Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!

 Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (道産子ギャルはなまらめんこい) is a romantic comedy based on the manga of the same name by Ikada Kai.  The series originally aired during the 2024 Winter season.

    Shiki Tsubasa transfers from Tokyo to small town in Hokkaido in the middle of his first year as a high school student.  Excitement for the new experiences in Japans rural north leads him to underestimate traveling distances on his way into town.  He has the taxi driver drop him off kilometers from his new home with his grandmother, misunderstanding the time it takes to travel far in the middle of nowhere versus the bustling metropolis.  Standing among the piled snow, under dressed for the cold, the severity of his mistake begins to set in.  Just as panic sets in he notices an under-dressed gyaru casually waiting around, unbothered by the cold.  As he struggles with a safe way to travel the rest of the distance, she invites him to ride the incoming city bus with her.  When she learns that he's from Tokyo and will be attending the same school she goes to her interest in blossoms to an uncontrollable level.  He gets distracted by the beauty before him, coming from a school situation where he found himself largely ignored and unpopular.  He neglects to get on the bus with her, but learns her name, Fuyuki Minami.

    Surviving his first day in the snowy north, the first day of school proves to be just as interesting as Minami is one of his new classmates.  She's excited to be able to spend more time with the kid from the big city and teach him all about how to live in Hokkaido.  In a short time the two become good friends as she show him around the city and what it means to live in Hokkaido.  Tsubasa struggles with how to interpret the things she does, considering most of her advances as teasing instead of actual affection.  He is an honest and supportive person, who will do anything he can to help those close to him.  She really enjoys hi honesty and naivety, teasing him as much as she can.  As they spend more time together she begins to develop feelings for him, but doesn't put too much pressure on herself to make it more obvious to him, instead she tries to enjoy spending as much time with him as she can.

    Given the title, context and character design, particularly of Minami, one would expect this to be a low brow ecchi comedy instead of the simple but endearing slice of life it turns into.  The characters have one dimensional personalities but their open honesty makes them endearing to the viewer.  Tsubasa is a reserved rich kid, who lives under the controlling thumb of his grandmother.  He is driven to please and support everyone around him, almost to a fault.  Minami is free spirited, unashamed and passionate about life.  Eventually two other girls from school get sucked into the orbit of the main characters, but their impact is minimal at best and doesn't generate any of the drama and tension one would expect from a shonen aimed romance.  Minami's character design lies heavily in the buxom gyaru trope, complete with revealing outfits and plent of tepid fanservice.  Perhaos due to Tsubasa's reserved and refined nature, there is very little attention drawn to the constant cleavage and ample curvature of Tsubasa or the other characters, its largely ignored from the other casts viewpoint.  The story focuses more on the growing and unforced friendship of the two main characters and as a field guide to live in the frozen north.

    The artwork on the other had is rather lacking with inconsistencies and lack of detail.  The character designs for the women are more caricatures than real, even when compared to the Euro-centric designs that are the norm in anime.  Minami is a fantasy more than anything close to a reality, a highly sculpted anime rendition of a Kardashian and all the money they have poured into surgery and shaping wear.  The character designs for Tsubasa however are closer to realistic.  Theres not a lot of detail in the characters themselves, in how they move and how they are colored, but there is noticeable amount of attention in their clothing, which is done quite naturally.  The strongest part of the story is the interactions and realistic relationship between Tsubasa and Minami, which make this series, with all of its faults and short comings, a fun casual watch.  While no where near the top of the slice of life of romance best of list, its way more enjoyable than its title, premise and character design would suggest.  I was pleasantly surprised with how the story evolved and ended up.  It was really just a cute and heartfelt story.

    The anime was simulcast on Crunchyroll in sub or dub formats but its still too soon to know if it will recieve any sort of physical release.  I may have to check out the manga, which is on Shueisha's Manga Plus app for free in English.