Pseudo Harem

Episodes 1-3

Well, that was cute! Shows like this are always the most difficult to review because it doesn't always feel like there's a lot to extrapolate on on a critical level. Despite how lightning-fast the premise establishes itself, I was surprised at how much I liked the dynamic between Rin and Eiji. At first, I thought it would be a bit creepier than it ended up being—because there is an underlying joke that Rin is acting out all these roles to fulfill her senpai's harem fantasy. But the more the show goes on, the more you realize it is all done in good fun.

Eiji isn't malicious, he's just a little bit of a troll. He's not even that dense compared to what you see in other romantic comedy leads. The irony is that he doesn't really know what it means to fall in love and doesn't take a lot of Rin's advances as seriously as she would probably like because she's such a good actress who hides it behind her personas. There is an underlying level of playful respect between them that genuinely makes me buy their friendship—which I think is the bare minimum you need to do to sell me on two people eventually getting into a romantic relationship.

My favorite parts of the show so far are the ones where he meets Rin head-on. He goes along with the acting bits and gets something out of them—but he never once seems to treat Rin like she isn't herself or lesser than the personalities that she puts on. I like that. He also doesn't idolize her or anything, despite her talent as an actress. Eiji just treats her as his adorable underclassman, which is nice.

Despite the acting bits being predicated on stereotypes, the writing here is very tight. I would like it if the show leaned into more examples of Rin acting outside anime archetypes but the back-and-forth keeps me engaged. I'm sure more personas will be added as the show goes on but I am more interested in how these two interact rather than being impressed with Rin's acting ability.

All that said, I'm not the biggest fan of the show's pacing. It doesn't feel like there was any attempt to create a bridge between all of the chapters in the manga. Normally, anime adaptations will hide the fact that they're adapting chapters from a manga a bit better by having one sort of flow into the other logically. Every episode so far is just a series of separate chapters—each with their own clear beginning, middle, and end. When one skit ends, the next starts without any real connective tissue. It feels like I'm watching a YouTube short series stitched together to make a twenty-minute episode. Also, the presentation is a little bit on the cheaper side. All of the scenes are carried by the voice acting delivery and fun facial animations but overall, the show comes off as a bare-bones adaptation. I don't see either of these things getting resolved as the show goes on but as long as the wholesomeness is kept up and the writing stays tight, I can see this as a fairly relaxing break from my weekly anxiety.

Rating:

Pseudo Harem is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.