Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It anime series cover art
Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It

Overview

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It (Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita. / 理系が恋に落ちたので証明してみた。) is our first review of a 2020 anime. That is, an anime which began in 2020.

It’s a romantic comedy about “science-type” university students who attempt to use science to explain the concept of love. If you think that sounds pretty decent, you’re not alone, I did too. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Something I’ve discussed in the past somewhere on this site (good luck finding it, because I’m not going to) is the idea that anime ratings are somewhat relative. When I watch and rate an anime, I’m not doing so in a vacuum; previous anime I’ve watched will influence what I think.

This is what causes the main issue I have with Science Fell in Love.

If you’ve watched Kaguya-sama: Love is War, then you’ve already seen a better version of this same series. Seriously, Kaguya-sama is better in literally every way. I can’t think of one thing Science Fell in Love did better, or even at the same level.

However, it’s not as though these two series are mirror images of each other.

For example, Kaguya-sama is generally made up of individual sketches which don’t really have plot continuity between them. Science Fell in Love is a plot driven series with a definitive start, finish, and path in between. And rather than focusing on mini sketches, the series is structured around larger experiments the characters are performing.

Characters

There are five main characters in this series, as well as a number of side characters who aren’t really important enough for me to discuss. The side characters do effect the plot at times, but generally speaking they’re just background characters who occasionally step forward.

Ayame Himuro is one of our two scientists attempting to prove (or disprove) the existence of love. Specifically, she’s attempting to determine if she actually loves her fellow scientist, Shinya Yukimura, or not. And although she can be fairly extreme where science is concerned, she also allows her emotions to come into play frequently.

Shinya Yukimura is likewise attempting to prove (or disprove) his love for Himuro by using science. However, contrary to Himuro, Yukimura rarely ever allows his emotions to cloud his data. If Himuro were to confess her feelings to him, he would tell her to write a thesis on it to ensure it’s accurate.

Himuro and Yukimura from the anime series Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It
Himuro and Yukimura

Kotonoha Kanade is the first of what I’ll call the “lesser-scientists.” They’re still science graduate students (I don’t believe any of these characters are undergrads), but they aren’t as crazy when it comes to science. Basically Kanade is just your typical student — she’s the character the audience can project themselves onto.

The final two characters are Ena Ibarada and Kosuke Inukai. These two are much more into games than they’re into science. Ibarada is constantly playing some game on her Nintendo DS, and Kosuke is obsessed with a certain dating simulation game.

What I like about these two final characters is that they’re actually childhood friends, and this plays into some of their gags. For example, Kosuke’s girl of choice in his dating sim games looks exactly like Ibarada, though he would never admit that’s the case.

Science

Potentially the best, or worst, part of this series is its use of science. It is a science-based anime after all, so of course there’s going to be some science involved. And the science that’s used is actually a lot better than in other anime, such as Dr. Stone which generally dumbs things down and bends the rules.

But while it’s nice to see that actual scientific ideas are being used, the way in which they’re explained could use some serious work.

As a general rule, a type of experiment or other scientific idea is first introduced by a character. Then, we get a scene of a stuffed animal bear named Rikekuma explain this idea to us. And finally, we see the idea put into practice by the characters.

It’s that middle step which causes the problem.

A Nintendo GameCube with Kanade in the foreground from the anime series Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It
A Nintendo GameCube with Kanade in the foreground

I could say that the fact the series tells us how these scientific ideas work rather than showing us is bad, and that would be true to an extent. But I don’t think that explaining these ideas is the issue if the intent is to actually teach people about them. The issue is that they use this bear to explain the ideas in simplified terms.

It’s a series about graduate students studying science, so you’d probably expect the audience to be at least in college themselves. If you didn’t know this, the main characters for anime and manga series are generally the same age as their intended audience.

So rather than having a bear explain these ideas so middle schoolers can understand them, why not have the characters explain how they’re using these ideas in real time? Sometimes this happens, but generally only after we’ve already gotten the first explanation.

Conclusion

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It is a 5/10 from me. I wouldn’t call it bad, but there was also never a time when I actually wanted to watch it. And like I said towards the beginning of this review, there are other series, namely Kaguya-sama, which do basically the exact same thing, but better.

As for the OP and ED, they were pretty decent, but nothing special. The songs are alright. The visuals are alright. That’s basically all there is to say about that.

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