Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru

If you are looking for something fun to watch with a plot that is not so deep, something heart-warming and sweet romantic comedy, something that will make you smile, well, this is the show you might be looking for. I’m an awful reviewer, but I decided I should write what I felt while watching this anime. I hope you like this one. This is a spoiler-free review. Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru, or should I say "When Will Ayumu Make His Move?" is a simple high school romance anime that I’ll never get bored of watching. This show deserves more hype. It shares the same art as teasing master Takagisan, but the story is quite different from Takagi san. This is the story between a senpai and her kohai, Ayumu, who is a kendo star and champion in his middle school, joins a Shogi club in his first year of high school, not because he was interested in Shogi, but he fell in love at first sight with the president and the only member of Shogi club Urushi Yaotome, and decides he’ll confess his love to his senpai when he beats her in a game of Shogi, and yeah Urushi is super good in Shogi. Ayumu is a bold type of character, a kind of straight-forward guy, and a super hard-working and dedicated type, who always tries his best but gets beaten by Urushi all the time lol. On the other hand, Urushi is a shy and sweet type of girl. She always tries to maintain her character in front of Ayumu to look cool, but always gets embarrassed because of how Ayumu flirts with her with a straight face. I loved this anime because of how both characters get connected to each other through the game of Shogi, and both of them are so cute and adorable, I’ll mention this again whenever Ayumu flirts with Urushi, the reaction she gives is priceless. I loved both the main characters and the other side characters. It’s a simple, cute, and sweet show that will make you feel good, and how beautiful is the innocent love they share. And Urushi was so adorable lol. And yeah, to be honest, I love high school romance anime like this one. I would love to see more seasons of this anime in the future. It's a wonderful show, and I highly recommend it. I hope you’ll enjoy watching it. 🌸🌸🌸

This anime was good but it was a let down when it came to the end of the series.... I thought the story was progressing really beautifully there were many moments that both characters were developing and trying to be better versions of them selves but when it came to the end of the series it felt like a let down. I really am not a big fan of anime that really end on a cliff hanger like that. A season should be contained and while its fine to have unanswered questions, i am not ok with a story reaching its climax and never gettingthere at all... This was a let down for me because unless we have a season 2 we dont know if this will end or start something new.... For that reason I will have to say that I do not recommend this anime to anyone who is looking for a story that has a start middle and end. (Yes I know there is a manga and i can get all my answers there but i dont base any anime on how good the manga is or how the manga story ark plays out).

When Will Ayumu Make His Move was about what I expected. It's a very wholesome anime that surrounds a pair of people that have feelings for each other while they play shogi. It's a nice relaxing watch that doesn’t really do too much apart from having really sweet moments. To be honest though sometimes it would become a little boring because there's only so much of the same thing you can really take. I wouldn’t necessarily call it bad, but I wouldn’t call this anime good either. Art: 7 I thought the art was fine, the anime is not ugly to look at and the characterdesigns are good too. I’m also not going to really complain about lackluster animation because this anime is very diologue-heavy anyway, and it's just shogi so the animation was fine to me. Other than that I thought the music in the show was okay, it could've been a little better, but no real big complaints there. Characters: 6 I’m going, to be honest, I found it hard to care for any other character aside from the main duo, as they all felt a little one-dimensional, but the main duo has good enough chemistry to override that. I will say, I think they did a great job with Rin, as her story was probably the best and just plain realistic. Story: 5 The story of the anime kind of fell flat for me. I understand that Ayumu wants to beat Urushi in shogi for his own personal reasons, but as I said previously, there's only so much you can take of that. Of course, if you find shogi really entertaining then it might be perfectly okay for you. It's just that if the main duo didn't have good chemistry then I think this anime would've been a lot worse. It also doesn’t help that the ending wasn’t great. Overall it was an okay watch, good wholesome vibes. 6/10

Ah, those fleeting youthful days where romance was always on our minds, and falling in love was one of the best feelings one can imagine. This show really does warm my heart, and gave me some of those memories, though I will be honest, I didn’t really enjoy this show at the start, but little by little, I started liking it more. The show is quite simple really, a middle school kendo champion, Ayumu Tanaka, begins his first year of high school, but didn’t join the kendo club, instead, he fell in love with Urushi Yaotome, the president and only member of the unofficial shogi club.Ayumu is a rather expressionless person, which kind of reminded me of Raido from “Aharen-san wa Hakarenai”, but bolder, and Urushi is your typical cute girl that blushes a lot when teased. In a way, it’s kind of the reversal of “Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san”, where Takagi would constantly tease Nishikata and make him blush. This resemblance is no fluke though, because they were written by the same author. My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20 STORY: 15.2/25 The story is quite simple and relaxing, inoffensive and fun. It’s a whole bunch of teasing, a whole bunch of shogi playing, and a bit of slow progress in Ayumu and Urushi’s relationship. The teasing is rather uncreative and repetitive though compared to something like Takagi-san, as it’s mostly just Ayumu giving Urushi compliments, and making fun of her small size. I do wish there were more unique scenarios for the teasing and romantic moments, but I enjoyed what we got. The side characters were interesting at times with their relationships, but they weren’t extremely involved all the time. I also wish we would get a small, basic lesson about shogi in this show as well, as that could make viewers a bit more engaged. ART: 7.4/10 There isn’t a whole lot of movement in the show, but for the most part, the designs were alright and the colours were good. Nothing too special here. MUSIC: 8.2/10 The music compliments the show well, and gives off a nice slice of life vibe. The opening and ending were also pretty solid, and quite catchy. CHARACTERS: 13.5/20 The main leads are good characters, especially Ayumu, because he’s completely willing to compliment Urushi all the time, and I wouldn’t imagine he’d be too afraid to confess his feelings. Urushi isn’t all too special, but she’s very adorable, and fun to watch. The side characters are also fun to watch, especially Takeru and Sakurako, who have an interesting dynamic. Another character I’d like to highlight would be Rin, who was also part of the middle school kendo team, and her interactions with Ayumu and Takeru are a joy to watch, and there’s some substance there. There are some backstories that were a tad bit emotional too, which is always a welcome thing. ENJOYMENT: 11.5/15 Cute and wholesome, pretty satisfying. THEMATIC EXECUTION: 14/20 The one thing I’d say this show lacks is creativity in comedy. Sure, it’s good, but it’s quite repetitive. There aren’t a whole lot of unique scenarios and settings. The thing this show does well is romance, because there seems to be genuine progress in the relationship, and it also feels very relatable to the vibe of high school romance, and I’m glad to see it. OVERALL: 69.8/100 For a romance anime, it delivers decently. In terms of works from this author, I’d still have to go with Takagi-san over this show, but nonetheless, this show is good in its own way, and features a good high school relationship, but it just doesn’t have that extra kick or uniqueness to it. That said, if there’s ever a sequel, I’d be happy to watch it. After all, who would say no to cute romcoms?

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