Crunchyroll will likely be streaming the upcoming adaptation of If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student, and it’s already drawing up a lot of controversies. As implied by the title, the story is about a man’s wife reincarnating into a child, and it’s garnered controversy for seemingly having problematic elements to it, such as lolicon, that the trailer doesn’t explicitly go against.

The specific controversy surrounding If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student is understandable, but it’s entirely unnecessary. While it initially comes off as another anime with an extremely uncomfortable relationship dynamic, If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student’s actual story is far more heartwarming and dramatic than it initially makes itself out to be.

Even its initial presentation plays into the kind of story it tries to tell, and it all comes together to make something more than worth getting invested in.

Crunchyroll’s Upcoming Controversial Anime Is A Heartfelt Look Into Loss

Anime series by St.Signpost; Based on the original manga by Yayu Murata

The crux of If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student’s story is completely different from what the title and trailer imply. While the anime might seem like it’s making a comedy out of an uncomfortable premise, in reality, If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student is about a family learning to move forward with their lives after a tragic loss, and Takae reincarnating as a child is so she can help give her family closure. It’s a slice-of-life anime that spends far more time dealing with grief than comedy, and as such, its controversy completely misses the mark.

Keisuke’s obsession with Takae, even after she becomes a child, also plays into the true nature of the story. While their dynamic is sometimes played off as a joke, If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student always makes it clear that Keisuke needs to move on from Takae and try to love someone else, both because of how much healthier that would be and how impossible it is for them to rekindle their relationship. Overall, it has a very mature handling of what could have easily been an uncomfortable reincarnation anime, and it deserves to be recognized for that.

Will Controversy Ruin If My Wife Becomes An Elementary School Student?

The anime adaptation’s marketing could hurt future viewership

The controversy surrounding If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student is entirely unnecessary, but unfortunately, it can’t be ignored. With how much controversy is being stirred up from just the title and trailer, that will only increase once the anime finally premieres, as it will likely take a few episodes for the story’s true colors to come out. Because of that, the controversy surrounding If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student could stop the anime from ever truly taking off, and with the kind of story it’s trying to tell, that would be nothing but unfortunate.

That might not end up happening, of course. While it takes a while for the manga to make its true colors clear, depending on how the anime adaptation handles things, those could come out much earlier, and if that happens, then If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student could recover from its controversy thanks to people seeing what it’s really like. If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student won’t premiere on Crunchyroll or any other streaming services until the fall, but when it does, it will hopefully recover from its controversy to be viewed on its own merits.