If My Love Story!! immediately distinguishes itself by being a romance about two people who are actually in a relationship, rather than playing the awkward game of “figure out the other person’s obvious feelings,” then it falls into all the stereotypes and contrived romance antics of such shows just as quickly. If it sets itself apart by centering around two polar opposites, the immense gorilla-like Gouda Takeo (whose name includes the character for “enormous” and two different characters for “man”) and the tiny airhead Yamato Rinko (whose grand last name belies her extremely feminine given name), then it uses these characters in such uninspired and clichéd ways that every line they say could be predicted with any basic knowledge of the topic at hand. If we are to look up to their relationship as the ideal of a perfect romance between two paragons of virtue, then their sickening perfection drives all sense of believability and relatability into the ground. If anything I feel for their friends, who have to go home every night and hate themselves for having such obvious flaws in comparison.
I was sold on all of these points to begin with. We see Takeo, more of a mountain than a man, and have the impression that he could never land a girlfriend, especially not with his popular best friend Suna around. Then he saves Yamato from a molester on a subway, and instantly falls in love with her, but as they continue to meet up he believes that she also wants to date Suna, like all his other crushes have. And then, in only three episodes, all the misunderstandings are cleared up, and Takeo and Yamato begin dating. It was refreshing to have so little time spent on tired devices that can stretch a simple story of confessing love out to the length of a whole season. In their first few episodes together, they balance one another out nicely, and there is hope that their characters develop to be more nuanced, flawed, and less typecast.
No such luck. They get involved in a couple love triangles that drive the plot on petty jealousy and more misunderstandings, and the two of them barely move from their positions as perfect entities with hearts of gold and a perfect romance between them. Takeo never stops being mistaken for a gruff and tough male, nor does he ever stop being able to perform any superhuman feat with little or no explanation. Yamato makes pastries for Takeo, a theme only briefly explored towards the end when she gets a part-time job at a patisserie, and otherwise continues to play the same virtuous, ditzy, headstrong girl. Suna looks up to Takeo in both senses of the term, and never stops being a socially aware smart foil to his best friend, because having a stereotypical male lead as the sidekick is apparently the only way My Love Story!! knows how to sell us on Takeo as a human and not a pariah.
To stretch the show out into two seasons, we get ridiculous incidents such as an explosion at a restaurant, a couple of sporting events, and about four unrequited loves, all designed to show off Takeo’s virtue and Yamato’s undying love. Side characters come in for an episode or two and then disappear for the rest of the show, their purpose having been served. Conflicts arise because the audience will presumably lose interest if they are simply living out normal lives as high school students in love, but frankly that would have been more relatable. The gender politics that play out, of the men being emotionally unexpressive and slightly perverted, but ultimately the most dependable, while the girls are cliquey and gossipy, but ultimately providing warmth and unabashed love, are overblown, predictable, and downright insulting. The pinnacle is the two main characters, who act as blatant caricatures for their gender’s ideal. I got some enjoyment out of Suna, who struggles with women in slightly unexpected ways related to his long-lasting friendship with Takeo. But of course I would enjoy watching him; he’s the only one in My Love Story!! that represents an actual human being.