Anime 44055 Sasaki To Miyano Reviews Filter Check 2

Sasaki to Miyano feels dragged out, like a class on a Friday afternoon that never seems to end. The first few episodes draw you in as an archetypal BL story would, with a protagonist and love interest clearly established in the opening scene. The anime doesn’t stray too far from this, which isn’t an issue in and of itself; however, due to how stagnant the story remains throughout the show’s 12-episode run, it feels like the storytelling lacks development. In typical BL fashion, plot points that could easily be resolved through open communication prevail for multiple episodes. While this is understandable to a certain extent, ... since the anime doesn't attempt to tackle multiple storylines the episodes feel repetitive. Let’s attempt to dissect this a little bit. It’s difficult for me to believe that a fudanshi like Miyano has never considered being attracted to guys before Sasaki came along. Adolescence is a transitional period where you start to come to terms with romantic attraction and your sexuality in general. It’s understandable that a first year high school student wouldn’t have these things figured out yet. What doesn’t make sense is that Miyano needs to have some kind of revelation to realize that he likes guys when he spends hours consuming BL content. If you’re a fundashi you’ve definitely pictured yourself in the situations you read about. If the show had framed it in a different way, where perhaps he has internalized homophobia or he’s been brought up in a conservative household, this level of doubt and restraint would make sense. But for someone like Miyano that spends the majority of his free time reading about fictional gay men and their relationships, it seems farfetched to think it would take him several months to be able to come to terms with his feelings for Sasaki and communicate them. If anything it would make more sense for Sasaki to feel a bit uncertain about having feelings for another guy since he’s not the one consuming BL like there’s no tomorrow.

Maybe I’m being overly critical, but as a gay guy myself it feels like these stories aren’t entirely grounded in queer experiences. Who is Miyano representative of? Queer people don’t behave like this even if they’re closeted. Anime doesn’t always need to be 100% realistic. However, the show’s entire plot hinges on our two characters having feelings for each other and not recognizing them or not being able to communicate them. I can understand if this lasted during half of the anime’s duration, but to drag this out for 11 episodes feels unnecessary. There isn’t a clear explanation for why Miyano struggles so much to come to terms with his feelings either. It just feels dragged out for the sake of having enough content for a 12-episode run. I haven’t read the manga so I’m not sure what the pacing is like in the source material, but this anime could have easily told the same story in 6 episodes or less.

What stands out about this show is the way in which the story manages to reference its own tropes and clichés. The fact that Miyano is a fudanshi allows the story to parody itself a little bit. In my opinion this is the anime’s strongest quality. It doesn’t attempt to take itself too seriously, and when it does have serious moments the story doesn’t try to be something it’s not. It’s a generic BL through and through and the storytelling never tries to trick you into thinking it’s more profound than what it actually is.

Story: 5/10
As I mentioned, the main plotline is dragged out to the point that it feels unrealistic. It reminds me of the Dressrosa Arc in One Piece but without actually attempting to cover a fraction of the content One Piece covers in its arcs. Just repetitive as hell for no reason. The story’s main redeeming quality is its ability to make fun of itself by dissecting the BL genre through Miyano’s character.

Art: 7/10
The art style is good and so is the animation. It’s of the quality you’d expect from an anime made in 2022.

Character: 5/10
I think Sasaki to Miyano struggles in the character department as well. Sasaki and Miyano don’t behave how queer people would behave in these situations. I don’t want to make it seem like gay men are a monolith, but these characters don’t feel grounded in queer experiences. The last episode deals with this a little bit better, but by that point it's too little too late. The secondary characters also feel a bit one-dimensional for the most part.

Sound: 6/10
Neither the OP or ED were particularly memorable to me. I’m not an expert on voice acting so I don’t have any complaints. Overall the sound was fine.

Enjoyment: 6/10
I did enjoy watching this anime because I’m gay so I’m drawn to anything gay. However, if this wasn’t BL I would’ve struggled to complete it.

Hm...among BL shows, this is definitely one of the better ones. That's not saying much considering that most BL shows are fan-service trash. Sasaki to Miyano is actually a pretty normal romance, and if you like regular romance anime, you probably will find it to be fine.
I guess nothing pulled me in? Other than the fact that Miyano likes BL, what else do you really get to know about him? I mean, no, of course, you do get to eventually know him, but for the most part, they're pretty superficial things, like how he doesn't like sweet things, is decent at studying, and er, I'm ... already running out of things to describe his personality. Same can go for Sasaki.
Miyano and Sasaki barely even interact with each other outside of school, and when they do, it's at a manga store that sells BL. Also, I understand that Sasaki is going along with Miyano by talking to him about BL, but really, there could have been some more diversity in the topics they talked about, as well as the places that they went together.
The pacing of the show isn't per se bad, but most of the show is going to be dialogue between Sasaki and Miyano, and not much else of anything is being depicted. For example, there was a sports festival in the school, and it was mentioned for about five seconds before a whole 5+ minutes were dedicated to Miyano and Sasaki interactions. Yes, I get it, it's a romance, it's natural for a lot of screen time to be dedicated to them, but them acting out naturally in regular events actually develops their character in ways that regular dialogue wouldn't do. The fact that you would be able to see how Miyano and Sasaki act separately would have been nice.
But yes, it's a pretty normal romance show. It puts most of the other BL shows to shame, but it's also kind of generic.

I watched this anime on a whim, it's not even the kind of series I usually watch, but I'll try to be objective.

- Honestly, the style of drawing or animation is good, if you like the "cute" and colorful side, you'll like it.
- The opening is good, overall the music are very cool.
- The scenario is nothing special. I wasn't attached to the characters either, they were simple.

It's still a simple and pleasant anime to watch if you want something relaxing.
I also specify that I never read the manga, and that my opinion is entirely based on the anime.

It's been a while since I had a review for something, and I had the urge to write one, especially for this particular BL anime.. my first-ever review had to be on a BL anime.. lol. Well I don't mind since I'm a fujoshi, but having the chance to read and own almost all the latest volumes of the manga of this anime, I felt like I needed to say something.

First of all, some mangas are better left as mangas than animations. That's what I've been thinking the whole time I've been watching this adaptation midway through. I'm not gonna drag this out longer but ... I need to point out how Miyano's "Fudanshi Blabber" is so awkward and cringe when displayed with a voice, whereas in the manga it wasn't like that. Japan's way of making an excited person shout when excited about something is getting dull now, ESPECIALLY when Miyano doesn't want to be found out for liking BL manga. I always imagined him blabbering to Sasaki at the manga to be more conversed at less louder but I guess Japan's anime standard for excitement is different than mine. Also his voice makes him really feminine too, when he doesn't want to be feminine I always imagined his voice to be more boyish?? Or even forced boyish like voice but not too boyish? I dont know I just hate his VA (BUT sasaki's and others side charac I like)

Another thing to point out is the character designs, I like Sasaki but HATE Miyano's design, having those 3 dots on his eyes is so off as I liked Miyano's more natural look at the manga. People who haven't read the manga may like this but I DONT. Also the animation, can I say.. STOP WITH THE KIMI NI TODOKE BUBBLES FOR JUST A MINUTE WTF!?!?!? Every "emotional" scene there are randomly some shapes floating around. It just feels so... forced? Like "OoOoOh look at this!!!! bubbles omg so romantic hehehehiihihi" BRUH? I don't know man. Also the gradient eyes is very lateish anime style. I like Sasaki's and others but Miyanos... its just so... ugly? I don't know they just destroyed Miyano's charm for me.

The pacing of this anime is also pretty bad. I dont know.. the manga feels more natural whereas this adaptation felt weird to me. maybe because my standards were too high but I dont know.. I also skipped out some dialogues at episodes 7-11. It felt so redundant with all the fillers. I'm just so disappointed. But as for the OST, Its the only redeeming factor. I like the constant use of that one OST when Miyano and Sasaki were together. It's very catchy. and the OP is pretty good (although I hate some parts of the animation in that OP). Actually I hate many animated parts in the span of the 12 episodes I've watched (most of them, no, ALL OF THEM includes Miyano)

When I heard this manga was receiving an adaptation I was just so excited because It was the first time I've read the manga first before watching the anime. (I first watched this on 2022, but put it as on hold at episode 4, then tried to watch it now.. 2 years ago..) I dont know man, I just expected something better. Go watch this if u want but I'm just... disappointed with how things turned out. If you're REALLY THIRSTY for some BL please read the manga, its bazillion better. But eehhh whatever Kimi ni Todoke S3 will be out in the next months and Im pumped for that. So yeah that's it.
TLDR: hate Miyano here, like Sasaki, but manga still wins as always.

I feel like it's a really average school romance/SOL anime that's easy to follow and fairly entertaining so it's good to watch when you want to relax. I think the high rating has to be just because of the BL factor, maybe especially because it's more 'wholesome' than the typical BL. Although truthfully BL has evolved to the point that there's no shortage of wholesome romcoms, I suppose it's still relatively few BL manga that get adapted into anime. On the other hand, nothing about Sasaki to Miyano really stands out as a school romance for me, whether it be the characters, the story, or ... the artwork. The dialogue is fine, not roll on the floor hilarious, there's not really a whole lot of zany anime hijinks, there's no love triangles or drama, none of the characters are really unique. The two main leads aren't even that close before they start dating, they just hang out at school or after school and talk about BL but they don't feel like best friends or soulmates. The senpai thinks the kouhai is cute and asks him out, the kouhai ponders over whether he should accept or not and doesn't give him an answer for like 6 months, he decides he likes the senpai back and they start going out. I guess the story and the romantic buildup, even the various characters' personalities and everything are surprisingly realistic for anime, but it's because of that realism that just makes it kind of boring. Cute, but nothing memorable.