There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless...

## Season 1

### Soundtrack

I thought the opening was really nice. It's a catchy banger. It definitely fits the "exciting love" vibe of the anime, kind of like My Dress Up Darling's opening. I think that's because of the ad-libs, which I always enjoy in an opening song. The instrumental's exciting, the structure of the song itself is quite nice, and the vocals are incredible. Not to mention the incredibly fitting fast-paced animation. Will definitely be a staple of my playlist.

I don't think the ending song's as good. It's a catchy song, but it didn't really resonate with me. But, I still found it to be very listenable, and it did fit with how I felt after watching every episode. I kind of wish the animation was more interesting, though.

### Thoughts

Okay. Before I started watching this anime, I thought that there's no freaking way I'll like a yuri harem anime, unless the story was interesting. Oh, it was interesting, alright. The anime goes portrays the entire spectrum of storytelling, like sadness, love, lust, happiness, joy, jealousy, and the list goes on. More than that, it showed how intense love is. Even if that love is stemmed from friendship, the line between friendship and romantic love is so blurred in this anime that it's hard to really describe how the characters truly feel.

This anime is fundamentally sloppy. The concept of a disgustingly close friendship-situationship-relationship-harem-polycule-thing centered around the highly insecure introverted main character is so good in a messy way that it circles back around to slop. The relationships between the characters, at least the important ones, are so fucking intense. It's so clear to me when I finished the final episode that they're all so intense because they've been so pent up. I mean that in the least weird way possible. Renako's had a difficult past, Mai's under incredible pressure, Ajisai is burdened with purpose, Satsuki's a whole another beast to tackle, and I guess Kaho's just there. Everything makes so much sense now that I understand everything. I hate it. This anime is so weird for the sake of being weird.

Wow, the plot is... not convoluted at all. It's so linear, but oh my god the story beats are amazing. The entire anime is centered and moved by the main character's relationship with Mai. I mean this in the least horny way possible: Their sexual tension is off the charts. I can't believe that by the third episode they got THAT close. And then after that she distorts so much of Renako's life. Mai really is the villain of this story. She's my favorite character besides the main character.

Moving on, the second of four arcs is where it gets really interesting. This part is why it's slop. Satsuki basically starts a temporary relationship with Renako to spite Mai. Like, none of that would ever happen in real life, and yet it makes so much sense within the story. I love how cynical Satsuki is. Even more than that, I really, really love her intense and deep-rooted "rivalry" with Mai. It's such a subversion from "the childhood friend who secretly likes you". My mind was really blown when I realized that Satsuki "hates" Mai so much so that she won't ever be lonely again. That is SO tsundere-coded. And then the arc even gets into the intimacy between Renako and Satsuki. Holy shit, the sexual tension shot an arrow through my heart. It's so funny seeing how shy Satsuki was when she and Renako kissed; I really felt for her in the moment, being a romantic fling and all. It's clear as day that despite her half-hearted efforts of hiding her true emotions, she really did get caught up in her emotions. What a fun arc.

But that third arc is what really drives in what this anime is about. It's about being true to yourself no matter what. Ajisai's whole arc of understanding her own feelings and accepting them really pierced through the screen. Even if she and Renako looked like they were having fun in their vacation, I still felt the emptiness through the screen, especially during that fireworks festival scene. Her feelings of being burdened with purpose by her own family combined with her relationship with Renako really made for an incredible arc that showered me with the full spectrum of emotions.

The fourth arc serves its purpose in the story quite well. It still focused on a certain character, in this case Kaho, but I felt like the previous events of the anime really haunted this part of the story. Besides Renako and Kaho, you really don't get to see much of the other characters until the last two episodes. I think that's a good thing, seeing how Kaho wasn't really developed as much in the previous episodes. I also think she's a pretty interesting love interest, despite her being fulfilling "childhood friend" trope. Other than that, I really felt how important Ajisai and Mai was to the Renako. It was also good to see how she was consolidating her feelings for the both of them. She really didn't want to hurt the both of them. Wow, and that ending isn't something I expected. I thought I was going to watch another losing heroine anime (there's too many losing heroines these days), but to commit (for now) to a harem/polycule is ballsy. It really drives home how sloppy the concept of this anime is, though. A concept of a 3-person (many even more down the line) polycule is just so silly to me.

I also thought this anime really pulled all the stops for the little things. Like, the scenery changes in every episode really made for an interesting anime. I didn't get bored for a single second. There's also the wonderfully teenage, almost immature humor that this show uses. It's so ruthless at times that it really felt real without breaking the intensely "anime" atmosphere that this anime has. Moving on, they really animated so many freaky scenes. I know I already said that there were so many kisses and how well-paced it was, but I genuinely can't get enough of that feeling. Sometimes it was borderline SA, but that's a whole another can of worms. They did it so many times and it always got the "hot and bothered" out of me. It's not just the kisses, either. The showrunners got away with so many scenes with (I apologize for this) boobs. Like, how is this anime not tagged as ecchi despite the main character bathing with a love interest in the second episode, then almost fuck in the third one, then sleep together (with a different girl) in a different episode, and so on and so forth? I'll answer that: It's because they're all girls, right?!. Okay, to be honest, the intimate moments really did play a role in showing the warmth of the naked (sometimes literally) sides of the characters. Even though I did feel the intended feeling of... let's say arousal, it was overpowered by the overflowing feelings that the characters felt. I really felt Renako's conflicting feelings, Mai's earnestness, Satsuki's yearning, Ajisai's struggle, and Kaho's passion. That's 100% part of what makes this anime good.

For my last topic, I'll mention how interesting the main character, Renako is. At first, she's introduced as a "reformed introvert". She really tries to fit in, look good, and read the room. But she fails. Of course she fails, the story needs conflict. What a girlfailure! I saw the unbridled fear in her eyes when Mai confessed to her. I don't think she ever understood why Mai loved her so much. Her self-esteem really reached down to the bedrock. She really thinks that being in a romantic relationship combined with her insecurities is so complicated, so much so that she doesn't want to risk her hard-earned friendship. In my honest opinion, that's the core of Renako's conflict with Mai. Despite all of that, by the end of the season, I think she learned her lesson. It was because of Satsuki's honesty with her complicated feelings for Mai combined with Ajisai's entire arc that she accepted both Ajisai's and Mai's confessions. And what a beautiful buildup, too, let me say that at least! As much as I say to say it, as a hater of the harem trope, it's a fantastic way to end the season. I do think it's strange how the polycule/harem will be expanded, though. What could be the reason for Satsuki wanting a relationship with Renako? And will Kaho also join it down the line? Who knows, at least there's more potential content for the future.

To cap it all off, I will say that this anime is incredibly interesting. Somehow, it manages to be intense while being cozy at the same time. It's a show that sweeps you along with the emotions with the characters themselves while also depicting plenty of cozy slice-of-life moments, which I appreciate a lot. I can't wait to see what comes next if there's a second season. It's clear to as day to me that this is a 8/10 Slop-Gem anime. It's not higher than an 8 because the "slop" is really powerful. Oh, and if you're wondering who I support, it's clearly Renako x Mai, despite Mai being the "villain" of the story. I just love love love love love their dynamic so much. Yeah, I enjoyed watching a yuri anime. So what?

Muri, muri!