The Little Lies We All Tell

The Little Lies We All Tell

The Little Lies We All Tell anime series cover art
The Little Lies We All Tell

Series Overview

The Little Lies We All Tell (4-nin wa Sorezore Uso wo Tsuku / 4人はそれぞれウソをつく) is a comedy anime about 4 liars. Specifically, it’s about 4 high school girls who are all hiding major secrets from each other. One girl is an alien, one is a psychic, one is a ninja, and most shocking of all, one is a boy.

So, your first question might be, why are these girls hiding these secrets? It’s simple. If they didn’t, their friends might not accept them.

I mean, who would want a stinky alien as a friend? Or someone who’s always reading your mind? Or a ninja? I don’t know, that one seems pretty cool. And, well, being a boy is kind of a big deal when you consider they attend an all-girls school. This isn’t a boy who identifies as a girl, either.

Rikka's tentacles from the anime series The Little Lies We All Tell
Rikka’s tentacles

If you couldn’t tell, the comedy of this series comes from how absurd everything in it is. At least, that’s the kind of comedy it attempts to use. I don’t think it does a very good job in that regard. There were times when I laughed while watching this. But, it was never due to the wacky situations.

I’ve also seen multiple people call The Little Lies We All Tell the “hidden gem” of the fall 2022 season. I completely disagree. I wouldn’t refer to this series as a gem of any kind. It’s not bad, per se. But, it’s the worst anime I watched this season.

And looking back at my initial thoughts on the series before it aired, it seems like I was right. I said I didn’t expect it to be anything special, but that it likely wouldn’t be bad either. That’s how I’d describe it now — completely average.

The Four Liars

Let’s go over our four main characters. There’s Rikka, Sekine, Chiyo, and Tsubasa. Rikka is the alien, Sekine is the psychic, Chiyo is the ninja, and Tsubasa is the boy.

As the alien, Rikka is probably the most interesting character. She had to escape from an intergalactic battle, and her UFO crashed on Earth. Specifically, it crashed into the school building and can still be seen sticking out of it.

So, how was Rikka able to keep her identity a secret? Simple: she used alien technology to wipe everyone’s memory. She’s also not your average alien. She’s a colonel, which contrasts with her child-like appearance.

Sekine is a psychic with the ability to read minds. Though, she can only read the minds of other girls, which disqualifies Tsubasa. Because of her ability, she actually knows both Rikka’s and Chiyo’s secrets. And because of this, a lot of insight into those characters comes to us from Sekine.

Rikka, Tsubasa, Chiyo, and Sekine from the anime series The Little Lies We All Tell
Rikka, Tsubasa, Chiyo, and Sekine

Chiyo is an ex-ninja who left the shinobi lifestyle because she prefers cute things. Her younger brother, Hanzou, often appears to challenge her in combat. His goal is to defeat Chiyo and force her to return to their ninja village.

Finally, there’s Tsubasa, whose real name is Tsuyoshi. Tsubasa isn’t attending the all-girls school by choice. He has a twin sister who wanted to swap places with him so she could attend the all-boys school. And since his sister is his bully, he didn’t go against her wishes.

Of these four girls, Rikka is clearly the best. She’s the cutest and the funniest. Next is Chiyo, only because she’s also cute. Sekine comes in third because she’s kind of annoying and cringe. And, finally, there’s Tsubasa. The issue isn’t that Tsubasa is male, it’s that (s)he’s boring.

Not as Bad as I Thought

Before the anime aired, I thought it would be average. However, after watching the first episode, my expectations for the series plummeted. The first episode was bad. It felt like it was trying way too hard to be funny by being “so random haha.”

Luckily, the series improved after that first episode. It still never became anything more than an average anime. But, average is still better than bad.

Now, something you might not expect is that the best thing about the series isn’t the main cast. It’s actually one of the supporting characters, Brian-sensei. Brian-sensei is the girls’ English teacher. I think he’s supposed to be American. But, where he’s from doesn’t matter.

What matters is that all the best parts of the series include Brian-sensei. The things he says in English are great. And he’s a pretty good character in his own right.

Brian-sensei from the anime series The Little Lies We All Tell
Brian-sensei

Some comedy anime set within schools make extensive use of the teachers. Yukari-sensei from Azumanga Daioh is a great example — she’s one of the best characters in that series. The Little Lies We All Tell failed by not making Brian-sensei a more prominent character.

In some cases, characters are more entertaining when they’re used less frequently. One example I can think of for this is Ilulu from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S. She would have been far less funny if she was overused. And I can see how someone might make the same argument in regards to Brian-sensei.

However, I’m going to give Brian-sensei the benefit of the doubt here. Sure, he’s not a very complex character. And the gags he’s used in are pretty similar. But, if he was more prominent, he would also naturally be included in a wider variety of situations. That, in turn, would benefit his character.

Conclusion

The Little Lies We All Tell is a 5/10 anime. It doesn’t do anything very well. It doesn’t look that good. And the characters are one-dimensional, for the most part. The OP and ED also aren’t anything special. So, in the end, this series doesn’t have anything that makes it stand out.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi for supporting this blog at the Heika and Senpai tiers this month. And I’d like to thank Rob and Pepe for supporting at the Kouhai tier. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

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