Review: Ore Monogatari!! (My Love Story!!) - Episode 12, "My Grades"


Episode spoilers ahead...you've been warned.
With episode 12--"My Grades"--Ore Monogatari!! has reached the halfway point of its season and I'm happy to say it's still going strong, delivering its best episode yet. I started worrying about Ore Monogatari!! a few episodes ago, unsure of how it would be able to keep the lovey-dovey romance alive for 24 episodes without getting stale, but, if the show can recapture the vibe sprinkled throughout "My Grades," Ore Monogatari!! will be just fine.
What is it about "My Grades" that works so well? It's that the episode is not just about Takeo and Yamato, but the wonderful cast of characters that are a part of their lives--like Suna and Takeo's parents. When Ore Monogatari!! focuses solely on Takeo and Yamato, the show becomes exhausting real fast because young, idealistic first love is exhausting with its excessive optimism and innocence, so, when the show is nothing but that, it's a bit too much; however, when we get to see the way everyone else reacts to their love story, it's pure bliss.