Oh Boy, Was I Wrong About Her – Episode 1

Content considerations: Mild sexual innuendo.

What’s it about? Hayato was devastated when his best bud Haruki moved away when they were little kids. Now in high school, Hayato’s moved to Tokyo and reunited with his old pal, albeit with a twist: turns out the BFF he thought was a boy is actually a girl. She’s gotten a major glow-up, but she’s still the same old Haruki underneath. As Hayato settles into his new school, he and Haruki rekindle their old friendship.

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Some premieres build such a bland little cottage in the Mediocre Valley that I struggle to find anything to talk about. Oh Boy, Was I Wrong About Her actually does have things I can talk about, but I’m struggling to muster the energy to do so, because I’m going to stop thinking about this show approximately 30 seconds after I finish writing the review.

But hey, at least I get to talk about gender norms for a bit before I kick this show out of my memory banks to make room for more local sports trivia and Team Rocket musings. So that’ll be fun!

Based on an ongoing light novel series, Oh Boy has the feel of a shonen school rom-com but without (so far) any of the sexist cliches that often come with those series. There’s no fan service to speak of, and the closest it gets to sexual embarrassment comedy (one of my least favorite tropes) is when the Gardening Club girl gets flustered because she realizes talking about “pistils and stamens” sounds like innuendo.

It even handles The Gender Of It All surprisingly well. When Hayato realizes that his childhood buddy was a girl all along, there’s no exaggerated moment of shock or confusion, nor does he start treating her any differently. He takes it largely in stride, aware of their physical differences but also reminding himself that Haruki is still the same person who became his bestie all those years ago.

Granted, I doubt that will last. These two are for sure gonna catch feels later (and it’s implied Haruki’s already crushing on Hayato). Still, right now they seem happy to reconnect as friends, which is nice to see as a romantic starting point.

There’s also some indication that gender norms will be an ongoing theme in this show. Haruki is ultra-polite and feminine at school but falls into more casual, “boyish” speech patterns and mannerisms when she’s alone with Hayato. She tells Hayato she’s “in camouflage,” suggesting she’s performing femininity in order to fit in with her classmates.

It feels like I’ve seen a lot of anime about masculine-leaning girls grappling with gendered expectations recently (last season’s Ramparts of Ice comes to mind as the most recent example). I’m generally a fan of those stories as long as they’re handled thoughtfully and avoid regressive stereotypes. It’s too early to know how Oh Boy will tackle it, but this first episode suggests it won’t be a total disaster, at least.

(As an aside: It is extremely easy to read Haruki as a trans girl in this premiere, which would have made Hayato’s casual acceptance even more noteworthy. I have it on authority that’s not the source material’s intent, but I’m also not here to rain on anybody’s parade. If Haruki’s story resonates with you, then headcanon away.)

“But Dee,” you may be wondering, “this show sounds like it’s right up the AniFem Alley! Why did you say at the top that you’re never going to think about it again?”

Well, hypothetical reader, that’s because Oh Boy runs on what some of us aniblogger old-timers like to call “Goof Troop Time.” Which is to say, while this episode was not painful to watch, it did feel about twice as long as its 24-minute runtime, thanks largely to an uninspired production.

I think there’s a version of Oh Boy that could have convinced me to watch more of it. The cast seem like good kids and, while I didn’t find the humor especially funny, it wasn’t off-putting either. An adaptation that heightened the chill-out vibes or the comedy elements (or both) could have leveled up this premiere from “meh” to “pretty darn charming.”

Unfortunately, the animation is stiff and the character designs bland. While the storyboards attempt to cover up the flat movement, the lack of expressiveness becomes more and more noticeable as the episode progresses. This needed either more fluid animation or more chibis, and it got neither, which is basically a death knell for school rom-coms.

I don’t wish ill on Oh Boy, Was I Wrong About Her, but I also don’t have any reason to come back. Ah, well. Guess I’ll just have to get my hit of Gender Norm Discourse from another show this season.