English Dub Review: Real Girl Episodes 22-24

Some things you can’t push past.

Overview:

As Iroha reveals her last secret, stuff gets real.

Our Take:

Or rather, everything turns into a Kdrama.

Iroha it turns out is faking her asthma, but she does have other issues- namely what seems to be a brain tumor. At the end of the year, she’s leaving to get surgery, and since it’s invasive, she might run the risk of losing all her memories thus far–including those with Tsutsui. She is leaving, and there’s nothing that Tsutsui can do about it.

I’ve been enjoying 3D Girl so far, it’s not fantastic but it’s passable, and I can take that. However, this ending felt like a Kdrama, mostly because of how much absurd melodrama that there was. It starts out with a nice trip away from home, where Iroha and Tsutsui manage to connect both emotionally and sexually. At the same time, the very next episode, Iroha is gaslighted by her brother into cutting Tsutsui out of her life, and then she does so without giving him any reason whatsoever? What happened to the emotional connection forged in the last episode? When Tsutsui is depressed, everyone treats him terribly except for Itou, but they act like they’re still his friends?

Of course, this is a shoujo romance for modern-day audiences, and most of the time, as opposed to josei, shoujo ends well. This is no exception, with Tsutsui and Iroha reuniting, Iroha getting back her memory after seven years, and all the couples either getting together or getting back together. It ends with a wedding shot, the most establishing shot of a ‘happy ending for the future’ trope that exists in media. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but considering that it opted to this ending after high melodrama, it feels undeserved. I’m more tired than rewarded by this point.

Let me tell you though, the number one most unrealistic thing about this anime is that everyone is successful… at 25. Itou is directing his own anime, Takanashi is making good money at his tech firm, and Tsutsui is fairly successful at his business day job. Get out of here. None of these kids were from extremely rich backgrounds (they’re all upper middle class at best) and yet they have this kind of life? at 25? Especially Itou, he’s directing an anime? At 25? I think not, don’t try to sell me on that kind of nonsense. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t concentrate on a fair chunk of the time skip because this was so incredibly unbelievable.

All in all, a really shaky ending for what was an overall okay series… maybe don’t hype up the melodrama to your finale when the rest of the series doesn’t have the same amount of melodrama. It never works, and this is a perfect example.

Also, Takanashi is still awful!