Muchuu sa, Kimi ni.

To escape from the monotony of his daily life, Jouji Ema likes to count all the cute things he sees. However, this has become a difficult task at his all-boys school, with one exception: his classmate Miyoshi Hayashi. After a random mishap with Hayashi at the sports festival, the boy starts following Ema around asking him if he thinks he is cute. Ema is puzzled by Hayashi's frank yet naive attitude, but he cannot help but be drawn in by his eccentric personality.

Meanwhile, Yuuichi Medaka's school year takes a wrong step when he is seated in front of Akira Nikaidou, a gloomy boy rumored to put curses on anyone that crosses his path. Determined to get in Nikaidou's good graces, Medaka tries to befriend him, but to no avail. Just when he is about to admit defeat, he discovers that Nikaidou might not be the bad omen everyone believes he is.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Medaka, Yuuichi Main

Ono, Yuuki Japanese

Hayashi, Miyoshi Main

Ono, Kensho Japanese

Nikaidou, Akira Main

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Ema, Jouji Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Matsuya, Megumi Supporting

Miyamoto, Yume Japanese

Komatsu, Yutaka Supporting

Oosuzu, Kouki Japanese

Zaki Supporting

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Sakura Supporting

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Akira's Mother Supporting

Sahaku, Miyuki Japanese

Senoo, Masahiro Supporting

Fukunishi, Masaya Japanese

Nakatani, Asami Director

Kimura, Eriko Sound Director

Tsukahara, Yukiko Episode Director, Assistant Director

Yamashita, Daiki Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Sep 19, 2025

reenfp

Recommended

I'm not a fan of the "slice of life" genre. Despite knowing this, I decided to give this anime a shot. And man, am I glad that I did. These 5 episodes were absolutely refreshing, something I'd recommend to friends (I already did)! In the past, whenever I watched an anime with the tag "slice of life", it turned out pretty boring and repetitive, causing me to lose interest easily. But this anime, with its cast made up of unique characters, and each story being portrayed originally- not following the usual highschool anime tropes, stood out. Moreover, the different ways each character viewed highschool life ... was relatable to me, as a highschooler myself.

The first 3 eps are centered around Hayashi, a boy who does "weird" things no one else would usually do- like taking pictures of random bits of writings on signs/billboards around the city and posting them online together forming sentences. But personally, I found all his antics, as well as each of the interactions he had with different characters, endearing. The final two episodes were about Nikaidou and Medaka. Nikaidou, a boy who built up walls and created a whole new persona to protect himself after experiencing a certain traumatic experience, and Medaka, your average good-natured chill guy. The way Medaka worked to try and peel the layers off from Nikaidou's cocoon and get him to experience a somewhat normal school life was actually quite funny. All in all, this was definitely an enjoyable anime and not boring in the least.

Lastly, I have to say the animation is awesome. Opening and ending soundtracks were catchy too. Overall 8/10. Can't believe that one clip I saw of Medaka passing a paper to Nikaidou behind him and getting a papercut on Instagram got me searching up the anime and watching it lol. At first I thought this was a bl or something but it didn't have any romance sadly, and also confusingly, seeing how the name is "Captivated by you".

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 18, 2025

bossunhimeswitch

Recommended

This was an interesting little anime. I wasn't sure what would happen given Wayama's previous works but I was not disappointed. The characters seemed like kids you'd see in an actual high school. The stuff they got up to sometimes was super weird, but who wasn't super weird in high school? It was a nice short anime though I kind of wish that it had another episode. But the open ended nature of the final episode fit with all the other stories that came before it.

If you're looking for a short simple slice of life anime with a bit of humor to it, then ... you might enjoy this. If you want something with a less episodic way of telling a story then you might not like this one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 18, 2025

KANLen09

Mixed Feelings

Captivated, by You — Oh look, I'm a man of stature that everyone should be fixing their eyes on...oh, why is it only that I attract quirky people?

The AniManga world is quite the fascinating medium to explore, known for not just pushing the mainstream narratives (that honestly tire the majority to no end) and sometimes pushing out works of showcase where one small effort goes a long way. And this summer season, there's certainly more than just the half-as-usual 12-episode series, from Taizan 5's Takopi no Genzai a.k.a. Takopi's Original Sin, to Shinichiro Nariie's Food Court de, Mata Ashita a.k.a. See You Tomorrow at the ... Food Court. For female mangaka Yama Wayama, her one-shot single-volume doujinshi series Karaoke Iko! a.k.a. Let's Go Karaoke! and this work right here: Muchuu sa, Kimi ni, a.k.a. Captivated, by You, deserves every bit of the mention, especially so for the latter series because of the numerous nominations and awards, from earning 2nd place in Kono Manga ga Sugoi!'s manga guidebook for female readers, as well as its nomination in the 13th Manga Taisho, to winning both the New Face Award in the Japan Media Arts Festival and the Short Work Prize in the prestigious Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize awards, all in 2020 alone.

The latter is a series of short anthological stories that loosely stitches its characters together, focusing on a fair few students at an all-boys school; it's certainly intriguing from a literal aspect. The various stories connecting 4 boys and their respective "pairings" of Miyoshi Hayashi, Joji Ema, Akira Nikaidou, and Yuuichi Medaka — it's an open season of students acting on their own regard, and it definitely feels weird from the get-go, until you get used to seeing the entire cast and figuring out their "family tree" that ranges from aloofness and being forthright to downcast and grim personas that can be mistaken for a Junji Ito horror act.

The slice-of-life comedy aspect certainly isn't for everyone, but when the anime is the best representation of the manga for the majority, it feels as if the critical reception that it got didn't quite translate well into the anime, which just has that "I'm fine" vibe that certainly has its moments. Especially, when compared to Karaoke Iko!, the latter show here is nothing noteworthy.

Despite both this show and Karaoke Iko! sharing the same staff team under Genjitsu no Yohane a.k.a. Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror's director Asami Nakatani and Doga Kobo at the helm, it's Muchu-sa that feels like it's the least concentrated of the author's two series, both in its direction and production that scream just one constant tone: a fine, decent look. Even Keina Suda's OP and the VA's ED are also fine, though thankfully it doesn't strain the natural hearing aids longer than its short runtime.

I think it takes a certain level of intrigue trying to appreciate Muchuu sa, Kimi ni. a.k.a Captivated, by You, for all its worth. The manga made headlines for being Yama Wayama's magnum opus, and headlines for her low points of creating unsuccessful stories, but that same level of energy somehow got lost in Doga Kobo's adaptation, which I don't know if it could've been done any better.

Regardless, it's quirky as heck, and a full straight watch-through is all it takes to see whether the series deserves its reputation to begin with...to which I say: it's alright...?

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Summer 2025 Simulcast List [Update 8/7]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Summer 2025 season. Anime series licensed for hom...read more

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'Karaoke Iko!', 'Muchuu sa, Kimi ni.' Unveil Additional Staff, Second Promo

The official website of the Karaoke Iko! (Let's Go Karaoke!) and Muchuu sa, Kimi ni (Captivated, by You) anime revealed additional staff, key visuals (pictured)...read more

Jun 21, 2025 9:25 PM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (4 comments)

	Poll: Muchuu sa, Kimi ni. Episode 3 Discussion this_again - Sep 4, 2025	22 replies	by Yuniboo »» Dec 31, 2025 11:31 PM
	Poll: Muchuu sa, Kimi ni. Episode 5 Discussion KANLen09 - Sep 18, 2025	33 replies	by OldSkoolBrayan »» Dec 22, 2025 5:49 PM
	Poll: Muchuu sa, Kimi ni. Episode 2 Discussion this_again - Aug 28, 2025	18 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Nov 7, 2025 10:10 AM
	Poll: Muchuu sa, Kimi ni. Episode 1 Discussion this_again - Aug 21, 2025	29 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Nov 7, 2025 10:05 AM
	Poll: Muchuu sa, Kimi ni. Episode 4 Discussion this_again - Sep 11, 2025	22 replies	by Rexnihilo »» Oct 5, 2025 10:25 AM