Transferring to a school out of country is already crazy enough. Transferring just to meet your idol is insane behavior. A high jumper, too. Not even your standard idol, but just a really, really good athlete in what most would consider to be a niche sport. Look, no insult to any high jumper out there, but you’re obviously not competing with, say, baseball or soccer. When’s the last time I even watched an anime about high jumpers? Suzuka? Christ, that was two decades ago. Point is, I would have my kid committed to a mental facility if they suggested something as batshit crazy as crossing the largest ocean on the planet just to get closer to a boy. But that’s exactly what our protagonist Mizuki does, and her bestie is just so blase about it.

Not only that, it’s a boys-only school, so our girl has to cut her hair short and pretend to be a boy. Is this really not a crime or something? It’s gotta be at least fraudulent, right? But since this is fiction and thus bullshit as all hell, her roommate just happens to be Sano, the very guy she idolizes. And when he tells her that he’s quit high jumping, she, who is a complete stranger to this dude, freaks out on him. That’s totally not weird and stalkerish! I would love a show that lampoons this shit. I would love a show that turns this all around and paints the protagonist as a psycho bitch weirdo who has gone to all lengths just to infiltrate this poor sucker’s life. But no, we’re watching a “light-hearted” romcom instead — a romcom full of dokidoki moments and potentially a reverse harem of sorts. And lots of stalking. You’re a stranger! This guy’s life is none of your business!

Then we find out that Mizuki is really, really good at running. Like “breaks the school’s standing record” good… which is possible but unlikely. Typically, the sexes diverge significantly by the time you reach the late teens. But I guess it’s not impossible for a girl to be a freak athlete and thus still beat the boys. Maybe our protagonist is the female Usain Bolt! It’s just that when you layer contrivances after contrivances, i.e. an American girl transferring into a Japanese boys-only school in order to meet her high jumper idol, who is then conveniently her roommate, it’s hard to swallow yet another super low odds contrivance, i.e. our protagonist being that much faster than all of the boys around her. If she’s this talented, she could get a scholarship to top D-1 schools in America. Basically, she could punch her ticket to a great education and set herself up for the rest of her life, which makes it even more insane that her parents would allow her to pull this stunt. But hey, Japanese boys all want her now, and that’s way more important than anything I just mentioned. Meanwhile, she keeps stumbling on her victim crush sleeping in random places. Ugh, so cool! Must stalk!

What is even Mizuki’s plan anyway? Befriend this guy, somehow magically convince him to compete as a high jumper again, and then what? Surprise! I’m, uh… a girl all along? Meanwhile, she’s confusing the hell out of her first friend, who is seemingly in the process of a personal awakening. Well, Sano discovers her poorly-kept secret in just the first episode. This is all thanks to him having to princess carry her dumb ass because she couldn’t turn down a challenge. She really got baited by her friend saying, “When someone starts shit with you, you don’t back down. That’s what men do!” No, no it’s not. That’s how men often get themselves killed. But I digress.

Sano isn’t the only person to know Mizuki’s secret. The creepy ass school doctor is in on it too, but don’t worry ’cause he’s gay! Uh huh, I guess that makes it okay for him to aggressively grab her wrist in the second episode. But he’s not the only red flag around here. The morning after her concussion, Mizuki discovers that an “intimate” moment between her and Sano is making the rounds at school. This is the handiwork of a kid desperately auditioning for TMZ. In response, Mizuki doesn’t hesitate to dole out some sweet justice of her own, but is she really in any position to judge? I mean, she literally crossed an ocean to stalk a guy, so I’m just sayin’…. Nevertheless, what’s up with this student body? Maybe everyone at this academy has just gone bat crazy, because they’re surrounded by boys all the time.

It turns out the original author for this work passed away before they could see their work adapted to anime. RIP. Do I feel bad about all the stuff I just wrote? No. But RIP nonetheless.