Spring 2023 Anime: The Dangers in My Heart

Synopsis

Kyoutaro Ichikawa may have the appearance of a typical middle schooler, but his heart is filled with murderous fantasies. It is therefore not surprising that Anna Yamada, the class idol, is constantly in his thoughts as the person he wants to kill the most. (Source: BStation)

Comments

If you haven’t read the manga, Ichikawa’s monologue about killing Yamada might be confusing. It’s understandable. In an interview, The Dangers in My Heart mangaka Norio Sakurai describes Ichikawa’s personality as “chuunibyou“. This is interesting because when we heard the word chuunibyou, what comes to mind is childish characters with outlandish fashion senses like Rikka from Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!. Ichikawa, on the other hand, doesn’t wear any eyepatch or bandage. But it’s clear he has his own world inside his head. He could be representing the other spectrum of chuunibyou characters that never expressed his mental state externally. Slightly emo, maybe, but still behaves normally outside.

With this understanding, we can conclude that we shouldn’t take Ichikawa’s inner thoughts too seriously. He doesn’t actually want to kill Yamada. He’s just jealous of the popular kids, and his hatred manifests as a childish fantasy about “killing” them. However, the joke may not be conveyed well to the viewer. This lead to the aforementioned problem where we’re not sure if we should treat Ichikawa’s monologue as a joke, or something serious. We can understand that Ichikawa’s monologue is supposed to be a joke if it is, you know, funny. This is unfortunate, as it could inhibit the potential viewer’s interest in The Dangers in My Heart. 

But other than that, I found Ichikawa to be an interesting character. He may be an awkward chuunibyou inside. Yet, he is able to pick up social cues during social interaction. We can see this when the upperclassmen flirt with Yamada during the school festival. The girls around Yamada, subtly, are creating some kind of “wall” to protect Yamada, who’s clearly feeling uncomfortable. Ichikawa is quick to notice the girls’ intentions. He’s kind of a mix between Watamote‘s Tomoki and Oregairu‘s Hachiman. Delusional, but also socially aware.

This brings us to Yamada. She’s the female lead here, but she’s very different from Ichikawa. She’s a model, a popular kid with friends, but she’s also an airhead. Yamada sometimes can’t read the situation, which leads to a funny scene in the library. It’s Ichikawa who saves her at that time, and their interaction afterwards is very cute. I can see why Yamada is slowly interested in Ichikawa after interacting with him. It will be interesting to see how their relationship develops. Its joke may fall flat, but the main characters of The Dangers in My Heart are there to pick up the slack.

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Screenshots and Trailer

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