Kowloon Generic Romance

 Kowloon Generic Romance (九龍ジェネリックロマンス) is a 13 episode mystery series based on the manga of the same name by Mayuzuki Jun.  The anime aired during the Spring of 2025.

     Kujirai Reiko goes about her mundane life in the dense accumulation of humanity that is the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong.  She works for a small realty firm, helping the towns residents find the perfect place to lay their head.  When she begins to develop feelings for her coworker, Kudo Hajime, things begin to become less mundane.  While visiting a tea house she see's a picture of what appears to be her and Hajime but she does not remember anything about it.  For that matter, she really doesn't have any memories.

    She learns that she is a different person than the Reiko that came before her.  That Reiko wore glasses and was engaged to Hajime.  Sinister forces are moving in the background, she and her world are part of their unknown plan.  Somehow it is tied to a pharmaceutical company the Hebinuma Group and her encounters with its young co-director leaves her skin crawling.  With the help of a fiend she decides to investigate the strange circumstances around her environment, struggling to understand a woman she resembles and her connection with the people around her.

    What really drew me to this series was the author, who did the fantastic slice of life romance, After the Rain, but I really had no idea what to expect.  The first episode clearly established that something was...off...and it wasn't going to be a straightforward girl falls for boy story.  Instead we get a well executed near future sci-fi story about revenge, pain and regret.  The only thing that can be relied on is that nothing is as it appears on the surface.  Everyone has their side that they keep to themselves and much of that controls Reiko's existence and fate in their hands.  Reiko may be the most sympathetic cool character in anime, or one of them.  Instead of being a trope her calm and collected personality makes a lot of sense when you begin to unravel her past.

    This was a very satisfying story and series.  The artwork is a bit odd, at least with the character designs but that doesn't mean its not jam packed with beautiful people.  I have heard that the manga is a bit more...explicit.  So if that's not your thing maybe steer clear of that but do greatly enjoy the anime.  I will have to check out the manga at some point, to see what was different in the story between both versions. Either-way, this was a fantastic watch and i can't wait to see what else she has in store for the world in her next manga.

The series is available on Crunchyroll