The Summer 2025 Anime Preview Guide - Watari-kun's ****** Is About to Collapse

Naoto Watari has had his share of struggles: his parents died two years ago, and now he and his sister live at his aunt's house. There, his desire to protect his sister earned him notoriety as "the guy with the sister complex"—which never mattered to him, as his sister always came first. But when Satsuki, a childhood friend-turned-enemy (maybe), becomes his schoolmate, Naoto's ordinary life is thrown into chaos ... and Satsuki may just be the beginning.

Watari-kun's ***** is About to Collapse is based on the manga series by Naru Narumi. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Fridays.

It is, apparently, quite difficult for the creator of this series to write a decent female character. There are some steps in that direction, albeit tentative ones: Suzu desperately tries to look less intelligent than she is to keep a hold on her brother. This strategy makes sense given the way the siblings have been shunted between relatives for the crime of being born to a couple the family disapproved of. And Yukari is bland but not bad. But Satsuki and Tamayo are entirely irritating and horrible. While I dislike Satsuki more, Tamayo's actions in this sophomore episode are reprehensible. Her anger at what she assumes to be the situation is out of proportion, and she seems to genuinely think that Naoya, a child, will have just packed up and left because she told him to. Whether or not she thinks he'll have taken his even younger sister with him, I couldn't say, but she <i>knows</i> the Watari siblings' situation. She knows they have nowhere else to go. She just apparently doesn't care. (Again, this gives Suzu at least a little ground to stand on with her own behavior.)

And then there's Satsuki. While she has moments of not being awful, she quickly squanders any goodwill with her actions. Her creepy behaviors have not abated, leading her to crawl into Naoya's bed while he's sick this week. She also apparently keeps the cold medicine she bought for him in her underwear. And to top all of that off, it's looking increasingly like she's been stalking him for years. When she says she knows about his parents, she seems to mean that literally, and something she mumbles to herself, plus the fact that she lives three minutes from his current home, implies that she's been following him around for years now. I'm not sure if the series is trying to play it for laughs or as romantic, but it's just gross and unhealthy. If Tamayo were any sort of guardian, she'd be protecting him from Satsuki, not punishing him.

All of this is to say that a second episode has done nothing to improve my opinion of this series. It's uncomfortable in unpleasant ways, full of irritating characters, and has precious few redeeming qualities in my eyes. I'm ready to move on and forget this series exists.

If there is one thing I cannot abide in a narrative, it's deliberate meanness. That, in my mind, is the damning sin of this episode. Naoto Watari's life may not be perfect before Tachibana comes stalking back into it, but it's at least on a trajectory he's relatively comfortable with. He and his sister, who were orphaned a few years ago, have finally found a place to live with an oddball aunt, he's making friends, and generally feeling like things are going in the right direction. But then his childhood nemesis transfers in, and his life promptly goes to hell, because she's terrible about things like “appropriate boundaries” and “consent.”

I'll give it this, at least Tachibana is equally horrible to both boys and girls. After she assaults Naoto by forcibly kissing him (and him commenting that it's starting to “feel good” isn't consent; it's a physiological reaction), she comes to school the next day and starts groping Ishihara, a girl he's friends with. Her opening encounters with Naoto are framed as a horror narrative, with her stalking him and repeatedly calling out his name in what's somehow both obnoxious and creepy. She seems utterly devoted to destroying both his life and his peace of mind, and that's far from okay, even if the episode at times seems to want to play it for laughs.

In some ways, this feels like a throwback. Awful behavior aside, this is a bit like a harem series from the Love Hina years, where mean behavior is hand-waved aside in favor of making the girls look quirky rather than unhinged. As the episode wears on, there's a clear sense that that's what it's trying to do with Tachibana: she has a reason for the things she's doing that don't involve the state of her mental health. We don't know what that is at this point, of course, but her later actions with Suzu, Naoto's ten-year-old sister, seem to indicate that she has some sense of right and wrong and simply may not be good at expressing it. That's nowhere near enough to make up for her other actions, but I suppose it's something.

Needless to say, I did not enjoy my time with this episode. I'm not looking forward to episode two. In part, the lackluster visuals are part of that – the girls' bare legs are drawn very awkwardly, especially when they're walking – but the fact that almost every single female character is obnoxious in one way or another only compounds the issues with Tachibana. If it had leaned more into the horror angle, it'd be a different story, but at this point, it's a rom-com that's too light on both rom and com for me.

Folks, I sure hope you weren't expecting one of the season's least ambitious and most despairingly mediocre “romantic” “comedies” to suddenly turn things around and be good after that first episode fell so flat. If you did, well, then this is the perfect opportunity for me to mention my side-side-gig selling people anime-themed bridges. They even come bundled with a set of fun, vaguely distinct waifus that will yell unfunny jokes at everyone who crosses over them. Reach out to me through my socials if you're interested.

For everyone else that came in with their expectations in the proper place, I'm happy to tell you that, yes, the second episode of Watari-kun's ***** is About to Collapse sucks just as much as the first one did. The titular Naoto Watari is still a doofus with all of the personality and charm of a box of plain grocery-store donuts that got left out too long and have started to become all crumbly and stale. His little sister is still a cynical simulacrum of vaguely cute cliches that the show desperately hopes will trick its audience into feeling…I don't know, something? Satsuki is still a freak that stalks around trying to enact other lame anime tropes without coming across as a serial killer in the making. She does not succeed in this.

The episode description on Crunchyroll reads, “The plants in the garden are beginning to sprout. But so are the small lies that everybody employs.” I find this very amusing, because it implies that this show is actually about gardening in any way that matters - which it is not - while also implying that the characters in this show are going to have “secrets” that make for even vaguely interesting or dramatic television - which it most definitely does not. Unless you find “Naoto is confronted with the fact that he uses his little sister as an excuse not to get close to other people,” a truly compelling insight into our protagonist's wellspring of complex humanity.

Hell, I think plenty of shows can and have made interesting stories out of that exact same character flaw, but here in Watari-kun's ******, all we get is Naoto just monologuing about that exact fact, as plain as day. He might as well walk around with a giant neon sign on his chest that reads “Please, ladies! Fix my trauma with your insatiable lust for the physical and emotional traits that I apparently possess, which you are obligated to find deeply attractive!”

Admittedly, that would be a large and very cumbersome sign to affix to one's shirt. It would probably cost quite the pretty yen, too. You know what? Scratch that plan. I have a much better one. Naoto should instead just get a restraining order on Satsuki, ask out Yukari, and find a competent family therapist who can help him work out all of his sister-complex issues. If he can get all of that done before next week, it will spare anyone the ordeal of having to sit through another episode of his terrible TV show.

Does the “******” stand for "garden?” Seriously? Look, I'm not trying to make too big of a deal outside of the expectations set by a ridiculous title, but come on. If you name an anime “Watari-kun's ***** is About to Collapse,” you are telling me that the censored word that you replaced with asterisks means something. Probably something freaky. Something deranged. Something so crude and graphic that it would even get bleeped out of the Japanese dub (unless it was an inexplicably specific reference to a copyrighted work or something, I guess). There are so many words you could slip right into the title, there, and the creators of this anime have to know the debased games of mad-libs that its viewers would be playing before the premiere even got past the opening scene. Except, now, I'm pretty sure it just stands for “garden”, because gardening is the one element of this show that stands out in any way, for any reason.

Oh, sure, the girl from the poster with the menacing-looking hoe is dang-ass freak, but in a manner that is completely unremarkable for any stupid anime rom-com. She sexually harasses men and women alike in her stalkerish efforts to resume her friendship with our main guy Watari, and she would have been arrested and sent to prison several times before the premiere ended if this show took place in a reality that wasn't composed entirely of stale anime tropes. The only thing she “collapses” at any point in this episode, though, is the garden she thrashed before peacing out of Watari's life when they were kids. She's also decimating Watari's social life, along with any prospects he has at getting a date with the not-deranged cutie from school, but the gardening material is what the show seems to be relying on to stand out from the crowd.

Does this work? Oh, no, absolutely not. I am sorry to report that a couple of scenes that reference gardening tools and whatnot are not enough to prevent Watari-kun's ***** is About to Collapse from being a total snooze-fest. This show is just fundamentally lacking in the sauce, my friends. Watari is a pathetic bore. Satsuki is a horny bore. Watari's little sister is an obnoxiously precocious bore. Purple Haired Love Interest #2 is so boring that I can't even be bothered to remember her name. The flat and lifeless animation is boring to look at. Not a single spark of energy can be mustered by any of the “comedic” scenes, since this cast shares the collective chemistry of a bag of bruised and mushy cucumbers that got forgotten in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator for too long. Don't let the stupid title fool you, everyone. This is as lame and mediocre as any anime comedy is likely to get this season.

While the first episode hinted at it, this episode makes it clear: This is a series about codependency. Since the deaths of their parents, Naoto and Suzu have had only each other to rely on. Passed from one family member to another, they've had little-to-no stability in their lives. Their only constant has been each other.

Now, however, they have a relative who seems fine with them there (for the most part) and they are able to put down some roots. The issue is that they've been holding so tight to one another that they have issues letting go.

Naoto has been putting his sister first for so long that he finds comfort in it—and legitimately feels bad doing anything for himself. He turns down any and all invitations from friends and even doing something proactive for his future, like studying with his crush, fills him with dread.

Meanwhile, Suzu is not the helpless child she was when their parents died. She is growing up as well—becoming her own independent person. However, she has realized that her “helplessness” is also a tool she can use—a way of keeping her brother by her side. She tanks her own grades to give him an excuse to spend more time with her. Of course, this isn't due to anything malicious but being separated from her brother at all beyond school time fills her with extreme anxiety. In the end, they are both people struggling to keep the status quo simply because it is familiar—even when they know it is ultimately unhealthy.

All in all, this second episode makes this show much deeper than it seemed on the surface. Beneath the rom-com veneer, there are some serious psychological issues going on—and that's without even starting on what might be going on with Satsuki. This show might just turn out to be an emotional train wreck in the best kind of way.

This first episode of Watari-kun's ***** is About to Collapse got a few laughs out of me. Some came from the dialogue while others come from the visuals. It has all the markings of your standard high school rom-com—except that the main character is far more than an audience proxy blank-slate. He has a lot going on in his personal life—which is doubly true once Tachibana enters the picture.

Childhood trauma is a weird thing. You're always kind of stuck in that moment—unable to get past what you thought and felt at the time. That is the issue that's tripping up Naoto. If he were to look at the situation through even his young adult viewpoint, he would see that something major must have happened to make Tachibana react that way six years ago. Even just knowing that she disappeared the day after destroying his garden makes it easy to hypothesis what happened. Perhaps she simply had to move away suddenly and, afraid that she would be forgotten, did something guaranteed to stick in Naoto's mind. And if that's what happened, she certainly succeeded.

The other issue facing Naoto is that he's lost so much and is unable to deal with even the idea of losing any more. The only thing he has left in the world is his sister and has thus become hyper-focused on her. While Suzu may play it off like he's more obsessed with her than she him, we see that even a few hours apart has her worried that she's been abandoned again. There is simply a ton of trauma circling this brother/sister pair and makes it inherently more interesting than a lot of rom-coms right off the bat.

But while I was enjoying the show for the most part, I kept coming back to one question: What is the six-letter word in the title blocked out by asterisks? In Japanese, it's only two characters long—though that means little considering how many nouns are that long and make sense plugged into that sentence. I honestly can't think of any words that can fit! Help me out in the comments before I go insane.