Kubo san won't let me be invisible is just your run of the mill high school romcom. On a second thought, it offers much more than your average romcom. This show usually portrays the daily interaction of our main duo Junta Shiraishi and Nagisa Kubo. Those who have watched Takagi san might experience a bit of deja vu since Kubo san resembles quite a lot from Takagi san. However, unlike Takagi-san, which felt somewhat repetitive in its first two seasons, "Kubo-san" keeps things fresh and engaging throughout. Each encounter between Shiraishi and Kubo felt heartwarming and left me yearning for more. Anyway let's skip the boring talk


Junta Shiraishi is your typical romcom protagonist, introverted and shy, doesn't have good looks and good grades, and sits on the last row. However, what makes him slightly more interesting than other characters is his invisibility charm. Although he isn't totally invisible, he gets overlooked quite often by pretty much everyone except for his own family and Kubo family. However, unlike other dense protagonists, he understands Kubo san's feelings to some extent and deliberately makes his way out of awkward circumstances. Regardless of the fact that he is overlooked as far as people consider him a beckoning cat, he still yearns for friends and youth.

Nagisa Kubo is also your "not easily found but typical" female lead who is almost a perfect girl in pretty much every way and loved by everyone (why she is all by herself most of the time is still a mystery tho). She is Shiraishi's classroom neighbor and loves to pull out little pranks every now and then. While those pranks aren't very comedic but never miss the chance to leave a refreshing feeling in your chest. Even though she is quite bold and somewhat bullies Shiraishi, she is just a fragile and simple girl going through her adolescence to her sister Akina.

Kubo san anime doesn't do anything groundbreaking, just another iyashikei. They are talking about psychological tests, measuring each other's height, exchanging their jackets, and whatnot. This may sound dull but they are taking each step at a time, depicting their relationship from square one (ahem not really square one but covered a lot of parts). I particularly loved the fact that Kubo's affection towards Shiraishi grew from simple curiosity about a random guy. The very first interaction between them was indeed a hectic one where Shiraishi was dumbfounded that someone intentionally talked to him and Kubo san was being fascinated with his replies. Eventually, Kubo san began to interact with him more, subsequently developing feelings for him. While this may seem bland and flavorless, this is just how unreasonable love can be. Kind-hearted, sharing some interests and philosophies, looks and grades who gives a shit about those crap? All that matters is you are having fun, so does your desired one. Moreover, Kubo san anime isn't only limited to school. They are constantly exploring the relationships outside the campus. While the fanservice of Akina was completely unnecessary, she did play a significant role in flourishing Nagisa's feelings towards Shiraishi which gave birth to some cutesy moments. (Bonus: we also got to see little Nagisa because of her)

Putting aside the plot and storyline, the production quality is top-notch here. While the quality took a turn for the worse after the hiatus, it was still much more than what I would call great. The background visuals remained consistent throughout the show, even going uphill every now and then (especially at ep9). They used very soft colors that soothed the eyes. Not to mention those pouty faces and chibi arts here and there definitely added liveliness to the show. Shiraishi's mob character art goes very well with his invisible trait. Other characters like Saki, Akina, Tamao also had vibrant art. In addition, the precisely timed soundtracks boosted the enjoyment rate. There isn't anything to talk about voice acting when seiyuus like Kana Hanazawa, Sora Amamiya, Miku Itou are working in the same project. I didn't skip both the opening and ending even once throughout the 12 episodes. In fact, the opening resonates with the show's essence more than it seems, there isn't any explicit romance going between them, the warm feelings just came out of nowhere and no one really cares about them. They just want one thing, and that is to stop time and indulge themselves in those sweet moments forever.
~Jikan yo tomare sukoshi dake~ (sorry I can't write japanese XD)


So if you are looking for intense drama, character depth, and notable side characters with substantial chemistry, then I suggest staying away from Kubo san won't let me be invisible as much as you can. But if you want to enjoy an easygoing and laid-back romcom, and don't care much about character depth or anything else, then you should definitely give it a shot. I have seen a lot of people saying there is next to zero progression which is something I have to disagree with. It's just Shiraishi got more development than Kubo san which typically happens the other way around. Also, you wouldn't want to miss Kubo san's adorable chibi faces, would you?

Wow, 2023 has been a great year for anime so far, and Kubo-san is yet another banger of a show, this time in the slice-of-life/romance genre.
The story follows Junta Shiraishi, an incredibly awkward (yet charming in a way) guy, and his daily interactions with Nagisa Kubo, the only person who actually sees him and teases him on an hourly basis.

This incredibly charming story is in no way complex, but it is delivered in a beautiful and (extremely) entertaining way. The dynamic between Shiraishi and Kubo was always a pleasure to watch, week after week, as their small but incremental developments over the course of the series. However, the aspect that really makes the show shine is the small moments that involve mundane but relatable moments with either Kubo's friends or Shiraishi's own insecurities and intrusive thoughts.
The visuals aren't the best, but at the same time they don't need to be, and the clever directing paired with some very well storyboarded episodes largely make up for the limited animation and movement. The colors are also a big help when it comes to give an extra boost to the scene. The audio isn't something that i was particulary impressed either but i wasn't really paying much attention to it, since it's not the show's priority.
Also a small shout-out to the voice actress for Kubo-san (Kana Hanazawa), who once again does an excellent job considering her excellent track record and Shiraishi's VA that portrays Shiraishi's (mostly) calm tone of voice.

All in all, Kubo-san is neither the most groundbreaking anime of the year nor the best slice-of-life. It wasn't even the best romance of that season, but it sure made me smile every single episode and giggle at every awkward interaction between Shiraishi and the rest of the world. And that's all I asked for when I started watching it.

Side note:
I just want to say something about Kubo-san's delays. It was originally supposed to air during the winter 2023 season, but unfortunately it was pushed back to mid-spring 2023. I thought this would affect my personal enjoyment of the show, as the initial "hype" I had when I started watching it kind of disappeared with all these new releases coming out in the spring, but to my surprise, once it started airing again from episode 7, I was more excited than ever. I'm glad the end product was so good, but it should have been a priority to give it the time and resources to be the best it could be. Would that change anything in the quality of the anime itself? Probably not much, but it makes you wonder what could have been. Unfortunately, that's not how the industry works, and that's a shame. I hope we'll get a Season 2 soon, because I don't know how many weeks I can go by without having Kubo-san's sweetness injected directly into my veins.