LogFAQs > #970139328

(This came out recently, so it counts as an airing anime! I'll try to finish a real recommendation this week too)

BONUS. Romantic Killer
https://myanimelist.net/anime/52865/Romantic_Killer
Fall 2022 (12 episodes)
My Score: TBA, MAL Score: 8.17/10
Best Character: Hoshino Anzu

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1gJM9-d6OM8

Premise: Unlike most high school girls, Hoshino Anzu only cares about video games, chocolate, and her beloved cat. She has no time for romance, at least not until a strange wizard named Riri steals her three joys away and forces her into a real-life dating sim!

The Good: Romantic Killer is a romantic comedy. What makes it unique is that Anzu knows that's the genre her life has turned into, and she refuses to go along with it. She was perfectly happy just lazing around playing games and eating chocolate. Anzu becomes enraged when Riri steals it all away and thrusts her into a real-life dating game. The annoying little wizard starts altering reality to force romantic encounters with hunky boys. However, in addition to being put off by how manipulative this is for herself and the guys involved, Anzu refuses to go along purely out of spite.

Romantic comedies are hit-or-miss for me. My #1 anime is one, but there are also a bunch that were too dramatic that I didn't like. Thankfully, Romantic Killer is one of the fun ones. It mostly uses the genre expectations to set up funny or cute moments. It helps that Anzu is such a great character. Her violent fury towards Riri was usually hilarious, and I loved all the jokes where she saw a typical romance plot coming and did her best to avoid it. She refused to get involved in any dumb drama, and I appreciated how aware she was that the guys were essentially being manipulated against their will. Whenever she interacted with them normally, though, Anzu was always a friendly and genuine person. She definitely won me over! As for the boys, Tsukasa was my favorite. He and Anzu had a fun dynamic with lots of cute moments as they grew closer.

The Bad: There was one dramatic arc in this that wasn't as bad as it could've been, but it still felt unnecessary and was easily my least favorite part. Beyond that, Riri was a bit too annoying sometimes. He was designed to be, and it set up a lot of great moments where Anzu yelled or smacked him. He was still a bit much at times.

Overall: Romantic Killer used romantic comedy plots and expectations in ways that were always a lot of fun. It had cute moments with minimal drama, which is perfect for someone like me who hates the misunderstandings that often plague the genre. Anzu was an amazing character who was always true to herself, and I liked her a lot. Riri could get annoying at times, but he was never bad enough to drag things down too much. Overall, this was a nice anime. Like the recommendations, I'm not giving airing anime a score or ranking just yet, but this will most likely end up a 7/10 and rank near My Dress-Up Darling, another great rom-com that avoided the usual pitfalls of the genre.

EDIT: Whoops, I linked to the MAL page for Beastars for a few minutes because that was the one I copied for the format. Fixed now