Release Date: 7 July, 2017 to 29 September, 2017
Number of Media: Light Novel adaptation
What's It About: The story follows a number of high school pairings who have a common meeting location in the form of a convenience store near their school. Episodes pertain to each pairing but are part of a longer arc that explores the two main couples in greater detail.
The Good: Feels city! Konbini Kareshi is that super cute, innocent series where nothing really bad happens and everyone's level-headed and realistic. The characterization, although quite shallow and tropey, is executed well, and characters never do outlandish or garish things. There is no fanservice, except of the emotional kind, which it has in spades.
The Bad: There is something seriously wrong with the animators, because they can't animate faces at all. Every 'happy' expression looks the same, to the point that I affectionately refer to this anime simply as 'Smug'. I could start an entire blog detailing the number of times a character made a smug expression, and it often takes me twice as long to watch a single episode because I keep pausing to laugh at funny faces. As the entire story is character-driven, there is virtually no overarching plotline and even within context, the character development is somewhat thin.
Best Character: Mihashi Mami - the class representative. She is a serious, rule-bound type of girl who doesn't want people to find out that she likes shoujo manga. She is very studious and strict on herself, but this catches the attention of the class 'jock', Honda Towa. Their relationship starts off very rocky, but they slowly grow and begin to understand and support one another. They're my favorite pairing in the series, and by the end they are a functional, happy couple.
Should I Watch It: Even among romance anime this one isn't objectively very good (there are far stronger titles with better characters and stories), but this provides the barebones and does that very well. I cannot deny that I started watching this for laughs, but ended up becoming very sentimentally fond of the series. I really want to see more of them! It's really the cutest thing and the feels it gives far outweighs technical achievement any day.
Similar Shows: Tsurezure Children (2017 Summer), Zutto Mae kara Suki deshita.: Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai (2016 Spring), Tsuki ga Kirei (2017 Spring)
Trailer:
