It seems to have been something of a theme this month to take on the idea of the hazy middle ground between “Harem” and “Romance” – two concepts that are deeply related (given that they both imply significant focus on romantic relationships) but that are very different in expectations. It happened somewhat for Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions and it happened more pointedly for Chivalry of a Failed Knight and it is all over Actually, I Am.
I debated, in a big way, whether or not this show should be considered a Harem show. After all, I pointed out when trying to pick apart the tropes of the lazy stock Harem outing in Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs that lazy shows often have a clear “favorite” among the Harem. What I feel is the distinction, though, is that while there can be clear favorites, there’s not ‘supposed’ to be a clear winner, at least not until the thing is (mostly) over. And that is the crux of the question.
So, getting into the show, what even is
the pitch for Actually, I Am? It involves a normal high school boy,
Asahi Kuromine, who’s fallen for his classmate, Youko Shiragami. He
goes to confess his love to her, only to discover that the cool
beauty Youko is actually kind of a ditz with a natural thick country
accent… and big bat wings, because she’s a vampire. She’s
devastated by being discovered because that means she’d have to leave
school, since a human found her out, but Asahi offers to keep what
he’s learned a secret so that she can stay (not the least because he
wants to have her around). The problem from there is, at least in
terms of the pitch, that Asahi is singularly terrible at keeping
secrets.
So, points on the Harem side: Youko is
terminally dense, and doesn’t pick up any hints or signals. Ever.
She’s so excited to have a friend that the idea of anything more
seems like it will never occur to her, even as she draws massive and
direct parallels between herself and Asahi and how her parents
(vampire dad and human mom) met. This gives all the other girls a
“fighting chance”… but point against, Asahi is essentially
resolute in his interest and works towards being together with Youko
the whole show, even if he can’t work up the nerve for a proper
confession again. This isn’t just writer favoritism, it’s a choice
from the main character even if the door remains open for him to go
back on it.
So, who are the other girls? In actual
contention there are really only two, three if you’re being generous.
The first introduced as such is Nagisa Aizawa. She’s the class rep,
and seems at first like a heartless stickler for the rules. She was
also, apparently, Asahi’s crush before Youko, and shot him down in a
devastating manner. She starts getting uppity, and ends up (thinking
she’s already been found out) tipping her hand and revealing that she
is, in fact, a tiny space alien and her “human” body is actually
a mecha the real version of her (which looks exactly the same, but
for the addition of an angler fish lantern on the real one) pilots.
The exchange leaves Asahi having to keep her secret as well as
Youko’s, and Nagisa functioning as a second point of failure (but,
usefully, a second insider) for Youko’s secret. It also becomes
clear that Nagisa has a terrible understanding of human society and
culture despite her facade, probably did not understand Asahi’s
former approach, and (as per harem tropes) is now steadily gaining an
appreciation of him.
The other clear contender is Mikan
Akemi, and at first she comes off as more of an enemy. She’s a
normal human, but that’s only the icing on the problem cake. More
critically, she’s the president of the school’s journalism club,
effectively making her a bloodhound reporter… and beyond that she’s
known Asahi forever and knows exactly how torment him so he’ll spill
the very best stories if she gets her hands on him. She’s actually a
kind of interesting take because she’s the equivalent of the
childhood friend archetype, but she’s normally more like a childhood
bully. So, naturally, Mikan largely serves as the failure state for
our supernatural students: if she catches wind, as she usually
threatens to, it’s game over. She’s not entirely untouched by the
supernatural, though: Mikan’s glasses (fake glasses Asahi gave her
when they were little kids and that she’s lovingly kept ever since)
are possessed by a spirit of good fortune. Said spirit wants the
best for Mikan, but doesn’t necessarily agree with her on what that
is. How so? She has feelings for Asahi, and has for a long time,
but is too afraid of rejection to even try to shift out of their
current relationship. In essence, she’s locked herself in the phase
where you show you like someone by hitting them, and her helper
spirit wants her to speak her mind honestly and get out of that,
often threatening to blow her secret for her.
These three girls are the core strength
of Actually, I Am. Looking at the show as a harem show for now,
going with the small number means each of the girls gets better
development and has more of a clear niche. Youko and Asahi have the
best basic chemistry, but it’s often more friendly than romantic.
They’re very genuine when working together to overcome some of
Youko’s hurdles (like getting her able to go out more in the day.
Nagisa, however, gets better moments of romantic tension and is
probably the best balanced of the heroines. Mikan, for her part, is
a very interesting twist on her archetype with an extremely
compelling background, but who’s underutilized (or poorly utilized)
in the “present”, numbing some of that sympathy.
The fact that these three exist in a
somewhat balanced system with Asahi is why I regard the rest of the
characters more as ‘outsiders’ (similar to Asahi’s male friends that
exist to fill space, but with more agency at times). They’re drawn
and established as more of the show’s “girls” but they’re really
not in the same setup as the main three.
The first of these is Shiho Shishido,
Youko’s childhood friend who her father sends to check up on her.
Shiho is a little odd in that she’s kind of two characters. You see,
she’s a werewolf of sorts: both her forms (which she shifts between
on seeing the full moon, including indirectly) are humanoid, even if
one has some kind of feral traits, but they have different
personalities. Shiho’s ‘main’ self is a dirty-minded young woman
with a figure that turns all heads, while her other self is a burly
wolf MAN with no sense of humor and a deep interest in Youko that she
is far too dense to ever notice (one point on which he and Asahi can
empathize with each other). We’re actually introduced to the wolfman
first, and Shiho’s reveal is used as a surprise. Naturally, after an
introductory episode, she ends up transferring into class. I called
her a half-count because while she displays some interest in Asahi,
it’s no more nor more romantic than she displays in anyone else.
She’s just a perv, and calls herself as much.
At school, we find the other two
also-rans, characters who will make it into cast montages and the
promotional poster like they’re part of the “harem”, but who
don’t actually belong to the same circle. They also know about Youko
(and all the other supernaturals) and I feel it’s best to address the
two as a unit. They are Akane and Akari Koumoto, the principal of
the school and the main teacher for the rest of the cast,
respectively. The principal is a devil, and looks like a pink-haired
middle school girl with horns. She has phenomenal cosmic powers and
uses them to be a complete troll as much as she’s able. The teacher
is her granddaughter; mostly human, but still demonic enough to
display at least some degree of super strength, which she often uses
to thrash her grandmother when the latter acts out (the leitmotif the
teacher has while enraged is enjoyably over-the-top menacing, too).
The principal enters the scene fairly late, and the teacher is an
extra until she does, and when they step up fully the tone and
direction of the show changes in a big way, spending several episodes
dealing with the principal’s mayhem (some of which threatens to
destroy the world) rather than the everyday struggles of Youko trying
to fit in and enjoy her life without being outed and losing her
connection to the human world.
That’s basically the show as a Harem.
As a romance, it becomes important to look at the plot (what plot
there is). The steps, overlapping somewhat though they do, are
roughly this: First, we need to meet everyone. Then, we spend most
of our time working with Youko, trying to allow her to come out of
her shell and really experience what it can be to live like a human,
with friends, as she wanted to rather than as she was forced to by
her circumstances. Then, we get the final arcs. First, the “Big
misunderstanding” – Mikan’s glasses can wait no longer and speak
for her, but she’s not the one holding them when the voice confesses
to Asahi, Nagisa is, and at least Youko is fooled. She’s not
entirely put out, though, and despite Asahi (and, against her own
interest, Nagisa) trying to set things right, Youko tries to make
sure they have a fun date, so she can do something for the friends
who did so much for her. Finally, we get a short arc where Youko’s
father finds out she’s beyond busted and comes to pick her up,
leading to the gang traveling to her family home to ask for her to be
released back to school. Ultimately they are, of course, successful
(Dad’s memory gets erased – accidentally – with Nagisa’s alien
memory erasure tool. Which, in a brick joke set up in the second
episode, is indistinguishable from an ordinary hammer. Youko’s mom,
for her part, seems to approve of things as they are and also have a
lot of sway in the household). Status quo is ultimately restored.
In the end… I think this one falls on
the “Harem” side of the divide, but because its harem game is
strong, not because its romance game is weak. It is also a very
high-energy and surreal comedy. A lot of the show depends on getting
you to laugh at just how insane some of the setups are, like the
principal calling down an earth-destroying meteor to avoid an
unpleasant task, with the world reacting as the meteor approaches,
stops, retreats, approaches, or gets confused in response to the
principal’s current status. At another point, Youko’s father (while
quite human in his youth) is now a twenty foot or so tall giant, who
can still be forced into sitcom-style “henpecked husband” mode,
and also seems convinced that he can still pass for ordinary. It
seems like every episode included at least a couple dares regarding
what the writers could get away with, in terms of supernatural
madness and in terms of making Youko dense or her ‘secret’ blindingly
obvious (she tans in a matter of seconds… but after much trouble it
seems sunblock works).
To an extent, that makes the fact that the show threw up a competent harem impressive in its own right. A show that runs on madness the way this one does (Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle for instance) doesn’t, strictly speaking, need complex characters or emotional arcs or motivations. Many of the jokes that seem to make up the backbone of the show would still land if the characters were their flattest selves… but at the same time, a lot of the interactions of the core harem would still land if there was little to no humor. Both are done well enough to stand.
Despite that, I think the show gets a
C+ overall. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a silly
harem-comedy to pass some time, but nothing more than that. It rises
to competence in multiple areas, which is worth noting, but it never
really does go past average anywhere along the line.