My First Girlfriend is a Gal (Season One)

Desperate to lose his virginity, Junichi is forced into asking out Yukana, the beautiful ‘gal’ from his class. His other single friends set the whole thing up, all he has to do is beg, she’s bound to say yes!

What did you watch?

This is another series that I selected as part of my A to Z Anime Challenge. I saw the promo image for it on my streaming service and had meant to get to it for some time now. So when I got to M, it seemed like an easy choice. On top of that, there are only ten episodes in the season. Sometimes, it’s hard to justify picking a twenty-four episode season for the challenge, especially when there’s so much to get through anyhow. I’m looking forward to this, so we might as well jump in. There will be spoilers and gals!!!

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What happened?

Junichi sat alone in his class, watching all of his classmates forming up into pairs. Everyone seemed to be getting a boyfriend or girlfriend. Everyone but him and his loser friends! Luckily for Junichi, his friends have taken it upon themselves to solve his current problem and told the class ‘gal’, Yukana that Junichi would like to meet her after school. As a gal, it’s believed that Yukana is sexually promiscuous and will be bound to help Junichi. He just needs to beg her to go out with him.

When Junichi arrives at the meeting point, he’s surprised to see Yukana waiting for him. As his friends advised, he drops to his knees and begs her to go out with him. She’s sceptical and even guesses his true intentions, but she finds him funny and agrees to go out with him, much to his surprise. At first, his friends are distraught that it actually worked, but are still willing to continue to offer Junichi dating advice and none of it is good!

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What did you think?

Before watching My First Girlfriend is a Gal, I was certain that it would be an entertaining ecchi harem series. I wasn’t expecting, however, to enjoy quite as much as I did. On top of the outrageous ecchi moments, most of which were actually in Junichi’s mind, the characters were oddly relateable and really engaging. I had no idea I would be enthralled by the romance between Junichi and Yukana either. They really seemed to work well together and it just goes to show that you can’t judge people by their appearances. This was a lot of fun.

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What was your favourite moment?

I loved the way that everyone, most notably Junichi, kept misreading the situations and I will freely admit as a dumb teenage boy, I made a lot of the same mistakes. This particular one was when Yukana invited Junichi to her house… while her parents were away. Well, rather than take the obvious hint, Junichi suggested that they invite Ranko, Nene, and his perverted friends and have a party. So dumb, but so funny. Anyhow, Junichi’s friends want to play a game called the King Game with dares. They believe they can rig it so that they all get to kiss a girl, but at the last minute Junichi switched the sticks and it all goes horribly wrong. Talk about taking one for the team. He saved the girls, but he also had to kiss Shinpei. Luckily, Yukana noticed his heroic act.

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What was your least favourite moment?

Ah, here comes another of those dumb teenage moments. Yukana meets with an old friend, he’s a guy, he’s older and better looking than Junichi. So, of course, Junichi gets jealous and has a fight with Yukana. We’ve all been there, but this time Junichi was right. The guy, Dai had come back to town and was interested in sleeping with Yukana. He played the whole thing to create tension between Junichi and Yukana, hoping that she would run to him. Well, she confided in him, but that only made Junichi more upset. Anyhow, I could sympathise with both Junichi and Yukana in this situation, but it could have been avoided. This is one of those moments where people need to talk to each other about their concerns.

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Who was your favourite character?

I really liked Junichi and saw a lot of me in him. That’s worrying, right? Anyhow, I hadn’t expected to have to relive a lot of my teenage years in a ten-episode anime, but here we are. In the end, Junichi did the right thing in standing up to Dai and it was great that he was able to have Ranko and his friends step up and help him. There was a lot of mixed feelings within the group, but Junichi’s actions showed them that he deserved their help. That was especially surprising given how much Ranko had disliked him from the beginning. I also loved Yukana and how she was the most real person there, despite appearing the most fake. Once more, you can’t judge a book by its cover.

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Who was your least favourite character?

For the longest time, I was certain it would be Junichi’s friend, Minoru who was more than a little creepy. I mean really creepy. I’m not even sure why a character like that would be put into a series like this. But even he was no match for Dai, the guy that tried to seduce Yukana. That guy was a massive jerk and deserved everything he got. If anything, he got off lightly as I would have liked to see Ranko give him a good beating.

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Would you like some more?

This series was only ten episodes and I have just discovered that there is an OVA that I will now have to find, but I absolutely want more. As I said, I had no idea that My First Girlfriend was a Gal would remind me so much of me… I’m still not sure if this is a good thing or not, but it definitely got me thinking about my adolescence and all the stupid mistakes I made. On top of that, I loved the humour and enjoyed all of the crazy characters that we met. Honestly, it was hilarious and if they made more, I would without a doubt watch it.

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What have you learnt?

I think the big thing to take away from this series is the idea that you should try to make a connection with the reader by making the character do things that they can relate to. Obviously, it’s hard to include everyone, but the more situations and scenarios you put them in, the more likely something will click with the reader. They often say you should write what you know, so why not take those weird experiences from your own life and try to put them into the story. This works for all genres too. I mean, I’ve never been an elf, but by adding in something relatable to an elf character, you can make them feel real and ultimately that’s what makes the connection.

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Other Posts in the Series

• A to Z Anime Challenge
  • Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
  • Blood-C / Blood-C: The Last Dark
  • Cat Planet Cuties
  • Dragonar Academy
  • El Cazador de la Bruja
  • Freezing / Freezing Vibrations
  • Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions
  • Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
  • Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon?
  • Jormungand / Jormungand: Perfect Order
  • Knight’s & Magic
  • Lord Marksman and Vanadis
  • My First Girlfriend is a Gal
  • No Game No Life
  • Outbreak Company
  • Punch Line
  • Qualidea Code
  • Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World
  • Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign
  • The Testament of Sister New Devil
  • Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle

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