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REVIEW: The Dreaming Boy is a Realist Anime Series Review




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Glordit



Joined: 11 Sep 2020
Posts: 688
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 12:51 pm Reply with quote
The main plot point of Wataru ditching Aika because he realizes he's a pest and then Aika then wanting him back because she secretly liked all the attention, was unimaginative.

The rest of the show was a slog for me, it went in multiple directions all at once and could not decide where it wanted to be. I have been told that major parts of the LN were left out in the anime. Whether it's true or not, I would not know since this didn't put me in a mood to want to read them.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18498
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 4:27 pm Reply with quote
I blogged about this one when it ended, and my summative evaluation (including how I'd break down the grading) is very similar to Richard's. The production values just aren't there, and while there are some interesting things going on, it's just not put together in an interesting enough way. Frankly, I felt the story struggled whenever at least two of Wataru, Aika, and Aika's best friend Kei (who's great at supporting the story by poking and teasing everyone) weren't on the screen.

Not a waste of time, but not something I'd go around recommending, either.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 14216
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 5:27 pm Reply with quote
I wanted to like this one but the lack of a firm direction other than Wataru dealing with other girls' problems after "waking up" and Aika being weird around him just didn't do much for me and the production values weren't that appealing either. It just felt like discount Oregairu.
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chrisb
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Joined: 07 May 2006
Posts: 649
Location: USA
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 7:40 pm Reply with quote
I think the dub helped this show a lot by making the dialogue a bit more natural sounding. It’s still not a masterpiece but it is a more fun watch.
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rudhy





PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 8:51 pm Reply with quote
MFrontier wrote:
It just felt like discount Oregairu.

Haven't watched this yet so I am going to ask this question: is Wataru at any point ever treated like a guy who inflicted years of harassment on Aika? If he isn't, does the show at any point explain why his behavior isn't harassment?
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18498
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2024 9:56 pm Reply with quote
rudhy wrote:
Haven't watched this yet so I am going to ask this question: is Wataru at any point ever treated like a guy who inflicted years of harassment on Aika? If he isn't, does the show at any point explain why his behavior isn't harassment?

Most of their classmates found Wataru's attempts to woo Aika to be entertaining, and they are actually disappointed when it stops. Though Aika was always outwardly annoyed by Wataru's attention, she gradually realizes after it stops that she actually didn't mind it that much. Her much more canny best friend is aware of this all along and additionally seems to recognize that Aika, ironically, benefited from the attention. spoiler[Later in the series we see that she was becoming socially isolated in middle school because of her home situation, and Wataru's constant treaties reversed that.]

Yeah, I'd definitely agree that the story lets Wataru off too easy, and that's the one somewhat edgy aspect to the whole thing that may not set well with some audiences. It does undercut a bit the positive of Wataru realizing on his own that he's being too stalkerish.
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rudhy





PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:25 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:
rudhy wrote:
Haven't watched this yet so I am going to ask this question: is Wataru at any point ever treated like a guy who inflicted years of harassment on Aika? If he isn't, does the show at any point explain why his behavior isn't harassment?

Most of their classmates found Wataru's attempts to woo Aika to be entertaining, and they are actually disappointed when it stops. Though Aika was always outwardly annoyed by Wataru's attention, she gradually realizes after it stops that she actually didn't mind it that much. Her much more canny best friend is aware of this all along and additionally seems to recognize that Aika, ironically, benefited from the attention.

Yeah, I'd definitely agree that the story lets Wataru off too easy, and that's the one somewhat edgy aspect to the whole thing that may not set well with some audiences. It does undercut a bit the positive of Wataru realizing on his own that he's being too stalkerish.


I actually like the shows with the edgy protagonists, so long as the reason for the edginess isn't "poor me, the culture is persecuting me because I am an otaku with weird hobbies and creepy social behavior" like Arifuta. (For me the sole good thing about Jobless Reincarnation is how it does the exact opposite with Rudeus.) And I am actually an old fashioned type who believes that boys should be afforded some space to "woo and pursue" girls. Although in retrospect I now find a lot of the media that I watched depicting "woo and pursue", say 1970s and 1980s romcoms and sitcoms with the pick up artists and such, makes me so uncomfortable that I can't watch them anymore. And when I recall how many guys not only watched that same media but emulated its treatment of women in real life, it goes from "uncomfortable" to the stuff of nightmares. It is complicated I guess.

But what isn't complicated is a guy refusing to take no for an answer for years. At a school. Where the girl is trapped and can't get away from him. As for the explanation why she liked it ... talk about a reach. Instead kids in situations like that are WAY more likely to see school as a refuge, so getting pestered at school like that would have made a bad situation worse. I have read plenty of stories about guys who dropped out of school because they were being pulverized by bullies and even after the bullying was over had PTSD. How many preteen and teen girls have done the same because of harassment? And the other kids who found his antics "entertaining." The teachers and school administrators who saw this going on and did nothing. Were they all harassers too?

I was interested in this show because of the hilarious clips I saw of it on YouTube. But now I am going to drop it from my HiDive queue. Thanks for the info!
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4161
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:46 am Reply with quote
An overall rating of B- is far too kind for this but the discussion of the show in this thread is far too harsh on the main character.

Wataru and Aika met in middle school and he was still trying to win her over in high school. Kei, the mutual friend of the two, a girl the two met in high school, tells Wataru that his closeness caused other girls to stay away.

Not Kei, per se, just "other girls". Huh, what about you, ei? That doesn't make sense. And then it gets worse when Kei starts playing matchmaker.

I can list rom coms, shounen and shoujo, that have excellent relationship dynamics. And now I have one I can point at and say, "that's just awful writing". Yes, the dialogue is bad but I think this work just copied other stories for its present relationships without considering how the characters got there.

And the show just gets worse as more and more cliche characters get added with little impact on the story.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2415
PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2024 11:17 am Reply with quote
Quote:
"poor me, the culture is persecuting me because I am an otaku with weird hobbies and creepy social behavior" like Arifuta.
Dunno what show you watched but that's not at all what happened in Arifureta. The only dudes who hated Hajime were the bully jealous that Hajime got along well with his crush and his three cronies. Everyone else either liked him or was neutral, and everyone aside from the bullies was sad that he apparently died.
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pip25



Joined: 22 Sep 2017
Posts: 187
PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2024 5:16 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
One of the most heartbreaking things in life is the realization that some people will never love you—no matter what you do or how much you love them. It's a fact so painful that many have trouble accepting it. However, when you embrace it as the truth that it is, you'll find that, while it may mark the end of one chapter of your life, it also marks the beginning of another. That is what The Dreaming Boy Is a Realist is all about.

That's... completely untrue. Anime smile + sweatdrop
This review actually got me interested in watching this series, but what I'm seeing is just a romantic comedy where the tsundere female lead only realizes that she can't keep being tsundere anymore when the male lead gives up on her. Where are my hard truths about love...? Anime cry
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