Crunchyroll’s New Romance Anime Puts A Brilliant Twist On A Classic Trope

Warning: Spoilers for Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! episode 11

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! just gave the classic elongated love confession trope an unexpected twist that could change everything right before its season finale on Crunchyroll. The 11th episode where this took place was executed flawlessly in a way that not only built off the anime’s overall delivery, but pleasantly underscored the aforementioned brilliant twist.

Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable! is clearly an anime romance that likes to push the “does she like me?” trope to the extreme like so many out there. Episode 11 contributes to this dynamic, with the stereotypical all-day date, where the girl Minami Fuyuki not only gives the boy Tsubasa Shiki many chances to confess indirectly, but culminates in her announcing she is going to move away, which he seems to accept in silence.

This would have been the perfect opportunity for the series to delay the inevitable confession. However, the twist is that Shiki starts crying after rushing into her arms. Although it’s possible for the series to conjure up some misunderstanding to keep the delay on track, fans now have unexpected hope. This is especially the case since it came mere seconds after that ubiquitous moment – which so many hesitant lovers in anime romance use to justify their hesitation – had passed for Shiki. He had already prepared himself to continue waiting until his body actually overpowered his mind.

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!’s Twist Captures The Series’ Entire Tone

The Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable Anime is Based on the Manga By Kai Ikada

Even before the twist, the anime perfectly gave its own spin on the “all-day” date that encapsulates the entire tone and direction of the series. Although a series that’s more or less lighthearted and comedic, Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable! does dabble in brutal drama, what with the fact that there’s more than just one girl who’s likely intimately interested in Shiki. However, every time that the series has a chance to completely devastate viewers (and Fuyuki), Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable! finds a way to lighten the mood or shrug it off, like in Hokkaido Gals’ incredible Valentine’s Day episode.

Episode 11 exemplified this dynamic by suddenly and subtly inserting a scene with one of the girls who had been left behind just to remind viewers of its formula before returning to the date and the big twist. Like how Fuyuki ends up not being the main girl getting hurt, Fuyuki is now completely free of that possibility. But it’s important to realize that some form of devastation did occur, although brief, amid the overabundance of cuteness, and that the main one being subjected to it is not Fuyuki but one of the other girls.

How Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!’s Trope Compares To Other Romance Anime

It’s also appropriate that an anime like Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!, with characters who are unable to confess, is using the “moving away” trope as the season’s climactic moment to highlight its focus, when another romance anime that ignores the belated confession uses the prospect of the girl moving away as that series’ main premise. Real Girl on HIDIVE is an anime where both characters confess their feelings for each other and start dating by the first episode. However, part of the anime’s drama and focus is fueled by how the girl is going to move away.

Neither series is the first romance anime to use this trope, nor will they be the last. But it’s noteworthy how both Hokkaido Gals and Real Girl use the moving away trope as a central moment and do so quite differently from each other since they are on completely different ends of the same spectrum. Regardless, Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! did use this trope on its own to help give its own twist on such a critical moment that could change the Crunchyroll series forever.

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! is simulcasting on Crunchyroll

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