Girl Friend BETA is a twelve-episode slice-of-life anime based on a smartphone game developed by CyberAgent. The anime was produced by Silver Link.
The smartphone game Girl Friend BETA is a dating sim, though there isn’t much in the way of romance present in the anime. Instead, it is very much a ‘cute girls doing cute things’ series.
The cast of characters present in Girl Friend BETA is huge. This makes it somewhat difficult to keep track of them all, though there are five in particular who are given the most focus.
They are Kokomi Shiina of the rhythmic gymnastics club, Akane Sakurai of the school broadcasting committee, Fumio Murakami of the book committee, Erena Mochizuki of the photography club and French exchange student Chloe Lemaire.
Generally, each episode revolves around one of those characters and their interaction with the other girls who attend the same school. There are a couple of occasions when someone else gets the spotlight, such as the band Neuron Cream Soft.
Arguably, the biggest flaw present is the huge cast. In the original game, there were over one hundred different girls to woo. It feels as if the anime tries to cram them all in, in an attempt to appeal to the game’s fanbase.
This results in a few interesting characters who don’t get much screentime. It’s a shame, as there are a few characters who probably deserved to have their own episode at least.
Though there isn’t any explicit romance present in the anime, it’s clear that Kokomi has a crush on her upperclassman Nonoka Sasahara. There’s a few other interactions between characters that suggests there is some feelings between them. It’s nothing more than subtext, however.
Score: 8/10
An anime featuring cute girls doing cute things that may have a cast that is slightly too large. Still, it is a fairly enjoyable watch.
Rory Muses 