First Impression: Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk

Botan Kamiina is an earnest, cheerful girl. When Ibuki, the RA at her dorm, goes off by herself during the girls’ visit to Hitsujiyama Park, Botan goes after her, only to discover that Ibuki is purposely drinking alone. Botan, however, asks to join, and Ibuki soon discovers that Botan becomes a little less quiet and a whole lot more aggressive with alcohol running through her. In fact, alcohol may be the key to opening a lot of closed doors in the relationships at this all-girls dormitory.

Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk has an extremely cute aesthetic—beautiful, soft colors are used, the girls are cute (and occasionally have very kawaii reactions), and there’s a ton of blushing going on. But I found episode one of this yuri series to be disingenuous and off-putting. It begins and ends with drinking. Anime is full of female characters who drink—usually for laughs—but because scenes don’t tend to linger too long on them, we as an audience don’t have to think about their sometimes copious alcohol consumption. There isn’t drunkenness happening here in this series so far, but I’m not keen on how Botan becomes extra aggressive and loud—as if she is drunk—after about two sips of whatever she drinks, and then aggressively flirts with whatever girl is in her line of sight. The series wants to have its whiskey and drink it too, yet tries to use alcohol to add cuteness, humor, and romance to the series without making it feel like a vice (the same for smoking, by the way)—but when the whole show is centered on drinking, it just doesn’t work. The vice is always before you. And the cute vibes and themes about drinking helping these girls grow in their maturity and in relationships with one another just add to the feeling of dishonesty. Also, the show is kind of boring. This is a big “no” for me.

Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

Twwk
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2 thoughts on “First Impression: Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk”

  1. I love the “also, the show is kind of boring” tacked on to the end of your review. This doesn’t sound like an anime for me!

    (Also, I read all the posts from your blog in my email, I’m just too lazy to come here and post.)

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