Based upon the eponymous manga, 3B No Koibito is a fairly typical romance drama about our “ mistreated” female lead Haruka Kobayashi ( Fumika Baba) and her encounters with the “ 3Bs” ( “ The Three Boys You Should Avoid”): bandman Amemiya Yuu ( Kamiya Kenta), beautician Shintaro ( Nakahara Hiroshi) and bartender Yoshi ( Sakurada Dori) when they begin to reside under one roof.

It is fair to say that 3B No Koibito had “ cliche” setup from the start-up with its “ reverse harem-setup”, the questionable and unfunny gag in the pet salon, and the natural progression of repetitive storyline as well, helped to lead to worsening characterisation, plot development and something even intrinsically “ likeable” about the male leads for a major proportion of the series, often resulting in their interactions with Haruka , feelings incredibly obligated for plot rather than a naturalistic development.

Upon this topic, it is probably important to address the portrayal of our female lead Haruka Kobayashi.Initially, Haruka’s most prominent feature as a female lead was speaking out against the egotistical behaviour at times of her male tenants as well as learning something new about them and herself in the process. Yet rather than allowing us to see Haruka’s further development by healthily overcoming her traumatic experiences, the show becomes too obligated upon Haruka making rash and impractical decisions in order to “ heighten the potential romance” between the trio of love interests. A lot of these decisions resulted in Haruka’s strong personality being degraded to often emotionless and staid rather than well-written, especially within evidently leading on the other male leads without any previous judgement or bond shown to indicate her actual feelings. Consequently, although Fumika Baba isn’t a bad actress, a mixture of lacklustre line deliverances and questionable stoicism at times often made her performance seems as appealing as watching paint dry.

Moving on to our “ 3B”s, one of the most prominent issues which was never tackled can be seen through never highlighting the prejudice and stereotypes held against men in “ less academic” spheres in Japan, as well as the problems of relationships in modern Japanese society. Although this was certainly not a driving factor for the storyline, it seemed odd to not subvert these cliches in order to “ personalise” our characters, rather than draw onto them as plot devices throughout the actual show .

The most prominent “ flaw” rising between all three of the male leads led Haruka to realising early on that they were “ debauchees” with new “ muses” or “ girlfriends” nearly every week. Although this undeniably offered a less “ sugarcoated” reality towards the “celibate and pure “ male lead often written into dramas to romanticise relationships , it nevertheless posed a greater problem within the characters’ double-standards when Haruka decides to start dating someone who ‘’ is not them’’. Of course this did feed into the drama’s storyline, however, it felt brushed over that whilst Haruka would criticise their actions but not dominate their relationships, the 3Bs would begin trying to control and manipulate her own love life because of their own ‘ incoherent feelings towards her for the sake of plot’.

As one of the 3Bs that first presents the problem of characterisation, cosmetologist Shintaro can often be seen to exemplify this problem. He initially appears as a ‘ kind-hearted’ male character who Haruka learns often leads on girls as his new ‘ model’, before either dumping them or allowing them to unhealthily fantasise over being with him. The series attempts to offer some explanation to Shintaro’s actions by viewers learning more about his past, but rather than this acting as a stepping stone to learning from his mistakes, Shintaro seems only to become worse by suddenly deciding he has ‘’ romantic feelings’’ for Haruka. Although Shintaro was less forceful upon Haruka than the other two male leads, it was still a little eye raising when his previous antics caused harm to Haruka as well as not contemplating or reflecting upon his actions, questioning exactly what he even liked about Haruka in the first place due to very similarities or differences between them made prominent for them to bond in the series( apart from only several episodes ).

Moving on to our second notable ‘ 3B’, Amemiya Yuu, there was the evident similar problem of Yuu having a ‘’ new girlfriend’’ at every gig, until a ‘’ tearjerker backstory’’ attempted to explain things in seconds flat, whilst his character initially returned to being often rude and egotistical for a major proportion of the series. Yuu’s behaviour to Haruka after developing a ‘’ crush’’ did seem a little more formulated than Shintaro’s due to actually pointing out some notable interactions between the characters, it nevertheless felt poorly-tackled that the show did not think to draw out actual reasons for Yuu’s feelings suddenly ‘’ occurring’’ rather than actual development.

Finally, our final ‘’ 3B’’ is bartender Yoshi. Seemingly suave, charismatic and reserved, Yoshi is quite manipulative within playing around with women and tries to come on several times uncomfortably on to Haruka to test her reactions. Although Yoshi is not an intrinsically ‘’ horrible’’ person through his later advice for Haruka, his actions towards expecting Haruka to showing up to suddenly try his new drinks , as well as taking heed in her love life, made him one of the hardest characters to romantically pair with Haruka.

The pacing of the show often felt incoherent with a fairly interesting start, which only seemed to worsen as storyline crashed into cliches and attempted romantic pairings with lacklustre effects for viewers’ actual attention. Consequently, the ending was a matter of opinion more than anything else, but certainly expected within the generic setup of the series.

Overall, 3B No Koibito is the epitome of the the type of show that you should watch if you’re looking to binge watch something without a second thought. However, poor characterisation, lacking interest for viewers within a coherent plot, dire pacing and a mediocre finale, will result in the show being a waste of time for those looking for something more refined and well-written.