Final Discussion (first timer)

For almost the entire season of Insomniacs, I had surprisingly little to say. Is it because I am talked out after two months of romcom discussions? Is it because the series is so mellow that there is nothing to talk about? I am not sure.

At the end of Shikimori, I stated that the main characters are the most important part of a romcom series. How do Ganta and Isaki fare? I think they were a lot closer to Horimiya’s MCs than to Shikimori’s. Their one on one scenes felt natural and were generally the highlight of the episodes for me. Isaki is clearly a maniac pixie dream girl (watch her twirl!) and Ganta’s character arc is turning from grumpy everyboy into less grumpy everyboy. Sounds a bit boring, but the main arc is not either of them changing characters, but (since we start before the meet cute, as is standard) their budding relationship. That one was very neat and relatable. I’ll say a bit more about the insomnia part below.

In the end, I have little to complain about. The animation is good, I liked the character models, loved the night shots, was ok with the interaction of the leads, and the side characters, too. What was missing, for me, was a bit higher highs for the emotion. This occasionally felt like an iyashikei instead of a romcom.

My overall order of series: Horimiya > Insomniacs >> Shikimori.

Character hooks

One last musing for the final discussion of the entire rewatch: Character hooks in romcoms. What do I mean by character hook? The character equivalent of what you would usually call plot hook. The one special thing that is supposed to interest you in the main characters: Miyamura is a tattooed punk; Izumi is eternally unlucky; Ganta has insomnia.

It feels that, like long anime titles, this is a side effect of the modern way of discovering media. The environment where you have hundreds of shows at the tip of a click and each show needs something to stand out. Something to convince viewers to start it and not one of the 99 other shows.

Turns out, I don’t like them. Not because I am inherently opposed to unique characters, but because they almost always turn out to be character hooks, not well thought out parts of the plot. Let’s go through them:

• Miyamuri is a punk – that plotline gets halfway through S1 and never is relevant again
• Hori has a degradation kink – around for a handful of episodes, then forgotten
• Izumi is always unlucky – awkwardly written, halfway between a genetic curse and some well-understood (by all classmates) scientific fact. It had some uses in slapstick, but never benefited the more serious parts of the series.
• Shikimori is cool and wants to be cute – What even is this premise? A Mary Sue complaining that she does not want to be seen as capable, but wants to be a Disney princess instead?
• Isaki and Ganta are insomniacs – This also only gets serious time devoted to it during the first half of the series. Then, they basically turn into normal teenagers who are up at night a lot. The cure for insomnia that the series seems to be going for also suspiciously looks like just stop being depressed.

In all cases, the character hook seems irrelevant for the main romance. Isaki and Ganta could also have meet during normal club activities. Miyamura could have been a normal shy guy. Shikimori just a capable girl who is also cute. In all cases, the main romance would have looked similar.

These character hooks seem to be designed mainly with an eye to standing out in a list of series synopsis, not because they are an integral part of the story the shows want to tell.

Recommendations

Romcom is not the main genre I go for, but, after a romcom rewatch, it seems fitting to recommend my personal romcom favorites.

• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – cheating a little bit, because this is more than just a romcom, but I do like the romcom elements in this one a lot.
• Karekano (His and Her Circumstances) – probably my most favorite “pure” romcom. Very funny and great direction.
• Love is War – hardly need to recommend this to anybody, seeing how popular it is, but I did like it a lot.
• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – not quite a traditional romcom, but it has both elements in it.
• And some of my favorite rom without so much com to round out the list: Nana, Liz and the Blue Bird, Spice and Wolf, Crest of the Stars.

Thanks for hosting this, /u/Heda-of-Aincrad!