2024-03-28

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい) is a 12 episode slice of life yaoi romance based on the manga of the same name by Toyota Yuu.  The series aired over the Winter season of 2024.

     Adachi Kiyoshi is a gloomy office worker who has struggled to find love through out his life.  He suddenly gained the ability to hear peoples internal thoughts when he comes into physical contact with them.  His world changes when he learns the secret thoughts of a coworker, Kurosawa Yuichi, a handsome well respected sales rep.  Adachi struggles with the idea that a man can fall in love with him, let alone the most desired bachelor at his company.  He also struggles with uncertainty around being able to reciprocate his coworkers feelings and desires.  Using his supernatural abilities he cheats to understand Kurosawa's motives and desires.  As the two men spend more time together and Adachi comes into closer contact with Kurosawa's heart he begins to accept the feelings welling up inside of him but has to figure out a way to express them, unsure of his own worth.

   Kurosawa struggles to maintain his polished veneer, always battles against his desires and urges.  As he spends more time with Adachi he begins to push him to find out if there is a chance of him getting his wishes.  Unknown to him, the object of his affection can hear everything he's thinking when they are in physical contact.  Even without that, Kurosawa does what he can to express his feelings for him without risking too much if rejected.  As time goes on he finds it harder and harder to hold back and when he confesses and isn't rejected an unbalanced relationship begins to unfold.  Adachi, inexperienced in love, begins to lean into his strange powers to help him be a better partner for Kurosawa, but how long can he keep a secret like that from someone who loves him so openly?

    This was a cute and slow burning romance that played into some standard yaoi tropes with out coming off as trashy of voyeuristic.  Kurosawa's seme qualities were blunted by his literal school girl giddiness and barely controlled perversion.  Adachi was a typical self hating gloom boy uke.  What drove the story to be interesting is how Adachi navigated around his ability to read peoples thoughts, or more accurately, their hearts.  Even with this massive cheat code enabled he struggled with how to respond to the other persons affection.  Some of this hesitation and uncertainty stems from his own lack of confidence.  He struggled to understand why a guy who could catch anyone he desired would be interested in an introverted loner like himself and hesitated to express his feelings clearly even after they had begun to date.

    There was a parallel side story dealing with a college friend of Adachi's who also ends up gaining the mind reading via prolonged virginity ability and an infatuation with a younger delivery boy.  I'm not sure what literary purpose this plot line provided other than checking off a shota trope but some aspects of it felt a little creepy and forced.  The object of Adachi's friends affection happened to be a college friend of one of Adachi and Kurosawa's younger coworkers.  Honestly though it was fine, just seemed to distract too many times from the core story around the main characters.  On a final note the art work seemed to suffer near the end of the series with consistency.  The artwork wasn't the highest of caliber to begin with, the character designs being pure shojo and not highly detailed.  But in the end the story was cute and lovely and it might be fun to see a one shot of the couples later in life.

    The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll and is currently only available in sub format.

2024-03-25

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!

 Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (道産子ギャルはなまらめんこい) is a romantic comedy based on the manga of the same name by Ikada Kai.  The series originally aired during the 2024 Winter season.

    Shiki Tsubasa transfers from Tokyo to small town in Hokkaido in the middle of his first year as a high school student.  Excitement for the new experiences in Japans rural north leads him to underestimate traveling distances on his way into town.  He has the taxi driver drop him off kilometers from his new home with his grandmother, misunderstanding the time it takes to travel far in the middle of nowhere versus the bustling metropolis.  Standing among the piled snow, under dressed for the cold, the severity of his mistake begins to set in.  Just as panic sets in he notices an under-dressed gyaru casually waiting around, unbothered by the cold.  As he struggles with a safe way to travel the rest of the distance, she invites him to ride the incoming city bus with her.  When she learns that he's from Tokyo and will be attending the same school she goes to her interest in blossoms to an uncontrollable level.  He gets distracted by the beauty before him, coming from a school situation where he found himself largely ignored and unpopular.  He neglects to get on the bus with her, but learns her name, Fuyuki Minami.

    Surviving his first day in the snowy north, the first day of school proves to be just as interesting as Minami is one of his new classmates.  She's excited to be able to spend more time with the kid from the big city and teach him all about how to live in Hokkaido.  In a short time the two become good friends as she show him around the city and what it means to live in Hokkaido.  Tsubasa struggles with how to interpret the things she does, considering most of her advances as teasing instead of actual affection.  He is an honest and supportive person, who will do anything he can to help those close to him.  She really enjoys hi honesty and naivety, teasing him as much as she can.  As they spend more time together she begins to develop feelings for him, but doesn't put too much pressure on herself to make it more obvious to him, instead she tries to enjoy spending as much time with him as she can.

    Given the title, context and character design, particularly of Minami, one would expect this to be a low brow ecchi comedy instead of the simple but endearing slice of life it turns into.  The characters have one dimensional personalities but their open honesty makes them endearing to the viewer.  Tsubasa is a reserved rich kid, who lives under the controlling thumb of his grandmother.  He is driven to please and support everyone around him, almost to a fault.  Minami is free spirited, unashamed and passionate about life.  Eventually two other girls from school get sucked into the orbit of the main characters, but their impact is minimal at best and doesn't generate any of the drama and tension one would expect from a shonen aimed romance.  Minami's character design lies heavily in the buxom gyaru trope, complete with revealing outfits and plent of tepid fanservice.  Perhaos due to Tsubasa's reserved and refined nature, there is very little attention drawn to the constant cleavage and ample curvature of Tsubasa or the other characters, its largely ignored from the other casts viewpoint.  The story focuses more on the growing and unforced friendship of the two main characters and as a field guide to live in the frozen north.

    The artwork on the other had is rather lacking with inconsistencies and lack of detail.  The character designs for the women are more caricatures than real, even when compared to the Euro-centric designs that are the norm in anime.  Minami is a fantasy more than anything close to a reality, a highly sculpted anime rendition of a Kardashian and all the money they have poured into surgery and shaping wear.  The character designs for Tsubasa however are closer to realistic.  Theres not a lot of detail in the characters themselves, in how they move and how they are colored, but there is noticeable amount of attention in their clothing, which is done quite naturally.  The strongest part of the story is the interactions and realistic relationship between Tsubasa and Minami, which make this series, with all of its faults and short comings, a fun casual watch.  While no where near the top of the slice of life of romance best of list, its way more enjoyable than its title, premise and character design would suggest.  I was pleasantly surprised with how the story evolved and ended up.  It was really just a cute and heartfelt story.

    The anime was simulcast on Crunchyroll in sub or dub formats but its still too soon to know if it will recieve any sort of physical release.  I may have to check out the manga, which is on Shueisha's Manga Plus app for free in English.

2024-03-23

A Sign of Affection

 A Sign of Affection (ゆびさきと恋々) is a 13 episode slice of life romance based on the manga of the same name by the writing/art duo suu Morishita.  The anime aired during the Winter of 2024


    Itose Yuki is a college student who has previously only attended school designed for deaf students.  After graduating high school she wanted to break out of her insular world, built around those with hearing impairments, to experience the greater world around her.  She decided to attend a traditional university for just such an experience, even if it meant having to overcome numerous obstacles in a world that has little consideration for people in her position.  She navigates the world not catering to her needs as best she can, relying on her ability to read lips, text messaging and a note pad to communicate with those around her.  She has become friends with a classmate, Fujishiro Rin, who helps her by transcribing lectures.  While commuting one day he is approached by a foreign man, who is unaware of her inability to hear him, let alone understand the language he is speaking.  As she struggles to let him know she is unable to help him a tall man steps in to assist the lost traveler.  As the new stranger helps the foreigner, Yuki realizes she has seen him before, as one of the members of the club Rin is a part of.  The man and her exchange brief pleasantries and she continues on her way to school, lost in thought.

    In class she brings up meeting the mystery man to Rin who instantly identifies him as Nagi Itsuomi.  She tells Yuki that he travels all over the world back packing and meeting new people and is quite personable.  She also suggest that Yuki accompany her to a local bar that Itsuomi's cousin runs, on the change that he will be there as well.  Rin is infatuated with his cousin and sees this as an opportunity to  help both of them out.  Later that evening they step into the quaint corner pub and Yuki is greeted by the same man from the train.  They exchange more pleasantries, but she is unsure of how to proceed, shy and awkward, uncomfortable with how to approach him.  Another group enters the bar soon afterward, a group of unidentifiable foreigners and she observes how natural and easy it is for him to interact with other people.  She marvels at the world he's seen and the vastness of it compared to her closed one.  As the bar closes, Rin suggest that Itsuomi accompany Yuki on her way home, hoping that something with spark between them.  Before they part ways, they exchange contact information.  Seizing the moment she sparks a conversation with him that enables him to express his interest in getting to know her more.

    Yuki has taken the first step in getting closer to the mysterious and well traveled man, but is hesitant and uncertain if she is reading into the situation accurately.  As she spends more time with him she wants to learn more about the world he sees through his eyes.  At the same time, Itusomi is striving to learn signing, in order to meet her in her world instead of relying on her to negotiate his.  Through assistance from Rin and both of them attending the same college, the two continue to interact with each other more and more, both in school and out.  But not everyone is enthusiastic about the development.  Both Yuki and Itsuomi have people in their lives that have harbored feelings that they have trouble expressing.

    We are in a golden era of slice of life romance anime.  A Sign of Affection does not disappoint in the least.  The story and characters are realistic and approachable.  The situations are believable and the characters actions don't detract from the warmth of the story.  The artwork moves between serious and cute depending on the situation and mood, done with a fine eye by the directing team.  The progression of the plot flows along in a well kept pace, not circling around the drain endlessly.  While not exactly spoiling things, we don't have to wait until the final episode for any sort of progression in the main characters relationship.  Anime has always been full of characters with unnatural hair colors and at first glance this would fall into that category.  Except, refreshingly, it isn't.  Itsuomi's best friend is a hair stylist and uses his friend to test new ideas, thus his hair is dyed silver.  Yuki as well decided to change her hair upon entering college for a fresh look as she embarks on a new world in her life.

    The original authors are not hearing impaired themselves but put in a lot of effort to help them understand what someone living in that world may be like.  Ensuring they could correctly represent the way they navigate a world not built for them and to represent the signing in a realistic manner.  Difficulties in interacting with others in society who are not actively aware of the way the communicate is expressed through out the story.  In many moments, sometimes pivotal, Yuki is not aware of the flow of the conversation around her due to not being able to read everyone's lips or through the speed of the conversation.  Again though...I struggle with why Yuki's mom never bothered to interact with her daughter in a more meaningful way.  On top of that shes super strict on the young woman's ability to care for her self.  Same with the boy who love/hates her from her childhood.  It seems like everyone from her earlier life does what they can to prevent her from growing into her self, instead trying to shelter her.  Itsuomi presents a pathway to a wider world, both through his frequent travels and as someone who does not know anything about her.

The anime simulcast on Crunchyroll and is available in both dub and sub formats.  This is one of those I should start the manga for!


2024-03-22

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (葬送のフリーレン) is a 28 episode fantasy series based on the manga of the same name by Yamada Kanehito.  The series originally aired between the Fall of 2023 and Winter of 2024.

    After a ten years long quest to restore peace to the land, the party of heroes are basking in the celebrations around their defeat of the Demon King.  It is time for them to rest and pursue a life of peace and safety.  The celebration coincides with a rare meteor shower.  One of the members, an elven mage named Frieren, comments about taking them to a better spot to view the shower the next time.  The other members scoff at her statement, knowing the next time it will come is in fifty years.  Frieren doesn't understand how the passage of time effects her friends as they are normal mortals.  She, an elf, lives for a very long time and has already lived far longer than her companions could even imagine.  She holds them to the reunion and goes on to wander on her own again.  To her word she returns for the next iteration of the meteor shower.  The world has changed around her, a world she has barely paid attention to.  She comes to find the hero of the party, the human warrior Himmel, frail and shriveled in his advanced age.  They reunite with the other two party members, human cleric Heiter and dwarven warrior Eisen.  Heiter as well is showing his advanced age.  Eisen, being a dwarf, has a longer life than the humans, but no where near the length possible of Frieren.  The heroes head out for a final journey together, to the place Frieren wanted them to see the meteor shower.

    Shortly after, Himmel passes away due to his age, leaving Frieren to rethink her approach to the passage of time.  She begins to regret the way she spent the past fifty years, realizing too late that she could have spent more time with her friends, particularly Himmel.  A few years later she visits Heiter to talk to him about her regrets.  To her surprise, Heiter is fostering an orphan girl who has strong magical aptitude.  As a dying wish, he forces the girl, Fern, onto the reluctant elf to serve as her apprentice, a thing Frieren has refused to do for a thousand years.  After losing two close companions, and regretting not spending more time with them, she takes the young girl under her wing as a traveling companion and apprentice.  Together they wander around the land searching for unique spells and grimoire.  Frieren was apprenticed to the greatest human mage of all time, the legendary Flamme, who established the use of magic for humans a thousand years earlier.  Since then she has been wandering the land collecting spells and helping to preserve and improve on them for humanity and its fight against the forces in the world which threaten their existence. Her journey now has another role, a way to help her become more sympathetic to human emotions and the preciousness of their short lifespans.  

 

    As time passes Frieren and Fern find themselves wandering aimlessly through out the land, not having any real goal.  In their journey's she visits with the last living member of the hero party, the dwarf Eisen.  He encourages Frieren to attempt to speak with Himmel one more time using one of her masters legendary grimoire that would allow her to speak with the dead.  Upon recovering the book she learns that in order to speak with the dead she will need to travel deep into the northern lands, still controlled by the race of demons.  It looks like she will retrace the steps she took with her friends almost a hundred years earlier in order to reconnect with Himmel.  She extends an invitation to Eisen to join them but he declines citing his old age.  Instead he recommends his young human apprentice to join them.  Even though the journey may take another ten years, Fern reassures the elf that she is willing to accompany her on it.  The pair set off, with a goal in mind and attempt to recruit Eisen's young apprentice.

    They encounter the apprentice, a man close to Fren's age, named Stark.  When they find him, instead of the expected protege of a member of the hero's party, they find a young man who has never killed a monster before and lacks confidence in his ability to survive dangerous encounters.  After tricking him into solo combat with a dragon, Stark agrees to join the two women on their track north.  As they do, they encounter memorials left in place from the time of the hero parties journey.  Statues erected for them, usually under Himmel's direction, to solidify their place in history, even before they had succeeded in their task.  Like the heroes party, the trio of travelers will soon face mortal perils and challenges that will push their experiences and abilities to the limit as they come closer and closer to the lands still controlled by the forces bent on destroying other sentient species.

    As I have stated in the past, ad nauseam, I am not a fan of fantasy anime in general.  I find the way classic Tolkien derived sword and sorcery stories are done in the medium lacking in something that I enjoy with things like Conan the Barbarian.  I have never been able to put my finger on it, maybe its just the artwork its self that distances me from enjoying the story.  But something about Frieren changed that and I think a lot of that has to do with the stories tone.  I love slice of life and chill anime.  Frieren is mostly an incredibly chill and introspective story.  It's great to have a story that starts at the end of the 'real' story, to show the fall out and after effects of the world changing events.  We know going into a hero's narrative, that the hero will win.  Its boring and predictable.  The only reason we consume the same repetition is to see new twists on it.  But in the end its always the same thing, overcoming adversity and ultimately succeeding in the lofty goal placed at their feet.  But Frieren does something different.  There is no longer any threat to the world, things are stabilizing and people are forging a new brighter path for society and humanity.  But there is something driving the main character, something that isn't physical.  Something that doesn't have a physical goal.  She is literally going on a journey of the self.

    The tone and flow of the show works in a way that pays little heed to the length of the story.  It mimics Frieren's own ambivalence to the passage of time.  She is in no hurry to get to where her feet take her and is willing to make any number of detours along the way.  But Fern and Stark are humans who aren't eager to stop in a village and spend ten years there doing little and continuously encourage Frieren to have more focus on the task at hand, the task to find the land of the dead so she can reconnect with her lost friends one last time.  At times the story does dip quite heavily into combat and action as they encounter a variety of dangers, but it goes back to focusing on their growth as individuals and as a group with a shared goal.  It isn't until we get into the second season that the series changes, personally for the worst, and we see structure and adversity.

    I really did not enjoy the back half of the second season and felt the story lost its charm as it transformed into something it wasn't before.  It went from being a casual slice of life story about growth and reflection into an atypical exam story, where the stakes were never there and too much space was spent on a very short amount of time.  It was a waste to devote so much of the story, particularly given that the second season could be the last anime adaptation we see for this fantastically lovable story, at least in the immediate future.  It changed what the story meant, from something new and refreshing to something that appears to have been designed to appeal to a different audience.  To meet expectations that may have surfaced when the story wasn't what people expected.    We are given a slew of standard shonen battle personalities and a series of challenges, while sometimes interestingly crafted, lead to very little in the way of actual threat or failure.  So what was the point?  World building?  The authors desire to branch out a little, play with different story types?  Did they get bored or hit a road block in writing and needed to shift focus for a while into something a little easier to write?  Whatever the reason, it reduced the appeal of this beautiful show for me and made the last episodes of this great story unappealing.

    Questionable plot distractions aside, this is over all a really lovely anime.  The artwork and direction is highly enjoyable.  The characters expressions and body language is finely crafted, enhancing the simplistic yet beautiful artwork.  You can not help but love everyone in the story.  The voice acting is great, the soundtrack fits the mood perfectly, its just a solid package all around....aside from the mage exam distraction.  I really really disliked the mage exam arc...like a lot.  It really took away a lot more beauty and comfort and joy we could have had with following Frieren further on her journey.  I will really need to pick up the manga and continue to the journey into lands unknown to see these lovely characters grow closer and more confident in their identities.

The anime was simulcast on Crunchyroll and is currently available in sub and dub format.  The final episode teased a possible continuation of the anime, but as of the time of this review there has not been anything announced.

2024-03-19

Servant x Service - manga overview

 Servant x Service (サーバント×サービス) is a slice of life comedy manga by Takatsu Karino.  The manga is compiled into 4 tankoubon and 2 omnibus editions in English.  The manga also received a 13 episode anime adaptation in 2013.

    The in depth overview of the plot of the story can be found here, the revisit of the anime.  This separate look at the story is largely to compare the source material with the more accessible anime adaptation and to debate the need for one over the other.  For a quick recap, the story primarily focuses on 20 year old new civil servant office worker, Yamagami Lucy.  She has joined the ranks of government employee in her Hokkaido based city in order to exact revenge on the person who rubber stamped her birth registration paper work.  Due to her parents indecision, Lucy ended up with a first name comprising of more than a dozen names, frequently being listed on official documents as "Lucy (abbr)".  The oddity of being named Lucy alone would be difficult enough to deal with as a child, but the continued name length encouraged rampant harassment by her peers in grade school.  This has led her to a life of meekness and self hatred.  Her goal, find the civil servant responsible for allowing her name and giving him a piece of her mind.

    Lucy has other things to worry about in her new job, working in one of he public welfare divisions, as her peers and immediate coworkers have their own eccentricities.  A fellow new hire, Hasebe Yutaka, plays the part of a lose playboy with low morals and even lower work ethic.  He's following in the steps of his older family members who have been life long public servants.  Hes talented, intelligent and confident but chooses to put as little effort into life as possible and blatantly demonstrates his lack of work ethic.  As time goes on he begins to openly court Lucy, using her inexperience in dealing with men to his advantage, stopping at the line of dangerous behavior around her.  Lucy believes everything hes doing is designed to harass and tease her, instead of him being awkward when dealing with a woman he likes for the first time.  Their co-works convince Lucy that Hasebe is an untrustworthy playboy, who is just interested in her as a one time conquest and would leave her in the gutter as soon as she responded favorably to him.

    The anime adaptation was faithful for the vast majority of the content in the manga.   It followed the progression of the books in roughly the same order while greatly enhancing the effect and flow of the story through expanded scenes and a greater depth of the characters through animation.  In this alone, the anime is the superior version of the material, breathing a lot more life into the cast an their antics than the manga was able to do in its yonkoma format.  The anime does not cover everything in the manga though.  If someone wanted to know the entire story but not retread the same plot lines covered by the adaptation, they could pick up with "Work:55" in the 3rd tankoubon/2nd omnibus and start from there with almost all new material.   The additional material beyond the anime expands on the relationship between Chihaya and Ichimiya, delves deeper into Hasebe's dilemma surrounding his courtship of Lucy and more.  As with many adaptations, the reason for the divergence in story is that the anime was produced before the manga was concluded.

    Overall I feel the anime is a stronger product, taking the amusing source material of the manga and significantly enhancing its delivery and appeal.  Not to belittle the efforts of Takatsu and their art, but the story really shines with motion and sound, filling the space between panels with more comedy than the manga can achieve.  Sadly, this means a large portion of the manga is unneeded following the production of the anime.  That doesn't mean it isn't worth reading, but the anime does such a better job at delivering it that it's almost pointless to pick up the first volume.  The story is cute, lovable and mature in an immature way.

The manga was printed in North America by Yen Press an compiled into two omnibus editions that are readily available. 

2024-03-16

To Every You I've Loved Before

 To Every You I've Loved Before (僕が愛したすべての君へ) is a sci-fi romance movie based on the novel of the same name by Otono Yomoji.  The movie was initially released in theaters in Japan in 2022.

    Takasaki Koyomi is at the end of his life, enjoying the last of his days at home, surrounded by his family, as he faces an advanced terminal illness.  One day, waking to find he still lives, he receives a reminder of a meeting he does not remember setting.  The meeting only tells him to go to a certain intersection later in the morning.  He mentions the meeting to his wife over breakfast, who also knows nothing about it, and she encourages him to go see what it may be about.  At the time and place, unsure what to expect, he notices a young girl in a dress standing in the crosswalk.  She reaches out her hand, a smile on her face.  As he reaches out and grasps her hand with his she fades into nothingness and he is forced to retreat from the intersection before traffic moves again.

    As a child, scientists had proven that parallel worlds exist and his father was at the center of its research.  With every decision a person makes in their life, big or small, another reality separates from the primary one, leading to more and more branches and more and more differences the further one reality gets from another.  Around the age of 7, Koyomi's parents divorce and he chooses to live with his mother at her parents home.  After turning 8, his father gifts him an air soft gun, which his grandfather swiftly confiscates after seeing him point it at the family dog.  Koyomi, upset by the punishment, claims the he will never speak to his grandfather again.  Unfortunately, the declaration comes true when his grandfather suddenly passes away.

 

    Dealing with the grief of losing his grandfather on bad terms leads to his first noticeable shift into a world far away from his.  He wakes up inside of a capsule in a large room, the only other occupant being a girl his age in a dress.  He begs her to let him out, but when she does, she runs away, leaving him confused.  Lost and alone, he calls his mother to pick him up.  Without understanding, he has shifted into a world in which he chose to live with his father.  His mother brings him back to her parents house, where he is astonished and relieved to see his grandfather still alive.  In the evening, confused and alarmed, he is able to reconcile with his grandfather, before he returns to the world he knows.

    Life is lonely for Koyomi, who, through the brilliance of his father, is able to succeed in school with ease, causing a rift between he and his peers.  In middle school he decides to work at being more accepted, declining the offer to give a speech in front of the school as their representative.  He wants to remain in the background, doing what he can to shield his differences from them, in order to gain companions.  His effort was for naught though as he still remains a loner, which puts him in an awkward position when one of the girls in his grade approaches him one day after school.  The girl, Takigawa Kazune, tells him that she found her self shifted into his world and that they are a couple where she comes from.  She lays out the details to him, backing it up with an experimental device she's wearing, that he is familiar with, showing she is from 85 iterations away.  A distance that far between their worlds should mean drastic differences, but somehow the only thing that seems different is Koyomoi's personality.  She tells him to forget about their conversation and to carry on like they never talked, expecting to shift back to her version of their world eventually.

    Koyomi can't get what Kazune told him out of his mind, stewing on it while he wonders if the version of her from his reality has returned or not.  He gathers up the courage and asks her to meet him at the karaoke bar so he can broach the subject to her, to see what she knows and to see if this version of her might have feelings for him.  She struggles to keep her secret from him for too long, following his confession and revels that she never was from a far of world, faking the readout of her watch.  She rejects his confession to her and returns to her normal existence of ignoring him.  As time goes on though, they begin to interact with each other more and more at school, which leads to a strained friendship and Koyomi continuing to ask her out as the years go by, from middle school, into high school and into college.

    The top students in school, they both decided to attend the same college, the first of its kind in the world offering courses in the emerging sciences around studying parallel worlds. Both are able to get internships and eventually jobs at the research institute Koyomi's father has worked at for years.  Eventually Kazune's refusal of him wears away and they become a couple, though that waxes and wanes as the head strong and opinionated Kazune struggles with Koyomi's passiveness and ambivalence...some would say he lacked human emotions.  Eventually they get married and take over the big house his grandparents had once lived in, building a new generation with the birth of their child Ryou.  But things are never as happy as one would hope.  As time moves along emotions and wishes from close by parallel worlds begin to seep into the couples banal live, threatening its stability and security.  Leading to the strange appointment at the end of his life and the mysterious girl in the crosswalk.

    I must apologize for how much of the story I have spoiled in the overview...but don't worry, it really only covers about half of the story, there is still plenty of mystery and suspense to uncover as well as the finer details in what was covered.  This is a very melancholy and reflective story, that puts a lot of focus on things that are lost and things that may never come to pass.  It plays heavily with the idea that people slip back and forth between the parallel worlds closest to them all of the time, usually with out notice.  In those slips does one really know if the person they are interacting with is close enough to their version that the lost moments don't matter?  Koyomi questions that over the course of his courtship and eventual life with Kazune, wondering if the woman in front of him at certain pivotal moments is the one he knows or not.  How far away can you move from your version of reality without having drastic effects on those around you and how they perceive you?

    The story tackles that head on in three major plot points, the first being the loss of his grandfather at the age of 8.  The other two would spoil important aspects of the story, but one of them does revolve around the mysterious girl at the intersection.  Unfortunately that plot point feels largely out of place with the overall narrative of the story, a story that focuses on the time Koyomi spends with Kazune over the years.  After all of the exposition around these two, fated lovers, we are thrown a secondary plot line, that tries to make its self the primary plot line, forcing up back to the beginning of the story and Koyomi's first noticeable shift.  The bulk of the narration ignores both of these specifics until we see him at the last stages of his life and the mysterious girls existence forcibly reinserts its self into the story.  Leading to a resolution of the first segment and some forced explaining and weird concepts.  But...maybe you can approach the awkward last portion of the story as a distraction from what really matters in the story, the unwavering love of the two main characters, regardless of differences in other worlds.  Perhaps the idea of the strange shift to the mystery girl is to reinforce that no matter how far you get away from the core reality, love transcends and works to break through.

I am probably working to hard to make up for the terrible shift in focus of the story and its over all lack of plot when it comes down to it.  Outside of the mystery girl there is little in the way of an engaging plot.  The movie really feels like nothing more than world building centered around an endearing and sometimes tragic relationship.  A speculative exercise in what it would mean on a personal, day to day, level if we were able to meaningfully interact with parallel offshoots of our own reality and the implications of such a feat on our personal every day lives.  Yet does that really lead to good story telling instead of some pot induced retrospection?  Hard to say.  But, the movie was enjoyable in its own right.  It really does lack a lot of the substance and drive that one would expect to find in a movie or book.  There is little rhyme or reason behind what happens, other than to show case the two lovers as they navigate each others personality and the concepts of reality around them.  The actual plot behind the mystery girl seemed like a pointless attempt to create a more solidified idea of the story.  In the end the attempts to codify that as the actual point of the entire thing was too little too late, too forced, with some hand waving explanations in the end that all together didn't add up to much.

   Did I enjoy this oddly passive movie?  Yes.  Could it have been better?  Absolutely.  Both in a more meaningful plot to make it appeal to a broader audience and in the character design.  I was not a fan of the characters designs.  Especially the shape of Koyomi's iris'.  It was weird.  There are all sorts of angular.  The artwork in general lacks a lot of the detail one has come to expect with moves from Hosoda or Shinkai, unrealistic expectations from their view point, they set too high a standard for theatrical releases.  You can really tell this was a computer based animation effort, but not in a clunky bad way, just in how generic a lot of the design was in the end.  With all of its short comings; no real plot, a disjointed secondary plot line and less than ideal character design, this was an enjoyable movie.  I wouldn't have been upset seeing it in the theater, but probably won't buy it on Blu-ray.

    The movie is currently available in subtitles format on Crunchyroll.

2024-03-15

Servant x Service - revisiting the anime

 Servant x Service (サーバント×サービス) is a 13 episode romantic slice of life comedy that is based on the manga of the same name by Takatsu Karino.  The anime originally aired during the Summer of 2013.

    Three new hires begin their life working in a local ward office in a fictitious Hokkaido town.  They are ready to begin their lives as civil servants no matter what challenges they face.  Or are they?  The first new hire and primary focus of the story is Yamagami Lucy (...).  She is short in stature, bespectacled, plain looking with a noticeably large chest for her stature.  Think, the nerd version of a sexy librarian.  She isn't exactly looking for a reliable and honorable career as a government employee.  Instead she has an ulterior motive that has driven her entire life goal.  After her birth her parents struggled to pick a name for her, asking a number of random people in the hospital for suggestions.  Still unable to decide on one, the went with all of them.  Lucy's full name...or at least as much of it as she has ever mentioned is, Lucy Kimiko Akie Airi Shiori Rinne Yoshino Chihoko Ayano Fumika Chitose Sanae Mikiko Ichika Yukina Reina Eri...and so on.  Her goal, track down the civil servant who authorized such a ridiculous and impossible first name to be registered after her birth and give him a piece of her mind.  In short, her entire purpose for starting work in the office is for revenge.  Beyond that all she wants to do is buy more and more books, preferring to be by herself, following her overly traumatic childhood, directly related to her ridiculous name.

    But, there are two other new hires.  Hasebe Yutaka and Miyoshi Saya.  Hasebe is a third generation civil servant and only working at the ward office because its whats expected of him.  Hasebe however doesn't come from a family of serious and astute individuals.  Instead all of his relatives are slackers who love nothing more than playing pranks on others.  He's entered into this line of work because he believes it will allow him to do as little as possible.  He isn't shy about his lack of motivation, continually broadcasting his intentions to dodge tasks at work.  On top of his laziness he strives to get contact information from any cute girl he comes across, collecting them like Pokemon cards.  He's a flirt, irresponsible and sloppy...yet when he does something he does it quickly and perfectly so the higher ups turn a blind eye to his otherwise unprofessional aspects.  The third new hire is the soft spoken and unobtrusive Miyoshi Saya.  She applied for the job for no particular reason and struggles to realize what she wants to do with her life.  She doesn't like confrontation and frequently inhibits customers to abuse her malleable personality.  She is particularly prone at being trapped by repetitive and long winded stories from elderly women who come to the ward office out of boredom.

    Rounding out the small cast of eccentrics is the three newbies supervisor, Ichimiya Taishi, who lacks any confidence in his abilities as their senpai.  His high school aged sister, Touko, frequently visits the ward office to 'test' her brothers employee's ability at serving the public.  In reality, shes dedicated to her brother and has a bit of a complex about him as her primary caregiver for a good portion of her life.  Chihaya Megumi is a long time temporary employee of the department who carries herself with a calm stoicism that can easily move into calculated sadism.  She has continued to work at the office in a temp position for more flexibility in taking time off of work, to pursue her true passion, cosplay.  She is secretly dating Taisha and uses making clothes for his sister as a cover for her frequent presence in their apartment.  The final member of the department is the obscure and unhinged section chief, Momoi Kenzo.  The late middle aged man has severe shyness and has been able to work remotely for most of his career, interacting with his staff through a robotic bunny rabbit instead.  

    The course of the series follows the new comers as they grow comfortable with their roles and each other, working around their personality quirks and unprofessional habits.  Hasebe quickly becomes fixed on Yamagami, seeing her as a puzzle to solve.  Yamagami deflects all of his advances, unaware of her own appeal, considering everything he does as little more than teasing mockery.  In reality, Hasebe finds the short coworker as the first woman he's developed romantic desires for, but his skewed personality leads to a less than respectable courtship.  Yamagami, too absorbed in her own reality, barely registers many of Hasebe's actions as sexual harassment but quickly rejects his advances at every opportunity.  Ichimiya tries to reinforce proper work etiquette in Hasebe but isn't confident enough in his own authority to make any impact.  When his secretive affair with Chihaya becomes apparent, his words of caution become even less impactful on the young staffer.  But no matter the level of effort he puts into his efforts, Yamagami's own hangups refuse to let her understand his true intentions, so he shrugs his shoulders and continues to see how far he can push his luck with her.

 

    I wanted to revisit this series after all this time due to stumbling upon the complete omnibus release of the manga in English.  I felt a need to refresh the story in my mind before I went through the source material, so I could more accurately compare the too products with each other.  It also gave me an excuse to rewatch a really lovely and enjoyable adult slice of life series.  I regret not coming back to this one for so long as this second watch, binged instead of consumed on a weekly basis, really made the story more appealing.  I say story lightly, while there is a marked progression of the characters lives, there really is no over all plot, beyond the continued pursuit of Lucy's affection by Hasebe.  The story doesn't register any sort of over arching goal beyond showing the characters become more familiar and comfortable with each other and their surroundings, there is no grand goal, aside from Hasebe bedding Lucy.  The manga is a yonkoma, so in general the plot is relegated to small episodic segments that tie together in a larger, vague, narrative.

    Initially, in the original run through, I had a problem with the amount of jokes and attention paid to Lucy's unrealistic bust size.  The second time through that hasn't changed, but I think I've mellowed out in my objection of it.  I'm all for boobs, and busty women have some appeal to me.  I didn't really want tepid fanservice in my adult slice of life comedy.  This time, while my opinions about what I'm looking for in anime, especially slice of life, hasn't changed, I have taken a relaxed stance on the attention, at least for the first half.  Yes, Lucy has massive knockers and its amusing given her short and petite stature, a feature she her self says is unusual.  Whats crazy is how little blow back Hasebe gets for his continued attention on her chest.  The level of workplace sexual harassment he gets away with seems out of norm even in Japan!  But, its a part of the charm of his character and leads to some enjoyable moments in the story.  Lucy's boobs can stay in my mind.  Though...sometimes it gets a bit much.  Though it's not like this is Tawawa on Monday or anything, but its still a bit much.  Anyway, even after 11 years, this show was fantastic and I feel under appreciated in the community at large.  It's a great, smooth paced slice of life that doesn't deal with high schools or any of the standard themes.  While not the only adult, work based slice of life, this one has a really charming quality with lovable characters, even if somewhat unrealistic.  Plus, the opening is fantastic!!

    The series simulcast on Crunchyroll back in 2013 and is still available in sub only.  The manga as well was thankfully commercially released in North America as two omnibus editions.  See the review of that here!

2024-03-08

Suzuka - manga deepdive part 2 - the post-anime arc

  Suzuka (涼風) is a shonen romance by Seo Koji.  The manga published in Weekly Shonen magazine between 2004 and 2007.  The series was compiled into 18 tankoubon and had a 26 episode anime adaptation in 2005.  This second part is a overview of the second half of the manga that continues the story where the anime left off.  Beware, this will spoil plot points of this series...which is 20 years old at this point.

    Part One can be found here.  If you are coming to this post before reading that one, perhaps wanting to see what happens after the anime, carry on.  Otherwise it might be a good idea to read through part one before continuing.

 

    Things seem to be better between Yamato and Suzuka.  While she didn't come right out and say she likes him, her confession at the grave of her dead first crush suggest that she has feelings for him.  He isn't sure if they are officially dating or not but when he asks her to walk home after school she gives him the cold shoulder.  Bewildered he heads home and ends up waiting for her on the stoop for hours.  When she finally returns, her anger is palpable and she yells at him about being so late.  Unsure what happened he goes about the rest of his day until he notices two text messages from her.  She had asked him to meet her, outside of school, to walk home, to avoid embarrassment.  The second text signaled her anger, as she had waited for two hours for him to meet her.  Realizing the miscommunication he immediately apologizes to her, the perfect start to their semi-relationship.

   The change in their attitude towards each other doesn't go unnoticed.  After school one day Yasunobu and Honoka end up spying on the pair as they meet up after school, confirming for themselves that something like a relationship has begin.  Yasunobu consoles Honoka over drinks at a restaurant and asks her if shes going to quit the track team now.  Wondering if there's something she has more talent for than being the errand girl for the club.  As she dwells on that at home her friend Nana calls.  The response to a photo shoot that Honoka was tricked into doing with Nana had been good and Nana's talent agency wants Honoka to work for them as a model.  She takes them up on the offer as a step into a bold new direction.

    As another track meet approaches, Suzuka begins to distance herself from Yamato, wanting to be alone as much as possible.  He doesn't realize she is intent of focusing solely on her performance, trying to achieve a new record and cement her status as the best high jumper among high school girls in the nation.  When he comes to cheer her on before the event starts she yells at him about trying to sabotage her efforts.  Instead of backing down, he presents her with a good luck talisman he bought at a shrine on his way to the event.  Out of either confusion or plan negligence, the charm he gives her is for safe childbirth...not success in her event.  His mistake is endearing to her, so she accepts it for what he meant it to represent and settles down to focus on her event.  Perhaps the charm worked, or her change of heart regarding his line of thinking, but she goes on the win the high jump event.

    Honoka announces to the team that she will be quitting as manager.  Yamato feels guilty about her decision and goes to talk with her after school.  He meets her at her family shrine and she asks him about he and Suzuka's relationship.  He admits they started dating.  Honoka pivots from the awkwardness of the conversation to tell him she is going to start working with her friends talent agency doing modeling.  She tries to eleviate his guilt by telling him the decision to quit the team was so she could put all of her focus into modeling.  She thanks him for being a catalyst she needed to change her life and take action.  She is ready to move beyond her love for him and face a new future with out him, thanking him for the time they spent together.

    Yamato decides to tell Yasunobu about dating Suzuka.  When Yasunobu tells him he and Miki already know, he becomes crestfallen.  Yasunobu asks him what has changed in their relationship now that they are officially a couple.  Yamato admits it hasn't really change from how they acted before.  Yasunobu suggests trying to change something to make it more meaningful, like calling her by her first name instead of by Asahina all the time.  When he tries to do that both of them become embarrassed to the point he decides to drop it and be content with the way things are.

    They decide to go on a date in Yokohama on their next free day.  Suzuka has something to take care of at her home but afterwards they plan to do things in the city its self.  Yamato meets her older sister, Suzune again, and she warns him against meeting their over protective father.  Suzuka expected Yamato to have a plan for their date, he expected her, the life long resident of the city, to be the one to take the lead on their activities.  She reluctantly agrees to his expectations and they wander around trying to find a nice place to spend time together.  None of the places fit her vision and they wander aimlessly from area to area, frustrated that things are not working out well for them.  As night falls they return to one spot, hoping for the crowds to have cleared out, and find some beauty and peace for a moment.  In the end their day ended up being good for them and they return home, later than expected.

    Even with their date ended on a high note things still seem strained between them.  Suzuka seems to be having some issue but isn't willing to discuss it with Yamato.  He ends up going home alone one day after school and runs into one of the college drunks, Megumi.  She drags him to a pub, where she uses him to vent about her recent break up.  The topic shifts to he and Suzuka's relationship and how its not really any different than before they became a couple.  Megumi brings up the idea that hes not reliable enough to talk about important matters with, making him a bit nervous.  As he returns home he finds Suzuka chatting with Souichi about a serious topic.  Yamato confronts her after the older boy leaves, upset that she doesn't think of her boyfriend enough to confide in things with him.

    Realizing his concern, she tells him about whats been bothering her.  She has been given the opportunity to participate in a training camp over the winter break and is concerned how he will feel being separated from her during Christmas, since they are a couple now.  Yamato doesn't immediately tie the two events together and doesn't understand why she would be angry with him as he encourages her to participate in the camp. The following evening she visits his apartment and asks to make some tea.  When it takes him too long she begins to criticize his slowness, then she critisizes the temperature of the tea then about him still wearing his school uniform.  When he angrily goes to remake the tea she surprises him with a hug from behind, making him drop her mug.  Embarrassed she runs out of his apartment and back to the safety of her own, leaving him bewildered at her behavior, still no closer to understand whats bothering her.  He doesn't understand that she's upset about not getting to spend Christmas with him, upset he doesn't even realize that and is trying to figure out his size for a sweater she is trying to make as a present.

    Once again Yamato finds himself entertaining the drunk college women.  It is at this point, talking with them, he relies that Suzuka's anxiousness may be related to Christmas.  He asks Souichi if he can join the training camp as a way to ensure they can be together for the holiday.  Unfortunately he won't be able to join so close to the event so that plan ends as quickly as it began.  He begins to concoct a plan to meet her there on Christmas Eve but needs to know their schedule so he can meet her and still make it back to Tokyo that night.  He wants it to be a surprize but she immediately becomes suspicious when he starts to question her about the schedule.  She tells him that Souichi mentioned his attempts to join the camp.  Realizing he doesn't need to lie, he tells her he was trying to get there to be with her for Christmas.  The idea surprises her, but the realist in her knows it won't work and opts to celebrate it before she leaves instead.

    When the day to celebrate Christmas arrives, Suzuka ends up being stuck in a meeting about the upcoming camp.  The length of it causes them to cancel their dinner reservation and they resolve to meet at home later for cake and presents.  Yamato had been waiting at the train station for her when she informed him of the delay.  Dejected, he begins to head back home when he runs into Yasunobu who asks him to join him for dinner.  Unsure when Suzuka will be done he reluctantly agrees to go.  Unknown to him, the dinner ends up being a group date.  Reluctantly he agrees to stay for a while but sneaks out to try and find out when Suzuka will be done with her meeting.  One of the girls from the group date, a bubbly and energetic girl named Amami Yui follows him out.  She begins to aggressively flirt with him.  He tries to get her off of him, but its too late, in dramatic timing Yamato is caught with another girl hanging off of him by Suzuka...who happens to be walking with Yamato's rival, Arima.  Suzuka, furious with Yamato, leaves with him chasing after her.  They argue all of the way home, leaving Yamato to wonder what he could have done better in his situation.

    Suzuka leaves for her training camp with things unresolved between them.  Concern over the mystery girl fresh in her mind, as well as his reluctance to fully realize his errors in judgement.  Yamato struggles to accept he is fully to blame, considering her being stuck at the pre-camp meeting longer than expected, the true catalyst for the break down.  Expecting a call from her, he begins to stress out about the lack of communication.  Over the hours and series of texts he admits to being in the wrong and apologizing to her, but she still refuses to reply to him.  The following day Yasunobu visits, begging him to go on a double date with him.  He refuses at first, recognizing how damming and hurtful doing so would be, given the trouble they are having right now.  Yamato's willpower caves under Yasunobu's pressure and he reluctantly agrees to help his 'friend' out with his double date.  Yasunobu hit it off with one of the other girls from the mixer and is bringing Yui along as the second.

    Out of loneliness, boredom, guilt and maybe anger, Yamato finds him self 'dating' Yui on Christmas, while his real girlfriend is away at her camp, angry with him for what he did on the evening they were supposed to be together.  The double date takes place at the same amusement park Yamato first confessed and was rejected by Suzuka.  The day goes well enough but Yasunobu has to leave, due to another date he has planned in secret.  The girl is disappointed that hes leaving, not knowing hes seeing another girl later, but Yui wants to still do things.  She asks Yamato to stay out with her a little longer.  not seeing any reason not to....like faithfulness to his real girlfriend, he agrees.  Yui wants to see the night parade, the same event that Yamato was rejected during.  She confides in him that the same thing happened to her, the two bond over being rejected in the same way.  Talking about the effort he put into dating Suzuka with Yui makes him realize how lucky he is, despite their arguments.  His sense return to him and he understands what he needs to do to try and make up with her.

    He rushes out to meet her at the training camp, unconcerned with what time he will get there.  He arrives to find the gate closed, as everyone is beginning to settle in for the night.  Suzuka notices him by chance from the window of her dorm and rushes out to meet him.  He came with cake, but without thinking it through the container had the name of the amusement park on it.  she quickly deduces what transpired and gets angry with him and his lack of consideration.  She vents at him about her frustration over his poor decision making skills and lack of judgement regarding how he needs to treat her.  Desperate to make her understand how sorry he is, he agrees to let her slap him.  She reels back, ready to make a lasting impression on his face but surprises him with a kiss instead.  Then follows through with a severe slap and reluctantly accepts his apology.  She lays out some ground rules and expectations for him, opening up honest communication for the first time between the couple, in hopes that he will be more considerate to her feelings moving forward.

    At the first shrine visit of the New Year, the couple wishes for a better year together as they discuss when they each first developed feelings for the other.   Perhaps this last incident was the test that was needed to cement their true feelings for each other.  Before that continues the story takes a break to focus on the background of one of the drunk college students, gyaru styled Saotome Yuka.  Yuka tricks Yamato into helping her with errands, only to bring him to a meeting with a man named Sasaoke Hiroshi who works as a sales rep for a sporting good company.  Yuka ran into him over New Year when she returned to her rural home in Akita prefecture.  She used Yamato as an excuse to see him, saying the young track athlete was interested in getting custom shoes.  In reality the meeting was a way for her to try and reconnect with the senpai shes been in love with for years.

    Yuka grew up with Hiroshi, who is two years older than her.  In high school she struggled to tell him how she really felt about him.  He treated her like a kid and when she gathered the courage to confess to him at graduation he told her he loved her like a little sister.  Crushed by the rejection of the man she had sought for so long, she decided to change herself, to reflect a growth form the version of her that was seen as a little kid by him.  By chance, Hiroshi is interested in providing custom shoes for Suzuka and comes to visit her at school after the start of the new semester.  While thinking over the offer of custom shows, Suzuka lays into Yamato about his laziness, letting him know she expects him to be with her at nationals and the various training camps.

    Suzuka ends up agreeing to the sponsorship deal with Hiroshi's company.  Something feels strange to Yamato though, as Hiroshi needs to meet with her parents for the finalization.  The day they head to Yokohama to meet with them Yuka lets a secret slip.  The deal isn't about track shoes, its for Suzuka to go to America for training in the Fall.  When he confronts her about the plans she admits to it.  He becomes infuriated with her, making decisions without him and hiding things from him.  After sulking about this problem for a while he talks it over with her, first with anger then with understanding.  They resolve to enjoy the rest of their time together as best they can and strive to keep in contact over the year she will be gone. 

    Yasunobu convinces Yamato that he will need to get a computer so he can keep in touch with Suzuka via email.  Getting one is easier said than done.  Yamato realizes he will need to find a part time job to earn enough money.  He struggles to find a place willing to hire a first year high school student who is only willing to work one day a week.  After dozens of places reject him he ends up interviewing at a business run by the family of the girl from the group date, Yui.  She is surprised to see him there and tells her father to hire him, vouching for him.  Yamato realizes how bad this would look and rescinds his request for employment.  Yui chases after him and finds out the story behind his job hunt.  she understands and agrees that it wouldn't look good for him to suddenly be working with her, even if its to save money for a computer so it will be easier to stay in touch with Suzuka while shes' in America.  In the end Yamato realizes it would be a mistake and doesn't accept the job.

    Yui, not wanting to give up and feeling a little guilty for causing so many problems for her, ambushes Suzuka the following day at the bath house.  The two end up having a long heart to heart, Suzuka growing to like the girl she thought was a rival.  Yui tells her about Yamato's problem and why he ultimately decided to decline the only job he was able to get.  Yamato learned the two of them were having a confrontation and was quite surprised when they came out of the bath acting like friends.  Confused, Suzuka tells him that he should really go work for her family after all.

 

    The following Monday, Yamato begins working at the cafe owned and operated by Yui's family.  Things don't go so well for him, as he isn't prepared for the demands of a service industry job.  Yu's father is patient with him and understands that it will take time for him to get good at it.  In time the job comes easier and Yui and her father continue to express their gratitude for his help.  One day Yui decides to treat him by cooking his shift meal, unfortunately her cooking abilities may be worse than Suzuka's.  Instead of suffering through the terrible dish, Yamao offers to make the only thing hes good at, okinomiyaki.  The two are so impressed with it they decide to make it a temporary menu item.

    Worried about Yamato and all the time he's spending with the girl she still thinks of as a rival, Suzuka visits the cafe with Miki.  Yamato makes his signature dish for them, surprising Suzuka with how good it is.  Satisfied, she doesn't stick around any longer, using Miki as an excuse for an easy exit.  The following weekend the two are able to spend the day together shopping and seeing a movie.  Suzuka is concerned with how little rest he is getting, with him even falling asleep during the movie.  She presses him about how much he is neglecting his training, particularly the inter high qualification event in a few days time.  He reassures her its not a problem but when he fails to quality again, posting worse times than the prior year, she gets angry at him.  She tries to pin his efforts to earn money to buy a computer for her trip to America as the reason he failed this time.  Incensed by the efforts, altruistic in his eyes, to keep in contact with her when she's overseas, Yamato tries to defend his performance but it only backfires, causing a rift to form between them.

 

    Reflecting on his actions, Yamato decides to reduce his hours at the cafe.  The following day he tells Suzuka about his plan, trying to get her to be less upset with him.  She congratulates him on his new dedication to track but remains skeptical.  Her skepticism is reinforced when he tells her he isn't able to take the time off he was hoping for.  Before he can explain why she leaves in disgust, reinforcing her feelings about his dedication to the team.  Yamato is frustrated with her lack of patience and mulls over his situation.  Yui's father asked him to work the days he had originally asked off for due to Yui being hospitalized for a bought of pneumonia.  Later at work, Yui;s father asks Yamato to take a change of clothes to her in the hospital while the shop is slow.  While in her room she presses him about how he's doing.  When he tells her about the status of his relationship she tells him that he should just break up with Suzuka.  Telling him that shes not worth his time if she becomes upset with him for doing things that benefit her.  He brushes it off and heads back to the cafe.

    Suzuka finds out about Yui's hospitalization from Miki, but still remains upset with Yamato.  She waits for him to return home after work, to tell him she knows why he was unable to take the time off.  Instead of trying to make up she leaves things unresolved.  Yamato moves to embrace and kiss her but she rejects him outright.  Frustration boils over and he doesn't know what he can do to make things better.  Time passes and the strain remains, further frustrating him, the seeds planted by Yui begin to take shape in his mind as he mulls over what type of future he could have with Suzuka if she leaves for America with nothing resolving.  When he gathers the courage to make things better he learns that Suzuka is packed up and ready to move back home before she leaves for America.  Lost for words, he lets the door close on his chance to make up with her and she leaves the next day.

 

    A few days later Suzuka supersizes Yamato by showing up at the apartment to celebrate his birthday.  She takes him to the same amusement park that has caused so many problems in the past and then back to the apartment when they are finished.  As she reminisces about the things they have done together she asks him if they should break up.  Defeated and reading her melancholy tone, he agrees with her suggestion, ending their time together with an official whimper.  Yamato is once again by himself, the girl he liked has moved out of his life completely.  Sensing something is wrong, Miki forces Yamato to tell her whats going on between him and Suzuka.  He tells her they broke up but she can't accept that.

    With Miki's urging, Yamato rushes to the airport as her plane is about to depart, to try and resolve things with her.  He realized the day he had to work to cover Yui being in the hospital, was Suzuka's birthday and he neglected to even acknowledge it.  He understands he can't sit around and let their relationship end without any explanation and he rushes to her and to try and win her back.  He finds he's in time and expresses his love for her, but she doesn't respond, continuing to head off to catch her flight.  Yamato is unsure how to deal with her response to the outpouring of his heart and heads back home defeated.

    Depression sets in and Yamato shuts himself off, neglecting all of his duties and responsibilities.  Concerned with the number of days hes called into work, Yui contacts Yasunobu to find out whats going on.  He tells her that Yamato and Suzuka broke up and he's been secluding himself in his room since then.  He suggests that she go and invite him to the upcoming summer festival to try and break him out of his slump.  She goes along with the suggestion and heads to his apartment.  While she tries to convince herself she is only trying to help him break out of his darkness she lets her feelings for him move forward, now that Suzuka is out of the picture.  One thing leads to another and she throws herself at him, desperate for his affection.  He rejects her advances though, set deep in his depression.  Yui can't understand why he won't acknowledge her feelings for him and leaves in tears, rejected and embarrassed.

    Resolve begins to build in Yamato, resolve and perhaps insanity.  He takes the money he had been saving for a computer and donates it all to the temple he and Suzuka went to for New Years, much to Yasunobu's horror.  He hopes that a sufficient enough offering to the gods will bring him some form of success moving forward, regretting the measly five yen donation at the last visit.  He resolves to quit working at the cafe, for himself and for Yui.  As if the gods heard his prayer he runs into Honoka, who has been busy with her new career as a model.  Since she quit the track team and they wound up in separate classes as second years, they have not crossed paths.  Time has eased the sadness of their failed relationship and a return to friendship might be possible.

    Before he can worry about that, Miyamoto approaches him about being captain of the track team once the seniors graduate.  He struggles with the recommendation, considering leaving the team all together.  Honoka challenges him about why he joined the team the first place and why he's continued to do track.  He did it initially to be with Suzuka, but he's put a lot of effort into it, even if he doesn't see that.  She impresses on him that those around him see his potential and are unwilling to let him go through life without ambition.  Sasaoka, the sport company rep who arranged for Suzuka to train in America surprises Yamato with a prototype pair of cleats due to his performance at the last inter high tournament, even though he didn't win.  Yamato accepts the gift and asks him to pass on a message to Suzuka.  With determination restored, he agrees to become the next captain of the track team, looking at it as a way to prove everyone who has supported him that they weren't wrong.

    A year has passed and Yamato has found some success as captain of the team, even placing third in the recent inter high tournament.  His cousin Miho enrolled in the same school and has joined the team as its manager, as well as moving into the vacant apartment which once housed Suzuka.  Yamato thanks the team for the past year of hard work and officially retires from it, having to focus on the next stage of his schooling and a recommendation to enroll in one college to join its track team.  Before they have to focus on testing, Yasunobu suggests they all go to the beach, including Honoka.  At the beach Honoka asks Yamato if he wants to date her again.  She plays on his surprise and tells him it was just a joke.  Later that night, as he wonders about her feelings shes sends him a text asking him again, further confusing him.  The next morning he is woken suddenly by the sounds of someone moving in next door...Suzuka has returned and has reclaimed her old room.

    He's tried to move past his feelings for her over the past year, but facing her returning to his life as if nothing happened, puts a lot of strain on his resolve.  On the outside she acts like nothing ever changed and he struggles with what she really feels.  The last time he saw her he threw himself at her feet telling her not to go to America.  She has returned, triumphant, picking up exactly where she left off...with one major exception, their relationship status.  He doesn't even know if they can interact in a friendly and casual manner at this point.  To complicate things further, he and Honoka have gotten closer over the past year and he has to contend with her conflicting messages the day before.  As he mulls over talking with Suzuka about dinner, Honoka calls him and asks him to go out to eat with her.  As he leaves, he finds Suzuka at his door, wondering what his dinner plans are.  Shocked by her appearance he decides he has to stick with his plan to meet Honoka and tells Suzuka he already had plans.  Without a second thought she cheerfully accepts his refusal and lets him leave.

    At dinner he mulls over her question to him about dating again.  But before he can convince himself to go for it she surprises him by telling him she started to date a guy she met through work and they will have to stop hanging out.  Rejected, he struggles with his emotions on the way home, on the verge of tears.  He isn't able to remain in that state for long as he comes home to an apartment full of smoke.  Fearing the worst he jumps I to action only to find that Suzuk la burned the fish she was trying to cook.  Nothing seems to have changed for her and maybe for him as well.

    As Yamato tries to work through his feelings for Honoka and the return of Suzuka another layer of discomfort falls on him.  His childhood friend and the girl he failed to confess to in middle school, Saki, is coming to Tokyo for the week to check out a university she's planning to attend.  While in town she will be staying at Yamato's aunt's dorm.  His aunt tasks him with meeting her at the train station and showing her around for a while.  The minute he meets up with her she demands a guided tour through out the city.  She is moving to Tokyo to try and break into the fashion industry and makes him take her to all of the trendy neighborhoods.  As the day winds down and they head to the dorm, she asks him if he just broke up with someone, sensing his melancholy.  He tells her it was more a situation of missing an opportunity to date the girl instead of being officially rejected.  She joking digs into him about his inconsistencies, poking fun at his failed attempt with her out years earlier.  She picks up on a deeper reason why he didn't push forward with Honoka, suspecting he has lingering feelings for someone else.

    Much to his horror, Saki lays out three years of heart Yamato heartache in-front of Suzuka and his aunt and cousin during dinner.  Retelling his failed confession to her and his recent heart break over a missed opportunity.  Not missing a beat, Miho interjects about Yamato failing to catch Honoka and also causing Suzuka to break up with him.  With all of his failed relationships out in the open things become tense.  Later in the evening Saki tries to comfort Yamato with dessert and friendly joking.  The following morning Yamato is woken by a call from the school about a recommendation to a different college.  While discussing it over breakfast, Saki tells him that she is going to attend the school his first recommendation is for and makes him pinky swear with her to go to the same school.  At training he learns that Suzuka is going to the other school that he was recommended for.  Yamato is faced with a choice; college with his first crush or college with the girl he still can't get out of his mind.

    Yamato joins Saki to take a tour of one college.  Miyamoto is waiting for them and leads them around the campus and bringing Yamato to the training facility for the track team.  The other members of the team are excited to meet him and encourage him to join their school...with the exception of Arima, who can't understand why Yamato is there instead of the school Suzuka is planning on attending.  That evening Yamato's aunt throws a party to celebrate everything going on, as the festivities extend she asks him to get more soy sauce from the store, prompting others to add requests for drinks and snacks.  Suzuka offers to help carry the groceries  back and the two reminisce about the first night together in Tokyo, doing the same thing.  The following day he accompanies Saki to the train-station.  She tells him to keep following Suzuka, understanding that she is the one he can't keep out of his mind, letting the lingering feelings for him die off.

   Yuka tells Yamato that she is going to express her feelings to Sasaoka once and for all.  A last ditch effort to find the happiness she desires.  Yamato wishes her luck and doesn't think about it again until he runs into Sasaoka later that day.  Confused as to why he's at his school instead of spending time with Yuka he brushes it off and tells him he wanted to let them know he is moving to America for a number of years.  Later Yamato finds a miserable and drunken Yuka and does his best to console the lost woman.  He can't see any other option for her happiness and forces her to chase after him in the airport, to truly appeal to him from the bottom of her heart.  In an unexpected twist he confesses that he has a fiance and will be married shorty, ending any hope for the love lost woman.  

    Instead of being morose, Yuka finds a weight lifted off of her shoulder.  She loos to the future with a new goal, one that will allow her to be true to herself.  Her success in failure reinforces Yamato's own conviction and he decides that no matter what, he wants to be with Suzuka.  Yuka forces him to tell Suzuka that he's decided to go to the same college as her.  Fearing that she will start berating him for making such a decision without thinking it through, especially when his entrance isn't guaranteed, he loses his nerve and tells her about his lingering feelings.  She flees his room, not wanting to deal with a confession from him again.  Rejected once more, Yamato wallows in misery, unsure of what to do next.  Yasunobu chides him for being too rash, suggesting that things have been going well since Suzuka came back because she wants to have a friendship like they had before dating, when things were simpler.

    Yamato rushes off to apologize for trying to disrupt the normalcy Suzuka was working to maintain.  For the first time they sit down together to discus their feelings.  Suzuka explains that she's rejecting him to protect herself, that she would rather remain as friends instead of lovers, if that means she won't be hurt again from his actions.  She doesn't want to repeat the mistakes and drama of the past, even though he brings her happiness.  Yamato can't accept her reasoning and pushes the issue further, expressing his frustration.  Laying out his beliefs for why their relationship failed the first time, why it languished in misery as the pair couldn't effectively communicate with each other.  Suzuka, keeping her feelings and worries to herself, for fear of pushing him away.  Yamato struggling, focusing on how to be the ideal partner, when in reality doing everything other than paying attention to her wishes and needs.  He presses again, saying this time it will be different but she rejects him and runs off.  But something changes, she expresses he desires, she wants him to not give up so easily.

    Through all of the misery and suffering the two have decided to become a couple again, hoping this time will go differently than the first time.  Things are more serious for Yamato now though as he faces the qualification test for the university he wants to attend with Suzuka.  A greater threat appears on the horizon, threatening to crush Yamato's bright shining future.  His academic performance in the final year of high school has been horrific and he is in danger of failing outright, eliminating any chances of getting into college with Suzuka.  Instead of hiding it from her and struggling through it alone, he tells Suzuka about his dilemma.  After criticizing him she offers to help, reinforcing the need for open and honest communication in their relationship as well as the need to rely on the other.

    With studying well under way its time for the qualification race.  Yamato is distracted by everything in his head and has a bad showing in the 100 meter sprint.  Convinced he's failed to meet the selection requirements his future doesn't seem as guaranteed.  His academic skills alone won't be enough to help him get into college through general admissions.  Even if he takes a year off to study before entering, the kind of strain would this put on his relationship causes him more stress.  Would Suzuka be bothered by him and lose interest while he stalls behind her?  In the end his worry was for naught as he was picked for admission, even with his poor performance.  The future brightens once more for the young man and his life with the woman of his dreams.  To celebrate, Suzuka takes him to a baseball game in Yokohama, remembering how passionate he is about the sport.  Not wanting to end their time together prematurely, he walks her back to her parents house.  They waste a little more time at a nearby park, just enjoying their time together when a new threat to their happiness appears, Suzuka's father.

    Surprisingly Yamato survived his first meeting with Suzuka's parents, even if he embarrassed himself.  When telling Yasunobu about it he questions what he's actually doing by dating Suzuka.  Counting their previous run at it and the current time, they have been a couple for a year.  He wonders why they haven't gone further physically.  Yasunobu pressures Yamato into making a move to initial sex with her, saying he's wasted so much time at this point without getting to that level in their relationship.  After picking up a magazine talking about teenagers and their average sexual experiences Yamato becomes emboldened to try and move their relationship to a different level.  That evening Suzuka invites him to watch a movie with her, he sees this as a sign that she wants more as well.  The movie, a romance, includes some erotic content, further convincing him that the time is right.  He moves in to initiate, groping her, only to have her rear back in revulsion and slap him. 

    Yamato is lost with what to do and tries to talk it over with her.  She tells him that she is satisfied with where their relationship as it is, with them spending quiet time together.  Yamato, out of frustration says he wants more, digging a deeper hole for himself.  After realizing his false steps and forced ambitions he comes to truly apologize to Suzuka, not wanting to destroy what they have both worked to build for themselves.  Suzuka admits that she isn't against being more intimate with him but wants to move at their own pace, outside of the pressures and norms of their peers.  She confesses she is ready to be with him that way and they spend the night together.

 

    As the end of the year approaches the couple plan to go on an over night trip, to make some more memories before becoming adults.  They have to do it in secret as all of the guardians would stop them for eloping in such a manner.  The arrange for an overnight stay in Hakone in secret and drag Mika and Yasunobu in as alibi's.  With everything in place and the exhilaration of breaking the rule propelling them, the couple heads off to their destiny, a night away from family and friends in a different city, all alone.  Before they even reach their destination the plan is foiled by Yasunobu being careless.  Frustrated at being alone for the Christmas season he hits the streets to try and pick up a woman, unfortunately for him, the first one he hit on is Yamato's aunt, who believes the two are supposed to be on an overnight skiing trip.  Unaware, the couple spend a relaxing evening together, enjoying the peace.  A peace comes to an abrupt end in the morning when Suzuka's father appears at the door to their room.

    Suzuka is taken away to finish out the winter break at her parents house and she isn't answering her phone.  Yamato's aunt stresses to him that he needs to apologize to her parents as soon as possible.  When he calls her house, her father cuts him off and hangs up on him, leaving things unresolved.  His next hope is a short track camp before the end of the year, but her parents have prevented her from attending that as well, citing a cold as the reason.  When he returns home, he finds movers are clearing out Suzuka's apartment, causing the stay at home to be longer than winter break.  Suddenly, as thing have become so nice for them, it has come to an end through their indiscretions.  Left with no other choice, Yamato heads to her parents home to talk to them face to face, hoping to salvage the situation and allow his relationship to continue.

   Her father refuses to hear him out, sending him away when he arrives to talk with them.  Yamato persists, coming again and again to apologize to her father.  His perseverance pays off and he accepts but gives him a stern warning about their future, as they move on to college.  Things aren't able to return to as they were before, Suzuka will be finishing the last few months of high school while living with her parents.  The challenge melted away in the face of earnest intention and perseverance, its only a bright future for the two young lovers now.

    At Yamato's insistence Suzuka finally goes to a clinic about her persistent fever, worried that it has lingered as long as it has.  The visit brings to light a far more complicated problem then their innocent interloping to Hakone.  Suzuka is pregnant, further along than their escapade in the beginning of the winter break would suggest, exposing they crossed that intimate boundary earlier in the fall.  The future is now truly unkown.  Both are uncertain how to proceed, whether with an abortion or to see things through.  If Suzuka chooses to keep the baby, it would mean an end to the collegiate career she has been working hard to attain since middle school.  Her entire future would be uprooted and changed to being something completely different than she planned.  The harsh reality of parenthood weighs down on Yamato as he ponders what direction she might go.

    While mulling over the decisions he ends up telling his rival Arima about what is going on.  Arima shows his true colors and says if he was in Yamato's shoes he would force Suzuka to have an abortion, caring only about track.  In anger, for Arima's lack of concern over the woman he loves, he fights him.  Suzuka arrives for the New Year shrive visit to find her boyfriend bruised and bandaged.  He brushes it off, telling her it was just a run in with Arima that went a little too far.  After they each prey for the New Year at the shrine they reveal to each other it was related to the pregnancy.  They begin to discus what to do, leaning towards an abortion, fearing physical risks.  In the end, through persuasion on Yamato's part, wanting to continue pushing toward a life with her, they decide to continue with the pregnancy and do what ever it will take to ensure a successful future.  They know it will be difficult and their immediate goals will disappear, but they strive to establish new dreams together.

    Little did they know the hardest part was going to come sooner than expected.  Yamato invites his parents to Tokyo so they can tell them and his aunt at the same time.  His father takes the news rather bad and begins to beat his son for being reckless and foolish.  Suzuka arrives in the middle of the beating and pleads for them to accept their choice.  Yamato's mother soothes her husband and they give the young couple their blessings but stress how important it will be to talk with Suzuka's parents as soon as possible.  With no other choice, they head off to Yokohama to face the biggest hurdle immediatly.  Her parents surprisingly accept the news right away.  In exchange, her father demands Yamato remove himself from her life and the child will be raised in their home.  Unwilling to concede to such a harsh condition Yamato persists in convincing her father to give them his blessing to marry instead.  After a heart to heart about what being a parent means and what is important in raising a child, her father relents and agrees to see them continue their live together.  The young couple just won't be receiving any financial support from him.

    Next hurdle is to inform their teachers about the sudden change in their lives' direction.  Though disappointed they are allowed to finish their high school career but the cancellation of both of their admissions to college means less consideration in the future for their high school track athletes to have the same opportunity.  They conclude their apology tour by telling the track team about their personal developments and what that will mean for everyone's futures.  The under class-men offer their full support and send them off with a lighter heart than they expected.  The final hurtle, employment.  Yamato struggles after multiple interviews to set a good impression for any company.  Knowing the trouble he is having, Suzuka talks with Sasaoka to see if there is something he could help with in the job department.  Much to their surprise he is able to offer a recommendation for another company affiliated with his.  The future begins to take shape as they face a life together, raising a child, but through everything, those around them offer the couple their full support.

    With that we wrap up the story, Yamato wins the heart of the girl he fell in love with at first sight, through stress, heartache and uncertainty.  All it took was a year apart and for him to knock her up.  As I've said before, Suzuka is the story that really got me to become obsessed with the romance genre in both anime and manga.  It isn't the best story out there and definitely has a target audience of teenage boys.  With its flaws and its seemingly pointless fanservice segments it also contain bits of realism in its story.  Yamato isn't the hollow protagonist who fumbles his way through success.  Instead he has to grow as a person and work to understand those around him more.  While not able to fully break out of his impulsiveness and selfish decision making habits, he is able to grow into someone more confident with himself and how other see him.  Suzuka changes as well over the course of the story, from the distant perfectionist, hyper-focused on one thing, to someone who is willing to be more relaxed and accepting of the things she can not control.  The real moral of the story, if one exists, is how important communication is between couples.  Almost all of the strife was caused by lack of communication, instead of solely relying on their internal monologues, filled with doubts and fears.


     While Yamato's own failures were enough to cause his misery, his continued reliance on the Faustian advice of Yasunobu led to far more trouble that help.  Out of all of the characters actions, it really comes down to the terrible advice he continued to give Yamato that caused the majority of the problems in his relationship not only with Suzuka but Honoka.  In the end though, Yamato was able to push through his friends terrible support and find his own truth...but its hard to deny that Yasunobu is not a guilty participant in how the two lovers lives ultimately wound up.  He continued to hammer on the idea that they needed to have sex, again and again, forcing the issue, stressing its vital importance to Yamato. In the end even Suzuka caved to that advice.  If it wouldn't have been for Yasunobu, perhaps the couple would have had a different, more fruitful future together in and after college.  But they stuck with the hand they dealt themselves and worked to do the best they could.

    Suzuka has its flaws as a story.  It grinds away at the back and forth of everyone misunderstanding everyone else for too much of the drama.  As it winds down this smooths out and the characters interactions become more mature.  The reader could consider this as another layer of them growing into better people, or it could be lazy writing.  Either way, in the end it balances out and we are left with a satisfying conclusion and the set up for another story set fifteen or so years in the future.  Yet before we can get to that we have to leave the Akatsuki family behind and follow the story of another love lost boy from the country side of Hiroshima in Kimi no Iru Machi.