I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class

## Season 1

### Soundtrack

The opening to Kuranika is okay. It's unremarkably listenable. It does its job being another rock opening for another romance anime. If I had to pick one thing I liked the most about the opening is the double time thing that they do at the middle. It's not really something I see much in music, let alone Japanese music, so it really felt uniquely jarring in a good way. I'd like to hear more of that.

Fortunately, the ED is lovely. I'm a sucker for cute EDs, like the one in My Dress-Up Darling. Hearing "Zutto Ichibanni Shitene" by Koresawa every episode just made the lovey-dovey feeling I felt after each one so much more lingering. The guitar, the lead singer's voice, and the instrumentation in general are really good. Coupled with the just-as-cute animation, it really made for a remarkably good ED. Definitely a high-priority addition to the chronological anime playlist.

### Thoughts

The short review of Kuranika would be "This anime is the textbook example of a modern romance anime". Most people reading that would totally get what I mean. Kuranika is just a romance anime with okay characters, okay plotlines, and okay everything else. It does everything right in the most predictable way that it doesn't make it interesting at all. It just makes this anime Mid. Perhaps, you the reader, like that type of anime, so I'll get more into it.

I thought the main couple, Maki and Umi were pretty good. Even if the "entering the loner's world" trope is way too common in romance animes, I thought this one was pretty unique. It's nice seeing a really niche interest like watching B-movies see some light. I really thought that it could've been explored more, but I don't think that's what this anime is really about. This anime's about them. As much as I hate to say it, they are really sweet and lovey-dovey. Their interactions are so intimate, endearing, and understanding of each other. They're definitely written right, both comedically and emotionally. It's definitely one of the most prominent reasons why I decided to keep watching this anime until the end.

The plot as a whole is so boring and predictable that I almost gave this anime a rating one lower. Like, okay, for example, I get how subversive the "second prettiest" aspect of the story is, but it's just resolved so quickly. Basically, there's a plotline about how Umi (the second prettiest) basically gets left out of her friend group with Yuu (first prettiest) and two other girls. There's conflict between them and all that, and that's good, right? It almost makes for a really emotional moment of the story but it just felt so rushed. It didn't feel resolved in a satisfying way at all. Really weird.

There's also the post-divorce arc with Maki that basically takes up the latter half of the season. Wow, it just felt way too serious for an anime like this. You might be thinking that's a good thing, but half-asses it by the worst resolution of a plotline I've ever seen. I don't get why it's such a big deal that Maki throws a tantrum at the end to finally complain about his parents' divorce. Is it supposed to be impactful because he's such a good kid and never gets that mad? If so, then I'm really impressed at how horrible this arc is. His tantrum really did NOTHING. NOTHING HAPPENED AFTER EXCEPT HIM CONFESSING HIS LOVE FOR UMI TO HIS PARENTS? IT'S SO BORING.

I could go on and on about each side character and how interesting or uninteresting they are at times, but I don't feel like writing more about this anime. It just feels like a waste of time to me. I love the highlights of Maki and Umi. That's literally what this anime leaves you with, though. Instagram Reelable Moments. Maybe you'll like it more than me, who knows? All in all, I give this anime a 7/10 Mid-Mid. IT'S MID!