So let’s get one thing out of the way. This is getting a second season. That isn’t speculation. It’s confirmed. So this ending where it did makes a looot of sense.

3D Kanojo: Real Girl
Studio: Hoods Entertainment
Genre: Shoujo, Romance, School

It’s kind of amazing how little there is to this series and yet how much one can say about it. The two-episodes granted to the finale were shockingly uneventful. They basically consisted of Tsutsui dealing with Iroha’s conveniently absent siscon of a brother and Ito wrestling with his crush on Ayado. Neither of these things is especially compelling. Neither has anything particularly new and special to say. But the earnestness with which it approaches at least the latter problem is sweet in its own way. And to its credit, it does manage to take an angle that one might not expect, by rejecting a trope common in most rom-coms (that being the one where everyone’s paired off for a happily-ever-after style ending). Tsutsui learns, the hard way, that it isn’t one.

Tsutsui continues to be likable when he’s not being a complete idiot. Granted, he’s supposed to be an idiot, socially. But there are some things I do think even he should have the sense to pick up on. This is one of those situations where I can see his poor judgment being believable to the character. After all, the circumstances that led to the development of his own relationship with Iroha were hardly ordinary. And without being able to use his own relationship as a point of reference, what does he have to fall back on but schemes one might typically see in some silly romance anime he might’ve watched, even in passing?

But seeing this strategy fail (even if not as spectacularly as it could’ve) was refreshing in a way. In fact, no only did it not work, but Iroha rightly scolded him over it. And later he wound up making Ito cry, only to immediately do the thing he’s been failing to do since the series began – talk. He read the situation, caught up with Ito, apologized, and explained himself. And this time it wasn’t purely about how much of a loser he was. A lot of his speeches have this strong current of “well, it’s because I’m a loser,” as if that’s an excuse for a lot of what he does. It isn’t, of course. And this little speech wasn’t a complete exception. But it was much more firmly rooted in his well-wishes for someone outside of himself and came from a place of genuine goodheartedness that just made the moment work much better than it could’ve. Still nothing groundbreaking. But nice.

The way he deals with the situation of Iroha’s brother is a bit less… excusable. It winds up resolving itself tidily. But it was definitely an instance in which he showed shades of the meathead he was prior to a lot of this. The bane of this relationship, from day one, has been the abysmal communication between the two. They just suck at talking to one another. When they do talk, it’s one of the most pleasant things about the show because it’s extremely clear they honestly care immensely about one another. Especially Iroha, who is one of the most benignly understanding people ever… until the plot decides that it needs her not to be, anyway.

When Tsutsui is basically threatened by her brother (not violently, though this storyline did begin with her brother punching him for literally no reason), he decides he wants to take this relationship more seriously. So he opts to do something nice for her, which he’d need money to do. But she starts wondering why they can’t go home together. Initially, she’s completely understanding, even though she has absolutely no idea what the problem is. And then she starts worrying after learning her brother talked to Tsutsui. Despite claiming to trust him implicitly, she’s clearly broken up, come the end, by the mere thought that Tsutsui might break up with her. And honestly, I just find myself wondering why. So the moment could be emotional? Don’t get me wrong. Him giving her the ring? That was a very sweet moment and all. But two unnecessary complications were thrown into the mix for no reason other than to insert honestly unneeded drama. Tsutsui not telling her at least that he’s been working a part-time job (he doesn’t have to tell her why), and Iroha getting suddenly worried out of the blue. Luckily the resolution was still pretty cute, which is part of this show’s ongoing balancing act.

So yeah. That’s that. A couple of episodes I’d call Easy Viewing at best. Actually, the main thing holding this back is Iroha’s brother. Aside from being an annoying character, he’s frankly superfluous. The entire arc could’ve been done without him. In fact, it’d have probably been even more effective if Tsutsui started worrying about the seriousness with which he’s treating the relationship on his own. The stuff with Ito was fine as well. Though another thing that’s holding this series down is the obvious lack of budget. Put plainly, there are a few times where the animation takes some heavy dips and man is it noticeable. So I’m hoping the next season, in 2019, will actually have a bit more of a budget to work with. But for a show with a lot more stock in its animation budget, I’d recommend My Hero Academia. The end is near for its first cour, and it’s been quite the ride.

3D Kanojo: Real Girl streams on HiDive. That’s all I’ve got for ya here. As always, thanks for reading, folks. Keep up the awesome.

Take care,
C. Voyage