(CR) Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui (It’s Too Sick To Call It Love)

[FlareKnight]

Well we've now got the two love 'rivals' established which was bound to happen. I do like Matsushima and I can understand why she's fallen hard and fast. One of those things where he wasn't drawing her in before but now that he's changed a bit she's definitely gunning for him.

I do like that Ryo feels the need to express to her...and the audience that he does like the medium that he exists within .

Ironically Kai is pulling off some Ryo level mass appeal to his schoolmates. Unfortunately Ichika just thinks he kind of looks cool. She's not really swooning. Obviously without Ryo he'd have a shot.

The family situation for Rio and Ryo hasn't been an easy one. Their mom seems fine although clearly can't do anything about her husband. That guy is just extreme. Maybe because Ryo was so talented his father felt the need to impose his authority over him. Obviously his relationship with women has been an issue, but sounds like he just wanted to control every aspect of Ryo's life and get on his case whenever possible. Ichika's presence hasn't stabilized that relationship, but it has allowed Ryo and Rio to build up their sibling relationship again. And that's nice to see .

[Frontier]

Who knew shared interest in a Light Novel series could bring together two separate pairs of Love Rivals? Fandom works in mysterious ways .

Although as tense as Tamaru and Ryo's meeting was, Arietty and Ichika's meeting was surprisingly wholesome and cute. Well, part of it was because they don't know about each other's relationship with Ryo, but it was pretty nice to see them come together and bond over their shared interests and favorite character and get to talk to someone as fellow fans .

Arietty is pretty open about her fandom on twitter. I guess none of her co-workers know her twitter handle ?

Oh hey, Ryo's mom! I can see where the siblings get their looks from now, although she's not blonde so maybe that gene skipped a generation between their parents? Ryo and Rio seem happy to see her, but less so when she says their father is probably coming home soon .

Ryo won't let Ichika forget about Valentine's Day, but as annoying as that is, Ichika finds herself oddly concerned with what to get Ryo and what will make him happy...Rio seems to realize why, but she's not telling .

Masuda reveals that Ryo has a complex over Valentine's Day after receiving chocolate with hair in it, and that Ryo used to be a lot more standoffish and distant before he met Ichika. So meeting Ichika has really made a positive influence on him, and in turn Ichika is determined to give him something to make up for his past Valentine's Day .

So Ichika plans to do something with Ryo in the morning of Valentine's Day while Arietty is planning to give him chocolate...I don't see this ending well .

[FlareKnight]

The rivals meeting up was interesting. Total conflict on one side and total friendliness on the other. Of course to be fair Arietty and Ichika don't know about their shared connection with Ryo. Not that they would get antagonistic with each other, but I could see Arietty being a bit more guarded if she knew who Ichika was. Kai had to use up all his energy just to stand up to Ryo there .

Wow this Valentine stuff is getting heavy and that's kind of awesome . Ichika really is getting emotionally invested and struggling with this. Even to the point where without thinking she considered 'action' to be the best present she could go with . Really has been influenced by Ryo that she considers "an action" from her to be a worthy present. She's absolutely right of course . No need to back down and call herself out for being full of herself in this case.

The serious bits really helps make the show work. The issues between Ryo and his father remains strong. And he's going to be back in a few days...Oh boy this is going to be bad. I'm putting full money on Ryo's father coming home to interrupt a moment between Ichika and Ryo that morning. And we're not even talking yet about Arietty wanting to give a present. I'm sure even with his trauma he'd accept a gift from a friend like Arietty, but who knows where his mental state might be if she gives it to him later in the day...

[Frontier]

Nothing more relatable than to light novel fans using fanart to get themselves hyped for Valentine's Day .

Ryo dedicating himself in seiza to wait for Ichika's arrival is so him...and Ichika couldn't think of anything else to give him instead of chocolate other than juts a big, and then she runs off. I'd say that was pretty indicative of her feelings before she even realized them herself, and it was super impactful on Ryo .

I'm glad Ichika gave Tamaru chocolate, even if it was just intended as obligatory, rather than just her gal pals. And it gives Tamaru the chance to finally ask her out and get her to consider him .

Arietty hyping herself up and going all the way to give Ryo chocolate was so adorable. I'm really glad she was able to give them to him and be happy about it .

Rio calls out Tamaru, which leads to a hilarious scene of his club gossiping about what it was about, because she figured out what happened between them. But that leads Tamaru to call out Rio for constantly involving herself in Ichika's love life, potentially because she's afraid she'll lose Ichika. Is that why she's so pro-Ryo ?

Ichika realizes that, logically, Tamaru would be a great choice for her and she appreciates his feelings...but she doesn't like him like that. And in her emotional drama she snaps at Ryo, who instead of getting despondent or mad just declares his love for her and his willingness to be with her. Which then leads Ichika to realize that, in-spite of how flawed he is and how bad it would be to fall for someone like Ryo, when she thinks of love, she thinks of Ryo .

[FlareKnight]

Not really sure I'm buying Tamaru's angle. If we take the route of him asking out Ichika having nothing to do with Rio to the extreme then things get pretty ridiculous. If someone attacks her friend then Rio shouldn't care right since that's got nothing to do with her? She wasn't personally harmed so it's all good right? Obviously it can go too far the other way when people care too much about things that don't personally impact them. But I'd say Rio wasn't going nearly too far here. Does she gain something from being kept in the loop about Ichika or even having Ichika end up with her brother? Sure. People aren't 100% altruistic.

Plus it is kind of rich from Tamaru who turned a friendly valentine gift into being all about him and then blindsiding Ichika. This is what Ichika gets for trying to be considerate. Should have just thrown the chocolate at him while handing it out to her friends . Good for him that he's stopped bothering with wavering on the sidelines. But yeah, as expected it is way too little too late. Missed his chance and at absolute best this is just helping Ichika consolidate her feelings for Ryo.

On the positive side this should wrap things up with Tamaru. Just needs to turn him down and move things along. Of course they could drag it out by having him still aim for her even if she shot him down once, but let's hope not. Enough still going on with Arietty, plus the inevitable blow up with Ryo/Rio's father, and Ichika really accepting her own feelings. So don't need to keep dragging the Tamaru thing around.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Not really sure I'm buying Tamaru's angle. If we take the route of him asking out Ichika having nothing to do with Rio to the extreme then things get pretty ridiculous. If someone attacks her friend then Rio shouldn't care right since that's got nothing to do with her? She wasn't personally harmed so it's all good right? Obviously it can go too far the other way when people care too much about things that don't personally impact them. But I'd say Rio wasn't going nearly too far here. Does she gain something from being kept in the loop about Ichika or even having Ichika end up with her brother? Sure. People aren't 100% altruistic.

Plus it is kind of rich from Tamaru who turned a friendly valentine gift into being all about him and then blindsiding Ichika. This is what Ichika gets for trying to be considerate. Should have just thrown the chocolate at him while handing it out to her friends . Good for him that he's stopped bothering with wavering on the sidelines. But yeah, as expected it is way too little too late. Missed his chance and at absolute best this is just helping Ichika consolidate her feelings for Ryo.

On the positive side this should wrap things up with Tamaru. Just needs to turn him down and move things along. Of course they could drag it out by having him still aim for her even if she shot him down once, but let's hope not. Enough still going on with Arietty, plus the inevitable blow up with Ryo/Rio's father, and Ichika really accepting her own feelings. So don't need to keep dragging the Tamaru thing around.

I was kind of seeing where he was coming from since this isn't the first time Rio has bothered him about his relationship with Ichika when it isn't really her business what their relationship is and it's not a life-and-death matter (and she's interfered enough when it comes to Ichika's relationship with her brother).

Honestly I think he picked the best time to confess or throw it out there when she had him alone on Valentine's Day rather than continuing to bottle up his feelings or let Ichika not notice.

[Frontier]

Tamaru and Ichika planning to meet and seeing each other was actually surprisingly cute, which made it all the more sad when Ichika inevitably had to reject Tamaru because of her feelings for Ryo .

But to Tamaru's credit, he takes it surprisingly well. I mean, sure it's frustrating, but he probably already thought there was a chance it might happen, and for now he just wants to keep loving Ichika. And he finally gets to tell off Ryo, which must've been satisfying .

Pairing Ichika, Rio, and Tamaru together with everything going on is a recipe for awkwardness, but in the end Ichika and Rio re-affirm their friendship and Tamaru is trying to make things normal between him and Ichika again, which is nice. Although Rio and Tamaru still seem like they don't get along well .

Ichika thinking about graduating and her upcoming adulthood with thoughts of Ryo...

Ryo making a whole presentation about his White Day plans was so Ryo. And Ichika still can't help her own feelings, which is also pretty cute .

I knew what was coming when Arietty asked Ryo out for drinks, but I'm glad she finally got to confess her feelings to Ryo and directly address her intentions towards him. She also found out about Ichika (although without knowing they've already met) and took Ryo crushing on a high school girl better than I expected .

Can Ryo make Ichika happy? Is the age gap too much? Does Arietty have a chance? I mean, probably not, but I want her to be happy too .

[FlareKnight]

There's no doubt that personal feelings are colouring my responses. But I felt Tamaru was being a bit of a pain to start this episode . Ignoring how Valentine's Day went down, he made this meeting a bit more complicated than it had to be. I get wanting some degree of privacy for this. But you are outside. There is no total privacy to be had here. Strangers are going to potentially hear this anyways. Plus maybe let her decide when to give the answer after shutting down her giving it in front of the station .

Oh well. People are flawed at their core. All the more so in a show like this one . Nothing quite reflected that than his last ditch attempt of asking her to go out with him even though she likes someone else. I guess it was worth a shot.

Certainly entertaining to see Ichika struggling with herself. May be on a level of "oh god, I really like this person don't I" but it's pretty fun to watch. After all that is something for her too struggle with a bit. Recognizing and accepting her own feelings isn't easy. Plus once she starts thinking along those lines then numerous other considerations would naturally jump to mind.

And naturally we're moving right to the next rival taking their swing. Honestly it seems like a far more powerful swing than with Tamaru. Since it does challenge Ryo's thinking and whether or not Ichika will be happiest if they are together or not. In a sense it isn't any less of a desperate move than Tamaru's question of dating even if Ichika likes someone else. But it feels stronger since the question isn't whether Ryo likes Ichika since that's a given at this stage. It's about whether or not he'll end up hurting Ichika which does matter quite a bit to him.

At this point I'm obviously pushing for things to progress well for Ichika and Ryo. The age gap is certainly something they need to ponder. Although honestly I'd think something of that nature will become less an issue as time goes on. But it is still something to figure out in terms of right now.

[Frontier]

I feel so much for Arietty. She's so earnest and genuine with her feelings and in trying to win Ryo's heart, and her panicking over her confession after the fact and how to interact with Ryo, to the point of treating herself to sweets, wine, and foreign dramas, was so cute and relatable. A part of me really wanted to see her win and be happy .

Things are tough for Ryo now too. He has to consider Arietty's feelings, Ichika, the age-gap, and the fact that his and Rio's dad is finally back so he can't even go home because he doesn't want to deal with that trouble. What a perfect time for love drama .

Look at how much more considering Ichika is of Ryo now! Dressing more maturely in front of him thanks to a fashion magazine and even getting jealous of his potential romantic past. Plus her reaction to that chocolate fountain was adorable .

I guess the age gap issue really comes to the forefront for Ryo when Ichika has to pretend to be to be Rio in front of his co-workers lest they realize what their actual relationship is. Ryo wants to have a real relationship with Ichika but there's a lot of hurdles, both emotionally and morally, that they have to overcome for that to happen. Well, that and Ichika's not ready for a kiss yet .

Even knowing it was coming, it was kind of sad to see Arietty get rejected. She took it like a champ and even gave her support to Ryo's efforts to win Ichika, even realizing that the Ryo she fell in love with is the result of his feelings for Ichika, but then she ends up crying when she's alone and eating the sweets he bought her. Poor girl .

[FlareKnight]

Oh boy, I definitely sympathize with Arietty in this one. She threw herself out there, said what she felt, and had to take the consequences by episode's end. All the more so since she was hanging in there just hoping that Ryo might turn her way in the end. But...wasn't meant to be. At least she gave her best shot and things were handled as smoothly as possible. Definitely in contrast to the awkwardness of the younger pair .

Things are getting heavier as well. Ryo has a lot on his plate including things with his father. His feelings haven't fallen away or gotten weaker. But the more invested he is the more things that exist for him to think about. And while he can talk to his best friend or technically even call his sister he's a bit more isolated at his apartment. Bit too much time to stew on this.

Obviously things are progressing quite a bit on Ichika's side of it. Which makes sense considering the way the show started. There's a lot for both parties to figure out though. Now the age-gap is becoming a more central thing that both parties are feeling in different ways. And both are thinking about how the other party must be feeling about it.

Now to see how the final episodes play out. Will have to see if Ryo and Ichika can figure things out and if they resolve in a good way. Might get a bit worse before it gets better though.

[Frontier]

Figures that becoming third years would lead to a lot of self-reflection about one's future and future path...and Ichika's the only who hasn't settled on what she wants to do. I can already imagine adult Rio as a lawyer being super hot .

Tamaru is such a good guy. Giving Ichika her White Day gift and even pushing her to talk to Ryo .

I kind of thought Ichika should go into the anime industry, but being an art curator isn't a half-bad career .

Well, Rio and Ryo finally get to have a meal with their parents for the first time in a while, but things are still tense and awkward when it comes to Ryo and their dad. Even Ryo only just recalled one of the rare times he remembered them being a happy family (and Rio was still in a stroller back then). Rio just wants her dad and brother to get along again .

I see their mom hasn't done normal housework in so long that she has to ask her daughter how to run the dishwasher...and she cooks weird bento's. But she cares about her kids and they trust her enough that Rio was able to tell her about Ichika and she not judge Ryo about it (even knowing how Ryo used to be with women, which is why she's so surprised at how wholesome things are with Ichika). Of course, things take a turn for the worse when their dad overhears them .

I don't think Ryo's dad is a bad guy. He's overly judgmental and strict with Ryo, but Ryo thinks he brought it on himself with the way he acted growing up, even if he chafed under having to fulfill his parents' expectations. After talking with Ichika though it seems like Ryo's dad had a better understanding of Ichika and Ryo's relationship after talking with her and realized that Ryo hasn't acted untoward with her, so I hope he's more understanding in the future .

Nothing quite says romance like an intimate flower viewing with cherry blossoms flying around! And Ichika realizes she wants to know more about Ryo, which is super sweet .

Dang it Masuda, Ichika was about to confess! Rio couldn't have kept him distracted for just one more minute .

[FlareKnight]

It was a good time to really delve into that family situation. A tough spot, but not one without any hope. It's just that things have been toxic for so long that negative feelings have piled up between them. They just can't say more than a couple sentences to each other without it spiraling out of control. Situation might be hardest on Rio/Ryo's mother though. Her daughter is uneasy and almost afraid and her son/husband are always at each other's throats. Not that she isn't aware of the flaws in either, but it's a tough spot to be in.

And things are certainly set to reach a breaking point next week. Ichika was ready to confess in this one and I don't think that was exactly lost on Ryo. Just her knowing herself well enough now is a huge step and only a matter of time before things advance a bit further. I can't see the show ending at this point without her getting to confess so it'll be fun when she can do so without interruption. Even if Ryo knows she was trying it is something else to actually have it succeed.

[Frontier]

So Ichika and Ryo have been interacting for six months? That's definitely enough time for love to blossom between a pair, and Rio has already realized how Ichika feels in true best friend/wingwoman fashion, but now she's the one advising Ichika not to hurt her brother which is an interesting contrast to how she warned Ryo not to hurt Ichika. She cares about both of them and wants them both to be happy .

Ichika finally calls Ryo, but now he's all business and actually avoiding her, because now that he's realized she might have feelings for him, it's making him very self-conscious about his flaws and whether he's right for Ichika .

Poor Ichika's dad. His daughter and his wife both almost forget his birthday and his wife needs to take a minute to remember how old he is. Although it turns out Ichika's parents also had an age-gap romance, and that the women in this family just might have a thing for older men. Plus Ichika's mom is intuitive enough to realize who her daughter has fallen for .

Things get so tense that Ichika actually blows up at Rio for interfering, but that finally gets to admit out loud that she likes Ryo. And then Rio tells her that their expectations or what's "proper" for either of them doesn't matter, what matters is their mutual feelings for each other and the fact that they make each other happy .

Likewise Masuda advises Ryo that, after everything he's put Ichika through with his antics, it's unfair of him to quit now and act like he doesn't have a responsibility to see this through to the end .

And it all comes together with a fateful encounter as Ichika sees Ryo and runs after him alongside the Ending theme, and in the end she yells at him and we get a full-circle reunion as Ryo saves Ichika from the stairs like she did for him at the very start .

The pair finally have an opportunity to unload all their emotions and be honest with each other, and Ichika finally confesses in a truly heartfelt way (with Ryo returning the same feelings), which is more than enough to motivate Ryo to kiss her in public. Might be a bit much with all those people staring at a grown man kissing and hugging a high school girl, but I'm certainly not complaining .

I think Ryo and his father still have some work to do, but they seem to be making some progress and Ryo's mom acknowledges that their struggle as father and son is because of how similar they are to each other .

Ryo promises to wait for Ichika until she's a proper adult, and the casts' daily lives continue, but in the end we see our couple walking happily together which is more than enough to close the series out on a good note .

[SidVicious]

Now ANN can stop crying about the age gap.

[Alchemist007]

Enjoyable enough of a watch. I think Ichika was the more stubborn of the pair, though the foundation of which made sense at least. Still a bit odd of a final episode because Ryo was mostly AWOL for the drama of it.

Overall 7/10.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for final thoughts:

Not bad. I think it was a fairly solid romance between a slightly older man and younger woman.

Although the title says "Kimochi warui", Ryou honestly wasn't that bad. Mainly in the first episode. The rest of the episodes, sure, he was pretty forward about his feelings, but he is a pretty nice gentleman. And watching him, outside of his money, I could see why anyone would like him.

The anime also transitions really well into the ED.

Overall, the only real problem I saw with the anime was that the sound director or whatever sucks and the characters, most likely being voiced at home or something, can sometimes be abnormally muffled.

So 9/10
Didn't expect anything, but had a great time. Also a breather to the other, actually "Kimochi warui" older man-younger woman romance thing in the same cour.

[FlareKnight]

That wasn't bad. Honestly this show ended up a lot more enjoyable and sweet than I expected. The comedy was still there for sure, but it had a lot more serious moments that allowed the cast to mature. Story really showed the arc of both characters as they learned about each other and a lot about themselves.

Sure Ryo was interested in Ichika from episode 1 onward, but he grew a lot throughout this show. While I wouldn't say his total retreat was a good move, I do get where he was coming from. Still deserved the tough love by his friend and the slap from Ichika.

Ichika obviously matured the most. It wasn't just about learning to accept Ryo since he did actually get better as the show went along. But instead she had to face challenges, alternative options, and push herself to reach out. There's still a good road ahead as she grows up a bit more. But she and Ryo are good with that.

I'm really happy for how things turned out for Rio. Obviously this situation was a win/win for her. But she did have to face challenges and shots towards how invested and involved she was. In the end though she was appreciated by both Ryo and Ichika for being there and caring about the both of them. Without her things just don't play out nearly so well.

Going into a season with two shows dealing with age gap romances, I didn't think this would be the one I liked the most .