Kashimashi 1
Kashimashi is one of the few series I was actively looking forward to this season (one of the few that I've actually read the original manga), and after this first episode I'd say it got off to a good start. I'll do a quicky summary this time since others have already done good detailed stuff (check the Antenna). Those who have read the first chapter of the manga can skip the next paragraph ;)
So, we start off with a yuri kiss, then jump back in time a bit to see Hazumu-kun@Kana Ueda, a rather girlish boy that's fond of gardening, walking through a forest. He had his eye on Yasuna@Yui Horie, and after getting some advice from friends he finally got enough courage to do the big kokuhaku thing, but Yasuna said no.... if only Hazumu were a girl (there's more to that than you think)... Hazumu's friends, Ayuki, Asuta, and Tomari@Yukarin search for Hazumu, but can't find him. Hazumu's parents are of course rather worried, and even one of his teachers at school, Namiko, comes along to help... though his parents are of absolutely no use and Namiko has a thing for falling into holes (^^;;) And while Hazumu's still walking around the forest at night... out of nowhere, an alien spaceship suddenly ends up crashing into Hazumu. Ooops (^^;;) The alien onboard has managed to save Hazumu's life, but there's one small detail that's different.... Hazumu-kun is now Hazumu-chan -- he's a she as the aliens explain to everyone, and Yasuna and Tomari run up to see Hazumu very much a girl and very much naked. They're just a bit surprised ;)
This first episode is pretty much right in line with the first chapter of the manga, save for a a change here and there... Yasuna has a line in the manga where she says "If Hazumu-kun were a girl, then..." that I don't believe I heard (I'm going from memory here). There's more to that than you (the people who haven't read the manga) think. And also Hazumu is clothed when he... she comes back from the alien spaceship, for example ;) Anyways, the cast is top-notch, with a few of my favorites including Yukarin and Kana Ueda... Ueda-san needs to work on her guy voice a bit ;)
Unlike most of the other shows so far this season, I like the character designs -- very kawaii~. The animation/art by Studio Hibari is also very good -- hoping somehow that they'll be able to keep it up. The ED this time was the OP song "Koi suru kokoro" by eufonius (you could say I'm a eufonius fan), but I'll comment on that next week when we have an OP/ED. I'm going to pick Kashimashi up -- looking forward to more :)
Oh, Hazumu. <3 Hazumu is so cute. I would like to eat her in a platonic way. Tomari is pretty good too, though I actually am partial to Ayuki more than Tomari or Yasuna.
The part where these NASA people were speaking in English was the biggest LOL to me. It looks that there are English voice actor/ess working for this series... or were they just Japanese voice actor/ess trying their best to speak English as fluent as possible.. o_o
Anyway, I'm into Hazumu x Tomari... since it was Yasuna who rejected him at the first place.
The NASA guys sounded more authentic than the script :P
Yasuna reminds me of one of the bottle faries (Hororo?) and the dour meganekko of Nanaka (as in 6/17).
What bothered me about this ep, though, was Yasuna getting that poor Primula's leaves wet in direct sunlight. Oh, and I hope those parents don't have a big role..
Haha, the Engrish sequence was funny in the way it wasn't as worst as the normal Engrish.
Don't go hating on poor Yasuna yet, she has her own reasons ^_-.
@Ersatz: I'd turn hard gay for Hazumu <3 :).
Aliens attack... you say?
Needs more Asuta. He's the sudden gay buddy turned harem lead. Go go go Asuta! And he's the voice of Yukito from AIR.
The Engrish was definitely my favorite part.
"I'm afraid that that's the fact."
<3