Sometimes you encounter a show that could go in either direction. Do you remember the song “Every Breath You Take”? Many people thought it was a romantic tale of a person deeply in love with another, but if you listened to the lyrics, I mean REALLY listened to them, it was about an obsessive stalker and then the song got creepy and dangerous. “Momokuri” is that kind of show.

The tales revolves around Yuki Kurihara, a girl who has finally been granted her wish of dating her crush, Shinya Momotsuki, whom she calls ‘Momo’. At first glance, she just looks like a normal but very cute girl, amid the first blush of being in love. However, she is in fact a maniac over Momo, taking notes of his activities and never missing the chance to see him in a cute moment. Momo, on the other hand, is inexperienced in love, and just wants to make Yuki happy, but does not fully understand what lies before him.

This show treads a very fine line between being in love and being obsessed about being in love. Some points are really funny, when she saves the straw he used to have his boxed drink, but the fact she has a collection of them gets creepy. Plus that she wants to take pictures of him during his school day, especially at gym, when he would be in a swim suit. She even tries to enlist other girls to help with things, but they, wisely, back off and try to get her thinking in a straighter manner.

One concern is episode length, as it is all over the boards, anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes. I realize that the show is as long as it has to be to tell the tale, but it seems strange not to have a time consistency in these matters. It started to calm down near the latter part of the run, as though she never knew the depth of her obsession, but any attempt to turn the tide was met with resistance or that idea to say one thing, but continue to do as you wish.

It’s just I am not certain how to take the show. It certainly is wacky in how Kurihara approaches love and romance and passion and how badly out in left field she is, but it can get kind of scary and creepy in the character of her wants and needs. In the end, I opted for the light and bright than the dank and rank and with the hope that she eventually will learn to balance out things in the end. But it is still a disquieting show. Not edgy enough to be a thriller, not eccentric enough to be hilarious all the time.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           7 (Serviceable)
Plot                  7 (Not certain how to approach this)
Pacing              8 (Good use of limited time)
Effectiveness   8 (Tells its tale almost too well)
Conclusion       7 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service      2 (A similar show would be “Okamisan”)

Overall            7 (It’s just unsettling on many fronts)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it.  I have to see him again. Right now.