Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Yeah, I think I should’ve probably waited for another episode to come out before writing my thoughts about the anime series “How to Become Ordinary” (original title: “Shôshimin Shirîzu”), because the first episode does very little to draw in viewers who haven’t read the original novels. The anime is based on the Japanese mystery novel series “Shôshimin Shirîzu” written by Honobu Yonezawa, which was also serialized as a manga.

Directed by Mamoru Kanbe (Kimi to Boku/The Promised Neverland), the anime “How to Become Ordinary” (“Shôshimin Shirîzu”) follows the misadventures of Jogoro Kobato (voiced by Shuichiro Umeda), an intelligent student with a knack for detective work, who enters into a pact with his friend Yuki Osanai (Hina Yomiya) about living ordinary lives as high school students. However, problems and mystery cases always seem to find the two.

Episode one starts with Kobato and Osanai finding out they’ve gotten into the same high school, and they are looking forward to leading ordinary lives as teenagers. However, Osanai becomes wary of how smooth school will be when she finds out that the intimidating Kengo Dojima will also be in the same class. True to Osanai’s fears, Kengo seeks out Osanai after school one day, disrupting her plans to buy strawberry tarts with Kobato. Yes, their problems are middle-school level, and depending on how you view it, it might seem cute or painfully boring.

The animation for “How to Become Ordinary” (“Shôshimin Shirîzu”) is by Lapin Track, which has co-animated two series with studio MAPPA (known for Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuri on Ice, Chainsaw Man, etc.) in the past. The animation style is engaging, mixing both 2D and 3D styles, and one little detail that stands out is how all the characters have pretty eyes—they have shiny gradient fills in their eyes. This makes the short Osanai look more cat-like than others, and right now, I do not like her character—she behaves like a 5-year-old girl and hides behind Kobato whenever someone new is around, like a lost, scared, stray cat.

The pace and storytelling were slow and flat in the first episode. Maybe only a very young audience would enjoy this, but it had close to no funny moments, so I am not sure if kids will enjoy it much either. Kobato’s deduction skills reminded me of the anime “Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions”, which was also a childish show, but at least it was funny and amusing. But it’s too early to write off “How to Become Ordinary”/”Shôshimin Shirîzu”, so maybe I will watch two more episodes before deciding whether it’s worth your time or not.

Rating for first episode: 5 on 10. You can stream the anime on CrunchyRoll.

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