A Condition Called Love

Welp. I, uh, don't totally know what to think about this one. I was seeing A Condition Called Love in bookstores and the covers were screaming "cute high school romance" so when I saw it pop up on Crunchroll I thought I'd give it a try. I've seen two episodes now and...

I...uh...am not entirely sure he's not like potentially crazypants serial killer predator or something. I mean, maybe not? But also maybe? 

I'll start over. Hotaru, the girl, has never experienced love or even been terribly interested in it. She's in high school. While out with some friends, she sees Hananoi, the guy, getting dumped by his girlfriend. Later, walking home, she sees him sitting alone in the snow and puts an umbrella over his head.

And he immediately falls totally in love with her, this girl he's never met before.

Ok, sorta sounds sweet. The boy who falls in love too easily and the girl who's not sure what love is. Anyway, he talks her into at least trying to date him to see if maybe they could really be boyfriend and girlfriend.

And he immediately goes off the deep end trying to do things for her. On the one hand, it's sweet. On the other hand, it's, like, seriously excessive (like showing up two hours early to wait for her in the morning or staying up all night to write up study guides for her or nearly freezing in the snow to try and find her lost hair pin).

The first episode erred more towards the sweet side, but in the second...he, uh, says some really really borderline stuff. And it's feeling skeevy but people in the comments were all "It's not like it looks! This is the sweetest! Seriously!" so I guess I'll stick it out for a bit but dude needs some help on figuring out proper boundaries. 

So I'm reserving judgement for now and just hoping he's not a budding serial killer. Maybe it's also 'cause I'm old. My rose coloured glasses broke a long time ago.

Edit: Ok, I've watched 4 episodes now and...hmmm. The dude has toned down the serious red flags but he's still wavin' 'em, just not as loudly. The girl, while on the surface she seems like she should just be sweet and charming, she's also slightly getting on my nerves because I don't see how she can be THIS clueless if she's not neurodivergent (which she doesn't seem to be). Has she never seen a movie? Read a book? Paid any attention to her friends or their relationships? Paid attention to PEOPLE? 

So, I mean, I guess it's mostly sweet but with an edge that makes me want to take them both to therapy. It feels like they could both use it.