English Dub Review: You Can’t Be in a Rom-Com with Your Childhood Friends! “Road to School? Indirect Kiss? Butt on Lap? Still Won’t Start a Rom-Com”

Overview:

Shio and Akari, Eiyu’s childhood friends, each try to get his attention in their own twisted way.

Our Take:

I want to start this review by discussing the VAs of the show so far. Shio is voiced by Luci Christian, and we all know how amazing she is, but it’s nice to hear her in a new Crunchyroll dub. I think she’s going to be a big factor in how enjoyable this show is. I also want to recognize some of the newer dub voices in this show. Dakota Farnsworth is the voice of Eiyu, and he sounds strikingly similar to Matt Shipman, but I think as the show goes on, he will find his own voice. This is Dakota’s first lead role, and I’m already excited to see what he can do. The voice of Akari, Veronica Laux, killed it for me, though. I’ve heard her in Shy and The Apothecary Diaries, but this brought out a side of her voice that I’m excited to hear. She normally has a reserved, timid voice, but Akari is anything but that.

It’s obvious I had a lot to say about the VAs, but it wasn’t just the voice talent that has me excited for this show. We’ve had tons of childhood friend romcoms, but this one has a few things that might set it apart. For one, we get to hear the thought process of the childhood friends, so we know where they stand. I think we will still have annoying misunderstandings, but I think this show is leaning into all the cliches and tropes. Normally, a show like this would annoy me, but something was charming about this first episode that has me looking forward to the rest of the series. There are more characters to be introduced, and I hope they’re as fun as the ones we have so far.