3 Episode Impression: Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

Synopsis

Mitsuyoshi Tada is a high school boy who aspires to be a photographer and has never fallen in love. One day while taking photos of blooming sakura trees he encounters a transfer student from Luxembourg named Teresa Wagner. Upon learning that the girl had gotten lost after ending up separated from her travelling companion when they arrived, he decides to help her. And when the two ends up getting caught in the rain, he further aids her by bringing her to shelter at his grandfather’s cafe.

The Good

Subtlety is not the thing you would expect as a highlight for a first impression of a series, but it is for this one. It may not be all that obvious, but if you look closer into the characters interactions and motions that they go through together, there’s some interesting points to be found that could refer to their character. An example of this would be on Tada and Teresa, there was a big arrow pointing things out in the third episode but for the first and second episodes showed some a silent but sweet start of chemistry between the two.

The characters alone are still great however; with the concept of them being different from how they look, there is more room for their character exploration. And given their differences in personalities, the comedy has more to it as well. Simple put, with the way that the characters are not completely as their looks perceive them to be, there’s a whole lot of exploration and depth that could be found in the future.

Then there is the story of the series so far. It’s simple, it’s sweet, and it has its moments with the comedy. What’s more the fact that episode three made room for some clever exposition through the cat’s thoughts is highly clever and smooth in execution. Other than this the visuals are great, and the music is rather catchy.

The Bad

As a shoujo piece, it is only expected that there is going to be some tropes/cliches to be found here and there, no matter how big or small. One example would be how there is a usual line-up of character types though their overall personalities may be different. For the most part however, there are no glaring issues to be found. However, the third episode just seemed a little too chaotic and the whole 8-second to fall in love concept just seemed a bit hammered in.
Conclusion

The romance may not be all that clear just yet, but the series holds a nice subtlety to it which brings a great build-up and is helped by character dynamics. There are no big issues to be found so far but there are little moments that could have been done better. In terms of comedy, there are some rather great moments and slipped in well with the flow of the story. So, if you’re looking for a simple shoujo story with some interesting characters that stray away from their usual types and good comedy, this is a series to check out.

Rating:7.5/10