Premise:
Beginning in sixth grade, Miku and Yukiya began playing the “I love you” game. It started off innocently, just to make the other flustered and therefore lose the game. However has continued to high school because neither of them will admit defeat. Each with their own blossoming feelings, it’s a battle of egos to see who will confess first!
Spoilers for episode 1 of I Want to End this Love Game
Immediate thoughts: To rage-bait or confess? That is the question.
Honestly, I didn’t watch the trailer I Want to End this Love Game. My expectations went as far as the title card on my Crunchyroll suggestions tab. That said, I’m glad I went into it blind. So many trailers raise the expectation of humor in a rom-com just to fall flat, but this is naturally hilarious! A romcom that’s basically one long intense game of chicken? Strap me in.
The show so far: These kids are determined and down bad.
After Miku leaves her uncle‘s café, Yuki literally breaks down and starts punching the table because he can’t stand how cute she is and that she’s driving him crazy. I had to pause the show because of how hard I was cackling. Plus, the uncle and the waitress are betting on Yuki cracking first. I’m curious to see how long he holds on because Miku’s got game.
She’s clearly the more flirtatious of the two because even if she doesn’t say “I love you“, she will add on to the task of making Yukiya blush. Whether by winking, seasoning her speech with cute tones and spicy phrases, or just making sure she looks nothing short of perfect, she’s always going for the kill.
Yukiya reflects on his endurance through the last four years and acknowledges that he’s had feelings for Miku since middle school. Despite admitting that he’s ready to fold and confess any day now, the idea of how mortifying it’ll be when Miku jokes about him taking the game seriously is worse than death.
Much like his best friend, he puts extra effort into his appearance for the sake of winning.
He transforms from a regular skinny kid with glasses into a muscular teen with a better haircut and contacts. He even goes so far as making color coded annotations in popular shojo manga for romance tips and one liners that will knock her socks off! That is dedication folks! To quote him directly, he admits, “I want to be such an awesome man that she has to admit defeat. And then, when I finally win, the I love you game, at that point, I will confess to her.” So the stakes are pretty high!
The thought of Miku being with someone else is more than Yuki can take. Thankfully not because of some possessive idealization, but because he’s genuinely in love with her. And Miku? Well, she’s just as down bad. Evidently she’s always been in love with him – who would’ve thought, right? Idiots to lovers times ten.
Final Thoughts: I Want to End this Love Game
I love that Yuki reacts so strongly to her! Like he nearly falls over the first time he sees Miku in her school uniform, and is so pissed about it. This man is literally on his knees, screaming in his head for her to stop looking like “an angel” and I’m laughing my ass off on the couch. Plus, everyone around them definitely ships it. I’d be an extra in the background kicking my feet watching these dummies needlessly reject each other.
Long story short, this is Kimi No Todoke if they were rage baiting each other and I love it. I’m sure there will be some future obstacles like other students asking them out to set the stage for some jealousy. Maybe one of them will actually go on a real date (because I doubt it’ll be with each other at this point). Most of all, I’m curious to see what their actual friendship is like. They’ve been playing this game so long that they act more like love rivals than genuine friends. Then again, this is just the first episode.
Production wise, the opening song is cute and catchy, the dialogue is actually natural, and I like the art style.
However, sometimes they switch to CGI animation to do overhead shots of just the MCs and it kinda looks like a video game. Not really used to that, but if you like it I love it. Definitely gonna keep my eye on this one. It’s not the greatest love story of all time or anything (…unless?), but it is very entertaining and an easy laugh. I definitely wanna see if their friendship survives the tension and hormones that dictate high school relationships. For all we know, this could end up like Toradora and we never speak of it fondly again (that’s a conversation for another time), but here’s hoping that that’s not the case.
Really it’s too soon to rate I Want to End this Love Game. However, for a first episode, I’ll give it three and a half stars for the humor alone. At the time of writing this review, only the first episode was out and solely available in Japanese. I Want to End this Love Game airs weekly on Tuesdays this spring!
Who will you be rooting for: Miku and her proud trolling, or Yuki and his borderline tsundere tactics?
