You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an isekai anime these days. (Please don’t swing cats, dead, alive, or otherwise, people.) I include video game anime since most of the action occurs in the “other world” of an RPG. Just this Fall 2023, there are ten currently airing isekai anime. Even one with a boy stuck in the body of a pig. This past year, poor souls occupied swords and vending machines. And the trend continues into January 2024, too! But one trend that I welcome is the comeback of pure-hearted gyaru. Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! picks up the baton from Kimizero for the Winter 2024 anime season.
J-List last covered Hokkaido Gals’s PV trailer drop in July and explained why the Japanese title (道産子ギャルはなまらめんこい, どさんこギャルはなまらめんこい, Dosanko Gal wa Namaramenkoi) doesn’t sound like regular Japanese. Gyaru lingo would have had something closer to 北海道ギャルはめっちゃ可愛い (ほっかいどギャルはめっちゃかわいい, Hokkaido Gal wa Meccha Kawaii). Why do people fondly call Hokkaido natives “dosanko?” It’s a horse breed from Hokkaido! 道産子 (どさんこ, dosanko — horse breed native to Hokkaido; affectionate nickname for people from Hokkaido).
The other words come from the Hokkaido and Tohoku dialects. なまら (namara — very much, really, extremely in Hokkaido-ben dialect). めんこい (menkoi — lovely, sweet, cute in Tohoku-ben and Hokkaido-ben dialects). Get used to those northeastern accents because they are namara menkoi!
Recent Gyaru Anime Shows are Also Super Adorable!
Gal supporting characters have been a staple throughout the years, but rarely have they commanded the spotlight as lead characters. 2017 brought us the iconic Hajimete no Gal, followed by 2018’s yuri citrus and shotacon Sunoharasou no Kanrinin-san. J-List reviewed the charming episodes of Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? in 2019, and 2020 brought us the surreal odd couple slice-of-life Gal to Kyouryuu. Nagatoro-san toyed with us in 2021 and 2023. Then 2022 dropped on us a nuclear cosplaying bombshell in Marin Kitagawa in My Dress-Up Darling, and we played house with Akari Watanabe in the underrated More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers. After Miss Nagatoro’s second season in 2023, we only have the currently airing Kimizero. The last seven years have regularly brought us gal-based anime, so I’m happy 2024 starts us off with Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!.
Besides Hokkaido Gals, 2024 tentatively has two more gal anime shows. The comedy about oil-and-water potential yuri partners, Seiyu Radio no Uraomote (The Two Sides of Voice Actor Radio), comes from light novel and manga sources. We also have the spiritual gal successor to Domestic Girlfriend in Gimai Seikatsu. Studio DEEN has yet to produce an anime poster, so this gyaru anime is even more tentative than Seiyu Radio, but it does have a fun YouTube channel. Still, gyaru fans will have a full stomach from the gal offerings in Hokkaido Gals. Why? The Dosanko Gals, of course!
Meet the Meccha Kawaii Hokkaido Gals
Oh. Hey. There’s a boy in this show named Tsubasa. He moved to Hokkaido in the dead of winter, and the first thing he saw was a gal sacrificing her thighs to cold weather for fashion’s sake. He seems like a nice Tokyo boy, and that’s enough for three hot-blooded snow bunny gals to hover around him. Enough about that guy. Who are the gyaru fan service machines?
Minami Fuyuki — Ayane Sakura (Saki Saki from Girlfriend, Girlfrend and Yotsuba Nakano from The Quintessential Quintuplets). The sixteen-year-old first-year high school student has a cheerful personality and is approachable to everyone. But she has a pure heart and is easily embarrassed when someone compliments her. She always wears bare legs and mini-skirts, even in subzero temperatures.
Sayuri Akino — Yumiri Hanamori (Nadeshiko Kagamihara from Yuru Camp△ and Ai Hayasaka from Kaguya-sama: Love is War). Minami’s classmate seems aloof but is a shy girl who loves playing video games. Sayuri does not have a Hokkaido accent because her parents don’t.
Rena Natsukawa — Reina Ueda (Miyako Hoshino from WATATEN!: an Angel Flew Down to Me and Akane Shinjou from SSSS.GRIDMAN Movie). Tsubasa’s neighbor has won the school beauty contest two years consecutively and has been the top student since she entered the school. She loves history and has a fetish that makes her lose her mind when she sees Japanese kimonos.
Namara Sexy Gyaru
The only question I have is for the anime adaptation: crotches and panties or not? The girls look beautiful in color, so let it be so. BLADE and SILVER LINK studios collaborated to adapt Kai Ikada’s manga. He makes incredibly sexy extra art for his online chapters. So, I’m curious to see if the studios incorporate the images. Please let that also be so!
Information on broadcast schedules and streaming locations is not yet available.
Are you happy to see more gals in anime? Which is your favorite Hokkaido gyaru? The friendly blonde, the shy dark gamer, or the beautiful librarian? Let us know in the comments below or online on Facebook, Twitter, or Discord.
One problem with snow bunny gals is that they won’t be your tanned waifu. J-List can help you there! A JK needs room and board and only has her body for currency. What happens next? Find out today in Iede JKchan wo Tometeagetara Boku no Ie ga Yaibeya ni ~ vol 3.
