Reviewed: Is Uzaki-chan Wants To Hang Out! Any Good?

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai!) is a Japanese slice-of-life manga series written and illustrated by Take.

The series focuses on the budding relationship between Hana Uzaki, a cheerful and energetic girl, and introverted Shinichi Sakurai who wishes to be left alone.

An anime television series adaptation by ENGI premiered on July 10, 2020. So far, eight episodes of the first season have been released. The ninth episode is set to air on September 4th, 2020. The season will run for a total of 12 episodes.

1. Quick Review

The series takes place in an ecchi comedy setting revolving around college students Hana Uzaki and Shinichi Sakurai. Hana and Shinichi attended the same high school in the past and she is excited to discover that she is attending the same college as her high school upperclassmen.

As college begins, Hana begins to notice Shinichi keeping to himself most of the time. After a year of observing his loner behavior, Uzaki decides to step in and befriend him so that she can change his introverted and unacceptable behavior.

Hana Uzaki starts her mission to show Shinichi the fun things in life by stalking him, much to his annoyance. The story advances with Hana using her silly antics and undeniable charm to change Shinichi’s behavior and outlook on life.

2. Info Card

3. Is it worth watching?

Uzaki-Chan Wants To Hang Out! Tells a comical slice-of-life story about a blossoming relationship between two college students, Hana and Shinichi. The plot has a youthful and light-hearted feeling to it owing to the college setting and the young characters.

The series is accompanied by satisfactory animation and the gakuen-ecchi story uses a kawaii art style featuring characters with large eyes and enhancing parts of the body.

I. Plot

The series revolves around the relationship between Hana Uzaki and Shinichi Sakurai. Hana is a confident and high-spirited girl who notices Shinichi’s introverted behavior and finds that his loneliness is unacceptable. The story progresses with Uzaki making it her mission to make Shinichi experience the joys in life which leads to hilarious situations.

The main character Hana Uzaki is voiced by Naomi Ozora alongside Kenji Akabane as Shinichi Sakurai. The voice actors did a great job of delivering the dialogues with the precise tone and mood of the characters.

II. Characters

Hana Uzaki

Hana Uzaki is the titular character of the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! series.

Hana has a high-spirited personality. Her character is confident, cheerful, and often resorts to foolish behavior much to the annoyance and embarrassment of Shinichi.

Uzaki finds that Shinichi’s loner behavior is terrible and decides to hang out with Shinichi and change his outlook on life.

Shinichi Sakurai

Shinichi Sakurai is the main protagonist of the series.

Shinichi’s character is introverted and rude. He enjoys being alone which proves to be difficult with loud-mouthed Uzaki constantly stalking him.

He likes to be by himself although he is seen with another character, Sakaki. At the cafe where he works, he is also seen interacting with another character, Ami Asai, much to Uzaki’s surprise. With Uzaki by his side, Shinichi slowly begins to become more outspoken as we see gradual character development from him.

Itsuhito Sakaki

Itsuhito Sakaki is Shinichi’s college classmate and friend.

Despite Shinichi’s introverted behavior, he doesn’t seem to mind hanging out with Itsuhito. In the series, we see Sakaki tease Shinichi about Hana, and join fellow friend Ami to conjure up a plan to get the two main characters together.

Ami Asai

Ami Asai is Shinichi’s coworker and eventually, his friend.

Ami is a typical girl character who loves looking at attractive guys, including Shinichi Sakurai. When she notices the chemistry between Hana and Shinichi, she hopes that they end up together.

III. Setting

• Location:  The series takes place in a college setting and other locations such as the University, movie theatre, the cafe where Shinichi and Ami work, etc.

• Animation: The 2D animation does its role in bringing the anime to life but the movements seem rather restricted and give the characters a mechanical movement.

The series directed by Kazuya Miura also uses good angles in each scene to highlight the drama on screen.

• Artwork: Manabu Kurihara designed the characters using a kawaii form of art as can be seen through the enlarged eyes and whimsical features.

The background in the scenes doesn’t fit in with the characters and sticks out like a sore thumb by looking more realistic than the characters themselves.

IV. Theme Songs

• Opening theme songs :

Title	Original Artist	Genre	Episodes	Reference Links
“Negotiation by Comforting” (“Nadame Sukashi Negotiation)	Kano and Naomi Ōzora	J-Pop	1-8	Youtube Spotify Apple Music

The opening theme song uses fun and funky music with vocals sung by Uzaki’s voice actor Naomi Ozora. The lyrics talk about Uzaki-chan’s goal to make Shinichi see the fun side of things and quit his loner behavior by being happy and enjoying life.

• Ending theme songs :

Title	Original Artist	Genre	Episodes	Reference Links
“Kokoro Knock” (Kokoro Nokku)	YuNi	J-Pop	1-8	Youtube Apple Music

While the OP is an upbeat song to reflect Uzaki’s energetic personality, the ED expresses her emotions towards Shinichi and how she slowly becomes a part of his life. The music is slow-paced and calming which builds in tempo as it makes its way to the chorus.

•  Original SoundTrack (OST): Being a light-hearted series, the show uses carefree and joyful music composed by Satoshi Igarashi. The OST played during Uzaki’s initial interaction with Shinichi has a beautiful melody playing in the background that signifies the start of a new chapter in their lives.

• Background score: Uzaki-chan Wants To Hang Out! Has a simple story that uses upbeat background music to add to the emotions to the series such as Hana’s clumsy moments, her feelings towards Shinichi, and so on.

• Sound effects: The show uses goofy sound effects that add to the comedy. In certain scenes, attention is paid to details such as the sound of footsteps or ambiance sounds whereas in other scenes, the focus is solely on the character’s dialogues, with the background score dominating whatever sound effects may have been present.

• Voice Acting: The voice actors have great dialogue delivery that brings out Uzaki’s high-spirited personality and in contrast, Shinichi’s introverted behavior.

4. Grade

5. Final Thoughts

The comical series of Uzaki-chan wants to hang out! has great characters that never fail to bring a smile to the viewer’s face with their entertaining humor. It is a joy to watch the gradual growth of each character as they face new situations and interact with one another. Like most adaptations, this great slice of life series has some flaws but none big enough to make you regret adding it to your list.