Bad Girl
“Cute, Chaotic & Subtextual”
Some say that you should never change for the ones you love, because the true ones will find and love you regardless. But I beg to differ. While a complete personality overhaul may be uncalled for, it is totally fine to change and grow for the better as a person, regardless of who or what it is for. Perhaps you are doing it for yourself, but the point is that people can change gradually and naturally to become who they envision, as nobody is perfect, nor should they try to be. We all have strengths to bolster and weaknesses to overcome, which implies healthy change along the way. Maybe not everyone will like it, but if you and those most important to you support it, then there should be nothing stopping you, so long as you’re not actively hurting others, breaking any laws, or being unethical.
“Bad Girl” is a 12-episode TV Anime series that aired from the 6th of July till the 21st of September in Summer 2025. It was produced by Movic, KlockWorx, Asmik Ace, Houbunsha, and King Records, licensed by Sentai Filmworks for streaming on HIDIVE, and brought to life by Studio Bridge. The main staff behind it includes Iijima Hiroshi as Producer, Furuta Jouji as Director, Takadera Takeshi as Sound Director, and Alisa Okehazama as Music Composer (with theme songs performed by cast unit TENROGUN). Featuring the Comedy genre alongside the themes of CGDCT and School, each episode runs 23 minutes and has earned a PG-13 rating for teenagers 13 years or older.
The Anime is based on the 4-koma Manga series of the same title, created by author and artist Nikumaru. It began publication on the 28th of December 2020 and is still ongoing, getting serialized in Manga Time Kirara Carat.
The story centers on the protagonist, Yuu Yuutani, a first-year high school girl who has always been the good girl in the neighborhood. She consistently follows the rules, helps her folks around the house, and generally spends her life largely unnoticed by others. But even this reserved girl has people she watches, reveres, and adores from afar, like her school's Public Decency Officer, Atori Mizutori. Despite Atori being her upperclassman, Yuu desperately wants to grab her attention, but her good ol’ lifestyle won’t achieve anything for this endeavor. After some pondering, she arrives at the realization that the best way to get Atori’s attention is to become the very opposite of who she is: a delinquent, in other words, a “bad girl.”
Thus, she begins to change her appearance; she dyes bright red highlights in her hair, puts on clips to resemble piercings on her ears, and even attaches jumbo erasers to her shoes to make them have thicker soles! But despite all these efforts, even fortified by the advice of the "natural born delinquent" Suzu Suzukaze, her plans to transform into a bad girl go awry. But all is not lost, as Yuu somehow befriends Atori and is determined to spend as much time as possible with her. What she does not know is that there are plenty of other people vying for the same Atori's attention! Furthermore, amidst the messy process, Yuu has also garnered the attention of her school's self-proclaimed idol, Rura Ruriha. Now her once-invisible and quiet life is getting filled to the brim with more attention than she could possibly handle!
The Story department is kind of disappointing in my eyes, mostly because it’s vastly different from what you'd expect from reading the synopsis and lacks a consistent goal. The beginning is as described, but the middle and the end go haywire with what they want to do and constantly shift according to the whims and fancies of the characters. While Yuu is most definitely obsessed with Atori, their relationship does not go that far because Atori really does not care about Yuu and instead prefers to flirt with other characters like Suzu. I did not even expect Suzu to play that big of a part, because she is merely introduced as a friend of Yuu’s, but she becomes more important than the main duo. Turns out she had always liked Yuu romantically but didn’t dare be direct about it, opting to take the Kuudere route. So instead of focusing more on the main duo and the shenanigans bringing them closer together alongside comedic elements, we get this weird love triangle. Meanwhile, Ruriha has also begun to slowly like Yuu and chooses to take the tsundere route, so we end up with this Yuri web that has little to do with the original premise. For these reasons, I didn’t find the narrative interesting or compelling, and even the Yuri theme eventually becomes subtextual.
Don’t expect much fan service or ecchi elements either; instead, you get fairly calm sequences that serve as stopgaps, providing a change of pace before everything reverts to the usual antics. It’s easy to expect a romantic tale involving a Yuri undercurrent here, but even that is lacking. Why? Because everyone falls in love with Yuu despite her doing little to none. Even if this was meant to be a central comedic gag, it’s kind of sad to see her give up on the “bad girl” persona so early in the series. She does pull an occasional stunt here and there just to remind you of the series title, but they all dramatically fail. I do understand that the original work is a 4-panel comic, so the issues easily surface through weak plot points. Still, I generally expect a more cohesive and connected plot direction from a 12-episode series.
In the Character department, Yuu will either make you like or dislike the show on her own. Almost all the humor revolves around her, and she is the driving force behind all the main events. Personally, I’m not her biggest fan because her many pathetic attempts carry so little weight. At some point, all the unnecessary praise, nose-bleeding, unhinged actions, and extra screaming became so repetitive that I no longer found it funny. The same applies to the remaining characters, but thankfully, they have much less screen time, and their interactions vary widely depending on who they’re with, so the final impact is minimized. All of them do have unique traits and dynamics that feel quite natural.
Atori is naturally the model student everyone looks up to, but can be airheaded at times; the catch is that she’s also a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She seemingly enjoys teasing Yuu like a small animal while keeping everyone fooled with her perfect student act — which, honestly, makes her one of the more layered characters in the show, even if the series rarely commits to developing it. Suzu is Yuu’s best friend, a self-described "natural born outlaw" with naturally blonde hair who essentially acts as Yuu's handler and is heavily attached to her; she is the one character I found even mildly interesting and enjoyed the most on-screen. As for the rest, Rura is a self-obsessed idol, Sumiki Kiyoraka seems to be a sadistic lesbian, Mizutori Mizuka has a serious sister complex, and the rest really aren’t worth mentioning. Do not expect much character growth or development either, largely because most of them are super dumb; what you see in Episode 01 is the same you'll see in Episode 12. But this is also why some of the jokes land really well, all set within fast-paced episodes.
In the Art and Animation department, they have done a pretty good job for a CGDCT show. The color palette is vibrant and diverse, the scenes are well-lit except for a few episodes that are intentionally darker, and the backgrounds are well-detailed. Animation is quite fluid as well, where everyone’s facial and bodily movements are well-synced to match the dialogue. The character designs look cute and all, with decent production quality all around. It’s nothing to write home about, but it can be appreciated in a gag comedy of this kind.
The Sounds and Music department is more or less similar to the visuals. The Opening theme is "Super Big Love!" by Tenrougun (the show's main cast performing as a seiyuu unit), a comedic piece I’ll remember for some time for its fast-paced, catchy tune. The Ending themes are "BAD SURPRISE" by Tenrougun and "HEART KAKIMAWASHITE AGERU♡ by Miharu Hanai, who is the voice actor of Rura, just for episode 7. The latter is my favorite musical piece from the series. Voice Acting is solid across the board, but nothing to write home about.
Overall, “Bad Girl” is a good show if you’re into cute girls with distinct personalities and comedy that lets you shut your brain off. You will not find a grand story here nor characters with substance, but the elements do bounce off each other fairly well and can be enjoyed if taken at face value. Suzu is definitely the best girl; she often made me wonder why anyone was interested in Yuu or Atori when such a delinquent hottie was just walking around. But hey, the narrative is as erratic as these girls, and maybe that’s what they were going for, too!
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