What’s it about? Nao is a replica created to be Sunao Aikawa’s identical existence, even stepping in when she’s not up to going to school. There is no difference—that is, until Nao falls in love and starts to develop her own life and secrets.
We start with Nao, a replica: an organic being who exists solely to fill in the gaps in their original’s life. For Nao, that means not sleeping in a bed but going to school for Sunao, her original and a young girl who seems to have an envy-hate situation with her own double’s existence. Nao only knows the life constructed for her and goes above simply executing exactly what Sunao would have, obsessing down to the most minute detail.
But life is set to change for Nao when she starts to form a connection with Nao’s classmate Shuyu Sanada, who starts to reach out and establish the tender beginnings of a friendship that sparks something more.
Not going to lie: this feels like a very timely adaptation and honestly, I’m really into it. I find the questions we, as a society, have to ask about humanity more and more fascinating by the day, and let me tell you, Even a Replica Can Fall in Love posits some interesting questions from the beginning that I hope it digs into.
Why do Replicas exist in society? What brought them about? They’re clearly more than just a twin: they’re exact down to DNA and personality, but based on the title, can develop into their own person and gain external humanity. We get something of an answer, but I want to know if this occurs even more than just this instance.
And that’s just scratching the surface: there’s a tactful blur effect around the edges of Nao’s existence that literally manifests when she interacts as a Replica and not as a Person, further complicating the fact that Nao exists as a result of childhood upset. While it’s a bit of a hand-wavey reason (it’s more magic than science, for sure) it doesn’t change the fact that Nao has never been her own existence.
This sets the foundation of the premiere and everything that’ll come after because we, the viewer, know that something—or someone—is going to change Nao to a person capable of love, and I’m invested enough up front to see how this plays out.
I’m not necessarily blown away by Even a Replica Can Fall in Love so much as I’m intrigued, and that curiosity is still worth watching this series for to me. Still, there’s a part of me that is worried this won’t stick the landing and explore Sunao and Nao’s dynamic to its full extent, especially with the reasons we get for Nao’s existence.
I truly think that beneath this kinda-okay anime is something that can speak to a deeper series of thoughts around the complex issues about digital forms of adapted humanity created through human tinkering. That said, I always temper my expectations because anime adaptations sometimes don’t go that deep, even if we want them.
For now, consider me cautiously sat and attentive. I’m adding this to my Spring rotation, but I’m ready to grumble should it stop being interesting and turn into just another light novel adaptation.
Editor’s Note: This article was edited after publication to remove an error. We had initially noted that Replica‘s writer, Harunadon, had also written Chitose in the Ramune Bottle. However, the two light novels share an illustrator, not a writer. This line was removed from the review.
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