TL;DR Version:
Nekoyashiki is a doujinshi artist with an inferiority complex despite his success and a very nice assistant. After a show one day he’s rescued by Issay, a high school friend who is now an idol star. Nekoyashiki keeps running into Issay and keeps running away, until he yells at Issay that he feels inferior around him and wants nothing to do with him. But at home, Nekoyashiki has a shrine to Issay.
Recap:
There’s a brief glimpse of a curly-haired guy being tugged by the hand behind someone else and the voiceover: “Our lives should never have…”
But rather than end the sentence we’re in a bedroom with some manga of very muscled men. A bleary-eyed Nekoyashiki mumbles about getting no sleep, but gets up and brushes his teeth while watching an idol group called “Shiney Smile” on TV.
He packs, pulls down a curtain in front of something we can’t see, and heads off to a Doujinshi Festival called Comic Kingdom. Nekoyashiki is one of the artists on the outer wall, which is where the most popular artists are so their lines don’t get in the way of other artists.
But, fun dramatic visuals reveal, Nekoyashiki has an inferiority complex, and being at that wall is all that matters. A man joins his line and we don’t need an introduction to know this is Issay, one of the Shiny Smile idols and the guy we saw holding Nekoyashiki’s hand at the beginning.
Nekoyashiki’s customer service could use some work, as he is less than kind to an eager fan and then later another artist who invites him to a meeting. Both times Nekoyashiki’s assistant steps in. Outside he mentions his exhaustion again. His assistant points out she didn’t get his new book signed for herself. The cover features a man squeezing his own breasts and the title: “Please Suck on my Enormous, Manly Tits” It’s Great.
On his own out on the walkway Nekoyashiki succumbs to exhaustion and starts to fall – only to be rescued and dragged off by Issay. The opening voice-over finally gets to finish: “Our lives should never have crossed paths again”
Issay is thrilled to see Nekoyashik and reminisce about their days together in High School, but the feelings aren’t returned. Nekoyashiki literally runs away rather than get in a taxi with him. Issay is left bewildered while a hilarious muscled street fighter and an angel want to use the taxi.
Later, Nekoyashiki comes across Issay out on the streets again, who tells his group Nekoyashiki inspired him to become an idol. Once again Nekoyashiki literally runs away. This leads to Issay getting yelled at by another member of his group for interacting that way around fans, but positive Issay thanks him and the angry idol storms off in annoyance.
In a dark tunnel, Nekoyashiki is pursued by a trash can that turns out to be Issay. An excited Issay still doesn’t get it, but Nekoyashiki gives a very dramatic speech about their differences that at least partially goes over Issay’s head. To him, Issay is leagues above him and Issay’s admiration of him is offensive. He then reveals that his last words to him in High School were that he will never see him again, and it’s supposed to stay that way.
He literally runs away for the third time.
But, back home, it’s revealed that the curtain Nekoyashiki pulled down earlier was hiding a ton of memorabilia featuring Issay.
Thoughts:
First off, the one thing that bothered me, more on the rewatch than the initial watch, is the clunkiness of the later meetings between Issay and Nekoyashiki. After Issay deliberately finds Nekoyashiki at the festival, the other two meetings seem to be strange coincidences. The bit with the trash can is funny but nonsensical.
Besides that though, I really liked a lot of things about the show. I love a good negative/positive pairing. It’s not a shocking reveal, but I still like that Nekoyashiki was revealed to be obsessed with Issay and not willing to show it to the man himself. I like that positive Issay has to deal with a negative group mate while negative Nekoyashiki’s assistant is positive. There are good contrasts that will be fun to see in action.
I also really like the visual style. The intro credits are fun, the dramatic bit when it’s revealed Nekoyashiki has an inferiority complex, pages of comic books come up, the comically bloated bellies of Nekoyashiki and his assistant, the sound effects turned into text on screen, etc. These bits of style are really interesting and different and good.