Wataši no juri wa ošigoto desu!

Everyone lies sometimes; it's normal! We lie to hide our flaws from others or not to hurt others... And then there's Hime, who pretends to be someone she's not because she wants everyone to like her. She uses it for her own benefit, and I just don't like that. According to my moral compass, pretense should be used for protection, not as a weapon. Plus, the way the main heroine uses pretense, enjoys it, and comments on it, seems terribly fake to me. I find it impossible to root for her. I'll go even further, I've been waiting the whole time for the moment when everyone sees through her, the girl has an awakening, a change happens, and the series offers a moral lesson that I can appreciate. But that doesn't happen. Instead, the girl who likes to lie to others finds herself in an environment where everyone is just like her, playing their roles, and being part of a huge theater. The show is about the uncertainty as to what is pretense and what is not, who is honest and who is not, and when is this anime, which has juri in its title, really juri, and when it's just a game. Another thing that really annoyed me was that most of the drama and problems were based on various misunderstandings and coincidences, which I consider boring and even lazy if used excessively. I can't say that I really enjoyed the series, although it is well-animated, and makes quite an effort musically. Out of the four main girls, I could really only end up liking Sumiku, who holds the opinion that real romance does not belong in the workplace, which I can easily agree with. When she has a problem with someone, she can handle it in a completely mature and reasonable way. On the other hand, what I liked was the theatricality of the café scenes. They felt different when the characters were playing their roles, rather than being themselves, and I mostly preferred their performance and their roles in the café to their real selves. Anyway, for me, it was average at best. I will think twice before watching a possible second season. 5/10 (22.06.2023)