So what is this Domestic Girlfriend anime?

The 2019 Winter anime season brings a new slice of life romance called Domestic Girlfriend (ドメスティックな彼女) also known as Dome x Kano.  The anime is based on the manga of the same name by Kei Sasuga.  Sasuga's previous work was the slice of life romance series GE: Good Ending.  For me GE: Good Ending is the best romance I have read that is geared towards the male audience.  It is however not the best romance out these but is pretty good in general.  I discovered Domestic Girlfriend early 2018 and jumped right in.  When I heard it was getting an anime adaption I was excited...but mostly for the remote possibility that GE may get its own anime down the road.

    So what is Domestic Girlfriend about?  Warning...minimal spoilers ahead if you have not watched the first episode or read the first issue of the manga.

    In short it's the story of a high school student named Natsuo Fuji who lives with his widowed father and his socially touchy relationship desires.  His trouble started with one of the newer teachers at his school, a young buxom woman named Hina with whom Natsuo develops feelings for.  Hina is a bit of a flirt and when they have a series of conversations on the school rooftop Natsuo begins to fall for her.  He realizes its more of a fantasy than anything given his age and her status as a teacher.  Unfortunately her unconscious flirting muddies the waters.

    In his second year of school he agrees to go with some classmates to a mixer.  While not interested in being there he meets a girl that is more uncomfortable than he is.  The girl, Rui, is cold and serious and suggests they should leave together as a way to escape the event.  While the intention was to get away without hurting the people who organized it, things take an unexpected turn.  Rui abruptly invites Natsuo to her home with intentions of losing her virginity to him.  Natsuo, stunned, does what any healthy boy would do and agrees.  Rui explains to him that she has no feelings for him and it was more her attempt at trying to understand the world.  She confesses about her dislike for peers that have already had sex and their apparent air of superiority.

    Confused and excited, Natsuo rushes to his best friends house to unpack the days strange events.  His friend, Fumiya, is both jealous and concerned for the events his friend has experienced.  Both of them were outcast's in middle school and Fumiya convinced Natsuo to change his appearance once high school started...which seems to be paying off for him.  Natsuo, still entranced by Hina, continues his life course which seems to be unchanged until his father announces he will be remarrying.  The woman, Tsukiko, has two daughters who will become Natsuo's step-sisters.  Before he can even digest the information they arrive at his apartment for dinner.  Little surprise, his soon to be step-mothers daughters are Rui and Hina.

    At this point the primary plot points can be guessed at; the severe awkwardness of living with the girl you lost your virginity to and the woman you are madly in love with, compounded by becoming family.  An additional thing that may help understand the tension is how Japanese society views step-siblings to almost be genetic siblings.  So in the eyes of society Natsuo would be committing 'incest-lite' by pursuing romantic relations with either Rui or Hina.  It's obvious that Rui intends to hide their previous encounter from everyone and demands that Natsuo forgets all about it.  The only other person that knows what happened between them is Fumiya.  Hina is an adult, Natsuo's teacher and currently dating someone, so she's out of the picture as well.

    I am a sucker for realistically portrayed romances and Domestic Girlfriend does a pretty decent job at building realistic personalities into it's primary and secondary characters.  The series could be stuffed full of absurd scenarios and situations to crank up the tension.  But in many ways those are avoided.  Hina is an alcoholic who could probably be a bit more modest, which causes some issues in the beginning but it's not really used as a plot device.  Rui remains the closed off antithesis to her joyous sister but not like a tsundere.  The familial relationship is mostly hidden from people at school but again it's not a major plot device either.  The tension and drama early on revolves mainly on Natsuo's inability to put things behind him.

    At the point of this post's creation 215 issues of the manga have been released in English.  I don't really want to get into deeper plot lines but the series has thus far spanned a number of years and Natsuo is at this point a college student.  So they don't always remain in the high school with about half of the story so far taking place in that time frame.  There is a fair amount of unnecessary fan-service in the manga but it's not a crutch as the writing and characters are good.  There are moments where is suffers from falling into the normal tropes of the genre but they are easily gotten through.

    I don't expect the anime to run for more than 26 episodes and I doubt it will move out of the high school portion.  I have a few idea's of where it may cut off but it's sad that it won't be a prolonged series because the story becomes more interesting outside of high school.  All we can do is enjoy what we get and continue with the manga which will probably go for a time still...as there is really no defined ending to it.  The biggest thing I hope for is that the anime is successful enough to make production companies take a look at adapting GE: Good Ending...which sadly has not even had it's manga distributed in North America.  Domestic Girlfriend on the other hand is on Crunchyroll for the anime and manga and you can pick up the tankoubon's where ever manga is sold.  The anime so far is meeting expectations; the voice actors fit the characters and the animation seems higher quality than one would expect for a 'throw-away ecchi romance'.

Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul

Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul ( 神撃のバハムート VIRGIN SOUL) is a 24 episode continuation of 2014's Rage of Bahamut: Genesis anime.  The series is derived from the Rage of Bahamut mobile game developed by Cygames and aired in 2017.

    Virgin Souls picks up the story 10 years after Genesis.  The world has worked on picking up the pieces and restoring the destruction from Bahamut's awakening and defeat.  We find Kaiser Lidfard has had his knighthood restored and he serves under the new king, Charioce XVII.  The king has decided to use powerful magic to destroy and enslave the Demon race.  With them thoroughly under control he turns his attention to the Angels.  With the non-human species existence's in jeopardy the worlds balance is in danger of collapsing.

    Favaro is no where to be found but a strange girl named Nina claims to have been train ed by him and has come to the capitol to find her fame and fortune.  Nina is half dragon and when she displays her dragon side the King desires to enslave her as a weapon.  A series of events bring Nina together with the necromancer Rita and she becomes involved in an effort to protect the child of downcast and imprisoned hero Jeanne D'Arc.  As the King moves to crush the Angels they in turn attempt to capture Jeanne's child to use as an ultimate weapon against the humans, all while the Demon's attempt to gain their lost dignity and freedom.

    In general I am not a fan of fantasy anime but the original Rage of Bahamut series captivated me and I was very happy to see it return with Virgin Soul.  This series exceeded my expectations and continued to have a great mix of darkness and comedy.  The story expands the world established in the original series and brings past favorites and new characters.  As with the original series the depth of the characters personalities is fantastic and well done.  The animation is beautiful, particularly the dynamic facial expressions.  There is a significant amount of action in the series as multiple factions continue to clash with each other over it's course.  Overall, great experience and I am actually looking forward to the third series, Mysteria Friends, even though it's a separate story from the other series'.

    Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul was simulcast but does not appear to have a legitimate American blu-ray at this point.

Kiss Him, Not Me

Kiss Him, Not Me (私がモテてどうすんだ) is a 12 episode reverse harem comedy series based on the manga of the same name by Junko.  The series originally aired on TV in the Fall of 2016.

    The story follows Kae Serinuma, an overweight, shy, under the radar fujoshi.  After a week of self exclusion she suddenly looses all of her excess weight which transforms her into the most desired girl in school.  Her sudden transformation draws the attention of the top five guys in school, who suddenly want to be her boy friend.  Completely caught off guard by her reversal of fortunes, she agrees to try and date all of the guys on a trial basis.  At first she struggles to hide her passion for boy on boy relationships, fantasizing continuously that her courtiers are more interested in each other.

    Quickly she lets her real personality slip, but the boys attraction to her over powers their initial repulsion of her taste.  Kae goes through a series of ridiculous scenario's with her suitors, inadvertently pushing the limits of tolerance for her antics.  In the end the ugly ducking turned swan with an ugly duckling personality must choose which of the boys she will grace with an actual date and possible relationship.

    In part the concept is amusing and quirky.  But on the other hand it's a dangerous story when it comes to ones self esteem.  At it's root it shows the vanity of people.  The character are mostly willing to put up with anything as long as the visual beauty is there.  The very basic idea in the show that Kae isn't even considered human until she looses weight and dresses more socially acceptable is pretty horrific when you consider it's implications.  But let's move beyond the obviously flawed moral compass of the show and move into it's actual story. 

    The plot is scattered, episodic and really just a series of ineffective set ups for boring gags.  The first episode makes you think that Kae would continue to bounce between thin and fat, known and ignored.  But with the exception of an episode where she falls off the diet cart she remains her skinny self throughout.  It doesn't even really focus as much on her fujoshi tendencies as the awkward English title would suggest.  While she does continue to have her fantasies about the five guys on each other, the story really focuses on them trying to convince her they are good guys and are generally interested in her....now that she's skinny.  The horrible undertones of the series does sort it's self out in the end but it's too little too late to make up for anything.  I would suggest a hard pass on this one.

    The series simulcast on Crunchyroll and did receive a Funimation dub available on blu-ray.

Made in Abyss

Made in Abyss (メイドインアビス) is a 13 episode fantasy anime based on the manga of the same name by Akihito Tsukushi.  The series originally aired over the Summer of 2017.

    Riko is an energetic orphan in the town of Orth.  Orth is build around a massive shaft that goes down an unknown depth into the plant.  The city supports professional spelunkers, Cave Raiders, who brave the depths of the shaft, known as the Abyss, returning with wonders and treasures.  Riko dreams of being a renowned Cave Raider like her deceased mother.  On a routine upper zone mission for children of the orphanage, Riko is saved fro a creature of the lower depths by a mysterious robot boy.  Fascinated by the boy she names Reg she sneaks him back to the orphanage.  Reg has no memories and Riko suspects that he came from the deep depths of the abyss.  She vows to take him down to help find out who he is, while also trying to find evidence of her mother. 

    To do so they risk death from many factors.  The deeper one goes into the Abyss the more dangerous the environment becomes; with vicious creatures and deadly flora.  Even more deadly is some force that kills people as they try to ascend from the deeper depths.  Riko understands that she will likely never be able to return to Orth.  Ignoring the dangers she and Reg plunge into the depths looking for answers.

    Little did I know what kind of story I was in for.  Riko is fantastically optimistic and foolish in her bravery.  The death of her mother who was a famous Cave Raider only serves to bolster her confidence.  She takes it upon her self to use Reg as an excuse to delve deep into the pit, something she has been planning on doing her entire young life.  She has never been able to accept that her mother was dead and expects to find her living well beyond the point of safe return...waiting for her to join.  Reg has no understanding of who he is or why he exists and goes along with the plan eagerly but also with a sense of duty to protect the vulnerable Riko.  Together the have to overcome increasingly dangerous obstacles if they have any chance of reaching their imagined goal.

    The world of the Abyss is fanatically imaginative and complex, with Riko acting as a guide for both the viewer and Reg; explaining the environment and dangers that dwell on each layer.  What initially drew me to this series was the fantastic character designs. The artwork is unusual, very childlike in some regard, with detailed and beautiful landscapes reminiscent of Ghibli features.  In someways the series feels like a decedent of Nausicaa.  While the art drew me in the story and world its self is what kept me coming back.  As the story progressed it slowly took on a darker tones, continuously threatening to destroy the characters optimism.  What dangers lurk in the hearts of men?  Unfortunately the story did not get wrapped up in the 13 episodes.  Instead the production company opted to make a movie that continued and possibly concludes the story.  The film was broken into two parts and was released in Japan over the course of January 2019.

    The anime was simulcast on Amazon Prime and was licensed by Sentai Filmworks.  The anime is currently available on blu-ray as well as a number of volumes of the manga.  This series is worth the time.

Mirai

Mirai (未来のミライ) or Mirai of the Future is the 7th major film directed by Mamoru Hosoda.  This slice of life sci-fi story premiered in theaters internationally in 2018.

    The films main character is four year old Kun.  His idyllic life is turned upside down when a little sister is born names Mirai.  Kun, being young and selfish, doesn't understand that his parents need to nurture his infant sister.  He reacts as any oldest child would and begins to strain the tolerance of his parents.  As his tantrums grow he begins to be visited by family members both distant of future.  Each visit helps to serve as a learning lesson for him in order to speed up his understanding of his place in his family.  The people he encounter do not always realize their connection to him, nor does he always realize the connection either.  In the end Kun must come to his own realization about what lessons he should learn if his life is to be a happy and successful one.

    Since The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was released Hosoda has been tied with Makoto Shinkai as my favorite anime film director.  Mirai did well enough to continue my love for his work, but it was unable to best The Girl Who Leapt Through Time as my favorite.  When you pull back from the details of the story it is really a retelling of A Christmas Carol.  Instead of spirits, Kun is being visited under mysterious circumstances by people from his past, present and future in order to help him change his behavior and become a better person.  Unfortunately, in order to keep from spoiling fun details of the movie, I can't get too deep into a synopsis of the story it's self.  All i can really say is the journey is enjoyable and well paced.

    The artwork is very calming and soft.  The characters are relatively realistic and the mannerisms and personalities are rooted firmly in reality.  The one glaring thing, as with pretty much all of Hosoda's films, are some sequences that use less than idea CG.  For some reason the production crew and direction he continues to take uses fly over scenes that are clunky and poorly rendered.  Mirai does not escape that and it made the final segment a little...comical to some extent.  The final segment did have some strange and unnatural aspects to it already but the poorly composed sequences in it made it jarring.  Beyond that though, well done and simplistic character designs and fantastic scenery and exposition.  There are portions of the film that will fill you with nostalgia and warmth and i can't recommend it enough for fans of slice of life goodness.

    As of the writing of this review the movie has not been released on hard copy in North America. GKIDS picked up the release rights to in in North America and produced an English dub for it so it's only a matter of time until it can be had on blu-ray.

Tenchi Muyo in Love 1

Tenchi Muyo In Love (天地無用 IN LOVE!) is the first theatrical release for the Tenchi Muyo sci-fi romantic harem comedy series.  The movie originally came out in 1996 and is based on the original works of Hayashi Hiroki and Kajishima Masaki.

    For an overview of the Tenchi series' check out this post otherwise this review will assume a basic understanding of the background of the franchise.  Tenchi Muyo in Love follows the story line established in the Tenchi Universe TV series.  The story begins with the Galaxy Police headquarters being 'erased' by an escaped prisoner known as Kain.  Kain's escape and disappearance is somehow affecting the past, causing Tenchi to begin disappearing from reality.  Washu determines that the cause of the problems deal with Tenchi's mother, Achika during the year 1970.  In order to pinpoint the problem and to protect Achika, Washu sends everyone into the past to pose as students and faculty at the school.

    With everyone in the past, Tenchi is able to once again see his deceased mother, even though she is in high school and the two should not meet for fear of a time paradox.  Ayeka and Ryoko pose as transfer students in Achika's class as well as finagle their way into boarded at her home.  Kiyone gets a job as a school janitor and Mihoshi, surprisingly, gets a job as a literature teacher.  Tenchi stays in the shadows along with Sasami as everyone works to determine the nature of the threat to Achika.  On a school trip to Tokyo they discover an agent from the Galaxy Police has also come back in time to track down the escaped criminal Kain.  It doesn't take too much to connect the escapee with the treat to Achika.  Now it's up to everyone to protect her to prevent Tenchi from never being born.

    Like a lot of people in my anime generation the TV broadcast of Tenchi Muyo in Love was perhaps the first introduction to this franchise.  Even without all of the prior background information of the original OAV or the first TV series it isn't difficult for the viewer to understand the the required background information for the movie.  The intricacies of the characters relationships with each other or how they came into Tenchi's lives do not greatly impact the story of the movie.  Nor are the events of the prior series' vital to the self contained story in the movie.  Though, it doesn't hurt to know those details either.  The idea that the movie can be enjoyed without prior viewing of the 38 preceding episodes should be enough to show the quality of the story.

    That said, I did greatly enjoy this movie when I first saw it and it has remained a favorite of mine in the decades since.  The movie profoundly moved me and the story telling has shaped how I approach anime that fall into the romance category.  Unfortunately it conceals the fan service laden harem structure of the greater Tenchi world.  While Tenchi isn't the original harem anime it really did set a precedence and helped to cement the genre's formula.  The movie on the other hand and even more so the follow up, set apart from the other iterations of the franchise in being well rounded stories of self sacrifice for those you love.

    The movie doesn't stand up to today's standards of animation by a long shot but the original character designs have a comforting, soft quality to them, if the hair is a little out of control and unrealistic.  The Tenchi world has always had incredibly enjoyable aspects of it, that sadly become marred by the unneeded harem and fan service aspects.  But the first movie and the follow up Tenchi Muyo in Love 2 are excellent pieces of story telling from the 90's.

The World of Tenchi Muyo

The Tenchi Muyo franchise has endured for almost 30 years.  The series is a staple of the harem genre and has laid the path for the formula along with its predecessors such as Kimagure Orange Road and Ranma 1/2.  The story revolves around the grandson of a self exiled galactic prince who is at first unaware of his lineage and his latent abilities.  The series has seen a number of OAV's, TV series' and theatrical releases along with light novels and manga adaptations and expansions.  It started out as an OAV series and garnered enough popularity to continue the story in additional OAV's and then retell it in a TV series.

    Tenchi is the a-typical high school boy.  Self reliant, somewhat a loner and interested in girls.  While he is a harem protagonist he fits into the chivalrous category and does as much as he can to preserve the dignity of the women/girls who surround him.  He lives with his architect/pervert father, Nobuyuki, and his elderly grandfather, Katsuhito, who cares for the family shrine.  His mother, Achika, died when he was young.   Through most of the stories the family and harem reside at the remote mountain location of the family shrine.

    While the story and origins have been told more than once the space pirate Ryoko tends to be the first one to make contact with Tenchi and harbors the most aggressive attempts to make him love her.  She is typically portrayed as a space pirate of shifting origins and deeds.  While being a brash outcast she could be considered the most dependable of the harem.

    The other main female vying for Tenchi's love is his distant cousin, the princess Ayeka.  She is the complete opposite of Ryoko in pretty much every way and their rivalry extends well beyond their equal desire for the title character.

    To be honest he rest of the female characters are not really potential love interest's of Tenchi.  Sasami is Ayeka's younger sister and looks to Tenchi as a big brother.  The mad scientist Washu has no interest in pursuing romance given her extreme and in some series her sad past in that regard.  The last pair of women in the harem are members of the Galactic Police and harbor no romantic feelings for Tenchi.  They are smart and dependable Kiyone and air-headed Mihoshi.

    Beyond the harem and the main family there exists a large and fluctuating cast of support characters and antagonists, typically bent on erasing or abusing the power that lies deep within the main character.

    The original OAV's, Tenchi Muyo 'Ryo-oki' deal with Tenchi unlocking a long trapped mummy demon from the family shrine, who turns out to me Ryoko.  Hundreds of years prior Tenchi's grandfather chased the space pirate to Earth and imprisoned her once defeated.  He decided to stay on Earth and live a simple life.  Ryoko being released drew the attention of the royal family and the police and hilarity/action ensues.  Tenchi learns of his interstellar and royal lineage and has to decide if he want's to remain on Earth.  This series was released between 1992 and 1994.  A third series was released in 1998 and a fourth installment in 2016-17.

    In 1995 the story was retold in a 26 episode TV series known as Tenchi Universe.  it followed a similar plot trajectory but dealt with the characters leaving Earth for the royal families home world Jurai.  A spin-off series called Magic Girl Pretty Sammy was derived from an alternate universe episode of the TV series.  It features Sasami as a magical girl with Tenchi as her older brother.

    The first theatrical film, Tenchi Muyo In Love follows the story of Tenchi Universe and hit Japanese theaters in 1996.   A second film, which was more on an extended episode for Tenchi Universe, was released in 1997 and was titled Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness.  A third movie, titled Tenchi In Love 2/Tenchi Forever was released in 1999.

        In 1997 the Tenchi story was rebooted a third time in the second TV series, Tenchi in Tokyo.  This one featured Tenchi moving to Tokyo to study to become a priest and the girls hanging around to annoy him.  His latent abilities and intergalactic lineage were not are central to most of this story.  I for one didn't like it and never finished the series.

    The Tenchi universe saw a 4th TV series in 2002 with Tenchi GXP and was unusual in that almost non of the main Tenchi characters appear in it.  This series directed by the notorious Sinichi Watanabe, centers around a classmate of Tenchi's named Seina Yamada.  Through a series of misfortunes and extreme badluck and misunderstanding, Seina, a normal human, winds up being recruited into the Galaxy police.  The story runs parallel with Tenchi Universe and greatly ramps up the harem aspects.  You can read a review of the series here.

    In 2009 a second spin-off TV series, called Tenchi Muyo War on Geminar was released.  I honestly have never had any interest in watching it.  It follows a half brother of Tenchi's, who's origins I am completely unfamiliar with.

    Beyond the continuation of the OAV series and print editions Tenchi didn't see any screen time again until 2014 with the release of the strange and off putting Ai Tenchi Muyo.  The series was a mass of short episodes with varying plot lines that apparently interconnected in some cohesive manner eventually.  It deals with Tenchi being sent to an all girls school by Washu so investigate the shifting ad chaotic realities.  In all honestly I couldn't get through much of this as the plot lines were hard to follow and the fan service exceeded levels I care to deal with.  Not that fan-service shouldn't exist....it's just holds no attraction for me.

    All in all Tenchi hold's a place in my fandom, ever since watching Tenchi In Love back in the mid 90's.  The story and characters grabbed on to me.  Unfortunately most of the franchise has done little for me.  The second Tenchi in Love movie is my favorite of the entire universe and I feel it puts a really nice cap on the story.  unfortunately everything that has come out since then has devolved into tropes and stereotypes that didn't exists when Tenchi first graced out homes.

Ocean Waves

Ocean Waves (海がきこえる) is slice of life romance film based on the novel of the same name by Himuro Saeko.  The film was produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Mochizuki Tomomi.

    Morisaki Taku's middle school class was deprived of their school trip for questionable reasons.  His protest of the situation strengthened his friendship with Matsuno Yutaka, who also protested the cancellation.  The school promised the students a trip to Hawaii during high school to make up for it.  In high school a girl from Tokyo transfers to their school, her arrival threatens the bond the two friends have.

    Muta Rikako moves to Kochi from Tokyo due to her parents separating.  Her beauty, athletic prowess and scholarly aptitude makes her classmates both admire and despise her.  Due to this and her personality traits she ends up alone.  While many of the boys are attracted to her, Yutaka is the only one that ends up talking with her.  He stealthily brags to Taku about spending time with her outside of school and eludes to some of her familial difficulties.  During the trip to Hawaii Rikako approaches Taku for the first time, to borrow money from him.  Months later, still unpaid, Taku ends up accompanying her to Tokyo as she tries to reconnect with her father.  The results of the trip and Taku's general oblivious nature, cause severe strains on his relationship with Yutaka.  Rumors of the trip at school also cause problems between Taku and Rikako.  As Taku returns to Kochi for a school reunion, a number of years later, will the passage of time heal the damage done?

    Ocean Waves is a relatively straight forward drama about human interactions and the inevitable change of childhood.  The series does a good job of filling in background details through character dialogue, especially for things that become more relevant later on.  Visually the movie is not as striking as other Ghibli films, very close to the character design and animation style of Only Yesterday.  The film also reminded me a lot of the OAV series Here is Greenwood, in its tone and story progression.  The fact that the same director directed that series makes this more than understandable.  While not the best Ghibli film by a long shot it is worth the time for those who enjoy human drama's.  I was expecting one of the main characters to meet an untimely death at some point, to push the film into serious drama mode.  Instead it coasted along on its projected course, not wavering much from the pace that it established in the beginning of the film.

    To be honest this one slipped well under my radar and I didn't even know it existed until I saw it at a local library and immediately checked it out.  I went in with out any expectations and am not sure what I feel about it.  The story is far from what people expect out of Ghibli films if they are only familiar with Miyazaki's grand fantasies.  This is the only film that Mochizuki directed under Ghibli, being more well known for working on Ranma 1/2 and Kimagure Orange Road.  It was originally made for TV and comes in at under an hour and a half.  Even if you are just watching it to see every film that came out of Ghibli you won't have wasted too much time if you were disappointed with it.

    The film was released in 2017 by GKids in North America.

ReLIFE - manga

ReLIFE is a web comic created by Yayoiso.  The manga was published online from Fall of 2013 until Spring of 2018 and encompassed 222 issues.

    Kaizaki Arata is essentially a 27 year old NEET.  He quit his fist real job over the treatment of the woman who was training him.  Due to the negative connotation that has left on his resume he has struggled to return to the 'proper' workforce, instead working part time jobs and hiding his lack of 'real' employment from his friends.  One night he is approached by a man named Yoake Ryo who presents him with an interesting opportunity to turn his life around.  Yoake works for a company called ReLIFE that has developed a drug which transforms someones physical appearance tothat of a different age.  Yoake tells Kaizaki that if he chooses he will be transformed to look like a high school student and redo his Senior year as a way of recapturing his youthful spirit in hopes of changing his viewpoint on life.  When he has successfully completed the year, ReLIFE will help him to enter the workforce again.

    With little choice left Kaizaki agree's to the experiment and becomes a high school student again.  While he is pretending to be a 17 year old version of himself he has to obey a few rules.  He can't tell anyone what is actually going on, if he does the experiment is over and his memory is erased of all events.  In order for him to have a successful ReLIFE he has to participate in his student life and show effort to grow and learn.  Yoake will be posing as a student to help monitor and guide him through the experiment.  Once the year has completed everyone's memory of Kaizaki will be erased and he will return to his adult form.

    Kaizaki enjoys his ReLIFE at first and quickly becomes friends with a group of classmates, even working to help them overcome their own personal struggles and encouraging their relationships with each other to blossom.  But as the year progresses he begins to have feelings for one of the girls in his class.  Part of the problem is that she is a minor and he is an adult, so he fights hard to not cross that line.  But as she becomes more important to him on an emotional level he struggles with the hole he will leave in her when the experiment is done and he is erased from her memories.

    ReLIFE was a fantastically enjoyable read with a strong cast of characters through out its span.  While Kaizaki is the main character, a large portion of the story revolves around everyone working to foster the relationship between two of the other characters.  At times Kaizaki himself becomes a background character for a number of story arcs.  In reality the best approach would be to watch the first 13 episodes of the anime and then pick up the manga at about issue 100 and read it till the end.  The original TV anime covers that first half of the manga pretty well so you can cut out some unneeded reading and jump into the second half.

    A 4 part OAV series was produced and released to coincide with the end of the manga.  The OAV's cover a some of the major plot arcs in the last 120 issues of the manga but gloss over a few things entirely.  While some parts of the manga do drag a bit too much in my mind, it is worth the read in the end.  A lot of attention is put into developing the main group of characters personalities and their interactions with each other.  The struggles, the hang ups and the challenges they face in becoming adults.  All while Kaizaki, who has already gone through these experiences, sits on the sidelines, trying to become a better adult while also offering advice to his classmates.

    A major benefit of ReLIFE being released digitally is that all of the pages or every issue are in color.  While the backgrounds can many times be non-existent, the character designs are well done, particularly when they take on comical features.

The Gods Lie

The Gods Lie (神様がうそをつく) is single volume slice of life drama manga by Ozaki Kaori.  The series was originally published in 2013.

    Sixth grader Nanao Natsuru moved to a new town at the beginning of the school year but quickly made himself an enemy of the girls in his class by rejecting the class princess.  Relegated to his fate he decides to focus all of his energy on soccer.  As the summer break approaches the teams elderly coach becomes hospitalized and Natsuru disagrees with the new coaches style.  Instead of going to his overnight soccer camp, and being stuck with the new coach, he decides to stay in town, without his mother knowing.

    He is saved from having to live on the streets for the duration of the camp by his strange classmate Suzumura Rio.  Natsuru learns that Rio and her young brother live all alone in their families dilapidated house, hiding the fact that their father is absent from everyone around them.  He ends up staying with them for the duration of his soccer camp, growing close to the misfit classmate and pretending that they are a family.  Unfortunately his fantasy has to come to an end when both the summer camp concludes and the reality of his classmates existence becomes apparent to him and why she and her brother are hiding the fact they are two minors on their own.


    This is a short coming of age story that does a pretty good job of developing its main character personalities and motivations.  The artwork is pretty fantastic, including realistic character designs.  Over all the story was enjoyable and well made.  But of course, there are a few exceptions.  Overall the realism in the story is well done but when it comes to Natsuru's mother it becomes overtaken by juvienal fantasy.  His mother works as a light novel author, which already makes her abnormal in the sense of her employment and personality.  But the thing that its really out of place and doesn't serve any purpose to the story is that she allows her son to fondle her breasts...like when she's washing dishes or cooking.  Its really strange and doesn't serve any purpose to the story...at all.  Beyond that, fantastic story and well worth the time.

The manga was published in English by Vertical and is currently available.

Goodnight Punpun Part 1

Goodnight Punpun is a slice of life seinen romance by Asano Inio.  The series was compiled in 13 tankoubon.  Due to the scale of the manga I am going to split it up into 4 parts, to more closely review the 4 major story arcs.  The first arc covers events in the first two tankoubon.

    The first story arc for the series deals with the title character, Onodera Punpun when he is in 5th grade.  Punpun is a bit of a recluse and mainly goes with the flow in his small group of friends.  While he participates in the adventures of his peers he has a difficult home life.  His parents have a loveless marriage and when his father beats his mother bad enough to send her to the hospital, Punpuns uncle moves in to watch over him.  His uncle Yuichi is probably the most emotionally stable member of his family but he comes with his own baggage which he drops onto Punpun.  Yuichi struggles greatly with the meaning of his life and the point of existence to the level of being semi suicidal.  He is open and frank with his impressionable nephew, which does little to improve Punpuns dismal psyche.

    Beside that Punpun tries to enjoy his youth, hunting for discarded porn with his friends and liking girls.  One of his classmates, Tanaka Aiko, catches his eye.  Much to his enjoyment she has mutual feelings for him.  Aiko though is also damaged goods as she is being raised by an abusive mother who has wholly devoted her life to a get rich quick cult.  Aiko dreams of running away from her pitiful existence and Punpun eagerly tries to please her.  Aiko tells Punpun that if he ever betrays her or lies to her that she will kill him.  The look in her eyes convince him she isn't kidding.

    Things start to become complicated in their relationship when Punpuns friends find a porno and watch it at his house.  Just as the porno gets to the good part the tape begins to play a home recorded video.  In the video a 20-something man talks about how he murdered his family and hid their bodies in an abandoned miso factory.  He says that anyone brave enough to discover them will also find a cache of money.  The kids freak out from the prospects of what they have just witnessed and decide to investigate.  One of them, Seki Masumi, knows the location the guy is talking about.  Seki's father had previously run a lunch box business and has dealt with the now deceased owner of the factory.  Seki, like everyone else has his own problems at home.  His father is now an unemployed alcoholic and Seki dreams of murdering him.

    The boys and Aiko head off to the factory in Stand By Me fashion, excited for the adventure and the prospect of seeing dead bodies and finding riches.  Punpun eagerly goes along in hopes of being able to fund he and Aiko running away from home.  At the factory, they run into an older girl who goes there to work on her artwork, she warns them of a ghost but leaves them to their own devices.  The factory is a dump, with hazards everywhere, the children's hyped sensitivity leads to a near disaster as a fire breaks out.  The events of the fire changes all their lives for better or worse.  The reason for the adventure builds a small rift between Aiko and Punpun which intensifies when she wants to meet him at the beginning of Summer break and he is unable to do so...due to his mother failing at killing herself.

    I have been a fan of Asano's work since I first read Nijigahara Holograph.  His artwork is some of the most detailed out there, with incredibly realistic scenery and character designs that are unmistakable as his own.  Goodnight Punpun pushes it a bit further with the designs for Punpun and his family.  They are all drawn like how a 4-year-old would draw a bird.  In the world of the story the characters obviously look like normal humans, but to the readers they appear as strange birds, heightening the issues the Onodera's have with personal identity and social relatability.

    Asano's stories deal with some pretty realistic darkness throughout and Goodnight Punpun is no exception.  Right from the beginning the reader is informed that this is a story about children who live in less than perfect environments and how those environments effect their psyche.  In the first part, perhaps the most damaged individual is Aiko who casually and intently threatens death for the smallest infractions.  She doesn't appear to do it in some childish dark humor but with real sincerity and intent.  Punpun appears to be the most vulnerable to outside influence as we see with how much his self-perception is molded by his uncle’s own perception.  Yuichi cares for his nephew but his own self-hatred undoes a lot of that compassion.  Perhaps one of the most damaged children though is Shimizu Ko, a snot nosed friend who sees a mysterious poop headed deity that tells him he has super powers.  Shimizu seems to be borderline cognitively disabled and follows around Seki like a puppy.

  Speaking of hallucinations, Punpun has an influential deity of his own which appears to him as a smiling man with a wild afro, offering brief yet impactful advice to him.  This deity is the direct result of his uncle influence from earlier in his life and works as a reactionary conscience for Punpun, for better or worse.  As he becomes more entangled in his relationship with Aiko, 'god' becomes more assertive in his suggestions, including murder.

    Goodnight Punpun is meant for mature audiences even though it deals with children in a realistic and non-fanciful way.  Coarse language, nudity, and anti-social suggestiveness.  Inio relates a realism that suggests some of these experiences are perhaps due to some things he experienced himself.  Those dark things that pretty much every child in modern affluent societies go through, the exploration of maturity in the lack of adult supervision.

    Goodnight Punpun, as with other of his titles, is currently being released by Viz in North America.  The published versions by Viz are double the size so there will be 7 volumes when they are done published them.