I wasn’t sure whether to give this a shot or wait for others’ first impressions first, but decided to go ahead, put off sleeping a little bit, and give this one a shot. So far, it has pretty much met expectations based on the synopsis. It isn’t really treading any new ground that other series have tread on countless times before.

I think I might drop this one going forward unless it changes things up a bit and instead will pick up the manga. I tend to like series like this (Kubo, Shikimori, Forgot Her Glasses, etc.) in manga form, but haven’t really enjoyed their anime adaptations as much. I probably didn’t help this series’ chances much by watching it right before sleeping, because I had trouble staying awake through this whole episode.

I liked the backdrop of Hokkaido in the middle of winter for a change.

Lots of detail about life there for the Tokyo-fish-out-of-water protagonist to remark on, from the regional accents and phrases, to sparse city geography, to how the his classmates deal with the cold in and out of school, so that was nice.

Romcoms aren’t really my thing, so I’ll probably just watch for a couple more episodes.

I thought it’s a solid first episode. I liked the art style. Minami is cheeky like Marin. Most importantly, she has a dorito like Nijika.

Pretty boring wish-fulfillment ecchi. The characters seem flat, the story is basically non-existant, and the fanservice is pretty blatant. If you’re a gyaru enjoyer you may have a good time, but there’s really nothing else here. I give the premiere a 2/5.