My First Girlfriend is a Gal

Episode 10

Though an OVA episode is already planned, this is the last TV episode of the series, so some kind of resolution to the Junichi/Yukana spat that developed last episode had to be delivered, and that's what almost the entirety of the episode turned out to be. The result is a mostly satisfying resolution to their relationship troubles and an ideal stopping point. This may have been an anime-original arc, but it played out better than the norm for such things.

The episode begins exactly where last episode left off, with Junichi moving to confront Yukana's former friend Dai after overhearing the jerk bad-mouthing her. That goes about as expected: Dai doesn't take Junichi seriously at first, but insists on taking things outside when Junichi persists. Junichi quickly shows that despite his persistence, he isn't able to match Dai in a fight. Unsurprisingly, Ranko jumps to his defense, since he's defending her love, and she's a capable fighter. Junichi's friends are less capable (until Dai knocks over a little girl, which sends Minoru into Ape Mode), but they still do their best to turn the tide of the fight. While it's nice to see that backup, I do question how long it took them all to act. It's not like they weren't watching all this happen in the restaurant, well past the point where it got violent. This is one case where a delay for purposes of dramatic timing seems forced. Still, at least Dai gets the thrashing he deserves for being such a pig.

The more crucial part of the episode is Junichi's effort to win back Yukana. Whether fairly or not, he takes all of the blame on his shoulders for being dishonest with Yukana about his reasons for asking her out. That was definitely true, but I thought Junichi had long since demonstrated that he had moved beyond that, and that wasn't really the issue behind their fight anyway. This also lets Yukana off the hook for her culpability in the incident, which may make Junichi look better by comparison, but resolves things sufficiently enough for them to have a neat date afterwards. However, even though this results in a pretty good scene, it still feels like an unresolved issue. The way that anime romantic comedies go, I don't see the series ever dealing with this even if more material gets animated beyond the OVA. I'm also not sure about Yui's motivations drifting in a more generic harem love interest direction either.

Those objections are more personal nitpicks than greater critical problems with the episode, though. More evident problems lie in the shaky artistic merits. The series continues to have trouble keeping both Yukana and Nene (whose bust size seems to be varying widely) on-model, making this one of the weakest episodes visually. The production compensates for this with its quieter tone, as if to emphasize the arc's more serious aspects, which generally works. Going light on the crassness and fanservice also helps.

Overall, My First Girlfriend is a Gal is by no means a memorable romantic comedy – it's certainly not on the level of this season's Gamers! or Tsuredure Children – but it is a decent one that has its moments and played out less trashy than it could have. (Though I'll be quite surprised if the OVA episode doesn't go full-bore on the fan service.) Yukana gets some of the credit for that by acting beyond the range of a completely typical anime girl, though I think there was also room for the series to do more with her. Still, at least the series seemed to be trying.

Rating: B

My First Girlfriend is a Gal is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.