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Is this it? Is this where my obligatory CGDCT anime streak comes to an end? Not necessarily. Maybe there’ll be a premiere currently flying under my radar that I could check out. And if not that…well, I did like what I saw of BanG Dream! so maybe I’ll catch up on that? But yeah, I’ve been watching at least one CGDCT anime per season ever since I started watching anime seasonally as a silly rule for myself and Winter 2019 is the first time I feel stumped at even just finding one. I tried pinning my hopes on WATATEN!: an Angel Flew Down to Me but to be honest, that ended up being a mistake. This premiere really didn’t work too well for me.
For those who don’t know, WATATEN! centers around a college student, Miyako Hoshino (Reina Ueda, who I’ll admit is pretty good in this role) falling in love with her sister’s friend, Hana Shirosaki (Maria Sashide)…who is in fifth grade…yeah…
I’m sure you could take such a premise and somehow make it work. And to be fair, WATATEN! currently seems very tamed with no underage fanservice or anything sexual going on. And yet, I found myself consistently bothered by the premiere anyway. The best I can explain is that this series tries to come across as innocent at all times and it starts to feel phony given what’s going onscreen. In one scene, Miyako asks Hana if she could take her measurements. Later, she bribes Hana with her own baked sweets into cosplaying outfits that just so happen to be the right size. Naturally, Miyako wants to take pictures and she even tries to take one while lying on the floor at level of Hana’s skirt. This is all stuff that WATATEN! tries to pass off as cute, harmless bits of moe. Sure, nothing bad actually happens but that starts to feel like an excuse to let Miyako push some serious boundaries regarding how to appropriately behave around a child. That Hana eventually lowers her guard doesn’t make it any better.
The one positive thing I will say about this episode is that Miyako’s sister, Hinata (Rika Nagae), is pretty darn funny. I’ll admit to laughing at a few times her energetic and oblivious personality interrupts Miyako’s efforts to get to know Hana. Admittedly, that makes it the one reprieve from what’s bothering me about the show but I’ll take it.
Maybe you can tolerate all this and even have a good time but personally, I had a difficult time shrugging them off and that made sitting through the episode much harder. It, by no means, appear to be the most offensive or problematic anime out there but it is crossing enough lines to not make me want to watch more.
OP: “Kimama na Tenshitachi” by Wataten Five
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Watch WATATEN!: an Angel Flew Down to Me on Crunchyroll
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