#2026 spring

The Ramparts of Ice

氷の城壁

Romcom by Studio KAI Based on a manga by Koucha Agasawa

Length: 14 episodes (covered from #52 to #65) Aired: 2026 (Spring) Rating: A

Plot: Dealing with a traumatic middle-school experience, Koyuki Hikawa just closed herself to others in highschool, her only friend the popular Miki Azumi who came with her from middle-school. Successfully keeping her classmates at bay, one day the outgoing Minato Amamiya caughts her off guard and talks with her, before his friend Youta Hino takes him away. What Koyuki doesn't know the two are also old friends with Miki, and her friend group just got suddenly bigger.

Thoughts: You and I are Polar Opposites was maybe the best show of the previous season, and the blow of ending was first softened by the announcement we'd just have to wait for the Summer for the conclusion of the story, and further more in the knowledge Koucha Agasawa's previous work was also scheduled to have an adaptation, which was an instant must see. While it's always unfair to compare different shows based on different works of the same mangaka, The Ramparts of Ice exists more or less on same space of a more grounded romcom, only more serious and without the absolute gremlin, and as I've remarked in the first episode, it kinda resembles what if you centered a show on Azuma and Taira, the gloomy duo still dealing with some trauma from their previous school. And if we're doing comparisons, it's really not that far off from Polar Opposites quality-wise, just in different ways.

The strongest part of Ramparts is in the writing for the characters. Like Taira, Minato is a character that shows how good the author is at writing characters that could sound like irredeemable pricks, but are still created like people with their virtues and flaws. Sure, he's pushy and has no concept of personal boundaries, and his extroverted personality just scares Koyuki, particularly after he takes a special interest in reaching her to fix her problems. He only accomplishes the first part after actually fixing himself and realising people don't like to be treated like puzzles to be solved, and to his shock actually ends up falling for her. Youta is basically a nice level-headed and chill big guy, sometimes likely to day dream or zone out, appreciating the quiet moment as he lives with two half-siblings much younger than him that do make it a happy home, although a tiring one where he sometimes wonders if he does have a place in his new family, although he has no reason to not feel loved. He has a secret of his own, in that he's very much in love with Miki that only Minato, ever observant, noticed (likely by how his head isn't screwed right when he's near her), and eventually confesses it to Koyuki, with whom she built an immediate rapport. Miki, starts as the class idol and popular girl is the one connecting the two to Koyuki: she's her neighbour and classmate in middle school, and met Minato and Youta on her cram school... after Minato doesn't mind his own business and sees her alone. As she goes along both pretty well, she gets off her chest how bad she feels she couldn't help her best friend with a bullying situation, and if Minato picked up that best friend is Koyuki the moment he saw the two together, Youta realised who she was after she made a comment about being in the baseketball club. While Miki has the looks and personality to be the class idol, she grew up being the gorilla girl, very loud and unpolished, but fearing rejection from her new classmates who took her as something else, played that role until they were suspicious watching her being a lot more outgoing and talkative with Minato and Youta and more rumours from cram school, until she confessed, and their acceptance that either Miki is fine by them allows her to start second year as herself. Not knowing of his feelings towards her, she really likes the idea of Youta and Koyuki stating together. And now we need to talk about lead girl Koyuki. Traditionally you'd expect the trauma of the main character to be just the usual pile of injustices thrown at them, but here, keeping in tune with characters not being aware of the full picture or just learning things through other characters, the reveal a lot of the defences, these ramparts she built around her were not just things done to her, but also things she done that make her feel deeply ashamed with herself. It's just... humanizing to see, and the way the revelation of the true nature of part of her trauma after most of the season just operating on the little we've heard and what we would expect from the show is just fantastic writing. As she spends time with the other three, she slowly learns to open up on her own, and starts developing feelings for Minato.

If there's other thing I'd comment on the writing is how it does an incredible job of foreshadowing things, it shouldn't do flashbacks to those moments, they should make people rewatch things and go "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH". But hey, we're at a point I think most shows are lucky enough to be watched, let alone someone thinking "let's watch this again", overall it does feel like it is based on an excellently planned manga that knew where it was going from the start, and could make little things happen along the way that pay off further ahead in the story. Again, if the characters aren't as flashy in their personalities as Polar Opposites, they do have a very solid backing behind them. Sometimes the show just decides to power through a thorny situation in a somewhat unrealistic manner, but while it has it's dose of melodrama, it has no intention on getting bogged down by it. Finally, visually it's not on the same level as Polar Opposites (I also think she got a lot better between Ramparts and Polar Opposites), and while it presents opportunities for good faces and the same manga-inspired panels, it is also a much less energetic show, and what it does, it does great. She also shows how much she likes to give the characters cool clothes and accessories, never a dull moment when they're off the clock.

The ending leaves things in a bit of a cliffhanger, so if you haven't watched it, you might probably want to wait until mid to late September in time for the second season starting in October. What is certainly is, is being well worthy of your attention.

Plus:

Realistic characters with grounded motivations rather than being constantly OTT

Does a pretty good job of exploring who Koyuki is bit by bit

Balances the more dramatic parts with the comedy parts well

Minus: