SPOILERS BEWARE Its been four years since I first watched Wataten I actually decided to watch this anime on a whim recently since its had a new movie released thats been out for a while. I also wanted to watch a super chill and comfy series since Ive been burned out from animanga as of late. The third reasoning would be a personal one but I may as well state it too I rated Wataten a measly 3/10 back in 2019 so this was a great chance to verify my feelings as well as add it to my collection of series Ive reviewed. 800https://i.ur.com/i9DGBL4.png Wataten is a CGDCT series but has always had one major glaring issue on hand for me. Hinatas older sister Miyako is portrayed in a rather questionable manner right from the get go when she first meets Hana who is a friend that her younger sister brought home. This is a SoL with mild fan service at times but when you realize it centers around minors and lolis then you begin to question legitimacy. There are plenty of bath scenes and the so called fan service episode which includes the underage cast in swimwear that nearly every SoL contains. Miyako is explained to be a shutin college student but obsesses over Hana to a suspiciously unhealthy degree going as far as wanting to see her cosplay while snapping photos as well as jokingly offering to make her sweets in exchange for putting up with these questionable desires of hers WHICH IS IRONIC AND ALMOST HYPOCRITICAL SINCE SHE DOES THE SAME TO HANA AFTER WARNING OF THIS DANGER... In summary when I watched this four years ago I couldnt bat an eye to these characteristics that Miyako portrays and I still cannot ignore them as I feel the same now as I did back then. To me Miyako therefore comes across as a lolicon and a potential pedophile if her behavior were to worsen. Now that is what I thought four years ago as well as now after rewatching only the first episode so let me talk about Wataten in a more positive light since I already threw dirt at it. 800https://i.ur.com/fFdMIou.png Once I realized that I should stop treating Wataten so seriously and look at it from a different perspective then my enjoyment from it completely changed. The main theme will always be cuteness which brings me to my one of my two fav characters since I cannot pick between the two of them. I felt some sort of immediate connection when Noa was properly introduced in the second episode. Its super adorable seeing her always try so hard to be the cutest of the group I found this character trait of hers adorable and appealing. I fully support the final statement of this episode except I would reword it to uncontestably cute now and forever 800https://i.ur.com/MuBbAbR.png The other character on par with Noa is Koyori. She is completely helpless without Kanon however watching her try so hard to be a role model in order to be relied on warms my heart have to protect this pure innocence of hers Koyori always wanting to help yet making every situation worse never got tiresome and never will its a gag that will never run out of steam. When Koyoris dream of one day being the president was revealed I just thought Thats so her since she has that kinda aura surrounding herself the sky is the limit as they say but not to Koyori it isnt. 800https://i.ur.com/kb20U0L.png Kanon is the other half that completes Koyoris character since as mentioned above the latter is completely helpless without the former but Kanon doesnt mind this clinginess as a matter of fact I think she enjoys it. The fifth episode which focused on these two was pleasant and heartwarming. When Wataten is not focused on Miyako and her suspicious obsessiveness then this series is actually enjoyable. The two childhood besties are a sweet and adorable pairing. As I watched each episode I realized that this series made me feel warm and cozy with how fluffy cute and adorable it is. These kind of episodes is where Wataten is at its peak which still puzzles me why Miyako was written the way she was. 800https://i.ur.com/kVEpnpo.png Hana is the so called angel that flew down to bless Miyako with her presence. She is the character that Miyako instantly fell head over heels for right from the beginning. There are a lot of cute characters in this anime but I wouldnt say she is the cutest much to Miyakos disagreement her cold persona is actually something I dont particularly find all that cute but when she is cute then she seems to elevate to levels on par and even higher than Noa at times. Hana has been distant and wary of Miyako right from the beginning when she became enlightened to her odd fantasies but she still cosplays for delicious sweets. Hana is an easy girl to tame give her sweets and she will fall for the bait as much as she likes to think almighty of herself... With the amount of cosplaying that occurs in the series Hana wins the contest as my personal fav one with her dandere school girl appearance. 800https://i.ur.com/B7bbVsv.png 800https://i.ur.com/Eb6NVnX.png Hinata would be the last of the main group to mention she has an incredible sister complex to the extent she was barely coping with life when her sister was taken out from it...this girl knows little independence with how proud she is about her sister obsession. If Hana is easy to tame with sweets then Hinata is just as simple to tame using her big sis. I particularly enjoyed her date with Noa which is adorableness overload and her shopping trip with Miyako as both show Wataten at its best those two episodes is what this series should have been always. A CGDCT SoL with mild non romance yuri vibes since its where this anime thrives in my opinion. 800https://i.ur.com/paAbqhm.png Koko is another odd case as she is supposedly Miyakos friend however their relationship is complex to say the least when shes introduced as it involved admiration and much stalking but at the end of it all Miyako acknowledged Koko as a fellow friend. This episode also portrays perfectly how Hana likely felt when she first met Miyako except it must have been way scarier as her obsesser was an adult. In no way what Koko has been doing is justified but its not as bad since she was stalking someone of the same age praying on minors as an adult is immediately far worse. I really dont understand why the adult cast had to be introduced in this distasteful manner since its creepy and not cute at all. Koko is actually a lively and fun character once you look past her obsession towards Miyako... 800https://i.ur.com/3MEw1f9.png Lastly Miyako the character who singlehandedly soured by experience of this series four years ago. Similarly to Koko Miyako is introduced in a rather poor manner. If people drop this anime after only one episode then they will have a flawed perception of her since theres so much more to Miyako than this first episode shows but why it begins by showing off the ugly I cannot answer. Miyako is a pretty sussy character in the first few episodes to the extent she actively wants to see Hana and dress her up in cosplay. Whats even more puzzling is that the anime is well aware how it portrays her character since even the characters themselves make comments about this. Noa even jokingly used the pedo word at the festival after Miyako was caught snapping photos of minors by a police officer with scenes such as this is its hard to not acknowledge that the anime itself is aware that Miyako has some poor traits to her character. 800https://i.ur.com/GGAh5PK.png Naturally since Miyako was at the center of my attention when I watched this anime four years ago I have the most to comment on her character. The latter half of this series tones down these suspicious moments dramatically and resorts to being simply warm and fluffy with how much cuteness it emits and parts of that involve around Miyako which is why I want to reinstate that her character is far more than what the early episodes show. Miyakos shopping trip with her sister or even her trip with Hana to get sweets in the morning was genuinely wholesome and heartwarming. The second half of this episode portrays Wataten in its absolute best light possible pure warm and fluffy adorableness between a child and an adult which was virtuous and rightful. 800https://i.ur.com/l0jm3Wg.png The final episode deserves recognition since it is by far the best of the whole series I vaguely remembered there being a play in the finale but little did I know it was going to be this grandiose The final episode dare I say was fantastic... Three quarters of it centers around the play but I was not expecting for it to leave such a lasting impression considering the main thing I remembered from Wataten was Miyakos questionable character traits. This rewatch has enlightened me that this anime is far more than just focusing on a character that possess a lolicon behavior to an unhealthy degree at times. Miyako still leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste on the whole experience because of the way she is. Hanas performance and insert song here were magnificent since I genuinely became immersed in the little story that this anime was telling I cannot believe I said that but I was fascinated by the storytelling in Wataten of all things... This episode really was the peak of this series and Im glad it ended on such a high note. 800https://i.ur.com/HI7V7Qa.png I feel like Im resorting back to my old roots back when I first started out reviewing where I would practically always mention the soundtrack of the series but Wataten truly deserves that. The opening and ending both truly deserve to be included I dont know what it is about both these songs but since I never skip openings or endings both rapidly grew on me at which point I realized theyre incredibly catchy and very fitting with the main on going theme of this series that iscuteness. https://www..com/watch?v=KEeUJeyMzMabchannel=WatatenE298865Topic https://www..com/watch?v=RQVUsWlq8ywabchannel=WatatenE298865Topic My overall perception for Wataten has changed after this rewatch for the better which Im glad to say. As mentioned right at the beginning Ive been burnt out from animanga so watching a super comfy and casual series like this one worked wonders this is a series which has healing capabilities at times with some of the exchanges between its characters but needless to say if Miyako wasnt written the way she is then this would be far superior. She has great highs but also terrible lows most notably at the beginning of the series. Not everyone will be able to enjoy this due to her character but if you can look past her excessive case of loliconism then theres plenty of enjoyment to be found in the cuteness that resides within Wataten. Theres nothing groundbreaking to take away from this anime but it gets a passing grade if youre here for pure cuteness. Lastly just in case I wasnt concise about the abundance of cuteness that resides within this series Ive included a bunch of screenshots which emphasize this point even further but felt it wasnt necessary to be part of the main review so its a bonus at the end. Thanks for reading and have a lovely day/night Movie Reviewhttps://anilist.co/review/23080