More than a Married Couple but Not Lovers

Have you ever met someone who believes they are in love and then realizes what genuine love is? It might happen in high school, college, or even later in life. It's fantastic as long as it's not too late. We meet many individuals throughout our short lives, and occasionally we are lucky enough to recognize who we truly love, and far luckier if we get to spend time with them. After all, the purpose of life is to discover what you truly desire.

‘‘More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers” (Fuufu Ijoo, Koibito Miman), abbreviated as Fuukoi, is an anime adaptation of the manga series by Yuuki Kanamaru. Kodansha Shorten produced the series, which was directed by Junichi Yamamoto, with Takao Kato acting as chief director, Naruhisa Arakawa handling the screenplays, Chizuru Kobayashi designing the characters, and Yuri Habuka creating the soundtrack. It broadcast on AT-X and other stations from October 9 to December 25, 2022. Crunchyroll licensed the series and began streaming an English dub on October 23, 2022. Southeast Asia was licensed by Medialink.

This lovely 12-episode animation was based on the same-named Japanese manga, and each episode ran 24 minutes. The series' genres were comedy and romance, and its focus was school, which suited the Seinen demographic. It was rated PG-13 for teens aged 13 and up. Kapiko Toriumi created the manga series and drew it. It has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen manga magazine Young Ace since March 2018, with its chapters accumulated and released in nine tankōbon volumes as of October 2022.

Jirō Yakuin, a high school student, is a hermit who would prefer to stay home and play video games than connect with people. He harbors unrequited sentiments for his childhood friend Shiori Sakurazaka, but the school has executed a couples training (Fūfu jisshū) program that requires students to develop social skills for engaging with a partner as if they were romantically involved, and they are heavily rated on how well they collaborate together through monitoring.

Despite his desire to be partnered with Shiori, Jiro is placed with Akari Watanabe, a Gyaru who considers Jiro revolting and would like to be coupled with Minami Tenjin, the popular school idol. Jiro and Akari resolve to put their differences aside and play nicely together after learning that if they gain enough points, their present companions can be exchanged.

As the story progresses, Jiro and Akari develop stronger love for one another while "pretending" to get along, generating uncertainty among themselves as they battle to determine which sentiments are genuine and which are not. Shiori herself, who is claimed to be in love with Jiro, adds to the confusion. When Minami politely rejects Akari's confession and helps her understand that she genuinely fell in love with Jiro during a moment alone together, complications reach a near-break point. Now that both females want Jiro, Jiro is having difficulty deciding which lady he should eventually pursue.

Akari Watanabe is the primary female protagonist of the anime series More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers. She is a Gyaru who becomes Jirō Yakuin's partner during the couples training, which is an activity done at their school to prepare someone to become more established when they eventually marry.

Her ambition is to become Minami Tenjin's training partner, and she will go to any length, including pretending to be married to Jirō. Akari is a lovely adolescent with waist-length pink hair braided into twin buns and blue-green eyes. Akari has a gruff disposition at first, much like a Gyaru, but she grows nicer as the narrative progresses.

Jirō Yakuin is the primary male protagonist of the manga series More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers. In the couples training, he is compelled to pair up with Akari Watanabe, and his major objective is to pair up with his childhood friend Shiori Sakurazaka, for which he would go to any length, even appearing as a newlywed with Akari. Jirō has dark blue hair and bright red eyes.

The colors in the presentation are bold, bright, and extremely saturated, which improves the mood and makes the performance more intriguing. The majority of the time, colors are appropriately matched. But the color pallet for this program is insanely bright AND dull at the same time. They chose loud clashing colors as the elementary, then followed that up with seemingly contradictory colors in the backdrop that don't match, causing a really bad pull in and out of visual experience that made me feel like the show moved on for much longer than it did; at the midway point, I presumed they were performing the standardized ending cliffhanger.

This, along with the fact that you can watch the episode in 1080p and 480p and it looks exactly the same, truly concerns me. The characters are very generic, yet they are likable and entertaining. Their voice is also appropriate for their character and complements their atmosphere. I'm aware of its shortcomings. And I agree that it's nothing out of the ordinary. But I still enjoyed it. Even though it includes components that imply it's a typical rom-com, I think the overall show concept is rather original. The plot is just decent, interesting, and delicious, and it will keep you interested from beginning to end.

The opening theme song, "TRUE FOOL LOVE," is sung by Liyuu, while the closing theme song, "Stuck on You," is performed by Nowlu. The soundtrack is fantastic, and Nowlu's Ending theme is even better than Liyuu's opening theme, one might say. What a stunning display of wonderful pumps and rhythms, this is a fantastic song creation with a relaxing mood to boost the anime's backdrop. Easily one of the finest EDs of the season and the year.

My conclusion? This is the finest rom-com this season, along with Villainess, and it gets better with each episode, so don't give up on it. Highly recommended!