Oshi ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu

In the same way that Don Quixote allows us to envision a sick man attacking a windmill, Oshi ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu allows us to watch a sick woman throw herself against the rocks of celebrity. Admittedly, underground idols enmeshed in capitalist fan-extraction rituals are rather small, round rocks, but it still hurts to watch.

Oshi ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu’s comedy comes from the hopeless extremity of Eripiyo’s stanning, and its romantic energy comes from Eripiyo’s idol loving her back– unfortunately, the romance cannibalizes the comedy and vice versa.

What Don Quixote and Eripiyo have in common is a late-stage fantasy life that makes them heedless of their own condition. Watching, I had to see myself as only a few stages behind: either wrapped up in the aggrandizement of chivalric romance (truly the shonen of the middle ages), or pouring immense time and resources on fandom that is essentially one-sided. Let’s be honest– if you’re watching a mid-tier anime about idol fans, you’re probably similarly diseased.

As a work, Don Quixote is clear-headed enough to live outside of the fantasy of its main character– the narrators are unreliable too, but the reader never thinks the windmill was a giant. Here is where Oshi ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu is perniciously different: a romance at heart, it’s clear from the outset that Eripiyo is going to get what countless real fans sacrifice themselves pointlessly for: a human relationship with their celebrity. Wish fulfillment can be a fun roller-coaster, as long as there’s enough speed to cover the whole track. Here, we’re three episodes in, and things are already slowing down, so I’m hopping out. Free If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die anime watch and download.

As an alternative source of “hopeless optimism comedy,” I recommend Watamote, AKA “Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!”
As an alternative source of “gentle misunderstandings romance,” I recommend Kimi ni Todoke.