YMMV / Romantic Killer

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Riri/Rio. Is he really a massive Jerkass who loves to manipulate and force people into doing what he wants or is he just following the protocols of his agency to not fall in love with the target? The finale suggests it's a little bit of both.
  • Are Anzu's three greatest desires really her greatest desires or are they a coping mechanism for something deeper going on with her?
• Awesome Ego: Despite his late appearance in the series, Hijiri is often favored for his comedic arrogance due to his rich kid status, paired with his "hot and cold personality" and later Character Development.
• Base-Breaking Character: Some fans find Riri to be hilarious and entertaining due to their colourful personality and energetic dynamic with Anzu. Others find him to be annoying and off-putting due to their manipulative nature and the way they inconvenience characters for their plans.
• Bizarro Episode: "Goose Bumps! I'm a Goose Now!" It's completely out of nowhere and focuses heavily on Riri (as Rio) going on a mock date with Anzu so he can get more data on romance. This is, however, the start of Riri's sudden Character Development.
• Cliché Storm: Due to its Affectionate Parody nature, the series uses so many classic romcom cliches (both parodied and played straight) that it should've been called Love Tropes: The Anime.
• Creepy Cute: Yukana Kishi looks rather adorable if you ignore her creepy stalking tendencies.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Saki Takamine has a large fanbase despite her lack of scenes (her one focus story aside) and her status as a simple supporting character that's friends with Anzu.
• Fridge Brilliance: Riri is such a Jerkass to Anzu and the Ikemen, often attempting to manipulate or mock them. Why does he do this? Perhaps it's so he doesn't fall too much in love with the target(s) and focus on his job. Of which he ultimately fails by using magic to save Anzu twice from Yukana.
• Growing the Beard: While the anime isn't necessarily bad in the early episodes, many people often do not like Episode 1 ("Why Is There So Much Legalese in Magic?") due to the amount of cringe humor and common cliches they use in that episode, sometimes to the point of dropping the show. The show is considered to get much better in Episode 5 ("You're More Troublesome in Flesh and Blood") with the introduction to Riri's girl form and really hits the mark in the second half of the show which introduces Hijiri and other plot-important details (such as the darker tone, more emphasis on Tsukasa's reason of being a loner, The Reveal of Riri not being as much in control as Anzu thought, and the introduction to Yukana Kishi aka a horrifying Stalker with a Crush and the source of Tsukasa's distress).
• Jerkass Dissonance:
  • Hijiri might be popular both in-universe and out due to his Tsundere personality and good looks, but a Narcissist like him would be quite the asshole in real life.
  • Riri is a hilarious individual in the series. But in real life, his tendency to manipulate and mock others definitely won't be nearly as funny as it would be animated.
• Jerkass Woobie: Riri/Rio is quite manipulative. He takes Anzu's desires and forces her into his own in-real-life Visual Novel scenario despite the fact that Anzu wants nothing to do with romance. However, after saving Anzu twice and giving her the desires back whilst returning to his world to never return, you can't help but feel sad for him when he states that they can just forget that he exists and his existence will be "like a bad nightmare"...
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Unsurprisingly, given this story's genre and despite her refusal to enter any kind of romantic relationship whatsoever, our heroine Anzu is shipped with majority of the cast by the fans. Not only is she shipped with the three boys Riri set her up with and canonically have feelings for her (with fans pairing her with Tsukasa the most), she's also shipped with her best friend Saki, her other childhood friend Ryuya, Tsukasa's sister Arisa, and even Riri in both forms. Finally, you have the anti-shippers who want Anzu to accomplish her goal of keeping romance out of her life while getting her games, chocolate, and cat back.
• LGBT Fanbase: The series garnered somewhat of a cult-following among asexual and aromantic people, due to the premise being vehemently anti-romance, and finding Anzu to be a relatable protagonist for not wanting to pursue love and being rather frustrated with Riri's goal to force her into a romantic relationship.
• Moe:
  • Anzu is absolutely adorable! With her Gamer Chick and Adorkable personality, and the even more adorable clothing she wears.
  • Riri/Rio is adorable in both human forms, but his Mon form is also very cute. Between both forms, their girl form is often seen as more adorable, but that doesn't mean Rio isn't.
  • Saki looks quite cute, having a softer appearance in comparison to a lot of characters and a very sweet personality.
• Realism-Induced Horror: The show ironically incorporates a lot of horror stemmed from common real-life situations despite being an (anti) romantic comedy, such as Saki's backstory where she nearly got raped by the older boy she was dating during a study session at his home and was then made out to be the perpetrator when he lied to everyone and Tsukasa's backstory where he attracted a persistent stalker simply because he picked up her bag for her.
• Too Good to Last: Although readers had favourable impressions due to the entertaining parody premise and interesting story progressions, the manga was cut short in June 2020 at 38 chapters (four volumes) after just under a year of serialisation. The creator admitted the decision to cancel the series was made a month after Volume 1's release (this combined with the later manga volumes only receiving a physical release in 2022 implied poor sales). This series is an unusual case of a manga receiving an anime adaptation after its cancellation.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Riri is meant to be a comedic relief character whose antics to get Anzu a boyfriend are supposed to be seen as funny and well-meaning at the end of the day. However, as mentioned in Base-Breaking Character above, for some fans their manipulative way of going about it pushes them sqarely into the unlikeable category. Anzu is completely happy with not dating, which Riri completely disregards by taking away the three things Anzu loves most (video games, chocolate and her beloved pet cat), refusing to return them until Anzu has found love, and constantly creating situations around her and other characters to fit within their Visual Novel style scheme, down to making a perverted older man break into Anzu's house to scare her mother into making Anzu live with Junta. Whenever Anzu calls them out on messing with everyone's lives to this degree, Riri makes excuses or acts sheepish about getting caught without any remorse whatsoever and merrily continues intruding on and making big changes to Anzu's life that she neither wanted nor asked for.
• The Woobie: The reason Tsukasa is distant from girls and rejects their love confessions is because he has deep-seated trauma from a creepy Yandere stalker named Yukana Kishi, who has done a ton of disturbing things to him to the point where he briefly felt too traumatised to even go to school. You can't help but feel sad for him because of how that one moment when he picked up Yukana's bag for her ended up ruining his entire life.

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