Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me is an anime based upon the manga series. The season is twelve episodes long and it follows a pair of sisters. The elder sister is Miyako, who is a shy shut-in. While the younger sister is Hinata, a grade schooler who’s naturally loud and energetic as you’d expect of a kid that age. Hinata brings home one of her friends one day, Hana, and it’s at this point where Miyako’s passion is revealed.
Miyako is a shut-in mainly because she is interested in making cosplay costumes. She’s quite talented at it, but she doesn’t like wearing them herself. Seeing Hana, Miyako thinks that she is the perfect person to wear her costumes and thus the premise is born. Hana is freaked out at first, and it’s true, Miyako’s actions can be quite creepy. This is done for humor, but if Miyako wasn’t a girl but rather a guy, it probably wouldn’t go down quite as well.
Hinata idolizes her big sister Miyako, as many do when they’re at that age. It’s cute, although she also gets jealous or annoyed when she doesn’t get Miyako’s attention either, so it perfectly captures what’s important at that age. Miyako on the other hand is completely fixated on Hana at the expense of nearly everything else. Such a big focus is put on that aspect that it overshadows anything else. She can go too far at times with her actions, but seemingly also self-aware at times with how creepy or inappropriate it could look.
There are a few running gags, which are utilized well whenever they come up. A few other characters join, mainly Noa who is the sisters’ neighbor. Noa is eccentric in that she has been praised all her life with how cute she is, being the centre of attention so it comes as a shock when Miyako doesn’t fall to her charms as well. Again, due to the grade schooler age of most of the cast, their behavior, reactions and priorities feel natural. It's only Miyako who is out of the norm at times…
One of the best running gags is how self-aware some of the characters eventually get when they have a similar scenario happen to them. First was Hana where she realises that she was acting as creepily as Miyako when she ends up fussing over something. While for Miyako, that happens to her when she realises a “friend” had been obsessing over her. Miyako’s shyness and tendency to be anti-social is also constantly played for laughs, and at times, even cruelly made fun of. Her mother is worried of course, and it seems to play into the stereotyping of shut-ins a little bit too much though.
The three main grade schooler protagonists are fun, energetic, clever and just acts like their supposed age. It can be a wholesome anime when they fuss over something as serious as friendship, to other more inconsequential matters like presents. It nicely captures their short attention spans and straightforward personalities. There are several feelgood scenes where it is heart-warming at what the characters are worried and caring about, which can be really sweet to see. The colorful cutesy aesthetics really helps too.
While most of the season is pretty standard with its structure and events, the final episode felt like kind of a waste. This is because a big chunk of it was dedicated to the characters performing a play. While it was amusing given that it was a musical, it also meant that we get none of the humor that would usually be a part of the anime. There is also an OVA which shows off several shorts.
Overall, Wataten! An Angel Flew Down to Me is a fun anime that shows off what you’d expect grade schoolers to think are important. Initially it is kind of weird, and it never does completely throw off the creepy-ish vibe of Miyako being so fixated on Hana, but it tends to soften as the season goes on. Despite that, there is some quality jokes and gags, and the characters are likeable given their usual energetic behavior and interactions with each other.
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