Judging A Book By Its Cover
How I Attended an All-Guy’s Mixer was developed and aired in October 2024. The show was developed by studio Dentsu and Square Enix. It follows the story of six individuals who attend a mixer to get to know each other potentially. The three college boys of the group are excited to meet the girls only to find three handsome men waiting at their table. It turns out the girls work part-time at a cross-dressing bar in which they appear as handsome males to attract customers. A trope rising in popularity over the years. The story shows the antics that the group gets up to and how outsiders look at the situation. Completely misunderstand what is happening.
This one was a great early morning watch for me while I got ready the other day. It’s fun and hilarious, showing concepts we haven’t seen explored in anime, or at least haven’t explored enough of. Gender roles have been a hot topic in recent years, and if you think that How I Attended an All-Guy’s Mixer will cover those issues and topics, then you’re dead wrong!
This show is lighthearted and pure. The girls don’t wear male outfits and cross-dress because they feel more comfortable with it, it’s entirely for their job. We even see at a later point one of the girls, Kohaku struggles to play her role at work because she’s not a very antagonizing character at heart, and the role causes her a bit of stress within her workplace. She is conflicted about how she looks like she’ll act and how good of a job she’s doing. The lesson in these episodes isn’t around gender roles. It’s around working through one’s issues to convey their feelings while being entirely true to themselves.
If I could describe this anime in a short sentence, it would be this. Misunderstanding: The anime. And that’s what the writers play on. The number of times people have seen the most rooted pair, Suou, and Tokiwa, and thought they were two guy friends or potentially male lovers is hilarious. And shows just how common that mindset has become these days. Two people are walking together or having lunch together? They must be lovers! And then suddenly they realize they’re only half right! And to make matters worse most people are never set straight on their thoughts. The reason being they don’t hear the girls speak or approach them to understand the true scope of things.
How I Attended an All-Guy’s Mixer is hilarious, and I have had so much fun both watching and talking about it to friends. I was hesitant with this anime because from the outside it looked like a commentary on gender roles and that is always a slippery slope to try and climb. But I was so relieved to see that it’s good fun on the misunderstanding of appearances. Which in and of itself is an entirely separate topic but this show takes a comedic approach.
It requires some other knowledge of Japanese culture and media to understand certain topics and phrases while watching but I cannot recommend it enough. The switch between gorgeous and chibi-style animation further emphasizes the goofiness of the show. A must-watch for anyone looking for a good laugh.