Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru

[grecefar]

yeah this guy is blunt and straight as a arrow.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

Pretty much. As I understand it, the guy has one rule: he will not tell her that he loves her or ask her to be his girlfriend until he's beaten her in a match. Absolutely anything else is fine, from asking her on dates to telling her how wonderful, beautiful, cute, etc. he thinks she is. Needless to say, this's rather stressful to the girl who's stuck with a guy who does so much to express his love but refuses to actually acknowledge said love.

Taking romantic teasing to a whole 'nother level .

[EroKing]

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by EroKing

Cute .

Also, obstructed forehead .

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Cute .

Also, obstructed forehead .

Can still tell it's big, it's all good.

[FlareKnight]

Ayumu's restraint for not making his move despite her being this cute is impressive. I sure hope he's got some shogi talent so he doesn't leave her waiting forever.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep1:

Karakai Jyouzu no Tsubaki-san

After designing so many girls in another show, you are bound to have similar looking/acting girls in another show with more girls
But definitely lower-budget than Tsubaki-san

And the content is a gender-bended Takagi-san

What else is there to say?

[Frontier]

Time for Shogi + Romance from the author of Teasing Master Takagi-san! You can tell because of the foreheads and the adorable banter between the leads .

So we've got the titular Ayumu, an earnest and serious boy in love with his Senpai, who will do everything (flirt with, compliment, and practically obsess over) short of confessing to her until he can beat her at shogi...which doesn't look like it'll be happening any time soon. But you have to admire his determination and ability to continually flirt with her so effectively with a straight face .

Urushi is a shogi master and, for her part, seems aware or certain about Ayumu's feelings and is trying to basically make him confess...and I would wager she shares the same affections to him given how she responds to the idea of him having feelings for her, wanting him to say it out loud, and that she was even about to say she thought he was handsome before she couldn't go through with it. She may be smug and confident when it comes to shogi, but against Ayumu's romantic advances she's a blushing mess .

The Opening is really nice! Cute, energetic, and fun to listen to. We also get to see Ayumu and Urushi having fun together and getting close, along with the supporting cast, a new schoolgirl trio, and quite possibly a kendo love rival ?

Ah...Urushi really wanted Ayumu to stay with the club! Although of course Ayumu would pick shogi when there's a girl involved .

Is Ayumu a stalker? He seems to watch Urushi even when she's not conscious of it to the point of realizing when she's down...and he knows where she lives. Well, at least he's honest about it .

I respect Urushi wants to make the shogi club a legitimate club even if Ayumu wants it to remain their personal love nest...and ironically Urushi's plan gets derailed by her friend getting a boyfriend anyways, leaving the two prospective lovebirds alone again .

I see the "Invincible Wall," both in shogi and the heart, is very susceptible to side attacks. Urushi didn't know what hit her .

Nothing beats a romantic walk together under an umbrella! Especially with the promise of doing it again in the future .

The ED is really cute, with a cutesy version of Urushi and Ayuma walking down the hall together and greeting the supporting cast. Definitely a nice way to unwind after an episode of wholesome, fun, and heartwarming romantic hijinks .

[Kanon]

This felt like Kaguya-sama meets Takagi-san.

I'd like to know what exactly led Ayumu to refuse to confess until he's beaten Urushi. What if she's some shogi genius and he never manages to beat her? Does he see it as a test of his love?

And it's never going to happen but what if she were to confess to him first?

Unlike Takagi where she and Nishikata are enough to carry the whole series, it feels like this one needs side characters.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kanon

This felt like Kaguya-sama meets Takagi-san.

I'd like to know what exactly led Ayumu to refuse to confess until he's beaten Urushi. What if she's some shogi genius and he never manages to beat her? Does he see it as a test of his love?

And it's never going to happen but what if she were to confess to him first?

Unlike Takagi where she and Nishikata are enough to carry the whole series, it feels like this one needs side characters.

I got the sense that he's trying to beat her at shogi so he feels worthy of confessing to her because he respects her so much. I also think she's supposed to be a shogi genius .

I wonder if she might confess first...I think she definitely likes him too but she's probably unwilling to admit to it or not exactly aware of how she really feels.

[grecefar]

Yeah this was great, ayumu was merciless against urushi lol.

[Alchemist007]

Didn't get past ep 1 of Takagi, this one seems a slight bit more on the Dagashi-Kashi side.

[FlareKnight]

I'm curious about the thing that initially made him fall for her in the first place. Since it does seem like he joined the club purely to get closer to her. Though with him watching her at all times it is hard to tell when it actually began .

I can get that he might want to get on relatively equal footing in shogi before confessing...but I worry that strategy has some issues. Since she is his senpai there's only so much time before she moves on. Sure there is the intention of playing against her for life, but the practicality is going to be tough to manage past a certain point.

Obviously things will eventually be fine. Thankfully for Ayumu, Urushi is head over heels so he's not in danger of losing her because he's taking his time getting around to confessing. There's plenty of runway to continue his personal mission of winning a game first.

[Guardian Enzo]

I mean, that's Yamamoto's style. Do you ever worry for a moment that either Nishi or Takagi will look at anyone but each other? He's not about manufacturing drama, he's about the dance.

[serenade_beta]

Also the part where he drags it out for a million years

[Guardian Enzo]

That’s the dance.

[BWTraveller]

Indeed. And he's one of the very few authors who can somehow manage to keep the dance interesting enough that people are actually often relatively fine with just seeing more sweet, caramel dance between the pair. No worries, just looking at Takagi now versus chapter 1 in the manga makes it clear that the dance will progress.

[Frontier]

Ironically an episode after Urushi confirmed she's not good at athletics...their school has their Sports Day. At least she's got Ayumu there to provide backup and moral support and as the two mutually cheer each other on .

Maki, Urushi's female friend, wastes no time immediately noticing what's clearly going on between Urushi and Ayumu, despite Urushi's protestations to the contrary, and immediately settles into wingwoman mode. And she's voiced by Kana Hanazawa so you already know she's also a winner .

Watching Urushi make a fool of herself at sports is pretty funny, but watching her and Ayumu make fools of themselves as a couple in a three-legged race is funny and adorable .

Gotta appreciate how far Ayumu is willing to go for Urushi that he's willing to risk their love nest for more members if that's what she wants .

The only thing better than a scavenger hunt for your crush is having an excuse to princess carry said crush and demonstrate objectively how cute she is. Meanwhile Takeru is the one saddled with the dangerous question .

Speaking of, we finally meet the second couple, Takeru and Sakurako! Not only are they mutual childhood friends with Ayumu, but Sakurako is a master hypnotist who can get Takeru to basically do anything she wants. But despite Takeru having barely any control of his actions, it's clear how much these two care about each other and enjoy their time together, particularly Takeru because he isn't in any clubs so he's free to walk home with her and Sakurako is really bummed at the prospect of that not happening. These two are as adorable and hilarious as Urushi and Ayuu .

Urushi with the indirect confession when talking about "Ayumu" (AKA Pawns). Not only that we even get an indirect kiss! Urushi just can't help herself when it comes to Ayumu's pure Chad energy .

It's really cute that Takeru and Sakurako got to have their own adorable Taiyaki moment together .

[grecefar]

Ayumu is right, Urushi is so cute and adorable.

[FlareKnight]

Well congrats to Urushi for being the most adorable object of the season!