Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! Review

Another Generic Romantic Comedy

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi / 道産子ギャルはなまらめんこい) is another generic romantic comedy anime. Have you seen Nagatoro, BOKUBEN, or even Rent-a-Girlfriend? Well, it’s another one of those. Though, it’s more like Nagatoro and BOKUBEN than the chaos that is Rent-a-Girlfriend.

Of course, whenever you have a series coming into a saturated niche, it needs to have a twist. We see this a lot with isekai anime. And, although it doesn’t get as much attention, we see it a lot with rom-com anime, too. So, can you guess what the twist is this time?

That’s right, the girls of this series are all gals (gyaru) who live in Hokkaido — a place you wouldn’t expect to find gals. But, what is a gal? It’s a fashion subculture in which Japanese women “Americanize” themselves. They dye their hair, put on makeup, do their nails, and wear bright colors and short skirts among other things.

Minami Fuyuki, the female lead of the series, is your stereotypical gal. She has blonde hair, long nails, and makeup, and doesn’t cover her legs even during the Hokkaido winter. A gal always needs to look her best, even when it’s cold out.

I guess I should also explain why Hokkaido, for anyone who isn’t aware. Hokkaido is the northernmost prefecture of Japan. It’s the large island on top when looking at a map. As the northernmost part of Japan, it’s also the coldest part and gets about 15 meters of snow per year.

So, this is one of the major reasons why you wouldn’t expect to find gals in Hokkaido. It’s too cold for a lot of gal fashion. And, gals also tend to be associated with large cities like Tokyo, not the more rural regions of Japan up north.

Meet the Hokkaido Gals!

Alright, let’s talk about the gals. The three main gals of the series are Minami Fuyuki, Sayuri Akino, and Rena Natsukawa. Other gals exist, like Mai Fuyuki — Minami’s mother. But, I’m going to stick to discussing these main three.

So, I already mentioned a bit about Minami. She’s the main girl of the series, which means she’s Tsubasa Shiki’s main love interest. Tsubasa is the protagonist, by the way. Minami was the first person Tsubasa met in Hokkaido after he moved there from Tokyo. And, she became his first friend after they learned they were sitting next to each other in class.

Sayuri is the second gal we meet in the series. Though, you might not recognize her as a gal, at first. She’s not as “yassified” as Minami is. She has black hair and dresses more conservatively, wearing tights. But, she’s still a gal.

Have you seen Citrus? If so, think of Sayuri like Harumi — an undercover gal. She’s into the gal subculture but doesn’t outwardly express it as much as others do. She does her nails and makeup and knows gal fashion trends. However, she has other hobbies, as well.

Rena is the last of the three main gals we meet. She’s an upperclassman who’s at the top of the school in every way possible. Everyone thinks she’s the most beautiful and her test scores prove she’s also the smartest. What many people don’t know is that she loves all things traditional Japanese.

Now, there’s one last thing I want to mention about these three gals. Their family names all have to do with seasons. Fuyu (冬) is winter. Aki (秋) is fall. Natsu (夏) is summer. But, unlike in Kanojo x Kanojo x Kanojo, the male lead’s name doesn’t include haru (春), which is spring.

Let’s Talk About the Ending

The ending of the Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! anime was a bit of a twist. And, I don’t know if this is the case, but I’m assuming it followed the manga. The manga is still ongoing, by the way. I’m not saying that the series ended. I’m talking about the end of this season of the anime.

What was the twist? Minami reveals to Tsubasa that she’s leaving Japan. She only gives him a few days’ notice, so this comes as a shock to both Tsubasa and the viewers. But, then there was a second part of the twist.

What Minami forgot to mention is that she’s not leaving for long. She says she’s going to study abroad. So, the implication is that she’ll be away for at least a semester. However, she’s only studying abroad for two weeks. She and Tsubasa aren’t going to be apart for that long.

Okay, so, I didn’t like this ending. I get why this happened in the series. It’s drama that stems from a misunderstanding. That’s nothing new for rom-com anime. It’s basically what most of them are built on.

What I don’t really get is why they chose to end the anime this way. I would have actually preferred an anime original ending that doesn’t reveal the second twist. End the anime on the cliffhanger of her leaving. And, if you want, add something after the credits about the story continuing in the manga.

The way I see it, this isn’t an anime that needs more than one season. Does anyone care enough about it for a second season to be worthwhile? Just let it exist as a standalone season. If viewers want more content from the series, they have the manga. That’s enough.

Final Thoughts

I gave Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! a 5/10. As I said at the start of this review, if you’ve seen other rom-com anime, you’ve seen this one. Unless you’re a hardcore generic rom-com series fan — or you love gals — you can skip this. Even if you love gals, these aren’t great gals.

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