Everywhere I go, I see somebody, somewhere talking about Citrus. It was one of the shows I had read the synopsis for and after indulging myself in Netsuzou TRap -NTR-, I didn’t really feel like getting into another yuri series; however, that all changed when I started reading the comments on some community forums and decided to check it out to see if it was worth my time. Was it?
Let’s Go!
First Impressions
Yuzu Aihara transfers to an all-girls school and tries to make a good first impression by getting dressed up with fancy clothes, makeup, etc. When she gets there, she realizes that was a vital mistake as everything she did to make herself look beautiful was against the school’s dress code. She is confronted by the student council president Mei, who confiscates her cell phone in a #MeToo way. Things go from bad to worse when Yuzu discovers that the man her mother remarried just so happens to be Mei’s father, making the two of them sisters. Even worse is that Mei’s strict grandfather also runs the school that she’s going to.
Things take another turn when Mei flat out kisses Yuzu to end the first episode. From there, Yuzu begins battling the emotions inside of her pertaining to Mei while Mei is pulling out all of the tsundere stops and denying any feelings for Yuzu.
While the plot, on paper, seems pretty run-of-the-mill (and it is), it’s executed in such a way where you feel compelled to keep watching. The characters are immediately getting some backstory and depth to them and it’s making them interesting to watch. The only qualm I have is with Yuzu’s personality. While she does have many sides to her personality, her predominant one is rather caustic. She’s pretty abrasive and, at times, a little annoying, but she has enough charm about her to balance that out and make it exceptionally tolerable.
OP and ED Thoughts
I will say that I’m not the biggest fan of nano.RIPE. I didn’t care for their opening song to Non Non Biyori because I just found the vocals a bit grating on the ears. Despite those feelings, I’m actually enjoying their song “Azalea.” It’s got more of an upbeat alternative rock sound to it that actually compliments the vocals nano.RIPE is known for. It was actually pretty pleasant to listen to and is the first song by them I didn’t feel compelled to skip through just to avoid.
Mia REGINA just came off of a rather questionable opening to Code Realize. The TV Size version of “Kalmia” was absolutely STUNNING, but then you get the full version and you instantly wonder what happened with the overabundance of dissonance plastered throughout the song. “Dear Teardrop” on the other hand, didn’t have that issue in its TV Size version, but the song just didn’t deliver for me. I just couldn’t get into it for some reason. Maybe it was a little too “campy” for my tastes? Who knows, but it’s a song that I’m just going to skip over at the end of each episode.
Worth Watching?
YES – Citrus ended up being a lot more entertaining than I thought. It has a generic premise, but the show makes it work through its deepening and interesting characters. The characters don’t really seem flat or one dimensional and that’s going to be this show’s biggest hook. It has to be because “Girl A likes Girl B who acts like she doesn’t like Girl A, but really does” is a formula that has been done to death. While relying on character development to carry your plot is a bit of a risk, in the first three episodes I’ve seen so far, I’m confident that Citrus will pull it off!
