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

A duet by a gal and her pervert boyfriend. Featuring the Tri-Force of Karaoke Love.

Spoilers Below

Romance animes are a very tricky genre to capture. In cases like My Love Story, a masterfully done love anime to put it simply, the creators are able to nail an aspect of the teen romance that encompasses the awkwardness, the passion and the excitability that young lovers typically have. In My First Girlfriend is a Gal’s case it is slowly making its way to capture that sort of character tone from our teen lovers Junichi and Yukana but because of its clingy nature to its pervert comedy roots, it holds itself back.

“My First Karaoke” takes place the day after Yukana agrees to go out with Junichi, feeling that the whole experience was unreal Junichi at first is in a daze wondering how to salvage his life. But luckily for him, Yukana is admittedly excited to be with Junichi… for some reason. Junichi’s friends, on the other hand, the three stooges who forced him to ask Yukana out, are not and treat Junichi like he has betrayed their Virgin group by getting a girlfriend. Including a line from Minoru asking if Yukana has a younger sister which if you remember from the last episode he gives detail on what age she wants her at. Creepy running jokes aside, Shinpei still pitches to Junichi to ask Yukana out to do karaoke as that is the hottest spot for teens to kiss in private. So now it is the shy and socially inept Junichi’s mission to give Yukana a kiss but will his over active sexual imagination get in the way? Is Yukana even the type of girl who wants to kiss on the first date?

Firstly, this is my inner snark coming forth but Junichi is initially about as captivating as wet newspaper and has the romantic charisma of it too. It becomes such a cringe to watch the first half of this episode as it is nothing but him and his virgin friends discussing very creepily a way to get into Yukana’s panties with one throwing in lolicon perversion to offset the mood completely. I understand the humor they are going for but quite honestly Junichi’s virgin posse add so little to events. After just episode 2 it becomes apparent the role of the asshole friends was unneeded as their role is mainly to get Junichi to self-reflect and get pervy ideas in his mind. However, that can be rendered moot characterization, if the story instead focused on Junichi and his multiple personalities inside his head.

Now playing a bigger role, we have several extended scenes where the various feelings of Junichi are personified as beings who bicker and fight with one another the main three being pessimistic Junichi, kind Junichi, and insane pervert Junichi a.k.a. the Junichi who wears panties on his face. These moments are when the show’s visual presentation and characterization shine as, parallel to Pixar’s Inside Out, the emotions’ banter with one another creates a fun internal conflict for nice guy Junichi wrestling with his inner sexual frustration and social ineptitude. Plus, simply put, the inner emotions are funnier than his three real friends by a big margin. If they were chopped off the show the pervy nature of the anime would have stayed the same but all it would need to do is keep it actually centered on Junichi rather than having him act as straight man and a pervy man at the same time along with his pals.

However, besides the three knuckleheads, I am finding the beginning to this romance harmlessly raunchy and cute. Junichi’s social ineptitude at first was grating but in an environment with Yukana the dynamic she had to help calm Junichi down and relax showed a budding of chemistry that hints at where their relationship will turn. The most intriguing aspect will be finding out why this gal wanted to be with Junichi in the first place.

At the moment, we know very little about her other than her habit of teasing Junichi verbally and sexually and that unlike Junichi’s initial impression of her “gal” title she’s showing a more innocent romantic side when nobody is looking. My First Girlfriend Is a Gal is starting off a bit rocky but I am seeing glimmers of a very cute show. The raunchy pervert comedy aspect is definitely muddying the waters from the boys but now that Junichi’s first date is over and done with the rest of his upcoming harem should be popping up next one after the other.