First Impression: Murai in Love

24-year-old Ayano Tanaka is a very unusual high school teacher with a very unusual student. Known colloquially as the “Iron Mask” by her second-year students, she takes no crap from anyone—17-year-old Murai included. Although he is among the smartest students in the class, Murai is a strange kid who often proclaims his undying and earnest love for Tanaka. However, Tanaka shoots him down repeatedly, saying that there’s no way she could fall for a guy who looks like him, thinking this will finally put the kibosh on his foolishness. So naturally, to impress Tanaka, Murai chops his long dark locks and dyes them blonde, much to the shock of the student body. However, this has an unusual effect on Tanaka. As it turns out, our teacher is a closet otaku who loves otome (maiden) games, and in a further coincidence, Murai now looks like the character she’s crushing on—the warrior Hitotose from the game “Feudal Era Love Scroll.” So now our dear teacher must try to keep her fan girl emotions in check while trying to get it into the lovestruck Murai’s newly blonde head that marriage to her student is NOT in her deck of cards…even if he looks like a pretty boy from her favorite game. Cue the shenanigans!

I’m not going to lie guys—I went into this thinking, “Oh great, this is going to be another Please Teacher situation.” In other words, another uncomfortable, unsettling mess. However, I have to say, while there are a few things that gave me pause, on the whole, this looks to be a pretty charming and funny series. Tanaka is amusing to watch—seeing her attempt to maintain her “Iron Mask” persona while internally crumbling to pieces is downright entertaining. She knows that she can’t let her love of Hitotose affect how she approaches Murai, but there are times when her façade crumbles, and watching her freak out is just a riot. Murai…well…bless his heart. He’s a dumb teenager. He wants what he wants and doesn’t care about the ramifications. He’s impulsive and irrational, willing to do anything to get the person he loves to return his affection. While his friends do try to dissuade him from going after his teacher, as good friends would, they eventually give up and offer their support. Umm…what kind of friends are you guys?! You KNOW this relationship would never AND SHOULD NEVER work out?! Ahem. Moving right along, the animation style of this one is…well…it’s weird. It reminds me of The Way of the Househusband: a moving manga kind of feel. The OP is bright and colorful, but I don’t think I’m a big fan of the song, “Henshin!” by Rinu.

So where does that leave us with Murai in Love? Heck, now that I feel this show is NOT going to go down the “Forbidden Love” path I was afraid it would, I feel safe in recommending this one…at least for a couple of episodes to see if it works for you. The characters are colorful and fun to watch, and the animation style is, if nothing else, interesting. This show seems like it’s going to be a comedic romp, and considering the current political climate, a little romp would be prodigious in my book.

Murai in Love is available for streaming on Hulu.

Josh
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