His and Hers Circumstances

[Alice]

Okay, I saw this whole series with my brother a few months ago. I don't know if I remember it well enough to do a real review, but there are a few thing I want to mention about it.

The first DVD was pretty good. It was fast paced (much better than the manga in my opinion because the first episode covered what it took the first volume to tell).

But later in the series, the quality of production went down hill. (Both with cuts in budget, or something, and lots of review episodes. Far too many.)

By the third or fourth DVD, something really disappointing happened.

[spoiler]The two main characters had sex. Teen sex was certainly shown as a good or at least acceptable thing. It was off-camera and everything, but you knew what had happened. I was really disappointed in the characters and the author.[/spoiler]

The ending of the season seemed like it was not really an end. (They did not finish the plot point they were working on.)

Other things about content:

[spoiler]A guy friend sometimes acts like he has a crush on the male hero. They are best friends and he has a sort of explanation of this. (He is also girl-crazy.) But when he finds out about the two main characters having sex he still bursts into tears.

Some guys who aren't actual characters in the series have crushes on the main male character.

Oh yeah and at one point there is going to be a school fair, and some people are going to create dojinshi (sp) about the best friend. Some of the covers are shown and look shonen ai.

A character in the series is afraid of her adoptive brother, and imagines what might happen if he likes her. (Because he looks like a punk.) Nothing is really shown. There are a couple other places like that.

One of the main female character's friends has a grown man for a boyfriend. (She's in high school and dating a dentist!) Nothing is made of this except that she likes him because he's "so mature." And it's not shown as weird or anything.[/spoiler]

The story takes some turns later on.

[spoiler]The main male character is shown to be very depressed and unwilling to share his feelings with his girlfriend. He's also very possessive of her but doesn't want anyone to know this. Actually I don't know if you need to know that or not, but it is part of the show. It changes tone. Sometimes he talks to a copy of himself that encourages him to give up, etc. [/spoiler]

Anyway, I wish they'd done a better job with the ending, instead of almost cutting it off. And the content could have been a little better. It wasn't actually that filthy, but I thought someone might want to know about the content someday.

(I probably didn't get everything, but you have an idea now.)

EDIT: Oh yeah, here's the amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... d&n=507846

[Rocketshipper]

You list "other girls having crushes on the main guy character" as part of the objectionable content?? The ending of the series did suck, but that's because the anime was planned to only be 26 episodes but the manga was still going. I think the most recent volume released here is volume 15.

[Alice]

Look again. I didn't say "girls."

[ChristianKitsune]

I discovered the disappointing aspect quite by accident (The first or second one you mentioned about the two main characters) and I was disappoitned...granted, I only bought the dvd for five bucks...but I didn't expect that..not in a long shot..in fact the author of the manga said she didn't intend for that.

as far as the ending..IT IS GAINAX!! They ALWAYS run out of money for production...episode 19 cracked me up, because they were like still images..and puppets...hahah.

[Alice]

Yeah... that stank. It was like, "hire the artists back!"

[Arnobius]

Yeah... that stank. It was like, "hire the artists back!"

Done deliberately.

Hideaki Anno was doing a lot of experimenting. He quit after episode 19 and was treated for depression, did Live Action movies for a few years before returning

[Alice]

So he left the show and they replaced him with someone and that was when the quality went down hill?

Or are you saying he did that before he left?

And what do you mean, he came back a few years later? Surely they couldn't hold off the completion of the series that long.

I guess I don't understand.

[Arnobius]

So he left the show and they replaced him with someone and that was when the quality went down hill?

Or are you saying he did that before he left?

And what do you mean, he came back a few years later? Surely they couldn't hold off the completion of the series that long.

I guess I don't understand.

He left the series and Gainax after 19 episodes. Someone else completed the series.

[lj1958]

Interesting series. In some ways, it's one of the most realistic anime series I've seen in showing teens dealing with emotions, especially concerning romantic feelings.

It is disappointing that the writers/producers took the turn in the main relationship that they did, which is a big reason why I can only recommend the series with reservations. My almost 16 yo daughter has seen it but definately not my 12 yo.

As far as the teen dating an adult thing...WHY is that so common in anime? I can think of tons of series where an adult male is the romantic interest of a teenage girl. Now...I can understand why a girl would be attracted to an older guy (my older daughter thinks boys her age are hopelessly inmature), but why isn't it taboo in their culture for an adult man to become involved with a teenage girl?

[Rocketshipper]

O_O. I don't remember there being any guys, other than Asapin, who show "attraction" towards Arima. Maybe Tonomi (was that his name?), that kid at the end who used to be fat but got skinny, but I think he really just had very strong adoration for Arima.

I don't know why there seems to be a lot of older guy/younger girl couples in anime. I've never really been bothered by it because adults who are many years apart often get married and nobody complains about it. There are some older guy/younger girl couples that I really like, like Kusanagi/Yuziriha from X/1999 (she's 14 and he's estimated to be like, 28 or something). There is one older girl/younger guy couple that I can think of, Mai/Jounouchi from Yugioh. Jou is 16 and Mai is in her mid twenties, we estimate.

[lj1958]

There is one older girl/younger guy couple that I can think of, Mai/Jounouchi from Yugioh. Jou is 16 and Mai is in her mid twenties, we estimate.

LOL, it seems like almost every anime series with a romance or potential romance that is NOT set in a high school has an older guy/younger woman couple. Well, the guys are usually in their twenties and the girls in their mid to late teens.

Older girl/younger guy that I thought of: RahXephon. But it's only because of a strange twist that she's older then him.

[Alice]

It seems to be culturally acceptable in Japan.

I'm against it because the growing up years are when people change the most, and are most impressionable.

Also I think if it's not illegal, it ought to be.

*coughsickoldermencough*

Yes, I am feeling rather grouchy today. Ignore me, if you must. : (

[Kagan]

There is a phrase about Japan among people who study its culture that observes that the average Japanese man's preference of women is 3 years younger than that of the Western equivalent. While there is no clear substantial evidence that proves this, you can see why something like this might be said simply by looking at anime and manga. There is a clear over representation of Japanese high school girls, and while it can be said that every culture has its own fantasies about this age group, this ideal of teenagers as being desirable is reinforced by the fact that teenage sexual morality in Japanese culture is quite different from that of its American counterparts.

Notice how I mention American. Some European nations are more open towards sex between teenagers as can be seen by their differing sex education policies. To put it simply, many if not most Japanese teenagers view teenage sex and sex with older people with less reservations, as there is no culturally-based moral system that prevents it, like Christianity does for America. Maybe my analysis was a bit too long, but I had to explain it recently to a friend because someone from Japan told me that I was lucky that I was teaching middle school and not high school, since "I would have too much temptation" if I taught in a high school.

On that note, I was watching a Japanese movie about a girl who stalks some guy in her apartment. While the girl is obviously quirky, even to Japanese people, she makes a comment to one of her friends, a salary man who "only dates girls under 18". She comments on how "that's a sickness, you know" but doesn't seem to mind all that much, and calls him a good guy.

[Alice]

My brother once said something along the lines of, "We talk about how Japan has a different culture than the U.S., but sometimes I think they just have an extra hundred years of perversion on us."

Then he explained what he meant because of the religion and stuff, and how the Japanese people (as he understood it), has assimilated parts of many different religions, but never really changed theirs. Thus never really been affected by Christianity. Etc. It was interesting, and something I hadn't really thought of before.

[Kagan]

Yeah, the Japanese are good at religious assimilation, except when it came to Christianity. To put it simply, they accepted a religion as long as it seemed to benefit them and weren't exclusive. Thus the Japanese had parts Buddhism, Confucianism in addition to their Shinto. I recall seeing surveys that said that around 80% of Buddhists in Japan claim to be Shinto as well.