While I’m always down to watch another school story about characters who are worried about their school club being closed because the fourth member got isekai‘ed by Truck-kun and is now living a harem universe with sexy elves and catgirls, the reality is that most of us are adults living in the real world. That means dealing with things like work, paying rent and taxes, and sometimes having relationships that don’t go so smoothly, and every once in a while it’d be nice if anime would reflect that. Well, you can find all the grown-up drama you could wish for in the currently-airing Yesterday wo Utatte, aka Sing “Yesterday” For Me, a charming slice-of-life about four people trying to get by.
The main character is Rikuo Uozumi, who graduated from university but couldn’t, or decided not to, get a proper job, though he likes photography. He’s hung up on Shinako, a classmate from university who he confessed to once, only to get shot down. While they’re continuing their friendship, they seem destined to be “more than friends, but less than lovers” forever.
Haru is a mysterious girl who dresses in black and is usually accompanied by a crow she’s befriended. She in love with Rikuo, despite him having no direction or ambition, and openly declares war on Shinako to win Rikuo’s heart. While a “genki girl,” she’s actually very vulnerable inside. She’s voiced by Yume Miyamoto, the up-and-coming seiyuu who played Rikka from SSSS.Gridman.
Shinako (voiced by star voice actress Hana Kanazawa) is Rikuo’s former classmate at university, and is working as a high school teacher. One of her students is her childhood friend Ro, younger brother to Yu, the boy she was in love with who died five years ago. She seems unable to move on from the death of Yu, and thus unable to find someone to love.
Ro Hayakawa is the younger brother of Yu, the boy Shinako was in love with before his death. A struggling artist, he’s in love with Shinako but is seen as a “younger brother” by her.
A Nostalgic Anime
Even though I’m coming to Sing “Yesterday” For Me for the first time, the show made me feel extremely natsukashii (nostalgic), partially because it’s set in Japan in the 90s. This was a simpler time when everyone used bright green payphones to call each other because cell phones weren’t a thing yet, and plots can revolve around whether someone was home to receive a phone call or not. Other story elements seem like a shoutout to classic 90s dramas, like the way characters regularly collapse with a fever, requiring another character to nurse them back to health, spawning possible romantic feelings. I watched a lot of great Japanese dramas back in the 90s, classics like Tokyo Love Story and The 101st Wedding Proposal, and this anime makes me feel like I’ve returned to those simpler days.
Should You Watch Sing “Yesterday” For Me?
I think everyone would be well-served to give this show a chance. It’s based on one of the top seinen manga of the past three decades and has a huge following. It’s animated by Doga Kobo, one of my favorite anime studios. And best of all, it’s slated to have 18 episodes, more than a short cour but less than two full seasons. This means we can expect a tightly-packed story without a lot of filler, that resolves itself at the end.
Will you be watching Sing “Yesterday” For Me? If so, which couple are you rooting for? Tell us below!
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