Girl Friend Beta, based on a smartphone game, is a sugary-sweet slice of life anime following a loosely connected group of girls day to day around school. The main character (of sorts) is rhythmic gymnast Kokomi Shiina, and each episode generally revolves around either one central girl tackling a problem with the help of others around her, or how particular girls became friends in the first place.
If you’re looking for a fast pace or high drama you’re going to have to set your sights elsewhere. Girl Friend Beta is a syrupy-sweet fluff fest from beginning to end, with such high-stakes plots as Shiina returning a dropped family photo the elusive French exchange student Chloe, the bumbling school president offering the student council’s services to the cafeteria when the staff get stranded on holiday, getting together to do homework or forming an exercise group to lose weight.
As you can see it’s hard hitting stuff! I’m a big fan of the nothing-happens cute-girls-doing-cute-things genre, but even I struggled to stay awake with this at times. Generally the comedy aspect is what makes these shows fun, but Girl Friend Beta is a little light on in that regard and tends to coast along on moe fluffiness alone more often than not.
The show introduces a lot of characters to it’s main cast, each as much of a schoolgirl stereotype as the last, but they’re a largely likeable bunch and there are plenty of fun stories along the way. If you’re looking for something to just switch off your brain and sit down with, you could have a good time with this series. It’s entirely inoffensive and good-natured, wholesome stuff.
A review copy was provided by Madman Entertainment to the author for the purpose of this review.
