First Glance: Hokkaido Women Are Tremendous Lovely!
Manga Adaptation by Silver Link
Premise
Tsubasa has relocated to Hokkaido from the large city. He is lost and out of his element until a local gal helps him, and the two hit it off right away.
Jel’s verdict: Paid for by the Hokkaido Board of Tourism
A word of advice for all you would-be writers: stop writing, throw that manuscript in the trash, and start over if you feel that your character should inquire, “Does this cliche stuff happen in real life?” Hokkaido Girls is the most color-by-numbers textbook anime rom-com, and no, the Gal perspective doesn’t change because it’s now its own subgenre. The Hokkaido locale, which naturally means everything is covered with snow and I assume I now know what Katsugen is, is about the only unusual aspect.
To be honest, there are some sweet moments in this episode, so I don’t want to completely ruin it. Despite the main guy being your usual nervous, mild-mannered protagonist that this cool, fun girl has somehow grown to like, the main couple has a respectable amount of chemistry. Even while the show’s basic idea isn’t really original, it is at least done fairly well.
However, given that this is a rom-com in the Gal subgenre, a few clumsy attempts at being “sexy” felt completely out of place given the cutesy, innocent tone of the show. Certainly, I’ve witnessed far worse, but did the lead girl really need to smear that gooey, milky katsugen all over her chest? I’ve always maintained that you have to commit to the ecchi or not, and in this instance, they need to have just removed all of that.
All in all, this was a completely passable romantic comedy that is largely unoffensive. Perhaps things will improve and this will simply become a harem anime, or perhaps meeting the other Gals they hint at in the opening sequence would cause things to shift a little. In any case, I don’t see enough to warrant continuing to watch.
