First Impressions: Tada Never Falls In Love

Mitsuyoshi Tada is a high school guy who has infinitely more interest in photography than love. One day, while trying to take photos of sakura blossoms, a blonde foreigner inadvertently photobombs his view, and he ends up taking a picture for her. He runs into her several times later that same day, and finds out she is Teresa Wagner, who came to Japan from Luxembourg Larsenburg, but got separated from her travel companion. Also, she’s a big fan of the period drama Rainbow Shogun, to the point of having learned Japanese from it. Later on, he, his younger sister Yui, and his friend Kaoru meet with Teresa’s companion Alexandra, and find out that not only will the two of them be staying at the hotel next door to the Mitsuyoshi family cafe, but they will also be transferring to his school.

Tada Never Falls In Love (Japanese title: Tada-kun wa Koi o Shinai) is an original anime featuring the studio staff behind the fan favorite Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. That said, this show seems to be taking more of a “romance with comedic elements” angle than a “comedy with romance elements.” Not much really happens in this premiere, all things considered; we get introduced to a number of the cast and they play off each other for a bit, setting up the basic conceit of this wacky foreigner who waltzes into and will inevitably shake up Mitsuyoshi’s life. The characters themselves are a reasonably fun bunch: Teresa is the classic “got all her knowledge of Japan from samurai fiction” foreigner who’s just the perfect combination of silly and sweet, while the narcissistic Kaoru and the “kick first, ask questions later” Alexandra also provide some amusing moments; even the little sister seems to have a fun side to her that likes quoting dramatic monologues from romance novels. There are also hints that Teresa is actually of high social standing in her country of origin. Oh, and there’s also Nyanko Big the cat, who is already making plays for best cat of the season. Overall this seems to be a pleasant show with fun characters and the potential to develop into something interesting. Prospects look fairly good for this one staying on my watchlist if it can start capitalizing on that potential.

TWWK: Can I just say, I desperately want more of Rainbow Shogun? That was great, but what of the rest of the show? Despite being romance first, like Frank mentioned, episode one showed a sharp sense of humor. Sharp as Rainbow Shogun’s sword. I found myself chuckling or smiling to myself quite a bit during the first episode despite some skepticism (and it’s still there—I’m not sure the foreigner angle and Teresa’s background will fold into a strong love story, instead remaining as kitschy elements; I kept thinking, “Just give me one or the other!”), and I immediately liked all six characters (sweet grandpa included) that were introduced. Actually, I should say seven, because how could I forget our noble shogun? “The color of the rainbow is rainbow! Meet your maker!” I think I may have to break down and get a HIDIVE subscription and see where this shogun period piece love story goes.

Tada Never Falls In Love is streaming on HIDIVE.

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2 thoughts on “First Impressions: Tada Never Falls In Love”

  1. Rainbow Shogun did look like a totally awesome anime (nearly spit on my computer screen when that line was said), but Tada Never Falls In Love was pretty good, too. 😉

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