Aharen Is Indecipherable

This is not a show for everyone. Personally, I would describe it as a romantic comedy for laid-back individuals with a rich imagination and a unique sense of humor. Aharen didn't have it easy from the beginning. At first glance, the story seemed very similar to Komi-san, whose second season is airing at the same time. Even before it started, I heard people say, "Why should I watch this when Komi is airing this season?" Those who watched a few initial episodes had a tendency to compare the two and found Aharen to be weaker in all aspects. Interestingly, I felt the opposite way for the first three episodes and enjoyed Aharen slightly more. I appreciated that the series clearly focused on the main couple and the development of their relationship. While there was the theme of a socially awkward girl looking to make friends, it didn't mean she needed a hundred of them, so there was no need to stuff each episode with more and more new characters that would ultimately turn out to be just shallow filler (that's how the first few episodes of the second season of Komi felt to me). Instead, there were fun interactions between the main characters and the relationship between them was charmingly cute and sometimes funny. Unfortunately, what quickly became repetitive and started annoying me was the humor which turned this into a rather mediocre show. Asato Mizu didn't convince me with her Denki-Gai, so I didn't give it much of a chance back then. Her style of humor didn't resonate with me, and the same started happening here. I have an issue with the concept itself, which is incredibly repetitive. The exact same thing was repeated four times in one episode (the main couple competing against each other) without much creative invention. I guess it was supposed to be funny how the main character interpreted the behavior of his female counterpart, but it felt so improbable and silly sometimes that I couldn’t understand how such thoughts even occurred to him. Aharen didn’t seem all that incomprehensible; it’s just that Raido’s imagination was much too wild. Sometimes the explanation turned out to be pathetically trivial, and I was wondering if it was even necessary. Other times, it was just as insane as Raido's fantasies, and then it either hit the mark, and I enjoyed it, or it was a complete shot in the dark that ruined everything for me. Similarly, the repetition of the joke with the female teacher who physically can't handle intensely romantic moments soon grew tiresome. So how did I end up giving it an above-average rating when the essential aspect of the series didn’t work for me? Simply put, the show made up for it with another aspect: romance. I loved how naturally everything developed, and I found it endearing. The romance made me genuinely enjoy the last few episodes, which tipped the imaginary scales in favor of this series. 6.5/10 (06/17/2022)