Senryuu Shoujo is a cute romance TV short that aired during the 2019 spring season. I have only watched it recently and before happening across it on Anilist I had not heard of it once. Its a shame really that it didnt reach the popularity that say Horimiya had met. As much as I enjoyed this show I understand why this may be. Senryuu Shoujo tells the story of Nanako Yukishiro who is quite frankly one of the best female leads in the romance genre maybe even in anime as a whole. Nanako is a 15 year old girl who has a difficult time communicating with other people including her own family. This is why she is entirely mute and communicates only through senryu 575 poetry like the haiku using a board she carries with her everywhere she goes. Even still Nanako is very animated and expressive in her facial features and reactions plus giggles a lot sometimes in even a comedically exaggerated fashion. Nanako was bullied for a time when she was young for this mutism and as a result she holed herself up at home and refused to leave the house. She didnt want to interact with anybody and was depressed to such an extent that her father had grown very concerned for her wellbeing. However after joining a poetry club in the community comprised of all adults she meets a boy her own age: Eiji Busujima also known as the Demon of West Middle School. Except Eiji is nothing at all like a demon actually the nickname is hilarious to tell you the truth because Eiji is an airhead who is all dorky and smiles and loves bunnies. Theres not much detailed about his father up to the point that Ive read in the manga but he has a very intimidating appearance and smokes a lot especially so in the eyes. Eijis eyes and smile make him look scary so much so that everyone is terrified and makes him the victim of a bad reputation due to rumors. For a time Eiji befriended gangsters and got into a lot of fistfights but he decided to turn over a new leaf and take up poetry which is how Eiji came to join the poetry club. To make it long story short the two connected and when Eiji meets Nanakos mother she tells him that he was the one who broke Nanako from her shell. He was the first person Nanako wanted to spend the rest of her life with outside their family she had told him and that was when Nanakos personality transformed to being the perky bubbly freespirited girl she is in the present. What I love about the romance between Eiji and Nanako is just how easy it is. Theres no miscommunication no jealous love rivals all their friends are rooting for them and are trying their best to get the two of them together. Nanako is fairly expressive of her feelings for Eiji albeit subtle in a sense and the two of them do so many couplelike things already such as linking arms and going on dates like its the most natural thing in the world. Theyre always joking around together and find each others quirks most charming and most importantly the two of them are constantly stressing to one another how much they adore them just the way they are. When other girls in their grade pressured Nanako into wearing makeup in the manga which she didnt like Eiji told her she was beautiful but admitted how he found it more difficult talking to her that way since she doesnt look like the same Nanako he spends all his time with. Their schools poetry club in which theyre both apart of tried to come up with a strategy to make Eiji more approachable but when they asked Nanako for suggestions she said that Eiji is perfect just the way he is and made a joking remark about how his eyes roll back into his head when hes lost in thought. This isnt a story of strangers falling in love but two best friends who are already mutually exclusive without realizing. Hell even when a guy tried confessing his feelings to Nanako in the beginning of the manga Nanako rejects him and says to Eiji that shes relying on him to protect her and I thought that was really sweet. Theres no drama occurring whatsoever and while I like that in a sense it gives the plot little substance. Every good story needs a conflict and that is something vital that this series lacks. Not to mention that every episode is not only 12 minutes long but every manga chapter are standalones that are quite short as well. While the animation is stunning the plot lines are original and the VAs are incredible ESPECIALLY the dub which I highly recommend I think the lack of a sole driving sustenance and the short duration of episodes over the course of a single 12 episode series there isnt enough content and development to really take the story home plus the anime ends on a sort of random note in my opinion they gave the backstory of how Nanako and Eiji met which is very important but it ended the anime so suddenly not to mention the two of them didnt get together. I also quite dislike the subtle but frequent fan service that shows up in just about every episode especially with Koto and her entire character as a whole she sort of gives off a big sister fetish and is just super sexual in general. I also think its quite offputting that the entire cast other than Eiji are all women with not a single male character except for unimportant backgrounders. All in all I think this story and its characters had so much potential far more than many romances Ive seen / read but the execution just wasnt the best. But even still its a wholesome funny and enjoyable watch and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a dramafree feelgood series