Boys Be...

While the story focuses on teenage boys, some light has been shed on Female characters as well. Generally, it’s something that both sexes can relate to. For the first two times watched it, I wasn’t able to fully grasp its meaning. Now that I’m a little older, I understood myself a few years back.

For this third time around, I was able to learn new things. That is what makes this series great. It’s a slice of life anime that’s actually closer to reality than other slice of life series out there.

The characters were great too. They all were very different from each other, so I’d ... say that anyone who watches this can relate to at least one character. What hit me the most is Kyoichi’s character. I know he’s a guy, but when he talked about how lonely and isolated he felt I actually understood him. I guess loneliness isn’t exclusive to any gender.

As for the animation, I can safely say I’ve seen better. It’s not that bad, but I just wish that the character design was in the same level of the background design. Compared to the backgrounds and landscapes, the characters just seemed so bland. There was also the slight use of repetitive scenes that made me feel iffier (if there is such a word) about it.

As for the voice acting, I didn’t like Kyoichi’s voice that much. He (Kenichi Suzumura) sort of sounded like a 30 year old pretending to be a teenager. I know that’s a well known practice in anime voice acting, but Kenichi Suzumura definitely had better days. He handled Hikaru Hitachiin’s (Ouran High School Host Club) character really well.

I liked the music though. Aki Maeda is definitely a talented person. She did a good job singing the opening and ending themes of the series.All of the tracks were very impressive. I like the variety of BGM that held every scene very nicely. My favorite episode was episode 8 because of the catchy pop songs.

I guess that the series is worth watching, and re-watching as well – I did watch the series three times. While there’s room for improvement in the animation department, the story is what makes Boys Be a must-see.

You don't notice it at first, but this is definitely an anime worthy of a Hal Film Maker production. The animation seems bad at first, but it grows on you. The story seems standard and predictable at first, but it surprises you. In the end, you realize this is a man's romance story, deep in emotion, but also deep in thought. It's like the philosophy of life. It really makes you feel it, very artistically done, unbelievably beautiful especially towards the end. Undeniably beautiful, definitely recommend it.

The series struck me as unique. It did, kind of in a bad way at first. During the ... first few episodes, I thought it was almost embarrassingly bad with its animation, and its plotline. But then it catches you. There is like a bit of magic in it, that it starts to draw you in. Before you know it, the character's feelings and troubles become your own.

You start to feel what is going to happen, but unlike so many romance stories, this one leaves you torn at heart. There isn't really an obvious answer anywhere, and although things happen as you would expect them to, you are a bit saddened by it. There is plenty of humour to balance it out, and to keep up the enjoyment.

Honestly, there are moments in the story where you can’t help but think “Seriously? Like that’s ever going to happen?”. Were they necessary? I don’t know, but I do know that they weren’t that bad in the end, and it seemed worth it. I think each and every encounter, each and every episode, had its own meaning and its own message to convey. What is important in a story isn’t necessarily credibility, it’s creativity and enjoyment.

What I noticed was that the creators played a lot with symbolism and imagery, especially during certain episodes. You don’t often see this in an anime, and to be honest, I was quite surprised. Many of the dialogues and monologues are also very insightful and well thought out. In the end, I found the anime to be a piece of art, something to appreciate on a whole different level. I also think that a lot more thought was put into it than meets the eye.

I have no complaints about the music. I also watched the episodes both dubbed and subbed, and the Japanese and English dubs offer quite different experiences. I’d recommend both, as there was actually some decent acting involved in some of the English dialogues (not all, mind you).

That’s my two cents, and what I thought as I was finishing the last few minutes of the last episode. A great experience, as it turned out to be, and unexpected.

As we all know, life is not a fairytale. It’s cold, mean and will beat you to your knees and keep beating you if you let it. Boys Be… only scratches the surface of reality.

Plot

Here we have a decent story about a group of friends finding their places in life. Some might fall in love with a star crossed partner, while others perish in utter defeat and depression. As in many love animes, most of their characters are portrayed as those who are deeply in love with their lovers and won’t mind spending their lives together for eternity. In Boys Be… hearts are broken, mended, ... twisted, doubted and even scared. In essence, this anime does not emphasis on a fairytale, where people marry each other and have many babies. This anime not only emphasizes on the harsh realities of love, but also even on one’s choices.

Character

Though they aren’t the best characters out there, they are surely the ones we will mostly find relevant and comparable. Their actions are heading the right direction of everyday decisions that we make or will make. To be more specific, when we doubt those we love, we tend to medicate ourselves and bend the rules in game of love. The main protagonist will come off as a guy who is always dragged around, just like he would in most love anime series. Only this time, his revelations, thoughts, actions, and even conclusions are realistic. Not only him, but we also have a common perverted male (who always tries to get a glimpse at girl’s panties) and a hot-ignorant male. As for the womens, they’re spread out from a childhood friend to a unrequited lover. Each archetype is unique in his or her way and goes through problems we all have faced in the past.

Sound

The sound would be a 6. Not the best out there, but certainly better than a cassette tape.

Art

To be honest, the art is horrible. Though made in the 90’s I guess I’ll give it a 7 since some women character in this series actually looks like a women.

Overall

Every review I give, I try to give a complete and honest opinion about it. This series is absolutely underrated and I truly advise you to watch it. In most anime relationships, characters are portrayed as star crossed lovers and monogamous swans. In this series, they are finally and realistically portrayed as sharks. We are not animals made to support each other but ourselves. Like in relationships, if a bigger fish arrives, we’ll pounce on them like there is no tomorrow. Our greed and temptations is what defines our true selves, hidden behind a mask of lies and bitter sweet indecisiveness. I will have to acknowledge only one character in the series that is truly well played. The male protagonist reveals a side we all have inside of us. How we deal with our problems is up to our little hearts content, but this character’s decision is perfectly realistic. Love is like a bus, every 30 mins a new one arrives. If its broken down, then we’ll politely get off and walk ourselves.

I don't tend to write reviews publically about anime I watch, and this would be my 1st. In fact, I only share and talk about it with friends (like most people would, I assume).
People make mistakes, resulting in regret or the growth of a person, that's how life works and a big part of being a human. Love is a difficult topic for most people and you can't really paint a medium that expects everyone to understand and appreciate it. I was genuinely surprised by this anime coming in with no expectations at all and I enjoyed all the rides along the way.
I came to ... watch it out of nowhere and expected it to be mid like a 5-6 show with aged-like milk comedy and a typical love trope theme.
The build-up of character was greatly enjoyable and realistic. The humorous factor was not as predictable as I expected, maybe it's just bc I like most comedic stuff unless it is offensive and personal or a sensitive controversial topic. I did feel that the characters here were painted and written pretty realistic and have complex personalities.
Unless you come to an anime expecting escapism media, you will not find it here, this anime was a bit slow-burn, slice-of-life type of show that you try to uncover the "ikigai" of youth or some of the different aspects of love.
I can even relate some scenarios to the triangular theory of love (Sternberg) for these characters. Building up and committing to a relationship is never easy, admitting how you feel, and being self-aware about it is not that simple either. I don't think there's a single character here that I felt was underdeveloped and boring, they also have time hesitant and even forget the time passing by, you would not know their internal dialogue like most shows as well so they gotta say what they truly meant. I don't want to spoil or force anyone to watch or don't waste time on anything, I believe that everyone has their own choice and path.

>Character: 9- I love what I have experienced and did not disappoint.
>Music: 8- Good song choices, I felt sentimental and somewhat nostalgic tho I was not born in the era and BGM was not annoying or off-topic as well, the lyrics relate with what was happening, the timing was pretty spot on.
>Story: 8- It did not really have a main story every episode has its own uniqueness, might be improved but pacing-wise were very good coming from an old anime like this. Almost every episode left me something to care more about, somewhat like a rollercoaster of emotions and vibes.
>Art/Animation: 4- Tbh It was dated but I'm not the type of person who cares too much about it like most fans nowadays
>VA: 8- Sync well, clear, good pitch, felt dynamic and engaging.
>Impact: 9- It's pretty rare that I was amazed by a high school rom-com after watching a dozen of them. I got some pretty valuable lessons and enjoyment from it.

This show has proven to me that, even after 25 years, I can still discover a unique gem like it. Honestly, I feel that many newer anime series often feature surface-level character development and shallow interactions, leaving little to reflect on after watching. However, this show provided meaningful content in every episode. I highly recommend it for anyone who is tired of typical shounen, fantasy, harem, or mediocre rom-coms and is looking for deeper character interactions.

Fav ep was 8 (after I found the scene she sang on a random Spanish YT) some sites also weirdly cut off the after-credit ending of 13 ep

Overall rating: 7.5-8.