Well, I’m watching this as someone who’s already reading (and is pretty much a fan of) the manga, so I’m going to have that obvious bias. I already enjoy the series enough on its plot and through the characters. I can only look at how it does as an adaptation. So for my first impression is that, yes, it is doing a good job as an adaptation.

I’m still not sure why I’m interested in this series, I suppose I’m just a fan of a certain sort of slice of life every so often. Where things go day by day, focusing on the characters, but with still some development and some sort of story.

First of all, I’d like to say…Damn you JC Staff! You pulled me in right away with having adorable little music at the beginning. That sentimental music that either completely resembles a music box or at least brings them to mind.

So the basic premise of this series is Akira and Fumi helping each other through their romantic troubles (mostly Akira helping Fumi) with some side characters floating around that I barely even paid attention to in the manga. Even the anime seems to know that none of the other girls are important since the opening focuses purely on Akira and Fumi. The only other two characters with some importance just get a picture scrolling by with one of the main girls. Whoopee.

Basically, I’d call it mellow slice of life yuri. Or something.

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Animation & Art

I’m sure people got hung up on the character designs right away. Well, let me just say that the girls all actually look better than they do in the manga. A lot of that is owed right away to at least having color (the manga is entirely black and white, with even little to no gray). Plus the simple designs of the manga just convert well to anime.

However, I love the character designs for this anime because it ensures one thing: fanboys just looking for pretty girls with big boobs stay the hell away. The girls like nice, but none of them are stunning. It’s mostly the art style that causes this, but I appreciate it. For a more grounded series like this one, having all of the girls be beautiful would feel weird. It reminds me again of why Nagisa was such a great lead girl for Clannad. Compared to the other girls with their long hair, she felt more “real” in her design (lol minus the ahoge). She was a shy girl that didn’t really stand out and she looked that way. (Of course she was still amazingly adorable, but most of that comes from her personality)

But I really should stay on topic. Um, the animation and art is pretty much what you’d expect from JC Staff, except that things are detailed because of the source material. The animation (outside of the dancing in the opening) obviously isn’t much to brag about either, but it doesn’t need to be.

My only problem was the there’s not a lot of variety in the colors and everything looks really light. It kind of adds to the atmosphere I suppose, but it’s still slightly annoying. The only character that seems to stand out is Akira…which is good in a way. It goes along with her personality. I’m at least glad that everything isn’t shiny like it was in the promotion picture. That didn’t quite feel right to me.

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Music

The section that’s really just about the opening and ending (theme and animation) because I barely notice most background music. Even when I do all I have to say is that “it fits” or that “it doesn’t fit at all”.

Opening: Kokikodan – “Aoi Hana”

So first of all, the opening…I love it. I suppose the word to use would be that it’s “charming” if that makes sense. And it perfectly fits the feeling of this series. Having Fumi and Akira dancing in flowers and holding hands was just too cute. It’s a yuri anime, but it’s so easy to see it as an anime that focuses on friendship. I mean at least to where I’ve read in the manga Fumi and Akira are still just pure childhood friends, but still with that possibility of something more I guess? Which the opening shows very well.

Until the ending shot anyway where they totally make it obvious that this is a yuri anime. Those who read ANN’s description without any mention of yuri are going to go once they see that part.

Overall, the opening was just very nice. Both of the girls seem like themselves, but there’s one shot that made me go, “That’s not Akira!” because she looks far too mature and lovely. Maybe it’s some change that occurs later in the series that I haven’t seen when she falls in love with Fumi. Of course, my favorite shot was the one I used for the top image of this post. So nice and peaceful~

My one complaint is that one of the best parts is blocked by credits. When Fumi and Akira turn into themselves as children. It was a nice touch, but you could barely even see it. I didn’t even bother to grab a screencap of it.

Oh and as for the song itself…it fits. Quite well. Of course it’s not anything I’d listen to on my own. That’s all I have to say on that. It fascilitated the adorable frolicking and then that calmness at the end. So it did it’s job.

Ending: Ceui – “Senteforia”

The ending animation was absolutely nothing special. It was all just illustrations from the manga, the actual tankoban covers I believe. Not very creative. Just add in some panning and you have the ending animation.

But the music was pretty. It reminded me of something I might hear in a Key game…or something.

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Characters

Really, the only thing I could probably comment on the characters are if their seiyuu fit them well. When you’ve read the manga, hearing the seiyuu at first always feels just a little bit awkward, but I’m glad to say there were no miscasts. But nothing so great that I can give them their own section.

Now I need to say that JC Staff seems to be working that “magic of animation” because both hearing and seeing Akira animated made me grow to like her a bit more. Fumi too. Some certain thing in their words and actions just come across better when you can actually see and hear them. Also, the opening did a lot to help that.

Fumi is your pretty typical shy megane girl. She’s not outspoken and when she was younger she used to be a crybaby. She’s a weak character overall. She always wants to be loved and have someone to love. At the beginning of the series she’s just broken up with someone, but she finds someone new rather quickly. Her romantic relationships compared to her friendship with Akira (which picks up as if it never left off) feel rather shallow. Though even so, you have to feel bad for the girl. Nothing seems to work out so you just want to hope for her happy ending.

But even if I say that Fumi is weak, that just means that she grows stronger as the series progresses. She’s shy and not very confident, but she becomes very aware of herself and her own feelings.

Now Akira would probably be Fumi’s exact opposite. She’s outgoing and energetic. She’s a pretty typical genki girl and acts quite a bit like a normal teenager besides her unimaginable amount of energy (and her occasional childishness). Though really I suppose the only place she seems like a normal teenager is at home. She hurries to school and talks with her mom with a pout sometimes and she hates her overprotective brother.

I also love how honest and innocent Akira is. She has almost no reaction when she finds out that a friend is dating (or likes) other girls. She’s surprised, but she doesn’t make a big deal out of it. The thing she becomes most concerned with is that they’ll be happy (or something).

Really, neither girl is anything too new I think, but they feel different when they’re together. Like how Fumi should be more mature since Akira is so childish, but Akira usually takes care of Fumi and it’s been that way since they were young. When Fumi used to cry, Akira would make her feel better. And…I’m sure Fumi contributes something to the relationship too, but I can’t quite think of it and put it into words. Basically, to be simplest you could say that Fumi really treasures Akira.

And agh, I kind of hinted beyond the first episode here. I’m sorry. The best example of this in the first episode would be where they first meet on the train and Fumi is too shy and such to do anything about being groped and Akira steps on that asshole’s foot!

It was quite some time ago that I first read the manga that I forgot this moment and forgot why I adored Akira at first. She’s so silly and stuff, but she’s strong which goes along with her being outgoing I guess. She’s not afraid of what people think of her. At this point in the episode, she only thinks that Fumi is a stranger after all.

Hmm…now what else? I suppose shipping might as well go in this section too. Though I’m sure many people might be confused that I’d have a ship for a yuri anime, but I totally do. I think it’s a common idea that I’m not a yuri fan because I rant about fanboys turning all sorts of girls gay for each other. I should clarify that I only hate those relationships for the same reason why I hate others. They don’t exist or they’re shallow. Boys just couple them together because yuri is hot. Because they’re guys. It’s expected, but incredibly annoying. What can I do though? I’m a shipping snob!

Though people should already be familiar with me adoring Tomoyo (CCS) and Ushio (SDC). I love friendship that’s so deep that it either turns into love or gets confused with love. Meaning, I love relationships where I feel an emotion could be genuine. Notice I didn’t necessarily say realistic, but genuine. So in that case, it’s simply that I like couples and relationships

However I don’t really like yaoi at all. Or maybe it’s more like I can only watch anime with cute girls and there’s not really that much obvious yaoi in anime with cute girls(but I like Yukito and Touya fine for example).  I’m a romance fan in general, so as long as there’s girls and romance involved in an anime I can watch it.

So, getting back to that shipping, I’m a supporter of the obvious couple: Akira and Fumi. They’re so close that they immediately reconnect when they meet again. Both of them understands the other and…well that’s always been my biggest factor in deciding shipping. Two people who understand or “suit” each other.

Geh, so much on shipping and not a thing on the side characters. Well, I am quite fond of Akira’s brother. I always love the big brother characters, especially when they’re good older brothers. I guess it’s the same way that boys like having a good younger sister. Not that I really have to dream about it, I already have a good older brother who scared off bullies for me and won’t let his (disgusting) friends go near me. But Akira’s brother must be a different level of onii-chan that you’d only see in anime. He totally reeks of a minor sister complex. Saying she looks good in her uniform and being so nice to her when she treats him like he’s such a bother.

But yeah, aside from him there’s not a lot of characters I really notice or like. I find Sayoko downright annoying and Kyouko to some extent too.

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The Conversion

From anime to manga, I had a feeling that as long as it was done right, the anime would be better to me. This is one of those series that people who have read the manga actually may enjoy the anime more because the manga…doesn’t have much to it outside the story. So just seeing it animated and hearing voices already adds more excitement. I feel like it’s actually the people who haven’t read the manga that may get bored with this.

To me it was the perfect adaptation. It pretty much followed the manga step by step (from what I remember) but it seems to be the perfect series to convert. There is something new to get simply from watching it animated. A lot of adaptations fail simply because they aren’t adapting something that isn’t that easy to adapt. Then from there you also have problems with animation and art and down a long line until you reach troublesome original content which is what brought down some of the series people complain about most.

Now, even though I said fans of the manga would enjoy this most, I’m sure there are people just watching this for the first time that can get enjoyment out of it. They just need to like and want a slow moving series. I’m sure this is perfect for those who enjoy slice of life and yuri…on the more grounded side for both. It’s probably not your escapist series which is what most anime fans want. So in that way, it’s not for lots of people.

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Overall, I enjoyed the first episode quite a bit. I was a little worried about the animation moving too slow by trying to be artistic or something. Maybe a worry caused by the first PV and the slower nature of the manga. But things turned out all right.

Still, this is just the first episode, I’ll have to keep watching to see if it takes some dramatic turn for the worse. But JC Staff has been pretty spot on since

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm and is filed under First Impressions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.