Alternative title(s): Koi to Producer: EVOLxLOVE
Game Adaptation by MAPPA
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

A girl whose name I didn’t catch (possibly because she isn’t given any) has inherited a company from her late father. Unfortunately, that company is on the brink of bankruptcy, and it’s now up to her to save it by producing… stuff. She’s a producer or something, idk. In the course of her work, weird supernatural stuff starts happening and she just so happens to meet four hot guys, none of whom she will probably date or sleep with because that would ruin it for the viewers rooting for any of the other guys.

Artemis’ verdict: It’s a Girl’s Dating Sim, What More Do You Need to Know

Look, all you need to know is that there’s a pretty heroine, just plucky enough to have a semblance of a personality, and there’s a bunch of pretty boys, all of whom have exactly the same face but with different hair and eye colours and various fashion choices. There’s also plenty of bland J-pop music of the male idol variety, and despite the slight novelty of the main characters all being working adults, most of them still look (and sound, and act) like high school students. There’s absolutely nothing here we haven’t seen literally hundreds of times before – I kid you not, watch just the first one minute or so and you’ll see some very familiar first episode story beats – but hey, maybe some people derive a sense of comfort or even enjoyment from the familiarity. I am, quite clearly, the wrong audience for a shoujo music/superpower series based on a dating sim.

But hey, at least the show looks nice, I guess? The colors are crisp and bright, which was a blessing right after I watched (or tried to watch) Gibiate, so there’s that. I feel like anyone watching this is going to know whether or not it’s in their wheelhouse right off the bat, so I’ll add that to Mr. Love’s (dear god, what a name) good points – no false advertising here. Otherwise, expect generous helpings of exposition and about as much creativity as the Japanese name of this series suggests. Did you know that EVOL is LOVE spelled backwards???

Jel’s verdict: Your Choice

I keep watching these dating game shows hoping someday, someone will break the mold and deliver something appealing outside of their niche audience. Today is not that day. Mr. Love is technically fine but also dry and boring, doing everything you expect it to do. Granted, it does seem to be a very high quality version of this type of show, so if that’s what you want then I am happy for you.

It’s a shame this is so unambitious though because I think it’s a solid premise. Maybe it would work better as an ensemble comedy? Think about it: plucky heroine and her band of super powered himbos do whatever it takes to save their TV show. I’d watch that.