Why did Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie fail?

There is no doubt that "Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie (Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san)" was one of the most anticipated anime of 2022. Based on a popular romantic comedy manga, the series should have had everything it needed to stand out from an especially tough competition. Unfortunately, the hype of the series was its undoing, and in the end it came and went without much staying power.

The somewhat generic nature of the series and the lack of narrative diversity prevented it from being more than the sum of its parts. The huge anticipation and surprisingly stiff competition didn't help in this regard either. Now, a few years after its original release, we explain why the "Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie" anime failed to make the impact many were hoping for.

Why did Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie fail?

The young protagonist, Shikimori, is the girlfriend of the male protagonist, Izumi. Both are seemingly normal high school students in love. However, one major difference in their romance is that Izumi constantly finds herself in a series of ridiculously distressing situations. Luckily, Shikimori is more than just a pretty face, always able to save her boyfriend through all sorts of actions that look cool. This is the recurring storyline of the series, which began as a Keigo Maki manga. While the premise worked well there, it didn't have much substance in the end when it hit the big screen.

The "Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie" manga was essentially a cross between a romance series and a humorous manga, with a bit more emphasis on the latter. As a result, its premise, which could age quickly, works best in a fast format. Unfortunately, when it drags on into twenty-minute anime episodes, the joke gets old pretty quickly. And that's despite having only twelve episodes, which goes to show how "mediocre" the series is when it becomes an anime.

Even for those who really liked her, Shikimori was nothing more than a constant repetition of the same story, without much else to make her worthy of being watched. It was certainly perfect for those who wanted a laid-back and unpretentious anime, but its romantic comedy nature meant that comparisons to better series didn't take long to emerge.

Romantic comedy anime are easily some of the most popular throughout the annual seasons, though they can also be the most generic. So, when a series really stands out, lower-quality anime seem even worse. Such was the case with "My Dress-Up Darling (Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru)," which was incredibly well received by audiences. So when "Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie" was touted as a potential rival to that series, fans were saddened to see it stay in the shadow of that series.

The plots of "My Dress-Up Darling" and even the 2021 first season of "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro! (Ijiranaide Nagatoro-san)" had characters and concepts that went beyond the generic routines of the romantic comedy. It helped that they largely didn't settle for falling into tropes or archetypes, giving new energy to what could easily be a hackneyed genre. Shikimori didn't, and while it was entertaining, it paled in comparison to other less generic ones. To make matters worse, Izumi was such a mediocre protagonist that even Nagatoro's Senpai looked like a chad in comparison. In addition, Shikimori is almost comically perfect and praised, which makes her ironically unsympathetic.

Despite how the series ended, the manga's superior treatment of source material led many fans to rave about "Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie." That's why, when it ended up being pretty mediocre, it was considered even worse than it really was. For some, it even made them question what had been seen in the original manga that excited the masses so much. After all, he was always kind of nice, but nothing revolutionary. Thus, the series ended its twelve episodes without much applause or memories, showing the dangers of getting excited about something that may not even translate well into anime form.