Alternative title(s): Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki
Manga Adaptation by East Fish Studio
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Dubbed the school’s “prince” for her stunning appearance and perfect poise, Yoi Takiguchi is secretly tired of the constant admiration and attention of her peers. However, when the school’s other “prince,” Kohaku Ichimura, calls her beautiful and acknowledges her as a young woman with the same kinds of desires as any other high school girl, Yoi finds herself unaccountably flustered and, against all odds, perhaps even falling for him.

Artemis’ verdict: Too Beautiful for This World

Clearly I’m getting old. Believe me though, I do understand perfectly well that I’m not the target audience for this anime, being neither Japanese nor a middle/high-school age girl. So I say this coming not from a place of derision with anyone feeling uncomfortable with their appearance or the way society treats them for it, but from just feeling out of touch with the anime itself: the fact that the main character’s gripe appears to be “It’s really hard to be so damn beautiful” made me roll my eyes, just a bit.

And hey, I’m sure one could make some kind of argument that this is Japan, where gender expression and societal expectations related to that are in many ways quite different to other countries (like, say, America). Obviously, that’s not wrong. On the other hand… nah, I don’t buy it. I spent enough time in various schools in Japan to know that being a young woman who happens to be tall, have short hair, or dress in a more androgynous way simply isn’t enough in most cases to be considered strange or ‘prince’-like. This is drama for the sake of the story and to create a compelling (for some) romance – and if that’s your thing, great, have at it. If not though, you might want to take a pass on this one, especially if your own high school experience was a bit rougher than the old “If only I wasn’t so really really really ridiculously good-looking.”

Jel’s verdict: Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful

Hate might be a strong word, but I feel like the premise of this show is just “what if a pretty girl… had short hair???” I get the message they’re going for, but I’m having trouble buying it considering how it’s presented. Like, is every girl seriously dropping their panties at the sight of her just because she has kind of short hair? And everyone seems to be pretty supportive of her, I dunno, maybe I’m getting into a space I don’t belong on this one. If you are someone who struggles with being comfortable with your appearance or your gender and you find this relatable, I’m happy for you. I can at least respect the attempt they are making.

This is all layered on top of a pretty dull romance, going through the usual story beats like running to a violent drunk at the convenience store so our couple can have an arbitrary intense situation to bond over. Maybe this would have been better as a comedy where the main girl is too perfect and doesn’t realize it a la Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto or something like that, there are some scenes where it borders into that territory. As it stands though, not feeling this one.