Kotoura-san has become somewhat famous for its first episode;

 First Episode

For a show based on a 4-koma and from Masahiko Oota, director of Yuruyuri and Minami-ke, nobody expected a dark and depressing story about an ostracized girl who is, within the first ten minutes, abandoned by her family and tormented at every turn. The show does have comedy in it, but, well….

Because of the way it mixes drama and comedy, Kotoura is a strange beast. It will make jokes about all men being perverts, only to have a character bullied mercilessly within the next five minutes. Despite that, though, the series really works. The drama actually makes the comedy better; by showing how tough Kotoura had it as a child, watching her have fun becomes a joy to watch because you are happy that she is enjoying her new conditions.

The thing that really makes this show great, however, is Manabe. He’s just great, constantly taking chances, helping people, and being proactive. When Kotoura is being bullied, he immediately tries to find out who is doing this. When she tries to deflect this by saying that it is not a problem, he yells that it is a problem and figures out who is doing it. He then rushes over to the person and confronts them about it, letting them have it. When the bully asks why he’s doing this, he says “Because I like her! You got a problem with that!?” This scene is exactly why I love him; it’s like he has a direct line to the viewer and does what the viewer knows would solve the situation.

The past few episodes have been kind of fillery, but it looks like the drama is starting to reappear. This is definitely a show that I will watch till the end.