Watch for Free: Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie

We’ve been tracking Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie as anime of mystery.

The premise is that Shikimori is a girlfriend who, when the situation needs, can become an action-orientated hero – perhaps even verging on the anti-hero.

It’s hard to tell. The manga is popular, but will the fans come to see the anime? Perhaps this is why Crunchyroll has made the first episode a freebie. You can see it below.

We’re up to episode three now on Crunchyroll. It’s still a mixed bag. There are less than 20 star ratings, 10 of which are 5/5, but 6 get below 3/5.

One of those negative reviews on the platform describes Shikimori as a Mary Sue, and I can see how that might happen, but surely later episodes will add some jeopardy?

And if the anime is just about a cool schoolgirl who protects her boyfriend and her friends, then, well, isn’t that just a welcome reversal of annoying gender stereotypes?

What’s certainly annoying, there does not seem to be any official Crunchyroll “about this show” blurb yet. Surely that would be easy enough to write? Spoiler risk, is there?

IMDB says;

Shikimori seems like the perfect girlfriend. But she has a cool dark side that comes out under the right circumstances. And her boyfriend Izumi loves to be around when that happens.

Ryota Itoh directs the story, and they also have director credits My Senpai is Annoying. While in the animation department, Ryota Itoh worked on the Cowboy Bebop movie.