Second Prettiest Girl in My Class Review – Really Damn Good
Article at a glance:
- Spring was absolutely loaded with bangers, but Second Prettiest Girl in My Class easily locks down the top spot as my absolute favorite. It is an incredibly satisfying, start-to-finish gem.
- Despite losing the plot a little around episodes 9 and 10, the finale completely saved it. Episodes 11 and 12 delivered some of the best, highest-tier romance interactions we’ve seen since Horimiya.
- The show gracefully avoids generic rom-com tropes by adding real substance, handling heavy topics like parental divorce and past trauma with perfectly tight pacing that wraps up with a proper couple dynamic.
I am not even gonna front, this is one of the best shows in the Spring 2026 Season. Yes, I know, Spring 2026 had a lot of bangers. But I think I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class has to be my favorite, and I had really been looking forward to review it. Now, it is not perfect by any means. It did kind of lose the plot a little bit around episodes 9 and 10. But god damn it, the finale more than made up for it. Episodes 11 and 12 were some of the best romance interactions I’ve seen since Horimiya. And that is not a comparison I pull lightly.
Even after the slight hiccup, the pacing and character writing of this anime remained incredibly tight. It is an incredibly satisfying experience from start to finish. And I cannot recommend this anime enough if you are looking for a good romance story. Yeah, let THAT be a tone setter for the review.
So yeah, welcome to another review for the Spring 2026 season. Gonna spend the next few days just quickly knocking off all the reviews for this season. That means a lot of long articles. So stay tuned for it. But yeah, here’s my review for Second Prettiest Girl in My Class!
Plot
Not much to say here, the plot is a collection of some pretty common romance anime tropes. Introvert guy finds a female friend through shared interests, and slowly they fall in love and all that. But there are two things I would like to highlight. Umi’s backstory with her friends was really well-handled and a much-appreciated addition to the plot. Gives a little more substance to things than just rom-com stuff. And then Maki’s situation with his parents was another great highlight.
Yeah, sure, I think that Maki kinda starts acting like a child all of a sudden around Episode 8 to 10. But even after having that hiccup, there is some real substance to how messy a divorce can be. It affects Maki’s character growth and who he is as a person a lot.
Aside from all those little nuances, the pacing is what makes this anime really stick for me. Very much like Horimiya, they manage to pull off a perfect combination of letting things sit while moving through the usual romance stuff pretty quickly. By the end of the season, Maki and Umi are a proper couple that their friends know about. And not many romance shows can say that.
Characters
And just like every good romance anime, Second Prettiest Girl thrives on its characters, too
Maki and Umi
I absolutely adore their dynamic. I appreciate how it wasn’t some coincidence that they met or whatever. They started as proper friends with common interests. Umi just heard Maki’s introduction in class and decided that she wants to be friends with Maki and just weeb out a little. That’s all. The growth of their friendship dynamic is incredibly natural, even if the show is fast-paced.
Now, my only issue with Maki’s character is that he suddenly starts acting immature. If that was his character from the start, I wouldn’t have an issue with it. But Maki has been shown to be very mature, reasonable, and level-headed from the start. So the whole premise that he can’t understand why his parents got divorced is a little bit of a leap to me. But that’s just a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of things. Because I do appreciate the anime giving an actual character to Maki. Most romance animes have a pretty generic male MC. And he actively tries to be better for Umi.
And then Umi got a very good character, too. Once again, I appreciate that they didn’t make her a “perfect” girl; she has her own troubles in her life. But still, she is very supportive of Maki and even helps him get over the whole divorce situation. Again, their dynamic is pretty cute.
The Supporting Cast
The supporting cast is honestly pretty good as well. Let’s start with Yuu, probably the best wingwoman I’ve seen in anime in recent history lol. Once again, her friendship with Umi is so damn cute. And I love how Yuu IS kinda dumb, but she’s not oblivious, she’s one of the first people to pick up on how much Umi likes Maki lol. I am glad they did not make things weird by involving Yuu in a love triangle or something. I was a little worried when there were hints of that in the beginning.
And then, I also have to praise how well Maki and Umi’s mothers are written. We’ve really had a good bunch of cool anime parents this season, between Amane’s parents in Angel Next Door and Maki and Umi’s Moms in Second Prettiest Girl lol
Production
Again, a pretty obvious part of the review, Second Prettiest Girl in My Class is a pretty damn good-looking show. No complaints regarding the production whatsoever. They even managed to make the mandatory text message scenes entertaining by animating the characters as their profile pictures. The opening and ending themes are pretty damn sweet too, and fit the tone of the anime very well. Again, no complaints overall.
Summing Up
Here are my final review scores for Second Prettiest Girl in My Class
- Plot – 8/10
- Characters – 9/10
- Production – 8/10
- Enjoyment – 10/10
- Overall – 9/10
But yeah, that is all for now. I think you can see why this was among my favorite shows for the season. I really looked forward to each and every episode of this anime every single week. With that said, though, I will take my leave here. That concludes my review and let me know what you guys think in the comments. See ya!
