My Tiny Senpai Review

Bland and Uninspired

My Tiny Senpai (Uchi no Kaisha no Chiisai Senpai no Hanashi / うちの会社の小さい先輩の話) is a pretty boring anime. It’s a romantic comedy about an office worker and his tiny senpai. And if that plot sounds familiar, that’s because this isn’t the first series to do it.

Of course, not every anime is going to have an original concept. That’s impossible. But, there’s nothing about this series that makes it stand out. In some ways, it’s even worse than the piles of isekai trash we get every season. At least those try to have an original gimmick, even if they’re still bad.

Fantasy series always need to do something to differentiate themselves. That might mean the protagonist is a vending machine or a slime. Or, it could mean that they come from the boonies or have a smartphone. Whatever the case may be, something is unique about them.

What’s the unique trait of My Tiny Senpai? What’s going to draw viewers to this series over all the other romantic comedies they could watch? I guess it’s that the short girl in this one is the senpai, not the kouhai. But, that technicality doesn’t actually change anything about the series.

Yes, Shiori Katase is Takuma Shinozaki’s senpai. But, most of the time, you wouldn’t know it. Shiori likes to do things she thinks make her look like a dependable senpai. However, the reality is that Takuma is often the one taking care of her.

Shiori loves stuffed animals, cats, and other cute things. That’s not necessarily un-senpai-like. But, the way her love for these things manifests makes it hard to see her as a senpai. She crawls around on the ground, acts like a cat, and gets flustered frequently. She’s more like a large child than a tiny senpai.

Uzaki-chan Meets My Senpai is Annoying

When watching My Tiny Senpai, two other anime came to mind. These are Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! and My Senpai is Annoying. And, it should be pretty obvious why this series reminds me of those two.

Physically, Shiori and Uzaki are the same. Uzaki has shorter hair. But, they’re both very short and sugoi dekai. And, of course, both series use the size of these girls’ chests in gags. Though, I can’t blame them for that. There’s not much other substance to work with in either case.

My Senpai is Annoying is another office rom-com featuring a comically short woman. But, in that series, the roles are reversed from what we see in My Tiny Senpai. Futaba Igarashi is the kouhai. But, it’s still pretty much the same show. Well, except for that My Senpai is Annoying is better.

Unfortunately, combining Uzaki-chan and My Senpai is Annoying wasn’t a recipe for success. All it did was take the worst aspects of each of those series and put them in one. It didn’t learn from the mistakes those series made. If it had, it could have been good.

Also, as I previously mentioned, My Tiny Senpai didn’t do anything new. So, if you’ve already seen Uzaki-chan and My Senpai is Annoying, there’s no reason to watch this series. And that’s an issue because this series has the same target audience as those. There’s a very good chance that My Tiny Senpai viewers have seen the other two.

Okay, but what if you really liked both of those other series? Wouldn’t that mean you’d like My Tiny Senpai, too? That’s possible. But, the stats don’t back that up. Those other series have far more viewers and higher ratings, which is a bad sign for this one.

The Side Characters Carry the Show

If there’s one positive thing I can say about My Tiny Senpai, it’s that the side characters are pretty good. In fact, the side characters are the only thing I liked about the series. The two main characters just aren’t interesting.

The best character is Chinatsu Hayakawa, Shiori’s and Takuma’s coworker. She’s also Takuma’s childhood friend. But, that bit of information isn’t very important. What’s more important is that she has a crush on their boss and participates in cosplay events in her spare time.

Speaking of the boss, he’s a decent character. Chihiro Akina seems much older than the rest of the characters due to his white hair and personality. But, I don’t think he’s actually supposed to be old. He might only be a few years older than the rest of the cast — 10 years at most.

The third important side character is Yutaka Shinozaki, Takuma’s older sister. She’s obsessed with small, cute things. And, what in this series is small and cute? That’s right, Shiori. Yutaka does everything in her power to make her brother and Shiori a couple. And, she’s not alone in this endeavor.

Chihiro (the boss) loves office romances. At least, as long as they don’t involve him. So, he’s always shipping his employees with each other. And the pairing that he’s most interested in is Takuma and Shioro. So, naturally, Chihiro and Yutaka team up to push those two into a relationship.

There are other supporting characters besides these three. But, these are the major supporting characters. The others show up in a handful of episodes and aren’t very memorable. There’s another guy in the same department as Takuma and Shiori. And, there are a few characters from a different department.

Final Thoughts

My Tiny Senpai gets a 4/10 from me. It doesn’t do anything that hasn’t been done before. And the stuff it does isn’t even done very well. Even the OP and ED are forgettable and uninteresting. But, the supporting characters are pretty entertaining at times.

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