I have not written one of these in a while.
To put it simply Tanaka-kun is Listless is a slice of life comedy starring Tanaka-kun, a boy whose ultimate goal is to achieve divine laziness. However, this being an SoL anime he sometimes has words of wisdom and enlightenment that affect/motivate the people around him to do great things…at the cost of him achieving ultimate goal. Anyway despite the show having lots of things to make it a pretty good SoL to enjoy, when comparing it to the likes of Barakamon, Nozaki-kun, Flying Witch and Ore Monogatari I would say Tanaka-kun is average overall.
My thoughts are very similar to this tweet from one of my Spanish speaking fans:
https://twitter.com/AldreCV/status/746716103875891201
“The end of a series that was occasionally fun that became a “When’s Miyano showing up?” show.” Basically the show was at its best when Miyano, or as I deemed her, “The Little Miracle or La Milagrita in Spanish”, graced our screens/monitors. While I enjoyed Tanaka and Ohta’s fascinating conversations and Shiraishi was amusing, The Little Miracle was the top star.
The Little Miracle is a classic adorable shortie anime character but something about her mannerisms, execution, just the right amount of cuteness and awesomeness to not become stale and her goal of becoming listless to not only be taken more seriously as a soon to be adult but also in the name of love made her one of 2016’s best girls. Speaking of love…
https://twitter.com/AldreCV/status/723899443737579520
This leads us to the yuri topic at hand, Myaano X Ecchan. Episode 3 of Tanaka-kun had one of the historic lesbian love confessions in anime history. It remains one of 2016’s best yuri moments despite what happened afterward. Let me put it this way, after a certain episode that will not be mentioned a debate more than likely sprawled whether this love is true and meant to be or if it was an inexcusable case of negative queerbaiting? Specifically a debate about whether Echizen took The Little Miracle’s confession seriously or is it a classic case of her only seeing La Milagrita as a bundle of puff and not a romantic interest? The bright side was that whenever The Little Miracle was not bestowing words of wisdom to her own apprentice Shiraishi she was working her love magic on Ecchan, not once straying away from her words in episode 3.
While I can understand many animeniacs having enjoyed Tanaka-kun as a while I am on the “When’s Miyano showing up?” side of the spectrum, which is why the show was okay at best to me. At least we The Gift of Miyano. Drink it in doods. Drink it all.
The Yuri Empire 
I enjoyed the atmosphere over all. Yes the whole Miyano(who is the best character of the show,) x Ecchan controversy was annoying (I hate when they downplay the yuri, or really any of the “abnormal” relationships) I think we can all agree that Tanaka and Ohta were in the gayest relationship in the whole show. (we all know who’s gay relationship should have been at the forefront)
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Such a nuisance.
Their conversations were great.
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I think most of the converations of the show were nice, and the characters really had great chemistry with each other (despite that episode that shall not be named) I just wish anime would stop downplaying their obvious LGBT factors, thinking that giving a few minutes of one episode then trying to reverse it almost immediately is patronizing to say the least.
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Not nice at all.
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Had a great start, then began losing steam rather quickly, with a few interesting eps inbetween. Other than those few episodes, it was either mildly entertaining, or that episode.
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Pretty much.
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Yeah i agree with you, but i was mostly in the “When’s Shiraishi showing up?” side.
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Same principle. One noteworthy character.
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Yes the downplaying of the yuri right after such a groundbreaking confession was disappointing, but I’m still happy we got such a scene. Even if Ecchan sees Miyano as more of a cute puffball than romantic interest at this time, that doesn’t change the fact that Miyano is clearly serious about her and just maybe Ecchan will realize that she does indeed love Miyano in that way. It’s possible she’s just Bi and has that typical school girl crush on her childhood friend. I’m optimistic I guess, but at least it left it open to make our own conclusions. Besides, as others have said, the gayest couple by far were Tanaka and Ohta, so I’m not sure Ecchan would have a chance with him anyway. As you said, this was average overall, but it was a cute time consumer and Miyano, Siraishi and Tanaka and Ohta’s relationship made the show. No matter the circumstances after, that confession will probably go down as the best of 2016 and that cannot be taken away.
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Precisely. That confession will go down in yuri history as one of the best regardless of the writers downplaying it afterward.
Ohta X Tanaka is a fun pairing and Shiraishi’s cute.
The Little Miracle stole the show every time she showed up.
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Unintentionally stopped watching after episode 4. Well, I was meaning to continue watching, though you saved me from it 😛
Episode 3 will always remain in our hearts though~
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Always Euroninja-chan.
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I can totally see myself in Tanaka that’s why I really like this show 😛 I don’t really put much effort in anything except if it’s something I want or something that’ll benefit me afterwards. Though I’m not as lazy as him where I’ll need my own “Ohta” to carry me arround 😛
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Yesssssss, I want my own “Ohta” toooooo!!!
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Rather than an Ohta, I want my own Saya actually 😀 she’s one of my favorites in this show :3
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I think I’ll like this show a lot. Man, I really fell behind this season lol.
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Reblogged this on haveyouexperiencedshitsurakuen and commented:
I think I’ll like this show a lot. Man, I really fell behind this season lol.
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Personally I don’t like series with male protagonist. However, i don’t know if is because i felt like a reflection of myself in the laziness of Tanaka-kun or what but it got my interest since the begining. I enjoyed the yaoi arguments between Ota and Tanaka-kun and of course i discovered with joy the third episode…and that was all. So, yes people, I totally beleive that we were victims of queerbating…but we will have MiyEchhi forever…in our hearts…and fanfics of course.
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Too hard for me to tell from this anime if it actually was queerbaiting. It could be, could be not. Depends on how the manga ends.
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well there’s another “alternative title” — My Little Sister Can’t Be This Creepy xD
yeah your review is right on. For a throwaway side character the WacDonald’s waitress is surprisingly memorable
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A funny one-shot character.
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I’m not convinced Miyano really, seriously, is in love with Echizen. To me, it seems to be more of that kind of “love” love you see in anime, and visual novels, almost exclusively between girls. Hard to explain, kind of plutonic infatuation love, but not romantic or sexual love. At the very least, I don’t think the writers intended for her to be viewed as lesbian – she’s shown later saying she doesn’t see Ohta or Tanaka as “members of the opposite sex”, or, potential romantic/sexual partners.
Echizen, too, is at least pretty clearly shown to be straight. Or Bi, I guess. She was all ready to choose Tanaka to get married, during the epic misunderstanding.
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Fair reasons to doubt The Little Miracle. Still the confession is very memorable despite it losing its meaning.
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