AKA: 僕の心のヤバイやつ ; BokuYaba

Genre: Romantic Comedy/Coming of Age

Length: Television series, 13 episodes, 23 minutes each

Distributor: Currently licensed by Sentai Filmworks; available streaming on HiDive.

Content Rating: TV-14 (Mature themes.)

Related Series: Season One

Also Recommended: Teasing Master Takagi-san; Lovely Complex

Notes: Based on manga by Norio Sakurai, published by Akitashoten

Rating:

The Dangers in My Heart: Season 2

Synopsis

Kyotaro Ichikawa and Anna Yamada continue to move closer to each other, even if awkwardly and hesitantly. Can Kyotaro correctly interpret the signals Yamada's sending him? Can both of our protagonists finally be completely open with each other?

Review

"It's okay if you get the wrong idea" - Yamada to Kyotaro. He'd just commented that maybe girls shouldn't give guys chocolate on Valentine's Day, since it could give the guys "the wrong idea."

With the Second Season of the show, the personalities of our two leads come into even sharper focus; they're both awkward, but in different ways.

We know Kyotaro much better of course, since he's our POV character and we actually hear his thoughts. He has a massive inferiority complex (especially with reference to Yamada), and easily slips into pessimism (AND quiet panic.) In this season's single best episode, where Yamada and her friends are making chocolate, we start with Kyotaro wondering if he's even supposed to be there (few things create more anxiety than wondering if you were really invited at all.) And we end with Kyotaro's finally formally being introduced to Yamada's parents. (Yamada's mother seems a standard-issue Japanese mom, but her father is... different.) That episode, in particular, has a certain genius about it; besides, it even features my favorite secondary character here, Moeko Sekine. A red-haired girl (described as a gyaru in the Wiki article), for some reason I like the nasal twang her VA gives her. She's always trying to "help" Yamada and Kyotaro's relationship (sometimes the help is maybe a little ill-considered), though later one (hilarious) misunderstanding does cause her to declare, "I'm so DONE trying to cover for you!". (We'll say that as the relationship between Kyotaro and Yamada gets closer, the show's humor gets raunchier, but the relationship itself, not so much.)

As for Yamada, she's a bit impulsive, and tends to express herself physically. Well, ONE of our pair has to be the assertive one, as neither of them is verbally skilled, though Kyotaro can express himself in words, if under enough emotional stress. (At one point, he has to ad lib when he's forgotten part of a speech he's in the midst of delivering.) I had the idea that when confession time rolled around, Yamada would be the first to make one, but maybe things get more complicated than that. (Moeko wonders if formal confessions are even required for lovers, but this is Japan, so traditions must be observed I suppose.) In any event, Yamada often takes the lead in their private moments together; it's not really sexual yet (just as well, since they're only 14 or 15), but it's physical and/or suggestive enough that Kyotaro, at one point, nearly faints. (I think those of us who were like Kyotaro as teenagers would have regarded having a Yamada in our lives with simultaneous pure joy and utter dread. She's kind of a klutz in many things (as she readily admits), but she conveys the warmth she feels toward Kyotaro just fine.)

We'll see more of Yamada's modeling job this time; she's working on film roles as well. I expected any real threats to the relationship to come from that direction, since the only other major obstacle between them is Kyotaro's own lack of self-esteem; almost everyone is supportive of our pair. (Well, being TOO supportive can also be a problem; I'll get to that later.) Kyotaro's older sister Kana has been consistently in his corner. (Theirs has been one of the best sister-brother relationships I've ever seen in anime; she might tease/harass him a little, but she's always supportive (even a little bit maternal at times- after all, she is his older sister), and is his closest friend and confidant (it's to her that he first reveals his true feelings for Yamada.) And, of course, she likes and admires Yamada herself, and often tries to impress her. I'm amazed that the VA for Kana is the same one who voiced Rika Furude in Higurashi; you couldn't imagine two more different characters.)

It's not just Moeko who "covers" for Kyotaro and Yamada; Kyotaro's mom also does so at one point. (I guess nobody here is above some minor villainy, in a good cause.) Just about all of Yamada's girlfriends also like Kyotaro, and fuss over him. (Which, as I also noted in the previous review, sometimes arouses Yamada's jealousy; her jealousy, like all her other emotions, is pretty easily aroused.) Even Yamada's parents, it turns out, might be OK with Kyotaro- one of them CERTAINLY is.

One problem does emerge that wouldn't have even seemed a problem- Kyotaro and Yamada's closeness in a shared classroom. It turns out that some of their classmates might want to break them up out of jealousy, but an equal threat is well-meaning folks who want to "celebrate" their relationship (i.e., put on a public display about it.) A new classmate, a masked girl named Kanna Andou, is the chief offender here; her efforts to "celebrate" the togetherness of couples has led, in the past, to the un-coupling of those couples.

And the spectral guy who keeps "advising" Kyotaro is finally formally introduced; he's a manifestation of Kyotaro's libido, but no matter how "helpful" he tries to be, there are times when Kyotaro wisely ignores his advice.

One of the most charming anime series I've ever encountered. My complaint about A Sign of Affection certainly doesn't apply here; both Yamada and Kyotaro are GLORIOUSLY idiosyncratic, and you always want them to finally officially declare for one another- and you may get your wish. I found this one absolutely wonderful, and it's the third show (besides Frieren and Apothecary Diaries) that I found outstanding this season. — Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: Mature Situations, but no real sexuality (at least at THIS phase of their relationship.) HiDive goes TV-14. Fine with me.