The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl is retro romance anime gold

The hope for a second season of Ouran Host Club may never truly fade, but fans eventually have to come to grips with reality and find another romance anime to scratch that itch. The spring 2025 anime season has plenty of romance shows to choose from, but one stands out with its title alone.

The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl has premiered with a strong start, particularly for fans of anime from the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The anime’s description on Crunchyroll is pretty bland, advertising a noble named Sophia Reeler being gifted the strength of the Gorilla God and joining up with the royal knights. That doesn’t cover the half of it!

First off, everyone in this world receives a blessing at random from a variety of different animal gods once they turn 15. Sophia Reeler’s only wish when she chooses her blessing is to not stand out. So naturally, she gets the rarest blessing! The Gorilla God’s incredible strength and endurance is only given out about once every 50 years, and while Sophia tries her best to keep her blessing under wraps, she’s immediately recruited by royal knights.

More important than the details of the world’s magic system, is the fact that this is a reverse harem anime! Like many recent anime aimed at women who have been watching anime for decades, The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl seamlessly blends action, social politics, and romance, all without making the heroine an impotent character who must rely on the boys around her.

By the second episode, she’s gathered three admirers, though for now they seem to be focused on the tasks at hand: daily life at a prestigious academy and after-school knight training. The three boys can be easily placed into archetypes, with the golden retriever boy literally tied powered by the Dog God. The prince is prince-ing, again taking notes from other recent anime such as 7th Time Loop and I'll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History with his dark hair, polite manners, and overall kind demeanor. Meanwhile, the dark and brooding boy in the group seems primed to fill the role of androgynous, tsundere BFF.

These archetypes aren’t the only thing that will make viewers pine for old favorites. The show’s art style and animation is vibrant and bubbly, complete with a bit of a hazy glow on many scenes. Plus, the classic rose frames will pop up occasionally, surrounding new characters and highlighting emotional reactions.

There’s also an element of comedy that would be missed from any retro-style romance. The roses are thrown in with a bit of a tongue-in-cheek humor attached, and more chibi-like visuals are used in a few scenes to great effect, paradoxically giving characters more personality than when they’re drawn with detail.

The character archetypes, art style, and even the soundtrack all pair well with a fun plot that pulls from a number of similar series, yet brings enough originality to shine on its own. Reminiscent of retro romance anime, The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl is perfect for plenty of long-time anime fans looking for love this spring.

The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl can be found streaming on Crunchyroll, with new episodes being released every Sunday.