Still Not About Fruit – Citrus Final Review
Man, what a ride. I originally put it on hold after 4 episodes due to the excessive amount of sexual assault. I randomly decided one weekend to catch up and I was back to watching it weekly because I had fallen in love with the characters and their interactions with each other. Was it worth catching up and watching weekly? Read on and find out!
The story was rather bland. There was not much progress between Yuzu and Mei even if it was adorable as hell. The side characters, Matsuri, Sara, and Nina, were all introduced mainly to add extra drama but they each also added a slight bit of progression but you’d have to relive your high school AP English days to dig deep enough and witness it. We did thankfully get some closure with Mei and her father but after that is where things got different. Matsuri’s story was kind of cringy. Matsuri blackmailed Mei and tried to prostitute her out so she can have Yuzu all to her self. And Sara was introduced for a rather short love triangle (because what’s a romance without 2+ love triangles). At least it ended with an adorable scene between Mei and Yuzu.
The characters are where this show shines. More specifically, Mei and Yuzu’s evolution through the show and how all the other side characters influenced them. Mei was a hard character to read, for both Yuzu and the viewers. Mei hammers it into Yuzu’s head that they’re sisters and they can’t be lovers but after the incident with Matsuri she finally opens up on Christmas night but Yuzu ended up unable to accept her. People might find Mei’s actions after Christmas a little questionable, but she had walls up almost all her life, and the moment she let them down for one moment it wasn’t what she expected so, of course, she would be a lot more defensive afterward. It wasn’t until a rather silly love triangle that Mei and Yuzu would fully realize what it is they both want.
Citrus had a lot of romance anime tropes all through it. The magically appearing crowd in the last episode to get in Yuzu’s way was annoying. The cliche chase scene while shouting your deepest heartfelt feelings was a little overdone. Also, there were a total of 2 love triangles in this show, both involving Mei and Yuzu and a different 3rd person. The triangle with Sara felt really redundant to me. I personally thought they could have done something a little more different like maybe have Sara be a guy just so we can show Mei doesn’t want a guy. If they still wanted to follow tropes, they could have taken some creative liberties to make it not feel the same as every other show using the same trope.
Overall the show is a somewhat typical romance, aside from the Yuri and “incest” (they aren’t blood-related so it isn’t, right?). Don’t watch the show for the story. Please don’t watch it for the sexual assault. Watch it for the characters and their interactions with each other. I give this show a solid 7 out of 10. It’s available on Crunchyroll in its entirety for your binging pleasure. Let me know what you think in the comments!