Produced by studio feel (who’ve brought the likes of OreGairu and Kiss x Sis) comes “This Art Club has a Problem!”, a hilarious, lighthearted rom-com with emphasis on “com”; Seriously, this show is funny. Definitely one of the greatest strengths of this show is that it knows how every other rom-com plays out and instead of trying to simply be another one, it adds a couple pivotal twists to the setup and focuses more on the comedy aspect, making this show a unique and refreshing rom-com yet still allowing itself to be held back by the limitations of its genre-type.
Konobi follows the story of a cute middle schooler, Mizuki, and the exploits that follow as she pursues her die hard crush on Uchimaki Subaru. This is where the first pivotal twist comes into play. Subaru is a certified otaku, the only girls he’s interested in are what he calls, “2D girls”; yes, Subaru has 17+ waifus. No joke. The second twist is not so much a twist but a unique way of keeping things fresh, it’s the setting: an art club. The only reason Subaru is in the Art Club of his middle school is so that he has the means to paint his 2D waifus day after day. Now imagine the struggles that Mizuki is accompanied by when she tries to pursue her crush on a man who’s only interest is in anime and manga girls. It can only be hilarious, right? This twist to the genre and premise sets up a plethora of extremely funny gags that surprisingly, aren’t a hit and miss.
The reason the gags aren’t a hit and miss because unlike many other comedy-centric shows, it doesn’t rely on slapstick/chibi humour or what I like to call, “reaction humour”; reaction humour is a show’s attempt to make the viewer laugh by having its characters react to something absurd in an overblown and eccentric fashion. The reason reaction humour is almost always a hit and miss is because since it’s unpredictable and comes out of nowhere, it literally either hits your funny bone or misses it. While Konobi does have humour like this, it is never solely reliant on it. Rather, Konobi constructs its gags around a specific physical or abstract object (e.g. ruining someone’s painting and covering it up), and the humour is pulled from the anticipation of how the characters will eventually interact, react, and deal with the object. The humour is not wholly “predictable”, but on some level you build an anticipation in your mind about the end result, and when the show either matches or subverts your expectation it’s funny regardless. The hilarity that ensues throughout the show is never consistently funny, there will always be a couple gags that may very well not entertain you, but for the most part the show’s humour is well above average in terms of consistency of quality. Whenever you have a show with an overabundance of jokes it is a given that some may turn out being predictable and occasionally seem lackluster.
The romance element of the show is heavily downplayed, and rightfully so. Its consistent comedic and lighthearted nature wouldn’t dare allow for serious and touching scenes of romance. Every time it seems as if Mizuki is about to move from a platonic relationship with Subaru to a romantic one, it’s always just another setup to prey on and make light of Mizuki’s naive and earnest pursual of Subaru. Many of the show’s episodes are divided into 2 parts, with each part following the exploits of another character or another subplot; this division sometimes makes the show feel episodic but the events that happen always impact the characters and their surroundings, so there is a sense of continuity throughout the story. This division of episodes into comedic shorts greatly compliments the pacing as well, things never unnecessarily drag out and the viewer won’t ever feel bored through repetition.
The characters are just… there, they all have their own contrasting personalities but they can still just be summed up in one liners, for the most part. This is perfectly fine, considering that the show never tries to be a super realistic revolutionary romance story, it’s just a gag show, so as long as the characters are likeable and funny, for all practical purposes they can be considered “good” characters.
Studio Feel are really upping their animation game; this show has dazzling visuals. Just the first episode alone has this breathtaking scene where Subaru is drawing Mizuki in the art club room, with shimmering sunset light beaming through the window, enveloping the entirety of the comfy art room in a warm, cozy colour palette that is just captivating to gaze at. With subtle, meticulous and distinct dust particles drifting through the air in a carefree manner as well, studio Feel brought this show to life. With Konobi added to their resume and OreGairu Season 2’s scrupulous character animations, they’re well on their way to approaching Kyoto Animation level beauty.
The voice acting is pretty standard as far as anime goes, but one thing that should be noted is that Ozawa Ari, the voice actor of our protagonist Mizuki, also voiced Sakura from the equally hilarious show Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. Coincidentally enough, both shows are actually fairly similar in terms of plot, so if you liked Gekkan Shoujo I cannot recommend Konobi enough. The soundtrack for the most part is again, pretty standard, but there are a couple tracks that are surprisingly distinct and potent. They add a sense of emotion to all the scenes and make the whole experience just a little bit more enjoyable overall.
Enjoyment: 7/10
Despite the show not being anything spectacular, it is fairly memorable. I was entertained a lot, I laughed a lot, I found Mizuki cute a lot, and amongst other things I was able to leave this show satisfied with and happy overall. The gorgeous visuals, the surprisingly potent soundtrack and then strong voice acting left a reasonable impression on me as well.
Overall: 5.5/10
Again, the show does nothing spectacular, but with a couple amusing twists to the rom-com setup it allows for a solid and entertaining watch throughout. I’d recommend this to anyone into who likes both romance and comedy, but usually prefers the latter over the former. For similar titles, again, I’d recommend Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun.
I hope this review was informative and helpful.
