The Wallflower (Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge) - Review

Author: Gabriel Persechino-Forest Published: July 25, 2021

Episodes: 25 | Type: TV Series | Language: Japanese & English (Subtitled and Dubbed)

The Wallflower is a disappointing title that held a lot of potential but failed to deliver. It is as if there was a fundamental failure on the creators to understand what their own series was about. Of course, I do not blame the manga artist (Hayakawa Tomoko) as I have not yet read the manga. For all I know, the manga might be a superior product, but the anime is unquestionably a very questionable product.

Story

The story is simple, Sunako is a girl who was rejected and took it so horribly that she became a shut-in that no longer takes care of her appearance and despises beautiful things and people; even embracing the occult and the morbid. Then she is sent to live at her aunt’s house but has to cohabit with four extremely handsome boys and they themselves have been given the task of turning her into a lady if they want to continue staying in the house for “free”. The core premise of the story centers around her interactions with these boys and the shenanigans that ensue as a result.
The premise itself is sound and the concept is interesting, that is part of the reason why I watched this series in the first place. However, the problem was with delivery, which I will cover later.

Characters

While the series has quite a few secondary characters, the meat of its cast is in the 5 main characters. Of course, there’s the lead, Sunako Nakahara, who is the main heroine of the story and, as mentioned earlier, an occult-loving shut-in. The boys themselves are fairly simple: There’s the bad boy Kyouhei Takano, playboy Ranmaru Morii, the more intellectual Takenaga Oda and the cute and effeminate Yukinojo Toyama.

The problem with the main cast is that they are largely relegated to their respective stereotypes and do not often, if ever, move beyond them, with the exception of Sunako. The characters are presented as being so incredibly handsome, that legions of girls will travel to stalk them and even attack anyone who gets in their way or risk their own safety. On the surface, that actually seems like a good, over the top, comedic approach to the general bishonen tropes of such series but while it is played for comedy at times, it is also often taken completely seriously as well and becomes the cornerstone of many of the boys’ more dramatic and tragic story. The problem is that it is impossible to take seriously in any way shape or form; even rock stars and the most popular actors don’t have such fanatical followings. Otherwise the series does have some decent character-focused stories, but they are dragged down by the majority of the more mediocre material.

Themes

The story deals with obvious themes of self-worth, the meaning of beauty and importance of appearances in society, social anxiety and romance. Some of that is competently executed but a lot of it is a miss again, seeming too obvious or cheesy in its execution. I’m not being overly harsh either, if you’re gonna tackle such themes, you should either do them in an original and clever way, or at least bring something new to the table; simple sermonising over a topic most people already have a firm grasp on seems pointless.

It is also supposed to be a comedic series and while, again, some of it did land, a lot was once again a miss. The real tragedy is the wasted potential; because the concept of an occult-loving shut-in with no manners having to be turned into a lady by four handsome guys actually sounds like a perfect setup for some pretty strong comedy. Which is why it is unfortunate that most of those opportunities are ignored, some comedic elements played for laugh, the dramatic themes overplayed, Sunako’s story being too heavy handed and too dramatic and the boys’ comedic tropes taken completely seriously. Overall, this is where the series really messed up. A surprising highlight though, was the well-executed slice of life and interactions between the characters.

Animation & Voice Work

The artstyle is weak and the animation is passable. There’s nothing else to say; if this were a well made series most viewers probably wouldn’t care as the state of the animation and art is hardly a disaster. But being as weak a title as it is, it simply ends up as another boulder pulling down this series.

The voice acting itself seemed fine in both Japanese and English.

Quality

Rank: 6 (See rating system)

Weak art and animation, wasted potential, simple and overly preachy themes, comedic tropes taken seriously, characters that largely fail to evolve beyond their archetypes… I think 6 is generous. With that said, I did have a few laughs and some of its more dramatic stories were competently made in addition to some decent slice of life; and so I do think a 6 is warranted, all things considered.

In Conclusion

While not a disaster, I would only recommend this series to massive fans of either the original manga or reverse harem series because otherwise, the rewards are not worth the mediocrity. It is best summed up as the series that could have been so much more but wasn’t. So if you’re planning on watching it, just remember to keep your expectations firmly in check and maybe you’ll have a better time than I did.

Source: Official Art for the DVD Collections of The Wallflower (Article illustration)