I love a simple and sweet romance, and among the diverse array of romance anime in the Fall 2025 season, Yano-kun’s Ordinary Days definitely takes on the role of a standard feel-good love story, albeit with some (literal and figurative) pitfalls. For his entire life, second-year high schooler Tsuyoshi Yano has found himself in unfortunate accidents that leave him scraped up, bleeding, and tangled in seemingly illusory ways. His classmates can’t help but keep an eye out for him — and one in particular, class president Kiyoko Yoshida, is determined to make sure his year is as danger-free as possible. As the two navigate their newfound friendship and Yano’s constant mishaps, the obstacle of romantic feelings quickly wanders into their path.
The show establishes Yano’s role as the klutz immediately, and Yoshida soon after becomes defined by her strong drive to be his main go-to for help. This desperation and determination from Yoshida enamored me early on, especially as her feelings of concern snowballed into an uncontrollable, heart-thumping crush that Yano is none the wiser about. Yano’s struggles to navigate school life despite having such a bright personality also provided a subtle twist to the oft-reserved outsider, and their awkward attempts to get comfortable with each other amidst the obstacles really encapsulate the endearing childishness of high school crushes.
After a few more episodes, however, I began to narrow my eyes at their repetitive shtick of the hurt and the healer. By episode 4, I became increasingly doubtful that the two could bond with each other outside of this dynamic. Part of the issue lies in Yoshida’s overly doting nature towards Yano, which often borders on infantilization. She makes herself his first aid kit, makes him lunch to ensure he can eat without running into any issues, and is constantly worried he’ll sustain injuries even when he’s not in her presence. It’s not necessarily that these actions are bad on their own, but at the beginning of the show, it feels like they don’t progress their relationship in any other meaningful way.
This to me felt like a flaw in the construction of the story rather than something I disliked about the characters themselves. I love both Yoshida and Yano’s eccentricities, and that’s why it felt like a disservice to water them down to base traits: Yano as this naive boy who can’t be left alone, and Yoshida as a young girl guided by heavily maternal instincts. Even while being entertained by their shenanigans, I couldn’t help but feel a nagging sense of discomfort, unconvinced that this budding relationship could blossom into an interesting romance.
It doesn’t help that in the episodes leading up to the pair’s big love confession, Yano-kun pivots away from the main pair’s point of view and introduces the perspective of Hashiba, a fellow classmate who garners a not-so-secret crush on Yoshida. Hashiba spends time with Yoshida through their duties as class representatives, and as they slowly become acquainted in larger group settings, their shared quirks paint them as a natural pair, from their eldest-sibling habits to their tendency to be easily alarmed. In hopes of getting intel on his rival, Hashiba also strikes up conversation with Yano outside of school, where they bond over topics other than Yano’s clumsy disposition, such as his art skills and shojo manga.
Hashiba ultimately decides to root for Yoshida and Yano, wishing his crush luck from the sidelines as Yano continues to be clueless about her emotions. As a viewer, though, I felt like Hashiba had a much more compelling relationship with both of the leads. Though Yano and Yoshida also come to see different sides of each other, their dynamic feels first and foremost defined by the show’s running gag, whereas their individual relationships with Hashiba develop much more naturally.
The main two are also keenly aware of Hashiba’s relationship with the other — Yoshida can’t hide her jealousy at Hashiba’s camaraderie with her boyfriend, and Yano imitates Hashiba’s gentlemanly example of wiping Yoshida’s cheek in an effort to impress her. Both take note of Hashiba’s charm, because he is made to appear more charming by the narrative’s construction.
The addition of Hashiba’s point of view is one of my favorite elements of this show, partly because I’m a perpetual victim to second-lead syndrome, and also because his gawkish reactions to Yano and Yoshiba’s naiveté makes him relatable as a viewer. Still, I acknowledge that his presence was more of a hindrance to the viability of the main romance than second leads often are. Whereas second leads from other Fall 2025 romance anime, such as Ayukawa from A Star Brighter than the Sun (who is voiced, funnily enough, by the same actor for Hashiba, Taito Ban) and Aida from With You, Our Love Can Make it Through, play their part as the meddling third vertex of their respective love triangles without taking away from the chemistry of the main couple, Hashiba stole my attention away from the main couple and painted Yano and Yoshida as weaker protagonists.
Thankfully, the last third of the show mends these issues. Neither Yoshida nor Yano change much in personality or behavior, but once they officially enter a relationship, their compatibility shows itself much more distinctly. While Yano is physically accident-prone, he’s steadfast when it comes to expressing his emotions, especially when it comes to Yoshida. Though he doesn’t always register the fuzzy tingles coursing through his body as love, he lets Yoshida know about how overwhelming these unfamiliar feelings are for him, relaying his affinity for her at the same time as setting his boundaries around stuff like holding hands and initiating physical contact.
This side of Yano meshes well with Yoshida, whose clumsiness manifests emotionally rather than physically. Just as Yoshida tends to Yano’s medical injuries, Yano meets her awkward and embarrassed expressions with refreshing honesty. Their bashful yet direct line of communication enhances their precious young romance and makes their relationship feel more balanced, painting Yano less like a child and Yoshida less like a caretaker.
Yoshida especially feels more approachable as a character in the latter part of the show, despite being just as distressed and frantic as before. She exercises her care as if it’s muscle memory, not just with Yano but with everyone, as portrayed by her relationship with her siblings, her support for Hashiba during his baseball game even though she doesn’t return his feelings, and the way she prioritizes her friendships even with her newfound relationship. Her steadfast determination to make everyone feel loved, in her own clumsy way, is her biggest strength.
Even though the main romance took me some time to get accustomed to, I was thoroughly enamored by the development of Yano and Yoshida’s friend group and the show’s care for their relationships outside of a romantic context. Yoshida’s love advice sessions with Mei and Izumi transition into regular hangouts in and out of school, with the two girls even becoming close to Yoshida’s younger siblings. The boys also form a surprisingly compelling dynamic — though Tanaka’s energetically monotonous yapping irked me initially, I slowly got used to his antics, and it was fun to see how he would goad both Hashiba and Yano with his bluntness and mockery.
And when they all come together as a group, new dynamics fall into place so naturally. I love how Izumi initiates most of the group hangouts, how Mei and Tanaka join forces with their goofy prankster energy, and how all of them, not just Yoshida, look out for Yano and try to make his high school experience the best it can be. I also am such a fan of the slow execution of Izumi and Hashiba’s love line, the subtle nods to their childhood history and equivocal hints at romantic feelings amalgamating in the reveal of Izumi’s crush on him in the penultimate episode — vindication! The variegated dynamics between all of them permeate a charm that is so intrinsically high-school.
Yano-kun’s ordinary story still has its share of treasures, and while the plot isn’t reinventing the wheel for the romance genre, the animation production provides this anime’s unique flare with its artistic adaptation of the source material. Standout amongst the details was the decision to preserve the manga’s stylization, such as the thick accentuation of the characters’ closed lips. The pencil-lead textures of the characters’ hair strands and the slight grain overlaid on the entire frame add an additional sprinkle of character, contrasting from the clear, glossy aesthetic other romance animes adopt. I also adored the cool-toned color palette that defines Yano-kun, and how this general color theme makes the warmer details of the characters, like their rosy blushes (and in Yano’s case, his dripping blood wounds), stand out all the more.
Most of all, I was enamored by the intricacy behind each character’s eyes. Each member of the main cast has a distinctive eye shape that coincides with their identity: Yoshida and Izumi with fuller, feminine eyelashes and several globular highlights bedazzling their irises; Hashiba with a sharper rectangular eye shape that simultaneously maintains a softness through his underlashes; Mei and Tanaka with simple round eyes and a deadpan stare that mirrors their playful nature; and, of course, Yano’s soft oblong eye and white square eyepatch.
Outside of their general eye shapes, this show heavily utilizes eyes as a vessel for its comedic moments. In the first minutes of episode 1, Yoshida’s flip-flopping emotions surrounding Yano are conveyed through her eyes, first symbolized by a frantic spiral and then by a complete blank slate. The choice to embed emotion within the eyes carries into all 12 episodes, a choice that is especially meaningful given Yano’s defining characteristic of hiding one eye away due to his trauma from being outcast for his heterochromia. It’s a nice detail, then, to make his friends’ eyes also so unique and vibrant, thus making Yano no different from anyone else.
I’m not sure if there will be a second season of Yano & Co’s antics, though the loose ends of the Izumi-Hashiba relationship and teased “reveal” of Yano’s eye surely builds anticipation for one. Whatever the fate is for this story, Yano-kun adds itself to the library of fun romances, and for all that I nitpicked its narrative choices, I enjoyed all its tender details just as much.
