Konbini Kareshi

Please note this review assumes that you have already finished watching Konbini Kareshi and while care has been taken to avoid story spoilers there may be spoilers in character analysis Romance, school life and a Konbini The premise of Konbini Kareshi is a relatively common one often seen in this genre. Konbini Kareshi is a slice of life and romance anime set in modern day Japan in a fictional town that looks like a normal town which makes it relatable to many. Using the Konbini as a focal point the anime uses this as a place where people can meet up, bond, strike up friendshipsand purchase the items that they need to make memorable memories while attending high school. The overall story of the anime follows the school lives of four characters that include Haruki a honest and responsible high school freshman, Towa a bright and lively person that’s the joker of the group, Mami a quiet but serious girl and Miharu a positive and kind girl that gets nervous easily. After meeting each other on the first day of school and bonding with each other their relationships gradually starts to change as the months go by. As the months go by and as they encounter unexpected events and meet new classmates and friends how will these changes affect their relationship. Haruki Haruki Mishima voiced by veteran voice actor Takuma Terashima of Log Horizon fame is one of the main characters of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman Haruki is an honest, kind and friendly person that because of his earnest and friendly nature is someone that can make friends easily. Due to his honest and earnest nature Haruki is someone that prefers to stay away from people’s gossip and disbelieves rumors and prefers to hear them from the concerned parties themselves. In the beginning of the series Haruki though honest and kind person was someone that can be said to lack any real goal in life seemingly to prefer to just live in the moment and not worry about anything else. This also has the effect of making it hard for him to understand people’s feelings which resulted in Haruki developing the personality trait of being indecisive with is his own feelings towards others. As the series progresses however Haruki starts to gradually change as he becomes more grounded, responsible and more determined to make his feelings known while also becoming more considerate and understanding of other’s feelings. Miharu Miharu Mashiki voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Sayaka Kanda of Sword Art Online fame is one of the main characters of the series and is one of the main heroines of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman Miharu is a positive, kind and caring person that loves to help those in need and cares a great deal about her friends. Despite her earnest nature however Miharu is someone that gets nervous quite easily which is more prevalent in the beginning of the series. Despite this Miharu is someone that is noted to have a great deal of faith in people and always willing to believe in the best of them something that I find admirable about her. Unlike the other characters of the show Miharu due to her poor health is not someone that can afford to be athletic which I felt was a shame as sports meets and festivals are one of the joys in Japanese high schools. Perhaps as a means of not wasting the time that she must spend alone Miharu is noted to have a great deal in skill in handicrafts and in one notable scene makes use of this to support her friends a scene that I particularly liked. Miharu’s relationship with Haruki is one of the main points of the anime’s overall plot and unlike Mami’s one is a more complex one. In the beginning Miharu though seemingly, the childhood friend of Haruki instead treated him as a stranger and though their relationship gradually improved as the series went on the distance between the two gradually grew. But as their feelings for each other gradually grew this started to be reversed as she started to become braver and gradually become to him. As a character I felt that Miharu was an interesting character that was developed rather well as the series went on. Her unique circumstances I felt were used well in the series. The romance between Miharu and Haruki I felt was pretty sweet. Mami Mami Mihashi voiced by veteran seiyuu Rie Kugimiya of Persona 4 fame is one of the main characters of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman Mami is the very image of what a student that’s entirely focused on her grades and future would look like. A hardworking, honest though overly serious person Mami is someone that takes everything in life seriously and though while earnest would often cause people to resent her for being too rule bound. Perhaps as a result of this pressure that she puts on herself Mami takes great pleasure in reading which is one of her favourite hobbies. Despite her serious nature Mami actually has a surprising side to her personality in that she likes to read girls manga which I find quite amusing as it offsets her more serious sided nature. As someone with a serious-minded personality it’s easy to assume that Mami is someone that’s accustomed to dealing with people since she also has the role of class rep that she shares with Towa as well but this is far from the truth. While having a serious personality Mami is also someone that’s very quiet and nervous and in the beginning of the series was seriously lacking in self-confidence not just in her personality but also in her appearance. More than anything Mami holds a fear that people will look at her differently if they find that such a serious-minded student is also a fan of manga as well. As a result of her nervous nature Mami is understandably nervous around boys but this has the effect of making her relationship with Towa that much more interesting since it also provides both a motivation and an opportunity for Mami to overcome these fears which are holding her back. Though the friendship between Mami and Towa admittedly did start off on the wrong foot but its progression from acquaintances to friends and then to partner I felt was done well considering the hurdles that both had to overcome. Their love story I felt was cute as it focused on Mami’s various insecurities and personal traits and their combined efforts to overcome both this and Mami’s rather strict family and their wishes and aspirations for her. In the end I was glad that they managed to overcome all this and end up together. Towa Towa Honda voiced by veteran voice actor Kenichi Suzumura of Naruto fame is one of the main characters of the series. A 16-year-old high school freshman Towa is a bright, earnest and positive person that tries to act as the joker of the cast which is helped greatly by his funny personality. A childhood friend of Haruki’s that he knew from middle school Towa and Haruki have known each other for some time and as a result each are able to understand what the other is thinking about quite easily. While seemingly positive and loving to play jokes on people Towa’s inner personality is very different to what he tries to present to others in that Towa is actually a very lonely person that comes from having to wrestle against several problems that he cannot tell his friends about. In a way I felt that Towa’s struggles with is family and Mami’s struggles with the rules and aspirations that they have for her are pretty similar to each other and from there it’s quite easy to see how they actually bonded with each other. Though Towa’s relationship with Mami did not start off on the best of terms largely because of the approach that he took which caused her to actually fear him instead their relationship gradually improved as the series went on as Towa learnt to be more considerate and understanding towards not just Mami but to others as well. With regards to Towa’s character though I liked the contrast between his normally positive and joking self and his lonely self when he’s at home I felt that he could have been developed a bit more as compared to the rest of the main cast his development was rather limited. Mikado Mikado Nakajima voiced by veteran voice actor Shinnosuke Tachibana of Koi To Uso fame is one of the main characters of the series. A senior student and thus a sempai to Haruki and his fellow freshman Mikado is an honest, hardworking and logical person that has the role of student council president within the school. While seemingly laid back when compared with his second in command Masamune Mikado nonetheless is someone that takes his duties as student council president very seriously and when serious it can be seen that he can be pretty perceptive and logical. While Mikado can be strict he’s also someone that’s also fair and has surprisingly good sense of humor as well. While appearing to be a calm, composed and logical person it can be seen that Mikado as a result of being like this is someone that seems to be hiding what his true feelings are about something. Specifically, he seems to be reluctant to commit to a stable romantic relationship with a girl seemingly focused on his duties as SC president and taking charge of special school events. Waka Waka Kisaki voiced by veteran seiyuu singer Yukari Tamura of Naruto and Ange Vierge fame is one of the main characters of the series. A senior student of the school and this Haruki and his fellow freshman’s sempai Waka is a positive, cheerful and kind person that’s also a bit care free for her age. A childhood friend of student council president Mikado Waka has a complicated relationship with Mikado in that despite not being blood related she affectionately calls him brother as a result of the childhood that they spent together. In the beginning of the series it can be seen that her feelings towards Mikado is quite close but as a result of her childhood memories of seeing him as her brother Waka is reluctant to commit to her feelings a struggle that I found to be quite interesting. In the end I was glad that things worked out between them. Though the romance between the two was relatively short within the series I felt that it was also one of the sweetest as the groundwork for it was already laid when they were still young leaving the only thing that they need to do is accept the feelings and commit to it. AMV In terms of art the character designs for the characters as well as the uniforms that they wore I felt were well designed. The town that serves as the anime’s main setting also looked pretty nice. Animation I felt was pretty clear. The series I note had pretty good music with both the scene music and the opening and ending themes being pretty good. Voice acting overall, I felt was done really well with Sayaka Kanda’s portrayal of Miharu and Rie Kugimiya’s portrayal of Mami being deserving of praise. Overall conclusion Overall Konbini Kareshi I felt was a relatively simple anime that knew what its main strengths was which in this case was its simplicity and focused on it. In my opinion Konbini’s main strength was its simple premise, interesting story and well-designed characters. The decision to make use of the months of the year as its titles for its episodes I felt was also interesting as it highlighted that high school life is fleeting and that if you don’t make a decision now you may not get the chance again. The overall story when looking at it can be seen as a series of short stories that has as its focus one of the series main pairings that were combined together into one overall plot line. Each of these parings and the romance between them I felt was done really well especially between Miharu and Haruki and Towa and Mami. The romance between Waka and Mikado though the shortest in the series was also quite sweet. The premise of using a konbini which is the Japanese term for a convenience store as the anchor point for the friendships and bonds that the six main characters forge I felt was a great idea since in Japan Konbini’s are far more common than they are in the west. Its help in allowing the romance between Miharu and Haruki I felt was especially cute. The Final Score for Konbini I feel would be a 7/10 because of its interesting premise, well-designed characters, well developed romances and excellent voice acting. This was however let down by some under developed characters and not giving a better role for some characters which ended up wasting the talents of their seiyuu.

Based off the adaptation of a drama series, I've expected this to last a bit longer than the 1-cours that it usually has because of its character developments and whatnot. But the conversion from the screen towards anime is a lot more wayward, with 2 of the 6 main couples getting their screen time, and honestly it feels very wasted, in terms of production and time. Story: If you have watched high school romance melodrama before, this should be a no-brainer. Everything sounds like it should be: Have a setting (in this case, a convenience store), and let the drama play before your eyes. The presentation of thedrama isn't bad, but when you look at how the story progression goes, it's mundanely slow, but that's how dramas eloquently work. Characters: 2 main couples: Haruki & Miharu, Mami & Towa. The others get a backseat, or cameos wherever the gaps are needed to be filled. For a drama series, character development is a vital and essential part of the whole show, because it is when they are properly given more than enough time to flesh their stories. In this case however, the couples showcased here don't give the drama justice, because as a whole, it is meant to be a filler towards the others, like all 6 couples have to be presented since you have that premise at the start, if not more so. If there's one thing to blame at, it's not the average characters, but how much went into the production of this show that makes it worthwhile to watch or not. Art/Animation: Veteran studio Pierrot has brought us so many classics before (e.g. Yu Yu Hakusho), and just recently wrapped up the yearly 4-cour Twin Star Exorcists just the season before, so to understand what went wrong here is an understatement. The art was soft and crisp, but more than enough, they didn't put in as much effort here, and to know that this is an original project, studio Pierrot knew that only specific people would love a high school romance melodrama, so the effort injected here isn't gonna amount to anything. Same goes for the animation, it's smooth and consistent, but then again, there's nothing to write off about. Sound: This is the only area where I feel like I have a soft spot of. Had a liking for both the OP and ED, but severely swelled at the end, because (like I said) it is meant to give the audience the feeling of watching a drama in anime form. Decent but not mediocre. Overall: If there's one thing to come out of this, expect watching a drama just to spare some time off the numerous troupes of shows that we've been watching that are both bad and good, and just relax to the tune. Only recommended if you watch dramas and nothing else. Other than that, there are shows that have done this better (e.g. Nagi no Asukara, Tsuki ga Kirei) and this is unfortunately a disastrous waste of time.

There is nothing special about this series. It starts off the same as almost every other series in this category, but quickly looses momentum and stands still where no development is really happening. It slowly picks up pace towards the end and the out come is what was expected. It does a poor job at explaining backstory and wrapping the ending up. In the end you are left wondering about 100 questions which makes it feel only half complete, as it only addresses the main questions. I enjoyed the simple artwork, although wasn't anything worth mentioning, a fairly neutral pallet which is easy on the eyes witha handful of interesting backgrounds. Overall this a fairly average series, there wasn't anything that made you feel like you need more, and nothing that made you glad it was over. If you don't mind a slow paced and open ended series give this a watch. For a filler in between seasons it will satisfy the rom com needs, although this wouldn't be my first pick. This series is still a decent option for those wanting more, and just want something that will make them feel good.

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