Hump Day Husbandos: The Boys of Play It Cool, Guys (Cool Doji Danshi)

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Lilia Hellal
November 30, 2022
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When it comes to Fall 2022 anime shows, the short-form episodes of Play it Cool, Guys, the anime adaptation of a web comic that goes by the same name, has been my surprise hit among the many varied offerings of the season.

Created by Nata Kokone, animated by Studio Pierrot and formatted as short 10-11 minute bursts of laugh-out-loud, feel-good, slice of life goodness, this light-hearted show stars four stupidly attractive and unintentionally charismatic main leads who you’ll come to fawn over, respect and appreciate — flaws and all.

Who are the Cool Doji Danshi (Play It Cool, Guys)?

It’s hard to pick out a favourite from these guys, so why not celebrate them all? The first four episodes follow each of the main characters in turn, and the subsequent episodes buddy them up or continue on from their initial introductions.

First up, there’s Ichikura Hayate, a 20-year-old college student who is the “type to get embarrassed and reflect”. Shun Futami is a 17-year-old high school student who is “the stoic type who pretends to be tough”. Mima Takayuki is a 27-year-old office worker who is the “type who’s completely oblivious and unfazed” and Shiki Souma is a 19-year-old vocational school student who is the “type who accepts it and stays positive”.

As you can probably already tell, each character has his own temperament, style and personality. For example, Shiki takes all his mistakes on the chin and even laughs about it to himself. He prefers and is more than able to see the good in everything, even his own mistakes. He’s much more content and less socially anxious than Ichikura, who gets overly worried each and every time he fumbles in life. He fixates on his mistakes and is the biggest worrywart of the boys.

The show can be initially seen as a simple, run of the mill comedy with a running gag that could get old quick. But rather, it’s just as much about seeing and learning how exactly the guys cope with their daily lives being so up in the air due to their own clumsy selves.

Why we love them

In a nutshell, Play It Cool, Guys celebrates the good in being naturally clumsy. (At last, a show for me – Ed.) Across their very distinctive lifestyles, each of the four core characters cope in their own ways of being impressively airheaded, forgetful or downright clueless despite the normality of their lives and everything that happens around them. By putting each of the characters in different settings, careers, life stages and lifestyles, the comedy comes out in waves from the sheer variety of silly or out-of-hand situations.

It can go from extreme to mundane and simple with each and every scene, but at the very heart of it is a simple and prevailing, heartfelt message. That’s because at the same time as being slapstick, the show itself highlights how our embarrassing moments and characteristic traits that we regard as flaws can be better regarded as positives instead.

Why you will love them

Play It Cool, Guys highlights how humans can be — and usually are — clumsy. We all make plenty of mistakes every day, and the cool guys here remind us that it’s harmless to make a joke out of them, and that we should do and say things with confidence instead. It’s nothing too deep, but it is certainly entertaining and has its own sense of comfort due to how simply relatable and uplifting it is.

Play It Cool, Guys is the wholesome anime of the season, if you ask me. Watching the titular guys make blunder after blunder but look cool in the process and manage to play them off is iconic. It is made even better in how the guys encounter one another and become further involved with each other; this just further fuels the hilarity of their interactions and dynamics, as well as their own motivations or development.

Play It Cool, Guys is hilarious as it is endearing. If you have even just 10 minutes to spare, you can see for yourself via Crunchyroll.

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