Season aired: Spring 2025
Number of episodes: 13
Watched on: Crunchyroll
Translated by: ???
Genres: Scifi, Mystery, Drama, Romance
Thoughts: Kowloon Generic Romance sucked me in with a spectacular first episode. In the walled city of Kowloon, Kujirai lives an idyllic life. She wakes up, she goes to work, she crushes hard on Kudo (her spontaneous and incorrigible coworker), she does her work, and she goes home ready to repeat the day. Her yearning for Kudo never seems to go anywhere, but after catching him off guard from a nap, a series of actions soon leads her to dig through Kudo’s desk…to find something she never expected.
Kowloon Generic Romance is anything but generic – in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a premise with this mix of genres in anime, and yet, the story works. The mystery about Kowloon, about Kudo, and about Kujirai herself hangs over me after every episode, leaving me desperate for answers and wanting to click the next button for an episode that hasn’t yet been released. It’s exciting, it’s intriguing, and it’s filled to the brim with nuanced characters with serious flaws and good hearts. There are powerful themes in Kowloon, about the acceptance of grief, about the questions of identity, and about regrets, and I do think the story applies them satisfactorily. My only complaint about the anime is the pacing.
The anime adapted the manga in full, but while the manga has been published for a total of eleven volumes, the anime fit the story into thirteen episodes – averaging about one entire volume per episode. In some cases, it worked in its favor. The entire first volume was the premiere, and I personally found that kind of pacing perfect to enrapture first time viewers with no experience with the story or characters. However, the impact of that faster pacing did begin to hurt near the end of the series where many open threads had to be tied up quickly.
First thing I’ll say is that this faster pacing is adapted better than most anime. Whatever the series skipped, it still managed to tie the cut up pieces in a sensible way where I never felt like I’ve lost connection with the characters, the plot, or even the setting — that is very much alive and like its own character. The people behind the series clearly did their homework in reading the original source material and condense everything together. However, because this story has such a fascinating premise with deep themes, I wanted more room to breathe. Character relationships would progress forward, and I couldn’t help but sit there and think, “I wish I got to see more of them being in this relationship before this next thing happened.”
Relationships are what fuels the mystery and the world. There are two couplings central to this story: Kudo and Kujirai, the main couple, and Miyuki and Gwen, a gay secondary couple whose involvement is equally important to the narrative. Their love for each other creates conflict, builds the world, and pushes us towards the climax, so I wanted to just see them interact more in a way the anime simply couldn’t provide in its limited runtime.
Outside of romantic relationships, platonic relationships are just as important. One of Miyuki’s central relationships is his best friend Yulong, who comes from a similar background despite how different their lives have become, and he’s introduced fairly late in the story. While I had no issue believing in their brotherhood, I am interested in seeing more of them before their relationship was dropped in my lap to accept. These are the elements I’m sure the series decided to cut, and while I can’t argue that they’re not all necessary to get the full story, I do think they make worthwhile contributions for the audience to connect even further with the story and characters.
The first half is also decidedly stronger than the second from a production point of view. In the first six episodes, I was in awe with the backgrounds and sceneries. Kowloon is an area in the former Kowloon City that used to belong to China before it became colonized by Great Britain back in the late 1800s. Fittingly, the remnants of Kowloon resemble Chinese homes — especially the homes of my families. The doors, the walls, the decorations, the city skyline, the alleys, the steps, the buildings — every detail about Kowloon in Kowloon Generic Romance looked like the homes I stepped into when I visited my grandparents. Those incredible details took my breath away, but unfortunately, I found them lacking after the series hit the halfway mark. Whether it’s the coloring, the repetitiveness, or the lack of emphasis in shots, I found myself far less breathless in the second half.
Aside from the slight awkward pacing and change in production quality, I think the voice cast did a fantastic job from beginning to end. A special shoutout goes to Tomokazu Sugita. It’s been a long time since we’ve heard him as a genuine romantic love interest, but his performance as Kudo proves the type of versatility he’s always had in voice acting. Kudo is probably the most complicated character of the cast — his goofiness, his sorrow, his anger, and his tiredness all shine through with variations of Sugita’s famous drawl and deep guttural voice. Sugita-san aside, I am also a new fan of Haruki Shiraishi and Taito Ban, who voiced Kujirai and Gwen respectively. There’s a core cast dedicated to bringing these complicated characters to life, and without them, I might actually have more to complain about.
Kowloon Generic Romance is an interesting show in that it’s not perfect but still a fascinating experience. I think the anime is absolutely worth watching for the fast paced mysteries, the unique worldbuilding, the important themes, and the characters’ chemistry. However, I also do suggest reading the original source material. If you finish this series thinking that you were just satisfied enough but could definitely enjoy more from the world, go read the manga series. If you finish this series thinking the pacing was perfect, then the manga is probably too slow, and you can skip it. Either way, I think it’s a series worthy of your attention.
Rating
Plot: 8 (Multiplier 3)
Characters: 7 (Multiplier 3)
Art/Animation: 6.5 (Multiplier 2)
Voice acting: 8
Soundtrack: 6.5
FINAL SCORE: 74
