Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!

Okuto Nakamura is a timid and gloomy-looking student who cherishes only two things in this world: his pet octopus and his kind-hearted classmate, Aiki Hirose. Ever since the school entrance ceremony, Nakamura has admired his jovial classmate, albeit from a distance due to his poor social skills. After mustering up all the courage within him, he finally decides to talk to Hirose.

During this first attempt to make contact, an instinctive mistake turns the idea of friendship into a distant dream, as he creates a hilarious impression on his crush. At school, students are expected to cooperate on numerous activities together, meaning Nakamura gets to spend extra time with Hirose. Given these opportunities, can he successfully redeem himself and accomplish his goal of becoming good friends with Hirose?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nakamura, Okuto Main

Kobayashi, Chiaki Japanese

Hirose, Aiki Main

Sakakihara, Yuuki Japanese

Otogiri, Sou Supporting

Eguchi, Takuya Japanese

Aokiyama, Reiko Supporting

Taichi, You Japanese

Kawamura, Hifumi Supporting

Fairouz Ai Japanese

Oomori, Tsukasa Supporting

Sasa, Tsubasa Japanese

Takeuchi, Kouta Supporting

Nozuyama, Yukihiro Japanese

Niou, Kaoru Supporting

Takeuchi, Shunsuke Japanese

Tamura, Arandou Supporting

School Principal Supporting

Takahashi, Kanako Producer

Shirai, Katsuya Producer

Kataoka, Yuki Producer

Yoshikawa, Takaya Producer

Reviews

Apr 15, 2026

Kumaka

Recommended

Preliminary (4/13 eps)

"Gambare Nakamura-Kun" is a true masterclass in media adaptation. It doesn't just adapt the source material; it adds to and enriches the work. With the dozens of artists involved in this anime's creative process, you can clearly perceive the love that each person poured in and contributed to make the final result wonderfully beautiful and fun. This anime elevates the manga by author Syundei, which was created as small, daily-life chronicles of Nakamura Okuto, a teenager who is in love, silly, and immature (as any teenager is). The only difference is that he's gay. It shows, quite realistically, just how cringey this phase of life ... is. And the viewer will laugh (or cry) from relating to him. The work's charm lies in the author's beautiful, nostalgic 90s anime art style. And the producers made a point of preserving and, even better, enhancing that beautiful aesthetic with a wonderful City Pop soundtrack that changes with each ending.

The work adapts both manga volumes together, changing the order of some chapters and altering a few events. The changes are overall really positive. In its original conception, "Ganbare Nakamura-kun" was meant to be short stories to fill the end of the quarterly magazine Opera, which specializes in Boys' Love (the same magazine that publishes Doukyuusei). At the end of the first manga volume, the author mentions that she thought the story wouldn't be definitively serialized, so she rushed the events in some chapters. The anime, in turn, gives the story a chance to "breathe" and unfold more fluidly. Since the manga has few released chapters, the anime "savors" the events and makes each chapter shine in its respective episode. The change in point of view for the chapters adapted in episode 3, and the WHOLESOME change in certain characters intentions were "A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one". Each ending reflects the vibe and what the protagonist is feeling at the end of each episode, and the songs are really good.

It should not go unmentioned that the casting of all the Japanese voice actors was perfect. Especially Chiaki Kobayashi. He is wonderful as Nakamura, and you can tell how much he enjoyed voicing him. With this work, he is wrapping up almost three consecutive seasons (Summer 2025, Winter and Spring of 2026) as a protagonist in fantastic shows, delivering impeccable work as a standard. Yuuki Sakakihara is proving to be a revelation in this year of 2026, with his incredible vocal range, both as Hirose and as Kirara in Jujutsu Kaisen. And it's refreshing to hear veteran Takuya Eguchi in a BL and Slice of Life again. He is shining in this role, and I believe there is no other voice actor more suitable to play Otogiri-sensei than him.

So that's it: If you want to watch at the end of the day a comedic slice of life that is beautiful, nostalgic, and gay, you have found the perfect anime for it! It is truly perfect in everything it sets out to do. I have no doubt that in the future, this anime will become a classic!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Apr 30, 2026

Itsukisayo

Recommended

Preliminary (6/13 eps)

This is the best BL anime I've ever watched.

First, let's talk about the animation and art. They're all excellent, the movements aren't monotonous, and they also maintain the retro art style of the manga.

Second, the music and voice acting.They use a different song for each ending, in a retro Japanese pop style. It's a brilliant idea. As for the voice acting, although I prefer Hirose's voice acting in the drama CD, the current cast isn't too bad. As for Nakamura's voice acting, I always remember Strak from the anime Frieren, LOL (they're the same voice actor).

And third, and most importantly, the story. I really like ... it because we get to see the perspective of the main character, who is a same. I'm tired of most BL anime where the main character is the weak uke and the same is the handsome and popular guy.
I was a bit worried about the story at first when they announced it would be 13 episodes, with the source material being two manga volumes with a few short chapters, but so far they've done a good job with some great extra scenes and also some deleted scenes of Hirose and Otogiri-sensei.

In conclusion, if you're tired of mainstream BL anime with boring uke MCs and want a different perspective, you should definitely give this one a try!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 15, 2026

Neo_Randomz

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (3/13 eps)

I’m not gay.

Nor am I ever interested in boy love content unless it has another plot or theme. I’ve never really been interested in male characters in romance anime either, and even when I do, they usually do not look like one.

So this anime, where romance is the main point and the main character is absolutely gay and falls in love with another male character who also looks like a male, is absolutely outside my "comfort" zone. But in an attempt to broaden my taste and perspective, while also trying to understand what fujoshi and yaoi fans like, I gave this one a shot.

And after ... a few episodes in, I kinda get it. I understand the charm because it is basically just like watching your average school romcom. Sometimes it is corny, sometimes it is sweet, and sometimes it is funny.

There are a few moments here and there that genuinely make me smile and make me forget that right now I am WATCHING TWO DUDES, a gender that I usually ignore when I watch a romcom. But here I am, invested in it.

Not only that, the animation of this anime is superb, the art style is charming, and the visual jokes are on point. I do not know why the budget goes so hard for this anime, but goddamn, I am glad it does.

Most of the characters are not new tropes or particularly unique. I do want to point out that Nakamura likes octopuses. It is not important, but I just wanted to mention it because it is definitely new. Right?

Now the music. While the OP is meh, all of the ED songs are bangers, especially the first one. Good lord, I can hear that one on repeat.

That being said, I still would not be brave enough to recommend this to anyone I know, because I am 100% convinced that I would get a few frowns if I ever even mentioned the existence of this anime to any non BL lover or anyone who is not familiar with shounen ai content.

Overall, it is a great anime that I would highly recommend to anyone who is into shounen ai, but I am not really convinced enough to recommend it to someone who is not used to it. All the sweet moments definitely make you say, "Go for it, Nakamura <3"

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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	Poll: Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! Episode 7 Discussion InternetAngelAme - May 6	31 replies	by landofthekwt »» 33 minutes ago
	Poll: Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) DarkSageRK - Mar 16	108 replies	by Ashhk »» 4 hours ago
	Is it worth watching? ryankaiser - May 10	18 replies	by GrumbleDango »» 6 hours ago
	Poll: Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) InternetAngelAme - Apr 22	75 replies	by perseii »» Yesterday, 11:24 AM
	Why Hirose’s Crush on "You Know Who" Was a Narrative Masterstroke Ventus_S - May 2	5 replies	by MoonSpider »» May 10, 7:32 PM