The first episode of Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! is the last premiere I had planned on checking out in the openings weeks of Summer 2024 and to be honest, it might be one of my favorite debuts this season. The show has a very fun premise. Basically, the show revolves around a boy named Kazuhiko Nukumizu (Shūichirō Umeda) and three girls: Anna Yanami (Hikaru Yanami), Lemon Yakishio (Shion Wakayama), and Chika Komari (Momoka Terasawa). All three girls are what Kazuhiko dubs “Makeines” or losing heroines, girls who ought to “win” the guy if they were in a light novel (hey, wait a minute) but are unable to do so in real life. By chance, all three girls end up befriending with Kazuhiko, who kind of has to deal with their shenanigans.
For Episode 1, the show primarily focuses on Anna. Despite having feelings for her childhood friend Sosuke Hakamada (Ryōta Ōsaka), Anna reluctantly encourages him to confess his feelings towards his crush, Karen Himemiya (Azumi Waki). When Sosuke heads off to talk to Karen, Anna slowly accepts that she more or less has been dumped by him. By coincidence, Kazuhiko is in the same cafe where all of this happens. When Anna realizes Kazuhiko saw everything, she takes a seat at his table and proceeds to vent about her relationship woes to him. The two continue to hang out when Anna has Sosuke pay for her food and she offers to cover the debt by making bento for him (kind of).
Makeine walks an impressively interesting fine line with Anna’s dilemma. To be frank, she’s a bit silly for thinking Sosuke belongs to her only. She figures that would be the case since Sosuke randomly promised to marry her when they were little but since they were little, it’s unlikely that Sosuke would keep it (something that Kazuhiko even points out). Plus, Anna is the one who compels Sosuke to make things work with Karen so technically, Anna brings it upon herself for remaining single. At the same time however, I can’t help but feel sorry for Anna. Perhaps she’s delusional but it’s hard to blame her for wanting her crush to reciprocate her feelings. There’s also Sosuke and Karen trying to hang out with Anna, not realizing that she’d like some space, and everyone being sensitive over the situation. That’s understandably very awkward for Anna.
Right from the get go, I adore the dynamic between Kazuhiko and Anna. Kazuhiko doesn’t really want to listen to Anna bemoan about Sosuke and Karen, partly because he just wants his free lunch and also because he’s understandably very uncomfortable with how bluntly Anna badmouths about those two. At the same time however, he is clearly drawn to the girl, being willing to provide her company and even helping her out on occasion to avoid awkwardly hanging out with Sosuke and Karen. Anna meanwhile is well aware that Kazuhiko isn’t too empathetic to her situation but she does seem to appreciate their hangouts, if only because Kazuhiko is transparent and he isn’t walking eggshells around her like everyone else is. That these two befriend each other feels random and unusual and yet, the back and forth between them feels very natural and snappy. There’s also just some really good humor involving the two. Kazuhiko internally makes some funny comments about Anna and how silly her love life is. There’s a strong running gag where Anna cuts corners on the free bento so she offers some of her own to increase the “value” and lower the debt she owes to Kazuhiko.
The premiere briefly touches upon the other two heroines. Lemon has a crush on Mitsuki Ayano (Chiaki Kobayashi), a mutual friend of her and Kazuhiko. However, Mitsuki is shown to be studying with another girl named Chihaya Asagumo (Reina Ueda), whom Mitsuki and Kazuhiko met via cram school. Given that Chihaya has more common ground with Mitsuki and, you know, the title and premise of the show, it seems unlikely that Lemon will hook up with her crush. As for Chika, she’s a member of the Literature Club, which Kazuhiko got dragged into joining prior to the beginning of the show. It’s implied that Chika has a crush on the club president, who appears to be close with the vice president Koto Tsukinoki (Atsumi Tanezaki), but it’s all but confirmed right now.
Apart from the story, something that really stands out to me about this show is the art. There are a number of shots that do a great job setting the mood or simply look stunning in general. In particular, I really love how expressive everyone is. The goofy faces Anna makes when she’s stunned or pissed is so exaggerated that it makes the jokes even funnier. Even Kazuhiko, who arguably has the more average character design, feels very alive, especially when he listens to Anna vent with a mix of confusion and discomfort. Even in more dramatic scenes, it feels like a lot of care went into the characters’ expressions. For example, there’s a scene at the end where Anna is genuinely upset over her situation and the face she makes, combined with the lighting and framing, really sells that emotion to you. A-1 Pictures can be a very capable studio and judging from this first episode, they appear to be delivering their A-game.
It’s entirely possible that this first episode is a fluke and it may just divulge into trashy romance anime territory. To be honest however, this premiere does a darn good job making it feel unlikely. I really enjoyed this premiere and more than most of the anime that debuted this season, I feel very confident about watching more of this show.
Watch Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! on Crunchyroll
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