Posts in Kashimashi Category
January 27, 2006
And we start this time with the alien and the girl that suddenly showed up. The alien would be the one that brought Hazumu back as a girl, and the other girl that calls Hazumu "onenii-sama" is called Jan Puu... she's the spaceship that crashed into her when she was a him (^^;;) Her appearance is modeled on Hazumu's, actually. The alien's there to do a bit more observation of these humans, so he and Jan Puu will be staying with Hazumu and her family. Hazumu's parents being who they are, they have no problems accepting an alien into their house (^^;;)
Putting that silliness aside... though Tomari's not the main character this time, we do learn a bit more about her. Hazumu acts out what she did when she protected her from the mass media the other day to a couple of classmates. Tomari's actually so popular among girls that she's actually gotten a love letter from a girl once. She's cool enough to be an 漢 otoku (man), yup ;)
But this time the spotlight is on Yasuna and her feelings about Hazumu. Very much unlike the manga, Yasuna's timid about approaching Hazumu to speak with her about what's happened, keeping to herself. We also see that she can't clearly see guys for some reason... she spends her time at home alone since her parents are always out. She's never seen her father's face... Meanwhile, Hazumu worries about what to do about Yasuna. After getting some advice from Tomari, Hazumu heads to Yasuna's house. And the next morning she gives Yasuna a plant, saying that she wants to be friends with her. Yasuna aplogizes for hurting her... she was really happy when she (as a he) confessed to her, but she got nervous and didn't know what to do... since Hazumu's a girl now she thinks that she and Yasuna can start things over as friends :) At school, Tomari sees the two of them smiling and taking care of plants....
...setting the stage for the next episode where it seems we'll see the scene that we saw right at the beginning of the first episode... As I mentioned, the anime Yasuna is nowhere near as agressive in persuing Hazumu as she is in the manga. Yasuna tells Hazumu she likes her right away in the 2nd chapter of the manga. However, I suppose I like the anime Yasuna better as she's not quite so much the stereotypical yuriyuri girl (at least for now), seeming perhaps a bit more natural... if natural is a word you can use to describe this show (^^;;)
But anyways, I'm enjoying things so far. Animation/art/character design for Kashimashi is one of the better this season so it's quite easy on the eyes (unlike some other shows I will not name). Next episode should finish up the content that's in volume 1 of the manga, so we're moving right along here. I suppose this pace means the show will be 13 episodes(?).
After pretty much following the first chapter panel-for-panel last episode, this episode combines a few chapters and makes some changes to make it focused on Tomari and her feelings about Hazumu suddenly turning into a girl. A girl that doesn't know how to properly act like a girl, however... So begins Tomari's quest to teach Hazumu how to be a lady. Though all the other girls seem to have already accepted him... her as a girl, Tomari's still not really sure how to take things... is Hazumu still the Hazumu she knows?... Asuta has to deal with the same thing with his best friend now a girl. But I'd say he's in a pretty good position now, don't ya think?.. Though the repeated kicks from Tomari this time had to hurt more than a bit (^^;;)
So, Hazumu learns that girls don't show themselves off, that they have to be careful not to let others see pantsu, and finally... she gets a rather detailed lecture from Tomari on how to put on a bra. I had no idea (^^;;) When Hazumu finally goes home, the media are waiting for her and crowd around her, frightening her to tears. Thankfully, Tomari is there to protect her, making them leave. Tomari realizes that Hazumu's still the crybaby she remembers having to protect the same way as a child... and after that touching moment Hazumu goes into her room to find an alien and another girl that calls her "onenii-sama" (apparently a self-reference to another Akahori work called "MAZE" that had a gender-bending main character)
Well, that broke the nice atmosphere, didn't it? (kuuki yome! would be the Japanese expression to use here) Anyways, besides that I thought things were nicely handled this time in putting the spotlight on Tomari and letting us see how she feels about things, getting the feeling on the manga pretty much right. She was kakkoii to say the least :) Hazumu was much, much, much, much too cute for a guy that has only been a girl for a short while... there's already a listing for Hazumu-moe people on the Japanese blogs, Hazumu ~we meet her~. While Hazumu is quite kawaii, I'm more the Tomari type, I suppose. Should I join the Tomari ~we love her~ listing there? ;)
Anyways, next time the focus is on Yasuna in a mostly anime original for the most part... which I've already seen and will get to blogging here in a bit :)
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 :)
