How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.

How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.

How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno. anime series cover art
How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.

Overview

How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno. (Ueno-san wa Bukiyou / 上野さんは不器用) is a half-length series which follows the romantic escapades of Ueno, a third-year middle school student. And, just to be clear, when I call something a half-length series, I mean that each episode is only 11 minutes rather than the standard 22.

This series is tagged as comedy, romance, and seinen, but I think ecchi should also be listed there. While the art style of the series may not feel like your typical ecchi anime, the situations our main characters often find themselves in would feel right at home in most ecchi series.

So, how do these ecchi scenarios tend to come about?

Our main trio of characters are all members of their middle school science club, with Ueno as the president. She’s constantly coming up with inventions which result in the aforementioned situations either by design or on accident. Basically, there are two different styles of bits:

  1. Those in which Ueno is trying to get a reaction out of Tanaka
  2. Those in which Ueno is trying to help a fellow student with an issue

The first type usually ends up with Ueno’s plan backfiring and causing her to get embarrassed. For example, she’ll invent some crazy device with the intention of having Tanaka hold her hand, and then once he does so without a second thought, she gets flustered.

Type #2 typically involves more practical inventions, such as one which censors explicit visuals in 3D and in real-time. However, these inventions are typically the ones Tanaka is more interested in, and so he pays attention to the girls whom these inventions were commissioned by rather than Ueno.

Main Characters

Ueno, president of the science club, is the female lead of the series. As previously mentioned, she creates all kinds of devices, some practical, and others not. But, while her commissioned inventions actually get used as intended, her personal inventions, regardless of how practical are wasted on Tanaka.

Tanaka is the male lead of the series and romantic interest of Ueno. While he usually enjoys seeing what kinds of inventions Ueno comes up with, he’s completely oblivious to both the lewd situations they put him in, and the fact that Ueno is trying to get him to admit he likes her.

But, while Ueno wants Tanaka’s attention, the second he actually gives it to her in any way, shape, or form, she completely shuts down and goes into panic mode. It’s your classic oblivious boy and tsundere girl relationship that will never go anywhere.

Tanaka and Ueno from the anime series How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.
Tanaka and Ueno

The third and final member of the science club is Yamashita, a typically quiet girl who is clearly a reference to the one, remaining member of the book club that gets taken over by the protagonist’s club in school anime. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, or any other anime set in high school for that matter.

However, Yamashita doesn’t completely play the role of book club member who was forced to join the science club; she’s also Ueno’s right hand-(wo)man. When Tanaka is being stubborn, or when Ueno’s plans begin to backfire, Yamashita steps in to save the day.

Supporting Characters

The first two supporting characters I want to mention are Mizuna and Yomogi Tanaka, Tanaka’s younger, twin sisters. From the first second that these two were introduced in the series, it seemed clear to me that they were references to Tsukihi and Karen Araragi from the Monogatari series.

While Tsukihi and Karen aren’t twins like Mizuna and Yomogi, they have similar physical characteristics, interests, and personalities. Mizuna is the short-haired one who seems to be both lazy and a bit of an airhead, while Yomogi is the long-haired one who’s really into sports.

Next up we have Kitanaga, the captain of the girl’s swim team. She comes to Ueno in need of a device that will stop the boys from peeping on the girls through holes in their locker room walls. The device Ueno comes up with is the previously mentioned real-time censoring device.

Again, Kitanaga also reminds me of a Monogatari series character, this time Nadeko. She isn’t all that similar to Nadeko personality-wise, but I think it’s the haircut and school swimsuit that remind me of her.

Minamine is the captain of the tennis team, which Yomogi is a member of, and is in need of a similar device from Ueno as Kitanaga. However, what Minamine needs is a way to stop guys from being able to see up the skirts of the girls while they play tennis.

Nishihara is the captain of the track team, and reminds me of Kanbaru from the Monogatari series as well due to her hairstyle, physical abilities, and outfit. She’s in need of clothing that will stop her from sweating so much as she runs.

The final real supporting character is Unogawa, the captain of the gymnastics team. She has the same issue as Kitanaga, but rather than giving her a censoring device, Ueno gives her a bunch of floating, eyeball-like, cameras so someone can keep watch while the girls get changed.

There are also two other supporting characters in the form of Tamon and Ueno No. 13. Tamon is an artificially created club pet made out of Ueno’s tights. Ueno No. 13 is a robotic version of Ueno.

Conclusion

So, in the end, how good is How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.? I’d give it a 6/10, but I think it’s fairly close to a 7. I wasn’t really expecting much from this series, and the ecchi aspects definitely weren’t expected, but I found it to be pretty entertaining overall.

It was refreshing to see an anime with some adult humor considering most comedy series tend to play it safe and go for tamer gags. Unfortunately, each episode was only 11 minutes long, so I would have liked to see it be a full-length series instead, but with the same formula.

If you enjoyed today’s review, be sure to click the like button ❤ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. I tweet out every time a new post goes live, so it’s the best way to stay up to date.

And, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about becoming a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Leave a Comment