The title translates to "The Radio Wave Girl and the Adolescent Boy." There are a number of other ways to translate "Radio Wave" and "Adolescent," as both are used as kind of symbolic terms, but this way makes as much sense as any.
Yet another show directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, but lacking a lot of his trademark audiovisual weirdness. And yet, I find, it's still breathtaking to watch and its animation is of the highest caliber.
Dotso (as it abbreviates to) starts out slowly, with our Adolescent Boy, obsessed with cataloging how successfully he is living his young life to the fullest, moving to the city to live with his aunt while his parents work abroad. From there, he meets our Radio Wave girl, his cousin, an extreme hikkikomori (one who hides from society) who claims to be an alien and wanders around with a futon wrapped around her.
What begins looking like it might be a Haruhi Suzumiya-esque manic pixie dream girl scenario evolves into a story about perseverance, recovering from one's mistakes and the self-imposed hurdle of impossibility, put non-invasively into the context of a fairly non-invasive harem. The cast remains very small (the main cast is only 6 characters), and while a lot of threads (the romantic aspect and Erio's re-integration into society) are left dangling at the end of the series, the story nevertheless has an ending.
Also, contrary to a lot of other series that I've found myself really liking, Dotso isn't nearly as mean to its characters: the trauma is fairly minor and doesn't happen on screen, no cathartic scenes of screaming or crying or rage. Which isn't to say that the characters aren't realistic (Ryuushi's jealousy is some of the most honest jealousy I've ever seen), just that the situation doesn't warrant quite the same level of suffering as say, Madoka, Evangelion or Ano Hana.
Don't watch this show if you don't want to have to remember long titles in Japanese, or if you're more interested in action and physical conflict. But if you like stories about people growing, pushing forward and being rewarded for trying to do something they thought they couldn't do, you'll find Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko to be quietly inspiring.
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