Tada Never Falls in Love starts with a lie right there in the title because Mitsuyoshi Tada absolutely does fall in love. It's a 2018 original anime from Doga Kobo that tries to blend slice of life comedy with a slow burn romance and mostly ends up frustrating people who wanted either one done right. You've got this photography club setting, a foreign transfer student who happens to be a princess, and a main character who can't express emotions because his parents died when he was a kid. It sounds like it should work on paper but the execution stumbles over its own feet trying to be inoffensive and ends up being forgettable instead.
People keep calling this a comfort food anime and I guess that's accurate if your idea of comfort is eating plain white bread while staring at a wall. It's not offensive. It doesn't make you angry. It just kind of sits there being competent at animation and mediocre at everything else that matters in a romance story. The show wants you to care about whether Tada and Teresa get together but spends most of its runtime avoiding that question entirely.
What the Show is Actually About
You've got Tada, this high school kid who takes photos and works at his grandpa's coffee shop. His parents died in a car accident years ago so he's emotionally shut down and doesn't understand love. Then Teresa Wagner shows up. She's blonde, she's cheerful, she's from some fictional European country called Larsenburg, and she's obsessed with this cheesy samurai TV show called Rainbow Shogun. She gets separated from her friend Alec, Tada helps her out, and suddenly she's transferring to his school and joining his photography club. You know how these things go.
The hook is supposed to be that Tada doesn't fall in love easily while Teresa is clearly head over heels from pretty early on. There's also the whole thing where Teresa is actually a princess and has to go back home eventually to get married to some guy named Charles. The show tries to play the "will they won't they" game for twelve episodes before cramming all the actual romance into the finale. Some folks on Reddit pointed out that the characters feel flat and the show doesn't spend enough time on the main couple which hits the nail on the head.
The Pacing is a Mess
Here's where Tada Never Falls in Love really screws up. It has thirteen episodes to tell a complete story and it spends maybe four of them actually developing the relationship between the two leads. The rest is filled with side character antics that go nowhere and repetitive comedy bits that stop being funny after the second time. You've got this weirdo Pin-senpai who's the club president and only exists to make creepy comments about nude photography. Then there's Yamashita who acts like a dog for some reason. These guys eat up screen time that should have gone to Tada and Teresa actually talking to each other about something real.
The romance doesn't start moving until episode ten or eleven and by then it's too late to feel earned. Tada spends the whole series being oblivious and stoic while Teresa pines after him. That's fine for a few episodes but when you stretch it across the whole season with nothing changing, it gets boring. Honey's Anime noted that the show focuses too much on daily school life and comedy while the romantic elements come too late to save it as a romance anime.
Side Characters Who Don't Deserve the Time
The supporting cast in this show is a mixed bag of annoying tropes and wasted potential. Kaoru Ijuuin is Tada's best friend and he's this playboy type who's constantly hitting on Alec. Their dynamic is supposed to be funny but it's just the same joke repeated every episode. Alec is Teresa's bodyguard and she's serious and tsundere and that's her entire personality. Pin-senpai is unbearable. He's the club leader who's obsessed with taking nude photos but doesn't realize the girl he's obsessed with is his childhood friend who stands right next to him every day. It's not funny. It's just lazy writing.
Then there's the whole subplot with Nyanko Big, Tada's cat, who narrates an entire episode. Look I love cats as much as the next person but devoting a whole episode to the cat's love life while the main romance is stagnating is a choice. One review I read called the side stories superfluous and said the show wastes time on the idol-pervert subplot and the cat's girlfriend instead of developing the leads.
Teresa herself is okay I guess. She's bubbly and likes Rainbow Shogun which is this ridiculous samurai show that becomes a bonding point between her and Tada. But she's also got that airheaded foreigner thing going on where she finds everything in Japan amazing and doesn't understand basic social cues. It gets old fast. Tada is worse because he's just a brick wall for most of the series. He takes photos. He works at the cafe. He doesn't react to anything. His backstory about his parents is supposed to explain why he's closed off emotionally but it feels like an excuse to avoid giving him a personality.
The Visuals Are the Only Good Part
I'll give Doga Kobo credit where it's due. The show looks fantastic. The backgrounds are beautiful especially during the cherry blossom scenes and the lighting during sunset scenes hits different. The character designs are clean even if they're a bit generic. The animation is smooth and the color palette is warm and inviting. If you're just looking for something pretty to have on in the background while you scroll your phone, Tada Never Falls in Love works great for that.
The Rainbow Shogun sequences are visually distinct and those are usually the highlights of the episodes they appear in. The show uses blue lighting effectively during emotional moments to show Tada's sadness. The photography motif means you get some nice camera angles and focus effects. TakaCode Reviews mentioned that the visuals are the best part of the show and I'd agree with that assessment.
The opening song "Otomodachi Film" by Masayoshi Ooishi is catchy as hell and probably the most memorable thing about the entire production. The ending is cute too. The background music is whatever. It doesn't get in the way but you won't remember it five minutes after the episode ends.
The Ending Makes No Sense
So after twelve episodes of barely any progress, the finale has Teresa leaving to go back to Larsenburg to become Queen because that's her duty. Tada finally realizes he loves her and chases her to the airport or whatever. Standard romance anime stuff. But then she comes back. She just shows up at his door or at school again and apparently everything is fine now. She left her entire country and her responsibilities as royalty to hang out with a high school boy she met a few months ago.
According to this analysis, the ending is logically inconsistent because it never explains what happens to the monarchy or why Teresa can just abandon her post without consequence. The show tries to have its cake and eat it too. It wants the drama of a separation and the tragedy of duty versus love but then it chickens out at the last second and gives you a happy ending that doesn't make sense within the story's own logic.
Some people like the happy ending and I get that. Nobody wants to see the main characters sad. But when you build up this whole thing about how she has to marry Charles for the good of her country and then she just doesn't, it feels cheap. Charles is actually a decent guy who cares about Teresa's happiness which is refreshing but it also means there's no real obstacle to overcome. The conflict dissolves because the writers decided it should.
Comparisons to Better Shows
Spring 2018 had some stiff competition for romance anime. Wotakoi aired the same season and that's a genuinely great romantic comedy about adults who know what they want and communicate like normal people. Real Girl also aired and while that show has its own problems, at least it commits to its drama and character arcs. Tada Never Falls in Love sits in this uncomfortable middle ground where it's too slow to be exciting but too dramatic to be a pure slice of life.
Otaku USA Magazine said the show isn't revolutionary but offers some fresh twists on existing formulas. I think that's being generous. The twists aren't that fresh. Transfer student is secretly royalty has been done to death. The guy who doesn't understand love because of childhood trauma is everywhere. The photography club setting is just an excuse to have pretty backgrounds.
The show tries to be character driven like Nozaki-kun which makes sense since some of the staff worked on that, but it doesn't have the comedic timing or the sharp writing. Nozaki-kun knew how to use its side characters effectively. This show just throws them at the wall and hopes something sticks.
Why People Still Watch It
Despite all these complaints, Tada Never Falls in Love isn't the worst thing you'll ever watch. It's harmless. It's got a few genuinely sweet moments scattered throughout. Episode two where they play that photo hide and seek game is fun. The scenes at the coffee shop with Tada's little sister Yui are cozy. When the show stops trying to be funny and just lets the characters exist together, it's almost good.
This personal review talks about how relatable the puppy love aspect is and I can see that. Watching Teresa struggle with her first real crush even though she knows it might not work out has some emotional truth to it. The show captures that specific feeling of being young and not knowing if you should follow your heart or do what's expected of you.
The problem is you have to sit through so much filler to get to those moments. The comedy doesn't land. The side characters are one note. The main romance moves at a snail's pace. But if you're in the right mood and you just want something soft and easy to digest, it works. Just don't expect to remember it a week later.
The Verdict on Tada Never Falls in Love
Tada Never Falls in Love is the definition of a five out of ten anime. It doesn't offend you but it doesn't excite you either. It looks nice. It sounds nice. The story is there if you squint. But it plays everything so safe that it becomes boring. The romance is too slow. The comedy is too repetitive. The ending is too convenient.
If you're new to romance anime this might be a decent entry point because it hits all the basic beats without getting too weird or too dramatic. But if you've seen more than a few shows in this genre, you'll recognize all the tropes and predict the ending by episode three. This breakdown calls it competent but forgettable and that's the perfect description.
Watch it if you like pretty animation and don't mind a slow burn. Skip it if you want a romance that actually develops its relationship before the final episode. There are better options from the same year and from Doga Kobo's own catalog. Tada Never Falls in Love isn't a disaster. It's just a missed opportunity that chose to be harmless instead of memorable.