Tsure x dure Children

Based on a web manga, this romantic comedy anime series centers on the difficulties adolescents face in trying to express their feelings for one another. Each brief episode focuses on pairs of students who hem and haw, straining to find the words to announce their attraction. In addition to the awkward attempts at conversation, the characters have misunderstandings and misgivings, suffer intrusions by other characters, and undergo breakups and reunions galore as the dozen or so couples here stumble toward mutual affection. Occasionally Katori, a strangely exuberant boy who calls himself the dating master, intervenes to offer advice, but his own reaction to the approaches of Kazuko, a girl infatuated with him, is to reject her because it his role to be "a prince to all." Most of the characters in Tsure x dure Children appear so fleetingly that it’s hard to develop much of an emotional connection, and there is a fair degree of repetitiveness as so many of the stories follow a similar path. But the series deserves credit for taking the pangs of puppy love seriously, avoiding condescension while also mostly eschewing clumsy slapstick. Presenting all 12 episodes from 2017 in a dual-language Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, rated TV-PG, this is a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)