New Crunchyroll Comedy Anime Sets Itself Apart With An Incredibly Fresh Character That Makes It a Must Watch

A-1 Pictures’ newest adaptation, Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!, currently streaming on Crunchyroll, could be one of the season’s funniest shows. Besides its unique frame for a romantic comedy, its willingness to embarrass all its characters creates a dynamic and more memorable cast, including its leading lady, Anna Yanami. The result is surprisingly refreshing in a season filled with gimmicky dramas.

Many rom-com feel lopsided in implementation, sacrificing jokes for sex appeal. While it may work, Makeine had a strong first episode by going in the opposite direction, especially in how it employed its lead.

Anna’s goofy demeanor helped sell the jokes centered around “unlucky childhood friends” the anime focuses on, and also makes her a more complex, fun character to watch in action.

Makeine’s Turns Romance Into A Comedy

Original Novels Written by Takibi Amamori; Anime Produced by A-1 Pictures

The key to Makeine’s comedy is the deliberate undermining of character stereotypes. While “losing heroines” are often envisioned as selfless and long-suffering martyrs, Anna intentionally breaks this mold from the first minute by being wildly expressive, to the resignation of the male lead Nukumizu. One of the best jokes is when Anna “breaks character” to drink her crush’s abandoned soda, something Nukumizu winces at for being “desperate”. Afterward, the girl runs a gamut of hilarious emotions that all run counter to the expectations of her archetype – rather than suffer in silence, she broods and rages at becoming a third wheel.

Anna’s vivaciousness is possible thanks to the story’s premise, which is focused on parodying the clichés of the romance genre. Because older stories usually kept their characters boxed up in their roles, Makeine is almost compelled to show how normal people cannot spare the energy to pine for others every minute of the day.

Anna, while losing her crush, still has to go back to school and spend time paying back Nukumizu with free lunches. Seeing her involved not in soapbox drama, but everyday antics, makes Anna that much more lively, unpredictable, and fascinating to watch, compared to other shows.

Anna Breaks Her Own Mold When Others Obey Theirs

Summer 2024 has seen a number of gimmicky rom-coms, like Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, 2.5D Seduction, and Pseudo Harem. While they have their fans, the female leads can at times feel inoffensively safe, designed more to be cute or titillating according to their archetypes than actually memorable, even with their cosplay or foreign languages.

While Anna’s own gag is to lose out on a love triangle, acting like a parody of the concept has allowed her to do more as a character. With her, Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines could turn out to be one of this summer’s funniest shows available on Crunchyroll.