Nagi Umino and Erika Amano, a studious high school student and a social media star, had nothing that linked them together—until they found out they were swapped at birth. When the sudden news is revealed to both of their families, their parents quickly devise a proposition with neither Nagi's nor Erika's knowledge: in order to restore them both to their rightful families and ensure everyone's happiness, the two should get engaged.
When informed of this, Nagi and Erika are quick to reject the absurd plan, refusing to go along with their parents' wishes. But, with neither party willing to back down, only time can tell where their relationship will go.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Mcsuper
Sigh… Alright, where do we even begin with this one? First of all, if you actually finished all 24 episodes of this dumpster fire, like I did, I applaud your dedication, but sometimes I really do question the decisions I make, such as continuing to watch this week after week. Studious male harem protagonists have been somewhat of a repeating character archetype, like Futaro Uesugi from The Quintessential Quintuplets, or Nariyuki Yuiga, from We Never Learn. I am convinced however, that Umino Nagi is one of the worst harem protagonists that I have seen. He’s literally Kazuya, but gets good grades in school. He’s indecisive,and rather dumb for a studious kid. I felt like the author of the manga just gave up on keeping the source material at least at a decent quality, because the anime just stopped trying to be good as it went along. Just like the anime, you’ll also probably find that this review you’re reading will also drop in quality as it goes along, who knows?
My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20
STORY: 5.5/25
I’m not even going to question the whole swapped at birth thing, it’s animanga, and animanga does these stupid things, and we know this. Perhaps it’s just easier to turn your brain off and just appreciate the harem anime as it is, but it’s quite an infuriating show to watch. So, we can as usual, assume that every girl likes Nagi, even his little sister, and that’s to be expected. What angers me is why the girls try to play wingwoman for another girl when they clearly like Nagi in the first place? Guess romance is weird like that. The pacing is honestly slower than I imagined, especially in the second cour, where there were cliffhangers galore. Sure, there were some well done moments, but for the most part, it just wasn’t very well written or entertaining.
ART: 7.7/10
The animation is fine. It’s colourful, quite a good job honestly. The character designs are quite decent.
MUSIC: 8.3/10
I will say I enjoyed both OPs and both EDs, they’re honestly one of the highlights of this entire show.
CHARACTERS: 5.5/20
I’ve already mentioned my disdain for Umino, so let’s talk about the girls in the story. First, there’s Erika, an “Instagram Influencer”, who lived in a rich household, and once she moved out to live with Nagi, she didn’t know how to do many things, and found a lot of mundane activities very new. She’s pretty inoffensive for the most part to watch, but her feelings for Umino were rather muddled. Then there’s Hiro, who was probably my favourite character, since it seemed like she might have a little bit of a good backstory, but her character writing was rather inconsistent. Sometimes she’s extremely kind, but sometimes she can come across as a bit overbearing and overly annoying as a character. Lastly, ooh boy, there’s Sachi. Why is she even in this harem? There was no need honestly, and she didn’t even have much of a role to play. Guess she made this whole show a bit more trashy.
ENJOYMENT: 3.5/15
I admit, there was a bit of cheap enjoyment to be had, and there were a couple very solid episodes, but most of it was a snoozefest.
THEMATIC EXECUTION: 4.5/20
The themes were rather muddled, honestly. What were we trying to do here? Figure out why Nagi and Erika were separated at birth? Just have a slice of life harem? This show is so lost, and the directions they took in the second cour really lost me as well, as any sign of writing quality went completely awol.
OVERALL: 35/100
This show was a mess, and it’s probably not going to end anytime soon, at least in the manga. I’d compare this show to a lost, misguided child. Someone, please steer this back onto a road of at least passable writing quality, please? Well, to be fair, I wouldn’t really care either way anyway…
KANLen09
Rom-coms have been dozens aplenty since the AniManga industry's early days, with most of the memorable classics (e.g. School Rumble, Ouran High School Host Club, Lovely★Complex to name a few) to modern-day juggernauts (e.g. Hataraku Maou-sama!, OreGairu, SaeKano, Date A Live, NiseKoi) making the scene yearly with no signs of the genre slowing down and becoming one of the most popular genres for just about any AniManga fan. Yet, for all of what the rom-com genre has to offer, there have been more bad nuts also appearing (Masamune-kun no Revenge, KanoKari) to fuel the fire for distastes. And most particularly for one mangaka by thename of Miki Yoshikawa, her fame that came from the rom-com that's the much beloved Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo a.k.a Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, I'm left baffling at how one of her most recent works that is Kakkou no Iinazuke a.k.a A Couple of Cuckoos literally turned into a NiseKoi that's gone too far and being dragged on to the point of being unsalvageable.
But first, an educational lesson about cuckoos. Cuckoos are brood parasites, which means they have the tendency to find a nest from another species of bird that already has eggs in it, remove the other bird's eggs and lay their own there, letting the other bird species raise their young. In this way, the cuckoos trick the other birds into keeping the cuckoo eggs warm and caring for the young cuckoos. This is more exasperated in the West, particularly Germany that coins this term: Kuckuckskind a.k.a Cuckoo's child, meaning a child whose father is not his biological father, because the mother fathered it with another man and left the child and his social father in the belief that they were related by blood. This colloquially pejorative term as a cuckoo child includes a criticism of the mother who subordinates a child conceived with another man to her (spouse) partner; this designation may be perceived as stigmatizing by the child concerned.
And this is exactly what Miki Yoshikawa had in mind when she wrapped up Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo back in 2017 and was just floating around releasing One-shots a.k.a standalone chapters. And of the 3 one-shots stories released in 2019, Kakkou no Iinazuke was the one that was well received enough to get serialized the year after. The story (or literary plot device rather) about babies accidentally switched at birth, only for them to be taken care of by the other family, until they've each grown up to tell them the truth that their biological parents were someone else. This is the case for Nagi Umino and Erika Amano, a boy and a girl fatefully picked up by the other's family and raised like their very own, until their sweet 17th birthday that the news is broke to them that despite being cuckoo children, they are forced to be in an arranged marriage (which in these days in Japan has dropped significantly and doesn't happen very much anymore). And almost immediately, both Nagi and Erika vehemently refused to this plan, but it's not like their parents are willing to give up either. With such a case like this, it's a "do or die" situation to proceed the relationship as a "tryout" with both Nagi and Erika being the wiser to see where it would go.
The characters in Kakkou no Iinazuke, believe it or not, goes farther than just the NiseKoi situation of finding which girl holds the key to the MC's pendant and then calling it a day to declare the supposed girl the key to his heart as well. Starting off with Nagi, his biological Umino family is a family of the rich, with his father being a hotel tycoon, but thanks to the mix-up he was living a frugal life with the other family and being a close-knit son. In school, he the most stellar person always acclaiming to be that No. 1 spot that he is constantly losing the spot out to one such girl that he also has a crush on. In essence, Nagi has 3 things to worry about: marriage, school and family, and he does not have 3 clones to help him negotiate through troubled waters, because there is a girl each behind each of those situations that he has to balance with as well. I don't think I need to say this, but it's an intertwining web of perchances, misunderstandings and emotions that'll put Nagi on a stand to choose which girl is right for him.
On the marriage side, there is the already aforementioned Erika Amano, whom she has distinguished herself as a popular social media celebrity and going to a girls' school, which has a strict non-tolerance of relationships. Both her and Nagi met out of a mere coincidence when she was trying to take videos that put her safety in peril, and Nagi assumed that she was in danger if she put herself that way to get some views (you know how this all goes). That mere coincidence hit the two off, until they were called forth for the aforementioned marriage arrangement, and making the matter worse, Erika was forced to transfer to Nagi's school upon the confirmation that she was hanging out with him. She would be what you call a spoiled brat, thanks to the mix-up that allowed her to live a high life, and initially against Nagi, the two being already living in 2 separate conditions (rich vs. poor) has them bickering like birds from both families agreeing to place them both in a commune house to stimulate conditions living together (like as if they're married already). But overtime, she has both softened and hardened her stand towards Nagi, with moves that slowly inch that Nagi would be her desired fiance to come.
On the school side, you have Hiro Segawa, the consistent No. 1 student in Nagi's grade, and the girl whom Nagi wants to beat her in the literacy department just so that he could confess to her. Other than her family's job in a temple and working as a miko, she is the definition of a guilt-trip character, egging people on so that they could reach to that spot, only to tell them that "Oops, I didn't mean it! It's just meant for my entertainment to play and toy with your feelings, oopsies *tongue out*". And this is her relationship with Nagi, with the latter being forced to be better than her, only to know that she's engaged as well, but who knows if that is even true in the first place. All she does is guilt-trip over Nagi to lead him to believe that if they weren't "engaged" in the first place, their relationship could've been so much more than just school rivals.
On the family side, Nagi isn't the only child in the Umino family. There is also Sachi, but based on her family name, she is in fact Erika's biological sister and stands in Nagi's family as the adoptive daughter. Sachi is the epitome of every family's rebellious kid, one who's unable to keep herself in one place, whether will it be following the family or being overly dependent on Nagi which arises on her brocon personality. Being away from Nagi feels tough for the kin who is seeing her brother already engaged with some other girl, and the best way to be close to him is to run away from home and live together with them? That sounds like some shenanigans move right there, and I guess the semblance of the brocon trait also helps her be aware of what's he doing also. But then again, we've seen so much brocon and siscon stuff in other shows, and when Sachi herself realizes that she is in conflict with treating Nagi either like a brother or a potential lover, that's where she begins to have dangerous feelings, which also pits herself in the direct line of fire against both her older sister Erika and schoolmate rival Hiro.
I'm not surprised that chief director Hiroaki Akagi is handling this alongside Yoshiyuki Shirahata here, at least I can trust the former because he has directed the Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san series and others at Shin-Ei Animation, he's almost like a respectable in-house director who knows his talents well. The only exception is Yoshiyuki Shirahata, and this is his debut directorial work here, so at least for his first rondo, give or take, he still has a lot to learn. That being said, to air 2 consecutive cours in a row from Spring to Summer is already a risk given inconsistent production values (even more because of the studio collab with SynergySP), but I'm legit surprised that it has managed to keep at a fairly consistent level, and rare chances for me to spot any lackluster values in its long run. At the very least, its entertaining to a certain degree.
The choice of OST was a little mixed, sadly. The 1st Cour's combination with Kiyoe Yoshioka (vocalist of the Japanese duo Ikimonogakari) and Sangatsu no Phantasia was a perfect introduction with striking visuals and seemingly the best efforts done out from both the OP and ED in terms of style and semblance of the song's narrations, it's almost an instant great start and finish to Spring's episode runs. But when it comes towards the 2nd Cour, I get that they were trying to go for the playful affair with sumika and Eir Aoi's song combination, but it just seemed so boring in comparison to the strong game set by the 1st half, I'm like: "Heck it, just let it finish already." Other than that, it was just decent on an impressive start, only to dip to a somewhat mediocre end.
When it all comes down to it, Kakkou no Iinazuke a.k.a A Couple of Cuckoos needn't be this elaborate in its rom-com setting, but when you have something like a cuckoo bird business running around, it's gonna get messy. And since this is still an ongoing manga, like KanoKari, it has to pad on for God knows how long this love quadrangle affair needs to be resolved, and that's the sad life of a rom-com that doesn't have the luxury of knowing when it would end, except by the authors themselves. I was hoping to read the manga before the anime came out, but the adverse came true, and my gut instinct was correct. It's definitely a mid-tier series when it comes to rom-coms, though it has its decent moments as well. As for the choice whether to delve in the anime or the manga, I would suggest the anime first then the manga, but it goes without saying this: be prepared for endless padding.
AnimeNewbie_
Episode 1 is promising, from 2-9 is ok, episode 10 there's a bomb drop but after that it does nowhere and they never follow the story after that. The ending never tied all the lose endings and we just disappointing, too bad because until the final episode it was a 7 but after that ending is just a strong 5. It doesn't even give you that trill of "ok now I need to read the manga to see where this is going" its just a disappointment after the final episode. Honestly not worth the 6 months invested in it and not recommended.
Elhwing
Kakkou no Iinazuke is a romcom with a harem tag, and I'll go straight to the point : this anime isn't original and doesn't feel unique at all, but that doesn't imply it's a bad one, I'm just pointing it out for readers who might have hoped for something innovative, that's not the case here. To explain my rating and why I recommend it, I'll give you some details about the pros and cons of this anime, without spoiling anything. Pros : + The male mc, Nagi Umino isn't the loser/virgin type you canoften find in that kind of animes, he's similar to mcs like Fuutarou in Gotoubun, or Hachiman in Oregairu. He's assertive, and he'll say what is on his mind without hesitation, which helps making the show more credible at times.
+ Aside from the initial situation of this show with this baby swapping thing at birth, everything else feels coherent. Obviously, in a slice of life context, it doesn't seem hard to achieve such a feat, but I'm trying to emphasize it because it's done better than in other romcoms. ( I'm thinking mostly about the characters' profiles, they all make sense and the show/manga respects the traits given to the chars along the story. )
+ It's linked with the last point, and it's kind of hard to describe without spoiling, but let's say that regarding the harem tag, this show isn't "binary", usually in those romcoms there will be the obviously shy introverted girl, then the obviously extraverted girl etc... In Kakkou no Iinazuke, while the female MC do have some common traits, the story remains interesting because their profiles are kind of similar but different enough at the same time. ( I know this might seem like a detail, but I'm writing about it for the same reason mentionned above : I think this point in particular is done better than the norm for romcoms )
Cons :
- This show contains brocon. Now, to qualify this fact, keep in mind that there's no suggestive scenes at all ( and this show doesn't contain that much fanservice btw ) and there is the usual excuse that those siblings aren't blood related, but yeah, I'm marking this as a con because some viewers will hate the show for this sole reason.
- I think that the pace of the story isn't done really well, but that's kind of a double-edged criteria. On the one hand, if you enjoy the characters and the sol vibe, you'll enjoy every episode and you'll be glad there are 24 of them, but on the other hand, if you are eager to see some quick evolution, plot twists and so on, you'll be heavily dissapointed/bored by the show.
All in all, I recommend Kakkou no Iinazuke for anyone that enjoys romcom : as a matter of fact, the show has an interesting enough cast, and the dynamics between characters all feel coherent, making the story easy to get into and you'll feel much love for your favorite character(s). The main problem with the show is its rythm/length, I reckon that in the span of 24 episodes, there might not be enough things happening, and you shouldn't bother with it if a story focused anime is what you are searching for. Furthermore, this show contains a bit of brocon, nothing unbearable, but it's always questionnable to see that kind of stuff.
not_rei
Kakkou no Iinazuke is basically a Nisekoi ripoff that went too far. This show is one of those animes where it could have ended in the first few episodes and it would have been better that way. It focuses on "rivalry" romance where the mc gets to choose from the selection but the show forgets the essence of that selection. Similar to what other people said in their reviews, the show had a lot of gaps and loose ends, but neither of those were solved, this also includes the manga. Ironically, the latter half of the show is somewhat a bait for the viewers toread the manga to "know more" and yet the manga itself became confusing and made more loose ends.
Overall, save your time and spare yourself from watching this 24-episode show. It is a massive disappointment and it's a show that confuses itself.
Psi18c
If you don't like Slice of Life anime, don't watch this since you will be one of thoes who will be bored because they don't see anything new, no progress, no whatever it is that definies Slice of Life anime. The reason why this anime dosen't have said tag is because there is some progress so it dosen't qualify. However, after watching all 24, I can reasure you that this is a Slice of Life type, even if it's not 100% Slice of Life. And now you understand why this anime gets scores lower then good. Yep, people did not see this anime as a Slice ofLife so of course they where dissapointed that "nothing happens" (despite events and some drama)
Natsude_tanaka
Kakkou no Iinazuke is just a plain average slice of life anime. You thought this was a romance show? well, it is but throughout this season, we only seen the characters do things that you usually see in slice of life then in romance. Do not expect any romance happening in this 24 eps anime because you will not get any. When it comes to Harem anime, what comes to my mind is 5-toubun no Hanayome. All of the girls have some kind of charm to them that makes the show entertain and feel competitive in a way that you will not sure who willwin, P/S Miku is best girl. Anyway, this anime is more like a slow burn romance where the love between our main couple slowly getting to know each and fall in love. Unfortunately, we didnt get to see any of that romance and it felt like the author is just messing around with the viewers by giving us these lame ass characters. First of all, i was surprised that the author is the same as the one who wroted Yamada-kun. To be quite honest, i am disappointed because i really enjoyed Yamada-kun.
Kakkou no Iinazuke's character are so bad and unlikeable. I am ,officially , sick and tired of having a smart mc but a complete tool when it comes to other things. Not only that, his character design is straight up bland and uninteresting to look at. Now, i do not hate this guy completely but he just not enjoyable to watch and the fact that we spent a full episode of him stalking Hiro and Erika around is just another thing to add on the list of dumb thing he's done from a 'smart' student. The girls in this show is not good either but im not gonna waste my time explaining it.
All in all, Kakkou no Iinazuke is an average harem anime. Do not waste your watching this, i beg. If you do not mind wasting your time watching 24 episodes of nothing happening, then go for it.
Chief_AJ
Couple of Cuckoos was interesting, to say the least. The premise of them getting swapped at birth and their parents trying to force them to get married is definitely a first, but overall the anime had its fun moments but failed to really progress at all during the entire second half. If you are going into this show dont expect to get too much romance, because at the end of the day this anime is filled with a bunch of will they won't they moments. Art: 6 To be entirely honest I thought the art style was fine. It wasn't bad, but it wasn’t entirely special.The facial expressions were enjoyable, but overall the character designs were okay at best. What I will say is that the music was pretty good. That caught me by surprise, but I thoroughly enjoyed both openings this anime provided us.
Characters: 7
I actually think that the characters are pretty enjoyable. I think Hiro provides a presence in this anime that is needed, Erika has her charms, and Sachi is kinda your basic anime sister I won't lie. I think the characters gel really well together, if only they went through better development, then the anime would've been better.
Story: 5
It pains me to say it, but the story was kind of eh. It's unfortunate cuz I didn't think the initial premise was terrible, and I thought the first couple of eps did a decent job at introducing all the characters, but keeping all things considered once we hit episode 12, it kind of feels like the anime is just dragging the conclusion for no reason. Overall I would give this anime 6 cucks out of 10.
GG-WP
Harem shows in general have been uninspiring and repetitive, and Kakkou no Iinazuke is no exception. And, given the number of episodes to work with, one might expect the progression between the MC and the potential love interests to take a step forward, but in all honesty, there are not much differences between the first few episodes they were together and the finale. My expectations for harem shows are generally low, but this one had me wondering if it was really worth watching. Nagi is your typical harem MC, and when it comes to seeing girls as a love interest, has generally been dense and unable tosee the appeals of girls surrounding, with the exception of Hiro Segawa, whom, in all honesty, I don't see why he's that interested and wants to be in a relationship with. Segawa-san is easily the least likeable of the three, reminding me of Ichika (the slimy bastard and snake-like trait) and Yotsuba (the cheerful and overall aggressive trait) from 5-toubun. And as for Sachi Umino, she has always had feelings for Nagi, but I'm not sure why she has fallen for him because none of the events or scenes depicted in the series justify her falling for him. The only logical route and girl is, of course, Erika Amano, but, as one might expect, the MC is dense and refuses to admit his feelings for her and see her as a love interest majority of the time. Whatever the show decides to throw at us, Erika should be the one Nagi falls for, or none at all, or we will riot.
The story didn't really progress that much over the course of 24 episodes, and it felt more like a slice-of-life comedy than an actual harem romcom. The show is basically what the premise has written, with some twists here and there but nothing that is a game changer for the show. The OPs and EDs are quite good, giving a good impression of the show and what to expect.
On the surface, the show doesn't appear to have much to offer and is labeled as harem because the MC has three potential love interests. It lacks the I'm a unique show like Kami Nomi and Grisaia, which offers us a fresh and refreshing story with a unique plot. It is a harem show that doesn't feel like a harem because of the slow build up and the fact that the actual romance isn't prevalent throughout the show, only occasionally with some blushing here and there but nothing game changing. With the exception of Erika (obviously the most logical choice of 3), whose interactions with Nagi carried the show, the show's comedy and lightheartedness are mostly a miss. There weren't many awwww, that's sweet and/or heartwarming moments that made you want to root for one or more of them.
Would I recommend the show? Those who enjoy slow-paced romcoms and/or slice-of-life stories with little to no plot, most likely. And I suppose if you're okay with trash harem formulaic shows, you'll enjoy this one as well? With many unanswered questions, this season is clearly a set-up for Season 2.
ashar003
It's like my 3rd review out of the 200+ shows I've watched and I'm writing just to warn you that don't waste 8 hours on this thing. (Mild spoilers ahead) It started as a romance and switched genre to harem midway and in these 24 episodes nothing happened besides that like no noticeable progress. The One or Two weak attempts on mysteries weren't answered, no kiss or anything like that, MC still doesn't know what he's going to do and I'm pretty sure this won't be getting a 2nd season so no need to waste 8 hours on an epilogue like content.
Candra02
if you really finished 24 episodes for this boring anime, like i did, i commend your dedication, but sometimes i really question the decisions i make, like keep watching time after time and when i finish watching it i immediately rush to write this review and I don't really like it. in terms of story which is quite interesting like the Protagonist of a diligent male harem has become the archetype of recurring characters, such as Futaro Uesugi from The Quintessential Quintuplets, or Nariyuki Yuiga, from We Never Learn. I'm sure though, that Umino Nagi is one of the worst harem protagonists I've ever seen.He is smart but stupid at the same time
Shunkies
I wouldn't bother watching this show. I gave it a shot and at the end....nothing happened. It's the same old issue with harems where the author wants to continue making it so none of the characters ever commit to anything. I haven't read the manga so maybe some things change, however trust me when I say that NOTHING happens this entire series. The characters don't get fleshed out at all. The MC seems interesting and different at the beginning of the series but slowly turns into a sack of nothingness that most all harem MCs are. The girls are just average as well. I haveNO idea why Sachi is even involved in this story. She adds nothing to the harem at all and it seems like she is just in here to kill time.
Zukutoo
Okay, lets be honest. I thought that this might be THE romcom I wanted to watch. Not just a 12 episode long series where every episode feels like a filler. (This anime has 24 episodes. Its just an example.) It started pretty good. I was hyped because I thought that the plot is actually pretty deep so It cant be just a "normal" romcom. Well, It is. Through the whole series I thought, "Why do they take this so lightly? They were swapped at birth and meet their real parents after 16 years so why?" I thought that this anime would be a bit moreserious.
It started pretty good, I liked the character and I expected an interesting show. After some episodes, though, I noticed that it isnt what I expected. But here is the thing. You might think "Then why did you continue to watch it? Just drop it" Well, everytime I felt like I wanted to drop this anime, something happened that gave me hope. Hope that this anime might still get more interesting. But shortly after, they just continue like nothing happened. At the end of the day, I finished this anime and was dissapointed.
Plot: 3/10
Yeah, like I said: The start was pretty interesting. Swapped in the hospital by accident and then meeting their real parents 16 years later.
The rest, however, was dissapointing. They just did what they always do, like nothing happened. Its like they didnt even care. Its not like they just found out that their family with whom they lived for 16 years isnt their real family.
Character: 5/10
There was very little character developement. Also, like I said, I dont get how they take their situation so lightly. There were only 2 characters who had a bit of developement in this series. The rest were pretty boring characters. There is one character I though was really interesting but that character had about 10 minuetes of screen time so...
Sound and VA: 6/10
First of all: The openings. Liked them. It was nothing special but I liked them. Its nothing I would listen to in privat but they were fine.
I liked the endings too. The first was better than the second imo. But again, nothing I would listen to in privat.
The OST's were also pretty basic I guess. Nothing special. The only one I really liked was when someone in the anime thought of something in the past. You will know what I mean if you watched it.
The VA's were fine. Dont get me wrong, they did a good job. But, Its the same as any other romcom. Nothing too special. Props to the VA of the mc though. The MC screams pretty often and the VA did good.
Animation and art: 7/10
The animation was pretty decent. I really liked the facial expressions and the character designs. The outfits are also pretty cool.
What I liked the most was when a character smiled.
So, I will say this: Dont expect too much if you want to watch this anime. You will be dissapointed at the end.
ShikaNemu
I actually enjoyed A Couple of Cuckoos, not because it’s good, but just because it’s kind of fun sometimes. Most of the jokes aren’t even that funny, but my bar for comedy is so low that I found myself smiling anyway. Like, I genuinely laugh at repetitive and unfunny stuff, so it’s not hard to see why this anime worked for me on some level. The animation’s alright, not amazing, but not bad either. And the OST is Totally forgettable. That said, the writing is honestly terrible. The characters are super poorly written. Not a single one is actually likable and none of them have any realdepth. They keep making dumb decisions that don’t even make sense half the time.
Executor23
As it always is with these kinds of rom-coms, it gets us hyped with first few episodes with some unique plot point – being exchanged in hospital to another family, and parents of both exchanged children decide together to get them married to each other. After this event, it is as basic and average as one can imagine. There is no element that ruins the show. The problem is that it is incredibly plain. Nothing major happens, no real development, just day-to-day mundane life of a betrothed teen couple living together. Although the show sometimes brings some interesting twist, it fades away after some time orremains unsolved.
The main cast is likable and frustrating to follow at the same time. The male hero is not totally lame – he is very intelligent and shows some courage (being able to beat up delinquents) – but even with that, he is still pretty generic. He panics all the time, screams all the time like a little brat, and seriously, why is he tripping over so often…
When it comes to girl cast (three of them in total), they have each their own charm – beautiful character designs and likable personalities; interactions between the main cast are mostly fine, but nothing groundbreaking. Since these interactions are the main part of the story, it requires more focus on character development, which is lacking in this show. Jokes are cheap and cliche like in all generic rom-coms; nothing funny.
While the artstyle is beautiful and colorful, and the show sounds promising at the beginning, it abandons its premise and becomes very formulaic slice of life show right after introductory episodes with no substance or romantic development. If it was more focused on those heavy segments of the story that are scattered here and there (an actual story), I could imagine this show being way better.
Pros:
+ gorgeous artstyle and character designs
+ main female cast is likable
Cons:
- very plain – nothing really happens
- weak character development
- cheap, boring, almost non-existent jokes
Double-edged:
+/- male protagonist is a mixed bag
+/- character interactions are not bad, just generic
+/- has some very intense parts, but is overall inconsistent
5/10 (AVERAGE)
patkarunungan
Kakkou no Iinazuke (カッコウの許嫁), translates literally to 'The Cuckoo's Fiancé(e)'. Since 許嫁 can either be male or female, it has been rendered into its English title 'A Couple of Cuckoos.' I watched this to catch up to this anime's Season 2, which is a Summer 2025 seasonal. § Overview Amano Erika and Umino Nagi were swapped at birth. Later on, to rectify this, the parents who raised them agreed that both should get married. They are thus engaged. Whilst they don't like this engagement, time will tell if they will develop feelings for each other or find somebody else to love.§ Notes
1. There's no literal cuckoos involved, but the title is apt regarding one basic fact about cuckoos. They tend to leave their hatchlings to other birds so that these birds raise them as if they're their own. It's a somewhat useful metaphor for how the switch at birth happens.
This first season doesn't make it clear if Erika and Nagi are the titular cuckoo couple. It's unanswered. And if they are the cuckoo couple, it feels unsettling if you imagine possible storylines involving their hypothetical children.
2. The baby swapping at birth is a trope that watchers of soap operas are sick and tired of, at least in my country. An iconic kdrama, Autumn in My Heart, used this trope.
Whilst this trope is the bane of soap operas, this anime succeeds in making this trope feel fresh. It provides justification for some commonly used anime tropes, namely 'engagement of unwilling couples' as well as brocon.
3. At first glance, this seems to be a generick harem that follows the formula of The Quintessential Quintuplets. A studious guy and three girls navigate their feelings.
But there's a twist. Nagi isn't the top guy in class. It's Hiro, and Nagi is working his ass off to overthrow Hiro's position so she would date him.
4. I like that Season 1 limits the girls to only three (there's a new girl in Season 2, and she is hinted at in one of the episodes) and has 24 episodes. Those who watched this anime when it was released might have been bored, but for those with access to the entire season, you can feel that this anime takes its time to characterise each girl and make them compelling for Nagi. It doesn't always succeed as the treatment seems uneven, but there's enough effort to appreciate.
5. The two openings and the two closing songs are catchy. This show should be generick, but it seems the studio gave this anime the best ingredients, so to speak.
Not just how good the songs chosen for the OP and ED are, the visuals are on point. It has a nice colour scheme that makes it visually pleasant. This can be seen in the OP/ED. The storyboarding is great.
6. I'm just not pleased that Nagi's character design is generick. The author probably thought of him as a self-insert, hence Nagi was illustrated as such, but he is way too decent a character to be reduced to a self-insert.
§ Conclusion
If you've watched so many harems already, this anime has nothing groundbreaking about it. It's just that it's well executed, and several elements are working in its favour. That's why I recommend it.
NOTA BENE: A grade of 6 out of 10 means that I find this anime slightly above average, and I enjoyed watching it.
A 6 means a decent score and one notch above average. If you're the kind of viewer who treats anything below a 7 as irredeemable, I'd encourage a broader, more nuanced approach to rating.
My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4, I actively dislike it.
Avengers007
A Rom-Com harem anime, it has a fairly complicated storyline. To be honest, I wouldn't even tell much since the main complications are clear within some episodes. Honestly, I have never seen a romantic anime that twists in this way. Comedy is subjective; some moments made me laugh. The whole angle with family-romantic relationships was, to me, quite strange-not something I am really used to watching. To round it up, I found that the happy ending was so good, except for the whole family matter. So I give it a rating of 7 out of 10, albeit with mixed feelings.
Cynthesia
My expectations for this show weren't high. I went into it with the full expectation of it being a mildly entertaining but ultimately average romcom harem show. Incredibly, despite the bar being in hell, it doesn't even manage that. Instead, I was treated to some of the most obnoxious and tedious episodes I've seen in one of these kinds of shows. The only actual important part of these kinds of shows are the characters, more specifically the girls. Generally speaking you should expect a loose through line that connects a bunch of stereotypical events which are held up by the girls' personalities and fanservice. Idon't think they got the memo about the second half of that statement because this cast is horrendous. The main character, Umino, has the easiest job available as the main character. Initially you would expect him to be a proactive yet stoic character based on his profile, someone who puts studying above all else but looks after those he cares about to a fault. Instead he's nothing but a massive idiot who overthinks every situation and has a personality that drags down every scene he's in, which isn't exactly great when you're the main character. Even the herbivore men who populate the modern landscape of romcoms outperform him because they typically receive some amount of characterization and development (and generally have low presence compared to their female counterparts). His flaws become worse as the show makes attempts at introducing plot elements because despite being the smartest in his grade he's unable to figure out the extremely basic nature of his situation. Everything about him runs contrary to the kind of character he was set up to be and he alone prevents this show from reaching mediocrity.
It's not as if he's receiving much help from the female end either. The main girl, Erika, is equally as obnoxious although not to as egregious of a degree as Umino since she's at least supposed to be annoying. The core issue with her mainly comes from how the show attempts to portray their relationship. Umino and Erika have the least chemistry of any of the pairings, and yet every other character constantly goes on about how they're a surprisingly good match. This isn't even a case of "they fight a lot so they must get along" there is nothing going on between them whatsoever. They attempt to rectify this a little in the second half by forcing them to interact more often but it comes across as entirely inauthentic and fails to compel me. As a consequence, the only character Umino actually has any chemistry with, Segawa, is constantly being mistreated and just as deliberately written out of scenarios. The early moments between Segawa and Umino are the only moments in the entire show that I actually enjoyed because they have natural chemistry and a connection that actually progresses reasonably. It's just such a pain when you go from a Segawa episode into an Erika episode because the absolute gap in quality of interaction and story is extreme. Again, I think they realized this and had to run "damage control" in order to make the standings slightly more even, coming at the hefty cost of Segawa being benched and repeating the same few scenes for the entire second half. The third character, Sachi, also has decent chemistry with Umino and has a somewhat compelling plotline but even more than Segawa she feels like a background character more than anything else. Sachi is allowed the least amount of time in the spotlight, even during arcs which are supposed to be hers.
The show's characters suffer mainly from an unapologetic amount of favoritism. I get that Erika is supposed to be the main girl but every interaction she has with Umino comes across as forced and inauthentic. The cast of girls isn't even as large as most harem shows, which usually standardize at four girls, and yet the distribution of screen time is insanely lopsided. None of the characters experience any development either. Their personalities stay exactly the same from episode one to episode 24, which isn't exactly a good thing when most of their personalities are their weakest aspect. In terms of Umino he actually loses important parts of his character as the show goes on, transitioning into someone who's constantly yelling about the situation at hand. This can also be observed in Segawa although that could just be a product of her screentime constantly dwindling.
They also suffer a lot from the show's absolute lack of direction. The core premise is initially fine but then it just never goes anywhere and if you even think about it for more than a couple seconds it falls apart easily. There isn't much of a plot, character specific or overarching, either. Sachi is the one that has the most semblance of one but Erika and Segawa mainly revolve around a feedback loop of watching Umino interact with the other girl and getting grumpy about it. I mentioned earlier that they attempt to introduce some plot elements later in the show, but these end up being so incredibly weak that it only added to my frustration with the characters. Many characters attempt to add some sort of deeper meaning by speaking vaguely to Umino, and even though the things that they tell him are not difficult to understand and he's supposed to be a "smart character" he broods over them like some kind of Neanderthal. Episodes don't even feel connected, they'll end in one place and start somewhere else only to loosely pick up the events of the previous episode(s) in some other location. This is especially felt in the later episodes as the amount of flashbacks, reused footage, and drawn out scenes begin to skyrocket. I was actually surprised that this ended up being a two cour show because episode 12 felt so much like an ending point, and everything after it felt incredibly redundant.
It doesn't help that the show has piss poor production value. Your reward for putting up with all this garbage isn't even some nice looking anime girls because the show is just ugly. High animation budget isn't a requirement to make one of these but it seems they spent all their budget acquiring big voice acting names rather than anyone who's ever drawn moving characters before. I don't think the animators truly understands the function of perspective or how to utilize it properly because whenever a character has to move in a non linear direction it looks horrible. Everything just looks choppy and amateurish as well and it's clear they ran out of budget halfway through because, as mentioned before, the amount of reused scenes and panning slideshows starts to ramp up considerably. Another case of not meeting incredibly low expectations. They do make a lot of attempts at fanservice but they typically fail because they both don't commit enough and the artstyle doesn't compliment that kind of thing anyway. The characters generally look very average but that doesn't cut it when the entire point of the show is to make you like the characters.
I really did not like this show. Every episode compounded the issues of the last and by the end of it I was so annoyed with it all. It's not even a show that's so bad or ridiculous that you can laugh at it. It's so painfully mediocre and obnoxious that it's genuinely difficult to sit through episodes. There's a very set blueprint for these kinds of things and they stick to it a little too rigorously, all the while option selection the worst possible choice at every turn. The bar is in hell, and they couldn't even manage that.
raisin-kun
It's been a while since an anime opened up without a cold open and jumped straight in with the opening song. And the opening of Kakkou no Iinazuke is pretty great. It's punchy, catchy, creative, vibrant, well directed and animated, and overall just feel-good. Everything this anime isn't. Warning: This review CONTAINS SPOILERS (but this show sucks and has very poor sense of foreshadowing so it honestly doesn't matter) and is quite long The Westermarck Effect is clearly a product that has not yet found import into Japan. I haven't seen such aggressive pandering on incest since Domestic Girlfriend. But whilst Domestic Girlfriend actually went into thecharacters' psyches and explored how a relationship such as being in love with your (not like they're blood related) sibling could actually impact your life and the relationships of the people around you, this series doesn't scratch a single micrometer past its initial gimmick. And that's the whole problem with this show- it's all just pandering without any sort of pay-off. There's a distinct lack of any sort of direction being applied to this series outside of being a pure, cold-blooded advert for the manga because I make no small assertion when I say this anime, at it's hollow core, does nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The cast is made up of some of the most unlikable dregs hauled over from the south side of Rent A Girlfriend. We have our supposedly smart male protagonist who lacks any sort of common sense. We have the classmate he has a crush on. We have the one he was swapped at birth with and is engaged to and is the most nonsensical tsundere I have ever seen. And we have the little sister. None of these characters have any sort of redeeming qualities to them and none of them rise above the haphazardly -stapled-together-skeleton of tropes and cliches they are made of. I'll get into more detail on them later. The anime sets him up quite well early on as he has a goal of winning the heart of his classmate Segawa Hiro by taking first place in school marks since she has a strong inclination towards those better than her yet the MC always remained second-best to her. It's this small plot point that mixes with his mutually-unwanted engagement with the second harem member Amano Erika that drives the story for the first few episodes as the anime focuses on the hi-jinks and escapades which result from such a ridiculous situation.
Umino Nagi - our proud harem protagonist - is just every other generic harem protagonist who is perverted, indecisive, always misunderstands every situation, selfish, and just a huge moron in general - yet he somehow is surrounded by girls who like him for no reason. I'm constantly surprised by how stupid the anime can make him look every episode. It's actually impressive how awful he is. When given a simple thought experiment to determine who he loves, he ends up with all three of the main girls (including his own sister mind you) and it's this indecisiveness that kills any sort of serious character interaction in this show. Segawa Hiro seems like a nice girl at first but the actions she takes as the series goes on - especially near the end - are so bizarre and almost cruel. I'm sure she was intended to have some sort of implication that she wanted to escape from her fate (she's also engaged against her will) but she practically constantly leads-on Nagi with various "dates" and other fun interactions - knowing that he likes her - and yet afterwards always ends with "Yeah no I'm engaged" which ditches him in his mire of indecisive thoughts and a cold, ambiguous feeling of what her real feelings are. It's not just the main character being naturally a massive idiot who overthinks things but Segawa doesn't help at all.
Of course this means nothing actually happens between them the entire runtime of this anime. And get used to that because nothing happens with every other contrived plot the author managed to shit out. Amano Erika is supposedly the main girl of he show given her status as the main character's fiance and the token tsundere of the harem. Yet for her supposed importance she is given very little spotlight. Her interactions with the male lead are limited and forced. And it was so easy for it not to be since she shares the same opinion with our male lead that arranged marriages in the modern world is stupid and they could have naturally build up from that. Instead, because this anime has no concept of pacing, her time on the screen is butchered apart and smeared thin throughout the anime. Because of this there's no consistency between her actions. Is she trying to help Nagi get together with Segawa like in the first few episodes? Or is she being a jealous bitch trying to ruin that pairing at all cost like in most of the second half? Because we see so little of what she thinks and feels all if it is jarring to say the least. She's also the one who introduces one of the stupidest and out-of-place plot twist in fiction with the introduction of her (Nagi's biological) older brother near the goddamn end of the show. It's a valiant attempt to give her any sort of personality and try to justify her also starting to lead on Nagi but it comes off as unnecessary and too-little-too-late. And how does this anime treat this pretty important plot development which is almost as contrived and bullshit as Nisekoi's keys? Nothing. I told you this show doesn't do any sort of payoff.
And finally there's the little sister Umino Sachi. I don't know where Japan's obsession with incest is but I can honestly forgive that as a simple quirk if only she was given any sort of writing to explain why she is so thirsty for her brother. The anime just writes this off as "Oh yeah, incest. That's a thing" and shoves it down our throats without questioning exactly how these two siblings would develop any sort of romantic feelings towards each other. They literally just do it to pander to the incest imouto audience because it is quite literally just dropped in like Sachi goes all "Oh so he's not my biologically-related brother that means I can sleep with him". The series makes no attempt to explore anything about her developing feelings towards Nagi and it plays the same game of "Will they won't they" with those two as it does with Nagi and every other girl. And you know what's worse? The anime actively encourages the shipping between Nagi and his sister. Segawa, Erika, and the poorly-written father guy are not averse to such a relationship and I can deduce this to be more pandering from the writers. It wouldn't even be so bad if Sachi was actually given any sort of personality but she never steps outside the "imouto who is jelly of her onii chan and wants his dick" circle. And she isn't even the only incest wannabe. Erika is also unable to escape such a fate as the author seems to believe that it is not possible for siblings to grow up together and NOT want to bone each other. It really baffles my mind how such a simple premise was turned into unironic incest pandering this hard without the full intention of the hack of an author.
I haven't seen a piece of romance fiction where the characters have this little chemistry with each other. It's written like some predictive text AI that was fed bargain bin mid-2000s harem anime because the anime seems to think that loud and funny interactions is the way people grow to like each other romantically when in fact the end product is contrived, uninspired, and generic and doesn't make me like the characters in any way. Thanks to the actual lack of substance in the screenplay, this has got to be one of the slowest anime ever made. It has 24 episodes yet the amount of major developments is small and spread thin. Half of every episode is narrative chafe that pads out it's runtime with the aforementioned loud haha funnies. The actual "story" so to say is mostly made up of a bucket list of every harem romcom ever made and there's little done to add any sort of twist to it. It's so generic I could see the curve of every half-baked interaction between the characters and tell exactly where the story was going at every minute. There's almost no setup for any of the few plot points that grind this anime along its rusty tracks and the anime ends seemingly in the middle of an arc so there's no resolution to any of these initial setups. Though you can forgive yourself for being unable to find any sort of story arc in this show since it's mostly made up of random scenes that are hastily glued together with little thought as to what level of progress the characters are actually on. And yeah they do progress. Slowly. Eventually. Sometimes. As the series went on it became a complete chore to watch. I got tired after the male lead walked in on a bath scene like it was 2003 (which was played completely straight). I got tired after the 5th time the little sister basically said she wanted to bone her brother. I got tired after the 7th time the parents outshone the rest of the cast but quickly got shafted. I got tired after the 7th time Erika did some poorly designed and drawn cosplay as some sort of attempt to give her a quirky character trait but ended up being a cringe-fest instead. I got tired after the 9th time they brought up "fate" as a theme but then immediately abandoned it for more stupid scenes. I got tired after the 5th time this one comic relief character whose whole shtick is that he's the funny man whose name no-one remembers isn't being funny at all. I got tired when they tried to bait a new character (the missing childhood friend trope) very late into the series in a hypothetical second season. I just got tired.
The animation is like the story and characters - hollow and lifeless. Off-model and awkward movement is the norm for the entire anime from the first episode to the last. There are even scenes where there is more than one character and each character looks like they were drawn by two different people who didn't check what the other was doing. There are plenty of examples of the characters looking less like humans and more like garden gnomes since their heads are drawn way larger than the proportion of their bodies. And the same is true for the opposite in many shots where the head is too small. I would like to say this happens only a few times but it's an epidemic in this series. It really feels like no one checked it and everything was rushed. The actual anime also has a cheap feel to it with it's terribly bland colour scheme and it's often poor mixing of backgrounds and foregrounds. The cheap feeling also spills over into the direction. There's an uncomfortably high frequency of extreme close-up shots of the character's faces for literally no reason. It's especially prevalent just past the halfway point of the show where I was mostly internally screaming at the screen to just pull back the camera for even a few seconds because the camera was that close to the character's mug shots. To be fair most of the wide-angle shots are poorly animated so this must have been a way to save on time since faces are less detailed than full bodies. There's very little polishing done in this show outside of some select few scenes and indeed this show can look good. I think the character designs are generally quite cute and the opening gives us some nice expressions and body language we never see in the rest of the show.
The music is similarly boring to listen to. I really don't remember any unique songs in the entire 2 cour runtime that made me think of anything.Only both opening songs are worth remembering in any capacity. The voice acting was passable for the most part though half of the cast seemed to phone-in their roles. Touyama Nao gets man-of-the-match for managing to not sound completely bored the entire time and actually trying to make the terrible script work. Poor Kitou Akari and Ishikawa Kaito should fire whoever got them their respective roles since there was nothing they could say that wasn't filled with cringe. Kitou Akari does a good performance for the most part and I could feel from the character that she was having some fun. But of course her character is completely butchered and she can't even get 5 seconds of great emotional acting. Poor Kouhara Konomi doesn't sound like she got any sort of direction at all. She's fine for the most part but she does get some of the worst lines in the anime aside from Ishikawa.
If I'll be honest I personally started this show because I wanted to see some of that mid-2000s' cheesiness. Maybe I could capture the free pre-censor-happy spirit from that time that is translated for the modern audience to enjoy and generally just have a good-hearted vibe. But instead I got egregious pandering, some of the worst waifu baiting from the modern era that all started with Nisekoi, a nonsensical tone, and a complete lack of direction on behalf of the author, writers, and directors who simply used this cheaply-made anime as an advert for an equally slow and insipid manga. And yes I checked a small part of the manga since I couldn't believe the lack of faith I felt from this project. Maybe the staff genuinely put their heart into adapting this work but were beset by common troubles leading to the poor quality. Maybe they just did it for the paycheck since SynergySP are a relatively small studio who had to collaborate with the larger but-still-obscure Shin Ei Animation. I heavily suspect that there was some break-down in communication that lead to such an awful product being produced. But I can't give a pass on the author on this one. I haven't read Yamada and the 7 witches but from what I've heard it's a pretty standard romcom harem as well but a generally well-respected one in the community. I have no idea if he watched Eromanga Sensei and thought that was the way to go but damn I hope this doesn't spread further.
So yeah this anime is pretty bad. I can't believe I found a worse harem romcom than fucking Rent A Girlfriend. That anime has far more despicable characters but it was at least somewhat interesting to watch what with seeing the main "character" self-destructing the entire time. Kakkou no Iinazuke offers far less. It's pandering to it's absolute zenith at the cost of any sort of positive writing. 24 episodes man. You could do way better.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
