A romance anime called MY Love STORY!! that too many viewers have tragically forgotten since it simulcasted on Crunchyroll in 2015 has perplexingly failed to withstand the test of time despite flawlessly tackling two massive clichés within a relatively short time. The first transpires in the first three episodes and serves as a satirical deconstruction of the stereotypical male protagonist who is afflicted with the false impression that the girl he likes could and will never reciprocate his feelings. The second actually sees the boy and girl actually become an official couple and follows their journey as lovers.
Truth be told, MY Love STORY!! could have easily extended the fun formula that it eventually breaks by the third episode to encompass and drive the entire series based alone on the prevalent trends of the genre.
Essentially, a hypermasculine boy named Takeo Gōda has been so used to seeing the girls he likes falling for his best friend, Makoto “Suna” Sunakawa, that when a girl he falls in love with named Rinko Yamato enters their lives, he automatically assumes the same and endeavors to ensure they are happy together. Of course, Yamato actually likes him.
MY Love STORY!! Was Initially About A Hero Afflicted With a Ubiquitous Problem But Reacting Differently
Produced by Madhouse; based on the original manga by Kazune Kawahara
The scenarios that exhibit Takeo’s complete misunderstanding of the humorous and even heartbreaking situation are the perfect recipe for what the vast majority of romance anime would have normally capitalized on and milked for as long as possible. Some rom-coms lean hard into fun themes such as this to the point where they can easily be interpreted as beloved gimmicks, like the recent The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses.
Although the vast majority of romance anime justify and even give these shticks serious spins later on, MY Love STORY!! had more of a nuanced reason to maintain its ridiculous premise. Takeo’s outlook was always much more pure-hearted than most love-struck protagonists who are in his position to the extreme. Although Takeo clearly loved Yamato and would oftentimes swoon over her cuteness, his unshaken resolve and devotion to what he believed would constitute Yamato and his friend Suna’s happiness easily overshadowed his own feelings to a shocking degree that almost positioned him as a selfless albeit clueless saint.
Breaking The Formula By Making Takeo & Yamato An Official Couple
While more common with recent releases, My Love STORY!!!’s couple subverts expectations
The groundbreaking nature of how effectively this “first act” concluded further justified ending MY Love STORY!! right when Takeo and Yamato become an official couple. Not only did it perfectly bookmark the series’ opening analogous retelling of “The Story of the Red Ogre and the Blue Ogre”, but further complemented how Takeo and Suna represented the red and blue ogres, respectively, in their actual lives, especially when Takeo learns the true reason why Suna was the perfect representation of the blue ogre through Suna’s actual relationships with Takeo’s unrequited loves. However, the story took the unprecedented step into becoming a series about Takeo and Yamato’s romantic relationship as an official couple.
Although there are many romance anime that do this, like Real Girl on HIDIVE, they are still relatively unknown to the anime community, and the vast majority of the entire genre keeps their estranged couples apart until the end of a season or by the series finale. Regardless, how well the rest of MY Love STORY!! is executed serves as further justification for ending the first act as quickly as it did to topple another cliché.
There might be other outside factors that later complicate their relationship, like unexpected love triangles, but how obviously different Takeo and Yamato are from each other naturally serves as the perfect recipe for conflict that is easily explored through more than 20 episodes. This is especially the case when taking into consideration the many stereotypes that afflict Takeo and even Yamato, as well as all the countless times in which MY Love STORY!! continuously proves why opposites attract in this Crunchyroll classic.
