Cherry and Virgin

Erotic manga artist Ryo knows a lot about drawing sex, but when it comes to real life, he hasn’t had much luck. Ami, a talented commercial illustrator who draws “boys’ love” manga on the side, is in much the same predicament. The two cynical, 30-ish virgins have all but given up on romance, until they connect through a dating app and share a tentatively promising first date. As their two worlds collide, so do the distinctive animation styles associated with each character, their subjective experiences rendered in angular black-and-white and soft, cutesy color, respectively. Will Ryo and Ami be able to move their deepest desires from drawn daydreams into reality?

Cherry and Virgin is a stylish and sensitive love letter to anime, and not an uncritical one, painting a nuanced portrait of the sexual dysfunction–meets–desperation that so often keeps the genders at odds in many favorites of the form.