This blog is dedicated to those who lost their lives on 9/11. Gone but never forgotten. I would also like to give a special thank you to the men and women who first responded to the incident and risk their lives to save others. Thank you for your bravery and service.
Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. If you’re like me, you’ve noticed that Shonen Jump has been pushing their works quite a bit lately. With a lot of their big titles coming to an end or not as popular as they once were, they’ve doubled their efforts in promoting their newest works. This of course meant giving them an anime. When you think about it, it makes all the sense in the world. Titles like My Hero Academia, Black Clover, Boruto, Food Wars, and Hinomaru Sumo all managed to gain a certain level of popularity thanks to the anime. Even titles that were already popular like One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, and Haikyu all managed to gain more readers thanks to the anime. This year alone has seen Shonen Jump keep up that trend of turning their titles into animes and one of those titles was We Never Learn. Written by Taishi Tsutui, We Never Learn is one of the newer titles to appear in Shonen Jump and definitely one of the more unique ones. It got started in 2017 and unlike a majority of Jump’s titles which focused on action and adventure, this series focused on comedy and romance. Now this is nothing new, Jump has had titles like Kuroko’s Basketball and even current titles like Yuuna and The Haunted Hot Springs which aren’t really action/adventure and shows how Jump is changing to not only reach out to a new audience but also give their current audience something new and interesting to check out. The series so far has received positive reviews by readers so much that it was announced back in 2018 that an anime would premiere in 2019 done by the relatively new studios Arvo Animation and Studio Silver. In fact, the anime received such positive reviews that it was announced shortly after the anime ended that a second season would be making it’s debut this fall. What makes this series so good? Well let’s crack open our notebooks and try to learn what we can’t learn. This is We Never Learn.
Opening and Ending Theme
Our opening is “Seishun Seminar” by Study (who I assume are the female VAs). It’s alright. The melody is good and I like how they relate love to studying. It reminds of Mathematic Love from Gumi so bonus points for that. Although I liked it, I got bored of it very quickly and would often skip over it.
The ending is “Never Give It Up” by Study. I freaking love this ending. It’s one of my favorite endings from this year. The melody is good and I love all the VAs here. They really bring their A game here and it just puts a smile on my face. Truth be told, this ending has more energy in it than the opening.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts with a narration from our main character Nariyuki voiced by Ryota Osaka (Maou from The Devil is a Part-Timer) who introduces us to our females Rizu voiced by Miyu Tomita and Fumino voiced by Haruka Shiraishi (Asirpa from Golden Kamuy). These two girls are considered geniuses but are the exact opposite of each other. Rizu, was a genius when it came to math and science. She can look at a math problem and solve it immediately (kind of like Mira here). Fumino, was a genius when it came to writing and literature. Even her simplest of essays can move her teachers to tears (sort of like Yume here). Then there’s Nariyuki, the hard worker, the guy who’s slow to understand stuff so he has to work extra hard to get it so as not to be left behind by the others (sounds like me). Nariyuki follows the teachings of his late dad who said that useless men should strive to be useful (even if it kills them). So, following his dad’s words, Nariyuki hit the books and began studying hard so that one day he could get his school’s prestigious VIP nomination scholarship, a scholarship that will allow him to go to his school’s affiliated university all while skipping the entrance exam and having his tuition paid fully (wow, that’s like the golden ticket in Japan). He gets called to the principal’s office where he’s told that the VIP nomination scholarship is his (wait for it). However, in order to get the scholarship he must become the tutor of Rizu and Fumino and help get them into the university of their choosing (there it is. There’s always a catch). Nariyuki agrees to tutor them believing it’ll be easy but in an ironic twist the girls each want to study the opposite of their specialty. Rizu wants to study literature while Fumino wants to study science. An interesting choice but the problem is they both suck at the subjects they’re not good in. Rizu approaches literate like a math problem while Fumino sees math as some foreign language (so does the rest of society). Nariyuki begins tutoring by giving them a test where they fail horribly. He tutors them on their mistakes and gives them the same test again where they fail again. This goes on for several days until Nariyuki says they should instead study in the fields they’re good that and Rizu takes exception to that as she doesn’t want society to dictate her life for her based on her abilities (yeah I have to agree with her on this one. Just because someone is good at math doesn’t mean they should be an accountant). Rizu leaves as does Fumino but they leave behind their notebooks where Nariyuki looks inside and sees all the notes they did and discovers how even though they don’t understand each other’s subject they’re trying hard to understand it and not giving up (and you have to respect that). He returns their notebooks the next day with his own notebooks with notes that he made to help them out. He follows it up with saying that he won’t dessert them and wants to continue being their tutor which they accept. Sometime later, the 3 of them study in the library where Nariyuki has a hard time studying and tutoring as he’s not used to girls being so close to him (all work and no play makes Nariyuki a weak boy to the opposite sex). When they call it a day we learn a little bit more about the girls and why they want to study the opposite of what they’re good that. For Fumino, she wants to study astronomy because the stars remind her of her late mom (that’s very heartwarming). For Rizu, she wants to study psychology in order to understand human emotion. She’s not good at expressing her own feelings or reading the feelings of others and as a result she feels like an outsider to everyone (that’s actually a good reason to take up literature). Each girl has their own personal reason as to why they’re studying what they’re studying and Nariyuki can’t help but admire and respect their reasonings (same here). We also a little more about Nariyuki. He lives in a crapshack with his mother, his little brother, and 2 little sisters with one of them having a brother complex (oh~ you are gonna be an enjoyable character).
In episode 2 Nariyuki gets ordered by the headmaster to tutor another student named Uruka voiced by Sayumi Suzushiro, a friend of his from middle school as well as the ace of the swim team (and a cute girl with sexy tanlines. A personal kink of mine). While Uruka excels at swimming her grades are bad and if she wants a scholarship, she’ll have to get better grades (scene here: https://youtu.be/dfp_VWhFkgw). Since Uruka has a crush on Nariyuki because he always allowed her to copy his notes (and the fact that he actually does admire her determination when it comes to swimming), she’s more than happy to accept him as her tutor. In the second story of the episode, Rizu needs help writing a short essay for class about the connection between civilization and people (just write something cheesy and you’ll be fine). She goes over to Nariyuki’s shack (I hesitate to call that a house) for assistance where Uruka shows up after catching wind of this. The neighborhood gets a power outage and we discover that Rizu is afraid of the dark (scene here: https://youtu.be/kg3S3E3JGCg) but through this ordeal and with the help of Nariyuki she’s able to write something cheesy which earns her a passing grade. In the final story of the episode, Uruka needs help passing her English test or she’ll have to skip club activities to take supplementary lessons. Nariyuki says all she has to do is memorize the words but she just has trouble memorize them until Nariyuki combines her passion for swimming with studying to help her memorize the words. This plan works as Uruka is able to memorize the words and is now confident going into her test (scene here: https://youtu.be/3FBq6CoLBbY). At the end of the episode Uruka gives Nariyuki a gift to thank him for all his help. Unfortunately, she gave him the wrong bag and instead gave him her swimsuit (I have an idea how you can use that Nariyuki).
In episode 3 midterms are right around the corner and the headmaster wants Rizu and Fumino to get passing grades and if they should fail, Nariyuki will be removed as their tutor (now when you say passing grades do you mean 60 or higher or average score according to the country?). Rizu and Fumino overhear the discussion and since Nariyuki was the first tutor to ever encourage them to pursue their dreams, they study hard to get passing grades. Rizu goes as far as inviting Nariyuki to her family’s oden shop to help her study (where we meet her overprotective father) and Fumino, despite having a cold, invites Nariyuki to her house to help her get better in time for the exam. On the day of exams both Rizu and Fumino pass their respective exams and even score higher than the average scorer (they covered all their bases). The final story for the episode focuses on Uruka. Her friends from the swim team know she has a crush on Nariyuki and are annoyed she hasn’t advanced her relationship with him yet (well she gave him her swimsuit, that’s gotta count for something right?). They take her shopping and have her wear a frilly dress which totally goes against her style but honestly suits her, she really looks good in that dress. She runs into Nariyuki where the two go to the bookstore together (scene here: https://youtu.be/vxviBfPN7OA) and even participate in a couple’s competition (which is kind of original) to get this rare toy for his sister. They win the contest and Uruka had a nice day being around the boy she likes (scene here: https://youtu.be/itE73zpz-eU).
For episode 4 each girl gets their own mini-episode. The first part goes to Fumino who decides to go on a strict diet after gaining weight (trust me lady, nobody will notice). She forces herself to ignore everyone’s snacks such as limited time pudding, udon with eel, peach muffins, and a 3 layered strawberry cake (scene here: https://youtu.be/wNW1l8GCGi8, what the hell?). Despite doing all of this she still doesn’t lose weight until it gets revealed that she’s been doing midnight snacks while studying (there you go. Never eat snacks after 8pm). After changing up her night snacks, Fumino starts to lose weight. In the second part, Sekijo, the president of the chemistry club who considers Rizu her rival, accuses Rizu of being in love with Nariyuki (well yes and no. She’s in love with him, she just doesn’t realize it yet). Rizu denies these claims so Sekijo sits in on one of their tutoring sessions where she asks Nariyuki some personal questions in order to get a rise out of Rizu but they have no effect on her until Sekijo checks Rizu’s notebook where we see Sekijo’s talk did affect Rizu to some degree and her love theory may not be far off from the truth (scene here: https://youtu.be/Tul79KE02hE). The final story focuses on Uruka (and I have to admit this is the weakest one of the bunch). It’s the sports tournament at the school and Uruka forgot to wear a bra to school because she was running late (couldn’t you just use a sports bra?). Worried that Nariyuki will discovered this, she can’t concentrate and hurts her team but through the power of delusion, she wills herself to get serious and makes a combat for her team in basketball. At the end of the game, she accidently falls on top of Nariyuki and her secret gets discovered (if it’s any consolation, I’m sure he enjoyed it).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 mostly focuses on Rizu. The school is on a camping trip in the mountains to study (what school does this?) where Rizu is trying to sort out her feelings for Nariyuki and can’t help but feel awkward around him (scene here: https://youtu.be/7c9vSgOiHAk). Things only get more complicated when the two accidentally kiss each other and Rizu refuses to make eye contact with him (scene here: https://youtu.be/XsUSfB-aypc). When the two get forced to clean the bathhouse as punishment for wondering outside, Rizu forgets to put up the cleaning sign and the girls come in to take a bath. Rizu hides Nariyuki in the sauna (oh God, he would have been better off getting discovered) but he gets saved by Sekijo who distracts the girls long enough for Nariyuki to escape where he runs into Uruka and sees her tanlined naked glory (*the AI girls stare blankly at Nitsuj* I’m a man of culture). Luckily, she mistakes him as just a hallucination and Nariyuki escapes unseen. The next day, Rizu and Nariyuki clear the air between them where they both admit it was accident and meant nothing.
The romantic atmosphere continues in episode 6. It starts with Nariyuki’s illicit relationship with Rizu being addressed by Kirisu, a teacher at the school who used to be Rizu and Fumino’s tutor before Nariyuki (she’s also an undercover tsundere). She’s voiced by Lynn. Kirisu doesn’t approve of Nariyuki as their tutor and thinks the girls should just stick to what they’re good at because she believes the road they’re on will only lead to disappointment like her in the past (that, and I’m sure it’s eating away at her that a student is succeeding where she failed). Nariyuki says the kiss was all accidental and a misunderstanding (like Rito’s god-like falling from To Love Ru or every anime protagonist walking in on a girl changing) but she finds that hard to believe. It also doesn’t help that each girl comes in and confesses all the illicit actions they did with Nariyuki (wow, each girl just buried that boy 6 feet under). With these testimonies it seems like Nariyuki will be suspended or expelled (if he’s lucky. Based on those testimonies he could go to trial for sexual misconduct or assault) but Kirisu is smart enough to see that all of these illicit acts were accidental and misunderstandings. However, she still believes the girls should stick to what they’re good act and is actually jealous of how the girls and Nariyuki get along so well with each other (scene here: https://youtu.be/qfEgJW4FpTw). In the second part of the episode, Nariyuki’s friend finds out that he’s kissed a girl and goes screaming it out in the hallway out of jealousy. Rumors soon begin to spread that Nariyuki has a girlfriend and this shakes Uruka down to her core so much that she can’t concentrate. She consoles in Fumino who’s able to piece together that Uruka likes Nariyuki and that it was Rizu who accidently kissed him (props to her for figuring this all out. Clearly, she is the smartest of the girls. However, this does put her into a bind on who she should cheer for. Scene here: https://youtu.be/azA-1kCXbos). In the third part of the episode Uruka’s friends decide to help her appeal more to Nariyuki. They have her walk home with him where she wears a shorter skirt and unbutton her shirt where it’s easy to see her cleavage (how that boy did not take her right then and there is beyond me). They stop at a shrine and pray for academics and love and stay there for a bit as it begins to rain and Uruka starts lose confidence in her sex appeal (trust me, you are hands down the sexiest of the girls because of your tanlins alone. (Mira): Should we be worried about you? (Nitsuj): What!? No. (Yume): I feel like we should. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Qw9zH7NZCv4). As they walk down from the shrine, Nariyuki can’t help but be entranced with Uruka’s sex appeal and says she should only dress like that in front of the guy she likes (and that would have been the perfect time to confess).
Episode 7 focuses on Fumino and Kirisu. In the first part of the episode, Fumino accidently trips and falls into the arms of Nariyuki. Rizu sees this with a scowl on her face which makes Fumino believe that Rizu is mad at her. Fumino tries to rectify this situation by making Nariyuki hug Rizu but instead causes Nariyuki to land face first into Rizu’s breast (nice accident) which only serves to make Rizu really upset (scene here: https://youtu.be/y5q4JKlgack). It turns out her dad broke her glasses and the ones she was wearing had the wrong lens, so she had to concentrate hard in order to see where she was going (hence, the scowling). In the second part of the episode Kirisu injures her ankle saving a cat (scene here: https://youtu.be/ZRYFtlBSxe4) and Nariyuki takes her back to her place which is a mess (and they say men are messy). Kirisu does tutor Nariyuki a little bit (the tutor needing a tutor) and we discover that she used to be a figure skater back in her youth but was forced to quit because she was becoming too old. This led to her believing that people should focus on their talents in order to find happiness but Nariyuki rejects that idea. Even though he himself doesn’t know if the girls will find happiness in the dreams they’re pursuing instead of choosing the safe course, he can’t bring himself to abandon people who are giving it their all. Nariyuki helps Kirisu clean up her apartment and he takes his leave. As soon as he’s gone, we see that Kirisu was a nervous wreck as that was first time she ever invited a man into her apartment (and you bought in a minor. Why do I get the feeling I’ll see her on the news one day?). In the final part of the episode, rumors about Fumino and Nariyuki being a couple begin to spread around the school and her fan club (which is composed of girls) spy on her and Nariyuki during a tutoring session to make sure he’s worthy of their sleeping beauty (no offence, but your sleeping beauty is an eccentric over the top girl). Thankfully, all of Fumino’s classmates see that nothing is going on between the two and that they’re nothing more than friends with Fumino telling herself that there’s no way she would fall in love with someone her friend likes (don’t lie to yourself Fumino. Scene here: https://youtu.be/zpwpLti2zNo).
In episode 8, Nariyuki’s family gets a smartphone and he doesn’t know how to use it (the girls can’t study and the boy can’t use a smartphone). Uruka helps him out and finds an interesting article online where it says it’s better to study while taking a bath (which is true. No distractions and you’re alone with your thoughts). Nariyuki tests this out and accidently calls the girls where Fumino and Rizu are also studying in the bath but get flustered from talking to Nariyuki. As for Uruka, she’s just taking a regular bath but gives Nariyuki a show when she accidently presses video chat (scene here: https://youtu.be/Oehv-lZFNPE, well it’s nothing he hasn’t seen already). For the rest of the episode, we focus on Nariyuki and Uruka. After Uruka collapses in the hallway from overexerting herself, Nariyuki takes her to the school’s infirmary where he overhears her teammates talk about how she has a crush on him (the truth finally comes out). This actually stuns Nariyuki as he’s not quite sure how to approach this (which means he has feelings for her) and starts to distract him as he tutors her. After Uruka treats Nariyuki to ramen (where they actually found a way to sexualize ramen. I have so many questions I don’t want answers to), she asks him if he has someone he likes and his answer is he’s too busy with his entrance exams to focus on stuff like that and then he asks her if she likes him to which she stupidly (but wisely) says no as she doesn’t want to distract him from his studies and in the end she’s afraid of what will happen if he rejects her (scene here: https://youtu.be/wEmjTnc39OA. Trust me, no man in their right mind would reject your tanned goodness. What, no sly comment from the peanut gallery. How disappointing. (Mira): We’re used to it by now. You just keep doing your own fetish thing).
Episodes 9-13
In the first half of episode 9, Kirisu drags Nariyuki back to her place (oh la la. Even the teacher wants to get inside his pants) to kill a cockroach as she’s terrified of them (man the image that she created when we first met her has slowly been dissolving). After cleaning up her place again and getting tutored by her, Nariyuki gets hungry. Luckily, Kirisu ordered take out from Rizu’s family restaurant and she makes the delivery to see the scandal. Nariyuki senses the hostility between Rizu and Kirisu (understandable. Kirisu told Rizu to give up on her dreams), so he convinces them to play a game with each other hoping that the game would smooth things over but he forgot that Rizu sucks at games and she keeps losing (she’s has a terrible poker face). Once cockroach shows back up, Kirisu panics and Rizu kills the cockroach with ease (she works at a family restaurant, this is what they do on a regular basis. Which means you probably shouldn’t eat there). Nariyuki and Rizu leave where Rizu starts to see Kirisu in a new light (scene here: https://youtu.be/GoByaGt6dQw). In the second half of the episode, Nariyuki’s mom gets sick so Nariyuki volunteers to work at her job for the day. A nice gesture except his mom didn’t tell him she’s working out of a lingerie store. The manager of course gets a good laugh out of this and puts Nariyuki in a mascot costume to hide his identity before she leaves to go pick up her daughter who got sick. This of course opens the doors for shenanigans as Rizu and Uruka show up and Nariyuki gets forced into helping them. He takes Rizu’s measurement (she’s 91cm) and picks out some new underwear for Uruka (he’s got good taste). Even Fumino shows up where his identity gets discovered and her face is the stuff of legend (scene here: https://youtu.be/P3K7dGDkBd0).
In episode 10 we get introduced to a new character named Asumi voiced by Madoka Asahina. It’s summer vacation (a time to relax, eat watermelon, watch fireworks, and enjoy some good fanservice that comes your way) and Nariyuki has signed himself up for summer school (and I would smack him for doing that in real life). At the summer school he meets Asumi who is his senior. Despite having the appearance of a middle school girl, she’s actually 19 years old and is studying to get into med school (and in Japan no less that’s difficult). She failed the entrance exam once but is determined to try again despite her poor grades in science. Despite a bad first impression, Nariyuki and Asumi become friends where he gets dragged to a maid café and discovers that Asumi works there as a part-time maid in order to pay for classes. Admiring Asumi’s hard work and determination, Nariyuki shows up when the café isn’t busy and tutors Asumi in science. We find out later that her dad is a doctor who runs his own clinic and Asumi is determined to take over the family business (I have to admit this scene was done rather well. They quickly establish why Asumi is so determined to be a doctor despite having poor grades in science. They don’t stop the story to explain, they show it and we the audience put the pieces together). Asumi’s dad doesn’t know she works part-time as a maid (oh please, it’s not as bad as what she could have been doing) and once her secret gets discovered, she makes up the lie that she and Nariyuki are dating and that this is his fetish (it might be, we don’t know him that well). Asumi’s dad tries to get her to give up on being a doctor as he doesn’t want her to be tied down by him and with her grades in science being so bad it only makes logical sense to give up, but Nariyuki backs her up and earns his respect (guy stood up to the old man. He’s got guts. Scene here: https://youtu.be/8uv6VsZEZNw). In the final story of the episode, the girls have also signed up for summer school in the hopes of getting ahead as well but the lectures are too fast and they can’t keep up (the teachers may be getting paid to do summer school but that doesn’t mean they slow down). Asumi gives them some advice about getting over the counter books to help them study more and when they leave the bookstore it begins to downpour and they all get caught in the rain (where Uruka is actually wearing the underwear Nariyuki recommended last episode). Fumino finds out about Asumi being Nariyuki’s girlfriend and jabs him in the stomach for it (scene here: https://youtu.be/S5yRo-MVlPQ) only for Asumi to clear up the misunderstanding and accuse Fumino for having feelings for him which she outright denies.
Episode 11 focuses on everyone’s favorite teacher, Kirisu. After going out for a drink with her co-workers, Kirisu sees Nariyuki go into Asumi’s maid café (this is where he goes on his off time). Naturally, she approaches and demands to know why he’s there (he has a right to his fetish) and runs into Asumi where it gets revealed that Asumi was once Kirisu’s student. They get into a fight over Nariyuki staying there and during the struggle, Kirisu accidently bumps into a maid and twist her ankle. Feeling responsible for what happened, Kirisu volunteers to be a maid for the shift where she keeps messing up. They manage to get through the shift where Asumi explains that just like everyone else, Kirisu was against Asumi being a doctor but Kirisu’s negative reinforcement only encouraged her to keep trying (kind of reminds me of my 1st grade teacher. Of course her negative reinforcement was truly meant to discourage me). She soon passes out after having a sip of alcohol (lightweight) and Nariyuki has to carry her home where she praises him for everything (scene here: https://youtu.be/cJPjtEUcznc). In the second half of the episode Kirisu has to go to the school to get some documents but her sweat suits are being washed so she has nothing to wear except her old school uniform (which she still looks good in). Not having a choice, Kirisu goes outside wearing the school uniform where she gets mistaken for a high schooler trying to drive but Nariyuki saves her. She gives him a ride to school where we see she drives like a character from Initial D (scene here: https://youtu.be/GwOLqxWVboI, and the scary part is I feel like she would be a perfect fit for that series). They make it to the school, avoid all the clubs, and go out for ice cream together where they hide from Rizu and Fumino (scene here: https://youtu.be/3i-l6jorETk). They make it back to Kirisu’s apartment where they run into Asumi and she has a grin on her face from ear to ear.
Episode 12 is all about my girl and her sexy tanlines, Uruka. After dropping her chance to confess to Nariyuki and him believing that Uruka likes him only to get rejected, the two have had a hard time talking to each other because of it (*Jack Nicholson impression* alright kids. Here’s what you want to do to remedy this situation. You gotta strike with the surprise of a snowball on a hot summer’s day. (Yume): What? (Nitsuj): Confess~! (Yume): No! That’s the last thing they want to do right now. (Nitsuj): I’m sure it would make the fans happy. Look, all kidding aside, just be yourselves. Tell her she’s pretty and everything will return to normal). Both of them separately seek the advice of Fumino who tells them to talk with each other in the park. She goes there in a disguise to watch over them where she texts each of them advice on what to do. It works at first but they keep returning to the awkward situation and being unable to talk to each other until Nariyuki makes a breakthrough and calls her hairstyle cute which makes her happy (Yume: Wow, you were right. (Nitsuj): I know romance. Scene here: https://youtu.be/aDn9yub7XGU). In the second half of the episode Nariyuki goes to Uruka’s last swim meet where the second year jumps the gun and gets the team disqualified (oh shame on you. If you were a first-year I would understand this mistake, but a second-year? You should know better). After the meet, Nariyuki and Uruka go to their old middle school building where Uruka says that the reason she kept swimming was thanks to Nariyuki (good man). Nariyuki suggests that Uruka practice confessing to the guy she likes on him but she’s too embarrassed to do that, so she tries to get out of it by giving him an impossible request, calling her by her first name (a very big thing in Japan). Nariyuki says her first name with ease and this just shuts her down as she confesses to him. Of course being a man, he mistakes this as all an act and gives her pointers on how to confess. This results in her pushing him into the pool and him dragging her down with him (scene here: https://youtu.be/SIGeG0Zl5rE, they really are perfect for each other).
In the final episode we go to a neighborhood festival where Nariyuki hangs out with his “harem”. He walks around with Uruka, helps Rizu at her family’s stand, and helps Kirisu at Asumi’s family clinic (scene here: https://youtu.be/ej7zV8LENpQ). However, it’s Fumino who wins in the end. After helping some lost girls, Nariyuki and Fumino miss the last the train and have to stay at an inn. Unfortunately, the inn only has one room with one futon which means they’ll have to share a futon with each other for the night. They have a romantic moment stargazing and chatting with each other about their goals for the future before they both fall asleep while clinging to each other and wake the next morning too embarrassed to make eye contact with each other.
Final Thoughts
So that was We Never Learn. While the anime has a lot of clichés you find in other romcom shonen stories and isn’t anything new or interesting I still found this title to be enjoyable. There were some good jokes and scenarios that got a good laugh out of me. The real selling point of this series has to be the characters as they’re all good. Nariyuki is the kind guy who always gives it his best. Again, he’s a cliché character, but I can’t bring myself to hate him. He’s a guy who works hard and is selfless. He wants this scholarship to help out his family and if he can help others along the way he’s happy to do it. The girls are easily the best part of this series for me. I like how Rizu and Fumino have a dream they want to follow and a valid reason as to why they want to do what they want to do instead of following the norm and doing what they’re good at. My favorite so far has to be Uruka.
(Yume): No surprise there.
(Nitsuj): Shut up. I actually do like how they developed the romance between her and Nariyuki. She likes him but at the same time she’s scared of what’ll happen if he says no and also doesn’t want to be a distraction for him during this important time. She’s tomboyish, confident, and flirty but at the same time cute, considerate, and innocent. Kirisu was also a character that I liked. I like how she has this cool and intimidating outward appearance but once you get to know her, she’s quite human and cute. While you don’t agree with her view on what the girls should study you do understand why she believes this and know that deep down she cares for them. In the end, she’s a good teacher. The weakest girl has to be Asumi in my book. That’s not to say she’s a bad character. She does a good job playing the senpai, I like how she has her goals, and I like how she flirts and picks on Nariyuki. I just feel that they’re trying to give her way too many clichés in order to help her stand out.
The animation isn’t anything special but it does match the tone and nature of the series and the music is decent. Like I said before there’s a lot of clichés in the anime such as misunderstandings and a prolonging story that feels like it will overstay it’s welcome.
Final Score
The final score for We Never Learn is a solid 7/10. As far as romcom goes, I enjoyed it for its good cast of characters and funny situations. Do the clichés feel old and annoying, yes, but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying the anime for what is and appreciating the stuff they do with the characters. Here’s hoping they can keep the laughs coming in the second season. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
*All videos, clips, and music are not owned by me and belong to their respective owners. All rights reserved*
Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment in the comment section or send your comments, feedback, or request to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com
And follow me on twitter for updates and other stuff: https://twitter.com/ProjectNitsuj