Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

There's always that one show you find that starts off excellently and you expect it to go to greater lengths and remain consistent if not become better but then that does not happen every time, partly because a show doesn't bring any originality with it and partly because it doesn't strive to make things even a little unpredictable, that is the case with Tada-kun Never Falls in Love.

Right around the first and second episodes I felt it was amazing since it started off so well, showing a bright artstyle not unlike Doga Kobo’s other more popular (and obviously better) anime, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. The characters ... felt cheerful and the whole anime gave you a cheerful vibe, now this vibe was obviously continued in the rest of the anime but the differing point is that it was cliched to the extreme. Don't get me wrong, cliches aren't bad, but they have to be handled properly to make the show watchable and not lazily copy over cliches and skin them with your colour and post it as your anime, this is unfortunately what Tada-kun continued to do and it certainly was heartbreaking for me to see that the show I loved in episode one became a cliche machine by the 5th episode (and I'm talking about myself here, others may have started seeing effects way earlier than me).

Being a Slice of Life meant that a concrete plot wasn't exactly on the list of priorities for any anime studio for that matter, so it comes by no surprise that this show as well didn't have one, and since this is very normal and common with most Slice of Life shows in general, I'll make this the one step I'll forgive. But what comes is the rest. One problem only, cliches. Each episode was filled to the brim with cliches, be it a situation, a backstory (not Tada’s), the characters, and unfortunately, the romance.

A cliched romance isn't exactly something I'll throw over to the Lions for, but when it's not even trying to add a dash of originality things start to get messy. I mostly went “Oh so in the next episode preview this is going to happen? Then this cliche will be followed” and it killed my enjoyment in the anime as compared to the first episode. And this isn't a hot springs episode thing, sudden bumps, blushes at the same words, a situation being ruined by the characters’ actions, are all examples of cliches that the show followed (forgive me for being vague, as of the time of writing I've been watching a lot of anime this season so my memory is slightly hazy). “Why is this guy focusing so much on the cliches?” you might be asking. To me, cliches were the one biggest problem the show had, if this was fixed, I doubt the show would disappoint me, but then again, improving cliches is very much easier said than done. And fixing them is important because to keep a Slice of Life fun, especially a romance, you need fresh ideas, Tada had none of that.

Tada-kun’s characters weren't the most unique of ones but I'll have to give credit, they were cheerful but their personalities were once again riddled by the C word (pretty sure you're as tired of reading it as I am writing it, but then again, this was the biggest problem of the show anyway). Although fans were gleefully picking out the ships right from the first episode going “Alec x Ijuuin” and the like it kinda felt a bit boring. I mean, not trying to act nitpicky but a little bit of a surprise is always welcome in a romance isn't it? “No” according to this anime. Although not having a surprise isn't 100% bad per se but yet again, Tada-kun didn't try to make it work. At best this can remind me that the show felt lazy. Doga Kobo tried to make something fun but a little different but didn't want to make the effort for it and got itself trapped within its own plans. Apart from the cat, every single romance in the show was horribly implemented. Tada X Teresa has got to be one of the most irritating romances I've ever seen because both of them acted so stupidly and their shyness for normal things like talking to each other (especially when they first met) has got to be a pathetic way to go about the “falling in love” step of romances. I mean, I despise the “love at first sight” view and Tada didn't help make it better at all. Pin-head and Representative-san’s romance as well wasn't explored and was left shallow. But then again it in itself was shallow from the start. Him not knowing that his childhood friend is the idol he idolises so much? Could you be any more cliche? Before you answer that, Tada already did. Yamashita Dog and Tada’s sister as well were just a one blush game as well. Coming back to Tada, his “romance” with Teresa was random, pretty much non-existent except for the last 3 episodes maybe if you don't count stupid “Oh I saw you look at me and I don't know what to say” crap as “love”... I'm not saying shy romances are bad, but Tada and Teresa made them look pathetic with their random shyness. Sometimes they're super shy and the other second they're pretty much flirting?

People went memeing around saying that the cats had the best romance but funnily enough that turned out to be very much true, until *that* happened. On the other hand the other romances felt average and not out of the box. At many times I found myself predicting what the next situation could be for the characters and when and how the blushes would happen. Perhaps the one romance I could like was of Ijuuin and our secretary Tsundere, Alec (since it is of a cliche I could say I don't have a problem with). The rest meanwhile, were… average like I said. It seemed as if the writers wanted to do something different, they wanted to try to make the show enjoyable in episode one, but the sad contrast in the later episode showed that they were the teenager who after getting bad grades thinks “I'm going to work hard from tomorrow onwards” and right the next day get caught in their usual routine, without any thought or apology for not doing what they promised themselves they'd do.

Now, this show isn't filth, far from it, it's not FranXX, but it's average, it's mediocre. Why? It doesn't ruin everything and burn everything to the ground. It is still an anime you could watch in small increments (perhaps once a week to you binge watchers who are going to watch the show after it airs). It's still an anime that can leave most with a normal face, since it's charm is still present, only drastically reduced from what it could have been, perhaps a mere shadow of itself. Is Tada-kun the show I like to call “wasted potential”? Definitely. Although it didn't go it's own way it didn't veer off into the abyss either, therefore putting it in the middle. What wasn't in the middle would be the artstyle, which I've iterated thrice here was cheerful, bright and very much like Doga Kobo. Apart from reminding me about Gekkan Shoujo, it made it's characters look cute and attractive. Be it Hinako, Teresa or Tada-kun himself, everyone looked cute, and that's not to say about the colourful backgrounds and eye-catching scenery either, those were fabulous and my favourite part about the anime. But then again, cute characters and a great artstyle don't make for a good romance.

Now something that was almost decent was the voice acting. Although it felt bad in terms of the female voice actors the male actors made up for it. I can forgive the female voice acting only on the grounds that Alec and Teresa’s voice actors aren't as experienced in the field as the males were (but I must admit, Teresa’s high pitched voice was VERY IRRITATING) and to be honest, apart from these two, on the male side I found Ijuuin a bit irritating with his voice, I was absolutely shocked to discover that Miyano Mamoru voiced him as a result. But in the end it boils down to how much you enjoyed the show. I for one don't hate the show (NANI), it's just that I felt let down because again, I wanted the show to continue the direction it had in episode one, if it did, it would be an 8 today or maybe even a 9. But not everything goes your way.

There's always that one show that clearly shows the idea the writers had in mind in the beginning but lazy writing can turn the best of starts into an average okay-ish show AT BEST, and it's sad to say but, Tada-kun stays as an example of that. I do hope that we see some improvement in Doga Kobo’s next show, but as of now, I doubt a sequel to this show could carve out something better like Nozaki-kun, although I'd love to be proven wrong. Amaze me Doga Kobo.

Story: 4
Animation: 7
Sound: 5.5
Character: 4
Enjoyment: 5

Overall: 5.1

'Tada-kun Never Falls in Love' is a series I started watching just to know if this is actually true. Turns out the series stays loyal to its name for approximately 56 seconds. Simply amazing.

The idea is rather fresh for a romance series. Our main characters are a Japanese boy and an European exchange student who is currently living in Japan. One has to wonder how on earth on this day and age has this not been done before. Pretty much everyone knows at least 10 people IRL who have studied abroad via exchange studen programs. After getting a general idea of the premise, I was ... sure I would like this series.

When it comes to our main characters, Tada is bit from the generic school boy side, but appears mature and highly certain about himself in the self-centered lone wolf type of way. His whole existence appears almost businesslike. Teresa on the other hand is very open and genuine person who has the tendency of seeing beauty in pretty much everything. A bit of 2pure4this world is radiating from her during scenes where she, for example, happily plays with a cat in the rain. I also get a heart-attack whenever there is a close-up of her emerald eyes shown on screen. These two people appear to be more similar than they personality-wise seem. Pretty cool.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much where the good things end. My biggest problem with this series are the side-characters who do not have in anyway believable personalities. Most of them come off as purely comedic devices rather than actual characters. It's pretty annoying and unnecessary. I am not sure if I prefer this over generic drama and love-triangles or not. That's how bad it is. The voice acting for these characters is so inferior compared to the main voice acting that is immersion-breaking and reminds me that I am indeed watching an anime. And now it is not even a romance anime anymore: It's a slice of life comedy, and most of the time not even very funny. Excluding the cats who are real MVP's. Overall, this would have been So. Much. Better. as a serious series. After the quite original and interesting settings, rest of the series is filled with generic content, typical cliches and cop-out writing. I am not very impressed..

What ingredients really make up a good rom-com show these days? I’m not going to lie, I have high expectations when a creator wants to make a show with romance themes. As an original anime, Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai (Tada Never Falls in Love) seems to be a show that would entice me with its premise. Unfortunately, it dropped the ball as each episode passed on and eventually reached the point of being broken.

Original anime like this doesn’t fall into the trap of a weak adaptation. It has no material to follow after all. The story involves Mituyoshi Tada as he meets a foreigner ... named Teresa Wagner during her trip to Japan. As a rom-com, you should definitely expect love to develop between the pair, right? Well, that would be the case if Tada actually understands it. To be fair, love is a complicated subject but for Tada, he treats it indifferently. There’s undeniable chemistry between the two yet the show seems to rarely make a connection between them. However, the first few episodes did draw a big curiosity out of me. Teresa brings in a lot of her own personality and interest into the show as well. The idea of a Western foreigner coming to Japan has a lot of potential. Even from the first few episodes, she shows a lot of curiosity about Japan. It’s also shown that she is an avid fan of Rainbow Shougun, a fictional TV drama with samurai themes. My impression of her from early episodes is that she is a bit airheaded but kind to just about everyone. This is a contrast to Alec Magritte, Teresa’s caretaker who seems to be intensely protective of her friend. Unlike Teresa, she is blunt and often takes aggressive moves to protect her. That doesn’t mean she is a cruel person though. Alec is mainly close to Teresa because of her past and isn’t as easy to make friends with. She often gets into oddball moments with Kaoru because of his flirtatious personality and attempts to hit on her.

You’ve probably noticed by now but the show has a small character cast. The majority of the characters you meet in the first episode are the ones you’ll get to know for rest of the season. This also includes Tada’s classmates such a Hajime Sugimoto from the Photography club and class president Hinako Hasegawa. The show does also make time to give these two a spotlight in early episodes although it’s more of a tease than anything else. To me, it’s goofy and funny although also unoriginal. The idea of a girl living a double life with a love interest being oblivious isn’t new in rom-coms. There’s not much uniqueness to either Hajime or Hinako in terms of character development. They also fall into the character archetype that you can find in any series that takes place at school. Even more questionable is a character named Kentarou Yamashita who enters the show as a comic relief. There’s a comical reason why he’s nicknamed Yamashita Dog with his behavior. The character chemistry he shares with Yui Tada (Mitsuyoshi’s sister) is pretty forgettable honestly. That’s actually a big part that holds the show back from achieving success. It feels like as each episode passes on, the characters become less and less intriguing. Teresa and Tada gets sidetracked as the show tests the viewers’ patience. I say this with an open mind because I want to love them. Even for characters like Charles de Loire, I wanted him to be more engaging in the show besides just being a guy with French nobility. His role as a fiancé to Teresa originally gave me the feeling that he may be a love rival to Tada. Unfortunately, this series doesn’t really capitalize no bringing much romantic drama. Tada is often too stoic and thinks straightforward without much emotion to bring much interest. Teresa is too energetic that contrasts with both characters’ personalities. When you mix these ingredients together, the end product isn’t appealing.

Well, you’re probably thinking if any character in the show is worth paying attention to overall. Thankfully, there is and it’s not even a human. Nyanko Big is a stray cat that Tada found and adopted a decade ago. The furball has a lot of human personality and one episode even focuses on his little cat adventure. This anime needed episodes like this to bring out a more refreshing style of storytelling. Because let’s face it, a majority of the episodes feels the same. I can’t say this without shaking my head honestly because I really expected more from the writer involved. Yoshiki Nakamura previously worked on Skip Beat and that bought out a refreshing outlook on the rom-com genre. What does Tada-kun bring out instead? It’s a half-assed generic anime story that somehow made me care just about anything else than our two main leads. By the time this show reaches near its end, you may be wondering if Tada and Teresa are even worth being the main characters. It’s almost sad to see how the cookie crumbles. I’m not going to lie. The suspenseful subplot about Alec’s love interest made me more curious than to see if Tada and Teresa will get together in the end or not.

Despite my disappointment in the storytelling, there’s a lot of good to say about the animation quality. This was expected as some of the staff previously worked on Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. In essence, the show is colorful with a sense of youth. The springtime backgrounds really brings out the setting that’s sprinkled with vibrant colors. Character designs also look elegant especially for characters like Teresa, Charles, and Alec. Even comedic moments are timed right with the body language and humorous expressions. There are also windows of moments that makes couple pairings impactful especially for the case of Teresa and Tada. While the show lacks impact on storytelling, the technical quality definitely deserves some praise. Even the photography elements got my attention with the precise shots and camera angles. Similarly, the music of the series brings an element of beauty thanks to the modern talents of Yukari Hashimoto. She also previously worked on Nozaki-kun and there’s definitely a similar feel in the music for both shows. The voice cast also did a phenomenal job at portraying their characters. Nyanko Big especially gets praise from me as a cat that is made larger than life. Even Teresa and Charles deserves some attention for their voice being filled with elegance and charm. They behave like characters of upper class in their home nation and that’s something I find believable.

With all due respect, it’s really hard for me to say that Tada-kun succeeded in the end with what it offered. The show started with a lot of promise but ultimately stabbed itself in the foot. It really felt like a test of patience for viewers that degenerated into a cheesy rom-com story. Characters like Alec and Nynako Big overshadowed them early on and it’s hard to look back. I’m not a big fan of photography and this anime is definitely not worth a thousand words.

When I reviewed 3D Kanojo Real Girl and Woatku Love is Hard For A Otaku I mentioned that were two romcom shows that were competing with each other? Well, there was actually three romcom anime that were competing each and that anime is Tada Never Falls in love. Unlike the other two Tada Never Fall in Love is an anime original probably meaning it's not as restrictive as the other two it has to follow the source carefully or else fans of the source material would riot. Also unlike the other two where I watched them weekly, I decided to wait until once it finished ... airing and I wanted to see people's opinion about it before I even invest my time with this show. While people options on the show were mixed compared to Wotaku I still wanted to give a shot because I wanted to see if the show is actually better than Woatku as well not being worse than 3D Kanojo Real Girl. So after marathoning all 13 episodes of Tada Never Fall in Love all I can say it's pretty solid romcom anime that I liked. Not on the same level as Wotaki but still good enough to be one of the better animes of Spring 18 season.

Story.
The story follows a boy named Tada who doesn't know about any form of love. During a regular day in the cherry blossoms, Tada decides to take pictures there and while he's taking pictures he meets a transfer student from a European country called Larsenburg named Teresa. Upon arriving in Japan she gets's lost from her travel comparison. Like with any typical male lead Tada decides to help her by taking her to her grandfather's coffee shop from there relationships will form and will Tada finally understand the meaning of love.

The story for Tada Never Fall in Love is pretty solid overall. Like with any good romcom anime the story is heavily character driven where it relay on the characters from the interactions to relationships more than the plot itself and surprisingly the show does a good job at being a charted driven story.

One of the main things that I liked about Tada Never falls in love it how it gives the charterers the appropriate screen-time that they need. The main characters will obviously get most screen-time while the side characters get they screen-time that they need without overstaying the welcome or having barely any screen-time at. This alone makes it's main and some of the side characters more memorable. It does a great job as tacking the themes of friendship, love and understanding each other in the more realistic way where every single character shows a different side to love and friendship making they character interactions stand out in the process which speaking off.

Another thing that I liked about Tada Never falls in love is how it was able to avoid most romcom cliches that seen to plague mainly romcom shows such as a generic lead, a tsundere main love interest, long and complected love triangles, harems etc for the most apart least.
It also does a good job as tacking the themes of friendship, love, royalty love and understanding each other in the more realistic way where every single character shows a different side to love and friendship making they character interactions stand out in the process which speaking off. The characters interactions as well the plot twist in this show were well handed as not only the interactions for each character was great but the way the plot twist in the series which I won't spoil.

The best thing about Tada Never falls in love is how slow paced the romance is. Unlike most other romcoms where the romance elements feel underdeveloped thanks to lack of focus on the actual romance Tada and Terca slowly build a relationship with each in a way that is satisfying.

I could go on and on about how good this show is but I think it's talk about the show's flaws.

For starters while I appreciate the slower pacing in the show in favour for better chararter development for the mains I thought at times the first half was too slow for my liking and what I mean by this is certain scenes in the show seen to drag way longer than it should.

Speaking of drag the second issue that I have with this show it was the comedy itself or in this case too much. I know the show eventually fixed this problem in the last couple of episode but my god the comedy in this show to drag on to a point where at times it overtakes the romance elements. Not only that but the comedy itself just become unfunny and at times repetitive.
The final issue that I have with the show is that it's how predictable it became. Now being predictable doesn't equal bad but there were certain character expressions in the second half ultimately predicted the shows ending. I know shows like this are meant to be predictable but I honestly wish they didn't have to make it this very oblivious to the viewer with theses certain character expressions.
Overall despite it having some issues, I thought the story was good and enjoyable.

7.5/10

Characters.
When it comes to the characters to Tada Never Falls in love I thought they were pretty solid for the most part.

Our main protagonist Tada is a pretty solid romcom lead. While he may not be a complex and well written as other romcom leads but he still a very interesting and likeable chararters nonetheless. He's chararter development while more in the predictable side was still fun and enjoyable to watch.
Teresa’s is a pretty good romcom female lead. She is an overall nice person who is kind to every-time but at the same time she is very royalty and does not show any arrogance in terms of expectations where she is the Princess of Larsenburg as well being the heir of Queen's throne.

While she doesn't as developed as much as Tada she's still a nicely developed and fun character that I liked.

While the main characters were great the side characters not so much. Apart from Alec and Kaworu the characters are nothing more than comedic devices than actual characters. It got to a point where if you removed every character from the Photography Club apart from Tada, Teresa, Alce, and Kaworu the story would not change one bit. This alone was the weakest part of Tada Never Fall in Love.

7/10

Visuals.
Compare to the other two this show visually is the best looking of the three.
The art-style of the show was very appealing to look thanks to its soft use of colour palettes for the character designs and the background scenery. The character designs themselves were great and well drawn. Also, the lighting and use of camera shots in this were brilliant and well thought out.
The actual animation while basic still pretty nice for what it was.
7.5/10

Sound.
The soundtrack in Tada Never Falls in Love is honestly for the most part forgettable. Sure there are a couple of tracks that were solid but at a lot of the time they are not that memorable at all
The opening theme Otomodachi Film by Masayoshi Ooishi is a great and catchy opening that fits well with the upbeat tone of the series.
The ending theme Love Song by Manaka Iwami is a cute and adorable ending theme that I really enjoyed.
The voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag overall
While some Seiyuus did a good job others ranged from okay to overdoing they performances where it became quite annoying.
At this time of the review there is no English Dub for this series but hopefully, it will get one sometime in the future.

6/10

Final Thoughts.
So that was Tada Kun Never falls in Love.

A flawed but good romcom series that I enjoyed quite a lot.

The story was solid for the most part, the characters were mostly good the visuals are good. The only negatives things I can say about this show were the mediocre treatment for the side characters, too much comedy and at times slow pacing that seems to drag. Other than this Tada Never Falls in Love is a pretty solid series. While it's not better than Wotaku it's still a hell of a lot better than Takagi san and especially 3D Kanojo Real Girl.
Final Score 7/10

While Wotakoi mostly focused on the comedy aspect of rom-com, Tadakoi's focus lay more on the romance aspect. Obviously it isn't just a romance, it definitely had some amusing moments early on while they were laying the groundwork for the more heavy drama laden romantic chase in the waning episodes. It almost feels unfair to compare the two shows as I have been doing with them both, but it's just so difficult for me not to. I watched them on the same day, back-to-back for eleven weeks straight. They're the same genre, but each with different focal points and strengths, which made me appreciate what ... both Wotakoi and Tadakoi did differently, and in some cases, better than each other. I mentioned it in my Wotakoi review, but I'd watch Tadakoi for the dramatic romance first, then switch to Wotakoi for the lighthearted comedy. They were perfect foils for my Thursdays. But now, to dive deeper into the nuances of Tadakoi.

Among the multitudes of things that Tadakoi did correctly, I think their biggest win lies in the characters. They did such a good job getting you to care about them and learn their quirky personalities, each of which was hiding some deeper insecurity that was, unfortunately, not touched on for some of the less important characters due to lack of time. By episodes five, I felt that I had a pretty good connection with all of the characters on the screen and, if not for the lack of episodes, I feel like each could have gone through extremely satisfying arcs. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the few episodes, in the end it didn't matter that much, the show was always about Mitsuyoshi and Theresa. I feel like too much of a focus on the supporting cast would have taken away from the impact of the main love story, which dominates the remaining episodes and doesn't disappoint with its twists and turns. In fact, I felt as if I was right there with Mitsuyoshi, getting slowly drawn in by this strange, quirky foreign girl. Yes, I got so invested that I even teared up when Mitsuyoshi's version of the ending came on in episode eleven and I think that speaks volumes as to my feelings on the show.

The other thing that really stands out when I look at Tadakoi, are the general expectations laid upon it. Everyone, including me, thought that it was going to be completely generic after three or so episodes. And from that outlook, it definitely seemed like it would be. But it did such a great job at subverting those expectations. I, like so many others, thought we'd get that classic "everyone's ship sails, except for that one asshole who gets in the way of the main couple". But everything about that sentence was wrong when you compare that to Tadakoi. Only one ship really sails, and the others are somewhat hinted, but never confirmed. Probably best of all, the romantic rival isn't the classic jerk who doesn't really love the girl, hates the protagonist, etc. Charles was legitimately a great guy, and it made him an even better character in the grand scheme of things. That was such a refreshing take on the trope, that I just had to find time to mention it here.

Those are just a couple of things that I love about Tadakoi and there's so much more to rave about, but that would take up far too much time. Before I conclude, I just have to comment on my favorite part of the show, which is the ending song. I love that song. It's among one of my favorite endings of all time, though it's personally in tight competition with Alternative GGO's ending song for ED of the season.

If I had to come up with any complaints with Tadakoi, I'd have to say that my biggest gripe is the fact that they opened so many story lines with no intention of ever finishing them. Maybe I'm incorrect with that and we'll get a spinoff or OVA that ties up many of the loose ends regarding the supporting cast, who kind of get the shaft for the latter half of the show. Not a bad thing, in my opinion, but I can see why it'd be a negative for some. There may be a little too much melodrama for my liking too, but I sort of feel like it was all necessary, to drive Mitsuyoshi forward.

Despite those little gripes, I adore this little love story. It was self-contained and did enough to set it apart from other romances for me. I won't be knee jerk and say that it's my favorite romance of all time, or even rom-com, but it comes damn close in certain aspects. Dare I even say that I liked it more than Wotakoi overall? My score certainly reflects that. And, while I may have scored it a little higher than many would say is deserving, I have to say that it does deserve it for all the enjoyment it gave me for thirteen weeks. In fact, Tadakoi may just be my anime of the season.

Tada Never Falls in Love is like a colorful bouquet of plastic flowers. From a distance, you might mistake it for the real thing. But upon closer inspection, you'll find it's merely a lifeless imitation. Factory produced from the most generic mold, identical to its fellow flowers rolling off the conveyor belt alongside it.

Undeniably crafted with talent, Tadakoi offers refined background art and detailed character animation in place of quality writing. While the show had the potential to be good with its solid audiovisuals, they are entirely wasted on generic characters and a poorly written story.

The story follows the titular Mitsuyoshi Tada, an uncharismatic photographer ... whose tough past has prevented him from ever knowing love. Through a chance encounter, he meets an enthusiastic foreigner, Teresa. She acts overly excited, running around trying to hop fences and expressing crazy interest in a Samurai TV series, which seems to have given her some wrong impressions about Japan. All of it is played to comedic effect. It's fun and lighthearted despite being unrealistic, with her voice actress's upbeat performance selling her personality well.

Then, through another chance encounter, she ends up being stuck in the rain protecting a stray cat and splashed from all directions by water like the universe is punishing her for being nice. But to her rescue comes the lethargic Tada with an umbrella and an invitation to go to his family-owned cafe. The cafe is lushly ornamented and has warm lighting to contrast the gray rainstorm, a cozy atmosphere. Teresa compares what she believes is Tada's heroism to the samurai she idolizes in her favorite show, and that's how she falls in love. She meets his family, has a meal, changes into dry clothes, thanks Tada, then heads home to the house she just moved into… which happens to be right next door.

Tada and Teresa's relationship feels contrived and hard to believe from the moment they first meet. An unbelievable amount of plot conveniences bring them together. It feels less like their relationship develops organically and more like a writer forces them together. The show attempts to play off the cliched intro as a joke, but it's still lazy writing no matter how much you laugh about it. Aside from these contrivances, the leads don't have much chemistry with one another for most of the show.

Often times it feels as though Tada's writing bends backward to Fall in Love; his character and relationship with Teresa never feel believable enough to be the foundation for the series. He's unrealistically oblivious to Teresa's pining over him until the plot decides it's the right time for them to finally acknowledge their feelings. Obliviousness for the sake of stalling the story is lazy writing and does not make good characters. It's contrived to create a compelling resolution, making Tada difficult to look at as anything but a plot device for most of the show. No analysis of his personality wouldn't lead to frustration. Occasionally the show lampshades his emotional unawareness with the fact that his parents were killed in a car crash when he was younger, but we never see him from a personal enough perspective to understand why he became closed off or to what degree it affects him in the present. Why does it feel like these days, more and more anime mistake emotionally-damaged characters for brain-damaged ones?

In one of the show's best and funniest episodes, narrated by Tada's cat Nyanko Big (a far more interesting character), the two protagonists share a sensitive moment that seemed like something out of a much better series. However, this is Tada-kun we're dealing with, so there's practically no introspection; when Teresa catches Nyanko Big from a tree and falls back onto Tada, only for him to catch her, it's a perfectly timed moment of silence between the two, yet it has almost no impact. While that moment showcases Teresa's understated burgeoning love for Tada, it never feels like a mutual romance. When they make eye contact in a seemingly mutually tender moment, there is no sign anything is on Tada's mind. He's totally vacant. There's never a hint that he might be in love outside of these moments where he might blush a little and only return to ordinary moments later, unphased. Any potential for development is squashed. There is no satisfying growth for him. When the ending inevitably has to wrap up the story in a 'satisfying' way, his character arc takes a jarringly rapid change to compensate for the missing development. Leaving both him and the finale feeling underserved and artificial.

At least Teresa's feelings for Tada feel somewhat genuine. The lasting effects of their understated flirtations are seen in Teresa throughout the show. Her feelings develop more and more until she has to face them in a somewhat effective resolution. Sadly, any potentially remarkable scenes focusing on Teresa get entirely snuffed out by Tada's dull idiocy, but they're also somewhat helped by the interesting visual language. Through subtle visual storytelling techniques, we learn that she's pining for him from the start; over the show, we see brief moments of her lost in thought, looking at him with starry eyes. It's not a one-dimensional drama like Tada's; she gets enough scenes describing her life situation for us to know that she is constantly considering the arranged marriage she's in and how it ensures that she could never have a relationship with Tada. Her dilemma is miles more compelling than anything else the series offers emotionally, thanks to the strong directing rather than the writing.

Plenty of care has been put into the visuals. There's no shortage of small but purposeful details added to the settings the cast inhabits; homes lined with photos of memories from previous episodes or ones that refer to their backstories. Is it enough to outweigh the mediocre characterization? No, not by a long shot, but at least it's something to keep you engaged with it and tells you that the director cared about their craft. Where the visuals are more effective is the comedy. With the director of Monthly Girl's Nozaki-kun, it's clear why the comedy here is so strong; jokes are well-timed, and there's so much character animation to telegraph a joke and convey the cast's personalities. Of course, when jokes are derived from bland characters, they almost always fall flat.

Where the majority of my gripes come in is the side cast. This is a rom-com, after all, so there are quite a few. None of them make up for what the protagonists lack. A few even bring the whole show down. Most of them are incredibly generic one-note cardboard cutouts, the ones that do receive development are somehow made even worse with insufferable episodes dedicated to telling us the boring story of characters that I can't imagine anyone would care about. Teresa's friend/servant traveled with her to Japan, Alec. Her whole character is just the tough girl who is overprotective of Teresa because a few shallow reasons told us through a backstory. She often beats up the group's clown, a generic clown kid whose name I literally can't remember. His only purpose was comic relief, and his animation was the most detailed of the group to showcase his comedic personality, but in truth, everything about him felt so cringy, with an overdone voice performance to add even more annoyance.

A few others hang around the group, like Tada's sister and occasionally the prince who is engaged to Teresa. I somewhat appreciated how Teresa's suitor wasn't portrayed as an evil threat like many tropey arranged marriage stories, but instead as a nice guy who respects her wishes. However, his passivity also makes him have no impact on the story. He's surprisingly forgettable for one of the more unusual archetypes, but the show wastes all his on-screen presence, leaving him a bland cipher like the rest of the recurring cast.

Hajime, more commonly known as Pin-senpai, is undoubtedly the worst part of the show by a wide margin. Introduced by him creepily ogling the female cast to ascertain their breast sizes, defusing the saccharine factor this series was going for whenever he appears on-screen. He is never content with fading into the background while on-screen with everyone else. He's constantly yelling, so much yelling with such an irritating voice. He has to scream as loudly as possible whenever he speaks. Having an obnoxious character like Pin is fine for a comedy series of this type, but what he screams about, no, what his whole character is about, is so pointless and weird, sometimes downright creepy. He adores a model, Hina, to an absurd degree because he loves big boobs… You can have a perverted character, that's fine, but he is over-exaggerated to an obnoxious and unbelievable degree. None of his jokes are funny unless it's other characters making fun of him, like how they used Hina merchandise to trick him into losing their photography club game.

Pin's character arc seemed less than an excuse for him to seem less like an annoying walking cliche, and it fell flat. Sadly, the show gives him an entire episode to show he had some compassion. His character had potential, with his childhood friend Hinako (notice the name??), who is very clearly the model from the moment she's introduced right next to the pinup poster. Throughout the show, there are plenty of hints to indicate she's in love with him, despite him not realizing the model he ogles every day is actually his friend. Hinako looks the same as she does in her bikini shoots, except that she wears glasses. It's such a stupid conflict that the show lampshades the lazy writing by having Alec point out that it's obvious. This stupid conflict damages the believability of both Pin and Hinako because other than the cookie-cutter personalities, they have nothing else to prove their unlikable stories aren't all there is to them.

Wow, great themes, Tadakoi. Their episode is the most boring because of how one-dimensional the situation and characters are, but also one of the most distasteful ones. Their relationship arc culminates in Hinako being disappointed at how Pinhead never realized she was the model, but she's happy that he at least likes her idol personality and her boobs. I guess you could say Hinako technically had character development. She discovered her fetish for cucking herself. Amazing. But Pinhead still has no redeeming value even after we're forced to sit through his 'development' episode. Screw that guy.

Barely anything happens in Tadakoi until the final few episodes. That's when it finally decides there must be some kind of progress made before the end. Regardless of the artificial developments made by the end, it's always predictable; from episode one, you can guess how the story will play out. Perhaps with more interesting characters, it could have been watchable despite these flaws, but instead, it's just aggressively bland. No amount of lush sceneries and trained directing could save dull, lazy writing. At least the opening song is pretty good.

Tadakoi is the variety of mediocrity that will pass through the anime community with no impact, then inevitably be forgotten forever. You might get something out of it if you're a fan of the director or new to anime. Otherwise, I suggest you skip this generic fluff.

TLDR:
Tada is a nice and enjoyable watch that keeps you interested in what to come. If you want a solid, bubbly and romantic anime that isn't a repetitive washing of a romance, look no further.

Ratings~ Story [7] Art [7] Sound [6] Character [6] Enjoyment [8] Overall [7]

Story [7]
Perhaps a strength of the anime thus far. Tada progresses well and adds to the overall appeal of the bubbly anime. The reoccurring use of photography as the main theme holds it all together and in the end, we are left with an interesting anime in which, our attention is kept focused on the relationships within the ... series.

Art [7]
It presents a unique, yet quality approach to their intended romantic appeal. Soft and nice on the eyes and is consistent in its application. Considering that the series is set on photography, it's to be expected that the art is up to par and so far, it has delivered.

Sound [6]
Op and ending tracks are fine. The voice acting is a lacklustre here and there but gets the job done. Nothing great of note here, especially as the plot doesn't really put an emphasis on sound.

Character [6]
Tada is a mix of extremely different yet familiar characters. They work well together and the series allows them to interact with each other and develop their relationships. However, I can't help but notice hollowness of some characters. It seems to me that Tada presents a character, says "ok this is your background" and then chucks them into the group to make them do things (*cough* Gentarō *cough* -_-). As a result, we are left with some noticeably uninteresting and forgetful characters early on into the series

Enjoyment [8]
It's really interesting to see how the characters pan out, early on in this series and its all due to the plots situation. The meshing of drastically different characters and how they interact with each other is enjoyable to watch and I can't help but wonder "whats going to happen to x and y next". The combination of seemingly night and day characters is what really has pushed this anime past "just another good watch".

Overall [7]
Tada presents us with an interesting plot and drives us to watch. Through its interestingly stereotypical characters, and the unpredictability of their interactions, we are left with a great bubbly watch that you will look forward to and will lighten your day by even just a little.

It starts off as a masterpiece but drops to being a good anime and apparently you give that a 5 to show off how awesome and pro you are .
The story is neither original nor cliche but then again it's a slice of life and if your'e watching it that means you like that kinda stuff. Then again it does make you fall in love with the characters which I must say were really well created and to be honest when your eyes catch this awesome art and animation with the perfect soundtrack and background music accompanying them it gets a bit hard not to ... love the anime even though it has some shortcomings esp. later in.

A romantic anime this season? Hmm.... never been a huge fan of the romance genre, but sure I'll give it a go. Whoa, Tada-kun is surprisingly good for a romance anime. I like it. It's a different type of romance, but one which I end up liking.

Story: Tada-kun is about a Japanese guy, Tada Mitsuyoshi, falling in love with a gaijin, Teresa Wagner, who's actually a Princess from Lux... I mean Larsenburg :v. The story is quite interesting, because they develop the romantic relationship very well. Teresa was the one who liked Tada at first of course, when their eyes first met :v, but ... then as they get to know each other more, Tada eventually falls in love with her too! Not to forget the fantastic friends they have who's always supporting then. Ijuuin, Tada's best friend, Yui, Tada's younger sister, Alexandra aka Alec, Teresa's best friend and guardian, and of course, Charles, Teresa's supposed husband-to-be. The ending is.... rather cliche, because Tada ends up with Teresa and not the other way around(as always with romance anime), which I don't exactly like. I mean, usually in a love triangle yo'd expect the 2 guys to fight for the girl but not in Tada-kun. Charles let Teresa go to Tada, which is quite disappointing, I was expecting a fight to the death between Tada and Charles(although that'd be very ugly) What I really like about the story is how they manage to fuse romance and comedy and turning Tada-kun into a Romcom anime, which is pretty entertaining, to say the least. Ah, last but not least, RAINBOW SHOGUN!!!
Rating: 8.9/10

Animation: The animation is excellent for Tada-kun, the way the scenery and facial expressions are animated. You can tell the producers put in a lot of effort to make the animation look good.
Rating: 8.8/10

Music/Sound: Probably the most catchy opening this season. And the ost, light-hearted.
Rating: 8.2/10

Characters: I love the way the producers approached character development for this anime. At first, Tada is portrayed as a rather quiet, introverted person with Teresa being the extroverted, happy-go-lucky person who always smiles. But then, as the two of them get to know each other better, Tada-kun starts to open up to Teresa, even sharing his very personal feelings about his past. Now that, is very interesting. Oh and dont forget Tada's best pal Ijuuin who's always supporting Tada to the end, even going so far as to follow Tada all the way to Lux... Larsenburg. And Alec too, being the support pillar of Teresa during Teresa's saddest moments and Charles, the very kind and friendly person who only wants Teresa to be happy. To me he's the MVP of the anime, because he gave up his love for Teresa in order for Teresa to pursue her love, Tada. That, is a very manly thing to do.
Rating: 9.3/10

In conclusion, Tada-kun is a very good romcom for all the romcom anime fans. Definitely recommend watching it! The criticism that I can give is that, the ending is too cliche and uninteresting, I mean, would not 2 guys fight over 1 girl?!

Final rating: 8.8/10

Disclaimer: This is my first anime review, so I've probably gotten something "wrong". But I've had animes that I liked and didn't like and I can tell you that this one is one of the former. I'm probably fan-insert-gender-neutral-term-ing (jk, I'm not a crazy feminist) here, so take everything I say with a pinch of salt.

First off title. "Tada doesn't fall in love". ok, that's all I have to say about the title, but keep that in mind if you're gonna watch the anime. Plis continue reading my review. (ooh, and also, I know that the poster looks boring (that's what i thought too) but ... the anime is pretty good, so give it a shot)

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I absolutely *love* this anime. It's something light on the heart, packed with laughs and generally heart-warming. The first scene alone put a big smile on my face! Shortly, the art is beautiful, the music is light and complementing, the voices are on point with the characters, and I feel very optimistic about this anime. Also, I know how it feels to be borderline frightened by anime after watching heart-breaking ones, so if you're trying to avoid your daily dose of depression, don't be worried to watch this. It's not the type that will end in heartbreak.

Story
So, story, I'll admit, there's not much brewing (at least I hope not). The anime sorta gives me Slice of Life feels, but given the no-so-ordinary circumstances of the characters, it's not quite... how you say in my language, "tepat", or fitting, I guess, in the SoL category. The "suasana", I don't know this in English, is a well-blended mix of ordinary life, funny cues, and just a bit of crazy (like less than 1% Gintama-crazy). In the end, there's this sort of happy-homey feeling that makes you strangely feel... welcome? I don't know, watch it yourself. Seriously, just watch the first episode (pls) and you'll get me.

Art
Jaw-dropping. Drawings are clean-cut and just nice with thin borders and accentuated shadows. The backgrounds are beautiful too and (this is gonna sound cheesy) really highlight the hospitable blend of human and natural Japan (that Doga Kobo wants you to see anyway). I'm no art expert, so I'm not gonna put 10 because I wouldn't even know what qualifies for a 10, but this... This is something that my gut tells me is worth a special something

Sound.
Background music is very subtle and feels customized to complement every other scene. But that's not the main highlight of sound. The main highlight *must* be the voices. The characters' voices are really the music of this anime. Their sounds feel really... real, and flow with the characters' scene behaviors and personalities really well. ESPECIALLY (and you know I'm serious when I'm typing in FULL CAPS) Mamoru Miyano's Kaoru. Credit's given where credit's due, and Miyano really does have the credit due. His cheeky, and wavery yet simultaneously confident voice alone, I admit, plays a big factor in why I give sound 10. Here; here is where I say, and really mean it:
Good job.
Oh ya, the ED is like ok, I guess, but the OP is nicer.

Character
These guys are a fun, relaxed (but somehow also energetic...) bunch, that makes me laugh, smile, spit water, then smile again. There aren't any "chibi" scenes so it's not really "that" kind of comedy (though I'm not sure, myself, what that means), but it still has its outrageously funny scenes, and for about 1/3 to 3/5 of the episode (I'm not sure this is true, but, whatever, UR NOT MY MOM) I'm left laughing out loud (for real). In between the laughs though, there are genuine smiles to be had at the warm friendships and love everyone has for each other. Each character acts distinctly from each other and doesn't change in behavior, but they all get along well (I say that, but, fufufu). They all bear semblance to certain typical archetypes but are more unique than not. The way they interact together is both funny, and soothing, and really act in a way that both makes sense, and can please a watcher (you). I get the sense that Doga Kobo really put effort in planning and executing the timing of each scene, to really complement the comedic timing, along with the occasional (but, again, far from Gintama-crazy level) outrageous comedic "deus ex machina" cues. I'm rambling. Right. Anyway, watch the first damn episode, you won't regret it!

Enjoyment
I really do like this anime, and want to see more episodes. There's not much else to say here, other than this:
If you've read thus far, open CrunchyRoll and watch the first episode immediately. Seriously. I'm not joking. You WILL love it.

Let me get this clear THE STORY OF THIS ANIME IS GOOD! I dunno why people giving this anime a hard time because of some over used plot or some stupid cliches from other animes. But you know what? It doesn't matter, because this anime delivered the story quite well, Kodus to the guys behind this! I don't care if I watched a whole bunch of these, i still won't get bored from it. I mean, People come on! At least appreciate the effort and time spent on this!

Story: The story is not bad, it's just that other people are thinking that this anime ... doesn't have any originality. The story is not over the top with some huge twist and it's not too dramatic like any other animes (like DiF) do just to get your attention, it's just Plain Old Sweet Love Story, It's enough to tug your heart. Well, just don't look at the ratings and see for yourself.

Well here goes, the story is about Tada-kun, let me introduce him a lilbit, he's the kind of person who is hard to read, because he does not show emotions or any kind of facial expressions towards his friends and his family. After a dramatic incident that happened to him 10 years ago caused him to close his heart to anyone, he is just a go with the flow kind of guy. He's not your typical perverted, supersmart, heartthrob, weird, narcissist, clumsy, dumb, cringy, loud, oblivious, masochistic kind of MC in short he is just a hardworking, a handy man, silent and a normally matured kid just like some of us in the real world, realistically speaking. Some girls in real life actually prefers guys like these one, hard to read and hard to get and pretty mysterious and sometimes unexpectedly sweet! He reminds me of my younger self until i met my wife actually, she change my life, turned me around a full 180. That's why i have some kind of connection from this.

He was that kind of person until He met Teresa! Because of her, Tada-kun slowly changed, even his club mates, friends and family were all shocked because of his development throughout the series. But he does not realize his own feelings yet. Its up to you to find out more.

Art: The art is Amazing! I love how colorful it was, designs and backgrounds are good, i hope this will get English dubbed so i could enjoy the art style more with the story. 9/10.

Sound: is just okay and sweet. 7/10

Character: Some characters, aside from the two leads, are quite interesting. HINA, PIN, and ALEC caught my attention. I wish there was a separate arc just for them, i would love to see how their love story unfold. If they include that i bet this would be one of the best there is. But sadly we are left hanging, but it's okay they were not the main focus. If there is a second season just for them i would be overjoyed.

Enjoyment: did i or did i not enjoy this? Of course yes! I did enjoy watching it, and I would watch it over again. Btw, I wont tell you what type of ending it has because it's some kind of a spoiler if i do. I want you to enjoy it too. 8/10

Overall: its been sweet, kinda reminds me of my own love story in some way. I give it 8/10.

And oh btw! If you like this anime, you're in for a treat because it has some similarities, just a little bit, the anime is called Ano Natsu De Matteru (Waiting In The Summer) it's a good anime you guys should also check and i highly recommend it.

Sayonara! Arigatou Guzaimasu!

This is definitely the anime you want to watch to chill out and have a laugh. it put a smile on your face and have your heart fluttering. the characters are interesting, the voice actors are amazing, the music is enjoyable, it is sang by one of my favorite singer and has a really catchy tone. this is one of those anime you can watch with non-otaku friends and they would probably still enjoy it. fun fact, this anime gives me Gekkan Shoujo vibes because of the Seiyuu and the fact that the singer for both Gekkan and this had the same singer.

The only thing ... i didnt like is the tempo, it is too fast. this anime has great arts why cant they just slow down and give us a second to enjoy the atmosphere created.

Also i'm jealous of their friendship, and that circle of friends.

Tadakun has been just watchable thus far, but mediocre-to-lousy writing is bringing it down. Characters this extravagant and scenarios this unlikely really belong in an over-the-top farce à la Nisekoi; they jar completely with the lower-key, more naturalistic tone being attempted. It all comes off as a wild clash of story elements with little serious thought given to reconciling them. The core, Tada-Teresa romance is underdeveloped and under-justified. Teresa acts almost as if she came to Japan for the specific purpose of standing around in the park looking helpless and then falling in love with the first eligible Japanese dude who offered assistance. She immediately ... meets his family and is totally at ease with them; her hotel is coincidentally directly next door; for some reason she's enrolled in his middle-ranking Japanese high school. They barely even lampshade this stuff.

For that matter, the whole concept that Teresa is a foreigner at all seems highly questionable. As far as I can tell she's a Japanese in a colorful wig, as are all the other Larsenburg / Luxembourgish characters. Maybe the house of de Larsenburg has been secretly relying on Yamato stock to make up some genetic deficiency. Aside from hair and eye color, Teresa's foreignness is expressed entirely in a naive Weebish love of all things Japanese, which is never disappointed and which all the Japanese cast seem to regard as perfectly natural since obviously Japan is thoroughly wonderful and has no exasperating or disappointing aspects for anyone. This is set in Ginza in 2018! We live in a society!

But the side stories are even worse. There's *another* goddess with an obvious secret identity who's in love for no believable reason with a guy far below her league (and unlike Tadakun, who at least does seem to have a winning personality, her guy is an obnoxious gravure idol otaku.) There's a male sidekick who's... for some reason a dog? There's an obese cat who's just kind of there doing his own story. And these people take up a LOT of screen time, it's not just momentary relief from the main plot.

This show needed to either embrace the zaniness and tell a fast-paced madcap story, or else tell its basic story in a serious, thought-out way that doesn't rely on characters just conforming to the predetermined needs of the plot. Falling between two stools like this is no good.

“Mediocre!” Dude got his face ripped off (Mad Max Fury Road)

After this past season, I think it’s fair to assume that romantic comedy anime has finally reached its point of saturation. Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai, or, Tada Never Falls in Love as the gringos say, is perhaps the most blatant lie ever told through a title since “The Last Jedi”. “Tada-koi”, for short, is an “original” concept birthed out of Doga Kobo and helmed by Mitsue Yamazaki, who is perhaps most known for having directed “Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun”, a much more ambitious and consistent project than Tada-koi could ever hope to be. For a ... myriad of reasons, Tada-koi will perhaps go down as one of the most rote by numbers contemporary romantic comedy anime to ever do it. If this is the new standard for “original” concepts moving forward, then it’s best to temper expectations for any shows in the future that fall under that banner.

As far as technical aspects alone go, it was lobbed the biggest soft-ball you could potentially throw an anime of its ilk. Doga Kobo has more or less proven that they can handle projects of this nature, and Tada-koi remained fairly consistent throughout its run in terms of overall polish. Unfortunately, as Yamazaki has proven with previous projects that he’s been at the helm for, his direction is fairly orthodox. Tada-koi lacks any sense of personality as far as visual direction, which for a romantic comedy can dramatically affect its watchability. Doga typically saturates every frame with fun visual quirks to add to what would otherwise be a standard show. Take Himouto Umara-chan for instance, it was practically the only good thing about that show. Tada-koi didn’t really hedge its bets on visual quirks as much as it relied on its cast of “charming” characters to convey the “Com” in the “Rom”. The only problem is that all of these characters are so trite and onenote that their gags never extracted much more than a shallow giggle from me.

Tada and Teresa are really the only two characters worth expounding on, however let me try and sell you this laundry list of a supporting cast. There’s the zany childhood friend (oooh that rascal, he’s so funny! He even talks funny!), and he comes with his own stuck-up badass tsundere girl he’s crushing on to seal the deal! Not much of a sell? Okay, how about the stern class president who’s really an unspoken beauty, I’ll even throw in that pervy ol’ Senpai with the matching glasses to boot, you get the complete set! No? Alright, I didn’t want have to pull this one out, but there’s no way you’re NOT gonna want the hunky foreign rival childhood friend character to absolutely trivialize the conflict! He’s perfect in every way! ...No?...Feisty Imouto?...Did I mention there’s a talking cat? The “supporting” cast couldn’t even fill their roles properly, because that’s just it, they were written to populate the show, not support the main characters like they were supposed to.

I never really bought in to the fact that Tada was anything more than a normal guy because nothing in the show really lead me to believe that he was suffering from any form of “emotional constipation”. The impression I got was that his backstory was really just shoehorned in last second because they needed some way to arbitrarily develop his character when the time came. It was commendable to try and include some form of emotional complexity for the main protagonist, but since the show was more concerned with meandering along with a cookiecutter cast, it was a subplot that didn’t amount to anything substantial. He did reasonably well filling the role of the straight man but I expected a lot more complexity out of the initial set-up of his characterization.

If I had little to say about Tada, I have even less to say about Teresa. Really her only defining character traits is that she’s nice and she’s bubbly. But as Hachiman Hikigaya once pointed out “I hate nice girls, because they’re nice to everyone and not just me.” (I’m sure I botched that quote, you don’t have to tell me) Teresa and Tada really don’t have that believable of chemistry at all. I contend with people that Tada could’ve been any ol’ Joe-Schmoe off the streets with the decency to help a foreigner out in their time of need, and Teresa probably would’ve become smitten with them as well.

Perhaps my biggest grievance that I hold against this show’s writing was how poorly it was paced. It didn’t hit me until I got to the 11th episode where the two main characters in question were put in a date scenario seemingly out of nowhere. Tada and Teresa never interacted in that meaningful of a way up to that point which makes their chemistry as love interests come off as all the more forced. It’s almost as if the staff realized this and made a mad-dash for the finish before anyone could notice. The last handful of episodes aside, none of the episodes particularly showcased any significant development between the main couple and was instead concerned with regurgitating dime-a-dozen slice of life antics, which would be fine if this series had a longer run. You can certainly pick and choose moments here and there however Tada-koi was so unconcerned with ACTIVELY and properly developing the relationship between it’s two focal points, Tada and Teresa, that it halts the entire pacing of the show.

By design, “rom-coms” tend to be the most predictable of anime so I hold execution and personability over most other criteria. Tada-koi was unfathomably disappointing in both regards. Another drop in the bucket for mediocre seasonal rom-com anime. If reading this show’s premise gives you the feeling that you have this show figured out...it’s probably because you do. When the best character of your rom-com was a friggin cat, you know something’s gone horribly awry.

Tada never falls in Love has one of the satisfying endings that reminds me of when i was watching Toradora. A new original anime done by Dogakobo, a studio well known for making comedic anime such as Yuru Yuri and Umaru chan.

The anime has it's typical rom-com elements that of-course to give entertainment to the viewers, however it also explore the main character's background on his mundane/chill/suppressed feelings attitude as the same of the main heroine's story albeit was only exposed in the remaining few episodes.

I also love the character developments among his circle and the heroine itself, leading to goal on what ... the series is achieving for, and the tense whether it will be a happy ending or not. However i was not satisfied on them not focusing the other characters background but i understand the reason for it since this was an original anime groundwork. Nevertheless with the poor and rushed plot line due to episode limitation, i still somehow enjoy the series thanks to its character development and comedic elements.

I would watch the last 4 minutes of the final episode part lot because it's just satisfying to see how they character shifted from "Never falls in love" to become "Falls in love"

Enjoyed the OST and love the tempo they had, also liken the OP and ED song which perfectly distinguish happy and sad feelings. I love the character designs as it reminds me of Gekkan Shoujo anime and their detailing works on buildings and the night starry sky, suitable for taking pictures.

With that, an overall of 7/10 is the score i will gave to this decent rom-com anime. Recommended to watch? Yes if you are on the feel on watching something new or just want to fill up your free time. However if you want a more decent rom-com with well executed and unrushed plot lines, there are other great show that you can watch than this.

Tada-kun is like that store bought bagel for breakfast with barely not enough cream cheese (sorry, if you don't get the idea. But, stay with me). The first couple of bites are delightfully sweet and savory. It makes you feel like you're being over satisfied with your decision to grab this bagel. However, after finishing one side, and taking the bite of the 2nd half you realize, there's nothing new to experience. The taste in your mouth is no longer of delight, but middling satisfaction. And, that experience is the essence of what Tada-kun during my runthrough of it.

The opening episodes were a whirlwind of ... comedic poise and interesting character chemistries. I wanted to know more about every character, especially Alec. I understood that each character was created with a VERY FIRM caricature of stereotypes, but I believed the screenwriters could mold them into something dynamic. Tada-kun seemed like the generic despondent MC (similar to Decim from Death Parade) whose nature would slowly develop from being around an energetic foil (Teresa). Every other character had their own pairings to develop chemistry with and bring their own unique personalities to form a fun group to be around.

BUT NO.

THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN.

Tada-kun after episode 5 this anime becomes the 2nd half of the bagel. It slows down into a snails pace of a romantic-comedy that doesn't really understand its own potential. It focuses too much on the idea of trying to create this forced narrative between Tada and Teresa that pays little homage to other potential romances like Sugimoto and Hasegawa or Alec and Charles (even though it seems written on the wall.)

It keeps petering along with the Slice of Life aspects making all the romance come to a halt to allow for its comedy bits to shine. While I didn't find those shorts skits funny, I did find them to be enjoyable fluff.

I do share various sentiments with other reviews of this anime being invariably disappointed with how this show turned out. But, that doesn't mean I think it should be rated lower than a 6.

It's an above-average anime that was only helped with Wotakoi airing at the same time. I don't hope for a second season because the ending that was given to us was fairly closed-ended, unless Doga Kobo decides to go forward with less Slice of Life and more Romantic progression.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai: A good anime that started 10 episodes later



Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai could have generated a huge impact; however, bad decisions condemned it to end up as another romantic series.

And although I said "bad decisions" in the plural, in reality it was only one that generated the avalanche. Which? To have put the plot in motion ten episodes after the beginning of the series.

Sure, surely many will say that that does not have to be a blunder, because depending on the duration of the anime there could be enough space to work; however, when the series barely lasts 13 episodes, ... there is not much room for adjustments. By the way, some spoilers are coming, although I will try not to tell many.

I said in my first impressions that my biggest concern was that the series at the beginning seemed to focus strictly on being a slice of life with strong touches of comedy; however, its setting shouted that a great drama in the story would eventually have to come.

This implied that the handling of the rhythm was going to be fundamental, because the transition from one end to the other is not something that is easily achieved. Do not forget that the difference in status between Tada and Teresa had to take center stage at some point, of course, considering that the series followed the path of romance with classic drama.

However, with the passing of the episodes I must admit that each time I understood less the intentions of the creators of the series. What was your goal with this anime? Slice of life, comedy, light romance, drama? Each new episode focused on casual situations and developed little and nothing of the 4 couples that had shown up at the beginning.

In fact, paradoxically, Tada and Teresa, main protagonists of the anime, were those who had the least development as a couple and even as characters. Instead, the focus seemed to be directed towards Kaoru and Alec, Hajime and Hinako and even Gentarou and Yui. However, there was not much progress on those fronts either.

And if the above had not covered enough time, the series introduces Charles, but instead of giving weight to his role as the third vertex of an impending love triangle formed by him, Tada and Teresa (the blonde is the official fiancé of the Princess); he focuses more on his relationship with Alec, expanding the geometric figure to a square.

What's more, the whole of Charles's arc focuses on the feelings that Alec has towards him, with some moments of Tada and Teresa that do not get to majors. And we can not forget that 8 episodes of the series have already elapsed by the end of the arc.

Many times, the defenders of slow or late romances give as a great argument that in this way feelings can be developed progressively, reasonably and credibly; however, this is something that falls under its own weight.

There are many examples of fast-established couples who have a great development in their relationship. Kotarou and Akane from Tsuki ga Kirei, Narumi and Hirotaka from Wotakoi or Qin Yun and Yi Xiao from the Chinese cultivation novel Seeking the Flying Sword Path are clear examples of this. On the other hand, Ichigo and Orihime or Rukia and Renji of Bleach are examples of the opposite. Couples who took hundreds of chapters (literally) to establish themselves, but in spite of that, their union felt totally forced.

Therefore, the speed or time a couple establishes does not necessarily denote a good development of romance; and it is here that a bad decision regarding rhythm prevented Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai from developing its full potential.

It was not until episode 10, when Teresa decides to return untimely to her native country, when the gears were finally set in motion. And oh boy that from there the series showed that it was able to give us magical and powerful moments.

The whole process lived by Tada, his trip to Larsenburg to look for Teresa, all that his presence there originated in the blonde, Charles and Alec; The way in which the outcome was prepared and the end in itself were handled in very good shape. However, it never stopped feeling rushed and it was impossible to wonder why this drama had not started before and so develop it to the rhythm that corresponded. Especially, considering that all the time spent in the other three couples did not end up bearing fruit because in the end nothing was achieved in any of the cases. In fact, in the secondary pairs, it was not even reached a point where the relationship was indirectly confirmed. If in the end they were going to leave all those unfinished plots, why dedicate so much space to them?

Moreover, the couple of Charles and Alec could have developed much more, but the short time that was at the end of the series barely gave to show brushstrokes. And that is precisely why you can not stop thinking that this series was for much more; however, the approach was totally wrong for too long.

Regarding the technical section. The character design was not bad, the animation had a good level, the soundtrack was too generic; and the direction will carry forever the weight of having condemned Tada-kun wa Koi or Shinai to be a series that in a few weeks will have fallen into oblivion.


SUMMARY

This series may have left its mark, but unfortunately it will end up being seen as one more series among many that exist in the genre.

Very likable characters!! Started out as a cute rom-com...I think the ending was kinda generic as there was NO WAY that Teresa could be with Tada since she was the only heir to the throne. They never tied up that loose end. It’s good if you wanna cry and still have a happy ending. I would’ve rated this a 9 if they had stayed true to the initial problem. The problem was never resolved so it seemed like a cop-out. Overall, it was enjoyable. Lovely story, art, and development. Only the ending was too quick and needed more complete closure.

"Tada-kun Never Falls in Love" was a beautiful series; it was a pleasure to watch, making me laugh, making me cry at times, and making me happy to be privileged enough to watch this wonderful anime.

In terms of why I gave this anime a 9/10:

The story was solid and enjoyable, although predictable I still wanted to keep on watching. The artwork was stunning and a pleasure for the eyes. The sound was enjoyable, and the music fitted perfectly. The only let down was that the character development felt a bit shallow, and the last few episodes felt rushed after the slow Slice of Life ... pace in the previous episodes.

However, this was a wonderfully entertaining show, I am sincerely happy I watched it.

Tada kun never falls in love starts well. After watching up to 3rd episode i had great expectation from it. Now after watching all 13 episodes i can say that this was good. Well i will not say that this is on a whole other level. It's a one time watch anime.
If we talk about the story it was not too good or not too bad. It was decent. There was nothing uncommon in the story. It's a simple romance anime which has some comedy. Well i did not get bored after watching all episode. Romance is one of my favorite genre and i ... have watched a lot of romance anime. If i were to rank it in my anime list then maybe it will not get a high rank in my list. But as i said before story is good so you can watch it if you want some decent romance.
Art and music was better than story. If i were to say about art then i can say it was a colorful anime maybe like a rainbow. Well i kind of like this type of animation so art was one of the reason i watched this anime. But they could have done better maybe. Sound was also good. The best was the ending song of the anime it was great, seriously great. The music they put in between the episodes that was also good. Based on the scene that was going on i can say they have put some good background sounds.
About character i am not satisfied with them. They could have done a lot better. It was not that bad but these characters were not for me. The only character i like is Tada kun because of his personality. There is one more guy Ijuuin Kaoru. He is a great friend who cared a lot of Tada kun. I was happy after looking such a character. About others i will not say they are bad but they are not for me.
What matters is the enjoyment. A anime should provide the best possible enjoyment to the viewer. It was fun to watch this anime. I did not get bored. But i was expecting more from this. Don't know why but i was just expecting. Some good comedy is also there which makes you smile but not it will not make you laugh. If you want to watch a romance anime with some comedy then it is for you. Even you are not a fan of romance with comedy even then you should try to watch it. It is a good anime.