Even though she’s really popular, it seems like Sato rejects everyone who approaches her. Sure, the playboys who are only after one thing don’t deserve her time, but she doesn’t want to befriend girls either. Hell, she doesn’t even glance at Oshio, the protagonist. What’s her deal? Welp, it turns out she just gets really nervous in social situations, so she comes off as cold. Wait, wasn’t there a show recently where a popular girl can’t make friends because she’s socially awkward? That’s the problem when you’ve been watching anime as long as I have. The start of every season just feels like one constant barrage of deja vu. Don’t tell me Oshio is going to help Sato make a hundred friends as well!

So why is Sato suddenly sweet to Oshio? Well, he works at his family cafe, and his muscle-bound father is quite talented at making Instagrammable desserts. Whoops, I’m sorry, it’s “Minstagram.” Wouldn’t want to get sued by Zuckerberg! Thanks to the pretty desserts, he encounters Sato one day, desperately trying to take a photo to put online. Unfortunately, she can’t even hold her camera still. So he helps her and she falls in love with him, right? Nope, this is anime, remember? In anime, you always have to save your love interest from asshole men. It’s the law! As a result, three guys approach Sato out of nowhere, and they even get a little grabby. This part confuses me a bit, though. She had no problems telling people to leave her alone at school, but Sato starts shaking like a leaf in public. But it’s not like she went down some dark, empty alleyway. This is a popular cafe with a lot of diners around her. I expected the girl to at least stand firm, because she could always call for help. Nevertheless, Oshio has to come to her rescue. He then uses his father’s muscles to scare the other boys off. Then right on cue, Sato clings to Oshio.

A bunch of standard romance anime stuff happens. Namely, Oshio invites Sato to his room and shows her how to take a proper picture. They even take an accidental selfie at one point, which Sato insists on keeping. We quickly find out from a flashback that Oshio has been in love with Sato ever since he shared some candy with her back in middle school. All she had to do was smile and he’s been smitten with her ever since. Thanks to her shyness, however, he thought she didn’t even remember him. Great, he’s going to be one of those oblivious idiots who doesn’t realize when a girl likes him. The POV then switches back to Sato, who is happy as a clam that she got to talk to Oshio. Welp, she’s in love with him as well. That makes me wonder if we’ll make any progress. Will this be one of those painful “will they, won’t they” romances? Or will it give us the ending we want by series’ end? We’ve gotten quite a few Reiwa romances lately. I don’t have high hopes for this show, but I still want it to deliver the goods. After all, what else does it have going for it? Neither Sato nor Oshio are particularly unique or compelling characters.

This is a bit of a silly nitpick (and maybe even irreverent), but I want to point it out anyway. The name of the series on Crunchyroll is “The Cold Sato-san is Only Sweet to Me.” I, however, read the title on Wikipedia first, which is still “The Salty Koharu Has a Soft Spot for Me,” which is probably a direct translation that kinda misses the mark? I mean, “shiotaio” is more like chilly than salty, but I digress. All I’m saying is that I feel a bit short-changed. I kinda wanted a salty Sato. Instead, we get yet another cripplingly shy girl. Yes, she’s cold to people at school, but cold isn’t salty. Why is being salty important? Well, there’s a reason why people like to sprinkle a bit of sea salt on chocolate. Throw in a touch of bitterness to round it all out. A great dessert needs that balance. So far, however, all I’m seeing is a bunch of cloying, saccharine romance in store for us.