English Dub Review: My First Girlfriend Is a Gal “My First Job”

This anime is like your actual first job, hard work to get through but you get a tiny reward at the end. Plus, the pedo works at a daycare.

Has it happened? Have I found an episode of My First Girlfriend Is a Gal where they knew exactly what to do with Junichi’s friends to better improve the shows comedic and romantic writing? It certainly has folks, and how did it do that? By placing them far away from Junichi and the girls. Brilliant.

OVERVIEW (Spoilers Below)

After the conclusion of King’s Game last episode, the group decided that they would take a group trip to the beach for a vacation. However, with Junichi, Nene, and a few others in the group low on funds, Yukana pitches the idea that everyone should get part time jobs at the same time so they can all make enough to go. Everyone agrees and they all head off to work. Junichi and the girls end up working at a cosplay café with the girls as waitresses and Junichi as a hand in the kitchen. Shinpei and Keigo get a job together at a local manga shop where Shinpei starts developing somewhat of a character and Keigo just existed. But where did pedo friend end up? A day care. Gross. What’s even grosser than that? Shinpei recommended the job to him. Disgusting.

I can beat the bad pedophile joke drum all I want and I’m going to continue to in these reviews. It may be repetitious to say this each week but it doesn’t matter if the joke is literally that much in the foreground of the series. This running joke of pedo friend being obviously into elementary school girls goes many steps too far when he also mentions getting a van, openly watching suggestive imagery of little girls, and today getting a job at a daycare where he approaches little girls to talk romantically to them. I need to reiterate, just having the characters say “Go to jail” in a monotone dry punchline fashion does not excuse or create levity to the situation. They still hang out with him and even openly encourage him to be around little children, which is just downright deplorable of all the guys in their pervert group. If you take the joke seriously or not, that is up to your own discretion but as long as pedo friend continues like this I’ll recap each of his moments so you as the reader can look out for these things and hopefully skip them.

Onto the rest of the actually decent episode though, it’s actually a relief to have an episode be so solid. I’ve been bashing Junichi’s friends very harshly as they have been such a forced focus in the series even though the show is called “My First Girlfriend is a Gal.” But now in episode 7, they have finally been relocated to where they should be, the side. Conceptually there is nothing wrong with Shunpei and Keigo being Junichi’s friends, playing the role of the little devils on his shoulder for his relationship with Yukana. The issue arises when their perverted schemes become center stage and overshadow Yukana and the girls as the show transforms from “My First Girlfriend is a Gal” to “My perverted friends are assholes.”

Not in today’s episode though, Junichi and the girls are center stage as the girls have to handle wearing skimpy maid attire in an objectifying setting as Shunpei and Keigo play no role in those events. They are in their own store, making their own small time adventure and money and it’s great. No distractions or anything to prevent the gals from being proactive in their own show to demonstrate their characters and how they act and react in this new provocative setting. Plus, Junichi’s heart grows a size today as he actually stands up for the girls when they are objectified to the point where they are obviously disturbed.

OUR TAKE

My First Girlfriend Is a Gal should always first and foremost be about the gals. They have the most diverse personalities that have the potential to create strong conflict. However, they were held back by the pervert brigade undermining their characterization with their over the top American pie pervert humor. It undersells the girls’ characters, who truthfully aren’t mind blowingly original obviously but have more to offer this show than the dork, the nothing, and the pedo. I can’t say the episode was terribly great, even though I would still consider this the best in the series thus far. My First Girlfriend is a Gal has just been undercut since the beginning and it’s clear it doesn’t have the staying power in the anime market with all its harem competition. But for what it’s worth I did enjoy today’s episode so if what I have gone over sounds good to you then have at it. I just apologize if you are thoroughly disgusted by the pedophile humor because somebody should apologize for that crap.