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... the romcom you're looking for this season.⏎ Caitlin Moore ⏎ Rating: 3.5 ⏎ Despite claims to the contrary, the answer to the question in the title of Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? is a resounding, “Yes, and saying otherwise makes you sound either absurdly outdated or like a nutjob.” It seems to be that this series takes inspiration from 30+-year-old American romantic comedies, from mirroring the thesis of When Harry Met Sally… and Himari pulling out what to us Americans is a hoary old cliche: proposing that if neither of opposite-sex best friends are single at 30, they marry each other. ⏎ Maybe these will feel fresh to a young Japanese audience, but to me, it evoked a sense of weariness at toxic gender relationships in the media I grew up with as well as comfortable familiarity. That feeling permeated throughout the episode: flip-flopping between elements that felt fun and fresh, and uncreative and overdone. It would careen from a funny gag to a cringey bit and then right back to a funny gag. The comic timing was all over the place as well in sequences like going from Rion's unintentional bitch face (funny!) to Himari grabbing her boobs for way too long (cringe!) to Himari sitting with a handprint on her face wearing a shaming sign (funny again!). ⏎ And hey, shonen romcom writers? Take Yu here as one way to create a protagonist who's somewhat interesting. He doesn't have a particularly strong personality, but he has a ion and skill for jewelry-making and the drive to make it his career. As a bonus, his preserved-flower jewelry is super cute and makes me kind of want to hit up the Sunday craft fair and get myself a pair of similar earrings as a little treat. Tying Yu and Himari together this way is smart, too – it's a tangible reason to keep them tied together, instead of simply drifting apart, and it's an organic way to introduce Rion to the dynamic. ⏎ Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? seems unlikely to reach the heights of some of the gold standards of the shonen high school romcom space – it's no Toradora or even a Horimiya – but with high-gloss animation, moderately likable characters, and decent comic timing, you could do way worse.