Stig Høgset THEM Anime Reviews published a review of a winter 2025 show called OKITSURA: Fell in Love with an Okinawan Girl, but I Just Wish I Know What She’s Saying. I watched OKITSURA as a simulcast so I was curious to see how the reviwer’s impressions compared to mine. I will note as a threshold matter that 4/5 stars on a 5-point scale is a generous score (I would want a 2.5 star option if you forced me to grade it), but it was pleasant enough for all normal purposes. The show followed Nakumura Terukai as he moved from Tokyo to Okanawa and, through his friends, learned about Okanawan culture. The title derives from the fact that his Okanawan crush, Hina Kyan, has a heavy Okanawan accent and mixes the native language with standard Japanese, which causes Teru to rely on Kana’s best friend, Kana Higa, to translate for him. Of course, unbeknownst to Teru, Kana has a crush on him. This is a very laid back show which focuses as much (if not more) on being a comedic Okanawan travel documentary than having a serious plot. But regarding the plot it did have, I concur with this sentiment from the THEM review:

The thing is, with Kana being such a natural sweetheart, it becomes kind of hard to see the show lean on these unrequited feelings for so long. Seeing as Teru has feelings for Hina too, it stands to reason that the show would eventually reach a point where Kana would have to face heartbreak. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d watch a show where I’d wish the male lead would go with the second option either, but this is probably the first time where I’d hope for it despite the fact that Hina has never really done anything wrong. (Just… don’t ask me about my feelings about Love Hina. That’s… an old wound.) What I’m saying is that Kana is honestly very much stealing the show despite Hina being designed to do so, but I think it’s only natural for people to want someone so sweet-natured as Kana to have what she desires, right?

Stig Høgset

I agree. While the show does not have a mean-spirited bone or character in its body, it is slightly awkward to see Kana struggle with her sweet and innocent crush when one knows from the way these things tend to go that she is unlikely to see the ending she wants. Kana is far-and-away the stand-out character of the cast. Kyan largely acts as a hyper-active tour guide and Teru as the excited-but-ignorant view-point character for learning about Okanawan culture. Kana is written the most like a real person with real feelings. Of course, the good news for Kana is that she is young. High school is not the end of the world (contrary to what some anime may have you believe), and assuming the source material does not give Kana her happy ending, we can hope that she will find a better (or at least sharper) 2D boy than Teru in the future.