Makeine: Too Many losing Heroines

 Makeine: Too Many losing Heroines! (負けヒロインが多すぎる！) is a 12 episode romantic comedy based on the light novel series of the same name by Amamori Takibi.  The series originally aired during the Summer of 2024.

    Nukumizu Kazuhiko considers himself little more than a background character in the world around him.  He has never really had any friends through out his short life, preferring to be by himself, indulging in reading, especially light novels.  His isolation begins to crumble after attracting the attention of a classmate, Yanami Anna.  He accidentally witnesses a 'break up' between Anna and a childhood friend while at a family restaurant.  Her friend, Sosuke, confides in her that he has feelings for their classmate, Karen.  Anna has never gathered the courage to confess to Sosuke and looses him before she even had a chance to their busty classmate.  As he leaves her alone in the restaurant she notices Nukumizu watching from another table and immediately uses him to vent, joining him.  Unknown to him, Anna orders a few side dishes to help with her depression, leaving him to foot the bill.  At school he confronts he about repaying him for the therapy session.  She agrees to but confides she's going to have to do it by making him lunch.  This forces him to eat lunch with her every day until the 5000 plus yen debt is payed off and the two develop a strange relationship.

    Spending time with one of the more popular girls in class brings other people into his orbit, something hes not exactly comfortable with.  Anna's best friend, Yakishio Lemon, is a peppy member of the track team who lacks a lot of inhibition regarding her body and exposure.  Nukumizu finds himself wrapped up in Lemon's love issues when she finds out her childhood crush is dating another girl who he goes to cram school with.  Forced to be the sounding board of her frustration he does what he can to ease her pain and frustration becoming friends with another popular girl who is too open for her own good.  Before the dust can settle with that bit of drama he is forced to participate in the club he signed up for at the beginning of the year but never bothered to attend, the literature club.  One of the other members and a fellow first year, Komari Chika guilt's him into participating in the club to ensure its continued existence.  Nukumizu's participation ropes both Anna and Lemon into joining the club as well, ensuring its future until the following year.  Chika also struggles with unrequited love and all of the junior members becomes embroiled in it as she confesses to the literature clubs president during a club retreat.  Unfamiliar with love outside of the novels he loves, Nukumizu does what he thinks is best for all of the girls he's suddenly friends with as they continue to suffer heartbreak.  But is basing his advice on fiction really going to help anyone out?

    I'll just say it right from the start.  This is the best anime of the Summer season and is a strong contender for anime of the year in my mind.  Everything about this series is worth every second.  The characters are quirky and unique.  The animation is excellent and carries a sense of life and movement that is rare in anime, even in high end productions.  This was fun from the very beginning and did not fail to deliver through its entire run.  The story effortlessly wove its way across a series rejection arcs, building the characters relationships as it went.  There is little wasted time or dialogue with it.  Even secondary characters take the spot light from time to time and continue to accelerate the story forward.  But what is that end goal you ask?  There really isn't one honestly!  This isn't a series about which girl will Nukumizu pick in the end.  He himself doesn't even consider the idea of dating any of them.  Largely through a combination of his own thoughts on not being a vital part of his own story and believing that none of them would be remotely interested.

    Instead he struggles to offer all of his new found friends some amount of comfort or advice, but typically fails to do a proper job, due to his own inexperience and misconceptions about how people are.  So...don't go in thinking its going to wrap up with him confessing to anyone, Anna being the obvious choice given the patterns school romances typically go with.  No, you just sit back and take in the fun, sometimes emotional plot lines as they unfold, watching as all of the players grow as humans, recognizing their failures and successes.  Did I mention the art is fantastic?  The directing is does a lot of work to make this story as great as it is.  I wouldn't say this is a perfect anime like I said earlier regarding Pseudo Harem but it is absolutely worth your time if you enjoy fun coming of age stories.  I need to re watch this soon....and dive into the light novels.  Also...Nukumizu's younger sister has some serious issues...along with both his homeroom teacher and the school nurse...what the hell!?!?

    The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll.