Horrible, Terrible Teenage Drama

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R (Masamune-kun no Revenge R / 政宗くんのリベンジR) is a horrible anime. Sure, it looks fine — as in the visuals aren’t bad. But, the content of the series is insufferable. I almost didn’t make it through.

Let me back up, though. Masamune-kun’s Revenge R is the sequel to Masamune-kun’s Revenge. That original season aired in 2017 and I reviewed it in early 2018. And, at the time, I gave it a 5/10. But, I can guarantee that if I rewatched it now, I wouldn’t rate it that highly.

So, in a sense, this review of the second season is also a re-review of the original season. I doubt the content of the series actually got this much worse. Instead, I didn’t know what a good vs. bad anime was when I watched it in 2017.

Alright, what makes this series so bad? There are multiple things. But, the first is that all the drama in it is pointless teenage drama. I like drama anime. Many of the anime I have rated at 9 or 10/10 are drama anime. Those anime have real drama, though.

Maybe the issue is that I’m not a teenager. If I was a teenager, I might relate to some of the drama in this series (I wouldn’t). But, at this point, I’m the old man shaking his fist at the sky. I couldn’t care less about who’s dating who.

And, at the end of the day, that’s all this series is. It’s a group of high schoolers who are all interested in each other. And because they’re all dumb high schoolers, everything ends up with “drama.” The guy you like likes someone else? Get over it and stop acting like you’re in a Shakespearean play.

Rich Kids Having Rich Kid Problems

Teenage drama isn’t the only issue with Masamune-kun’s Revenge R. There’s also the fact that all of the characters are annoying rich kids. They all have a lot of money. They all refer to each other with the -sama honorific. And, their families are all well-connected in business and government.

These aren’t your average kids. But, the series really tries to get you to focus on Aki Adakagi being the one “rich girl.” I think her family owns some large export business or something like that. She also lives in a mansion and has maids.

But, that stuff isn’t exactly unique to Aki. Is she the richest of the rich kids? Sure. But it’s like comparing a family with $300 million to other families with a measly $100 million. They’re all rich. Like, even Yoshino, Aki’s personal maid, lives in luxury and attends an elite private school.

Let me put these characters and their wealth in a bit more context. Have you seen Kaguya-sama: Love is War? The characters from that series and the characters from this series are pretty much the same. Look at Kaguya and Aki. They fill the exact same role.

And yet, the way these two series treat these similar characters is very different. Kaguya-sama uses the absurdity of the wealth and power of these students for comedy. And Masamune-kun takes it seriously and acts like it’s normal. There’s nothing normal and relatable about these characters.

If that’s not enough, who’s the main villain of Masamune-kun’s Revenge? It’s Kanetsugu “Masamune” Gasou. At least, until she’s revealed to be a woman and Masamune steals Aki from her. But, why is Kanetsugu the villain? She’s the poor girl who doesn’t look like a model. She needs money and is mistaken for a man.

Revenge Gone Unserved

Maybe you don’t mind all the teenage drama and annoying rich kids. But, what if I told you that Masamune’s revenge never materialized? The entire plot of the series was that Masamune wanted to get revenge on Aki for betraying him when they were kids.

Well, in this season, we find out that Aki never betrayed Masamune. It was actually Yoshino who pretended to be Aki and said those mean things to Masamune. So, Masamune no longer has a reason to get revenge on Aki. And, because of that, they begin dating without the whole ulterior motive of revenge.

No, the series doesn’t end here. But, the plot ends, I guess.

Okay, but Masamune could still get revenge on someone, right? He could get revenge on Kanetsugu for stealing his identity. Or, he could get revenge on Yoshino for making him think Aki had betrayed him for all those years.

Neither of those things happen, though. After the truth about Kanetsugu’s identity comes out, Masamune forgives her for everything. He’s even friendly with her whenever he encounters her in the future. And with Yoshino, she and Masamune don’t talk for a bit. But, they quickly get over that, too.

Yoshino felt bad for what she put Masamune and Aki through and apologized to both of them. She also confessed that she likes Masamune, and he rejected her. So now, everything’s back to normal for the two of them. And that means Masamune has no target for his revenge.

So, without the revenge plot to work with, what do you think the series does next? If you guessed that Masamune develops an allergic reaction to Aki, you’d be correct. I can’t make this stuff up. That’s the next big plot development. He develops hives when he touches her.

Final Thoughts

Masamune-kun’s Revenge R is a solid 2/10. I won’t give it a 1 because at least it looks nice at times. But, that’s really all it has going for it. If you like this series, I don’t understand what you see in it. Maybe you’ve never watched an anime that’s actually good before.

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Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Overview

Masamune-kun’s Revenge is about a boy, Masamune, who wants to get revenge (shocking, I know) on a girl, Aki. Masamune and Aki used to be childhood friends, but one day Masamune confessed his love for her and she rejected him saying it was because he was fat.

Since that day Aki has rejected every boy who has ever confessed to her and Masamune, no longer fat, has made it his goal to trick her into dating him solely so he can dump her. As you can see, Masamune is definitely not a petty person who holds grudges.

That’s basically all there is as far as the general plot goes. There are a few twists and turns I don’t want to spoil, but even then it’s a fairly straightforward slice of life about revenge.

Characters

Masamune, the protagonist, used to be a chubby kid until the love of his life Aki rejected him. After that he changed schools or was homeschooled, I forget which. In high school he made sure to get into the same school as Aki and now that his looks have changed and it’s been years since they saw each other he plans to sneak into her heart without her realizing who he is.

Revenge is Masamune’s ultimate goal in life. He ignores other girls who show interest in him and solely goes after Aki even though he could probably have a pretty good life if he just gave up on her. Everything he does is an attempt to show off and win Aki over.

Aki is the rich girl who rejected Masamune as I’m sure you understand by now. She’s the most popular girl in school and has a reputation for rejecting every boy who confesses to her in spectacular fashion, culminating in her giving them a nickname showing her disgust for them. If I remember correctly she called Masamune “Piggy” when they were kids.

Neko is the other love interest in the series. She loves Masamune and has ever since they were kids. When she confesses her love to him in high school, Masamune rejects her in favor of continuing to go after his revenge on Aki. (Why, Masamune? Why?)

The final of the important characters is Yoshino, Aki’s follower. On one hand, she supports Aki and her rejection of all men. But on the other, she is also supporting Masamune and his plot for revenge. She’s an interesting character who has a part in just about everything that goes on in the anime.

Conclusion

While this anime is by no means a bad anime, I didn’t find that it was really that special either. Sure it has the twist of being about revenge, but it quickly devolves into your standard romantic comedy, slice of life anime.

Because of this, I ended up giving it a 5/10. I think I would have given it a 6 if it hadn’t devolved into the same predictable tropes that every other anime of this genre uses.

My review of Masamune-kun’s Revenge R is available now.