes across as forced and inauthentic. The cast of girls isn't even as large as most harem shows, which usually standardize at four girls, and yet the distribution of screen time is insanely lopsided. None of the characters experience any development either. Their personalities stay exactly the same from episode one to episode 24, which isn't exactly a good thing when most of their personalities are their weakest aspect. In terms of Umino he actually loses important parts of his character as the show goes on, transitioning into someone who's constantly yelling about the situation at hand. This can also be observed in Segawa although that could just be a product of her screentime constantly dwindling. They also suffer a lot from the show's absolute lack of direction. The core premise is initially fine but then it just never goes anywhere and if you even think about it for more than a couple seconds it falls apart easily. There isn't much of a plot, character specific or overarching, either. Sachi is the one that has the most semblance of one but Erika and Segawa mainly revolve around a feedback loop of watching Umino interact with the other girl and getting grumpy about it. I mentioned earlier that they attempt to introduce some plot elements later in the show, but these end up being so incredibly weak that it only added to my frustration with the characters. Many characters attempt to add some sort of deeper meaning by speaking vaguely to Umino, and even though the things that they tell him are not difficult to understand and he's supposed to be a "smart character" he broods over them like some kind of Neanderthal. Episodes don't even feel connected, they'll end in one place and start somewhere else only to loosely pick up the events of the previous episode(s) in some other location. This is especially felt in the later episodes as the amount of flashbacks, reused footage, and drawn out scenes begin to skyrocket. I was actually surprised that this ended up being a two cour show because episode 12 felt so much like an ending point, and everything after it felt incredibly redundant. It doesn't help that the show has piss poor production value. Your reward for putting up with all this garbage isn't even some nice looking anime girls because the show is just ugly. High animation budget isn't a requirement to make one of these but it seems they spent all their budget acquiring big voice acting names rather than anyone who's ever drawn moving characters before. I don't think the animators truly understands the function of perspective or how to utilize it properly because whenever a character has to move in a non linear direction it looks horrible. Everything just looks choppy and amateurish as well and it's clear they ran out of budget halfway through because, as mentioned before, the amount of reused scenes and panning slideshows starts to ramp up considerably. Another case of not meeting incredibly low expectations. They do make a lot of attempts at fanservice but they typically fail because they both don't commit enough and the artstyle doesn't compliment that kind of thing anyway. The characters generally look very average but that doesn't cut it when the entire point of the show is to make you like the characters. I really did not like this show. Every episode compounded the issues of the last and by the end of it I was so annoyed with it all. It's not even a show that's so bad or ridiculous that you can laugh at it. It's so painfully mediocre and obnoxious that it's genuinely difficult to sit through episodes. There's a very set blueprint for these kinds of things and they stick to it a little too rigorously, all the while option selection the worst possible choice at every turn. The bar is in hell, and they couldn't even manage that.

I actually enjoyed A Couple of Cuckoos, not because it’s good, but just because it’s kind of fun sometimes. Most of the jokes aren’t even that funny, but my bar for comedy is so low that I found myself smiling anyway. Like, I genuinely laugh at repetitive and unfunny stuff, so it’s not hard to see why this anime worked for me on some level. The animation’s alright, not amazing, but not bad either. And the OST is Totally forgettable. That said, the writing is honestly terrible. The characters are super poorly written. Not a single one is actually likable and none of them have any real depth. They keep making dumb decisions that don’t even make sense half the time.

This show is 24 episodes of nothing. Pretty much nothing happens in any episode. Not in terms of the classic romcom where there's little to no romantic development, i mean like, plot-wise. Nothing happens. This show is basically about nothing. I remember almost nothing about the series i just watched. Not one character is memorable, in design or personality. It's a romcom but it isn't funny, ever. The dialogue is just nothing. This entire show is nothing. Every character is oddly mysterious and vague in ways that are unrealistic and make it really difficult to get through. It's like their only desperate attempt to scrape together some type of plot for this story. Even then, this only happens sparsely. There's like 12 cliches an episode, but the show isn't self-aware whatsoever. Watching this show felt like how you would feel if you went on a 2 week vacation with a friend group you're not apart of, you just got invited because they had another spot and you sorta know one of the people, and the entire time you just don't really mix well with the friend group so you're lowkey bored and uncomfortable the entire trip. Please imagine that for a moment. That's what this felt like. For 24 episodes. I get secondhand embarrassment watching this. It feels like the production staff made this series at gunpoint.

Couple of Cuckoos was interesting, to say the least. The premise of them getting swapped at birth and their parents trying to force them to get married is definitely a first, but overall the anime had its fun moments but failed to really progress at all during the entire second half. If you are going into this show dont expect to get too much romance, because at the end of the day this anime is filled with a bunch of will they won't they moments. Art: 6 To be entirely honest I thought the art style was fine. It wasn't bad, but it wasn’t entirely special. The facial expressions were enjoyable, but overall the character designs were okay at best. What I will say is that the music was pretty good. That caught me by surprise, but I thoroughly enjoyed both openings this anime provided us. Characters: 7 I actually think that the characters are pretty enjoyable. I think Hiro provides a presence in this anime that is needed, Erika has her charms, and Sachi is kinda your basic anime sister I won't lie. I think the characters gel really well together, if only they went through better development, then the anime would've been better. Story: 5 It pains me to say it, but the story was kind of eh. It's unfortunate cuz I didn't think the initial premise was terrible, and I thought the first couple of eps did a decent job at introducing all the characters, but keeping all things considered once we hit episode 12, it kind of feels like the anime is just dragging the conclusion for no reason. Overall I would give this anime 6 cucks out of 10.

A Rom-Com harem anime, it has a fairly complicated storyline. To be honest, I wouldn't even tell much since the main complications are clear within some episodes. Honestly, I have never seen a romantic anime that twists in this way. Comedy is subjective; some moments made me laugh. The whole angle with family-romantic relationships was, to me, quite strange-not something I am really used to watching. To round it up, I found that the happy ending was so good, except for the whole family matter. So I give it a rating of 7 out of 10, albeit with mixed feelings.

All i can say "Complicated Harem Variants" Plot yet Complicated romcom and family story - the infomation is very congested. messed up love story, complicated family (personal) and friendship, love-tringle between engagies, sibling confussion/issues, unexpectedly drawn by the Mc's blood-related-father. Storyline also dragging. Huge differences gap between two characters - rich vs poor, smart vs fool, beauty vs lame, etc. It is literally classy-literature-based of storyline. Invicible Harem - The MC can be with his engaged "swap-sibling", also can be with "smart no.1 placed heroine" , also can be with his "just-converted-to-step-sister", without these three notice and dense about each others' relationships. The only know about these are the MC and the Mc's blood-related-father. Produced by SynergySP, which spoiled a bit because basically same arts & designs, copy-paste from Kanojo Mo Kanojo animes, old and classy arts with big single-ray shining eyes. smart-dense switchable MC - he sometimes can be smart, sometime can be dense. Too-much-Rollercoaster story - Aww, hard to say. even in manga also the story is similar rollercoster to this anime, its too much ups and downs which is damn hilarious and intense. Character develops - I don't see any character developments in term of physicals, however emotional, yes. Loud and funny-ending-hurted-MC-sound - MC always loud and MC's at the end sound each every episode's always ended with horny-moaning sound of "Ahhh!" (especially when his Sachi fought with him). Never-Ending Suprise - oh yes, not only great plot and complicated story, but the author also managed to introduced multiple suprises (example new heroine, new character's feelings, etc.) Story-board based - their journeys is attaced to the storyboard, which made the viewers imagine how the story is developed. Overall, I can recommend you to watch if you're into Kanojo Mo Kanojo, but if you hate the rollercoaster and complicated story or this studio-made kind of story, then you can watch the almost-similar type of story like Quintessential Quintuplets. Story:9/10 Visual/Arts: 7/10 Detailed: 7/10 Characters: 6/10 Emotions: 8/10 Smoothness: 6/10 OP/ED: 3/10 Audio: 7/10 Originals: 8/10 Intense: 7/10 Uniqueness: 8/10 Fun/Laughter: 7/10 NSFW: 3/10 Boring/Idling: 4/10

I was very interested in this anime for quite a while and thought it would be a perfect anime to just chill and watch. Needless to say, it was indeed a very very nice anime to watch and I just loved the character development in this. The way they met, the way they grew and the way more and more secrets and twists just unfolded. Lets get some of the ratings outta the way shall we! Firstly, the plot or story of the anime is very interesting to me. Arranged marriages have always been something that I could never truly understand but sometimes it does bring out some precious memories and life lasting friendships. The way they developed this concept was nicely done adn they obviously added some good harem notions throughout the 24 episodes. The music wasn't that amazing to me, it definitely provided a good ambience and emotional presence to different scenes and so on but if I'm being honest I never really saw the music 'shine' in the anime, it was mostly the scenes and animations that outdid the music and that's what caught my eye. Nevertheless, music still played a integral part in the anime and it deffo wouldn't feel the same without. Next up is the characters themselves. All of them have their own quirk and goals to reach, and I love how most of their goals revolve around our main man here. I think that Segawa is super adorable and her design is just AHHHHHH!! The character development as I mentioned is really nice! The way their emotions and behaviours change as time goes on together, and how more friends are made along the way is all a nice pace of development. Well, the anime had left a very nice warm feeling in my chest and I seriously am hoping for more! I'm trying to be spoiler-free so as youc an see it's not very CRAZY as I usually write my review, a lil too sophisticated?? AHHAHA I'm also writing this at like 11.30 am, not right after watching the anime so its probably also a reason. But overall I reallly really enjoyed watching this anime, didn't know it was 24 eps to be honest but that made it all the better, deffo a good anime to watch if you just want to relax and see some rom com.