So much promise.

The Wallflower begins with four effeminate high school boys, whom the girls all lust after. A wealthy woman offers them the use of one of her mansions as a rent free home, provided they turn her niece Sunako, aka the Creepy Girl, into a real lady.

OK. There are numerous routes this story can take helping us to define the real meaning of beauty. It could be a story of undying, unconditional love. It could be heartbreaking or heartwarming. Instead it takes the “dumb, but fun” route.

For those who have never heard me use the term before, Dumb but Fun is just what it sounds like. Dumb story. Dumb characters. Dumb animation. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But a hellava lot of fun to watch. Though I usually like my anime dark, I do like Dumb but Fun on occasion; i.e., the original FLCL, Kill Me Baby, Aggretsuko, Cromartie High. But The Wallflower doesn’t quite hold up as well as these series.

The Wallflower is extremely fast paced. Nothing wrong with that, except that it goes on almost non-stop. This prevents the audience from getting anywhere near a joke, partly because we can't get all of the dialog. Not being able to catch my breath, I could not keep up with the story – whatever there was of it. At least with FLCL, the writers and director knew how to pace events, including knowing when to take it slow to allow the viewer to get into the story and characters. No chance to do that in The Wallflower.

I watched the first nine episodes, that’s two discs, but decided to take it no further. If after nine episodes I have no interest, why continue?