When Cupid Becomes the Villain

What if you were forced into romantic situations against your will? That is the inspiration for the anime Romantic Killer. The story follows a young high school girl, Anzu Hoshino. She is obsessed with three things: video games, her cat Momohiki, and chocolate. One day, while playing a video game, she is visited by a magical creature, Riri. He is sent to Anzu on a mission: to get Anzu to experience real-life romance with a pool of guys to choose from. Riri states the reason is Japan’s declining birthrate, which is attributed to a lack of romance between men and women.

However, Anzu rejects these ideas. She has her cat, video games, and chocolate to keep her company. She doesn’t need anything else or see the point of romance. However, Riri confiscates Anzu’s three loves to force her into playing this matchmaking game. Anzu plays along, but is resistant to the possibilities of falling in love. She is hoping that Riri will eventually lose interest Riri puts Anzu through a variety of situations that cause her to interact with her three different matches: Tsukasa Kazuki, who she accidentally bumps into, causing him to break his phone, Junta Hayami, who claims to be Anzu’s best friend from childhood, but Anzu doesn’t have any recollection of him and believes Junta was brainwashed by Riri to interact with her, and Hijiri Koganei, whose driver accidentally drives into Anzu causing her to fall. As it so happens, all three guys are popular at school. All three boys are popular at school. Will Anzu be able to avoid Riri’s attempts to make her fall in love with one of the three matches?

It is interesting to see all the different romantic comedy anime tropes used here, like accidental collision and living under one roof. They are over the top, but funny in this context. It is entertaining to see the different situations that Anzu gets caught up in.

One thing that I like is that even though Anzu isn’t interested in falling in love, she realizes how isolated she has made herself. She was so focused on video games, her cat, and chocolate, that she rarely interacted with her classmates. After realizing that, Anzu makes an effort to change the way she views relationships (at least friendships).

Another thing that I like about the show is that it illustrates the negative consequences that happen when someone tries to play God with your life. Riri believes he is being helpful to Anzu, but he causes several unexpected consequences that affect Anzu. It is hard to mess with people’s lives when you don’t know every aspect about the players.

I find it interesting that the anime mentioned a real-life problem that is happening. Japan is actually experiencing low birth rates. People are waiting longer to get married because they want a solid foundation first. Also, the extreme workforce has caused people to press pause on procreating. While Japan is not doing the stuff that Romantic Killer is proposing, the country is experimenting with unconventional things (AI matchmaking) to more tame (financial incentives and a four-day work week). I am curious to see if more movies and shows will start to address the low birth rate.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good show. Anzu fought for her own agency despite Riri’s interference and learned some things along the way. It is definitely a good show for a laugh. In honor of Romantic Killer, I ask the following: Do you think it is important to have a romantic relationship in your life?

Romantic Kill is available on Netflix.