"The DNA of Tsundere Characters Was Engraved in Me Without Realizing It" TV Anime 'You Can't Be In a Rom-Com with Your Childhood Friends!' Interview with Takehiro Urao & Yū Serizawa

The TV anime 'You Can't Be In a Rom-Com with Your Childhood Friends!', which has been airing since January 2026, is a harem romantic comedy based on the manga of the same name currently serialized in "Magazine Pocket."

The show depicts episodes at a good tempo where the protagonist Yonosuke Sakai (Eiyū) and his four childhood friend heroines seem like they're about to start a romantic comedy but never quite do. Among them, the exchanges between Akari Hiodoshi (Akari) and Eiyū allow viewers to fully enjoy the charm of the tsundere Akari.

Akari is a classic tsundere character who can't be honest with her feelings and acts harshly toward Eiyū, while internally harboring deep affection for him. However, in an interview with Takehiro Urao, who plays Eiyū, and Yū Serizawa, who plays Akari, we received some unexpected responses.

——Every episode, I feel the charm of a classic tsundere in Akari...!

Serizawa: I saw that on social media too! But from the beginning, I wasn't thinking "I'm going to do a Heisei-era tsundere!" Rather, I interpreted Akari in my own way and performed her, and it seems that the Reiwa-era viewers felt something nostalgic about it.

Urao: That's true, I didn't think of her as a tsundere during the recording sessions either, and I never thought classic tsundere would become such a hot topic.

Serizawa: Right? But when I watched it on air, I also thought "Indeed!"

——This might sound strange, but it's similar to the feeling of enjoying the stylistic beauty of period dramas (lol).

Serizawa: Period dramas (lol). Like "Here it comes!" kind of feeling, right? (lol) But when I got into anime, which was around my second year of middle school, late-night anime at that time were in the golden age of tsundere, you know, like 'The Familiar of Zero' and 'Toradora!'

——There was also 'Shakugan no Shana.'

Serizawa: Shana too! Watching the tsundere characters that Rie Kugimiya has performed, thinking "Ah! This is it!" that DNA was engraved in me without my realizing it.

——So what you've cultivated was naturally expressed.

Serizawa: That might be the case. I really wasn't conscious of it though.

Urao: During recording, Akari gave more of a cute impression, and Serizawa-san is really good at adding charming elements, so I think that quality is enhanced even more.

Next Page