Finished watching Romantic Killer yesterday and I can't get over how much I love Anzu and this show, not only as an AroAce person, but also as an average anime fan who loves good writing, awesome characters, and when tropes and stereotypes get completely flipped on their heads and disassembled within a narrative.
Calling it a Reverse Harem doesnt do it justice, but I'm not sure what else to call it. An Anti-Reverse Harem? It starts out as a stereotypical RH, but goes a step further by rejecting Romance as the end-all-be-all completely.
The Main Protag makes it very clear from the beginning that she does not care about Romance or dating and never has (AroAce Anzu Truthers assemble!). She states clearly and firmly that she has no interest in dating anyone, she just wants to play video games, eat chocolate, and the only love she needs in life is from her family and her cat (okay but literally me tho?).
{{Spoilers}}
And SHE REMAINS THAT WAY FOR THE ENTIRE SHOW. HER INTERESTS DO NOT CHANGE AT ALL.
SHE STARTED THE SHOW SINGLE WITH NO INTEREST IN DATING, AND SHE ENDED THE SHOW SINGLE WITH NO INTEREST IN DATING.
DO YOU ALL REALIZE HOW RARE THAT IS?! IN ANY PIECE OF MEDIA?!
Not only does she not change who she is, but the outside force attempting to change her (the wizard Riri) actually is the one who ends up changing in the end.
She instead befriends all of the ikemen (who are all way more complex and layered than both we the audience and Anzu assume they are when we first meet them) the wizard attempts to set her up with, and through that friendship both her life and the lives of the ikemen improve.
Not only that but Anzu is an AMAZING friend! She sticks up for her classmates when awful rumors get spread about them, she supports them when they're going through rough times, she's fiercely loyal and not afraid to defend her friends, even if things get physical or it causes social ostricization.
Anzu has easily earned her place as one of my favorite anime protags of all time. Hell, I wish I could be friends with her irl! We can play video games and eat chocolate together!
Everybody deserves to have a friend like Anzu or should see Anzu as an example of how to be a good friend.
I personally headcanon her as AroAce but I also recognize how important it is to have a cishet woman who just has no interest in dating anyone. Because speaking as someone who used to believe they were a cishet woman, Romance and dating and marriage, it's all seen as an inevitability instead of just one path your life can take.
It's assumed you will at some point start dating someone and eventually get married and probably have kids, and if you deviate from that you're looked at either as a freak, a frigid antisocial bitch, or with pity because "oh you don't know any better"/"It will happen eventually" and of course the dreaded "YoU jUsT hAvEnT fOuNd ThE rIgHt PeRsOn YeT".
Augh.
I was literally told at one point that I "don't have a choice" when I said I was never going to get married. Fucking what?!
So yeah, Anzu means a lot to me, both as an AroAce person, but also as someone who grew up being told by every piece of media and all of the people/cultural expectations and standards around me, that Romance is the Ultimate Goal In Life.
Like Thanos, it is Inevitable.
Romantic Killer spits in the face of that.
Now, not only that, but HOLY SHIT A PIECE OF MEDIA THAT TAKES MALE ASSAULT VICTIMS SERIOUSLY AND DOESN'T TURN IT INTO A JOKE
I did not see that gut-punch emotional twist coming at all! When Kazuki had a panic attack at the mall and we got a brief flash of his stalker I thought the twist was he got SA'd by a teacher or something (since the show goes out of its way to show just how attractive Kazuki is to everyone around him), and while I'm glad that that didn't happen, he still suffered from assault (getting his drink spiked and her touching him UNCONSCIOUS without his permission, that is assault) and harassment at the hands of this despicable woman, and the show treats it 100% seriously.
No "Oh man he's got a hot older woman fawning over him? Lucky!" None of that shit!
Kazuki, his family (aside from his dad, who is a total piece of shit and I wish Anzu had cussed him out more), his friends, the police, the narrative itself, all take his stalker seriously and treat it just as heavily as if it were a girl being stalked by a psycho guy.
And that's awesome! WE NEED MORE OF THAT IN MEDIA PLEASE!!!!
Other than that the best thing about Romantic Killer is 100% the characters. Every single one of them is so well written and enjoyable to watch. I love Kazuki's older sister (wish we could have gotten a scene where she beats his stalker's head in), I love his friend Oda and Anzu's friend Saki (ANOTHER great example of a narrative displaying assault realistically, believably, and taking it 100% seriously).
I love the scene we got to see where Oda notices Saki was uncomfortable during the Summer Festival and got her away from that absolute DISGUSTING human being who tried to force himself on her in middle school, and then spread rumors about her when she rejected him (and how Anzu called his ass out in front of everybody, though if that were me, roundhouse kick straight to the face).
I love that they made Hijiri actually layered and not just a spoiled brat tsundere character. He actually takes his job seriously and works just as hard as everyone else there.
I love the fact that both Junta and Ryuya have been in love with Anzu since they were kids but instead of becoming rivals they become friends (literally Junta going "I KNOW RIGHT?! ISN'T SHE SO AMAZING!!?" when he found out Ryuya was also in love with Anzu, instead of being jealous, is everything to me).
And that's not even touching on the animation! The animation all throughout the show is so unbelievable that it completely blew me away at some points!
I just love this anime, you guys. Everyone should go watch it!!!
It's always "I love you" and never "Okay, I don't care that we're different. What I care about is you. I care about you. Okay? And I didn't say it. I should've said it. But I didn't. Because... well, 'cause I am an emotionally insecure source of your discomfot who is not good at expressing his feelings. Probably because I've been on my own my whole life. And it's not an excuse, it's just- it's why instead of telling you that you're the best thing that ever happened to me, I make jokes about your ears and I tell you that you try too hard. When, you know, the truth is, I just don't want you to get hurt because... because no one else in the world matters more to me than you do."
passando pra sugerir icons do anime romantic killer <3
BERROOO, TÔ XUXADA E BOIOLA! ( 〃▽〃)
AMOOO tanto a sua ask, pq romantic killer é um dos animes que eu tinha dropado babado, e foi com o axé da sua ask que lembrei de voltar a assistir (((P.S.: A LENDA AQUI É VC, viu! um beijo na sua buchecha! muito obrigada pela ask e tenha um ótimo dia! (´ ˘ `｡ ) 🩷🌸
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