OTONARI NO TENSHI-SAMA NI ITSUNOMANIKA DAME NINGEN NI SARETEITA KEN
STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
12
RELEASE
March 25, 2023
LENGTH
24 min
DESCRIPTION
Amane lives alone in an apartment, and the most beautiful girl in school, Mahiru, lives just next door. They've almost never spoken—until the day he sees her in distress on a rainy day and lends her his umbrella. To return the favor, she offers him help around the house, and a relationship slowly begins to blossom as the distance between them closes...
(Source: Yen Press)
CAST
Mahiru Shiina
Manaka Iwami
Amane Fujimiya
Taito Ban
Chitose Shirakawa
Haruka Shiraishi
Itsuki Akazawa
Taku Yashiro
Yuuta Kadowaki
Kenshou Ono
Shihoko Fujimiya
Hisako Kanemoto
Shuuto Fujimiya
Makoto Furukawa
Sayo Shiina
Mai Nakahara
Joshi Seito
Konomi Inagaki
Danshi Seito
Shougo Sakata
Danshi Seito
Youhei Hamada
Joshi Seito
Yuka Nukui
Joshi Seito
Rina Honizumi
EPISODES
Dubbed
RELATED TO OTONARI NO TENSHI-SAMA NI ITSUNOMANIKA DAME NINGEN NI SARETEITA KEN
REVIEWS
Mcsuper
A Viscerally Infuriating, Unrealistic MessContinue on AniListThis review will be long, and spoiler heavy
Yes, those are actually the lyrics by the way... Comedy. Absolute comedy.
I believe that this anime was designed to make me viscerally angry, and most definitely achieved that, as I don’t think I have despised an anime so much since I started watching anime entirely. Before you all start ratio-ing me, I will try to explain the best I can why this show did not work for me personally, and this review is in no way designed to change your mind if you enjoy this show.
I’ll start with the low-hanging fruit, the fact that this is a wish-fulfillment fantasy aimed toward an adolescent to young adult male audience. Everyone knows that. It promotes a very poor view of women in general, and a very patriarchal view at that, insinuating that all a girl is useful for is cooking and cleaning, which in this day and age, is a very old-fashioned way of thinking, and behind the times. There is zero sense of realism here, as the fact that the whole premise is kick started by Amane, our main male protagonist, seeing Mahiru, our main female protagonist, looking down in the dumps while sitting in the rain. To be a nice person, he hands her his umbrella, to stop her from getting a cold, which I never understood, but as the age old anime trope goes, being in the rain for more than five minutes will make you extremely sick the next day. Mahiru accepts said umbrella, and after the revelation that they’re actually next door neighbours, she proceeds to take care of Amane, starting by nursing him back to health, then cooking for him, and cleaning his mess of a house. Now, helping out someone after they helped you out doesn’t seem all that out of the question, but she does it EVERY DAY, looking like a newlywed wife in the process. I’ll talk about the relationship between the two characters soon, but to say there is any sense of realism here is baffling to me. It encourages the fact that the world is transactional. You do a good deed, and you expect to get something in return. That does exist in our world today, and it’s fine, but when the return of a good deed gets this blown out of proportion, it made for a poor premise out of the gates. It reads as a self insert anime which completely throws the meaning of romance out. Romance doesn’t wait for you a lot of the times, effort needs to be put in.
Now, let’s talk about Amane. He’s your typical romcom protagonist who’s a bit awkward, a bit of an outcast, he constantly self-deprecates himself, and doesn’t have the best living conditions or backstory. He has zero personality. Zilch. Nada. His “personality” is built upon such a shallow backstory of him getting used by other people in the past for his money. Like I said before, this anime says a lot about a transactional world, so it’d be great if him and Mahiru could have connected over this theme, but it just didn’t happen. This past of his is supposed to make us sympathize with him I guess, or relate to him, but the fact that he decided to move out from his own home to another school and live alone, while he can’t take care of himself is just way too much. His parents approved of this too? It really wasn’t all that serious, it wasn’t even that they were physically bullying him. We also see that he seems to not trust other people a lot, as seen when he interacted with Kadowaki, and that just makes me chuckle, since that sad backstory of his wasn’t much at all. Give me a break. Does he improve throughout the story, to an extent, yes, but not nearly enough for me to consider him a remotely well written character.
On to Mahiru, she has this angel persona that just doesn’t bode well for me. Sure, she cook good, she clean good, she cute, but what else is there to her character? Her backstory is that her parents neglected her and now she has to take care of herself, and then her mom waltzes in on her during the anime and just says more mean things. The writer is simply dumping every bad thing imaginable onto Mahiru’s backstory just so we “sympathize” with her, or to allow Amane to sympathize with her, but the backstory means nothing if it’s not explored meaningfully in present time. Aside from the backstory, her angel persona is annoying to see, because she clearly doesn’t like acting like that at school. So what if she just dropped her persona? Would everyone stop liking her? I doubt that, but even if it did, she would still have Amane, Itsuki, and Chitose. I always say that it’s not the amount of friends you have that matters, it’s how many friends who will have your back no matter what, that’s what truly matters.
Now, as for the side characters, Itsuki and Chitose, they don’t add much to the story except for being the peanut gallery to Amane and Mahiru’s relationship. They definitely have more vibrant personalities and a better relationship than Amane and Mahiru do, but that didn’t contribute to any progression.
Finally, to the meat of what I wanted to talk about in this review, was the romance between Amane and Mahiru. Now, let me preface this discussion by saying that many romance anime have “Will they, won’t they?” progressions, or confessions that don’t happen until really far into the series. Most of the time, that is fine, as long as the progression is meaningful. I consider myself to like most romance anime that I watch, so these kinds of formulas are not new to me.
Romance stories which have a delayed confession can be considered realistic sometimes, because I’m sure most of us think that confessing to someone is one the most difficult things. If you’ve known the person a long time, you like to keep to the status quo. A lot of the times, when there is no time-sensitive factors involved, such as the other person moving far away, or the threat of them loving someone else, many people would think, “Why change how our relationship is right now, after all, it’s too embarrassing to admit my feelings.”
The fundamental reason why this relationship simply doesn’t work for me, aside from the premise itself, is that Amane and Mahiru have been with each other for at least half a year, and most of that time has been spent in the same home together, yet, they somehow didn’t get together for so long. You might argue and say that this type of formula is quite common in romance anime, since the romance progression usually is slow, but to that, I’ll say, “Most romance anime don’t have the main duo together for 95% of the anime!” By having these two together all the time, there is no internal monologue that can be found, at least in Mahiru’s point of view, and if there were some internal thoughts from Mahiru that we could have seen, it would have made it a least a little more engaging to watch. Time and time again, Amane also insinuates that Mahiru is being too carefree around a guy like him, and questions her what she would do if he made a move. He also questions her a lot of what she sees in a guy like him, which is self-deprecating. To that, I’d say, please read the room. If Amane paid any attention to how his interactions with Mahiru have been going, you’d have to see that Mahiru has been enjoying her time around him. I know dense male protagonists are common, but this show danced around their relationship for so long, it got aggravating quite quickly. Emotional suppression to this degree should not be seen as a virtue, it is pure stupidity. The status quo might be comfortable, but when they’ve been virtually cohabitating for this long, it’s baffling how they still insisted they were not in a relationship for this long, despite all the touching, patting, and hand holding in public. The fact that they did all this while not in a relationship, while doing all this made the entire show devoid of any meaning, and all the interactions felt useless since by their standards, it doesn’t mean anything remotely romantic anyway. The dialogue certainly didn’t help either, as it was extremely repetitive.
Simply put, romance does not work like this at all. I don’t know if the show was trying to be realistic, but if it was, that is simply laughable. By having the two characters not confess to each other and hold their feelings in is supposed to be wholesome? In the end, even with the backstories that Amane and Mahiru shared to each other, their relationship still feels superficial and shallow, as they don’t have much of an organic connection together, it all just comes from an umbrella being handed to a poor girl in the rain on the swings. Suddenly, she literally becomes his “wife” or “maid” or even “mother”. The world just doesn’t revolve that way, there is no realism in thinking that one day, the perfect girl of your dreams is going to drop down into your lap and become your maid, girlfriend, whatever you want to call it. Romance and love are not a one-way street, an organic relationship has to be formed.
Now, to the production side of things. It was not good, and most of it was outsourced to other studios anyway, so did Project No.9 even work on this? The animation was a slideshow to put it lightly, the expressions were bland, and the settings were dull. Most of the anime was just Amane and Mahiru on the couch talking like NPCs. Amane’s house was so bland as well. A beige coloured background with nothing on it, not even posters or other interesting furniture. This all screams laziness and a poor production schedule as well. The music was fine, but the OP did not capture the essence of the anime at all. The OP is energetic and fun, while the anime was as interesting as watching paint dry on a wall.
I enjoyed the first two episodes of this show, but after that, the relationship got so drawn out to the point where not even a confession could save the trainwreck that this was. Endless edging basically, is what happened here. I cannot believe that this series can pass itself as a realistic portrayal of romance, because I just don’t see it. What fun is there if the characters just dance around the relationship with the same dialogue over and over again? It portrays characters in the most monotonous and boring of ways, and any semblance of growth in the characters was not good enough.
If you were able to enjoy this show, great, all the power to you. This review is just what I think, and not a reflection of what you have to think. I would never wish for people to hate what they watch.
For everyone who is read to the end, I truly appreciate it, and thank you for hearing me out.
Jebmond
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten sadly did not spoil me rotten.Continue on AniListThe Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten sadly did not spoil me rotten; this anime ended up being incredibly dull and pathetic. The story is contrived from start to finish and packaged with bland, cardboard characters, poorly written dialogue that feels like someone tried to rip off young adult works from Wattpad, and a generic, mediocre narrative. In this regard, it is much like Demon Slayer. However, unfortunately, it does not have talented staff to turn it from nothing into something. Instead, it got one of the worst studios a light novel adaptation can get—project No.9, the bloodsucker of the light novel adaptations in the 2020s. At this point, one can start to think that they have a special unit in the studio to find light novels with the corniest dialogues in the country.
The premise of this animated calamity is—a dude is kind to a cute girl once, and she conveniently lives next to him, so she cleans his room and begins to cook for him. This is the most unrealistic, escapist fantasy plot development imaginable. The author didn't even bother to make the male protagonist look like he tried to do something to make a change in his mundane life. He continues his daily routine, and one day when he comes back from school, he sees the most popular girl in his school in a dire situation and decides to help her out of pity, which is an act that contradicts the rest of his character, or what was supposed to be his character. This writing is absolutely abyssal.
The dual protagonists of the story, Mahiru and Amane, are exceptional characters if exceptional was synonymous with dry and uninteresting. Not to mention, the development of these characters is nonsensical—and like their pathetic dialogue—likely written by ChatGPT. These two characters (if such a term even applies to these walking pieces of white bread) interact in ways that most newly formed couples wouldn’t. Close friends do not act like this with each other, which makes it painfully apparent that the author does not know how people interact and how the romance develops. These interactions are also terribly forced and awkward. It’s painful to watch, really. Their interactions made me want to go and touch grass, so I can finally remember real people are not this gross while interacting with each other. Also, the reveal about Mahiru's parents feels like the author didn't plan it from the start and just wanted to give Mahiru a sad backstory out of the blue. Because there is no way someone who lived the life of Mahiru becomes a teenager without any awful personality traits. The author needs to bring her maid into the story and make that woman the kindest and most caring person in the world. Otherwise, her character arc will be an unnecessarily over-the-top drama.
This show is also a disaster when it comes to production values. I don't know if it's because half of project No.9's staff is working on finding the next boring light novel to adapt, but this show's visual quality feels like three college students decided to make fan animations for fun over the weekend. Character designs, animations, and backgrounds are terrible, as expected from project No.9. Amane's apartment feels like made on Sims by a first-time computer user. It's unimaginative and dull, just like the main characters.
In conclusion, this anime is just a waste of time with its lackluster production, attempt at a generic narrative, and laughably terribly-written main characters. I really wish I didn't watch this one and touched grass instead.
Bropix
If You Had ChatGPT Write You a romcom Story.. This Would Be It.Continue on AniListThe Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten is a slice-of-life romantic-comedy light novel by Saeki-san. It was adapted into a 12-episode anime series by Project No.9. The studio behind Higehiro, the story about a guy who picks up a high school runaway, who then cooks & cleans for him and tries to get his affection.
Our story here centers around the MC Amane Fujimiya who lucks out with the prettiest girl in his high school Mahiru Shiina, dubbed “Angel”. She volunteered to cook for him and clean his apartment.. pretty much becoming his housewife simply because he was a nice guy who gave her an umbrella. Or how the story portrays it she went “damn, bitch you live like this?” after seeing his dirty flat.
There is no unique concept or gimmick, it is just two characters falling in love with no drama, what is not to like?
Romantic comedies are some of the hardest to review. What makes a good romantic comedy to you?
Is needles melodrama required?
Does it need to be funny, but balanced enough for the romance to flow?
Does it just need to be “wholesome” and you’ll forgive any mediocre qualities as long as it makes you feel good?All is fine, but I believe the core of a good romcom should be the main characters if you like the duo and enjoy their characterization, interactions, and progression.
Amane's characterization is that of an inferior version of Miyamura , a gloomy guy with trust issues, who looks hot if he fixes his hair. Slowly becoming more of an open person as he spends time with his wife. He has no real worth mentioning traits or hobbies that would make Mahiru fall for him, maybe his ordinariness is the key factor to her interest?
Meanwhile, Mahiru is the pretty perfect girl who is his shining beacon, helping Amane to change himself and herself for the better. Both become more open and true to themselves.
The show is not bad, it's just flavorless and mediocre. It's like your generic Isekai of the season, but here you have people gushing over it because it is so “wholesome”. Hey, I like wholesome stuff too! It's why I adore Kobayashi, but that show has so many other qualities to list.
The story here IS boring, it doesn’t help that a good 70% of the story literally takes place in Amane’s apartment (you’ll be seeing that drywall and couch a lot). The good thing I can say is that there is genuine progress in their relationship as the episodes go, and the way they form their relationship feels natural, somewhat.
The comedy isn’t over the top, but it’s not even funny. It all boils down to scenes of Amane letting out a sigh whenever the side characters act annoying. And speaking of the side characters, they're not worth mentioning at all.
The production values are average, the art style is okay and the animation is fine, I guess. The studio most definitely saved money and time by not drawing different backgrounds, considering how often they were in the apartment and on that stupid couch.
Should you watch Angel Next Door? If you’d like to watch a simple show, with no drama you can try it. Or invest in some wish fulfillment or wholesomeness then I guess why not?
For me, this show is as boring as Shikimori.
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SCORE
- (3.85/5)
TRAILER
MORE INFO
Ended inMarch 25, 2023
Main Studio project No.9
Trending Level 3
Favorited by 4,401 Users
Hashtag #お隣の天使様