There is not a single room that Mona Kawai enters where she does not become the center of attention—dealing with this everlasting spotlight is but a fact of her daily life. Mona's absolute confidence in her own charms, however, is shaken when she meets Medaka Kuroiwa, a recent transfer student to her highschool. Unlike all other classmates who constantly fawn over her, Medaka frowns every time they interact. Seeing his disinterest as something to be rectified, Mona pulls out all the stops in the hopes of winning Medaka over, only to be met with one stern face after another.
Turns out, Medaka's indifference to Mona stems from his wish to one day become a monk, and hence must leave all worldly desires behind. As the unknowing Mona ramps up her attacks on Medaka, all her antics might lead her into falling for him instead.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Stark700
Watching Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsuujinai (Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms) feels like a social experiment between main characters Mona Kawai and Medaka Kuroiwa. The school is part of their experiment where from the first episode, Mona tries to get Medaka's attention through her charms. And his response? Medaka is seemsingly imprevious to those charms. Mona is the campus queen at school and it shouldn't take long to see why. She has the look, personality, and presence of a girl everyone looks up. Wherever she goes, almost everyone admires her. In the hierarchy of school steroetypes, her status is amongthe highest tier and Mona of course is the poster girl of her own show. But this isn't just about Mona because a boy named Medaka is seemingly immune to her charms. This is where the bulk of the storytelling takes place. Every week, the rom-com involves the two in some type of shenanigan.
Medaka should be labeled as a misunderstood character. His physical demeanor gives the impression of an unfriendly person when in reality, he is a selfless, kind young man. The way he responds to Mona's flirtious advances is because of his training as a monk to avoid contact with girls. In a social experiment sense, this anime feels like a test for him and his biggest obstacle is Mona. Ironically, the harder Mona tries using her tactics, the more she seems to fall for Medaka herself. While it isn't too obvious at first, she often can't get Medaka out of her head. Although this type of rom-com trope isn't an unusual plot twist, it does add more context to Mona's character. She's obviously a character with flaws, whether it's her own insecurity or feeling jealous towards rivals.
Yes, you heard that right. While Mona is the campus queen, she doesn't have every single person's undivided attention. In fact, she encounters rivals such as basketball star Asahi Shonan. In the most rom-com fashion, the two often gets into contests to get Medaka's attention. This extends beyond the classroom doors and even into Medaka's personal life. And the funny part, both of them seem to always come up with mischievous ideas on the spot. There are some moments where either of them have some prep time but the results are mixed. Like a social experiment, Asahi adds another layer of rom-com drama to the show. On Mona's side, she also does have supporters to push her to be Medaka. These include her secret admirer Tsubomi and childhood friend Tomo. Their character debuts are almost like polar opposites but for a rom-com's sake, they fit to this show's tropes.
Perhaps Mona is a make or break for most people watching this series. She can be a polarizing character for the audience because underneath her seemingly perfect persona, she is a vulnerable character. Her feelings can be all over the place at times, challenging herself whether she keep up her act. In reality, she tries her best to appear to be perfect but is a character full of flaws. Her overreactions and being jealous when Medaka gives attention to other girls is just an example. Fundamentally, she is a friendly person at heart and isn't malicious even though she uses some questionable tactics at times to get Medaka's attention. But the most oblivious part about her character is that she doesn't understand what love really is. It seems at several occasions, other characters realize that Mona developed feelings for Medaka yet she doesn't realize it herself. This is a recurring gag that is explored later in the show, and whenever we see how Mona reacts about her own feelings, it gets downplayed by herself.
As viewers may expect, Mona is the most lavishly decorated character in the entire show with her cute looks and expressions. Sure, she puts up on an act most of the the time but the anime wanted each of her moments to shine. This is especially highlighted in early episodes whenever Mona's face is close up towards Medaka's. Through usage of colorful body language and expressions, she really does represent the poster girl. Almost each episode has her wake up and dress up as a character highlight. The camera angles also adds fan service at times and Mona is often at the receiving end of those angles. In contrast, Medaka has a seemingly cardboard box face that is easily misunderstood by others. It's through their character chemistry that pushes the boundaries at what this rom-com can accomplish.
Regardless how far Mona is willingly get Medaka's attention, this anime stays true to its main premise from start to finish. The concern of a 12-episode adaptation does make this look more like an advertisment of the manga than a full series. But at the end of the day, Mona does her best to be what the show advertised and taking the 'notice me senpai' meme far than anyone else this year.
KANLen09
Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms — Dear Shinto God, can you help me get someone off the face of the Earth so I can focus on strengthening my "Clear mind, clear spirit" pure beliefs? What, you can't do that because you can't control who I fall for? That's blasphemy! "He fell first, (but) she fell harder." This trope has been forthcoming recently in AniManga these days, so it's increasingly difficult to not notice such tricks like these, which quickly become annoying to ignore. Case in point, mangaka Ran Kuze's Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsuujinai a.k.a Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to MyCharms, a rom-com so incredibly ridiculous that you might be wondering if the MCs eventually get to the "will they, won't they" moment, plain and simple?
No matter how much time you've been watching anime, there's one absolute thing that you need to know when it comes to romance series: either get to the point (like Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu a.k.a I Have a Crush at Work) or tread between the lines by being wishy-washy about it, and predictably, Kuroiwa Medaka falls into the latter spectrum by being a generic rom-com, but with a twist.
You know how in every rom-com series, especially in the school setting, there's always the handsome boy or pretty girl that is the talk of his/her own school? Well, here I welcome you to the self-proclaimed Queen Bee that is 2nd-year student Mona Kawai: her A++ looks, style, and personality all fit to impress both sexes with her easy-to-get tactics, which have all pairs of eyes dawn on her for an impression that people will not forget. Of course, this extends to her class, where the same rhetorics play all the same...until she reaches one particular guy named Medaka Kuroiwa. As much as she attempts to play her ideals all the same, et al., he does not get through to her, always shifting his focus away from her as much as possible with his "clear mind, clear spirit" mantra since he is a monk-in-training for his family's temple. Obviously, the word "romance" doesn't apply to him from the get-go, which frustrates Mona a lot. She tries her best each and every time with her goody-two-shoes personality, only to be met by the boy's cynicism of "Why is she trying so hard to win my favour when she can just leave me alone and let it be"? This then, creates the rom-com tale of an egoistic girl wanting validation against a boy who just wants a pure life, at the cusp of entering into a taboo relationship that destroys his faith all the more.
At first glance, there is just nothing going along for both Mona and Medaka, even though they're like Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. a.k.a Komi Can't Communicate's MCs Shouko Komi and Hitohito Tadano, only taking off what's pleasant about them and filling in almost every rom-com garbage that you can stick to their faces. The endless cliché comedic gags that sometimes veer much into fanservice territory are the extent of "misunderstandings" that Mona tries to win Medaka over to her side, but the latter would not give her any time of his day, even alongside his friends Sho Kobayakawa and Yuzuru Kido, as well as Tsubomi Haruno, who's the obsession queen for Mona, and are the mediators between the two to try and make their relationship work. It's a point of irritation, really, until the arrival of rivals in the forms of Asahi Shonan (alongside her best friend Minami Shirahama) and Mona's childhood friend Tomo Nanba, which really gets the rom-com rival aspect going to persist the Queen Bee that she's in love with the Shinto boy, and vice versa. At times I just want to say that this comedy kinda falls flat on its two feet, but it's this same comedy feature that ironically makes the source material work in the first place. So have it what you will, because you'll either come to love it or hate it with a fiery passion.
It's clear that there isn't an ounce of effort when it comes to the production of the show overall. I mean, this is not like some noteworthy work that revolutionizes something out of nothing, but for storyboarder-turned-director Yoshiaki Okumura and studio SynergySP, this seems like the most mediocre to fine effort that does enough to service fans of the manga that's translated onto the small screen. It's just there, but with how repetitive the opening frames with Mona's A++ sequence really are, it turns old very fast.
About the best thing that the anime can muster is definitely in the OP song, which comes from Hololive VTuber sub-unit AyaFubuMi (consisting of Nakiri Ayame, Shirakami Fubuki, and Ookami Mio). It's a perfect song for the show and is quite the catchy tune, if I say so myself. While the ED songs with Kaori Maeda and Rikako Aida are nothing much, at least they're decent alongside Akiyuki Tateyama's OST for the show.
I remember telling myself eons ago that Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsuujinai a.k.a Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms, is a manga that's been on my PTW list long before the anime came out and was into romance series at the time. Though I can say now that with the anime, Medaka Kuroiwa is more or less a guilty pleasure than anything, if the worth is worth calculating by. It's like Mean Girls, but replace the bad with the cringes from cutesy to forced love innuendos that even I will cringe at best at how not to write sufferable characters this way.
It's an attempt at giving the rom-com genre a twist, alright, but this just isn't it.
Chuy_diazz
Despite the fact that it constantly tries to brainwash you into joining the cult that praises its female protagonist... this wasn't the worst of the season. It was only the second worst. The story is about a pretty girl, her only charm is being pretty, and everyone loves her, or should love her, just for being pretty. Then there's our protagonist, who follows religious beliefs, which causes him to ignore the main character's "flirting." This is an anime that repels you due to the personalities of the girls in this series. In the first half, the story is more about a cult's desperate attempt to gaina new follower. Something I feel is forced within the script is that the supporting characters constantly have to say something positive about the protagonist. It feels as if the story itself can't highlight these points in an organic way. This ends up making the supporting characters' words feel robotic and automated. They're just attempts to convince the viewer to see in the girl what this anime world sees. In the end, all you see is a script with no basis and detestable characters, to the point that for the first time you want an episode to be less than 20 minutes long. Continuing within the first half of the anime, there is no respect for the protagonist or her personal space. The girl displays behaviors and actions that, beyond romance, border on harassment. Even so, the anime wants you to believe that the main character is to blame for not allowing himself to be kissed or hugged by force, and you for judging the main character in this story.
On the positive side, we have the second half. A section of the story that decided to balance its weaknesses with strengths it didn't know it had. What serves to patch up the dull aspects is the integration of more secondary characters who serve as a counterweight to the protagonist. As the story progresses, it becomes more tolerable. I can't say it improves substantially, but the episodes aren't as tedious as the first ones of the season. By having these counterbalances, the protagonist goes from a Madonna with no personality or charisma to a Madonna with no personality or charisma who's a little more likable. No matter how hard the anime tries to sell you on the protagonist as the ideal girl, other girls end up catching your attention. Not because they're pretty or anything like that, but because they have a personality beyond just being pretty. She can be a cool athlete who flirts with the boy she likes or a best friend who likes to observe others, whether to hang out with them or just annoy them.
While Kuroiwa Medaka wasn't the worst of the season, I still can't say I recommend it. On the contrary, if you can ignore that this anime ever even existed, your quality of life will improve exponentially.
CLINANIME
MEDAKA US IMPERVIOUS TO MY CHARMS-If you are gonna give the anime a title then stick to it. Impervious my ass, in no world or alternate reality is how he reacts to her charms identified as impervious or is she just to blind to know that it’s taking every ounce of strength he has to just contain himself after she pulls any of her stunt. When I heard to title I was excited to watch an anime where the main heroine who’s a narcissist tries to win over the male lead who acts cool and nonchalant not a heroine who doesn’t think or strategize beforeshe acts.
Don’t even get me started on that monk crap the guy doesn’t even know the first thing about becoming a monk and it would be better if the guy just gave up on that crap completely cus lemme tell you now bro it ain’t working for you. Being a monk doesn’t mean erasing the worldly desires cus one can truly do that it means overcoming them so advice for “my guy” “bro it’s embarrassing for you and me who watched you.
Now let’s discuss the heroine if you want to pull stunt at least be funny so we can have something to laugh about not embarrass yourself so much that all we feel is pity.
Finally, what’s with that gesture he always makes, I mean c’mon each time I see him do that I wonder if the word impervious was actually researched before making this. I wanted a cool nonchalant Mc, is that to much to ask, not one who’s life dream is to shave his head and live in some smelly old temple.(no disrespect intended)
But then again this is just my view yours is yours you might actually be the type to like an “impervious” male lead as lame and permeable as he is or a narcissist heroine as clumsy and pitiable as she is so I say again not my place to judge give it a watch if you want but remember the four hours your life are never gonna come back. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID.
Written by TRUST CEO.
Tharr
*sigh* This sh***y so-called rom-com anime ended. *sigh* The good things: I don't know. The drawings for eyes and the sparkly stars & bubbles bokeh overlay? I mean the same, generic, nowadays stuff. Thats like saying, I don't know, drinking unpolluted water is good? Visuals are meh at best, mostly yuck. The way they walk, the designs, the color palette, animation, everything. The audio is again meh. I haven't noticed the soundtrack, or I don't remember it. The VAs did their best, I guess, but you can't feel it with that crappy script. The OP and ED are meh. Yes, it is on par with this anime, butnothing about it made me remember the beat, the melody, lyrics, something. I'd say ED is a lil' better than the OP, but the bar is sooo low. And I say that maybe because the OP's visuals (I've already said that I don't remember the songs) are heavily about some 5 girls and its horrendous.
And now, the "fun stuff". I don't know how or why this anime got greenlit. I mean I DO understand why an anime would, but why this one? The idea: she wants to charm him, so she does or tries to do something embarrassing. Every episode, even 2-3 times per episode. The idea of repeating something is ok. Multiple anime and tv shows do this (csi, supernatural, some hospital etc). The difference is in HOW you do it. An anime example: Teasing Master Takagi-san (I hope thats the right name, its been a while). A boy, a girl, middleschool, every episode is about playing games, punishment. Pretty straightforward, yes? Well, the visuals are simpler and yet beautiful, the inner monologues are funnier, the romance is better, the comedy is better. Three seasons of delight. Yes, lots and lots of episodes doing, apparently, the same thing. And doing it in a good way. You can't have plotholes, you must make us care about your characters, give them some character development. Well, we get none of that here. "Everything" that happens is a plot element. I'm not joking. For stuff to happen they need to force how that scene gets to get played. For example, they need her to get alone, with no way to contact someone. "How can we make this happening?". Well, by drawing a crowd that appears for 2 seconds, hits her, her phone gets destroyed, the crowd leaves. And then they do it again. Made worse by the fact that a side characters says "maybe her phone battery run out". And no, doing this kind of jokes does not make it better. This level of imbecile writing is on par with "We must cross this bridge because the other road takes too long. Oh, no. The bridge was destroyed by lightning". Maybe you know what show I'm talking about. If not, I'll let you be happy for a while longer.
Back to this sh*t. I don't know the sauce, I don't care about the sauce, but I'll guess the sauce is the same: bad. Ok idea, bad story, poor execution. The MC is kinda dull and no char (what a shi**y excuse as why he's "mean" to her!! I almost ended the review, forgot all about this, had to come back and insert it somewhere) She is no better, but you get more stuff about her and she's the one with the "accidents". And then you get the one-dimensional side cast. NO visuals, no audio, no char, no plot, no nothing. And we're supposed to care about them because....? We get some kind of a fan service. And I don't know if its a good or a bad thing. Because there are too few, gets passed over in a jiff and, mostly, are used as a plot device. "Oh no, for 3 seconds the MC can see her bra (and us, ofc), because she's without her shirt. Look at it, so embarrassing for her. Oh no, for 3 seconds the MC can see her bra (and us, ofc), because t-shirt is wet. Look at it, so embarrassing for her. Oh no, her panties." *sigh*
Long story-short: this anime is sht. No visuals, story, character. I'm giving it a 3, for some of the side characters, some drawings (not for him, fk that sht-ass design!!) and some VFX. If someone recommends you this, they are trolling you.
Have a lovely day.
PS: if you feel like watching something, check out that Teasing Master. It might help you forget about this one.
w1ntrs
Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms had the potential to be a fun, quirky rom-com, but completely falls flat due to its terrible pacing, boring characters, and an underwhelming narrative. My biggest gripe with the series is it's pacing. Brutal in every sense of the word. The last 3 episodes took place at the amusent park, and the only thing that came out of it was Mona realizing she has feelings for Kuroiwa(shocker). The anime dedicated way too much time on scenes that don't add to the story or any of the characters development. The episodes seem to repeat the same beats without any realprogression, which makes it hard to stay invested. Truly a tedious watch.
Regarding characters, they're all forgettable. Mona, our main character is supposed to be this charming, confident figure, but she is just one-dimensional. Her dynamic with Kuroiwa doesn't have any spark you'd hope to see in a romance anime. Their interactions feel forced, and there is no emotional depth in their "relationship" and it makes it harder to care about their future developments. Somehow, Asahi, who is just a supporting character had better development than our actual MCs.
The art, while not appaling, is only okay. It doesn’t stand out in any remarkable way and feels pretty standard for the genre.
The anime, while not terrible, is nothing special and isn't worth spending your time indulging.
Story - 5/10
Art- 5/10
Characters - 4/10
Overall - 5
Overall rating is just a simple 5.
Aku_Bukan_Wibu
This is a romantic comedy anime with a misunderstanding style that I quite recommend. - MC who is quite innocent - Blonde Heroin who is tsundere (it seems) - Story about a love story in school The right formula to make an anime story extraordinary. So far I recommend it, I give it a score of 7, maybe 8 if the ending is as expected. So basically this is the story of a high school girl who seeks the attention of the MC but instead becomes a story of misunderstanding that is quite romantic. There is also a harem story here, although it is only a brief fight overthe MC by 2 girls. But it's still fun to watch.
Chad_Snow
Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms – A Rom-Com Without the Charm If there’s one thing Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms proves, it’s that a rom-com needs more than just a gimmick to be entertaining. This show leans way too hard on its central premise—popular girl tries to win over an uninterested guy—and never bothers to give its characters any real depth. In fact, her competition is a way more fleshed out character and you find yourself rooting for her instead. By the time you’ve seen a couple of episodes, you’ve pretty much seen everything the show has to offer, and it doesn’tget any better from there.
Mona Kawai: All Looks, No Substance
Mona, the female MC, is meant to be the main driving force of the show, but the problem is… she’s just not likable. Her entire personality boils down to being obsessed with attention. She wants every guy to adore her, and when Medaka doesn’t fall for her charms, she takes it as a personal insult rather than, you know, just moving on with her life. That could have been fine if the show developed her character, but it doesn’t. She doesn’t have any real interests, dreams, or personality beyond being attractive and wanting validation.
The show clearly wants you to find her antics funny or endearing, but most of the time, she just comes off as desperate and shallow. She’s not funny, she’s not relatable, and there’s really nothing beneath the surface to make you root for her.
Medaka: The Definition of Boring
Then there’s Medaka, the male lead, who might actually have less personality than a brick wall. He’s supposed to be this calm and serious guy because of his monk training, but instead of coming off as cool or interesting, he just feels completely lifeless. He barely reacts to anything, rarely shows emotion, and has no real presence outside of being the guy Mona is obsessed with.
Normally, in rom-coms like this, you expect some kind of chemistry between the leads—even if they’re opposites. But there’s nothing here. Mona tries way too hard, Medaka doesn’t care, and that’s it. There’s no real tension, no meaningful interactions, just the same joke over and over again: "Haha, Mona is flustered, and Medaka doesn’t react." It gets old fast.
There’s Just Not Much Going On
The biggest problem with this anime is that it feels empty. There’s no real story progression, no emotional weight, and no reason to stay invested. It’s just Mona throwing herself at Medaka in different ways, Medaka being indifferent, and then repeat. If you’ve seen one episode, you’ve basically seen them all. There’s no real development between the characters, and since neither of them are particularly interesting, it’s hard to care.
On top of that, the humor doesn’t hit. The same jokes get recycled constantly, and we're not going to even talk about how disgusting the fan service (you just understand that this stuff comes with anime) that feels more like a lazy distraction than anything that adds to the story. It’s like the show knows it has nothing going for it, so it tries to keep your attention with suggestive moments instead of actually writing engaging characters or situations.
Final Thoughts: Just Skip It
Unless you’re really desperate for a rom-com and don’t care about having good characters, Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms isn’t worth your time. Mona is too narcissistic and shallow to be a good protagonist, Medaka is too boring to make a compelling love interest, and the show itself is just repetitive and empty. There are way better rom-coms out there that actually put effort into character dynamics and storytelling—this one just isn’t it.
MuchLolage
A silly premise that struggles to hold up the show, but despite that there are some very real and enjoyable moments that made up for a lot of the parts that took a bit of work to get through. Most characters are pretty one dimensional but occasionally come out with something that sounds more human than a lot of characters in anime. The main couple's relationship was the least interesting part of the show for me, romantic and character development was slow and interactions were repetitive. It was the characters I enjoyed a lot more. Despite most being familiar tropes, many were developed just enough inthe right way to feel more well rounded and having good and bad qualities that stood out to me. At some points someone would say something that made it almost feel like the characters were actors breaking character and talking as normal people.
Example, the 2 main guy characters aside from the Main guy are classic shouty simp tropes that fawn over the Main girl and leer at girls. But in one of the first few episodes they point something out the Main guy that almost felt like a 4th wall breaking comment on the dynamic the show is based on.
Asahi (Main girl's rival) was great. She felt like a regular person had wandered into an anime and was forced to go along with tropes and wacky situations just to get the guy she liked. Her friend was good too, classic supportive friend character but with a bit of an underlying edge.
Main guy was dull, no thoughts. Despite being a major peg the show's dynamic is hanging on, the whole monk think is not developed or explained at all. He only mentions it to 2 side characters that don't matter, and we as the audience have no information. Will this whole love story end with him saying 'Oh, I'm gonna be a monk so despite everything I actually can't have a girlfriend/be in love, sorry.' It literally could for all we know.
Main girl was more interesting, despite not being a character I rooted for in any way.
If a young person has been defined by one aspect of themselves, whether that be looks, intelligence, a specific skill, it to no surprise becomes a big part of their identity. Enter someone in their life that breaks that constant and no doubt it would make an impact larger than a more rounded person would understand. I think a lot of anime looks at that idea.
That thought enabled me to give Main girl a lot of slack on her frustrating behavior. A person in that situation probably could be hyper-aware of image but have little to no experience on other parts of life. It might take them a frustratingly long time to come to terms with something, or develop negative traits that make the character'a thoughts kind of unpleasant to listen to.
Every time it got to the point where I was thinking 'Man I kind of hate this character, I don't want her to win, she sucks as a person', a human moment would break through that would make me go 'OK, she's really annoying but I don't know if I hate her, I don't know if it's completely her fault that she's like this'.
So overall the show had some slow, repetitive, frustrating and icky elements and moments, balanced out with some interesting, reflective, enjoyable and real ones. For me personally, it all ended up balancing out at a 7/10. I'd say give it a try.
Oh, and Asahi best girl
MrSlamboni
A lot of romcoms rely on an annoying, infinite tease to keep you interested. This one is no exception. I normally don't mind the infinite teasing. However, I expect there to be something else. For example, Tanaka-kun is Listless teases the romance aspect till the very end. However, the rest of the show is very entertaining even without the romance, which makes you care less about it. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. has a romance plot you know wouldn't go anywhere, but the show is funny without it and the romance plot is yet another instrument for the comedy. I can name other examples. Inthis anime, there is nothing else. It's just the tease. There isn't much comedy, there is no good story, there's no good romance, it's just the tease. When you look at the manga, the tease is still ongoing. It's going to be stretched out for as long as it generates income. I do have some responsibility though because I saw the "Romance" and "Shonen" tags and I deluded myself into thinking this will have substance.
The story is as follows: Mona tries to seduce Kuroiwa --> Kuroiwa tries to clear his mind because he's a monk in training --> Mona thinks he is unaffected/angry. Rinse and repeat forever.
ywax_
This is disappointing, the animation is horrendous. Might be one of the worst adaptations I've seen. The color pallette/aesthetic is too bright and vibrant with no details. The manga is 10x better than this crap. Mona's whole concept is to charm everyone with her appearance but she looks so bad. One thing that I kept noticing is how her nose looks weird, it looks fine in the manga but here it looks ugly. She has no charms at all. I recommend reading the manga, the art looks best there but the development is slow as hell. That's all I wanna rant about, this adaptation is terriblebut I'm generous so 6/10.
MightyJou
Like it´s name "Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My charms" and with the main character named Mona Kawai, one can easily expect a very much pastel-natured rom-com; easy on the eyes, no chest hurting drama and aimed to make you feel good. The premise is pretty funny as the female lead is a very cute, kind and heavily narcissist female holding everybody around her delicate fingers and she is trying to charm a plain looking man aiming to become a maidenless monk. And boy if the Queen Bee ain´t having it with a thirteen in a dozen lad buzzing in his own rhythm. Mona is on thesurface just perfect in every single way from her looks to smarts and being the most loved person ever just by existing. Yet deep down she is not sweet like honey, more like bittersweet chocolate for she NEEDS everybody to love her. I´ts like that´s how she gets her energy to live. A bit of a cold shoulder is more than enough to break her mentality and nearly bring out her true face, the one she wants to keep locked away like Pandora´s box. She is quite funny when holding back her real thoughts against people getting on her nerve.
Then we have Medaka Kuroiwa, who´s name said fast sounds almost like "mediocre". Lookswise he would never stand out in a group of hundred men, his numbers are pretty average, coming from the sticks to big city makes him nervous and thus very unsocial. There is absolutely nothing that would you consider him being a leading male in a romantic manga - I´m looking at all you pretty boys since forever- yet despite all THAT... the number one girl can´t stop thinking about him.
Opposites attract, anyone?
As said before, this is pastel-like rom-com anime with good vibes turned on. The situations these two end up are amusing and watching their little game of "what-on-earth-is-he/she-thinking" is holding pretty well.
Ah, to be young and confused.
Ps. I recommend the manga for comparison. Ran Kuze sensei´s work has some very good looking shadow effects.
lilgapple
Admittedly, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms brings a unique twist to the rom-com genre. However, that twist quickly loses its appeal and feels like it’s thrown into the garbage, left to the curbside. The premise centers on Medaka, a monk who perpetually resists the advances of Mona, staying true to his monastic nature. Unfortunately, this resistance is where the concept stalls—there’s no depth to his character beyond constantly pushing Mona away. The show fails to explore how Medaka became a monk or what being a monk even entails, making the central twist repetitive and shallow. In contrast, Mona has a bit more substance. She’sportrayed as a slightly narcissistic girl obsessed with how others perceive her personality, which adds some flavor to her role. Still, the anime leans heavily on fanservice, seemingly as a crutch to compensate for lackluster writing.
Despite my initial urge to dislike it, I found I could switch off my brain—like a monk—and push through. The supporting cast doesn’t help much, with most characters being forgettable. The exceptions are Asahi and Tomo, who manage to prop up the plot somewhat. Without them, the show would be an even bigger mess than it already is.
On a positive note, the character designs stand out as a highlight. They’re unique and visually appealing, especially Mona’s vibrant look, which perfectly matches her personality. While Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms isn’t unwatchable, it’s ultimately forgettable—a cute, fleeting distraction from reality at best.
Jinrooo
[Want a quick finish guide for this? Read below.] Honestly, I was not thinking of anything before watching this. I wanted a breather from "Ao no Hako/Blue Box" since that was too emotional for me, so I wanted something stupid or fun like this. While I say that this anime was indeed stupid and fun, it is hella repetitive--think of it as Genshin dailies. The male MC was inherently dull and boring, nothing interesting about him develops over the course of the anime. As for the female MC, her character was extremely boring at the start and just started to get somewhat interesting in episode 10onward. I honestly DO NOT RECOMMEND this if you have high expectations, should already be obvious on the user ratings. However, if you just want something goofy and stupid, disregarding the lackluster premise, then sure go watch it.
[If you do watch it, just do the one below and spare yourself the boring episodes.]
The way I'd recommend watching this is to just watch the first 3 episodes, then skip right to episode 10. To be honest, episodes 10-12 are where most of the "entertaining" parts happen. The episodes before that are either repetitive or dull.
patkarunungan
'Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms' is an interesting romcom, but unfortunately, it has its detractors. Some who have read the manga consider it worse than 'Rent a Girlfriend' because nothing really happens and this is reflected in the negative reviews. I claim that this is the wrong approach. The charm of this anime is rooting for the romance NOT TO HAPPEN. § Overview Kawai Mona has always attracted attention from her groupies. One day, she encounters Kuroiwa Medaka who is not really impressed. Unknown to her, he is training to be a monk, which is why he is not looking for someone to date. Hisindifference, or at least trying to be unaffected by her advances, drives her crazy. The more he tries to go away, the more attracted to Medaka Mona becomes.
___________
Ladies and gentlemen, Medaka has stumbled on what is known as The Tao of Steve, and this is why I find this anime compelling to watch.
§ The Tao of Steve
The Tao of Steve refers to the movie where the rules of attracting chicks are codified as The Tao of Steve.
See the following clips:
Rule no 1: Be desireless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWGSEBdyhn4
Rule no 2: Be excellent
https://youtu.be/XeVXdIzDM34?si=kT5cuT8aButzUjAl
Rule no 3: Be gone (The underlying principle behind this rule is that we pursue that which retreats from us. Bait her with Rule no 1 and/or Rule no 2, then apply Rule no 3.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix52LldhtfQ
Summary of the Rules: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnsznug-pf8&t=71s
______________
§ Notes
1. Medaka himself is unimpressive. There's really no reason why girls should be attracted to him. But, at least in Mona's case, he has stumbled upon and has behaved in line with these rules.
He is mostly following Rule no 1 (be desireless) and rule no 3 (be gone), but on certain occasions, he might follow Rule no 2 (be excellent).
2. Mona herself is a shallow and vain character. Her surname kawai sounds too similar to kawaii, the word for cute. Faced with Medaka's behaviour that unknowingly follows these rules, her self-esteem tanks and the only way this can recover is for her to finally attract Medaka.
3. Asahi is the best girl. If one does not like Mona, Asahi or any other supporting character might be sufficient reason to watch this.
4. There's some character development for Medaka in terms of how he treats Mona better but not much. Again, those looking for a cute romance will certainly be disappointed. But for someone like me who loves the fact that the romance won't happen any time soon, this is a great show.
5. I would like to address the comparison to Rent a Girlfriend because both are frustrating the readers of the manga because 'nothing happens.' Rent a Girlfriend rests on the premise of low-value behaviour, the very reason why it's cringe, and people read or watch that as a guilty pleasure. The dude might be relatable on some level.
Medaka, the main male character of this anime, on the other hand, is displaying high-value behaviour. This is the big difference between Medaka and RAG. In the latter, you will be frustrated that nothing ever happens. In the former, you will celebrate that nothing ever happens because once Medaka falls for any of the girls and displays low-value behaviour is the moment this anime/manga loses its charm.
§ A few comparisons with "I'm Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class"
Medaka and "I'm Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class" aka Kurakon are both romcoms that I love this season.
Medaka the anime has mostly dull characters, even my favourite so far, Asahi. Kurakon has more compelling characters, even if they are mostly conforming to a stereotype.
Kurakon has better character design and I find Medaka's character designs dull in comparison. Perhaps this anime is trying to draw characters who are a little bit closer to reality. It can be argued that Medaka's choice of character design is superior on this criterion, even if I prefer Kurakon more.
Another consequence of the character design, I reckon, is that fewer people would goon our characters in Medaka compared with those in Kurakon, even though there's plenty of fanservice in Medaka.
I'm rating Medaka a 6, while Kurakon gets a 7. Even though I am rating Kurakon higher, Medaka has the superior premise.
§ Conclusion
This anime is an atypical romcom. I'm not aware of any other romcoms where it's the female main character who is chasing the male main character. By stumbling upon the behaviour called The Tao of Steve, this anime has earned the right to be called the romcom that's worth watching, the romcom that doesn't feel cringe.
It's unfortunate that one day, Medaka will fall for Mona, who is the likely end game. As a consolation, it seems that multiple volumes and multiple seasons will pass before that happens. For the time being, we can enjoy this as Medaka tries to 'be desireless' and 'be gone' most of the time. But when he falls for Mona or anyone else, it's time to drop this shit.
Just2Terrify
Overall, this anime is very much a toss up between good and bad. Is it the absolute worst? No, anyone could sit through this at any point. Would I recommend it? No. This is an anime that you'll enjoy if you enjoy idiotic perverted and semi-wholesome moments. It will not be enjoyable to a casual anime watcher. The show suffers from a lack of good animation, insufferable storytelling, and bland characters. It has no unique features, nor any form of true feeling. It's disappointing to some degree, as you'd expect a little more from an anime adaptation that's getting a second season. Mona is the populargirl that every guy wants to date, Medaka is your typical high schooler who is ignoring his "earthly desires", and Medaka would put it. Medaka's friends are just there to be harsh, and unreasonable to him.
The animation lackluster, it feels like they're barely doing any work to produce a scene.. almost like they reused certain character frames and just changed the background. You'd easily see better animation by watching a stickman video on YouTube.
The storytelling? Nonexistent. We're introduced to all of the characters throughout the show, Mona becomes more tolerable towards the last episode. Medaka is still the same as he's been throughout the entire season, the rest of the crew get little, to no development.. aside from a random person who's meant to antagonise Mona as a rival.
AnimeExplorer21
I wanted to like this. I really did. I went in thinking it’d be another quirky rom-com with decent banter and maybe a cute moment or two. But Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms? Yeah… it ended up being just another filler anime I’ll forget I even watched. The title basically spoils the entire plot. Mona tries everything under the sun to make Medaka fall for her, and Medaka—bless his emotionally constipated soul—just… doesn’t. That’s it. That’s the show. For 12 straight episodes. At first, Mona’s antics were kinda amusing. She’s all beauty, no chill. But the gag gets old fast. Every episode is a remixof the same joke: she tries, he ignores, she sulks, rinse and repeat. There’s zero progress, no emotional payoff, and definitely no real romance. It’s like trying to microwave popcorn that never pops.
Medaka isn’t a bad guy per se, but he has the emotional range of a vending machine. And I get it—he’s disciplined, focused, a monk or whatever. But watching a romantic comedy where one character is just a stone wall the whole time? Yeah, not fun.
The rest of the cast? I genuinely can’t remember their names. That's how forgettable they were. Not a single subplot, not a single moment that made me care.
I’m giving it a 5/10 just because the animation was clean and there were a couple of moments that made me grin. But otherwise, it’s the kind of show you finish and immediately wonder, “Why did I spend time on this?”
Raiusu
Honestly, it’s not great the perspective of seeing the girl trying to get the boy rather than the opposite and that’s the only interesting thing about it. It was boring until the last three episodes and I think the creator is the same because they spent the first three minutes of every episode of the same intro before the intro just to kill for time. It took me a few days to watch it purely because I had it on in the background after I paid a bit of attention to it I didn’t wanna drop it but I also just rushed my way through sadlyit’s just pretty boring
The main male character doesn’t look like a main character to me, I feel like the design should’ve been different
Overall, it was fine. You’re not missing much if you don’t watch it so I will get it mixed feelings and a rating of
6/10
griddyweeb
It's just bad overall. There are so many bad things to say about this anime and very few good. In 12 episodes nothing really happens, it's always the same things repeating. Mona trying to seduce Medaka, getting embarassed, denies her feelings, repeat. I wish I could say that at least it's funny, but it's really not, Medaka has a few good moments somewhat consistently but it's far from what you'd expect from a romcom. The fan service is digustingly shoved into your face, almost every episode there's an outrageous panty or cleavage flash, and honestly the whole show is about this, it's constantly about Mona hoe'ing eitherintentionally or unintentionally. But it's just weird because early on Mona realizes that Medaka is really not into all this sexual stuff, she knows he's more into cute stuff. One could argue that all the fan service is important to the plot (it's really not necessary to actually show everything tho), but even if we look aside the "plot relevant" fan service, there's a ton of actually unnecessary shots like these. For example for the first 7 or 8 episodes there's an extension to the intro where Mona jumps over a puddle her pants are reflected. Just what's the point of all this?
The characters are just as annoying, there's barely any character development and all characters are oblivious as hell, except for Tomo. Typical boring story that builds around misunderstandings, denial and secrets.
And I can't believe I'm writing this, but the OST is so insanely annoying and bad that it's outrageous. But at least it's fitting for this trash anime. This is the first time that an OST is so bad that I not just notice it but also get annoyed by it.
The absolute nail in the coffin is season 2 being announced right after the last episode aired. I hate that I'm a completionist because I will watch it. But this is something that's important in context of writing the review. After 12 painful episodes with barely anything happening, now the story reaches a point that could mix things up and there's a slight hope for a better continuation.
I don't recommend this at all, at the very least wait until season 2 airs so you can tell if it gets better or not.
