English Dub Review: My Clueless First Friend “The Grim Reaper and the Transfer Student”

Overview:

Taiyou Takada is the new kid in school. He hears a rumor about a girl in his class, but he doesn’t react how everyone thinks he would.

Our Take:

Transfer student Taiyou Takada overhears others kids call a girl the “Grim Reaper.” They do so maliciously and they all avoid her. The other kids don’t like her because she looks always looks gloomy due to her eyes, but Takada feels differently than the other kids. He is enamored with Akane Nishimura’s nickname. He thinks it’s cool that she’s a grim reaper and he wants become one too. More importantly, he wants to be her friend.

Nishimura doesn’t have any friends, so she’s used to be alone all the time. She tells Takada not to worry about her and to keep his distance. She doesn’t want the other kids to start teasing him too, but Takada doesn’t care. He wants to be friends with Nishimura and he sticks up for her when other kids are picking on her. Nishimura is opposed to the idea of Takada being her friend at first. However, it’s obvious that it really means a lot to her that she finally has a friend.

I can’t stand most of the other kids since they’re picking on Nishimura for no reason. Takada aside, there’s one kid who doesn’t seem as mean. Takada’s friend Hino doesn’t make fun of her, so I’m curious to see how he interacts with Nishimura in future episodes.

This is a sweet and wholesome first episode. Takada is strange and he’s a bit of an airhead, but he’s the kindest kid in this school. I really like the fact that he doesn’t jump on the bandwagon and just start picking on Nishimura for no reason. He doesn’t care what other people think and he just wants to be friends with this girl. Even when he stands up for her, he doesn’t really tell the other kids off. He just tells them he’s more interested in hanging out with Nishimura than them. Takada knows how to kill them with kindness and I think that’s very admirable.

The visuals and English voice acting are highlights for me. I like the art style and Takada’s dialogue is very interesting. He’s a kid though, so I wouldn’t say anything he says is unrealistic. As a whole, I’m looking forward to seeing more of the dynamic between Takada and Nishimura and hopefully other kids will want to be her friend down the line.